Translator: AkazaTL

Proofreader/Editor: TenebrousGaze, JWyck & Ekko

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Chapter 116

“Then you go first. I’ll contact Jiang Tianming and the others,” Su Bei said decisively, adding, “Don’t bring anyone to my place.”

He had no interest in getting involved. Protecting someone in their final moments wouldn’t earn many points and would entangle him with the Ability Government. Honestly, if this were real, he’d help—despite his public persona, he wasn’t truly a thrill-seeker.

But this was an Illusion, so he had no such kindness.

Feng Lan knew his nature and nodded: “I’m not planning to hide. After this campaign, the Ability Government’s losses are surely worse than ours. They might not be able to fight us.”

In contrast to the examinees, for the NPCs living in the Illusion the campaign was a true life-and-death situation, which is why they fought harder and suffered greater casualties.

In the following days, Su Bei relaxed blissfully while other examinees ran around, frantically eliminating Nightmare Beasts. Gradually, the streets had fewer beasts and bold merchants reopened their stalls.

With enough food left, his mother had no reason to risk going out. But he could see other residents cautiously buying supplies.

Several supermarkets reopened, and everything was slowly returning to normal.

By the fourth week, the last Nightmare Beast was killed, and Su Bei finally heard the voice he’d been waiting for: “The exam is over. All examinees, prepare. You will exit the exam in five minutes.”

Five minutes? He turned to look at his mother, busy in the kitchen.

During this time, she’d been a dutiful, caring mother. Growing up without a mother, his father—though devoted—was a soldier, rarely home. No matter how much his father loved him, he couldn’t replace a mother, so Su Bei once longed for one.

As time passed and he grew older, he learned to adjust. But living as Su Bei’s Mother’s son, he couldn’t help feeling a trace of yearning for maternal love.

Just a trace, though. He sat for a moment, then waved at her with a bright smile: “I’ve got something to do and won’t be back for dinner.”

Without waiting for her reply, he left the “home” he’d lived in for a month.

Shortly after stepping out, five minutes passed. A door appeared before him. Not just him—all other examinees on the street had doors too. The native residents stood frozen, unmoving.

Everyone exchanged glances and excitedly stepped through the doors.

The next second, they reappeared on the sports field. Though they had spent nearly a month in the Campaign Reenactment, only three days had passed in reality.

As soon as Su Bei emerged, Manga Consciousness notified him: “‘《King of Abilities》’ has been updated. Please check it.”

He ignored the manga for now, focusing on the scene around him. The field was packed—not just with Su Bei’s exam group, but also the many first-years eliminated early, there to watch the spectacle.

Soon, Mu Tieren and others appeared on the field; their exam had ended too.

The waiting Director Li stood on the stage, coughing heavily into his microphone: “Ahem! Everyone, line up as you did before the exam!” After they formed ranks, she continued: “Congratulations on passing the final exam. Scores will be tallied and posted in the corridor in three days. Please return to your classes in an orderly manner; your homeroom teachers will handle the rest.”

Three days for scores meant staying at school for three days. Everyone’s faces fell. After a month-long exam, who didn’t want to go home and rest? Even without classes, nobody wanted to stay!

Back in class, Meng Huai’s expression was unusually cheerful. The class had performed excellently it seems, bringing him a lot of face*.

Seeing their glum faces, he quickly understood and chuckled: “Alright, stop moping. Don’t want to stay at school, huh? Since you did well, you can go home today. I’ll send you your scores.”

At this, everyone’s eyes lit up with joy.

“Awesome!” Mo Xiaotian jumped three feet high. “Teacher, I love you!”

But like any school, even Endless Ability Academy assigned holiday homework. After the carrot, Meng Huai mercilessly took out the stick.

“The end of the winter break isn’t fixed, but traditionally it’s late February or early March. It’s January now, so you have a full month’s vacation.” Hearing this, the students sensed trouble and sure enough: “I won’t give you too much homework. Find a public Different Space to train in. It must have High-Level Nightmare Beasts and you need to spend over 100 hours inside. Write a 1,000-word reflection about your experience inside, due with the receipt from the Different Space at the start of term.”

