Translator: AkazaTL

Proofreader/Editor: TenebrousGaze, JWyck & Ekko

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Chapter 118

Though the author likely wouldn’t let Mo Xiaotian truly die by Su Bei’s hand, undoing his Ability would certainly come at a high cost. No choice—this was the only move he had.

Almost the second he cranked the small pointer to the far right, Mo Xiaotian spewed a mouthful of blood, wilting as if he would die any moment.

The grandfather’s face darkened like a scorched pot, clutching his grandson with pained eyes, warning again: “You think you can kill Xiaotian? He has a life-saving item we crafted for him. Even if something happens to him, he’ll revive instantly. If you retract your Ability now, we can negotiate. But if you persist, I’ll tear you to pieces!”

Su Bei nearly laughed. Were life-saving items some common trinket? Everyone seemed to have one!

Si Zhaohua had one, Mo Xiaotian had one, Feng Lan probably did too. Even he himself had one! He carried a Substitute Doll with him, which granted him an extra life but possessed no escape ability. Unless Su Bei convinced them that he was dead, he couldn’t flee.

Seeing Mo Xiaotian still vomiting blood, growing feebler and barely conscious, the old man realized Su Bei’s decision.

Yet, despite equipping Mo Xiaotian with a protective item, he hesitated. That item wasn’t just for revival—it reduced external damage significantly.

But Mo Xiaotian’s state showed the item was useless, as if his state occurred spontaneously and wasn’t Ability-induced.

That was impossible, it had to be an Ability.

Despite acting tough, the old man lacked confidence. He couldn’t gamble Mo Xiaotian’s life. If he failed, no amount of vengeance would bring him back.

They reached a stalemate, but Su Bei’s mood visibly improved. The old man’s hesitation meant he doubted the item could save Mo Xiaotian—or he didn’t want to waste it.

Either way, it was good news for Su Bei. Hesitation likely meant he would let him go. Su Bei was ready to die together with Mo Xiatian*, but he wasn’t eager to. Living was obviously better.

The old man needed one more push—Su Bei couldn’t afford for him to stall any longer. What if he called reinforcements?

With that, he sent a sliver of Mental Energy to attack Mo Xiaotian. Advanced Mental Energy was detectable; already weak, he spat another small mouthful of blood.

The grandpa couldn’t hold anymore and roared: “Stop torturing him! I’ll let you go, but you must swear never to use this move on Xiaotian again!”

He didn’t want to swallow his pride, but his grandson’s life mattered more. By guarding against this tactic, he believed the enemy would never harm Mo Xiaotian again—a permanent fix.

He produced a Contract from thin air, words appearing as he willed them, outlining his terms, and placed it in a corner, taking Mo Xiaotian to the opposite side, signaling Su Bei to sign.

This Contract was high-grade, requiring no pen—just mental agreement, with full binding force.

“Is this Contract safe?” Su Bei asked Manga Consciousness.

In such matters, Manga Consciousness was willing to help. It had been spooked too—the situation was dire. If Su Bei died, it didn’t have a backup world-savior candidate.

“No issues,” Manga Consciousness confirmed after checking.

He sighed in relief and signed the Contract.

Once signed, the Space Lock deactivated under the Contract’s effect. Su Bei teleported home instantly. The second after, a red beam struck where he had stood and blew a three-meter crater.

Slumping on his sofa, he took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow, trying to calm his nerves.

Manga Consciousness spoke: “That was too close. You can’t take such risks again.”

Su Bei poured himself a glass of water, drank, then nodded: “I’ll be more careful next time.”

Taking no risks was impossible unless he just let the world end. But in the future he needed to be better prepared before taking a risk. This taught him that the Invisibility Charms weren’t foolproof. Despite Manga Consciousness’ enhancements, many counters existed.

His overconfidence stemmed from repeated successful uses without detection, making him trust the Talismans blindly.

This exposure showed that even an enhanced Invisibility Charm wasn’t omnipotent. The Ability world’s items and skills were myriad—he couldn’t let his guard down or act without triple-checking.

Despite Su Bei’s near-death experience, he didn’t stay down for too long—he was a teenager after all. Caution alone wasn’t enough; he often missed traps. More protective items were needed.

He rummaged through Destiny’s inventory, finding several life-saving items. Su Bei then traded his Substitute Doll for one he truly needed: a Life-Saving Puppet. Like the Substitute Doll, it didn’t need to be carried— after you bind it with blood, it will save you once from a fatal injury by swapping its place with you.

