Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Chapter 232

After finishing the day’s tasks and returning to the dorm, Su Bei wasn’t sleepy. He was thinking about the Life Stone.

Through Wu Mingbai’s judgment, Su Bei had learned the dust floating in the Nightmare Beast world was meteorite fragments. But that didn’t rule out the Life Stone being a meteorite too.

He couldn’t let Wu Mingbai analyze his Life Stone fragment—it was one of his trump cards, not to be exposed lightly. He also couldn’t access Life Stones in the Nightmare Beast world, let alone bring them out, so the idea was shelved.

Now that a Life Stone had appeared in the real world, likely in the hands of the protagonists or the government, could he use this chance to verify it?

This wasn’t pointless. Su Bei didn’t want to destroy all the meteorite dust in the Nightmare Beast world only to find he’d missed something. That’d be a joke.

He needed to stick close to Jiang Tianming, the most likely person to encounter the Life Stone. Checking the recent task schedule, Su Bei noted that while they were following the Ability Government’s orders to hunt Nightmare Beasts, the Endless Ability Academy hadn’t stopped training them. Teams were assigned randomly to build teamwork.

Except for the first day with Jiang Tianming, they hadn’t teamed up since. Maybe he wouldn’t need to scheme—fate might naturally bring them together with the Life Stone.

But Su Bei wasn’t banking on luck. He needed a solid plan. Based on their recent experiences, the Life Stone incident wouldn’t wrap up in one chapter. Their current beast-hunting arc would likely be a prelude in the comic.

A month later, Su Bei finally teamed up with Jiang Tianming again. This time, the task had four members, as intel suggested at least one mid-level Nightmare Beast, possibly even a high-level one. To be safe, the Academy sent four: Su Bei, Jiang Tianming, Ling You, and Li Shu.

This lineup made Su Bei unsure if something big was brewing. Except for Jiang Tianming, no one else seemed special.

“Don’t you have some misconceptions about your popularity?” Manga Consciousness’ voice suddenly chimed in, sounding exasperated.

Startled but quick to recover, Su Bei sneered: “So what? I don’t have a way to gauge popularity.”

He could only see the forum in the third dimension. Post volume was one measure, but the forum focused on plot discussions, and other stuff was on different platforms. It only got lively for a couple of days after a comic update before going quiet.

With the comic updating every few months, forum posts trickled in slowly. He could guess who was popular—protagonists, himself, a few girls—but he had little concrete data.

“…” Manga Consciousness went quiet, then admitted: “In your team, you and Li Shu are very popular. Ling You has fewer appearances but is well-liked by male readers.”

Su Bei knew he was popular. He’d crafted his persona for discussion, so low popularity would mean he’d failed. Every comic update had topics about him—even a fool would notice.

But as a non-original comic character, Su Bei instinctively assumed the author might overlook him, not actively including him in the plot. It wasn’t baseless—he lacked a protagonist halo, so not seeing himself as one made sense.

Now he realized he’d overlooked something. A protagonist halo wasn’t the same as author attention. The author saw his popularity and wouldn’t sideline him. Popular characters equaled profit—who wouldn’t want that?

As for Li Shu, it clicked. His yandere personality was a hit in the 2D world, especially with Jiang Tianming as his obsession—buffs stacked to the max.

“So you’re saying we might actually be in for something big?” Su Bei said, standing quickly and heading to his desk.

“What are you doing?” Manga Consciousness asked, puzzled.

Su Bei sat at the desk, picking up a pen: “Preparing in advance, obviously.”

First, with Wu Mingbai unlikely to be involved, Su Bei needed a good plan to get the Life Stone analyzed.

Second, he was a bit worried about Black Flash. He had a hunch their next move, whatever their findings on the underground people, would be significant. Ꞧ𝘈𐌽Ȫ𝐛ΕṢ

He might not have time to plan world-saving strategies then, so while Black Flash wasn’t in the plot, he needed to set up his foreshadowing.

Ideally, he’d make readers believe that destroying all meteorite dust in the Nightmare Beast world would eliminate the Nightmare Beasts.

If not this time, then the next—the sooner the better. Once that idea took root, the author would likely run with it, sparing Su Bei the need to plan everything.

But that wasn’t guaranteed. Who knew if the author would follow through? Su Bei asked Manga Consciousness: “If I design a way to completely eliminate Nightmare Beasts and convince readers it’s true, will I still need to plan how the protagonists execute it?”

“No, as long as the forum buzz is strong enough, the author will design the plot themselves,” Manga Consciousness replied.

That was great news—Su Bei could save a lot of effort.

Manga Consciousness continued: “The author doesn’t think about solutions because they don’t see this as a real world or think readers care. But if a solution’s out there and readers notice, they’ll use it.”