Entering state-administered Different Spaces required a ticket, for which one received a receipt. The state recorded the entrants’ details and times of entry, verifiable by the school, making cheating nearly impossible.

This assignment drew groans.

Zhao Xiaoyu wailed: “Seriously, Teacher? 100 hours? Why not just make us live there?”

Ability Users typically didn’t stay overnight in Different Spaces, especially dangerous ones with powerful Nightmare Beasts. At night visibility was low and other Ability Users usually left, leaving you alone inside—a highly risky situation.

So excluding sleep, one could spend a maximum of 16–18 hours daily in a Different Space. To reach 100 hours, you’d need about a week.

With a short month-long break, who’d want to spend a week in a Different Space?

Wu Mingbai came up with a clever argument: “Teacher, aren’t we still being watched by Black Flash? Isn’t it risky for us to go to Different Spaces?”

Meng Huai scoffed: “If you’re scared, stay at school. It’s the safest place.”

Noticing his students’ awkward silence, he explained: “We recently found Black Flash’s headquarters. They’re too busy to bother you, so safety’s not a big concern. After a semester’s training, you should be able to handle some dangers alone.”

Black Flash was in a lot of trouble recently, especially after offending three academies. Targeted by multiple forces, they were in retreat, too occupied to care about the S-Class students.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

Lei Ze’en entered grinning while instantly reading the room: “Yo, just assigned homework?”

“Teacher Lei, help us talk to him. The homework’s too much,” Ai Baozhu seized the chance to look for backup. “Forget the rest—what’s with the 1,000-word reflection?”

Su Be honestly hated that part the most. Not that he couldn’t write, but he saw it as pointless. He didn’t want to waste time crafting a travelogue.

“Reflection?” Lei Ze’en gave Meng Huai a strange look, half-smiling. “Old Meng, isn’t that the trick our old teacher used to torture us? Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you. They did well, right? Why treat them like this?”

The students glared at Meng Huai accusingly. He hated this homework himself—why torture them? As Lei Ze’en said, if they had done poorly, they would accept any punishment. But they performed great.

Caught red-handed, Meng Huai huffed: “Letting them go home three days early isn’t reward enough?”

“Then I won’t go home early!” Su Bei shot back. Living at home or school made little difference to him. Trading three days off for a 1,000-word essay was a no-brainer.

Meng Huai glared: “The reflection’s mandatory. As the S-Class’ homeroom teacher, that’s my rule! Every winter and summer break, you will write one.”

That’s when they realized why Meng Huai was doing that. Lei Ze’en burst out laughing: “Hahaha, so it’s revenge!”

Exactly. He was retaliating for being dragged from his cushy Job as a Class F teacher to the dreaded S-Class role.

Lei Ze’en shrugged: “I’m out. This guy holds grudges.”

The teachers left together, leaving the students sighing helplessly. Feng Lan noticed Su Bei, quietly looking at his phone: “What’re you looking at?”

He showed him the screen, drawing the eyes of others’. It displayed a text-heavy document titled ‘Different Space Training Diary Template A’.

Thanks, Campus Wall—you truly are mighty.

After selling the template for 1 point each, Su Bei not only recovered the cost, but earned 4 extra points. Not much, but enough to lift his mood. As everyone packed up to leave, Feng Lan stepped up to the podium with a serious expression and a hint of embarrassment:” I’d like to invite everyone to my house for the Gold Display Festival. Most areas will be open to my guests. Are you free?”

His invitation stunned the class. It was sudden, and we didn’t know how to react.

Si Zhaohua recovered quickly, surprised: “Why’s your family’s Open Day early?”

Her question was valid Feng Lan answered: “With the festival nearing, I thought we’d move it up to the Gold Display Festival.”

Seeing our confusion, Si Zhaohua explained for Feng Lan: “The Feng Family holds an Open Day periodically, like our Campus Festival.”

