Chapter 228
Understanding, Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua left to find the Mud Tribe clan leader. Su Bei set simple traps at the door, then moved Li Bowen to Qiao Mu’s bed. The large bed had enough space for both.
Clearing the other bed, Su Bei lay down: “Good night.”
Wu Jin glanced around, choosing the bed over the floor: “Leave me some space.”
Su Bei didn’t hassle him. They lay on opposite sides, eyes closed, feigning sleep. Sleeping deeply wasn’t an option—who knew when locals might burst in?
Though he’d set traps to make noise if someone entered, allowing quick reaction, sleeping too soundly in such a disadvantaged situation risked capture.
Su Bei was woken up by a commotion. No one entered overnight, but early morning brought noisy chatter outside, signaling something big.
Seeing Wu Jin still asleep, Su Bei didn’t wake him, creeping to the door to eavesdrop. The Plant Tribe had fainting cases too, like a contagious disease spreading across the underground, with many locals collapsing inexplicably.
The crowd outside debated compromising with Cyril and Li Xiang, who’d gone public, using a dead person’s mouth to say that for the comatose to wake, they must obey.
With the small underground population, everyone was somewhat related. One person affected many, and so many comatose left them helpless.Checking Wu Jin’s phone, it was 8 a.m.—less than five hours until they could leave. If unresolved, Su Bei was out. He didn’t want to stay for a chaotic clash.
Wu Jin woke up, rubbing his messy purple hair: “What’s going on?”
“Cyril and Li Xiang went public, forcing a choice,” Su Bei summarized tersely.
Wu Jin snapped awake, rapid-firing questions: “What now? Did Jiang Tianming find a solution? Should we help?”
Su Bei gestured to the door: “Go for it.”
Tough jobs were for whoever wanted them. Until someone barged in, Su Bei wasn’t leaving the safe room. If Wu Jin wanted out, Su Bei fully supported it. More helpers meant faster resolution and greater safety, right?
After hesitating, Wu Jin went to help. As a shonen manga protagonist, no matter his usual demeanor, he couldn’t suppress his hot-blooded spirit in such moments.
Su Bei loafed until noon when Si Zhaohua and Wu Mingbai arrived, followed by a burly underground human to assist with the quake.
“Who’s this?” The local, surprised to see a conscious outsider, asked Si Zhaohua warily.
“No worries, he’s our companion,” Si Zhaohua reassured, then told Su Bei: “We’ll take them from here. You can go.”
He meant for Su Bei to help control the situation outside, but that was exactly what Su Bei didn’t want. He feigned shock: “What? Ditching me after I’m done?”
Si Zhaohua: “?”
Wu Mingbai, sharper, guessed his intent: “What do you want?”
“Take me up too,” Su Bei said firmly. “Si Zhaohua, you’re coming back after dropping them off, right? Bring me along. I’ll explain to the teachers, so you can come straight back.”
He nailed Si Zhaohua’s mindset. They agreed—carrying two or three was the same. Su Bei clearly wanted to slack, so letting him play a role was fine.
With a local escort, Si Zhaohua’s trio wasn’t grabbed. Onlookers asked the local what was happening.
The local, cleverly, didn’t tell the truth, saying Su Bei’s group was captured and being taken to be locked up. This explanation cleared their path.
They reached the cave, still heavily guarded. Knowing the truth, Su Bei realized they weren’t preventing escapes but watching for new arrivals.
The guard captain, pre-informed, let them in. Wu Mingbai and the Mud Tribe local used their Abilities, causing the cave to tremble.
The shaking intensified, rocks and soil falling, nearly toppling them. The Mud Tribe local shouted: “Now!”
Si Zhaohua grabbed Li Bowen’s hand, flying up through the ceiling’s opening. Su Bei held Li Bowen with one hand and Qiao Mu with the other, following upward.
The path above was dark and narrow, but their dark-vision glasses helped to dodge obstacles. Falling took a moment, but flying up took five minutes before Si Zhaohua saw light.
Light meant they’d broken the spatial barrier, reaching the surface. Si Zhaohua’s excited voice echoed: “I see people!”
As expected, sensing the cave’s activity, surface guards used Abilities to widen the entrance, spotting Si Zhaohua’s group.
They shouted joyfully: “The missing students are back! Come help!”
