A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 51

I landed a hit and immediately took Mo Xiaotian to make a quick escape.

Si Zhaohua, who didn’t notice anything unusual, retracted his Ability and walked over to examine the Nightmare Monkey’s corpse for a moment before turning to ask, “Shall I do it?”

Though as the young master of the Si Family, Si Zhaohua probably never needed to cook in his life, his mindset was that he could choose not to do it but couldn’t afford not to know how. So, he had earnestly studied cooking for a while. And now, wasn’t it coming in handy?

Ai Baozhu had eaten Nightmare Beast meat before; it tasted good and was highly nutritious. So, despite being quite pampered, she didn’t mind this dark-colored meat at all.

Hearing Si Zhaohua volunteer, she conjured a small [Gorgeous Domain], took out a rose, and handed it to him with a sweet smile, “Thank you, Zhaohua.” The implication was clear: she hoped Si Zhaohua would handle her portion too.

That’s right—she didn’t know how to cook. Unlike Si Zhaohua’s philosophy, Ai Baozhu firmly believed that as long as she didn’t learn, she’d never face a situation where she’d need to cook. No one could make her wash her hands and prepare a meal!

Zhou Renjie didn’t know how to cook either, so he could only watch Si Zhaohua enviously. He knew his status and background didn’t compare to these two, so he naturally didn’t dare make demands like Ai Baozhu.

Fortunately, though Si Zhaohua was always haughty, his pride was the kind that disdained troubling others. He didn’t discriminate and quickly roasted three pieces of meat, one for each.

After just a couple of bites, Ai Baozhu suddenly glanced at her watch and exclaimed in surprise, “Why haven’t we gained any points?”

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Having run far away, I checked my watch and nodded with satisfaction, “Mission complete.”

Mo Xiaotian, whose initial excitement had worn off, finally started using his brain and asked with a hint of worry, “We took their Nightmare Beast. Won’t they come after us for revenge?”

At that, I put on a righteous expression and said, “What do you mean, ‘took their monster’? They needed lunch, we needed points. There’s no conflict here.”

“Can it really be calculated like that?” Mo Xiaotian looked up, puzzled, and asked.

I was, of course, very confident in my reasoning. Then I surveyed the surroundings, “We haven’t taken the next mission yet. Let’s rest here for now.”

Hearing my words, Mo Xiaotian froze again, hesitating as he asked, “Aren’t we going to hunt Nightmare Beasts or eliminate other teams to earn points?”

I lazily leaned against a big tree, sat down, bent one leg, and said leisurely, “What’s the rush? It’s only the first day.”

The monthly exam team competition lasted three days and allowed teams to steal points from each other. This meant that no matter how many points you earned in the first two days, unless you decisively cashed out and withdrew, everything could be overturned by the third day.

Plus, with the leaderboard displaying points, the higher your points, the more likely you’d be targeted. Making yourself the center of attention in the first two days was an unwise choice.

I glanced at my watch and couldn’t help but sigh. Our team was currently leading with a whopping 500 points, while the second-place team, Si Zhaohua’s group, had only 200 points.

Having high points early on wasn’t a big deal; others wouldn’t be foolish enough to target us immediately. As long as our ranking dropped later, it’d be fine.

The reason I chose to complete that mission instead of slacking off from the start was to hide my real plan: to go all out robbing points on the third day.

If our team’s score stayed low, wouldn’t others guess my intentions? Then we’d become public enemy number one.

I didn’t know if Jiang Tianming shared my thinking, but we slacked off for two whole hours without a new mission popping up. Our team’s points had increased a bit, but only by sixty.

This spot was indeed secluded; no one or Nightmare Beasts had come by in those two hours. I was quite enjoying it, but Mo Xiaotian was practically growing mold. Since I was resting, he didn’t disturb me. He went from sitting with me to jogging around for exercise, and now he was replicating my earlier fire-starting routine.

The no-oxygen version.

I: “…”

Seeing this, I opened my eyes and burst out laughing. What a hyperactive kid. Before I could say anything, I heard the rustling of leaves nearby.