This sparked a thought: “So, if I’d made a big deal about this on the forum from the start, the author would’ve had to address it?”

He’d be a real fool if that were true.

“Of course not,” Manga Consciousness countered. “You know, even with unresolved plot threads, if the author’s lazy, they’ll leave them for fanfiction writers.”

Su Bei: “…”

That logic was airtight—he couldn’t argue.

After that, he planned his next steps. Finishing, he suddenly remembered something and messaged Feng Lan: “How’s the underground people’s Prophecy going?”

A month had passed since they fell underground. Black Flash hadn’t acted, and the underground people hadn’t been wiped out. But that didn’t mean it was resolved, or the teachers would’ve said so.

Feng Lan didn’t hide anything, replying quickly: “My family used a secret method to delay the Prophecy, but to fully resolve it, we need to find the cause of their extinction.”

“Any clues on that?” Su Bei asked curiously.

“No,” came the reply, followed by: “But from what I sense, their extinction was still some time off. With our delay, it’s even further out—enough for the government to find the truth.”

On the phone, he was chattier than usual, maybe because it was his expertise.

Understanding the underground people’s situation, Su Bei frowned slightly. It was clear they still had a plotline. The author had planted foreshadowing in the comic but wasn’t following up soon. Their story might become a new event.

It didn’t sound thrilling. Maybe he could avoid it.

Shaking his head, Su Bei lay down. Tomorrow might kick off the plot—he needed to sleep early and recharge.

Waking up and reaching the school gate, Jiang Tianming, Ling You, and Li Shu were already waiting. Several Ability Government taxis were parked outside, assigned to shuttle students.

Each team had one driver for the day’s tasks. Getting in, Su Bei raised an eyebrow in surprise at the driver.

The driver recognized him, smiling: “Hey, kid, didn’t expect to see you again today.”

It was the same driver from his task with Lan Subing, the one with [Steady Driving]. After greetings, they drove to the first task location.

It was a small town next to mountains and water, recently plagued by Nightmare Beasts, with several deaths. Notably, the first death was a month ago—before the Nightmare Beasts sensed the Life Stone.

Though Nightmare Beast activity was confirmed, the Ability Government suspected they weren’t the killers, which is why they sent students for practice instead of professionals.

“It doesn’t seem like these Nightmare Beasts hunting the Life Stone would kill,” Jiang Tianming analyzed, frowning at the data. “They won’t waste time killing if they haven’t found it—they’d leave. Why stay a month? Plus, the first death was before the Life Stone issue even started.”

True, it likely wasn’t related to the Life Stone hunters, but other Nightmare Beasts couldn’t be ruled out. According to the reporter, the victims died brutally, they all bled out.

Bleeding out took time and left a strong smell. If a human did it, villagers would’ve noticed, especially since it wasn’t the killer’s first time.

It’d likely take a mid-level Nightmare Beast or an Ability user to pull it off.

“The sheriff reported it. We can meet him later,” Li Shu said, looking up from the data, puzzled. “Why didn’t the victims’ families report it?”

That was a valid question. With so many deaths, even by Nightmare Beasts, someone should’ve reported it.

Jiang Tianming was about to speak when he noticed Su Bei smirking, as if he’d thought of something amusing. Curious, he asked: “What’s on your mind, Su Bei?”

“I’m thinking, ‘Longevity Town,’ what an interesting name,” Su Bei said with a meaningful smile.

It was intriguing. In comics or novels, that name was never simple. Su Bei wondered if the town’s residents lived up to its name. If so, that’d be even more interesting.

The other three, unaware of the world’s truth, didn’t get it. Ling You hesitated: “Interesting how?”

“In my heart,” Su Bei said, dodging the question with nonsense.

The three fell silent, and Ling You regretted asking. She wasn’t talkative, and her rare curiosity got her this. She felt like shutting down.

After a pause, Jiang Tianming changed the subject, looking out the window: “This place seems pretty remote.”

They were driving deeper into the mountains, heading toward a secluded village.

“No kidding. I memorized the route map all night,” the driver, Brother Wang, said, pointing to his dark circles. “Villages in the mountains are hard to find.”

“Mountain villagers…” Jiang Tianming mused. “Could they not know about Nightmare Beasts, so they didn’t report?”

It was possible. Stereotypically, mountain villages were cut off. Even years after Nightmare Beasts appeared, city folks barely knew about Ability users, let alone villagers. Not knowing who to call, they wouldn’t report it.

“Villages like this don’t usually have police, right?” Ling You asked from the back, eyes down.

With four of them and rough terrain, the Ability Government had given them a larger off-road vehicle with two rows of seats. Jiang Tianming and Li Shu sat in the front row, Ling You in the back, and Su Bei in the passenger seat.

