A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 58

Around 8 p.m., when the sky had already turned dark, Su Bei suddenly noticed movement below the tree he was in. It sounded like someone was running. Looking down, he saw no one, but the grass beneath the tree was being pressed down.

Seeing this, Su Bei’s expression turned to one of realization. It seemed that someone was using invisibility talismans to escape from the base camp. Judging by the sound, there were quite a few people.

If those captured in the base camp had managed to escape, it was likely that Jiang Tianming and his team had already started their operation.

Given the situation... Su Bei raised his head, his gaze falling in the direction of the base camp.

“Boom!”

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Not long after, a series of violent explosions erupted in the direction of the base camp. Flames shot up into the sky, and the air was filled with continuous screams and the sound of blasts.

“Beep!”

A sudden short beep came from his watch. Su Bei raised his hand to look and saw a line of red text appear on the main screen: "Countdown to exit from the alternate space: 04:59."

Seeing that he would soon be able to exit, Su Bei stretched his body. After spending an entire day in the tree to avoid trouble, his body had become stiff. Once he got back, he planned to take a good rest.

As he was thinking this, he suddenly saw a red flare shoot up from a spot not far from the base camp. It exploded into a small firework in the night sky.

Su Bei froze for a moment before realizing what it was.

When he had previously disguised himself as the superior of the man in the cap, he had told him to fire a signal flare if he ever needed help. That must have been the signal flare fired by that person.

“Tch, trouble’s here,” Su Bei muttered.

He glanced at his watch again, estimated the time in his head, then ripped off the invisibility talisman. Jumping down from the tree, he pushed off the ground with force and bolted toward the direction of the flare.

Though five minutes wasn’t a lot of time, Su Bei, being a person with enhanced physical from his ability and a regular workout routine, reached the location in four minutes.

It was a small clearing, with obvious signs of a fight. Judging by the marks, the person who had been there must have fought while retreating westward.

So why had they released the signal flare at that moment?

Su Bei frowned as he started searching the area. He hoped the flare was intended to help him find something left behind here, rather than to ask for rescue.

If it was the latter, he would have to abandon this lead. Su Bei didn’t have the confidence to save someone while fending off attacks from the protagonist group.

Fortunately, he seemed to have guessed correctly. After searching for a short while, he found a sheet of white paper in the grass not far from the clearing.

A piece of white paper was quite out of place in this forest. When they entered, aside from two bottles of water and a backpack, they hadn’t brought anything else.

If it wasn’t a product of supernatural powers, then this paper must have been brought here by “Black Lightning.”

The moment Su Bei picked up the paper, a line of text suddenly appeared on it: “The Holy Son's name is…”

Seeing the text, Su Bei raised an eyebrow, knowing he had found the right thing. Without hesitation, he stuffed the paper into his pocket and left the area.

Soon, the five-minute countdown ended, and everyone in the alternate space was transported out at once.

At the same time, a notification echoed in Su Bei’s ears: “Manga Awareness: The King of Superpower has updated. Please check it out.”

The manga had updated which meant Su Bei had to stay up late tonight.

Unless under special circumstances, the flow of time in the alternate space was synchronized with the real world. Under the starry night sky, a group of students suddenly appeared on the school field.

The teachers stationed outside had been prepared for this and immediately began taking attendance. Those called first were sent to the other side of the field, where another group of teachers was handling registration.

Su Bei was lucky; he was the first to be called. Under the gazes of the crowd, he casually responded, “Here,” and walked over to register.

Meng Huai was also there, likely to keep the students in line. When Meng Huai saw Su Bei, he gave him a strong pat on the back. “So, you came out this late and without a single injury? Not bad—you’re making me proud!”

Apparently, he thought Su Bei had participated in the fights while keeping himself unharmed. Naturally, Su Bei didn’t bother to explain. If he admitted to slacking off the entire time, the next few days wouldn’t go well for him.