Stepping back, they gave Si Zhaohua space. The four reached the surface. Si Zhaohua, without a word, jumped back down to his battlefield while the quake persisted.
Su Bei stopped a shocked staff member trying to grab Si Zhaohua: “He’s going back for the others.”
“We can send people too,” the staff called over colleagues. “Ten of you fell. Coming up one by one is inefficient. Where were you? We dug down but found no trace.”
“It’s a long story. Going down now will only cause trouble. Listen to me and send these two to the infirmary,” Su Bei pointed to Qiao Mu and Li Bowen on stretchers. Knowing they’d be fine on the surface, he wasn’t worried.
Unaware, the staff reacted urgently: “What’s wrong with them? Quick, to the infirmary! Don’t worry, we’ll do our best.”
“They’re actually…” Before Su Bei finished, a large group approached, led by Wu Di and various academy teachers.
Losing so many elite students was a huge blow to the Ability world, so they rushed via teleportation arrays upon hearing news.
Guards stayed, some went to the infirmary, others to the meeting room. There, Su Bei leisurely recounted the underground experience.
Hearing about the strange-looking underground humans, the savvy Houde Ability Academy principal, like Cyril, guessed their identity.
Su Bei didn’t hold back, revealing secrets and conspiracies from an omniscient perspective, concluding: “They don’t want to join Black Flash. If the government can resolve the Prophecy threat, I think they’d follow government arrangements.”
“We’ll handle it well,” Wu Di stood. With the Feng Family’s head, a prophecy expert, it was best left to them. “I’ll contact the Feng Family.”
“We’ll go underground to control the situation,” Skydome Ability Academy’s dean rose. Knowing how to reach the underground, they couldn’t wait above.
They had tasks, so Houde’s dean added: “I’ll arrange guards up here. Those two Black Flash members will come through the cave. We’ll catch them in the act.”
Seeing everyone busy, Su Bei stretched: “Can I rest now?”
“Of course,” Wu Di turned, speaking warmly. “Get some sleep. You’ve worked hard. I promise when you wake, it’ll be over.” Leaders were kind to juniors, but direct superiors weren’t. Once they left, Meng Huai showed his true colors: “You just came up like that? Si Zhaohua could’ve handled it alone.”
Su Bei, unashamed, said boldly: “He wanted to go back and fight. I had to ‘sacrifice’ myself.”
“Should Si Zhaohua thank you?” Meng Huai rolled his eyes, getting serious: “Your fall was an accident, but Black Flash infiltrating the venue was the Ability Government’s fault. We’ll secure compensation.”
The school was reliable, not letting them suffer for nothing. Su Bei nodded, tactfully asking: “Anything I need to do?”
If not, Meng Huai could’ve waited to mention compensation for a surprise. Saying it early meant more.
Seeing Su Bei ask directly, Meng Huai was blunt: “When they ask, make it sound serious.”
Su Bei got it—the worse it sounded, the more compensation the school could get. He flashed an “OK” gesture: “No problem.”
Led by staff, he reached the venue’s rest room, where a lavish lunch awaited, knowing he’d missed it.
After eating and lying down, before dozing off, Su Bei reminded: “If the manga updates while I’m asleep, tell me when I wake.”
Waking up, it was dark outside. As predicted, the manga had updated. Hearing Manga Consciousness' prompt, he didn’t check it immediately, instead getting up and leaving.
A government guard approached: “Need anything? Your companions are out. I can take you to them.”
Su Bei nodded: “Lead the way.”
At the familiar meeting room, everyone was present, including several underground clan leaders. It was Su Bei’s first time seeing them in light, revealing more colors. But it didn’t make them prettier—rather, their inhuman traits stood out. Despite extra arms and tentacles, they’d looked human in the dark. Now, their bluish-gray skin and corpse-like spots were stark, eerie.
Though indoors, they held light-proof umbrellas to ease light sensitivity, though they couldn’t block all light.
Jiang Tianming opened the door, stunned, then stepped aside for Su Bei. No one greeted him, continuing to listen to He Bin.
They were discussing joining the Ability Government: “First, the Prophecy must be resolved before more unnatural deaths. If they start again, sorry, we’ll seek another way.”
He Bin laid out his bottom line: if the government couldn’t solve the Prophecy, they’d turn to Black Flash.
