A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 299

The others, of course, didn’t come out with him; otherwise, it wouldn’t just be Su Bei standing here alone now. Even if they sent someone to report to the teacher, they wouldn’t have sent him, right?

Su Bei concisely recounted the events that happened in the illusion, including discovering that killing in the illusion equated to real killing, the Clown activating purge mode, and Jiang Tianming and the others resolving the Clown issue only to face new problems.

At the very end, he shrugged: “They’ve probably been teleported to the Nightmare Beasts’ territory by now.”

Having gone through so many crises, he had become quite adept at giving post-event summaries. In just a few words, he explained everything clearly, while subtly using the art of omission to conceal things that might disadvantage him.

The so-called disadvantageous things, naturally, referred to Su Bei leaving through the array’s core without telling the others how to do so. Though he knew deep down that this method was likely only usable by him, and if others tried it, it might render even his attempt ineffective.

But while this reasoning held in the real world, it definitely wouldn’t in the manga world. Saying it out loud would easily be seen as an excuse, so it was better left unsaid.

After hearing the full story, Teacher Li’s expression had turned as grim as it could get. Not just her—Qi Huang’s face was also filled with shock and anger. Leaving aside the Clown issue for now, just the fact that killing in the illusion meant real death was shocking enough. The rule for clearing the competition was to eliminate the other teams, and the method of elimination was killing!

Those who could participate in the world competition and survive to the second round were all prodigies. Losing even one would be heartbreaking for their schools; if they all died, it would be a massive loss for the entire Ability world.

Teacher Li’s voice trembled slightly: “When you came out, how many students were left in the illusion?”

Su Bei hadn’t personally counted, but he had toured the amusement park on the ring-city train, so he had a rough estimate: “Over 100, I think. Since the issue erupted relatively quickly, not too many died.”

Half had still died, but that was much better than expected. Earlier, Teacher Li had already imagined a bloodbath of corpses in the illusion and the turmoil the Ability world would face afterward. Losing half was still a lot, but far better than total annihilation.

Taking a pained deep breath, Teacher Li quickly regained her composure: “I’m going to report this to the higher-ups now. Call your Teacher Meng and explain the situation; he’ll know what to do.”

With that, she strode decisively out of the hotel. Su Bei and Qi Huang exchanged a glance and obediently called Meng Huai.

The moment Meng Huai received the call, he had a bad feeling. When had Su Bei ever called him voluntarily during free time? Not just him—other students didn’t have that kind of leisure either. This call could only mean new problems had arisen in the competition.

“What happened?” With no mood for pleasantries, Meng Huai got straight to the point as soon as the call connected.

Understanding his tone, Su Bei didn’t waste words either. He recounted the entire second phase of the competition, both inside and outside the illusion, along with Qi Huang, laying it all out clearly.

Just as Teacher Li had said, Meng Huai immediately knew what to do: “Got it. The principal will likely send someone to bring you back soon. Don’t worry about Jiang Tianming and the others; we’ll handle it. Your job is to bring Mu Yunfan and the others back safely.”

Speaking of Mu Yunfan and the others, Su Bei remembered something: “By the way, Teacher, have they caught the person from that school who poisoned them?”

“They’ve been caught. Preliminary interrogation points to ‘Saint Dante Ability Academy’ as the mastermind. But we still need more solid evidence to formally accuse them.” This answer was within Su Bei’s expectations; he had suspected this school from the start.

Hanging up, Su Bei turned to Qi Huang: “I’m heading back to my room to rest. Don’t call me unless it’s urgent…”

“Or even if it is, right?” Qi Huang said irritably, having already heard this “famous” line of Su Bei’s from others.

Su Bei, far from ashamed, took pride in it, nodding solemnly: “Exactly. I hope I won’t get any sudden summons from you.”

Back in his dorm, he grabbed his phone from the bed and started reading the manga. Tired? Impossible. Ability users had far greater stamina than ordinary people, and besides, he hadn’t done much. Sure, he’d walked a lot back and forth, but he’d rested plenty too. Compared to the others, Su Bei had practically gone to the illusion for a vacation.

