A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

10:

However, the “Comic Consciousness” directly denied his request: “No, because this event has not occurred, you cannot see it. Just as you cannot see the future, if it hasn’t happened, it cannot be seen.”

This statement from the “Comic Consciousness” also revealed a hidden message—that he probably wouldn’t be able to change the plot by previewing the comics anymore.

But this was expected. Su Bei feigned helplessness and furrowed his brows. After a moment, he proposed a compromise: “But this page of the comic has already been drawn, hasn’t it? I just want to see the actual content of this page of the comic, that should be fine, right?”

In fact, this was his original intention. To personally enter the comic experience was out of the question, as one would know. He only needed to directly see the clues left by that “himself,” after all, who would understand him better than himself?

But the problem was if he directly made his actual request, the “Comic Consciousness” might not agree, as that bit of guilt was not enough to make it yield.

So, Su Bei resorted to the “demolition effect.”

If you want to open a window in a room, it’s better to first ask to remove the roof. When the other party refuses this request, then propose the original request, making it hard for them to refuse.

Sure enough, how could the newly born “Comic Consciousness” outwit the cunning and sly humans? It felt that since it had already refused the previous request once, now that the other party was asking for less, and it was in the wrong, this request should be fulfilled: “Okay, do you want to see it now? However, I can only give you a physical photo equivalent to the comic content.”

“See it now.”

Instantly, a new photo appeared on his phone. Su Bei opened the photo, and indeed, it was an image of him in his school uniform, bloodied and lying on the bathroom floor.

Seeing his own death was somewhat shocking. Su Bei raised an eyebrow and began to observe the details.

Just as observed in the comic, there were indeed many gears of various shapes and sizes scattered around the body. At first glance, these gears seemed random, as if they had burst forth subconsciously in the face of danger.

But Su Bei knew he had no such subconsciousness, so the presence of so many gears must have been an intentional result by the him in the comics.

Suddenly, he noticed something unusual: “These few gears are quite interesting…”

Su Bei enlarged the image, his keen eyes catching the gears in the photo, a few of which bore inconspicuous dark golden patterns. Had he not been familiar with his own special ability, he might have overlooked these patterns just by looking at the photo.

Insiders know their own affairs; his “Gear” ability, in theory, could indeed produce gears of different shapes, sizes, and patterns. But having only recently awakened and lacking sufficient training, he could only instinctively produce random gears. To create patterned ones required much more effort.

Why, on the brink of death, would he expend so much energy to produce these three patterned gears?

They could only contain clues to the murderer! In the photo, his feet faced the stall door, and he lay at the entrance of the last restroom stall. His posture was nearly supine, except his left hand seemed to be defensively fisted beside his face, as if to block an attack.

The positions of the three patterned gears: one on each shoulder and the last beneath his naturally hanging left hand.

What were these three gears hinting at?

A triangle? But this triangle was neither equilateral nor isosceles, nor did it have a right angle—nothing special about it to suggest any significant meaning.

Could the gears be indicating injuries in these three spots?

No, that seemed unlikely. Facing such a deceased, the school would surely conduct an autopsy, and any issues would be evident at a glance, no need for such a cryptic hint.

Were these three spots somehow special to the murderer?

That didn’t fit either; Su Bei had faced the murderer head-on and noticed nothing unusual.

He stared at the photo, his brow furrowed, unwilling to miss any detail.

Suddenly, Su Bei noticed something discordant in the photo—why would he block with his left hand?

Undoubtedly a right-handed person, he would instinctively use his right hand to save himself in the face of danger, unless the assailant attacked from the left.

But that didn’t match the facts.

He remembered that morning in the restroom, groggily heading straight for the last stall under the forceful push of the plot.

From the photo, it could be inferred that in the original manga, he was supposed to open the door of the last stall and then be fatally struck by the murderer hiding inside.

If it was a frontal attack, he should have blocked with his right hand, so why the left?

Realizing this, Su Bei’s gaze fell on the clenched left hand in the photo, and he suddenly had a bold guess: could there be another patterned gear hidden in that hand?

To verify this wasn’t difficult; Su Bei did a series of push-ups in his room until he was completely exhausted, without any strength left. Only then did he use his ability, striving to produce as many patterned gears as possible.

Before long, he was completely drained of strength, and four gears lay scattered beside him. This was the limit of what he could do, utterly exhausted.

