A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 327 : Chapter 327

Translator: AkazaTL

Proofreader/Editor: JWyck

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Chapter 327

The facts were just as he said. That night, Jiang Tianming and the others came back covered in dust. At the same time, the manga was updated, and Su Bei went straight back to his room to read it.

To put it simply, the main plot of this manga was to send intelligence and resources to the protagonists. On the surface, they were besieged by Mo Xiaotian and Ye Lin with the people from the “Black Flash” organization. But in fact, Su Bei could see from the manga that Ye Lin was secretly going easy on them.

Su Bei had been wondering before why Meng Huai, who was clearly in the mall, would let the “Black Flash” organization succeed. He only realized it when he saw Ye Lin appear. Ye Lin might have secretly defected a second time. Under the premise that it was clear there would probably be no trouble, it was understandable for Meng Huai to take this opportunity to use the “Black Flash” organization to train the students.

And as for Mo Xiaotian, not to mention him. He wasn’t going easy on them, he just hoped that everyone would voluntarily join the “Black Flash” organization instead of being kidnapped by them. So he often rambled on and on, and then the protagonist group found a chance to break through.

As the saying goes, the villain dies from talking too much, and this also applies in the manga.

Under the intentional and unintentional revelations of these two people, Jiang Tianming obtained several pieces of information.

First was the news that the “Black Flash” organization was cooperating with Nightmare Beasts. This was revealed by Ye Lin. Although it was only a hint, it was enough for Jiang Tianming to understand her meaning.

Secondly was the coordinates of a Nightmare Beast world. Ye Lin did not say what this coordinate was for, she just “accidentally” let the protagonist group hear it when she was on the phone with someone else.

The third piece of information and resources were revealed by Mo Xiaotian. He said that the “Black Flash” organization had researched a new good thing, an item that could allow an ability to erupt with powerful might in a short period of time.

However, this item could only be used once in a person’s lifetime. Using it again would be more than the body could bear. In fact, this item caused great damage to the body. Even the first use would cause great damage. But the damage from one use could still be healed over time, it couldn’t be healed after two uses.

The moment he saw this item, the alarm bell in Su Bei’s mind immediately rang.

He had been thinking before about how to completely destroy all the meteorites in the Nightmare Beast world. The role of Earth Element ability users was indispensable. And the only Earth Element user in the protagonist group was Wu Mingbai, who had the [Earth Element] ability. But he was only a second-year high school student. Even with his exceptional talent and various opportunities, plus the gift of the guardian god, it would take at least five or ten years to reach that level.

But the “Manga Consciousness” had said before that the manga world couldn’t wait that long. So if the author wanted to solve this problem, he would definitely find a way to make Wu Mingbai suddenly become much stronger.

And the enhancement item given by Mo Xiaotian, in Su Bei’s opinion, was for this purpose. And this also meant that the author was constantly paving the way for the end of this season. In other words, the end was coming soon.

As for why Mo Xiaotian would hand this item over to the protagonist group, besides the reason he himself said was an apology, Su Bei actually suspected that he wanted to ruin the leader’s plan.

The leader’s goal was definitely to let the Nightmare Beasts exist forever, so that humanity would sooner or later be destroyed. And if he handed over the key item, it might be possible to completely eliminate the Nightmare Beasts. This was a good thing for Mo Xiaotian with a hundred benefits and no harm.

Of course, he might not have such deep thoughts. Perhaps he was just acting on instinct.

Closing the manga, Su Bei began to study his new ability.

That’s right, through this manga update, his lie from last time had come true. The moment the manga was updated, he had already sensed that he had gained some kind of ability. However, he was in a hurry to read the manga just now, so he didn’t check it. Now was a good time to check.

Following the new ability he sensed in his body, Su Bei summoned a gear. This gear was different from any other gear he had summoned before; it was colorful. But it wasn’t the kind of color painted on, rather, the color refracted like a bubble.

As for the gear itself, it was black, but because the light refraction was too severe, the color of the body was almost invisible, and only a colorful gear could be seen. It looked quite dreamy, with a strong fairy-tale color.

After briefly sensing the ability of this gear, Su Bei named it the “Wish Gear.” As the name suggests, it was a gear that could grant wishes. Make a wish to the gear, and when the gear disappears, the wish will be granted.

The author adopted his statement in the manga that this wish could only be used for passive auxiliary defense.

And besides this known drawback, the author also added some others. First was the expected skill cooldown. Only one could be created per day, and it could only be used for five minutes. This cooldown was not long, and Su Bei could accept it.

Next was the skill consumption. The speculation of the forum readers was also adopted. The consumption of the “Wish Gear” was very large. Even with his current Mental Energy, it would consume a full 1/3 to create one.

