Chapter 303 - A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

### Chapter 303 The birth of elemental Nightmare Beasts has a connection to the Nightmare Beast world—what does this mean? Su Bei's expression was one of puzzlement as he reread the answer. The response came directly from the mouth of a Nightmare Beast, so regardless of the method, its accuracy should be somewhat guaranteed. According to this information, an increase in earth-element Nightmare Beasts implies a greater need for earth elements in the Nightmare Beast world. But why? Isn't earth the most abundant element in their world already? The vast lands and the floating meteorites all consist of earth elements. With so much earth around, logically, the Nightmare Beast world should need earth elements the least. So why do so many earth-element Nightmare Beasts emerge? Is there an issue with the earth, or with the meteorites? Su Bei felt he had a faint grasp on the crux of the problem, yet the mist clouding his clarity refused to dissipate. Never mind, he thought, I'll wait until I've met Gao Di Anzhuo in Yafei country to discuss this further. He didn't intend to puzzle over it now since any conclusions he might draw would lack solid evidence. In the afternoon, a notification from "Manga Awareness" suddenly chimed in Su Bei's ear—the manga had updated. He felt invigorated; this meant that Jiang Tianming and the others had likely dealt with danger and would be returning soon. After quickly finishing the last bits of his meal, Su Bei hurried to his room to open his phone. Although "Manga Awareness" allowed him to read manga outside, he felt most at ease doing so in his own room. Perhaps because a week had passed, the author had no plans to drag things out further. The manga began immediately in the Nightmare Beast world. Seeing the black, white, and gray world depicted in the manga, Su Bei sighed silently. It had happened—the result he feared the most: the "Black Lightning" organization was collaborating with the Nightmare Beasts. If it weren’t a collaboration, the "Black Lightning" organization, having interfered in the teleportation, would never have allowed Jiang Tianming and the others to be teleported to the Nightmare Beast world. Once teleported there, even "Black Lightning" couldn't touch them. The Saisbill government was not simply sitting idle; they'd imposed numerous restrictions on the illusion realm, one being the prohibition of teleportation. Although the Nightmare Beasts, with "Black Lightning's" help, managed to teleport the contestants to the Nightmare Beast world, precise teleportation wasn’t possible. They could only be randomly sent to a location, leaving it up to luck whether they were found or managed to escape. However, the Nightmare Beasts were not worried; the Nightmare Beast world was their home turf. They believed they’d find Jiang Tianming and the others before they discovered a way back. Moreover, Jiang Tianming and his team weren’t teleported together, making it easier to deal with them one by one. Meanwhile, Jiang Tianming's side started evading and hiding, each contestant leveraging their extensive knowledge to regroup, hide, and find a way back from the Nightmare Beast world. After outlining their predicament briefly, the scene shifted to the real world, beginning with Su Bei falling out and meeting Qi Huang. "I knew Su Bei wasn't caught up in the teleportation!" "Hahaha, how did he get out of the illusion realm early?" "Su Bei is truly the number one escape artist." "Fortunately, he left; getting teleported to the Nightmare Beast world would’ve been a disaster." "Jiang Jiang and the others must regret not sticking with Su Bei. Had they gone with him, they might have been safe now." That possibility didn't exist, Su Bei thought as he shook his head at the comments. If they had followed him, the result would have been everyone being teleported, with none returning safely with him. Su Bei skimmed through the rest of the story quickly, as the narrative split into concurrent arcs in the Nightmare Beast world and the real world due to the group's dispersion. In the real world, the focus was on the investigations by "Infinite Superpower Academy" and the siege on "Saint Danding Superpower Academy." As for the Nightmare Beast world, Su Bei was uninterested in the event itself but keen on the connection with the "Black Lightning" organization. As the protagonist, Jiang Tianming resolved his curiosity. During a battle with an Advanced Nightmare Beast, he inadvertently discovered a "Black Lightning" organization device on it. This device had been used against him before by the "Black Lightning" organization, documented in the manga. Having suffered significantly from it, Jiang Tianming remembered it vividly. How did such a device end up in the hands of a Nightmare Beast? Could they have stolen it from the organization? Jiang Tianming's confusion was expressed through text in the manga, sparking reader discussions. Especially since readers and Jiang Tianming had the advantage of a god's-eye view, knowing the real-world plot, their opinions on the matter were naturally more accurate. "The 'Black Lightning' organization must be involved; the