Something was coming.

My gaze instantly sharpened, and I quietly stood up, assuming a defensive stance. In contrast, Mo Xiaotian’s eyes lit up with excitement. He gave me a pleading look, mouthing, “Can we not hide?”

Seeing this, I could only nod helplessly. With our abilities, whether we faced a Nightmare Beast or humans, escaping wouldn’t be hard. Besides, he was a bona fide member of the protagonist group—there was no way he’d be eliminated now.

It didn’t take long before a group marched in with great fanfare. They weren’t strangers—they were all familiar faces from Class F! Wu Jin and Zhao Xiaoyu were among them. Judging by their positions, Zhao Xiaoyu was likely the leader of this group.

Clearly, they hadn’t expected to run into us here either. A trace of wariness flashed in Zhao Xiaoyu’s eyes, and she stood still without moving.

The other Class F students didn’t bother greeting me either. In this class, aside from the protagonist group and Feng Lan, I barely had any interactions with the others.

During the previous individual battles, they had realized the huge gap between themselves and me through the rankings. Naturally, they didn’t feel any camaraderie from being in the same class. They only thought, “A dragon among fish—these guys were definitely assigned to the wrong class.”

Mo Xiaotian, the only one not from Class F, wanted to speak, but even he knew better than to chat unless the atmosphere eased up. So, he obediently stood behind me, staying silent.

In the end, Zhao Xiaoyu broke the silence with a smile, “Su Bei? I remember you teamed up with Jiang Tianming. Did you split up?”

I didn’t lie and answered her honestly. I wasn’t so weak that I needed to borrow Jiang Tianming’s name to face a bunch of Class F students.

But being passively questioned wasn’t my style. After answering her, I raised an eyebrow, “How did you all end up together?”

At that, Zhao Xiaoyu showed a slightly bitter expression, looking very pitiable. But based on my limited understanding of her, that bitterness was likely deliberate.

“School rules require Class A to team up with Class F, but they didn’t really want to carry us—just forced by the rules. We’re all people who were abandoned by our original teammates after entering the Different Space.”

This was within my expectations, but clearly not Mo Xiaotian’s. His eyes widened, and he said indignantly, “How could they abandon their teammates? That’s too much!”

His words opened the floodgates for the Class F students, who immediately started venting. “Exactly, they’re too much! They didn’t say that when we formed teams!”

“I got mocked by someone who said Class F doesn’t even deserve to join the team battles. It pissed me off!”

“You don’t know how outrageous they were. If it weren’t for the rule against harming teammates, they’d have personally eliminated us to stop us from giving points to others.”

As they spoke, Mo Xiaotian chimed in with condemnation, like a perfect hype man. If I didn’t know his personality, I might’ve thought he was deliberately stirring up outrage to watch the drama unfold!

I wasn’t the only one who knew Mo Xiaotian well. After all, he often came to Class F during that time, and with his top-tier extroverted personality, he was friendly with most of the class.

Seeing his righteous indignation, Zhao Xiaoyu’s eyes flickered, and she said with feigned worry, “I gathered these abandoned Class F members to prove to others that we’re a force to be reckoned with! But with our useless Abilities, we can’t even kill a regular Nightmare Beast. Without a protector, I think we’ll all be eliminated soon.”

At this, she sighed deeply and gave a bitter smile, “Maybe we should just give up. Perhaps we’re only good for holding others back.”

Her stellar performance indeed sparked deep sympathy in Mo Xiaotian. He looked at me with hopeful eyes, “How about we…”

Before he could finish, I cut him off, saying to Zhao Xiaoyu with a touched expression, “So inspiring! To prove Class F’s strength, you’re even unwilling to accept help from other classes. If I didn’t have to stick with my Class A teammates, I’d definitely join you!”

Zhao Xiaoyu: “…”

With her smarts, how could she not see that I was cutting off her chance to ask Mo Xiaotian for help? It was her fault for focusing on playing the victim and neglecting the details, giving me an opening to turn the tables.

