A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

12:

A death in the school was undoubtedly a grave matter.

Upon hearing Jiang Tianming’s verdict, a boy who had come over to see what the commotion was about turned pale, then asked with suspicion, “Are you sure? Don’t just spout nonsense!”

Jiang Tianming had not only seen death but had also killed with his own hands, so he was not mistaken. He ignored the boy and looked up at the teacher who had hurried over upon noticing the anomaly, “Teacher, there’s been a death. Should we temporarily close the cafeteria?”

The teacher, taken aback by his calmness, nodded immediately after a brief pause, then shouted into the megaphone hanging around his neck, “All students, please stay where you are and do not move!”

While speaking, he quickly checked the condition of the deceased. Confirming the death, he snapped his fingers and shut the cafeteria doors.

Then, with a grim expression, he contacted his superiors on the walkie-talkie to report the incident in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was in an uproar; no one had expected such an event. The timid began to grow anxious, while the bold discussed the incident amongst themselves.

Wu Mingbai quietly tugged at the sleeves of Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing, nodding towards a direction, “Look over there.”

Following his gesture, they saw Su Bei sitting there, leisurely eating his meal, seemingly undisturbed by the chaos in the cafeteria.

The three of them thought of Su Bei’s earlier comment about “watching the drama” and realized it was just as he said: they were performing on stage while he was an audience member.

“Why don’t I call him over?” Wu Mingbai suggested with ill intent, “He must know something.”

Having been companions for so long, Jiang Tianming knew his friend’s mischievous thoughts all too well. He gave him a disdainful look, “No, calling him over now would completely offend him. Offending someone like that… don’t be foolish.”

Lan Subing nodded in agreement, took out her phone, and began typing rapidly, “Let’s go ask him later, and remind someone that their meal card is still with me. You get my meaning, right?”

Wu Mingbai pursed his lips but understood that his companions were right. It was highly unlikely that Su Bei was the murderer, and exposing him would serve no purpose.

“I know, I know! I won’t expose him.”

At this moment, the teacher had finished reporting the situation and came back to ask them for details. Actually, what happened just now was quite simple. Wu Mingbai wanted to use the restroom, but since the other side was blocked, he lightly pushed the deceased, hoping to wake him up and make some space. Who would have known that with this push, the deceased would fall over from the side, followed by a piercing scream from a girl passing by, and then everyone knew what happened.

Without a doubt, Wu Mingbai was an innocent victim of circumstance. Logically, this incident really had nothing to do with anyone, and it would be best to leave the investigation to the school.

But Su Bei was very clear that for the plot to progress, there must be some reason that would force the main group of three protagonists to investigate the truth.

Soon, the school sent someone over. The person who came was a beautiful female teacher, who, without saying anything, briskly threw out a tent and crawled inside.

The previous teacher had the crowd line up to enter the tent one by one.

After directing everyone, he saw the worried expressions on their faces and explained kindly, “Teacher Zhou’s special ability can help clear everyone’s suspicions. After you go in, if there’s no problem, you can leave the cafeteria.”

After all, there were more than fifty students in the cafeteria, and it wasn’t right to keep everyone confined like this.

Hearing they could leave, everyone immediately quieted down and lined up obediently. They knew they hadn’t killed anyone, so naturally, they weren’t guilty. If they could easily clear their suspicions, nothing could be better.

The first student went in and came out in less than five minutes. After coming out, regardless of what others asked, he didn’t respond and left the cafeteria under the guidance of the assistant teacher.

His demeanor made the students, who were not originally worried, become somewhat nervous, wondering what exactly happened inside the tent.

Su Bei was near the front of the line. He knew that the comic would update tomorrow, and he could find out what happened during this time through the comic, so he didn’t plan to waste time in the cafeteria.

When it was his turn, he walked in confidently. Teacher Zhou sat behind the desk and said coldly, “Answer a few questions for me, and if there’s no problem, you can leave. “

“Did you kill Sun Ming?” The deceased’s name was Sun Ming.

“No,” Su Bei shook his head. Although the deceased died because his fate had changed, it indeed wasn’t him who killed the other party.

At this moment, he also understood Teacher Zhou’s ability, which must be lie detection.

“Do you have any special relationship with Sun Ming? Like kinship, friendship, enmity, and the like.”

“We’re not relatives, nor friends, even less enemies; we hadn’t even met each other before.” Su Bei answered like this, paused, then shrugged, “As for our relationship, if I have to say, we have a common enemy, and that is this world.”

He had only planned to answer the first part, but after answering, he felt that he couldn’t close his mouth.