information obtained by Sebia wasn't false." "Something feels off." "I thought the 'Black Lightning' might rescue Jiang Jiang and the others or disrupt the Nightmare Beasts' plans, but now..." "No way, did 'Black Lightning' collaborate with the Nightmare Beasts?" "The 'Black Lightning' organization likely helped, such as making it harder for the Nightmare Beasts to find everyone immediately." No, Su Bei believed that "Black Lightning" was indeed collaborating with the Nightmare Beasts. Otherwise, with their power, they wouldn't have allowed the contestants to fall into the Nightmare Beast world to their disadvantage. Interestingly, neither the readers nor the protagonists had considered that "Black Lightning" would team up with the Nightmare Beasts. Even Jiang Tianming was merely puzzled. The crucial point, as noted by the comments, was that the "Black Lightning" organization could easily explain their actions. Even if questioned about their contribution, they could claim they deliberately scattered the group to avoid a clean sweep or altered the teleportation locations. They had plausible explanations for everything, making it difficult to be suspected. If the "Black Lightning" leverages this information disparity well, they could catch humanity and the Nightmare Beasts off guard during conflict. Nevertheless, the author must have their plans, and Su Bei didn’t intend to intervene. He merely reminded himself to be more cautious of the "Black Lightning" organization in the future. If before, Su Bei was confident they wouldn't target a potentially cooperative member of the "Fate" organization, now he wasn’t so sure. A "Black Lightning" organization collaborating with Nightmare Beasts wouldn’t retain any human partners. Continuing the manga, the protagonist group came together, drawn by their protagonist aura, with each member bringing along a few comrades. Although only first-year students, Jiang Tianming and his team showed maturity and crisis-handling skills superior to many senior students, naturally becoming leaders of their small teams. Once everyone was gathered, Lan Subing surprisingly brought out Lei Ze'en's teleportation talisman. Everyone was shocked, especially Jiang Tianming, who knew what it was: "How did you get this?" What followed was a conversation that made Su Bei laugh. Lan Subing revealed that she had acquired the teleportation talisman after seeing Su Bei use one during the final exams. Thinking it might be useful, she had privately requested one from a teacher, specifically a group use version. They had been unable to use it due to the Nightmare Beasts nullifying teleportation-type artifacts back then. Yet, unexpectedly, now it found its use. Everyone rejoiced, for with this tool, they could safely return as long as they found the rest of the students. Even Su Bei didn't foresee the artifact would be utilized by the protagonist team in such a manner, especially an upgraded version. With this tool, their worry about returning was resolved. However, in accordance with narrative equilibrium theory, if the difficulty didn't lie in the escape, then it must appear elsewhere. As expected, they soon encountered two problems: how to locate other students in the vastness of the Nightmare Beast world and the time-consuming nature of group teleportation talismans, requiring at least five minutes to automatically engrave the teleportation circle. Although five minutes might not seem long, trying to find others would inevitably draw Nightmare Beasts towards them. The intensity of defending against such foes would make every second feel like an eternity. Without prior preparation, five minutes could result in their demise. Moreover, they couldn't pre-activate the talisman, only beginning the setup half a minute before the final group arrived. Jiang Tianming quickly organized his team, dividing them by their abilities. Half would search for lost contestants, while the other half prepared defenses, aiming to hold out for five minutes to ensure everyone's safe return. The task of locating others fell to Wu Mingbai, whose formidable [Earth Element] allowed him to communicate with the terrain, plainly revealing any nearby humans. This skill not only helped find humans but also avoided Nightmare Beasts, proving indispensable for their expedition. Though it was evident that using this ability was quite challenging for Wu Mingbai—currently, he could only communicate with pure soil, not even stones. Although stones are technically part of the earth element, Wu Mingbai's ability wasn't yet strong enough to interact with them; he could only communicate with pure earth elements. Despite the stumbling journey, Wu Mingbai managed to successfully lead his teammates to gather everyone. The defense aspect fell to Jiang Tianming, who showcased yet another new ability he acquired at the Sacred Land of Vissi—his first-ever defensive ability. Named [Gambler's Protection], this ability was quite extraordinary. The user could expend a certain amount of mental power to create a shield. The attacker had to guess how much mental power the user expended. The closer the guess was to the actual amount, the weaker the shield's defense; if guessed