Mo Xiaotian, completely oblivious to the undercurrents in our conversation, looked enlightened, “So that’s how it is! I was too presumptuous, only thinking about helping Xiaoyu without considering if you’d want my help.”

He even sincerely apologized, and judging by the rare twist on Zhao Xiaoyu’s face, it probably irritated her quite a bit.

But Zhao Xiaoyu was still Zhao Xiaoyu. She quickly adjusted her expression and decisively said, “No worries. We’ll head off then. Wishing you the ultimate victory.”

After maintaining her dignified persona, she didn’t want to stay a moment longer and turned to lead the group back the way they came.

At that moment, I suddenly called out to her, “Bringing so many people—don’t you find it tiring?”

Zhao Xiaoyu’s expression shifted briefly before she smiled gently, “Of course not. We’re in a mutually supportive relationship.”

I gave her a thoughtful look and returned to sit under the same tree. I couldn’t yet judge the truth of her words, but one thing was certain: gathering so many people wasn’t out of pure kindness.

If Zhao Xiaoyu was only with Wu Jin, that’d be normal. They were in the same group, and after being abandoned, they’d naturally stick together for survival.

But taking on other Class F students? That was completely unnecessary. What use was it besides offering a collective experience package to others? Even if she wanted to use a numbers tactic, it’d be hard to beat Class A or B Ability users, right?

Speaking of which, with Si Zhaohua’s trio together and Zhao Xiaoyu with Wu Jin, where was Feng Lan?

Realizing this, I frowned and looked at Zhao Xiaoyu, who hadn’t left yet, “Where’s Feng Lan?”

Zhao Xiaoyu was momentarily stunned, then realized something, “You’ve seen Si Zhaohua and the others? And they didn’t eliminate you?”

If I hadn’t seen Si Zhaohua’s group, why would I ask about Feng Lan’s whereabouts after seeing only her and Wu Jin together?

I didn’t answer, just repeated, “Where’s Feng Lan?”

This was an important question. I had a vague feeling something was wrong. Si Zhaohua’s group might let Zhao Xiaoyu and Wu Jin fend for themselves, but they’d never drive Feng Lan away.

Did Feng Lan choose to leave on his own? That seemed unlikely too. His Ability was [Prophecy], a rear-support role that needed protection. Plus, Feng Lan wasn’t the type to go solo.

If he didn’t leave willingly and wasn’t driven out, why wasn’t he with the main group?

“This is exclusive info. If you want to know…” Zhao Xiaoyu instinctively tried to leverage the information for some gain.

But before she could finish, Wu Jin, who had been silent, interrupted, “He disappeared.”

At that, Zhao Xiaoyu and I both turned to him. The difference was that Zhao Xiaoyu was shocked, unable to understand why Wu Jin would reveal it outright, while I frowned, my expression serious.

“How did he disappear?” I felt an increasing sense of unease, “Since when?”

“Right after we entered,” Wu Jin said succinctly but held nothing back, “But since this is the Academy, we’re not worried.”

This was clearly a problem. From my omniscient perspective, I immediately sensed something off.

But Si Zhaohua’s group hadn’t done anything wrong. In the eyes of ordinary students, the Endless Ability Academy was extremely safe—nothing could go wrong. In the Different Space, the only way to report an issue was to withdraw from the competition. Since neither Zhao Xiaoyu nor Wu Jin wanted to withdraw, naturally, no one reported it immediately.

“…Alright, I got it. Thanks.” After a moment of silence, I nodded with a grim face and returned the favor with a warning, “Don’t go that way.”

In that direction, Zhao Xiaoyu and Wu Jin’s pointers were only slightly off to the left, but the others following them were almost all heavily skewed to the right, nearly hitting the edge.

If Zhao Xiaoyu wasn’t deliberately leading them into a trap, then that direction held a major crisis.

