NOVEL NEXT chapter 41
41:
But soon, Jiang Tianming calms down: “Actually, not really. Qi Huang is quite magnanimous, accepting defeat gracefully. As for Si Zhaohua…”
Out of politeness, he doesn’t finish his sentence, but his disdainful look says it all.
Su Bei shakes his head, knowing Jiang Tianming is somewhat swayed by emotions, so he doesn’t argue. If Si Zhaohua is the villain, then Jiang Tianming’s thoughts are probably right. But if he’s the hero, then they’ll eventually reconcile.
But that’s a conversation for another time.
After lunch, Su Bei heads straight back to the dorm. Opening his phone, he sees his next opponent is lined up, a student from Class B. At that moment, he breathes a sigh of relief.
He checks on the others; most are matched with Class B, only Jiang Tianming is matched with Class A again. Compared to him, who has escaped his dire fate, the protagonist is indeed more unlucky.
Without a nap, Su Bei continues to practice controlling his psychic power. Since he obtained this power through acting, he’s well aware of its limits.
At the very least, he must be able to move objects through space with his mind, to truly master it.
Time quickly moves to the afternoon, and now only twenty-six students remain. Su Bei easily wins the first round.
In the early stages, especially in arena battles where the space is small and there are no special obstacles, those with physical enhancement abilities have a significant advantage.
Although Su Bei doesn’t have such an ability, his physical strength, agility, and mastery of combat skills mean he could have taken that path too.
If he gets close, most opponents can’t handle him. To defeat Su Bei, one must either have strong defenses, treating his attacks as nothing, or keep their distance, instantly taking him down or wearing him out with hit-and-run tactics.
Like Qi Huang he faced this morning, if she hadn’t been overconfident in her own strength and looked down on Su Bei, allowing him to get close through her negligence, she would have kept him at bay, and he would have had no chance against her.
The B-class opponent he faced in the afternoon was quite unfortunate, lacking in both aspects. Although the opponent’s ability was strong, it had little effect on Subei, who quickly ousted him from the game.
Due to the dwindling number of participants, the afternoon matches progressed swiftly. The first round ended with Wu Jin being regrettably eliminated. Yet, from his demeanor, one couldn’t discern any disappointment, his flamboyant hairstyle shielding him from most inquisitive gazes.
After this round, eighteen remained, and the opponents for the second round were freshly announced. At last, familiar faces clashed. Subei’s opponent was Zhao Xiaoyu, and while it might not be nice to say, it was indeed a stroke of luck.
The most anticipated match, without a doubt, was between Wu Mingbai and Zhou Renjie.
Of course, this anticipation was only among Subei and his peers. To others, it was a one-sided match, the kind where bets wouldn’t pay off much.
For Subei, the outcome between Wu Mingbai and Zhou Renjie didn’t need consideration; Wu Mingbai would surely win. This wasn’t just because Wu Mingbai was part of the protagonist group, but also because Zhou Renjie was currently an absolute buffoon.
Unlike Si Zhaohua and Ai Baozhu, Zhou ‘Fatty’ was genuinely mean-spirited, a character who, if not humiliated in a comic, would signify the author’s negligence.
But Subei was curious about how Wu Mingbai would win. Compared to his ‘Earth Element,’ an absolute elemental ability, Zhou Renjie’s ability was uncertain. Current intelligence suggested it was spatial, but it could be something else.
With these thoughts, he stepped onto the arena. With eighteen people left, they could be paired into nine matches, and with ten arenas on the field, everyone competed simultaneously, without the need for separate batches.
Zhao Xiaoyu’s complexion wasn’t great, but not too bad either. She held high expectations for herself, but for this monthly exam, she wasn’t delusional enough to aim for first place. That she had lasted this long was a dual result of luck and skill.
But her luck had clearly run out, for her opponent this time was Subei. Through a previous exchange, Zhao Xiaoyu already knew what Subei’s ability was, which he claimed to be ‘Gears of Fate.’
Zhao Xiaoyu believed him, but not entirely. At least, she didn’t fully trust the function of the ability as Subei described it. If it were merely predictive, how had Subei won up to now?
The previous matches were explainable, but winning against Qihuang in the morning couldn’t have been done without special powers.
And most importantly, even if Subei had no abilities at all, Zhao Xiaoyu knew she couldn’t defeat him.
The two gazed at each other from a distance. Just as Subei was about to swiftly end the match, Zhao Xiaoyu finally spoke, “Is there any chance I could win?”
“No chance,” Subei replied, his stride unbroken as he approached her.
Zhao Xiaoyu let out a wry smile, assuming a fighting stance while retreating to the edge of the arena. Even with the slimmest chance of victory, she wouldn’t give up easily.