The teacher at the registration table was none other than the school nurse, Ms. Ye Lin. She had a gentle expression and spoke softly, her voice calming the students’ restlessness.

But her demeanor didn’t affect Su Bei much. He absentmindedly listened to her questions while focusing his gaze on her. For the first time, he looked at Ms. Ye so intently.

Ye Lin, noticing his stare, wasn’t annoyed. She patiently waited for him to finish before gently asking, “Su Bei, may I ask what you were looking at just now?”

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Su Bei, deep in thought, asked, “Ms. Ye, do you have any siblings?”

“Yes, I have a younger sister,” Ye Lin answered after a brief pause, smiling. “Why do you ask, Su Bei?”

Seeing her response, Su Bei smiled too. “Because you’re so gentle, you look like someone who would take great care of a younger sibling.”

Ye Lin raised her hand to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear and deliberately put on a stern expression. "Even if you flatter me, you still have to complete the registration. Now, tell me, what did you do after the academy issued the special mission?"

"I spent most of my time avoiding those men in black and during that time rescuing five people from their clutches. Aside from that, I didn't do anything else," Su Bei skillfully replied.

He avoided mentioning his slacking off, especially since Meng Huai was still glaring at him like a hawk from behind. He also omitted the part about knocking out the purple-haired girl since only Jiang Tianming and Si Zhaohua had witnessed it. Neither of them was likely to expose him recklessly.

The situation with the five people he rescued, however, was different. While Zhao Xiaoyu and Mu Tieren might cover for him, the other three were unlikely to keep everything a secret. They’d seen the gear too, and with just a little investigation, they could link it back to him.

So, instead of trying to hide it, Su Bei chose to be upfront, turning the incident into a merit-earning story. That way, he could avoid being perceived as useless or having his slacking uncovered.

"Very impressive," Ye Lin praised immediately. "Saving five people from them is no easy feat. Su Bei, you shouldn't underestimate yourself. It’s just unfortunate that, given the situation, there won't be any rankings this time. Otherwise, your group would definitely be among the top."

Everyone likes to hear compliments. Su Bei smiled and said, "Thank you, teacher. I think so too."

Once the registration was complete, Su Bei noticed the line behind him had grown long. He glanced at the queue, silently thanking his luck for being called first. Then he asked, "Teacher, may I leave now?"

"You may." Ye Lin nodded.

However, Su Bei had barely taken a few steps when Jiang Tianming called out from the back of the line, "Su Bei, can I come find you later?"

What a great question. Could he refuse? Su Bei sighed inwardly but still nodded. "Sure."

He didn’t want to invite trouble in the middle of the night, but who knew what Jiang Tianming wanted to talk about? If it was something important and he missed it, there could be consequences.

Back in his room, Su Bei immediately took out the piece of paper from his pocket. The question written on it earlier had disappeared, but it shouldn't affect his ability to respond.

He wrote the words "Mo Xiaotian" on the paper. The moment he finished, the words vanished, and a small silver ball, resembling a child's toy, popped out of the paper. Su Bei caught it in his hand.

A moment later, another message appeared on the paper:

"The person who finds this paper is likely the collaborator my superior mentioned. I’m not certain, but if I threw this paper out, it would mean I’m likely dead. So, if anyone finds this paper and answers the question, please take this item and the following message to Mushroom Road No. 26. The 'Black Lightning' organization will provide a generous reward:

'Agent No. 10 failed to complete the mission. Please collect the task props.'"

Mushroom Road No. 26.

Excitement flashed in Su Bei's eyes. This was undoubtedly an address that could connect him to the "Black Lightning" organization. Once he misled his readers and solidified his identity as a collaborator with "Black Lightning," he could visit this address.

But what was this small silver ball?

Su Bei held the ball up and examined it. It was a finely crafted object, a hollow silver sphere with intricate carvings, encasing a smaller, solid ball inside. It looked less like an ability-related artifact and more like a wealthy child’s toy.

The baseball-cap man had said it was a mission item, meaning it was crucial to the mission involving the capture of the students.