The consumption, which was even greater than changing a person’s large pointer, made Su Bei sigh. This almost meant that this ability was not compatible with other abilities. Unless he didn’t want to leave a certain amount of Mental Energy for self-protection, after using this ability, he could at most use a few skills to change luck or the “Destiny Gear.” It would be difficult to change other people’s destiny.

But it was still acceptable. This skill itself was very powerful, and it was his only invincible defensive ability, so even if the consumption was a bit large, Su Bei could dote on it.

Finally, there was a new drawback that no one had mentioned before. Just as the “Wish Gear” had a black base color under its colorful appearance, the wishes it could grant were not as beautiful as they seemed on the surface.

The gifts given by destiny were actually secretly marked with a price. A wish granted by the “Wish Gear” would be fed back after an hour.

Su Bei didn’t quite understand this limitation. Anyway, it was very safe now. He directly used the gear he had just created and made a wish—”For the next five minutes, I will not be touched by anything other than the earth.”

This wish was reasonable. The gear disappeared, and Su Bei tried to touch the surrounding things. As expected, he didn’t touch them by some strange coincidence. However, he only tested it twice before stopping. Because although this skill seemed to be a defensive skill, it actually didn’t distinguish between friend and foe.

The method to make Su Bei not touch other things, besides making those things stay away from him, also included letting himself get injured so that he couldn’t touch those things.

After a sudden sharp pain in his left hand, Su Bei decisively stopped his actions. He stood still for five minutes before sitting down again. After sitting down, he still did not move. The skill’s effect said that after the wish was fulfilled, he would soon receive feedback from destiny. So sitting still was the best choice to accept the feedback.

An hour later, the chandelier above his head suddenly fell. He reacted in time and dodged to the side, just in time to hit the desk. The desk, along with the bookshelf next to it, and then the curtains, flowerpots… all crashed down, burying him completely underneath.

Su Bei lay on the ground in silence for a moment, and sighed, “…So that’s how it is.”

To put it simply, it was the opposite of the wish he had made. He wished not to touch anything, and the feedback was to let him be struck by many things. And because he was on the bed, he didn’t touch the ground, which was also the opposite of the wish he had made before.

A very interesting limitation. If used well, this limitation could even become his aid. But in most cases, it wouldn’t work, as he couldn’t be completely sure in what form the feedback would be presented. If he guessed wrong, it could cause big problems.

So only in very special circumstances could he time it right and use the “Wish Gear” in reverse.

And usually, after using the “Wish Gear,” he needed to quickly find a safe place to bear the feedback. On this point, the author was quite kind, giving him a full hour of preparation time.

Because only one “Wish Gear” could be produced per day, and it was one per day in terms of destiny, even “Dream Bubble” couldn’t replicate this skill. If he wanted to continue testing, he could only wait until tomorrow.

Overall, it was not bad. At least it was indeed a powerful protective skill. Although it only lasted for five minutes, given the situations he would encounter, with the Invisibility Charm in hand, plus these five minutes, it was more than enough.

The next month was ordinary daily life. Normally, Su Bei would be very happy, but the problem was that he already knew that this season of the manga was about to end, so he naturally hoped that the events would pass as quickly as possible.

A short burst of excitement leading to long-term stability, Su Bei thought it was worth it. He had been waiting for the next event, but it hadn’t started yet.

Until the beginning of the month, when Meng Huai gave their class a new task, “Our academy’s base over there in the Nightmare Beast world is a bit short-staffed right now. You will probably frequent that place after you graduate in the future, so I plan to let you adapt in advance. For the next month, you will be going to the base for research and study. Your research and study results will determine how much or how little your winter break homework will be.”

The threat of winter break homework immediately made everyone take this research and study activity seriously. Mu Tieren raised his hand and asked, “Teacher, what do we have to do when we get there? Are you going with us?”

“I’m not going with you. I… forget it, it’s not a problem to tell you about this. The ‘Black Flash’ organization has already cooperated with the Nightmare Beasts, and we will now begin hunting them down with all our strength.”

If it weren’t for this reason, he wouldn’t have arranged for the students to be stationed at the Nightmare Beast world base so soon. Even for Class S, this task should have been released next semester. It was still too early now.

Regarding this matter, after Ye Lin’s hint in the last incident, everyone had actually guessed it. Now that it was confirmed, they couldn’t say they were surprised, just heavy-hearted.

After so many confrontations before, they certainly knew how powerful the “Black Flash” organization was. Originally, it was just for researching abilities, but now they were cooperating with Nightmare Beasts. The blow to humanity would definitely be great.

“But I don’t understand, didn’t they firmly oppose Nightmare Beasts before? Why are they suddenly like this?” Qi Huang asked in confusion.