But it had some flaws. First, the swap was obvious—enemies saw the puppet replace you, knowing you lived. Faking death, which was possible with Substitute Doll, wasn’t an option here.

Second, you will be weak for three days after use—not just dizzy and tired like after using the Dream Bubble, but truly immobile, needing care.

The Substitute Doll had no such drawbacks.

Both had pros and cons, but Life-Saving Puppet suited Su Bei better. Three days of immobility posed no mortal risk, unlike reviving in the same place where he could be trapped.

The warehouse had better items, but he couldn’t take them freely even as Destiny’s leader. However, he was entitled to exchange items for another of equal value.

Regaining a sense of security, Su Bei pondered the incident, starting with the intel: Black Flash’s exposed headquarters was real but deliberately revealed to ambush the academies.

Su Bei’s eavesdropping was detected, so Black Flash might alter their plans. If he warned the academies and they changed plans, he would lose their trust and possibly cause greater harm.

Not warning them cost him nothing, but if the academies suffered, this already unbalanced world would tip further towards doom.

Another issue: how to warn them and what identity to use?

Going in person was suicidal—Mo Xiaotian’s group would know Su Bei was the eavesdropper, and he wouldn’t survive a week.

Using Destiny’s name was also bad. There was no justification to go against Black Flash and he didn’t want Destiny clashing with Black Flash. It would harm the organization, risk disunity in the ranks and endanger them needlessly.

Although he had stolen from Black Flash while acting in Destiny’s name, creating tensions between both organizations, he had done so with justification. Zheng Yun, the representative of Black Flash, provoked him first and tried to screw him, so his retaliatory actions boosted Destiny’s stock and pleased its members.

Su Bei suddenly had an idea. He couldn’t warn the schools as Destiny’s leader, but he could offer the intel as a seller!

As leader, he knew the identities of all members’, including the members hiding behind anonymous accounts through the backend.

Endless Ability Academy’s principal, Wu Di, was a member. He found his account, checked his tasks and as expected, found one about Black Flash—a long-term task offering rewards for useful info.

He accepted it with an anonymous account.

Su Bei reflected further before Wu Di responded. Mo Xiaotian definitely had a life-saving item like Si Zhaohua, given his grandpa’s care.

But why did the old man yield?

A reasonable guess: the item was precious and he didn’t want to waste it, so he let Su Bei go. Su Bei doubted Black Flash lacked such items—killing an unknown enemy like him was surely more valuable.

Only a fool or pauper would spare him to save an item. Black Flash’s boss was neither.

His choice to let Su Bei go and make him sign the Contract meant genuine fear for Mo Xiaotian’s life—his life-saving item couldn’t block Su Bei’s Ability!

This realization raised Su Bei’s eyebrow. He hadn’t truly threatened Mo Xiaotian’s life, so the grandpa’s item likely reduced damage.

Was his Ability immune to such items?

Many Ability Users didn’t know their Ability’s quirks. Learning them happened during combat or accidents like this.

Only now did he realize that his Ability might have unknown traits, like bypassing certain items.

Like the Compass, this needed extensive testing. Su Bei sighed, feeling the long road ahead. The next morning, Wu Di reached out.

“What kind of intel?” His message appeared on the notebook, in uniform small script to hide his handwriting.

Su Bei replied: “About their recent actions.”

Destiny’s process was standardized: Sellers accepted tasks, hinted at intel and buyers decided if they wanted to proceed, negotiating price or details.

Once an agreement was made, it could no longer be changed. After the seller gave the full information, the deal was concluded. Buyers could rate their experience; sellers with poor ratings were scrutinized. Selling fake or useless information could mean expulsion or death.

Seeing Black Flash’s recent actions made Wu Di think of their upcoming operation. He had felt it was going too smooth, finding their headquarters so fast seemed unreal.

Despite multiple checks, which revealed no problems, and all indications pointing to a genuine headquarters, the academies were still doubtful. Nevertheless, they could only press forward.

Now, with a potential lead, Wu Di was equally excited and wary. Destiny’s system deterred selling fake information—losing your membership for a few points was the height of foolishness.

With anonymity between members, grudges were unlikely, reducing the chances of malicious fake intel.

But with Black Flash in conflict with multiple organizations, a member risking expulsion to mislead their foes wasn’t impossible.

Destiny, a pure information group, lacked diehard loyalists. Black Flash members would be willing to sacrifice benefits to spread lies.

Despite all his caution, he agreed to the deal. He needed the intel and its truth could be verified later.