The manga had updated two chapters. The first covered the normal second-round competition content. The author showed a hint of eeriness in the Clown’s portrayal and made the blood effects during fights strikingly realistic and gory, but revealed no flaws early on.

Yet readers were sharp. Based on these details alone, Su Bei saw several comments in the barrage guessing the truth.

The plot involving Su Bei in this chapter started with him tricking others at the beginning while genuinely enjoying the roller coaster.

“Solid excuse, fits his character perfectly.”

“Hahaha, Beibei, tell me you weren’t just making an excuse to stay, right?”

“Su Bei’s having so much fun!”

“You can tell Su Bei loves thrilling rides.”

“Who’s the happiest person in this exam? Answer: Su Bei.”

“Some student on the roller coaster: ?”

The plot then shifted back to the protagonist group. By deliberately showing weakness, they were chased the entire time. Their main pursuers were, of course, from “Saint Dante Ability Academy,” who aimed to wipe them out completely.

But the protagonist group wasn’t to be underestimated. Though their strength was indeed weaker, brains were also a form of strength. Jiang Tianming was undoubtedly the type who could compensate for lack of power with intellect.

He first had Lan Subing use [Word Spirit] to create the illusion that they were still present, as it caused no harm to the enemy and they didn’t realize Lan Subing’s casual remark, “They’re always watching us here,” was a [Word Spirit]. Thus, it consumed minimal Mental Energy.

Next, [Immortal-Binding Rope] was quietly deployed by Jiang Tianming. Wu Mingbai subtly manipulated stone bricks and soil to loosely cover the ropes, ensuring they went unnoticed. Meanwhile, Jiang Tianming placed a red halo on each [Immortal-Binding Rope].

Undoubtedly, this red halo was his new Ability, which Su Bei knew, but the readers didn’t. The page where the halo appeared saw a surge in barrage comments.

“What’s this? Author, I’m asking you, what is it!”

“New… Ability?”

“Jiang, when did you sneakily evolve?”

“Aaaah, is it a new Ability? It has to be, right?”

“Grandma, you’ve finally lived to see Jiangjiang master a new Ability!”

“What’s this new power?”

Su Bei was also curious about the red halo’s function. Flipping a few pages, he soon understood. It was a remarkable Ability: the caster had a halo beneath their feet, and any Ability used within it would be replicated in every other halo.

It could duplicate one person’s attack multiple times—a perfect skill for group combat, especially paired with [Immortal-Binding Rope]. As shown in the manga, the ropes pinned enemies in the red halos, and all allies attacked from within the halo under Jiang Tianming’s feet.

Any one of the five players from “Saint Dante Ability Academy” could defeat the entire first-year lineup from “Endless Ability Academy” in a one-on-one fight.

But when one had to face the full-force assault of four people, especially with Jiang Tianming and Si Zhaohua’s high-damage ultimate moves, the outcome was obvious.

If fully prepared, Su Bei believed the “Saint Dante” players could counter this tactic. Though it seemed unbeatable, breaking the [Immortal-Binding Rope] with brute force, attacking Jiang Tianming’s group from a distance, or deploying group defenses were all feasible instant reactions. Su Bei himself thought of these methods the moment he saw Jiang Tianming’s strategy in the manga.

But Jiang Tianming’s brilliance lay in having Lan Subing create an illusion first, then striking suddenly after preparations, leaving no time for the enemy to react.

Notably, though both were illusions, Lan Subing’s and Li Shu’s were entirely different. The former merely caused hallucinations, while the latter created a true illusion.

Thus, Lan Subing’s could be broken with a bit of focused Mental Energy. Unfortunately, knowing none among them had mental interference Abilities, the enemies didn’t guard against it and were thoroughly deceived.

Seeing “Saint Dante Ability Academy” eliminated, Su Bei wore a slightly odd expression. During the earlier call, Meng Huai had said they’d seek revenge on “Saint Dante” once evidence was secured. Now, there was no rush—Jiang Tianming and the others had already taken revenge.

Compared to Mu Yunfan and the others’ treatable comas, the complete death of “Saint Dante’s” main team was far graver.