Based on this incident, Su Bei could identify four key elements of their plan. First, prevent those inside from leaving and others outside from entering. Second, capture Feng Lan in advance. Third, altering themission tablet. Fourth, making the basecamp’s location undetectable under normal circumstances.

The first scenario was unlikely since the basecamp's destruction had allowed everyone to leave. The other three were more plausible.

However, Su Bei had no idea how to use the artifact. Even if he understood its function, it wouldn’t be of much help at the moment. With that in mind, he carefully stored the silver ball in the innermost compartment of his suitcase and resolved to buy a hidden compartment for it tomorrow.

Scenes from manga, novels, and dramas often involve secrets being revealed due to a suitcase being accidentally knocked over. Su Bei would never repeat the same mistake and have people in this world suspect he was an undercover agent.

If readers discovered this, they would probably shout, "Exciting!" But if his classmates and teachers found out, it would spell disaster.

Knock, knock, knock!

Just as Su Bei finished putting everything away, there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find Jiang Tianming standing outside, as expected.

He had come alone, his expression calm but tinged with an indescribable undertone.

Once Su Bei invited him in and shut the door, Jiang Tianming got straight to the point. "When I was escaping, I saw you sitting in a tree. But when I returned later, you were gone. Where did you go during that time?"

"Are you… interrogating me?" Su Bei’s heart tensed, but outwardly, he smiled faintly at Jiang Tianming.

He hadn’t expected Jiang Tianming to notice him in the tree and then come back looking for him. It was an unforeseen development, but it didn’t make Su Bei feel guilty.

He had completed all his tasks while invisible, so no one could have seen him. He’d also canceled his invisibility in time when leaving the alternating space, leaving no flaws behind.

Thus, he felt no need to explain himself—nor did he intend to.

"No, I’m just curious," Jiang Tianming said with a shake of his head. He truly wasn’t suspicious of Su Bei, as there wasn’t much to suspect. "You’ve been disappearing a lot these past two days, as if you’ve had some kind of mission."

So this was the protagonist’s intuition? Su Bei raised an eyebrow and replied with half-truths, "Maybe it’s fate telling me to slack off."

At this, Jiang Tianming gave him a deadpan look. "Even fate would be angry if you slandered it like that."

He turned around to leave but suddenly remembered something and turned back. “By the way, Mu Tieren and Zhao Xiaoyu asked me to thank you on their behalf. It’s too late for them to come over tonight, but they’ll visit you tomorrow to thank you personally.”

He was referring to the time Su Bei had saved them.

“Got it.” Su Bei nodded and saw him out.

After leaving Su Bei’s room, Jiang Tianming didn’t leave right away but stood in place for a while. He still had lingering doubts. If Su Bei just wanted to slack off, why didn’t he simply leave the alternate space? And where exactly did he disappear to in the end?

But Su Bei always seemed to have countless secrets. Seeing that the other party didn’t want to answer, Jiang Tianming refrained from pressing further.

Inside the room, Su Bei let out a long sigh. True, he wanted to create another identity for himself, but being suspected by readers was one thing; being doubted by the protagonist group was another. After all, people in the real world couldn’t interfere with a fictional one, but people in the same world could easily investigate him.

Forget it. Better to check for updates on the manga first. This time, even though the update cycle was short, the content was definitely not small. After all, it was a group competition.

The manga began with the assembly on the school field, where everyone received their watches and entered the teleportation gate. After some lighthearted moments, the first mission tablets appeared, and the group decided to split up and act independently.

As expected, the story followed Jiang Tianming’s perspective. Because of this mission, Jiang Tianming and Mu Tieren didn’t stray too far, wandering nearby to see if they could encounter anything interesting.

The initial plot was relatively mundane, so Su Bei skipped ahead. He only cared about two parts: the scenes involving himself and the plot after the “Black Lightning” organization began its operations.