As a seller, Su Bei didn’t make it easy for Wu Di. They haggled and he secured a great reward for himself.

Satisfied, he recounted the gist of what happened, not hiding that he was detected eavesdropping.

Su Bei omitted how he escaped, framing himself as someone who overheard information, suffered for it and sought revenge.

After hearing him, Wu Di grew more confident that the intel was true. He did so for two reasons. First, he doubted Black Flash would craft such an elaborate lie to fool him.

Second, the intel’s uncertainty was great—this information made it impossible to predict the enemies and their groups actions.

If the information was a lie, it would only muddy the waters and could not guide their actions meaningfully.

Third, the seller had haggled a lot and ripped him off, with how unreliable the intel was. Had he known it was so half-baked, he would have pushed the price further down.

With a major issue resolved, Su Bei enjoyed a brief rest. Brief, because winter break was only a month and he had to work soon.

The first week was used to study his Ability; the next was for homework.

Lan Subing picked the location—a Different Space with shifting weather, courtesy of a High-Level Nightmare Beast’s Ability.

The Different Space was relatively safe, because that Beast only had Support-Type Abilities. Weather control was potent, but less lethal than Attack-Type Abilities.

The Space was unique—a vast plane with countless rooms, each with its own weather and design, possibly hiding Nightmare Beasts.

It sounded fun. Alone, he would enjoy it. But with the protagonist team, the setup felt like a death sentence.

Sighing, he started to prepare. He checked the link Lan Subing sent into the group chat, which led to the Ability User website for this Different Space.

As a rare state-controlled space with a High-Level Nightmare Beast, the Weather Different Space was famous, with plenty of data about it.

The Beast’s known weathers were the following: Sunny, Rainy, Snowy, Hail and Windy.

Shockingly, the most dangerous weather wasn’t Rain or Hail but Sunny! The safest-sounding was the deadliest.

Reading further, he understood. Sunny was great outdoors, but indoors?

Imagine a sun indoors.

Seeing a photo of a Sunny room made him fall silent. This was terrifying—was it conjuring a sun?

Su Bei couldn’t imagine opening a door to a sun in front of your face. A real sun’s heat could turn you instantly to ash; its brightness was blinding.

Even a fake sun was formidable.

Other weathers had their own dangers. Any weather in a small room was rarely safe.

They planned to go on Monday. Early in the morning, Su Bei reached the orphanage where Jiang Tianming and Wu Mingbai lived. They lived there because they were still considered minors.

It was Su Bei’s first time seeing the Manga’s orphanage in reality and realised it wasn’t as grim as the drawings. White walls, red tiles—it looked decent actually. Jiang Tianming and Wu Mingbai came out after getting texts from him, but had teens acting suspicious while following them from afar.

Su Bei raised an eyebrow, amused. When they reached him, he teased lightly: “Why bring a bunch of little tails to meet me?”

With his sharp eyes, he had spotted several kids of varying ages trailing them from afar. He didn’t believe they hadn’t noticed.

As expected, they weren’t surprised. Wu Mingbai feigned shock: “Tails? What tails?”

Su Bei just smirked at him. Jiang Tianming chuckled: “Let them follow. They’ll be turned away at the site.”

Different Space perimeters were barred from ordinary people to prevent escaping Nightmare Beast from harming them or disputes with Ability Users.

“Lan Subing’s not here?” he asked, seeing they didn’t mind the followers.

Jiang Tianming shrugged helplessly: “She’s stuck in traffic. Should be here in a bit.”

Her home wasn’t far from the orphanage; she should’ve arrived first. Traffic made her last.

He added: “Want to tour the orphanage?”

Su Bei nodded indifferently and they headed in. Seeing them return, the trailing kids grew restless.

Several approached, led by a boy their age with dark red hair: “Jiang Tianming, not cool! A classmate visits, and you don’t introduce us?”

His group chimed in: “Yeah, not cool!”

Wu Mingbai replied shamelessly, all innocence: “Why introduce him? Isn’t he our classmate?”

The red-haired boy choked, retorting: “But we’re friends!”

Wu Mingbai didn’t give him face, gasping: “Oh? We’re friends?”

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*Ekko-Note: Without context, this sounds like a love confession or an act of camaraderie, lol

** Ekko-Note: So some people might be confused what a tail is, in this context, so here the Definition from the Oxford Dictionary:

A tail describes a person who is sent to follow somebody secretly and find out information about where that person goes, what they do, etc.

example: - The police have put a tail on him.

NOTE :

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