A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

9:

If he wasn’t mistaken, judging by Feng Lan’s demeanor and the money on his meal card, he must be wealthy. Such people face more schemes than less, and instead of beating around the bush, making others suspect ill intentions, it’s better to ask directly.

After all, everyone in Class F must be curious about the ‘Prophecy’ ability, and Su Bei figured it wouldn’t matter much if he asked.

As expected, Feng Lan didn’t intend to hide anything. After swallowing the rice in his mouth, he answered: “It’s ‘Prophecy.’ It can consume mental energy to randomly predict some general things, like ‘something will happen on the first day of school.’ It can also predict more specific things, but that consumes more mental energy, and with my current condition, I can only use the latter once a month.”

“Something will happen on the first day of school”?

If someone else heard this prophecy, they might be confused. But Su Bei felt deeply the power of Feng Lan’s ‘Prophecy’ ability.

This was precisely the special ability Su Bei had originally planned for himself.

After a moment’s thought, his eyes flashed, “Doesn’t that mean it lacks the ability to attack or defend, rendering it useless in combat?”

Feng Lan nodded and then shook his head, “The ability itself indeed lacks combat power, but it can be utilized in battle.”

After saying this, he bowed his head and continued eating, and Su Bei did not inquire further. He was aware that their relationship was far from the point of full disclosure, and Feng Lan’s willingness to share so much was already commendable.

The information he had just revealed was plentiful, giving Su Bei new ideas. Since Feng Lan’s ability was non-aggressive, it was perfect for Su Bei to use this to his advantage and adjust his own ability plan.

A destiny with an aggressive nature, how should it be adjusted…

After finishing their meal, the two returned to the male dormitory building together.

The “Endless Ability Academy” was quite generous in this regard; all students had individual rooms. Even the students of the seemingly hopeless Class F were provided with single rooms equipped with toilets.

There were no other classes on the afternoon of the first day of school, so after bidding farewell to Feng Lan, Su Bei entered the dormitory to tidy up the luggage he had haphazardly placed that morning.

As he tidied up, he spoke out, “Comic Consciousness, are you there? Send me the previous comics, please. I want to study the earlier plot.”

The plot of the first part would help him further analyze the personalities of the three main characters, and the beginning of the second part also had much to be studied.

“Sure, I’ve already put it along with the forum on your phone; you can check it anytime. To others, it will appear as if you’re reviewing study materials.”

Hearing this, Su Bei breathed a sigh of relief. This setup was good; even if he lost his phone and someone else found it, there would be no worries.

“Comic Consciousness” was rarely so considerate, and he was touched. It was known that many students from the lower classes would self-study regular cultural courses during breaks from the Ability Academy.

They lacked talent in the world of ability users and would ultimately return to the ordinary world. And in the ordinary world, academic qualifications played a significant role.

The Ability Academy turned a blind eye to this. They even allocated extra cultural courses to Class F students and would help recommend schools after graduation.

Upon opening his phone, there indeed was a new comic app. The icon was a group photo of Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, and Wu Mingbai.

Tapping on the app, what appeared was a very rudimentary green □□ interface. Inside were two books, one was “King of Abilities” Part One, and the other was Part Two.

At the top were two columns, one for comics and the other for the forum.

After hesitating for a moment, Su Bei swiped right to enter the forum.

“The Academy Chapter is about to start, I’m so excited!!!”

“Please, let there be more handsome characters in the Academy Chapter. This series has too few charismatic roles.”

“What did Li Tao mean by Jiang Jiang’s last words at the end of the first part?”

A hot post marked with a yellow sign was very conspicuous. The thread speculating about the comic’s foreshadowing immediately caught Su Bei’s attention. He was curious about the meaning behind Jiang Tianming’s last words after finishing the comic.

However, he didn’t click on the thread. The second part of the comic hadn’t started updating yet. If the audience could guess the foreshadowing now, there would be no need to update the comic.

Seeing nothing particularly useful, he flipped back to the comic interface and clicked into the second part. The first part was longer, surely hiding more information. But the content of the second part was more pressing for him; he had to study it quickly.

After tidying up, he sat on the bed. Just as he was about to open the second part, Su Bei suddenly asked a question: “The second part of the comic was originally triggered by my death. Now that I haven’t died, how will the comic deal with this issue?”

“The Comic Consciousness” didn’t expect him to realize this. After hesitating for a while, it still gave an answer, as it couldn’t be concealed: “Someone else will die in your place.”