accurately, the shield would fail completely. Conversely, the larger the discrepancy, the more effective the shield would be. A clever attacker might choose 50 as the number, ensuring that the chosen mental power would never deviate significantly from 50, resulting in a moderately effective shield. However, the Nightmare Beasts were audacious; they made wild guesses! Their reasoning was that Jiang Tianming wouldn't use all his mental power for everyone's defense, preserving much for his own safety. This logic might have applied to others, but Jiang Tianming wasn't an ordinary opponent. He predicted their strategy and boldly used 99% of his mental power to build the shield. The vast discrepancy between the numbers rendered the shield's defense incomparable, allowing everyone to endure the five-minute wait and escape the Nightmare Beast world together. The manga concluded with Wu Mingbai carrying the unconscious, mentally exhausted Jiang Tianming in a princess carry, alongside the entire group appearing on the "Infinite Superpower Academy" field. Raising an eyebrow at the final scene, Su Bei stood and walked out. During the summer break, the academy naturally had few students present; therefore, even a sudden surge of people on the field didn't stir much of a commotion. Upon reaching the field, Su Bei saw a group of people sitting disheveled on the grass, with Si Zhaohua at the forefront making a call, presumably to Meng Huai or Teacher Li. "Professor Meng is probably unreachable these days, better to contact Teacher Li or someone else," Su Bei casually strolled over, raising his voice to the group. Recently, Meng Huai had been causing trouble for the "Black Lightning" organization, trying to locate Jiang Tianming and the others through this channel, which was why he hadn't shown up at the academy. When Su Bei considered returning, he had tried calling Meng Huai, only to find he couldn't get through, prompting this advice. Hearing his voice, Si Zhaohua and the others looked up in surprise, "Su Bei! What are you doing here?" "I couldn't leave until you all came back," Su Bei shrugged, returning to the original topic, "You needn’t make the call; Professor Lei should be on his way soon." When he used the teleportation talisman to return to the academy, Lei Ze'en called immediately, so there was no reason why he wouldn’t know when they returned. "Jiang's phone is ringing!" Wu Mingbai suddenly exclaimed, signaling Lan Subing next to him to retrieve Jiang Tianming's phone from his pocket, as he was still holding him. Lan Subing took the phone from Jiang Tianming's pocket, deftly unlocked it, and answered, "Teacher Lei? Yes! We've all returned! Su Bei? He's already here. Alright, see you soon." After a brief conversation, she hung up and said to everyone, "Su Bei was right; the teacher will be here shortly. He suggested that we make ourselves comfortable in the meantime." Seeing the group lying exhausted, famished, and parched, Su Bei thought for a moment and politely suggested, "Let's head to the cafeteria. Even though meals aren't served at this hour, the snack shop is still open." Everyone nodded at this suggestion. They knew they had been teleported to the "Infinite Superpower Academy". As one of the world’s most renowned superpower academies, the security here was reassuring. While in the Nightmare Beast world, their heightened state of alertness had masked their physical needs. Now that they were safe, they realized just how parched they were. It had been four full days since the second round began. They had spent the initial days hiding and skirmishing with any Nightmare Beasts crossing their path. The last two days were spent regrouping and fighting the final battle against the Nightmare Beasts. They couldn't rely solely on Jiang Tianming’s shield for defense; proactive offense was imperative. Each of these tasks heavily drained their strength, and the Nightmare Beast world was no place for rest or adequate supplies. Food wasn't too much of an issue; most Nightmare Beast meat was edible. Even consuming it raw was somewhat acceptable for these trained high school seniors. Water, however, was a different story. Where in the Nightmare Beast world could you find a normal water source? In fact, there were very few rivers; the one they did find was polluted by the Nightmare Beasts. If not for a few water-based abilities users, they might have died of thirst before the fifth day. Each person bought a bottle of water, tipping their heads back to guzzle the contents like thirsty buffaloes. It took two bottles per person to quench their thirst adequately. During this time, Su Bei briefly recounted the events outside during their absence. Nothing major had occurred except the entire superpower community searching for them and the "Black Lightning" organization's involvement in the illusion realm's teleportation. As for Mu Yunfan and the disbandment of the "Saint Danding Superpower Academy," since these matters only concerned "Infinite Superpower Academy" students, Su Bei found it pointless to discuss irrelevant details in front of so many outsiders. Just as he finished, Teacher Lei arrived, not alone, but with the principal, Wu Di. Upon