A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 281

Very reckless behavior, but it was surprisingly within Su Bei’s expectations. If the protagonist group didn’t stir up trouble, they wouldn’t be the protagonist group. Wu Mingbai wanting to secretly stay behind was completely unexpected yet somehow made sense.

But being expected didn’t mean it was acceptable. Mu Tieren immediately refused, saying very seriously: “No way, staying here behind the teachers’ backs doesn’t even guarantee your safety. I’ll keep an eye on you and make sure you come back with us.”

As soon as he spoke, Wu Mingbai realized he’d miscalculated. He forgot this topic should’ve been avoided in front of Mu Tieren. Saying it in his presence—how could that possibly work? The Class Monitor was the one who valued rules the most.

Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets. Mu Tieren was clearly determined to keep a tight watch on Wu Mingbai, and even if the others wanted to help, they had no way to intervene. Everyone gave him a helpless look and decisively gave up on assisting.

But protagonists are protagonists, after all. Seeing that sneaky methods wouldn’t work, Wu Mingbai stubbornly pestered Wu Jin and got in touch with the principal, then somehow obtained the principal’s approval, allowing him to stay openly.

No one knew how he convinced the principal. When they learned he could stay, everyone was shocked. Some even regretted not making a fuss with him—maybe they could’ve stayed too.

But no matter what they thought, those who had to leave still had to leave. The efficiency of Endless Ability Academy was high. In just twenty minutes, all the students had completely evacuated.

Back in class, Meng Huai was already waiting inside. Having a friend as a team leader, he got news faster than other teachers and already knew what had happened in the Nightmare Beast world.

Seeing everyone walk into the classroom dejectedly, he didn’t offer any comfort, just got straight to the point: “Except for Qi Huang, everyone else’s final exams need to be retaken. The exam questions will be announced in three days. Prepare yourselves mentally.”

This topic indeed drew some of their attention. With bitter faces, Ai Baozhu couldn’t help but say: “But we’ve already completed half of it.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. Because the five of them worked together harmoniously, their task progress was lightning fast. They had already bled over two hundred Nightmare Beasts—a significant workload. So when she heard they had to retake the exam, Ai Baozhu’s reaction was particularly intense.

“If it’s not fully completed, it doesn’t count.” Facing Ai Baozhu’s complaint, Meng Huai remained unmoved. “Even Wu Mingbai, who finished his exam, has to retake it, doesn’t he?”

Speaking of this, everyone was a bit curious: “Yeah, teacher, why does he have to retake it too?”

Even Qi Huang was exempt, so logically, Wu Mingbai shouldn’t have to retake it either.

Meng Huai answered: “Because not all the Earth Element examinees finished their exams. For the sake of convenient scoring and ranking, everyone in the Earth Element department has to retake it.”

Poor Wu Mingbai. The others immediately had no objections. If even someone like Wu Mingbai, who had finished his exam, had to retake it, what did their complaints matter?

“Alright, you’re probably tired, right? You can leave now. Tomorrow’s a day off.” Waving his hand, Meng Huai shooed everyone out of the classroom.

Everyone exchanged glances, and Su Bei was the first to slip away. This time, no one stopped him; everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

Heading straight to the Point System Cafeteria to eat, Su Bei returned to the dorm and opened his phone. Originally, he planned to wait until both manga updates were out before reading, but since he had plenty of time now, checking it out wouldn’t hurt.

As usual, the manga started with them receiving news about the final exams. The cultural exam content wasn’t a big focus—after all, it was an Ability-centered manga. In fact, Su Bei was already surprised that Endless Ability Academy even had cultural exams. It gave off a logical beauty that didn’t quite fit the manga’s tone.

This time, the author didn’t directly show their report cards but hinted at their approximate rankings through the dialogue of a few characters later on.

“So the exam rankings this time are Si Zhaohua, Qi Huang, Su Bei, Lan Subing?”

“Hahahahaha, what a turn of the wheel of fate!”

“As expected, Young Master Si is number one in everything!”

“Every time I see Su Bei’s grades so high, I feel conflicted. I thought he was a delinquent.”

“No Mo Xiaotian at the bottom this time, sigh.”

For the Ability exams that followed, Su Bei originally thought the only highlight would be the segment about Wu Mingbai’s Earth Element exam, but unexpectedly, the author included another useful piece of content.

[“Principal, isn’t this too dangerous?” Director Li’s glasses glinted with a cold light. “If you don’t give me a reasonable explanation, I won’t agree to let the students go to the Nightmare Beast world for their final exam.” Wu Di sat in his chair, not angered by her refusal. He was just hesitating, hesitating whether to reveal the real reason.