As a group-focused manga, the focus naturally couldn’t stay solely on Jiang Tianming. After their fight with another team, the scene shifted to Wu Mingbai and Lan Subing, and then finally to Su Bei and Mo Xiaotian.

Their segment was somewhat lackluster, mainly delving into Mo Xiaotian’s childhood and fleshing out his character. The fight with the nightmares was also glossed over.

However, one noteworthy moment occurred when Su Bei said, “Don’t put too much faith in your teammates…” That line caused the comment section to explode.

“Ahhhh, I sense foreshadowing!”

“I smell the knife!”

“What does that mean? Was Su Bei betrayed by his teammates in the past?”

“Is he talking about himself? Warning Mo Xiaotian not to trust him too much?”

No one guessed Su Bei’s real intentions. But without God's perspective, it was unlikely they ever would.

Next, the part where they encountered Si Zhaohua and his two companions could vaguely be considered foreshadowing.

When the scene returned to Su Bei, it was during the part where he met Zhao Xiaoyu and Wu Jin.

Watching Zhao Xiaoyu lead a group of people, attempting to guilt-trip Mo Xiaotian into being their free bodyguard, only for Su Bei to casually refuse, caused the comment section to light up.

“Wow, Miss Zhao Xiaoyu really has strong leadership skills.”

“Is she bringing so many F-Class students just to have more cannon fodder?”

“Classic manipulative language spotted!”

“Goodness, Mo Xiaotian’s eyes are brimming with tears.”

“Hahaha!”

“I give a perfect score for this push and pull.”

“Mo Xiaotian: So that’s how it is! (enlightened.jpg)”

The scene where Su Bei asked about Feng Lan’s whereabouts was also depicted. Aside from a small group of readers screaming, “Ship confirmed!” most were engrossed in analyzing the plot.

Judging by the comments, it was clear the seasoned readers had also realized that something was bound to go wrong in this group competition. Otherwise, Feng Lan’s sudden disappearance wouldn’t make sense.

The perspective then followed Zhao Xiaoyu, showcasing her conversation with Wu Jin. Su Bei raised an eyebrow at this part.

As he had suspected, Wu Jin was indeed exceptionally sensitive to emotions.

Reading this reminded Su Bei of Wu Jin’s stunningly beautiful face and their conversation in the alternate space. He closed the manga for now and massaged his temples, deep in thought.

He had initially assumed Wu Jin had a dual personality—one being the primary personality, and the other secondary—with not only differing temperaments but also separate abilities.

However, Wu Jin had denied having dual personalities, and he didn’t seem to be lying. This made the two abilities Wu Jin displayed in the manga particularly intriguing.

Did this person naturally possess two abilities, or were they actually two distinct manifestations of a single ability?

After pondering for a moment, Su Bei decisively messaged Meng Huai. When it came to academic questions, of course, he had to ask his teacher. After all, he was still a student, wasn’t he?

[Dong Nan Xi]: Teacher, are you there? Is it possible for someone to have two different abilities at the same time?

After a while, Meng Huai replied.

[Disturbe me and die]: …Why are you asking this?

[Dong Nan Xi]: I found someone with a very peculiar ability. The two ways they use it are vastly different, so I suspect it’s two separate abilities.

[Disturbe me and die]: There are currently no natural cases of a person having multiple abilities.

No natural cases? Meaning modified individuals might have multiple abilities?

Su Bei keenly picked up on the underlying implication. But was Wu Jin a modified human?

Forget it. There’s too little information. Better to just continue reading the manga.

As expected, Zhao Xiaoyu’s reason for gathering these F-class students was to use them as cannon fodder. Whenever an enemy appeared, she would quickly lead the group to retreat. However, since she always stayed near the middle-to-rear of the group, regardless of where the enemies came from, they’d never catch her—only the students closest to them would get caught.

Once the danger passed, Zhao Xiaoyu would go back to comforting everyone with her “healing aura” maxed out. Along the way, not a single person realized her little thoughts, even the people in the group thanked her ver much.

