Translator: AkazaTL

Proofreader/Editor: TenebrousGaze

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Chapter 104

Zhao Xiaoyu opened her mouth, but didn’t ask anything. The other party was a teacher, so surely they wouldn’t use her for an experiment unless they were certain it was safe. So, she directly activated her Ability.

The [Happiness] Ability was colorless. Everyone only saw Zhao Xiaoyu raise her hand slightly, and then Meng Huai’s expression softened from its earlier seriousness, the corners of his mouth faintly curling upward.

After experiencing it for a moment, he called a stop: “That’s enough. I heard this is a range Ability. What’s the maximum range you can extend it to now?”

“Probably only about ten meters in radius,” Zhao Xiaoyu said somewhat helplessly. Although her Ability had mutated, her Mental Energy hadn’t increased much. She hadn’t specifically trained for it before, so the range she could manage was pitifully small.

Meng Huai wasn’t too surprised by this result. Having taught Zhao Xiaoyu, he was well aware that her previous stats were hardly outstanding. He nodded: “Come on, I’ll take you to see the principal.”

Seeing Zhao Xiaoyu’s expression stiffen, clearly very worried, Ye Lin smiled to comfort her: “Don’t worry, your Ability might have great potential.” Hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyu’s heart relaxed considerably. Ye Lin wouldn’t lie in such a situation, so if she said it was a good thing, it was likely true.

But before they could leave to find the principal, two more people arrived at the door—Lei Ze’en and Mu Yunfan.

Lei Ze’en’s sharp eyes needed no mention. Seeing their preparations to leave, he let out a loud scoff: “Hah? Old Meng, did you forget you assigned me a task to fetch someone?”

Meng Huai had indeed forgotten that he’d asked Lei Ze’en to bring Mu Yunfan. Like Lan Subing, upon hearing Ye Lin mention Zhao Xiaoyu’s Ability, his first thought was that it could pair well with Mu Yunfan.

But soon after, he realized the Ability’s greater potential, forgetting his earlier idea and, naturally, the task he’d given Lei Ze’en.

Admitting it was out of the question, though. He coughed: “No, I just thought you were so slow that I might as well go find you myself.”

At this, Lei Ze’en scoffed again, clearly not buying his excuse, and turned to Ye Lin: “Little Leaf, you tell me!”

But Ye Lin wasn’t about to confess—she’d forgotten too! She quickly deflected: “Alright, alright, stop arguing. There are students here.”

With that, she tried to shift the topic to Mu Yunfan: “Yunfan... where is he?”

Turning, she saw that Mu Yunfan had somehow slipped into the student group, pointing at the three teachers while addressing the younger students: “See, teachers love to bicker. Where’s my maturity as the president?”

Even Ye Lin couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. This guy was asking for it, and sure enough, the next second, Meng Huai strode over and unhesitatingly gave him a knock on the head: “You, mature? Want to die, huh?”

Mu Yunfan clutched his head, quickly changing the subject with a flattering tone: “I was just joking. What did the teachers call me for?”

Getting to the point, Meng Huai grew serious and looked at Zhao Xiaoyu: “Use your Ability on him too.”

Zhao Xiaoyu had no objections and nodded, activating her Ability.

Unlike Meng Huai, Mu Yunfan clearly lacked the same self-control. His face immediately lit up with a blissful smile, looking utterly smitten.

Lei Ze’en couldn’t bear to watch and quickly spoke: “Feel your Ability. Can this power provide energy for yours?”

Hearing this, Mu Yunfan snapped out of it, hurriedly checking, then showed a delighted expression: “It can! There’s some energy, and it feels continuous.”

As the student council president, his control over his Ability was unquestionable. But moments later, he frowned and said to Zhao Xiaoyu: “Could you keep it up a bit longer? Something feels off.”

Using the Ability on just one person wasn’t too taxing, so Zhao Xiaoyu held on for a while.

“That’s enough,” Mu Yunfan finally called a stop. When discussing serious matters, his usual frivolity vanished, replaced by a focused demeanor. “In this Ability, hope is ever-present. I couldn’t even make myself feel despair. But if this Ability is used too long, it causes the user to lose some fighting spirit.”

No one expected this discovery, and everyone paused. Su Bei quickly understood—yes, staying in a comfortable, happy environment for too long would naturally erode one’s fighting spirit and vigilance.