Before the teacher could answer, Su Bei, who was lying on the table, answered her question, “When one dream is shattered, one must naturally pick up a new dream to continue walking.”

Qi Huang was sometimes really curious about how Su Bei got all this information. Even the “Destiny” organization couldn’t be a worm that could drill into the “Black Flash” leader’s heart to eavesdrop on their thoughts, right?

Let alone her, Meng Huai was also curious. The information he got was that the organization leader decided to cooperate with the Nightmare Beasts because his wife turned into a Nightmare Beast, and he wanted to turn all humans into Nightmare Beasts.

But listening to Su Bei’s words, it seemed there was another hidden story?

Thinking this, he directly asked, “Stop talking in riddles. What dream of his was shattered?”

“Of course, the dream of turning Nightmare Beasts back into humans was shattered.” After saying this, Su Bei changed the subject. “Teacher, you haven’t answered the class monitor’s question yet. What is the base for? What do we do after we go to that base?”

The words just now had a lot of information. Meng Huai pondered while answering, “The main purpose of this base is to provide an anchor point for the ability users who come to the Nightmare Beast world. It’s a fixed coordinate. As for the tasks, there are many: patrolling, infrastructure construction, clearing nearby Nightmare Beasts, exploring marked locations… At that time, you just listen to the research and study teacher, she will arrange tasks for you. She is a teacher from our academy, and we were classmates back then. She should take care of you a little.”

The students nodded obediently and began to discuss this matter in low voices. In the end, eliminating the “Black Flash” organization was the teacher’s task. Their main task was still to go to the base for research and study.

Su Bei also fell silent, thinking about this matter. The research and study was to go to the Nightmare Beast world, for a full month, and in the last incident, Ye Lin had just given a coordinate of the Nightmare Beast world.

With all the buffs stacked, he felt that this was the time to solve the Nightmare Beast problem.

Then this trip was a must for him. Su Bei didn’t know if the author had arranged anything for him in this plot, but he was worried that not going would cause a change. Su Bei was referring to a change that would happen to himself.

After being absent from the plot for a long time, who knows what the author would do. It was safer to go in person. Besides, the task he had been busy with for more than a year was finally coming to an end. He had to go and see it himself, right?

The time for the research and study soon arrived. Everyone came to an empty classroom. Lei Ze’en set up the array and then instructed, “You’ve been to the Nightmare Beast world several times, so I won’t nag you here. But the ability users over there won’t be as easy to talk to as the academy teachers. You’d better be good and not get sent back directly, otherwise, your Teacher Meng won’t let you off.”

“Ahem, ahem, ahem, ahem!” As soon as these words were said, everyone immediately coughed with a guilty conscience. It was impossible for them to be good. If something really happened, they would definitely be the first to rush out.

Lei Ze’en was obviously also very clear about the nature of this group of students. He shook his head helplessly, “Alright, stand on the array. There will be a teacher named Jiang Yan to meet you there. She is also the teacher in charge of your research and study this time.”

As the light of the array lit up, everyone was teleported to the Nightmare Beast world.

“You’re here.” Just as they adapted, a pleasant female voice sounded in their ears. Turning their heads, they saw that the speaker was a brown-haired woman in a blue tight-fitting suit.

Facing their bewildered expressions, the woman introduced herself with a somewhat serious expression, “I’m Jiang Yan, you can just call me Teacher Jiang. Follow me first, there are no tasks today, I’ll show you around the base.”

The place they were teleported to was a room, which at first glance was exactly the same as a room in the ordinary world. If it weren’t for the fact that the entire room had no color, only black, white, and gray, they would probably have thought the teleportation had failed.

Walking out of the room ,a long corridor appeared. The walls on both sides of the corridor seemed to be made of some special metal, which should have a sturdy attribute, as expected. Paired with the surrounding colors, it gave people a feeling of inorganic coldness.

Noticing Mu Tieren putting his hand on the wall to feel it, looking curious, Jiang Yan introduced with a straight face, “This is Yaori Alloy, a very hard metal that is impervious to water and fire. The attacks of ordinary people and Nightmare Beasts cannot break it. If you are curious, you can try it in your own room when you go back, but be careful not to damage other items in the room.”

Su Bei found that although this teacher seemed to have a bit of a poker face, she was quite nice and very meticulous. This was good news. After all, they were going to stay here for a month. If the teacher was very strict and rigid, Su Bei would collapse.

Walking to the end of the corridor, then turning left, after a few steps, they could see a door. Teacher Jiang took out a key and opened the door. Outside was actually a bridge, a bridge connecting two rooftops.

It was not until they were standing on the bridge that everyone finally saw the full picture of this fortress.