Seeing this part of the story, even Su Bei couldn’t help but admit that Zhao Xiaoyu was quite the skilled manipulator. By the time class resumed tomorrow, her influence in F-class might even surpass that of the class monitor, Mu Tieren.

The plot then shifted back to Jiang Tianming, who, along with Mu Tieren, was being relentlessly pursued by enemies. The two of them were running for their lives while trying to fight back. However, after the individual competitions during the monthly exam, every student’s combat ability had improved to some extent. Unless Jiang Tianming and Mu Tieren were willing to risk everything in a desperate fight, they could at most take out one or two enemies while still being relentlessly chased.

Just as they were exhausted to the brink and ready to make a last stand, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes. The two of them tensed up, thinking the enemies had caught up faster than expected. But instead, they saw Su Bei and Mo Xiaotian emerge from the bushes.

“……”

Looking at the four chibi characters on his phone screen, each with a row of crows flying overhead, Su Bei couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

Flipping a few more pages, the story quickly moved to the second “mission tablets” scene. This time, it offered a reward of 5,000 points in exchange for handing over their watches. The temptation was so strong that, aside from Su Bei, everyone’s eyes turned into coin-shaped symbols.

Though tempted, the group was smart enough to sense something was off. Even Wu Mingbai and Lan Subing, who had just arrived, immediately grew wary upon hearing the mission.

Moreover, Su Bei’s “misfortune verification” clearly indicated danger. It was obvious to anyone paying attention that this mission was suspicious.

It wasn’t until Su Bei guided everyone through a series of questions, helping them realize that the watches were almost essential to leaving the alternate space, that they began piecing the clues together and fully understood the issue.

The comment section exploded.

“It’s here! The conspiracy is here!”

“If they hand in their watches, are they all gonna die?”

“Can we have a shounen manga without anyone dying? Please, I’m begging you! That green-haired kid is actually kinda cute!”

“To whoever thinks the green-haired kid is cute—you must be starving.”

“Everyone here is so smart. Honestly, if it were me, I’d already be running to claim the reward, afraid someone else would beat me to it.”

“A protagonist group where everyone’s smart? Yes, please! (Mo Xiaotian: ?)”

“Su Bei always seems so calm…”

“It’s about to go down!”

“Why do I feel like Su Bei knows something?”

Next came the part where Su Bei predicted the future. The blatantly obvious arrow in the manga practically revealed the answer outright, leaving nothing to guess.

But clearly, the readers didn’t see it that way. They were convinced the arrow had some deeper hidden meaning. They analyzed everything from the arrow’s color (black), size, and shape, refusing to entertain the idea that the direction it pointed could be a straightforward hint.

Seeing all the wildly imaginative guesses, Su Bei couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

The manga continued to progress. Since Su Bei chose to separate from the protagonist group, there was a long absence where he didn’t appear at all.

However, perhaps because the author still considered him part of the protagonist group, they gave him a single-panel scene where he reminded Qi Huang not to split up with teammates who had removed their watches.

The next day’s special mission made it obvious what was happening, even to the slowest of people—let alone the protagonist group, who had already been on guard.

Initially, they planned to stick together for safety, but the larger their group, the bigger the target they became. It wasn’t long before several strangers in school uniforms tried to join them.

Even though it had only been a month since school started, and they couldn’t possibly remember the faces of all the students in their grade, the protagonist group at least recognized familiar faces. Seeing so many strangers approach, combined with the hints from the special mission, naturally made them wary.

As they fought and fled, the group eventually became scattered.

This time, the scene cut to other characters before finally returning to Jiang Tianming. He pushed through some bushes, hearing voices up ahead, and soon reunited with Si Zhaohua.

Their conversation had the comment section going wild. When they decided to team up, everyone immediately knew these two were destined to become friends in the future.

Although Su Bei had already seen the live version of this moment, experiencing it through the manga gave him a completely different feeling.

That was until the arrival of a purple-haired woman shattered this harmonious scene.

Coffee