So, this Ability wasn’t as perfectly matched with Mu Yunfan as they thought. It could be used in desperate situations but couldn’t be sustained long-term.

They expected Meng Huai and the others to be disappointed by this news, but when Zhao Xiaoyu looked at the three teachers, she found their faces full of joy.

“Yunfan, you can head back,” Ye Lin said with a smile. “Xiaoyu, come with us to the principal’s office to test this Ability further.”

“Is this Ability... really that powerful?” Zhao Xiaoyu was full of confusion.

In truth, she didn’t think this Ability was particularly strong. It had no attack or defense capabilities and might even aid enemies when facing them. Her initial thought was simply to make money by letting others feel happiness.

But judging by the three teachers’ expressions, this Ability was clearly not as simple as she thought.

“You’ll find out soon,” Meng Huai said, not revealing the answer directly. He had Lei Ze’en teleport them away.

Looking at the empty hospital bed, the group exchanged glances.

Ai Baozhu hesitantly fanned herself twice: “So, it’s a good thing?”

“It should be,” Si Zhaohua nodded confidently, a hint of a smile in his eyes. “Either way, this Ability is enough to secure a place in the Ability world.”

With only fifteen people in the class, having spent so much time together, everyone knew a bit about their classmates. Si Zhaohua and Zhao Xiaoyu, having gone through the kidnapping incident together, understood each other even better.

He knew Zhao Xiaoyu wanted to stay in the Ability world. As she’d said, with her qualifications, returning to the ordinary world meant being a 9-to-5 office worker. That kind of mundane life was terrifying to her, so she was determined to stay in the Ability world.

Others might not understand, but Su Bei certainly did.

Hearing Si Zhaohua’s words, the others relaxed. Indeed, even in the worst case, it was a good outcome, and that was enough.

Since they were already out, Su Bei planned to eat at the cafeteria. Feng Lan joined him, and the two walked in silence. Suddenly, Su Bei asked: “Why do you think the teachers were so excited?”

“I don’t know,” Feng Lan shook his head honestly. “But I think, for them, an Ability’s greatest use is probably eliminating Nightmare Beasts.”

His words jolted Su Bei awake! With this reminder, Su Bei realized the truth. As Feng Lan said, at least for now, an Ability’s primary purpose was to eliminate Nightmare Beasts. That was why class placements were mostly based on attack power.

For the teachers to be so excited, Zhao Xiaoyu’s new Ability must have a significant role in eliminating Nightmare Beasts. But then, Su Bei frowned. As if reading his mind, Feng Lan voiced his own thoughts: “But how can her mutated Ability eliminate Nightmare Beasts?”

Exactly—Su Bei had the same doubt. [Happiness] was an interesting Ability. From Mu Yunfan’s experience, it could both inspire and sap the fighting spirit of those affected.

But no matter how you looked at it, it was a non-offensive Ability.

If Meng Huai and the others thought they could use this Ability to make Nightmare Beasts lose their fighting spirit, making them easy to kill, Su Bei could only say they’d lost their minds.

Leaving aside whether Nightmare Beasts could even feel happiness, this Ability’s lack of offensive power made it, at best, a weak support Ability, hardly worthy of such attention.

It wasn’t that support Abilities were bad—Senior Feng’s Ability, for instance, was very powerful. But from what they knew, [Happiness] didn’t reach that level.

So, what was it they didn’t know?

Su Bei nodded, sighing: “It’s indeed strange.”

“We can ask Zhao Xiaoyu when she gets back,” Feng Lan said, unperturbed.

But Su Bei shook his head: “I don’t think she’ll say. Whatever we don’t know must be a secret. If it was unknown before, there’s no reason we’d be told now.”

That made sense. Feng Lan fell silent, not wanting to dwell on the topic, and asked: “The final exam is coming up soon. This time...”

He hesitated, then said: “I prophesied it won’t be peaceful.”

Su Bei realized—yes, it seemed the next plot point would be the final exam. Curious, he asked: “Did you see what form the final exam will take?”

It was certain the exam wouldn’t just test academic knowledge. The monthly exam tested students using arena battles, and team battles were already done. Su Bei couldn’t imagine what new trick the author could pull.

Unfortunately, Feng Lan didn’t know: “No, but I think it’ll be quite different from the previous exams.”

