A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 337 : Chapter 337

Chapter 337

Looking at the news of my own death posted on the official website, I couldn’t help but sigh. I wanted to fake my death publicly, but wasn’t this a bit too much? Would a normal ability user’s death be officially announced?

However, Meng Huai obviously had his own ideas about this. “You died on the surface for the sake of eliminating Nightmare Beasts. This kind of deed is worthy of being announced, and it can also let the Nightmare Beasts confirm that you are indeed dead, right?”

What he said seemed to have some truth to it, so I stopped dwelling on it. Anyway, I had already asked the “Manga Consciousness” to clean up after me. With an ability item “Traceless” from the “Destiny” organization, even if others used good ability detection, they would definitely not be able to find my existence.

Now that this was over, it was time to start traveling!

But before the trip—

“What’s the use of hiding it from me? I think among the tourists who come in later, there will always be some who are willing to tell me,” I said unhurriedly while packing my luggage.

I believed that what the “Manga Consciousness” knew, those rich readers who came in for sightseeing would also know. Since they could talk freely, as a popular character, it shouldn’t be difficult for me to get some information from my fans.

At worst, I could still instigate my fans to act on my behalf. If I couldn’t go to the real world to beat up the author, the reader fans who were also in the real world could, right?

This mental activity was not hidden from the “Manga Consciousness.” Hearing it made its heart turn cold. It only wished it could go back to the time when it said those words and give the self who told me I could talk to the readers a good beating.

“Don’t be like this,” the “Manga Consciousness” said in distress. “Although the author is indeed irresponsible to the world, doesn’t care about the world’s balance, has the intention to kill you, and is full of thoughts of making money… ahh, damn it, if I keep talking like this, I’ll want to beat him up myself!”

At first, when it tried to persuade me, I was actually a little angry, because I wasn’t really joking. I really wanted to beat up the author.

All the suffering I had experienced was essentially brought by the author. Although from the author’s point of view, the other party could not be said to be innocent. In a shonen manga, there would always be cannon fodder characters. This was unavoidable.

But if the author was innocent, how pitiful was I? You have to know that I was the one who had been suffering all along! What’s wrong with beating up the author after everything has settled down?

But hearing the “Manga Consciousness” persuade me to the point where it started to doubt itself, I couldn’t help but feel a little like laughing. “That’s right, he deserves a beating. I’m just beating him up, not breaking his arms or legs or killing him. Don’t you think he deserves a lesson?”

“But the author is, after all, the true master of this world,” the “Manga Consciousness” said with difficulty. “Besides, aren’t you worried that he’ll start retaliating against you after being beaten up?”

In fact, it was also worried that the author would retaliate against this world after being beaten up. After all, they were all under the author’s pen. If the other party suddenly went crazy, none of them could stop him.

This was indeed a problem, but I had also thought about it. “It’s okay. I can threaten him when I beat him up. If he continues to target me, I’ll continue to beat him up.”

“Manga Consciousness”: “…”

It said with difficulty, “You are a 2D character after all. You only have one chance to go to the real world.”

“Then I’ll threaten him. If he continues to target me, I’ll let his protagonist go offline,” I said with my arms crossed, very seriously. “I think if I ask Jiang Tianming and the others to drop out of school, there’s a chance they’ll agree.”

That was more than just a chance. They would 100% agree, okay? If they might have hesitated before, then after the incident where I faked my death for them last time, the “Manga Consciousness” knew that Jiang Tianming and the others’ trust in me had reached its peak. As long as I said that dropping out would be good for them, they would definitely not hesitate.

Oh no, for a moment, it couldn’t tell who was more destructive to this world, me or the author. A world without a protagonist would definitely have problems.

“Then what if he wants to destroy this manga world?” the “Manga Consciousness” asked hesitantly.

I shrugged. “Didn’t he put the world cornerstone in?”

A single sentence woke up the dreamer!

That’s right, the author had already integrated the world cornerstone with 《King of Abilities》. If he destroyed the manga at this time, the cornerstone would not come back, which was equivalent to a huge loss. So the author would definitely not do that. It was worried for nothing.

“Wait a minute, I’ll go check the situation. If the author is not so resistant to… um… being beaten up by you, I’ll tell you how to go to the real world,” the “Manga Consciousness” finally said after hesitating for a long time.

It was the consciousness of this world, but at the same time, it was also a wisp of the author’s subconscious. As a subconscious, it could influence the author’s thoughts, and naturally, it could also perceive the author’s thoughts.