Having worked with him for years, Director Li easily saw through his hesitation and pressed on: “Don’t tell me it’s because they’re about to graduate and need to experience danger early. That’s the Nightmare Beasts’ territory! No matter how well we prepare, there’s still a chance the Nightmare Beasts will find a loophole. If a student really gets hurt in the Nightmare Beast world, who will bear the loss and the blame?”]

Graduating students dying during final exams—even signing a life-and-death agreement beforehand wouldn’t quell the parents’ anger. Besides, even disregarding the academy’s reputation, she didn’t think it was necessary to send these students to the Nightmare Beast world for their final exams.

Seeing her resolute gaze, clearly unwilling to back down without an answer, Wu Di sighed helplessly and revealed the truth: “Fine, I wanted to use them to test, without alerting the Nightmare Beasts, what method is most likely to clear the Meteorite fragments in the Nightmare Beast world.”]

As expected, just as Su Bei thought, Endless Ability Academy went to great lengths to send them to the Nightmare Beast world for the exam, and the real purpose was indeed this.

If they sent adult Ability Users to test, the High-Level Nightmare Beasts would definitely notice something was off after discovering them. In Su Bei’s setting, High-Level Nightmare Beasts knew this secret.

Testing under the pretext of final exams was far more reasonable. While it would attract the Nightmare Beasts’ attention, it wouldn’t raise their suspicion. It was essentially trading the students’ safety for a chance to completely eliminate the Nightmare Beasts.

At this point, the comments were buzzing.

“So that’s why they suddenly had to go to the Nightmare Beast world for the final exam.”

“This testing method is pretty clever.”

“What if a student really dies? They can’t just treat students’ lives as disposable to eliminate Nightmare Beasts!”

“Life-and-death agreement? Does that thing even have legal weight?”

“I actually think it’s kind of worth it…”

The readers’ discussions didn’t affect the manga’s progression. The examinees soon entered the Nightmare Beast world. For fairness and to pad the content, the author depicted the exams in several testing grounds. Su Bei wasn’t interested in the others and flipped directly to the one with Wu Mingbai.

As the setting for the main storyline’s foreshadowing, this segment had the most pages. The author not only depicted Wu Mingbai’s exam process but also specifically included some minor characters.

Wu Mingbai, as he had shown at the time, used [Earth Element] to condense the surrounding gravel and dust, forming large chunks before tossing them aside. This method indeed tested multitasking skills, requiring a small portion of Ability to be diverted to this task while fighting Nightmare Beasts.

Other students’ methods were varied and bizarre. Some used Earth Element Abilities to create armor around themselves, protecting their bodies so no dust could get close. This method passed the exam but didn’t contribute to the academy’s true goal.

Among the methods shown in the manga, three were truly useful for clearing Meteorite fragments, including Wu Mingbai’s.

The other two were: increasing the ground’s adsorption of the Meteorites, making them stick to the surface so they wouldn’t cling to Ability Users.

On the surface, this didn’t seem useful for clearing Meteorites—after all, making them stick to the ground wasn’t the same as making them disappear. But if the ground could be given stronger Meteorite adsorption capabilities, couldn’t other objects be given the same?

If they could clear Meteorites by traversing the Nightmare Beast world, though troublesome and time-consuming, it wasn’t entirely unfeasible.

Notably, this was similar to a method used by a Special Track student. Their method of bleeding Nightmare Beasts was to directly drain their blood using [Black Hole] Ability, instantly sucking it dry. By keeping the Ability active while traversing the Nightmare Beast world, they could also clear Meteorites completely. However, Nightmare Beasts wouldn’t easily let them succeed.

The third method was to transform the dust and gravel into something else, altering their internal structure to turn them into another substance. The exam rules said no dust or gravel could get close, but they didn’t say anything about glass.

The girl’s solution in the manga was indeed novel, making Su Bei raise an eyebrow. If Meteorite fragments could be transformed into other minerals, wouldn’t that count as clearing them?

The biggest advantage of this method was that, if done properly, they could swap out all the Meteorites without the Nightmare Beasts noticing. At least for a long time, the Nightmare Beasts wouldn’t detect anything amiss.

Most importantly, Wu Mingbai could use all three methods. As someone with the most fundamental Element Ability [Earth Element], he was a jack-of-all-trades in matters related to Earth Element, able to dabble in any method.