The room was terrifyingly quiet, as if even the sound of breathing was inaudible. “The Comic Consciousness,” unable to bear such silence, spoke again: “So you…”

“What about me?” Su Bei suddenly interrupted, chuckling, “Heh, are you trying to say ‘So you should work hard and not let that person’s death be in vain’?”

If someone observed closely, they would notice that although he was smiling, there was not a hint of mirth in his eyes, only a full measure of coldness.

His partially covered bangs hid his brows and eyes, the delicate flutter of his eyelids, the curve of his lips as they hooked upwards, exuding a natural rascality.

“…Is there a problem with that statement?” “The Comic Consciousness” indeed intended to say that.

Su Bei, who had seen many criminals with his father, rarely fell into logical traps. He was clear-headed from beginning to end: “You should know, even I wasn’t targeted by the killer due to negligence.”

He vividly remembered his mind being in chaos at that time. Before “The Comic Consciousness” brought him back to his senses, his actions were almost beyond his control.

In other words — “Whether it’s my death or the substitute’s, both are dictated by the plot!”

Su Bei stated decisively.

He wouldn’t punish himself for the substitute’s death because it clearly wasn’t his fault; he too was a victim.

“The real culprits behind our deaths are the killer, the plot, the comic! What do I, as a victim, have to feel guilty about, let alone use it as motivation to strive harder?”

As he spoke, he lifted his head with a meaningful smile that wasn’t quite a smile: “No one would feel guilty about this. Who’s trying to PUA here?”

On this point

He had already figured it out after coming back to life and understanding the situation. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let someone else take the fall, living with the burden of a human life.

His words successfully silenced the “Comic Consciousness” once again, which now realized that, indeed, it hadn’t started with the intention of PUA. But as Su Bei had said, it had indeed been misguided from the very beginning.

Whether it was the initially set death of Su Bei or the current death of the substitute, both were fates set by the author for the comic to proceed smoothly.

But the comic author wouldn’t feel guilty, for in his eyes, everyone in the comic was a character he created with his pen. How could the author be wrong in arranging the fates of his own characters?

“It was my poor choice of words, I apologize. This indeed has nothing to do with you.” Realizing its direct mistake and lacking the human emotion of shame, the “Comic Consciousness” promptly apologized.

At this moment, Su Bei regained his usual smiling expression, as if the cold anger from before was just an illusion: “Since you also know it’s your problem, shouldn’t you, who almost pinned a murder charge on me, give me some compensation?”

“…What compensation do you want?”

“Let me simulate the death of the original ‘me’.” Pointing to the last page of the second part of the comic, next to his body in the restroom, the gears scattered on the ground, Su Bei confidently said, “I think ‘I’ must have discovered some clue about the murderer before dying.”

Knowing himself, Su Bei was not one to subconsciously use his powers to protect himself.

After all, that power, in his view, was useless except for saving some expenses at the hardware store. To protect himself, his own fighting skills were more useful.

So why were there so many small gears next to his body in the picture?

There was only one possibility: these were gears he had intentionally released. And the purpose was to provide the protagonist with a key clue. The number of gears, their placement, size, and shape… might all be hinting at the identity of the murderer.

That is to say, he must have seen the murderer’s face before he died, or at least seen some clue that proved the identity.

And the current Su Bei needed this clue very much.

He wanted to know this for two reasons: first, he was worried that the other party would come after him again. After all, although he hadn’t seen that person’s face, given the person’s decisive nature, it was unlikely they would let him go.

The second reason was to understand the subsequent plot in advance, which would help him proactively set up his character.

It’s worth mentioning that the murderer in such comic opening cases generally has two possibilities. Either they are found quickly, serving only to immerse the reader in the plot quickly. This may also lead to subsequent plots, such as the organization or conspiracy behind the killer.

Or they serve as a foreshadowing, running through the main storyline, and the murderer’s identity may not be revealed until the end.

Su Bei hoped for the former, for if it were the latter, that would be troublesome.

It meant not only could he not immediately rid himself of the danger, but he might also have attracted a colossal entity. This clashed significantly with Su Bei’s self-imposed principle of “three no-touches.”

Regardless, the clues left by “himself” before death needed to be analyzed. The more clues he could gather, the more he could craft the persona of being prescient.

After all, he wouldn’t be able to preview the comics anymore. This was his easiest and only chance to establish himself as a prophet!