I wasn’t in a hurry and continued to pack my luggage. I was going to be away for half a year, so I had to pack everything I needed, such as clothes, shoes, socks, toiletries, charging cables, and power banks. Although I had money and could buy whatever I needed on the spot, it was definitely not as suitable as bringing my own.

When I closed the suitcase and was zipping it up, the “Manga Consciousness” finally returned. “I can tell you, but you absolutely cannot cause any impact on the author’s body, nor can you hurt his hands. Um… it’s best not to touch his face either.”

I immediately laughed, with anger. I refused without hesitation, “The others are fine, but not hitting the face is not okay. What’s the point of hitting someone if you don’t hit their face? I’m going for the face this time.”

I’m going to beat the author into a pig’s head.

“Manga Consciousness”: “…”

With a long sigh, it only felt that life was difficult and couldn’t be bothered anymore. “I’ll arrange it for you. You decide on a time. But I’ll remind you, after you arrive in the real world, you will only have an ordinary person’s body, without ability, mental power, or the physical fitness enhanced by ability. Most importantly, you can only stay in the real world in a physical form for one hour. When the time is up, you will be automatically recalled.”

One hour was a bit short. After all, I wasn’t just going out to beat up the author this time. I also really wanted to see the real world. But it was completely enough to beat up an ordinary person. I couldn’t ask for too much.

I was very satisfied with the automatic recall. Perhaps because I was in the manga world myself, I had some PTSD about this kind of time-limited thing. If it wasn’t an automatic recall, I was really worried that some accident would happen and I wouldn’t be able to come back in time.

After all, I was also a protagonist. The protagonist had to face all kinds of accidents.

That’s right, although this thought was a bit too chunibyo, I did think that I was a protagonist. Since I was an anime character, there was nothing wrong with having a slightly chunibyo thought, right? Just based on the ups and downs of the plot I had experienced, it was definitely a treatment that only a protagonist could have! It was just that I didn’t know if I was a fanfiction protagonist that existed for salvation, or a protagonist in an original story.

But that didn’t matter. In any case, I was 100% the protagonist of my own life.

I quickly made a decision. “Tomorrow afternoon. The author should have woken up by then, right? Just send me to him, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

It’s because it’s up to you that I’m not at ease. The “Manga Consciousness” felt like it had been infected by Lan Subing and couldn’t control its urge to complain. It was clearly just a consciousness.

The next afternoon, I traveled light and prepared to set off for the real world. When the “Manga Consciousness” said it would arrange it, it really did. It even prepared all the materials for me. Of course, it wasn’t that simple to go to the real world. I needed to make my own array and get the “Manga Consciousness”‘s consent before I could leave.

Generally, you would use an array to summon the “Manga Consciousness,” get the qualification to leave the world, and then use a new array to send yourself out.

But I had directly completed the second step, so I only needed to do the third step.

“No, is this array serious?” Seeing the drawing sent by the “Manga Consciousness,” my originally excited mood immediately calmed down, and I only felt a sense of absurdity.

I had originally thought that an array that could teleport people from the manga to the real world should be something very mysterious and grand, at least like the ones Lei Ze’en often used.

But although the patterns in other parts of this array were very complicated and mysterious, the pattern in the middle was clearly a middle finger!

Me: “?”

“No? Who designed this array? Who is it looking down on?” I stopped my actions and asked with a puzzled face.

“Don’t stop!” Seeing that I was about to lift the pen from the ground, the “Manga Consciousness” quickly tried to dissuade me. “This is an array that must be drawn in one stroke. If you stop now, all your previous efforts will be wasted.”

I continued to draw, asking casually, “So what’s going on? Who designed this array?”

“It was designed by a female protagonist in a novel world who was proficient in arrays, in order to break through the novel world. This middle finger… um, you can understand it as her attitude towards this world.”

Hearing this, my brows immediately relaxed, and the movements of my hand drawing the array sped up a lot. “Then I can only say that she is a person with great taste. This world indeed deserves a middle finger.”

After finishing the drawing, I stood in the middle of my array according to the instructions of the “Manga Consciousness.” The array lit up with a yellow light and gradually rose to the top of my head. Then, a large hand made of energy stretched out from the array and grabbed me like a doll and threw me up.

I only felt something sucking me from above at the soul level. In just a few seconds, I experienced the magical feeling of my soul leaving my body. Everything seemed to become blurry and clear, and my mind was cool and clear, but I couldn’t think of anything.

Then I felt my soul slowly descending, and finally landed in a strange room.

Landing silently on the ground, I didn’t make any sound. I looked up and observed quietly. This was a bedroom with light blue walls and curtains and bedsheets of the same color. On the wall was a wallpaper of an anime character I didn’t recognize, as well as various manuscripts. In Xuzhou, there was a large family photo with all the students of Class S and Meng Huai in it.