Su Bei thought so too, sighing again. He’d already slacked off during one manga update due to unexpected events. This time, he had to make progress, or he’d fall behind.

Remembering his earlier plan to design his next strength boost, Su Bei stopped thinking about other things, quickly ate, and hurried back to the dorm.

He needed to study how the compass worked within the [Destiny Gear] Ability system. This direction had to be developed, or he’d be wasting a major asset.

Researching on his own was nearly impossible without test subjects, but the other path wasn’t much better—equally challenging.

How could he reveal to readers that he’d used the Destiny Compass? And what kind of ability should he design for it? Creating something from nothing wasn’t easy, especially for something as intricate as the compass.

Honestly, Su Bei preferred discovering the Destiny Compass’ abilities through his own research. His Ability was already [Destiny Gear], an undoubtedly powerful Ability. With such a strong Ability, why should he design a new one?

It was obvious that anything he designed wouldn’t match the original’s compatibility. So, researching the compass’ existing abilities was the best strategy.

This was why, despite thinking about this issue for so long, he still hadn’t found a solution. The problem felt unsolvable, like he’d hit a bottleneck.

Su Bei sat comfortably in an armchair, racking his brain. Looking at the two paths separately, both were hard to achieve. Was the best solution really to experiment on death row inmates?

Relatively speaking, that was indeed the simplest method and the most effective for boosting his strength. But it came with endless consequences. Knowing the risks and still doing it, unless it was an emergency, would be utterly foolish.

No, no... Su Bei’s eyes suddenly lit up. He realized his thinking had been wrong.

Why did he have to treat the two paths separately—finding test subjects in reality and boosting strength in the manga? Upon closer thought, he could totally find suitable test subjects through the manga!

This was far simpler than either of the previous methods!

With a plan in mind, Su Bei relaxed, starting to enjoy campus life outside the plot. With over a month until the final exam, the academy’s atmosphere was still relatively relaxed.

But while the academy was calm, the “Black Flash” organization was anything but. In just one week, they suffered three major setbacks!

The first was the loss of the auction items. To prevent the three academies from reclaiming them, they deliberately placed the most important item, the “Heart of Ability,” in a Different Space belonging to their collaborator, Apogod.

The person in charge of this operation had a clever plan. The academies would surely realize “Black Flash” was behind the robbery and come looking. While other items could be taken back, the key item couldn’t be. So, they decided to use misdirection, splitting their eggs into two baskets.

But in the blink of an eye, the Different Space was infiltrated by people from the Endless Ability Academy, and the “Heart of Ability” vanished. Honestly, the person in charge still suspected Apogod’s people had staged the theft themselves.

Another setback was the destruction of their underground research facility in the Different Space. The “Loyalty Crystal” mother body, which they’d worked so hard to develop, was completely destroyed, not a trace left.

The third incident was that, a few days ago, their long-lost item, the “Space Lock,” was finally delivered by their partner, the “Destiny” organization. But right after its return, they lost a ton of other items.

This was discovered the day after Su Bei’s visit. Zheng Yun checked the items daily to ensure nothing went wrong. But the next day, he found the secret chamber empty. Zheng Yun: “...”

His mentality collapsed.

A little thought made it clear—these treasures were definitely taken by the black-robed person from yesterday. After all, he’d gone there multiple times before without anything missing, and the loss happened right after that visit.

The other party had a solid reason to steal, too, given how much Zheng Yun had tried to scam them. He’d scammed plenty of people, and most just angrily ended the deal. Who would steal all the treasures like that guy did?

How on earth did he do it?

But what truly broke Zheng Yun was knowing that, whether or not they caught the culprit, he was done as an intelligence agent. Losing treasures under his watch proved his incompetence.

If he caught the culprit, he might avoid the worst punishment. But if he hid the truth or fled, he’d be truly finished.

With that in mind, Zheng Yun reported the incident to headquarters.

Losing so many items was a big deal, and headquarters immediately sent people over. They checked the surveillance, which showed the black-robed person appearing and disappearing suddenly.

Brother Sun, with his [Eye of Truth], was also sent. His eyes were exceptional, able to see through many hidden abilities.

But after reviewing the footage, Brother Sun shook his head, looking puzzled: “I can’t see anything—how he appeared, how he disappeared, or what his face looks like.”