“Why have such a tradition?” Zhao Xiaoyu asked, puzzled. Knowing Feng Lan’s background, she thought such a unique clan would be secretive, not open.

“The event brings benefits to all participants,” Feng Lan explained. "Apart from the invited guests, all other participants must bring something of value with them to enter.”

Zhou Renjie was looking forward to the Feng Family’s Open Day, but tried to hide his joy by acting deliberately arrogant towards Jiang Tianming and Wu Mingbai: “This slot is precious. My father said he’d get me one this year, but now I’ll have to give it away. If you lot weren’t in this class, you would never get this chance in your lifetime.”

The Open Day had only fifty slots. Without Feng Lan’s status as heir and their status’ as S-Class students, he wouldn’t be able to invite so many people.

Jiang Tianming didn’t indulge him, turning to Feng Lan: “Since he has a slot, don’t waste your invitation. Let him use his own.”

Wu Mingbai grinned: “Yeah, this saves Zhou Renjie from giving up his slot. He seems reluctant to—don’t force him.”

Feng Lan looked at Zhou Renjie. He wasn’t stupid; he saw their argument. Since Zhou Renjie had provoked them first, he asked bluntly, "Then should I not invite you?”

Zhou Renjie’s face went through rapid changes, until he finally forced out a laugh: “I was joking Feng Lan. Please don’t be mad.”

Feng Lan nodded, saying no more.

“I need to ask my mom,” Ai Baozhu said while she fiddled with a pink gemstone on her bracelet and smiled playfully. “But she’ll probably agree.”

Those with parents needed to ask them; those without agreed instantly. It would have been silly to miss out on the chance to see the world during the winter vacation.

Notably, Mu Tieren said he’d ask too. Nobody knew his familial situation, as no one came to the Campus Festival. He’d explained they were busy.

“By the way, any thoughts on the teacher’s homework?” Mu Tieren stood up and asked, as if on cue while Su Bei was thinking about it. “Do we find a Different Space together or go separately?”

“Together,” Si Zhaohua said, finding it more convenient and safer. With only a few state-controlled Different Spaces housing High-Level Nightmare Beasts, going separately risked awkward encounters.

But Mu Tieren frowned: “Our class has fifteen people. Isn’t that too many together?”

“Let’s group up by proximity,” suggested Zhao Xiaoyu, being experienced in organizing holiday activities. “Makes choosing a place easier.”

Grouping up again? Su Bei groaned. He knew fifteen people couldn’t act together, but constantly grouping up meant he’d have to follow extra characters in the manga—how exhausting!

After some thought he realized that the winter break’s main plot would probably take place during the Gold Display Festival. Different Spaces weren’t worth spending too much time on. Just like the training sessions they went through. Except for the first one, the rest weren’t drawn.

The classmates shared their home locations. Su Bei noted the details of a few key people, quietly jotting them down. He finally stopped after securing Mo Xiaotian and Mu Tieren’s addresses.

Memory could fail, but records were reliable.

The groups were formed and Su Bei ended up with Jiang Tianming, Wu Mingbai, and Lan Subing. Su Bei’s home wasn’t near anyone else’s, so he chose the best from a poor selection. He actually didn’t want to group with the protagonist team—if anyone got the Manga’s focus on themselves, it would be them.

But Su Bei had no choice. He didn’t have to be involved in the plot but he couldn’t be unaware of it. When the plot happened while he was with them, he could choose to join or slip away. With his strength, either choice was easy.

Thinking this, Su Bei headed out. He was uncertain about the winter break of others’, but his own was extremely busy. First, he needed to study his Ability with the newly added Dream Bubble. Second, he had to familiarize himself with the Destiny organization.

Since Destiny was established, Su Bei had been too busy to properly take over or use it. Winter break was perfect to organise his gains.

One flight and a taxi ride later he arrived home and opened the door to familiar furnishings, feeling a bit dazed. Half a year had passed—a mere semester—but it felt like a lifetime.