It was a stereotype, but often true. Small mountain villages had strong clan ties, with village heads or respected elders settling disputes. Police weren’t of much use here.

Li Shu gave the standard answer: “We’ll ask the sheriff when we get there.”

They left at 8 a.m., arriving at noon. Visiting a village at lunchtime seemed awkward—like they were there to mooch food.

So, they ate lunch in the car before driving to the village and messaging the reporting sheriff.

The sheriff arrived quickly, dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans, with a buzz cut, looking sharp. Seeing them, he enthusiastically shook hands with Brother Wang: “You’re the Ability users from the government! I’ve heard so much, finally here!”

Brother Wang awkwardly pulled back: “Actually, these students are doing the task. I’m just the driver.”

“…”

“Hahaha, my bad, didn’t recognize the real deal. You kids are impressive,” the sheriff laughed awkwardly, shifting topics. “I’m Zhou Zijian. Just call me Xiao Zhou.”

Jiang Tianming stepped in: “Officer Zhou, can you take us somewhere quiet to talk about what’s happened in the village?”

“Of course!” Zhou, relieved someone took the lead, said, “Let’s go to my place. I live alone now.”

They walked into the village. It was 1 p.m., and most villagers were napping, so they didn’t meet anyone. The data said the village was next to mountains and water, and it wasn’t false—clear river water flowed beside quaint buildings in a serene setting, calming the mind.

With no one else around, Su Bei checked Zhou’s Destiny Compass. He froze. Zhou’s large pointer was in the lower half, indicating he’d pay the price of death in this event.

Specifically, it pointed to homicide—meaning Zhou would be deliberately killed by a person or Nightmare Beast, not an accident.

This Zhou was likely a good guy, the classic TV trope of the cop who dies the night before retirement.

Noticing Su Bei’s gaze, Zhou looked over curiously: “Something wrong, kid?”

Su Bei shook his head lightly: “Nothing.”

Unless it was necessary for combat, he wouldn’t alter someone’s fate, even death. As Manga Consciousness had saved him at the cost of another’s life, changing Zhou’s fate might doom someone else. Plus, Zhou might not even be good—best to wait and see.

As Jiang Tianming and the others observed the village, Li Shu probed Zhou: “You have a house here. Are you from this village?”

“Yeah, born and raised here. But after police academy, and with my parents passing, I rarely came back. Graduated a few years ago and got a job at a police station in the next city,” Zhou said, sensing the probing but sharing openly.

This cleared up their doubts. The villagers hadn’t reported anything—Zhou, returning to the village, noticed something off, investigated, and reported to the Ability Government.

Jiang Tianming followed up: “Why’d you come back suddenly?”

“It was my mother’s memorial day,” Zhou said, his expression calm but tinged with sadness. “I came back to visit some elders and old friends, only to find some had passed. When I asked, the uncles and aunties were evasive. Pressing further, I learned Nightmare Beasts were wreaking havoc here.”

He gave a bitter smile: “The villagers didn’t even know what those creatures were. They thought it was some Year Beast, using old superstitious rituals to drive it away, never thinking to call for help.”

“Sorry for your loss. Villages like this are cut off. It’s up to us young folks to check in,” Brother Wang said empathetically, patting Zhou’s shoulder.

Stopping by a house, Zhou introduced: “This is Xiao Chen’s house, one of the victims. Since he had no family, it’s empty for now. The village head hasn’t assigned it to anyone yet.”

“Can we take a look inside?” Jiang Tianming had planned to get an overview of all victims, but since they were here, it made sense to check.

“Sure,” Zhou agreed. With the owner dead, the house was unlocked, and they pushed the door open. A wave of dust hit them. The house’s state suggested Xiao Chen died some time ago.

Sure enough, Zhou fanned the dust away, embarrassed: “Xiao Chen was the first to die. With no family, no one’s cleaned it. Just a month, and it’s already this dusty.”

“No worries. Where did he die? What was his condition?” Jiang Tianming asked patiently.

Zhou was familiar with the process: “He died in the woods outside the village. His body had multiple small holes, he bled out. You can still see dried blood in the woods. Xiao Chen’s been buried. The villagers probably won’t let you dig him up, but I can take you to check the grave at night.”

Conservative villagers valued burial traditions and would oppose exhumation. Zhou didn’t share their views but didn’t want conflict, so he suggested a workaround. He hadn’t dug himself, waiting for professionals.

Su Bei noticed something: “What’s in those woods? Why was he there alone?”

The woods sounded like a spot for secret meetings, making Su Bei suspect Xiao Chen wasn’t alone—someone or something was hidden. The villagers might all be unaware or collectively hiding it.