But I wasn’t in it.

I wasn’t surprised by this. I wasn’t a character designed by the author in the first place, so of course I wouldn’t appear in the originally designed family photo manuscript. The only thought in my mind now was “I’ve come to the right place! This is the room of the author of 《King of Abilities》!”

My gaze turned to the side. Not far from the bed was a computer desk, and in front of the computer desk sat a man with black hair, black eyes, and black square-rimmed glasses. Because he was facing away from me, I couldn’t see his appearance.

The other party was concentrating on drawing at his desk. After drawing a few strokes, he would pick up the coffee cup next to him and take a sip, looking like a coffee addict. Taking advantage of my height, I easily saw what he was drawing. It was the scene of my return to school.

Without a doubt, this person was the author I was looking for.

I didn’t waste any time. I patted the author on the shoulder, then crossed my arms and looked at him leisurely.

The author first frowned impatiently and turned his head, seemingly wanting to see who was disturbing him. But then his body suddenly stiffened. He remembered that this was his bedroom, and logically, there should be no one else besides him.

Who could sneak into his room without a sound? A ghost?

In just a moment, the author felt cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. But his body had already turned, and it was definitely not okay to turn back to cover it up. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and raise his eyes, looking at the strange yet familiar golden-haired boy who had suddenly appeared behind him.

Seeing the author’s dumbfounded expression, I asked with a malicious smile, “Do you know who I am?”

While speaking, I was also observing this face that was three parts similar to Jiang Tianming’s.

To be honest, I didn’t expect the author to look somewhat like Jiang Tianming. But on second thought, it was understandable. Jiang Tianming was the first protagonist created by the author. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was the author’s own son. It was perfectly fine for the two of them to look a bit alike.

I estimated that the author was probably around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. This age was still considered young for a manga artist, at least younger than I had imagined. I had thought he would be an uncle in his forties.

Although he looked a bit like Jiang Tianming, he looked much more ordinary overall. It was a very common face that would be lost in a crowd.

After seeing his appearance, unexpectedly yet reasonably, the author quickly calmed down and said hesitantly, “Su Bei?”

With such a distinctive personal style, it was hard for the author who was drawing this character not to guess who this person was.

To be honest, his first reaction was that a die-hard Su Bei fan had cosplayed as Su Bei to put him in a sack.

But he quickly realized that he had never revealed his personal information online. Even if fans wanted to find him, they couldn’t. Besides, how could a cosplay be so realistic? Hair, eyes, and clothes could be faked, but this face couldn’t be faked, right?

A face that was as handsome as a super-popular person, and was seven or eight parts similar to the Su Bei in the manga. He wasn’t someone who was completely ignorant of the manga world, so he immediately had a guess in his heart.

“It’s me.” Seeing that he could guess, I asked directly, “Do you know why I’m here to find you?”

“No, the more important question now is how you got out, right?” The author, who had finally come to his senses at this time, asked in a somewhat broken voice, “How could you come out in physical form? Has this world betrayed me?”

As an author, and a very popular one at that, he knew a lot about the world of his work. The matter of a character coming from a small world to the real world, like me, a character who was completely out of the author’s control, was rare, but not unheard of.

Because a character like me had appeared in his work, he had studied many related cases, and thus had learned a lot of niche knowledge about the world of the work, so he naturally reacted quickly.

As far as he knew, for a character to come to the real world, they had to have the consent of the world’s consciousness. And the world consciousness of a work was generally inseparable from the author, equivalent to a projection of the author’s consciousness.

Now that his own projection had betrayed him, how could he accept it?

The reason why he said the other party had betrayed him was of course because I had come out in physical form. If I had come out as a phantom, the author would not have been worried. But coming out in physical form, this made him have to worry about his own safety?

Understanding his subtext, I immediately sneered. I wrapped my left hand around my clenched right hand and twisted them to warm up my muscles. “It seems you also know what kind of bastard things you’ve done.”

If he didn’t feel guilty, an author normally wouldn’t be so afraid of a character from his work coming to the real world. Even if the other party was an unexpected character like him.

After all, unless it was someone who had broken through the world, those who could be released by the world consciousness must be people it believed would not harm the author. After all, if the author died, this work would most likely be doomed.

But when the author clearly knew that I was released by the “Manga Consciousness,” he was still trembling with fear. It could be seen that he was self-aware and knew what kind of immoral things he had done, which was why he was so afraid of me.

Sure enough, after I said this, the author immediately looked away, showing a somewhat guilty expression.