Seeing the author earnestly laying foreshadowing for completely eliminating Nightmare Beasts, Su Bei finally felt at ease. As long as the author was committed, completing this task wouldn’t be difficult.

With the main storyline of eliminating Nightmare Beasts on track, Su Bei started considering his own issues. His main hesitation now was whether to actively join this storyline.

There was a good way to judge whether to do it: through the author’s attitude. Knowing the author didn’t want him to have an easy time, he’d just do whatever the author didn’t want him to do.

But in this case, Su Bei couldn’t discern the author’s attitude. If the author didn’t want him involved, the Special Track exam questions were clearly somewhat special, seeming tied to the main storyline. If the author wanted him involved, Jiang Tianming and the others’ disappearance had nothing to do with him.

He’d wait until the next manga chapter updated, Su Bei thought, in no rush, not even bothering to open the forum. This chapter’s plot couldn’t have any special discoveries for readers, and it had little to do with him, so there was no need to check.

Until 11 p.m., when Su Bei was getting ready for bed, the “Manga Consciousness” notification sounded again—the second chapter of the manga had finally updated. Su Bei, who was already a bit sleepy, instantly perked up, leaned against the pillow, and pulled out his phone to read.

The author didn’t waste time and started drawing from when Jiang Tianming and the others were kidnapped.

Su Bei had been curious about how they managed to secure an escape route with High-Level Nightmare Beasts watching them closely outside. After reading the manga, he realized it was largely due to Wu Jin’s [Succubus] Ability.

Reacting swiftly, Wu Jin activated his Ability the moment they were forced out of the Barrier. The [Succubus] Ability, without prior Mental Energy protection, would enchant anyone, no matter how high their Mental Energy, though the duration varied.

The moment he enchanted all the Nightmare Beasts, Wu Jin used a small escape combo, activating a group No Presence skill, leading everyone to flee.

Of course, returning directly to the Barrier wasn’t possible. The Nightmare Beasts had planned ahead, and the moment they were driven out, a High-Level Nightmare Beast used a counter-curse on the Barrier, making it impossible to re-enter for a short time.

With no other choice, the group relied on Wu Jin’s No Presence to slip away under the Nightmare Beasts’ noses.

But the Nightmare Beasts weren’t fools. Knowing they couldn’t return, they soon spotted their tracks outside and sent several High-Level Nightmare Beasts to pursue them.

Fortunately, they didn’t take Jiang Tianming and the others too seriously, only sending a few Nightmare Beasts. If all the High-Level Nightmare Beasts had come out in full force, no matter how skilled Jiang Tianming and the others were, they’d be dead.

After escaping some distance, the scene shifted to Su Bei. When they saw Su Bei pull out his phone and call Jiang Tianming and the others, not only Ai Baozhu and the others but even the readers were stunned.

“You can make phone calls in the Nightmare Beast world? That’s a bit ridiculous.”

“Bad review, not manga-like at all!”

“Hahahahaha, sorry, it’s kind of funny.”

“Seeing Baozhu and the others shocked too makes me feel better.”

“What a convenient phone! Can I have one too? I really need it.”

After briefly showing them for some screen time, the plot returned to Jiang Tianming. Dodging and running, fighting while retreating, they held out for a long time.

But this couldn’t last. Their Mental Energy would eventually run out, while Nightmare Beasts in their world had near-infinite energy. In a pure battle of attrition, even Low-Level Nightmare Beasts could outlast them.

So they had to quickly find a place to settle and wait for the teachers to pick them up.

This required teamwork. Zhou Renjie first swallowed Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, and Li Shu with his Ability. Inside his stomach, Jiang Tianming used his nullification Ability, making any Nightmare Beast’s lock on Zhou Renjie ineffective.

Li Shu created an Illusion in advance, using Fake People inside to distract the Nightmare Beasts, helping everyone escape. Relying on Wu Jin’s No Presence to maximize Zhou Renjie’s concealment, they finally slipped out of the Nightmare Beasts’ sight and found a place without Nightmare Beasts.

The manga then shifted to Wu Mingbai, starting from when he decided to stay behind to wait for Jiang Tianming and the others. Through this segment, Su Bei finally learned how he convinced Principal Wu Di.

Wu Mingbai’s persuasion was straightforward. He said he was the one who knew Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing best. If something happened and they left a secret signal, he’d be the only one who could understand it. If he wasn’t there and the academy missed Jiang Tianming’s hints, losing the best rescue opportunity, wouldn’t that be a huge loss?

“Hahahahaha, nice reasoning.”

“You can tell Mingbai racked his brains for that excuse.”