That’s right, the “Endless Ability Academy’s” base in the Nightmare Beast world was a fortress. The overall appearance looked like a black twin-headed small mountain. Although they could only look down on this fortress from the bridge, everyone could still imagine the general appearance.

“The side you were just on is the accommodation area, and the other side is the functional area,” Jiang Yan briefly introduced at the right time and opened another door with a new key.

The door opened to a whole new world, indeed a completely different scene from before.

There were no longer rows of accommodation rooms here. There were no walls around the stairs, which were hollowed-out. Standing on the stairs, one could clearly see the appearance of each floor through the gaps.

The bottom floor was a lobby, with people coming and going. Some were in groups of two or three, while others were lone wolves. There were also many injured people being carried in and sent into the only elevator. The elevator went up, and with his good eyesight, Su Bei saw that the display there showed they went to the 8th floor.

“They will be sent to the eighth floor, which is the only floor with walls. That floor is our hospital here. If you get injured, you’ll also have to go there.”

After saying that, Jiang Yan casually took out a booklet from her storage space, flipped through it, and then looked at everyone, “Who are Ling You, Zhao Xiaoyu, and Lan Subing?”

The three people she called all raised their hands.

After recognizing them, Jiang Yan nodded, “The three of you can go here to help when you have time. The hospital is always short-staffed. [Happiness] goes without saying. [Plague] should be able to help absorb some viruses in the patients’ bodies, right? As for [Word Spirit], it’s indeed a waste to use this ability for healing, but it’s still okay to go over and practice your healing ability in your spare time. After all, this ability needs a lot of practice to develop comprehensively.”

“Is this our task?” Zhao Xiaoyu asked, which was what she was most concerned about.

Jiang Yan nodded and then shook her head, “No. Although different people have different tasks, your class does not have a healing-type ability user, so there is indeed no task in the hospital. If you go, you can get points according to the duration. It’s okay if you don’t go.”

After saying that, she continued to lead everyone to visit each floor as they went down the stairs. The top eighth floor was the hospital, and the seventh floor was the intelligence processing center, which was also the office area. The offices of many staff members, including Jiang Yan, were here. Task arrangements were also issued from here. It was worth mentioning that the entrance to the accommodation area was also here. But only staff members had the key to enter and exit freely.

The sixth floor was the high-level item trading area. This place required a certain certificate to enter. Some ability items and the like were sold inside, and there was even a small auction hall.

The fifth floor was the ability user arena, and there was also a betting function. The entire floor was filled with blood and violence. The cheers of the onlookers next to it could sometimes even drown out the sounds of the first and second floors, where the most people were. It seemed like a crazy place.

In addition, there were some entertainment activities, a small cinema, various game machines, and even a dance floor, where many people were dancing to the music.

The fourth floor was the Nightmare Beast slaughterhouse, with specialized butchers responsible for cutting the Nightmare Beast meat and taking out the useful parts. If an ability user was willing, they could sell the Nightmare Beast meat and parts directly to the officials here, but the price would not be very high.

The second and third floors were both ordinary item trading areas, but the specific items sold were different. The second floor sold some simple item charms, supplies, Nightmare Beast parts, and the like.

And the third floor was the service industry, such as restaurants, clothing stores, barbershops, etc. After all, ordinary people would have to stay here long term. Even if they brought supplies at the beginning, they would definitely run out after a period of time. So these shops were indispensable.

The first floor was the teaming lobby, where many people were shouting, trying to find suitable teammates. Tasks were also accepted here, and completing tasks could get a considerable reward and points.

The points here had only two uses: one was for accommodation, and the other was to leave the Nightmare Beast world.

Accommodation goes without saying. You needed to spend points to have a room in the safe spot next door. All rooms had the same configuration and the same price. It cost 10 points to stay for a day. If you paid for a month at once, you could get a 5% discount, and if you paid for a year, you could get a 20% discount.

As for leaving here, you needed to spend 500 points to leave through the gate of their base. If an ability user had their own means to leave the Nightmare Beast world, that was also fine.

The content was very rich, and everyone’s eyes darted around. Among them, Qi Huang’s eyes were mainly on the fifth floor. She asked with great confusion, “Teacher, why is there an arena on the fifth floor? Isn’t fighting Nightmare Beasts tiring enough? What’s the point of fighting people here?”

“On the one hand to let them vent their emotions, and on the other hand, it’s an opportunity to earn points,” Jiang Yan answered concisely. “500 points are not easy to collect. Living here for a long time is very depressing. The establishment of the fifth floor is to let everyone vent their emotions.”

So that’s how it was, everyone suddenly realized. Jiang Tianming was immediately interested in the tasks on the first floor, or rather, the points provided by those tasks. “Can we go and see those tasks?”