After a long while, he cracked a smile, gazing at the ceiling and muttering to himself, “I do have one in hand.”

Having confirmed the clue he left behind, the next step was the puzzle-solving process.

It was almost certain that the clue was hidden within the arrangement of these four gears.

Two hands and two shoulders—could it be suggesting that the murderer’s shoulders and hands were unlike those of ordinary people?

No, that couldn’t be. Su Bei quickly dismissed this guess. He had seen the murderer with his own eyes, after all. The culprit was wrapped up tightly, and there was nothing unusual about their hands and shoulders from their appearance.

If he, a prepared person, hadn’t noticed anything amiss, then the “Su Bei” in the comic, who was caught off guard, would be even less likely to have noticed.

Since it wasn’t an issue with body parts, the gears must be indicating a clue in the form of a pattern or design.

If the four gears were connected by lines, they would roughly form a diamond shape.

“Could it be that the murderer has a diamond pattern on the exposed skin?” Su Bei murmured to himself.

This was indeed a possibility, or rather, the most likely hypothesis at the moment. After all, he had been fighting with the opponent and hadn’t paid much attention to this aspect. And in the comics, an organization where everyone has a unique mark is nothing out of the ordinary.

Perhaps he could start his investigation from this angle, to see if there was any organization with a symbol on their bodies. However, it might not necessarily be a diamond shape, since the pattern formed by the four gears could also be something else; it’s just that a diamond was the easiest to conceive.

Thinking this, he sprang up, went to his desk, and sketched the outline of a corpse according to the comic, marking the positions of the four gears, then began various permutations and combinations.

He memorized the patterns he arranged: diamond, lightning bolt, arrow, pitchfork, Z-shape…

Su Bei sorted through the effective clues he had about the murderer. The first was this tattoo clue, which would surely manifest on the bodies of the victims to come. Therefore, at most, he could use this clue to remind the protagonist, to show his foresight, but it couldn’t be used for his own benefit.

The real clues he could provide were the murderer’s red eyes and the ability to turn into smoke.

How could he represent these two points with his own “Gear” ability?

After pondering in his dormitory for a good while, Su Bei finally had an idea. Having made all the preparations, he glanced at the time, stretched lazily, opened the door, and walked out.

It was time to prepare for the next step.

It’s half-past four, and his destination is the cafeteria. At this time, heading to the cafeteria clearly isn’t for dining, just as Su Bei had thought; he was preparing for the next scene in the story.

The original comic plot was completely disrupted because of his ‘awakened cannon fodder’ role. He didn’t die in the restroom, so the plot that triggers the first story point no longer exists.

But the comic must go on, so the same events will happen again, only the deceased will no longer be himself.

As the “comic consciousness” said: Another person will replace him in death.

From this, many things can be inferred. First, the foggy murderer is definitely still lurking in the school, perhaps he was originally from the school.

Next, the person who will die next should die today, and will definitely appear where the male lead is likely to go, such as the cafeteria, the bathhouse…

After all, the protagonist needs to witness this event today for the plot to develop smoothly. If it were tomorrow, the pacing of the comic would be a bit sluggish.

Heading to the cafeteria now is to prepare in advance. If the next person dies in the cafeteria, perhaps he could witness the murderer’s process once again. Even if he doesn’t witness it exactly, it’s good to see the victim beforehand.

If the crime scene isn’t the cafeteria, it’s okay, he can stake out the bathhouse tonight. If all else fails, he won’t sleep tonight, constantly watching for any activity outside. Su Bei firmly believes that the next murder will happen today.

Thanks to the afternoon, he has already observed all the visible surveillance from the cafeteria to the dormitory building.

He walked into the public restroom by the roadside nonchalantly, and when he came out, Su Bei began to carefully avoid the cameras.

Thanks to the existence of superpowers, there aren’t many cameras in the school. After all, superpowered individuals trust in superpowers more, believing they have abilities like memory viewing, so they don’t put much effort into surveillance.

So Su Bei isn’t worried about any hidden cameras in the school, he just needs to avoid these obvious ones.

Following the shadows of the teaching building, out of the camera’s range, Su Bei quickly made his way to the cafeteria.

When he was still about ten meters away, suddenly, he saw a wisp of grey smoke drifting out from a side window.

This wisp of smoke was too familiar; Su Bei’s eyes lit up immediately, realizing he had come to the right place.

He had caught up with the scene of the second murder!!