“He could’ve returned to the academy but insisted on staying. The trio’s friendship is the best!”

“Feels like Mingbai’s about to jinx it…”

“Something bad won’t happen next door, will it?”

“Principal, just agree already. Our protagonist group has to stick together!”

Say what you will, Su Bei also felt Wu Mingbai was about to jinx it. If he hadn’t brought it up, it might’ve been fine, but now that he did, something was likely to go wrong. If nothing happened to Jiang Tianming and the others, wouldn’t it make his staying behind seem pointless?

Fast-forwarding through the others’ evacuation, Jiang Tianming’s call came an hour after they left. Hearing they’d found a safe spot and could be picked up, Lei Ze’en and the others were thrilled. Heaven knows how agonizing that time was, fearing the call wouldn’t come and they’d get news of the students’ deaths.

Following the coordinates on Jiang Tianming’s phone, Lei Ze’en quickly set up a teleportation array. Under the watchful eyes of the High-Level Nightmare Beasts, he swiftly removed the Barrier and teleported everyone away at the same time.

It looked easy, but in Su Bei’s eyes, it was extremely risky. Those Nightmare Beasts weren’t pushovers. If Lei Ze’en’s Ability wasn’t stable enough or his hands weren’t fast enough, the moment the Barrier was removed, they’d have been intercepted, forced into a big fight.

Fortunately, they escaped smoothly, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But to their surprise, when they arrived, Jiang Tianming and the others were nowhere to be found, leaving only a phone on the ground.

“What’s going on?” Lei Ze’en frowned, a trace of worry in his eyes. He picked up the phone and asked while trying to open it, “Where are they?”

The phone had a lock screen password and wouldn’t open. Lei Ze’en looked at Wu Mingbai, suddenly feeling the principal’s decision to let him come was wise: “Mingbai, do you know the password for this phone?”

“I do. It’s Jiang Tianming’s phone.” Wu Mingbai recognized it at a glance, took the phone, and unlocked it in a few moves. The first thing that popped up was a note with a few words.

—“Nightmare Beasts arrive, 23, 26”

Seeing the contents of the phone, Lei Ze’en looked puzzled: “‘Nightmare Beasts arrive’ I get—it means the Nightmare Beasts came, likely why they left. But what do those two numbers mean?” “They’re coordinates,” Wu Mingbai answered confidently.

As their close friend, Lei Ze’en naturally trusted his judgment. But another question arose. He looked around at the vast Nightmare Beast world, with no sense of direction or coordinates, and asked curiously, “But how do you tell directions here?”

To find Jiang Tianming and the others via coordinates, they first needed to distinguish north, south, east, and west.

Before Wu Mingbai in the manga could answer, Su Bei and the readers outside the manga already had the answer in their hearts—“The direction the phone’s top is pointing is the ‘north’ they designated.”

In the first season of King of Abilities, when they got separated unexpectedly, they used this method to find each other. Seeing the same coordinates again, all readers, including Su Bei, couldn’t help but smile knowingly, feeling like they were part of the adventure.

“Full circle to season two, still using phone coordinates to find people.”

“As expected, hahahahaha.”

“Can’t believe it’s been so long.”

“So nostalgic, I’m going to rewatch season one.”

“Mingbai staying behind was indeed crucial!”

Unlike the readers who’d seen the manga, the teachers didn’t know the inside story. One teacher asked skeptically: “Are you sure? Why didn’t they point the phone’s top in the direction they fled?”

Wu Mingbai explained logically: “Because we figured the enemy would think the same. We didn’t want our clues to be usable if the enemy picked them up.”

“Alright, that makes sense.” The teacher admitted he couldn’t keep up with young people’s thinking—truly unique.

The rest of the plot was fairly routine. They walked straight ahead, found Jiang Tianming and the others, helped deal with the Nightmare Beasts chasing them, and replayed their second escape through a flashback, ending with some trio banter to wrap up the chapter.

Hm?

No main storyline content? Su Bei was surprised. He thought the author would use this plot to smoothly add more foreshadowing for eliminating Nightmare Beasts, but it was just a side story?

No, something felt off. Su Bei flipped back to the first page and carefully reread the plot. Since he already knew the storyline, he only needed to focus on details, and he indeed found something interesting.

The author seemed to depict those Nightmare Beasts a bit too meticulously.

Usually, in such plots, the Nightmare Beasts chasing the protagonists get simple, unified panels to show the difficulty of the escape. The author had always done it this way before.

But this time, the author gave several Nightmare Beasts significant screen time. Was it padding, or was there more to it?