arriving and seeing the students, Wu Di responsibly stated, "I've already contacted your schools; they’ll be here shortly." Indeed, the group sighed with relief upon hearing this. While the Infinite Academy provided assurance, their own schools offered the comfort of familiarity. Having finally escaped danger, they longed to see their own teachers again. After calming them, Wu Di called forth the academy's students to inquire about their experiences over the past days. Upon learning they had been to the Nightmare Beast world, both Wu Di and Lei Ze'en furrowed their brows. "Wasn't the 'Black Lightning' organization involved?" Lei Ze'en asked, puzzled. "I thought they'd take the students away." Having faced them multiple times, he thought he understood "Black Lightning." Their actions this time were certainly unexpected. Was it a miscalculation? "We'll know once we ask," Wu Di replied, turning to Si Zhaohua, "You must be aware of 'Black Lightning’s' involvement. Did you encounter anything related to them?" Before Si Zhaohua could respond, Wu Mingbai spoke up, "Jiang said he saw an item in a Nightmare Beast's possession previously only in the hands of 'Black Lightning' members." "Was this item unique to 'Black Lightning'?" Wu Di asked. Wu Mingbai hesitantly nodded. "We never saw it in any books, so it must be something they developed." "I see..." Wu Di appeared pensive. Nearby, Lei Ze'en, intrigued, remarked, "Looks like their operatives slipped up, leaving their tools with the Nightmare Beasts. Seems their tactics have declined after being idle for so long." Ignoring this comment, Wu Di looked at Jiang Tianming, whom Wu Mingbai had laid on a cafeteria bench, "Is Jiang Tianming suffering from mental exhaustion? Let's send him to the... Never mind, I'll do it myself." His appearance changed subtly, with his ears becoming pointed, hair turning silvery, and skin taking on a faint green hue. Green light radiated from his hands as he scanned Jiang Tianming from head to toe. As the green light retracted, Jiang Tianming surprisingly awoke. Everyone was taken aback. Wu Di's apparent use of a healing ability, specifically a powerful mental recovery technique for superhumans, was unexpected. As the world’s strongest superhuman, Wu Di wasn’t expected to have a healing power. "A multi-ability superhuman," Si Zhaohua clicked his tongue, glancing between the principal and Jiang Tianming. As the heir of the Si family, he knew Wu Di's abilities, deliberately kept from the public, couldn’t be hidden from him. At least the fact that Wu Di was a multi-ability superhuman was widely known among those in the know. However, even as a healer, such a stunning ability to fully restore depleted mental energy was enough to astound. For superhumans, mental power was akin to a mana pool, intricately tied to their life force. In other words, having someone who could replenish mental energy on hand was akin to carrying a massive health pack, making them highly coveted in any team. And that was just one of Wu Di's abilities; no wonder he was hailed as the strongest superhuman. Su Bei was well aware of Wu Di's abilities. [Bloodline] was inherently an ability capable of manifesting multiple powers. Typically, abilities deemed worthy of being passed down as a "bloodline" were quite powerful, meaning Wu Di's manifested abilities were of guaranteed quality. He couldn't help but feel envious once again. Unfortunately, such an ability couldn’t be replicated, especially since the protagonist group already had a multi-ability superhuman—none other than Jiang Tianming, the male lead of the manga. Su Bei was certain that if he had crafted a similar ability for himself, resulting in overlapping powers with Jiang Tianming, the forums would instantly brand him a royalist and verbally eviscerate him. In such a scenario, not only wouldn't he make progress through the forums, but it would be fortunate if the readers didn't metaphorically douse him in oil. Since it would take some time for the various schoolteachers to arrive here from their respective countries, and with the teachers having already made arrangements, Su Bei decided not to linger. Standing up and slipping his hands into his pockets, he asked, "Teachers, can I leave now? I mean, go home from the academy." To his surprise, Wu Di was agreeable, "Of course you can, but could we chat for a bit before that?" A favor for a favor. Since his request to go home had been granted, Su Bei couldn't refuse a simple chat. As they were about to leave, Jiang Tianming called out to Su Bei, "Don't leave right away; we'll wait for you in the classroom." Why are they waiting for me? Su Bei wondered internally, following the principal to his office. Wu Di studied him for a moment before his face lit up with curiosity, "Do you know the leader of the 'Fate' organization? You know, the one always cloaked in black robes?" Su Bei's expression turned subtly awkward at this question. Was this how the principal referred to him in private? Although he did always wear a hooded cloak, he had expected a bit more respect. After a brief pause, Su Bei nodded, "I suppose you could say I do." After all, he knew himself. There was nothing wrong with that.