The case’s person-in-charge wasn’t surprised. They’d dealt with this black-robed “Destiny” member before and never saw through him, so they held no hope this time.

With no evidence or culprit, the items were lost. To maintain future cooperation with “Destiny,” they had to swallow the loss.

They took the hit, but someone had to take the blame. Zheng Yun, who provoked the other party with his scheming and led to the theft, was the obvious scapegoat.

Unfortunately, a scapegoat couldn’t undo the losses. With the Endless Ability Academy’s final exam approaching, and his superiors ordering him to stir up trouble, the person in charge’s head was pounding. Would he be the next Zheng Yun?

__

Back to Su Bei’s side, Zhao Xiaoyu had returned. Her expression was calm, and when Lan Subing asked, she only said her Ability could help Ability users despairing from tough Nightmare Beasts, which was why the teachers valued it.

Everyone knew she was lying, but because she was so blatantly lying, they stopped pressing. Her attitude showed it was something she couldn’t share. Prying further wasn’t curiosity—it was annoying.

Though he didn’t actively dig, Su Bei’s mind was full of guesses.

Feng Lan was right—her Ability was definitely tied to Nightmare Beasts. How did [Happiness] harm them? Su Bei felt it must relate to their secrets.

But the manga hadn’t revealed this yet, so he couldn’t find the truth.

Sighing, he opened the intelligence organization’s messages.

He’d previously posted a task to investigate “Black Flash’s” ultimate research goal, and two days ago, he got a result.

It was vague, as such secrets wouldn’t be easily obtained. If he got specific details, Su Bei would doubt the intelligence’s accuracy.

The answer was: “They’re researching the relationship between Nightmare Beasts and humans, especially Ability users.”

This was intriguing. What connection did Nightmare Beasts have with humans?

Su Bei had always thought Nightmare Beasts came from another world, perhaps to invade Earth. But this answer made him realize he might be wrong.

Nightmare Beasts weren’t entirely from a Different Space and might have a deep connection to humans.

But what was it?

Suddenly, Su Bei thought of Zhao Xiaoyu. Her [Happiness] could harm Nightmare Beasts while making humans feel happy.

Happiness harmed Nightmare Beasts?

Su Bei reached a shaky conclusion. Whether it was right or not, his reasoning was sloppy. Though “Black Flash” was studying humans and Nightmare Beasts, they didn’t say the two were the same, so how could they be compared?

He noted the guess but set the issue aside. It wasn’t the time to ponder this with so few clues. As the manga progressed, the answer might surface naturally.

__

Half a month passed by, and Su Bei was attending a long-overdue PE class. Though this damn class was still a one-sided beating for him, at least he could fight back somewhat.

The silver lining was that Meng Huai didn’t use strength or speed beyond his own, nor his Ability. Otherwise, Meng Huai’s physical stats alone could crush him.

Notably, Su Bei had guessed Meng Huai’s Ability. With only a few possibilities, he guessed wildly daily and eventually hit the mark.

He’d claimed the 1000-point reward but kept quiet. Watching others guess blindly was amusing, but it’d be even funnier when they finally guessed it, only to find the reward already taken. Su Bei was looking forward to that moment.

After class, instead of heading to the dorm to shower as usual, he walked to Meng Huai and asked curiously: “Teacher, with just over two weeks until the final exam, can’t you tell us what it’s about?”

The school was tight-lipped—even now, no news had leaked. When Zhao Xiaoyu worked at the student council, she’d asked around, but they were equally secretive.

Notably, the other two grades’ final exam details were already out—standard Different Space training. Su Bei had reason to suspect their exam’s secrecy was because the protagonist was in their grade.

Meng Huai, removing his wrist wrap, glanced at him and sneered: “Aren’t you the best at guessing? Take a guess.”

He added: “If you guess wrong, stay after school for extra training. I don’t mind spending some time with you.”

At this, several eavesdropping classmates shared knowing smiles, clearly victims of Su Bei’s “guess” tactic. They forgot their curiosity about the exam, eager to see him flounder. They’d stay after school to watch him train.

But how could Su Bei let others enjoy his misfortune so easily? Raising an eyebrow, he said calmly: “Then I guess the final exam is a three-school joint exam. Am I right?”

Hearing this, Meng Huai paused, looking up with rare surprise: “How did you know?”

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