I nodded in satisfaction. “Then I’m relieved. It just so happens that I don’t have time to explain.”

After saying that, I threw a punch.

“Ah—”

Facts proved that even without strong physical fitness, ability, and mental power, it was a piece of cake for me to beat up a deadbeat otaku. I didn’t even use much force, and I had already beaten the author to a pulp on the ground.

I also didn’t break my promise to the “Manga Consciousness.” I didn’t cause any internal injuries or injuries that would take a long time to recover from, and I also deliberately avoided his hands. Only this face, left hook, right hook, uppercut, down punch, elbow strike, kick… it could be said that I had experienced all kinds of methods.

“So weak.” After hitting for ten minutes, I knew something bad would happen if I continued. I threw him to the ground with a back throw, and then sat on the author’s back with a big grin.

Hitting an ordinary person was really boring. Not only was there no fun in fighting, but I couldn’t even use my full strength. Even though I had become an ordinary person, my original strength was still very great. Coupled with sufficient skills, if I really used my full strength, I was afraid that the author would be beaten to death directly.

“Ouch! You… hiss! How dare you hit me? I’m… hiss! I’m the manga author!” the author roared with gritted teeth, but it was hard for people to be afraid of him like this.

I said nonchalantly, “If you want to break the contract and retaliate against me, I’ll let your protagonist retire early.”

Just as I had said before, the author would not destroy this manga, so it was impossible for him to act against me under my threat. Otherwise, it would be very easy to lose more than he gained.

After giving the author a thorough beating and seeing his bruised, swollen, pig-like face, I felt completely refreshed—like all the gloom I’d been bottling up for so long had finally disappeared.

“I… hiss!” The author was about to speak when he sucked in a breath of cold air because of the wound at the corner of his mouth, but he still forced himself to finish his words, “I won’t… hiss! I won’t go back on my word… hiss!”

He was a man of principle. He would not go back on a decision he had made. What’s more, he had just screwed me over. Although the other party was an unexpected character, this was also an unprovoked disaster. Although the author was very angry about being beaten, he felt it was understandable and not so unprincipled as to go back on his word.

I raised an eyebrow. “Then the ‘Manga Consciousness’ really doesn’t know you well enough. It was scared to death.”

“Didn’t it let you come even though it was scared to death?” After a short pause, probably feeling better, he said mockingly, “We’re even now. You’d better not hang around in my manga so much in the future.”

“You think I want to?” I retorted without any courtesy. “And what the hell are we even about? Did I put you to death multiple times too? Besides, I was the one who came up with the method to completely eliminate the Nightmare Beasts. I was the one who won the bet. Don’t you think you owe me a lot?”

This hit the nail on the head. The author was in the wrong. From his eyes, which could only be narrowed into a slit from being swollen, a hint of complaint could be seen. He muttered in a low voice, “Why did the world’s consciousness tell you everything?”

Soon he cheered up. “If you want to participate in the upcoming plot, I can accept it, as long as…”

“I want to have an immortal gold medal and a tailor-made growth plan for me while participating in the plot,” I said without hesitation, sensing his guilt.

The author immediately refused. A lazy person like him couldn’t possibly do such a troublesome thing. “Aren’t you being too much?”

Instantly understanding his bottom line, I said pretentiously, “Then I’ll reluctantly just take the death-exemption gold medal.”

I could handle the growth plan myself. The death-exemption gold medal was the necessity.

“This is your real purpose, isn’t it…” The author showed a dead fish eye, but he also knew that he indeed owed me a big favor. It would have been fine if I had stayed in the manga, but now I had come to the real world to collect the debt. It was a bit against his principles not to agree.

“Alright, I agree. Can you get lost now?” After accepting his request, the author said angrily. He now only hoped that I could immediately roll back to the manga and give him a quiet writing space.

Getting a satisfactory answer, I got up from him and looked at the time. “I can still stay here for more than half an hour. Take me out for a walk.”

“Me?” The author didn’t need to look to know what he looked like now. “You’re dreaming.”

He would never go out with this face.

It was expected. I didn’t make things difficult for him. “Then I’ll go out for a walk by myself. Are there any precautions?”

Before the author could reply, he warned again, “You’d better think carefully before you speak. If I break the law outside, I’ll report you immediately.”

Author: “…”

This threat was indeed effective. Letting a character from a work out without prior reporting was something that required a prison sentence.

Thinking about the worldview in 《King of Abilities》, he quickly thought of something he had to remind me of. “After you go out, don’t touch anything that might carry a work, such as a TV, screen, game console… these might suck you in.”