Reasonable, and no one objected. But even if the Prophecy wasn’t solved, they wouldn’t let them join Black Flash.
Seeing agreement, He Bin continued: “We want to stay underground. We can’t adapt to surface light.”
The government negotiator replied: “No problem, but we’d like to send people down to help build homes and supply resources.”
It sounded nice, but everyone knew it was for oversight, preventing secret Black Flash contact. For the resources, He Bin agreed.
Su Bei regretted coming. He’d wanted updates but got stuck in an irrelevant meeting.
Someone was less patient. Huangfu Mingzhe coughed deliberately, then raised his hand. When called, he asked bluntly: “Can I leave? This discussion doesn’t involve us, right?”
What a hero! Everyone looked at him admiringly. Skydome’s teacher darkened, growling: “Huangfu Mingzhe! Is this what your sister taught you?”
Yes, the teacher was also a Huangfu.
Huangfu Mingzhe smirked confidently: “Mother taught me not to waste time on pointless things.”
Before the teacher could retort, the negotiator ended it: “You’re right, our oversight. You’ve been underground so long—you need rest. Go. We’ll handle your matters tomorrow.”
With amnesty, they quickly left. Outside, Lan Subing exhaled: “Finally out.”
“Where are Cyril and Li Xiang?” Su Bei asked a key question. He knew guards were waiting to catch them, but they clearly hadn’t, or the meeting would’ve discussed them. How did the government let them escape?
Everyone had complaints. Zuzong waved: “Don’t ask. We came up first, planning to bring government people down to grab them. But they followed right after, holding two underground hostages.” Su Bei understood. With hostages, the government couldn’t act rashly, or even if the hostages survived, cooperation with the underground would collapse.
They’d think: if the government didn’t value them now, how could they expect it later?
Nodding, Su Bei asked curiously: “How’d they get up with two hostages?”
Neither had flight Abilities, so Jiang Tianming’s group came up first, certain they couldn’t escape. Trapped underground with hostages, as long as the surface locals didn’t know, cooperation could be secured.
But they climbed up, holding hostages in front of clan leaders, forcing a rescue.
“They climbed,” Si Zhaohua said helplessly. They hadn’t expected Cyril and Li Xiang to scale such depths with sheer physical strength, hostages in tow.
Even Su Bei envied their physique. Ability users’ physical prowess grew until 18, so most adults outdid minors. But post-18, growth slowed, requiring training. Su Bei only envied their current strength, not doubting he’d reach it. Everyone hits 18, right?
“By the way, Qiao Mu and Li Bowen are fine,” Jiang Tianming preempted, unsure if Su Bei would ask. “Doctors say they’ll wake tomorrow, but there might be aftereffects, since no fallen humans were ever released before.”
Su Bei, too lazy to ask, sat down: “Anything else interesting?”
After thinking, Wu Mingbai said: “The human-turned-underground-human came up too. She arrived in the underground years ago, her family now gone, but she wants to try resuming her old life. She’s at the Ability Hospital with Qiao Mu.”
Lan Subing added: “The Ability Government raided a Black Flash base.”
Unaccustomed to long speeches, she looked puzzled when Su Bei seemed confused. Jiang Tianming explained: “Those who jumped from the audience seats during the entertainment match—while we were gone, the government followed leads to a Black Flash base controlling civilians. They brainwashed them with Abilities to obey unconditionally.”
On the blood-sacrifice victims, Su Bei noted the government’s oversight but also Black Flash’s cunning.
They exploited Ability users’ disregard for civilians, knowing the venue would only screen Ability users, so they sent civilians to hide in the seats. Had they sent Ability users, they’d have been caught.
“We’ll probably sign NDAs tomorrow. Does hiding the underground humans count?” Wu Jin asked uncertainly.
“What? We have to hide it?” Zuzong looked shocked, then disappointed. “How do I brag to friends? I finally had a great adventure!”
A dark world, alien-like humans, outwitting underground humans and Black Flash—what a story! Not sharing it was a shame.
“No choice, but you can talk about clashing with Black Flash,” Jiang Tianming consoled.
Unlike others, Endless Ability Academy’s group wasn’t fazed. They’d seen too much to care about one less tale.
Seeing Zuzong sulk like a moldy mushroom, Su Bei chuckled: “The NDA itself proves your experience was extraordinary, doesn’t it?”