Six months ago, Su Bei was an ordinary ninth-grader striving to enroll in a good high school. Now, he was a formidable Ability User, having... experienced much.

“You there?” he asked, closing the door. Manga Consciousness, knowing it was being addressed, replied curiously: “I’m here. What’s up?”

Su Bei shook his head: “It’s nothing.”

Returning to familiar surroundings, the bizarre experiences he lived through felt surreal. Hearing Manga Consciousness’ voice again grounded Su Bei.

After resting for a day, Su Bei checked the new Manga chapter, which concluded the contents of their Campaign Reenactment and contained nothing unexpected as he barely appeared.

On a positive note, it included many storylines involving students from other schools. For example, the Houde Ability Academy’s S-Class killed the Teleportation Nightmare Beast together.

Jiang Tianming’s group helped of course, otherwise that storyline wouldn’t have made it into the Manga. Still, these plot points made Su Bei thoughtfully raise an eyebrow.

It wasn’t just his imagination—the author was boosting the other academies’ presence. Would they be featured more prominently next semester?

Shaking his head, he flipped to the Manga’s first page. He wanted to see the neighboring exam’s plot. That update’s focus was their story, especially Mu Tieren’s unresolved mystery.

After the group was rescued, Ai Baozhu healed Ling You with the antidote. They reviewed their performance, during which Mu Tieren’s was highlighted.

Predictably Mo Xiaotian was the first to grill him, excitedly showering him with praise before curiously asking him how he got so strong.

Normally Mo Xiaotian’s praise felt fine, but from Su Bei’s perspective his curiosity didn’t seem entirely pure.

Mo Xiaotian asked when everyone was curious, so his question didn’t draw attention. After all, he hadn’t done anything wrong either.

From reading the Manga, Su Bei realized that Mo Xiaotian’s role in 《King of Abilities》 was to ask timely questions, giving the artist a reason to address the readers’ doubts.

Unsurprisingly, Mu Tieren didn’t tell the truth. Smiling, he explained it was a newly developed Ability technique, briefly boosting his physical prowess and giving him immunity to mental attacks.

This was plausible—Abilities could develop new skills, especially for a Physical-Enhancement-Type like him. A short-term boost technique was normal.

But Su Bei didn’t buy it. As fans in forum posts noted, why did he hesitate to use it if it was just that? Why never use it in training? Did he develop it during the exam?

Only someone hiding the truth would conceal their Ability and hidden Abilities were usually problematic.

Since Ai Baozhu’s group didn’t know better, they believed him, leaving Su Bei without more intel.

Thankfully, the author clearly intended to drop more hints. Later Mu Tieren was often shown clutching his chest.

Several times, Su Bei noticed Mu Tieren’s arm emit a smoke-like substance!

It was subtle; Su Bei would have missed it, if he wasn’t focusing on him. Everything suggested that the Ability had issues, but what exactly those issues were, eluded Su Bei.

The forum didn’t have a lot to add. Readers also spotted what Su Bei did and spun some wild theories. Some linked the smoke to what Zhao Xiaoyu inhaled before the technique activated, leaving him in awe of their attention to details and their imaginations.

That was a wild idea. If the author wrote that, Su Bei would jump through the screen to stab him.

Still, the author succeeded—nobody discussed Mo Xiaotian status as a mole anymore. Only one old post lingered.

So Mo Xiaotian could hold on a bit longer. Even if his identity was revealed, it would happen the next semester at the earliest.

Finished with reading, Su Bei stretched. He’d rest two more days, then tackle other tasks after their scores came out.

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*In Chinese culture, "face" (mianzi, 面子) is a crucial concept referring to an individual’s reputation, dignity, and social standing within a community. It’s a sociological phenomenon where social interactions are heavily influenced by the desire to maintain or enhance one’s own face and avoid losing face, which can lead to shame and social repercussions. Giving face (给面子) means showing respect and deference to others to elevate their social standing, while losing face (丢脸) can result from public criticism, failure, or disrespect.

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