It was clear that Teacher Zhou’s special ability had taken effect, for he had not directly answered the question, “Do you have any special relationship with Sun Ming?”

This ability not only detects lies but also compels the other party to give an answer, without beating around the bush.

Su Bei couldn’t deny his relationship with Sun Ming, as he was well aware of their connection—they both shared the identity of cannon fodder who died at the beginning of a comic.

His initial plan to dodge the question with vague answers was thwarted by the ability, but fortunately, he had prepared a Plan B, which allowed him to smoothly navigate through the crisis.

“Answer the question seriously,” Teacher Zhou frowned at the blond young man before her, her mind also filled with surprise.

She knew her own ability well; under its influence, the answers given must be true and indeed reflect the thoughts of the respondent.

That is to say, the sunny and handsome boy before her acknowledged that both he and the deceased had a common enemy—the “world.”

Did he harbor a sense of world-weariness?

However, now was clearly not the time to be concerned about the psychological health of her students. She withdrew her gaze and continued, “Do you know anyone who had a bad relationship with Sun Ming?”

“I don’t know.”

After a few questions, Teacher Zhou nodded, “That’s all, you may leave. Please don’t tell the other students outside about our conversation, and after you leave, don’t mention to anyone what happened in the cafeteria.”

“Okay, I understand, thank you, teacher.” With a slight bow, Su Bei turned and left the tent. Stepping outside, he saw

() the protagonist trio in line, watching him. He gave them a cheeky wink and left the cafeteria with a swagger, heading back to the dormitory.

Wu Mingbai’s expression wasn’t great, but he still wore a bright, sunny smile, “Wow, that was a provocation, definitely a provocation!”

Beside him, Jiang Tianming spoke thoughtfully, “He left so easily; it seems this incident wasn’t his doing. At most, his ability might have given him a heads-up about something.”

The fact that the other party wasn’t involved was undoubtedly good news. A spectator is always safer than a performer.

Understanding his point, Wu Mingbai nodded, not too concerned, “In any case, this matter has nothing to do with us. It’s not like I can be blamed just because I bumped into the deceased, right?”

They didn’t kill the person, and the deceased had no relation to them. So in his view, whatever Su Bei knew was irrelevant.

However, hearing his words, Jiang Tianming’s expression grew complex as he watched Su Bei’s departing figure, “I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that this won’t be the end of it.”

If it were that simple, what would be the need for them to play their part in this drama? Surely Su Bei didn’t just want to watch them discover a dead body—a rather uninteresting affair.

Amidst his ominous premonitions, Wu Mingbai felt something was amiss, yet couldn’t pinpoint the problem, and had to temporarily let go.

Suddenly recalling something, he turned to Lan Subing, “Subing, why are you silent?”

As he spoke, he approached her and saw Lan Subing blushing slightly, her gaze fixed towards the main entrance, “He’s quite handsome.”

Jiang Tianming: “……”

Wu Mingbai: “……”

Conversations diverged; on the other side, Su Bei had returned to the dormitory. The corridor was bustling with people, all curious about the incident in the cafeteria, coming out to gather news.

Seeing Su Bei enter, several people looked over curiously, eager to glean some information from him.

“Hey, buddy! You just came from the cafeteria, right?” A red-haired lad approached him familiarly, glancing around cautiously and whispered, “I heard someone died in the cafeteria?”

Watching the boys around him perk up their ears at his words, Su Bei felt the guy’s caution was misplaced. Still, he sized up the red-haired lad and countered, “Where did you hear that?”

“Uh…” The boy was suddenly at a loss for words, blinking rapidly, but quickly offered an uneasy explanation, “Well, I saw the cafeteria was sealed off, so I asked around at the entrance. But before I could learn anything specific, the teachers sent me back.”

Clearly, he wasn’t adept at lying. Knowing something major happened due to the cafeteria’s closure was normal, but knowing someone died inside was not.

Despite his suspicions, Su Bei didn’t show it, pretending to believe the explanation, and with a smile, he gestured a zipping motion across his mouth, “The teachers told us not to talk about it.”

“I see, I understand.” The red-haired lad seemed slightly disappointed but didn’t linger and left.

As he turned away, Su Bei’s gaze sharpened, his eyes involuntarily widening.

Being a head taller than the boy, from this angle, he could clearly see a black lightning symbol on the side of the lad’s neck, hidden by his collar.

Lightning, precisely the shape he associated with those four gears.

Could this student be in cahoots with the murderer?!

Before Su Bei could compose himself, the red-haired lad suddenly turned back, his previously sunny face now expressionless, staring intently at him, “What are you looking at?”!