But her movements almost instantly gave away her intentions to Subei. She definitely planned to use herself as bait at the last moment, attempting to switch places with Subei and make him fall out of the arena first.
Alas, how could he possibly give his opponent such an opportunity? Zhao Xiaoyu had already retreated to the very edge, almost at the brink of falling off. Su Bei suddenly turned his walk into a run, leaping forward with an arrow step and delivering a side kick, mercilessly knocking his opponent off the platform.
Since one party had fallen off the platform, the referee immediately came over to announce the result: “Su Bei versus Zhao Xiaoyu, Su Bei wins!”
The referee, who had been officiating all day, glanced at Zhao Xiaoyu below the stage, then at Su Bei: “It’s good that you can be ruthless on the platform, but shouldn’t you have some gentlemanly demeanor off it?”
Su Bei knew that this was also referring to the morning’s incident with Qi Huang. He shrugged: “Isn’t this an opportunity for me to showcase myself to the school?”
“The school doesn’t need this kind of showcase,” the referee said with a chuckle, shaking his head before turning to the injured Zhao Xiaoyu on the ground, “And this one…”
Just like his reason for not accompanying Qi Huang, Su Bei had no intention of missing the day’s finale to take Zhao Xiaoyu to the infirmary, so he feigned innocence: “Wouldn’t it be unfair to favor one over the other?”
Lying on the ground, Zhao Xiaoyu, having heard their conversation, raised a hand: “Teacher, I want a beautiful teacher to carry me away.”
In fact,
Even if Su Bei didn’t say it, she had no intention of letting Su Bei take her to the infirmary. For one, even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, she didn’t want to offend Qi Huang for such a reason. And foremost, Zhao Xiaoyu didn’t want to be carried by someone who had just kicked her off the platform!
The referee, both helpless and amused, said: “You’re even picky now?”
But in the end, he fulfilled her request, allowing the pretty teacher from the infirmary to carry her away princess-style. Meanwhile, Su Bei walked off the platform with a smile, declaring his victory.
Everyone had finished, leaving only Wu Mingbai and Zhou Renjie’s group still competing.
Since he couldn’t see inside the platform anyway, Su Bei first checked out the situation outside. So far, eight people had been confirmed to participate in tomorrow’s competition: Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, Su Bei, Feng Lan, Mo Xiaotian, Mu Tie Ren, Si Zhaohua, and Ai Baozhu.
Among them, Class F had five people, more than half of the total number.
This result was undoubtedly shocking, even to Su Bei who had anticipated it. Without the perspective of the comics, and with today’s platform being closed, he had no idea how everyone had won.
However, it was imaginable that once the comics were updated, at least the secrets of Mu Tie Ren would be mostly revealed.
Thinking this, he suddenly realized a problem: “There’s a lot of content for the last two days, are you sure the author will draw it together with the team battle?”
“The Comic Consciousness” knew he was asking himself and after a moment of silence, replied: “He didn’t hold back his pen earlier, and he’s hesitating now. But from what I see, it should be split into two parts.”
Relieved by this answer, Su Bei breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. If the last two days of fighting and the team battle could be shown in two separate comics, it would give him plenty of time.
Without a doubt, this was good news.
As Wu Ming realized their competition time was a bit dull, Su Bei pondered for a moment and took out his phone to check the class group chat. Before he could even open it, he saw a notification for over 99+ messages.
And the latest message in the group was rapidly changing, clearly, it was very lively.
After clicking into the messages, Su Bei casually scrolled up and then began to read with great interest.
[Mushroom Bro: Another victory for Class F! That makes five from Class F, right?]
[Shadow Crawler: nb! Our great Class F is rising!]
[Study Hard: Are you from Class F? Do you know those people? @Shadow Crawler]
[Aim High: Tell us about it! Were these people placed in the wrong class or what? @Shadow Crawler]
[Arthur: Curious +1]
[Crockery and Cutlery: Are the couples in this group so bold? Using couple names directly? @Study Hard @Aim High]
[Study Hard: Cough, it’s because there are no teachers here…]
[Shadow Crawler: I’m not very familiar with them, but it seems they are all part of a small circle. This might be what they call birds of a feather flock together (in a good sense)…]
[Bamboo: I know that Feng Lan and Lan Suling! One has the [Prophecy] ability, and the other has the [Word Spirit] ability, I have no idea how they ended up in our class. To be honest, I’m not surprised they’ve lasted this long.]
[Sky: What? Why are those two in Class F?! Could it be some hidden rule of the trainees, that Class F is actually the elite class?]
[Death Like Wind: @Sky I think you’ve hit the nail on the head…!]