Still, their heavy losses didn’t mean “Endless Ability” would halt its pursuit of justice. Su Bei only meant there was no need to rush. Jiang Tianming’s elimination of the opponents was a competition matter, while “Saint Dante’s” attack on the main team was outside it—a matter between “Endless Ability Academy” and “Saint Dante Ability Academy.”

Su Bei was certain that no matter how badly they suffered, “Endless Ability” wouldn’t relent in punishing them.

As expected, Jiang Tianming was the first to notice the killing issue—not through intuition but from the corpses. If they were killing mental bodies, there shouldn’t be corpses at all. Corpses were unsightly, discomforting, and space-consuming; wouldn’t it be better for them to vanish?

Yet not only did these corpses remain, they were vividly realistic, with a palpable stench of blood. Most crucially, human corpses were more lifelike than Nightmare Beast ones, making Jiang Tianming suspect something was amiss.

It couldn’t be that the competition was designed to desensitize them to killing, right? The Ability world didn’t operate that way. If they dared, they’d be drowned in public outrage.

After sharing this doubt with the others, they didn’t dismiss it, instead speculating on possibilities. Perhaps human corpses were more complex than Nightmare Beasts’, thus more realistic. Or maybe they seemed realer because they carried the mental energy of real people…

Among all guesses, the most plausible was undoubtedly, “What if we’re killing real people?”

Lan Subing proposed this, and the moment she did, the manga’s tone shifted from a shonen vibe to a crime thriller, its vibrant warm colors turning cold.

The author deliberately left a cliffhanger here, shifting the scene outside the illusion. As spectators eagerly watched the competition through water mirrors, the Nightmare Beasts had already manipulated a controlled individual to sabotage Sesbia’s Nightmare Beast-restricting machine.

This person, under the pretext of a bathroom break, used an Ability to disable Sesbia’s defensive Nightmare Beast machine at the venue. Not only did this allow Nightmare Beasts to descend from their realm, but it also unsealed the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast hidden in the hotel, enabling it and its horde to use their Abilities.

Shortly after watching the competition, Teacher Li sensed something wrong. Seeing students “eliminated” in the manga die so realistically through the water mirror, she initially thought little of it but grew increasingly uneasy. Like Su Bei, she wondered why the illusion needed to render eliminated players’ corpses so meticulously.

She wasn’t alone—teachers from other schools also found it odd. They sought Jiram to clarify, only to discover he wasn’t in the rest room where he’d gone!

After laying this foreshadowing, the plot returned to the illusion. Lan Subing’s outrageous yet terrifying guess left everyone silent, exchanging glances.

After a long pause, Jiang Tianming led the analysis: if this were true, what should they do?

Telling others directly wouldn’t work. Without solid evidence, who’d believe such nonsense? Even they initially thought it sounded like a weak team’s excuse for self-preservation, and they were seen as the weak team’s epitome. Coming from them, it’d be utterly unconvincing.

But staying silent wasn’t an option either. Unlike Su Bei, Jiang Tianming and the others cared about others’ lives. Standing by when they could save people wasn’t their way.

The priority, however, was finding evidence to confirm their guess. Only then could they plan further. If their guess was wrong, they’d just make fools of themselves.

Though they said this, deep down, everyone hoped they were wrong, not that this was reality.

The next plot was familiar to Su Bei: the Clown sold intelligence to Jiang Tianming. Believing illusion creatures’ info was more reliable, Jiang Tianming bought it despite the steep price.

They reached the haunted house, found Su Bei’s intel, and confirmed their guess: killing in the illusion meant real death. The manga ended here, and, as expected, the barrage exploded.

“My God, this is too sinister!”

“I can’t even imagine how many have died by now?”

“The organizers are so unreliable. How did they miss such a huge flaw?”

“It’s definitely that illusion master’s fault.”

“If the illusion’s messed up, why could illusion creatures still tip them off?”

After finishing this chapter, Su Bei didn’t check the forum but immediately flipped to the next.

The next chapter opened outside the illusion, covering Qi Huang’s ordeal. The plot aligned with her account: before they could find Jiram, Nightmare Beasts suddenly rioted, swarming the venue.

Having anticipated Nightmare Beast trouble, Sesbia’s government reacted promptly, evacuating spectators through escape routes. Government staff and school teachers stayed to fend off the beasts.

But the Nightmare Beasts were too numerous. If left to fight outside, some would inevitably slip away, causing massive damage.

Sesbia’s space Ability master, with everyone’s consent, activated their Ability, sending all Nightmare Beasts into a Different Space. After brief discussion, weaker Ability users stayed behind, while the rest entered.

Objectively, Qi Huang wasn’t among the weak. But compared to these Ability masters, she was still lacking. More importantly, as a minor, the teachers wouldn’t let her take the risk.

Yet they didn’t anticipate that staying outside, with limited combat power, was, in some ways, even riskier than entering the space.

The author first showed the adults battling Nightmare Beasts, dedicating two pages to this scene, emphasizing their role as the main force against the beasts.

Two pages later, the focus returned outside. The moment hordes of Nightmare Beasts poured out of the hotel, even Su Bei and readers, knowing the issue would likely resolve, gasped.

Being “backstabbed” might be a primal human fear etched in DNA. The scene was genuinely terrifying, evoking the sense of a conspiracy emerging after surviving great calamity, catching people off guard.

Leading them was, as expected, the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast, which sighed in relief at seeing sunlight, finally free.

Facing so many sudden Nightmare Beasts, Qi Huang, one of the few with strong offensive power present, remained calm, her experience keeping her steady.

Her [Flame Phoenix] had a wide-area attack skill, effortlessly handling hordes of Nightmare Beasts, incinerating swaths of them with a single burst of phoenix flames.

But while low- and mid-level Nightmare Beasts posed no threat, the high-level Black Gourd Nightmare Beast was another story. Its skills weren’t just invisibility but also absorption, converting others’ attacks into its own power.

Among the Ability users outside was a doctorate specializing in Nightmare Beasts. He quickly identified the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast and relayed its weaknesses to Qi Huang, the strongest fighter present.

There were three ways to defeat it. The simplest was close-quarters combat, which it couldn’t absorb. But the beast, aware of this flaw, chose minions to protect it, ensuring no one got close.

After two failed attempts, Qi Huang abandoned this approach, considering the other two methods.

The first was overwhelming it with energy. Though it could absorb attacks, there was a limit; enough energy would overload and destroy it.

The second was using attacks it couldn’t absorb, like Mu Yunfan’s [Light of Hope]. As a creature of resentment, it couldn’t handle hope-based energy, which would kill it upon absorption. Similarly, Zhao Xiaoyu’s [Happiness] was toxic to it.

Here, Su Bei realized Qi Huang’s breakthrough was coming. Her current Ability couldn’t counter the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast; fully countered, even her strong Ability was useless.

Without evolving to find a way to defeat it, Su Bei judged that, before the adults returned, everyone would die. Since they were safe now, Qi Huang must have gained something.

[None of the doctorate’s methods were feasible for Qi Huang now. She could only attack other Nightmare Beasts while avoiding the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast. Without absorbing others’ attacks, it had no offensive power itself.

This was also why it evaded Sesbia’s machine checks: with no inherent attack power and its Ability sealed by an item, nothing was detected.

But while Qi Huang tried to avoid it, the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast eagerly absorbed attacks. To deal with hordes, she had to use wide-area flames, which it could always leech.

Once it absorbed even a bit, it redirected the attack against ordinary Ability users. Only Qi Huang’s immunity to her own Ability spared her.

Still, her situation wasn’t great. Facing so many Nightmare Beasts alone drained her Mental Energy, especially with the Black Gourd Nightmare Beast siphoning energy.

Though others helped, she was the only one with area attacks. As known, the stronger the attack, the more Mental Energy it consumed.

Seeing her face grow paler, the doctorate, well-versed in Ability users, hurriedly said: “Student Qi Huang, rest for a bit. We can hold them off for now.”]

Here, Su Bei nodded approvingly. The doctorate’s choice was correct; Qi Huang needed a break. Besides her, other reserve team members could fight, but schools in the second round were typically seeded, and their reserves, like “Endless Ability Academy,” were often sophomores or freshmen slated for future competitions.

With so many healing Ability users, main team issues were rare, so reserves were there to gain experience. Thus, combat power outside was indeed limited.