I hadn’t mentioned it earlier because I wasn’t that kind-hearted. But since Wu Jin helped me, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Hearing my warning, Zhao Xiaoyu, Wu Jin, and everyone else who heard me for the first time froze. Then Zhao Xiaoyu reacted first, decisively thanking me, “Thanks for the heads-up. Is this direction okay?”

She didn’t doubt I was making it up. The smart ones had guessed my Ability was tied to fate, so my words likely had a basis. Besides, they’d just helped me—there was no reason for me to repay kindness with enmity.

“It’s fine.”

This spot wasn’t great either, but at least the pointers were in the middle range.

After leading the group away, Zhao Xiaoyu asked Wu Jin, puzzled, “Why did you tell Su Bei the intel? To build rapport with him?”

She wasn’t blaming Wu Jin; after all, she benefited too. Seeing my reaction, she realized her earlier decision was a misstep.

Trading with me was fine, but getting benefits this way was definitely better.

She was just curious why the usually reserved Wu Jin spoke up. She suspected she hadn’t fully grasped his character.

But Wu Jin just shook his head without speaking.

He wasn’t sure why he answered either. Maybe he instinctively felt the answer was very important to me.

While I was talking with Zhao Xiaoyu, Mo Xiaotian had been busy chatting with the others. Only after they left did he return to my side.

As soon as he came over, he saw me staring at my watch, lost in thought.

Always straightforward, he asked, “North Bro, what’re you looking at?”

I gently rubbed the glass cover of my watch’s dial, my expression unreadable, “Who do you think has been eliminated by now?”

“There’s definitely someone!” Mo Xiaotian scratched his head, confused why I’d ask such an obvious question.

But I didn’t plan to explain. Instead, I stood up, “Let’s find Jiang Tianming first.”

“Got it!” Mo Xiaotian didn’t understand my actions, but his smartest trait was never rejecting a clever person’s plan.

After some brief reflection, I was certain this team competition had taken an unexpected turn. If I were just an ordinary student, hearing that Feng Lan disappeared right after entering, I might suspect a glitch in the spatial gate or that the Academy took him away.

But as someone with an omniscient perspective, knowing this was a manga world, I couldn’t help but link Feng Lan’s disappearance to some kind of conspiracy.

Why did Feng Lan disappear and not someone else?

As everyone knew, his biggest distinction was his [Prophecy] Ability. Unlike me, he was already famous for it before enrolling.

Others might not know my Ability yet, but they definitely knew about Feng Lan’s.

Feng Lan had said his Ability could be used once a month, with the last use before the semester started. By now, he should be able to use his second prophecy.

I suspected this was why the enemy took him.

But what was their purpose?

If they only wanted Feng Lan’s prophecy for the month, I wasn’t too worried. He’d definitely survive and return to the main storyline eventually.

But what I feared was that the mastermind took him to prevent him from prophesying for us.

In other words, they were plotting something against all the students, and Feng Lan’s prophecy could potentially predict or even thwart it, so they removed him.

Honestly, though I hated to admit it, the latter was far more compelling and protagonist-driven in terms of manga plot.

And if it was the latter, with all of us caught in a massive conspiracy, I needed to start planning my self-rescue.

Yes, self-rescue.

In most shonen manga, important characters don’t truly die before the finale. They had little to worry about; no matter how great the danger, they’d always pull through and win by the end.

I was different. When I thought I’d successfully become an important character, I asked Manga Consciousness about it.

I asked if I now had the important character halo, able to escape danger every time.

But Manga Consciousness gave a negative answer. For someone like me, who rose from cannon fodder to an important role, the most I got was not dying easily. A life-saving halo? Impossible.

This meant I couldn’t rest easy.

And if the enemy would kidnap Feng Lan for his prophecy Ability, they definitely wouldn’t spare me once they discovered I had a similar ability.

Feng Lan could survive in their hands; I might not.

So, I immediately decided to rendezvous with the protagonist group. Jiang Tianming and the others definitely wouldn’t be easily taken. Sticking with them, even if things wouldn’t be peaceful, I’d be safer.

Between peace and safety, I knew which to choose.

Opening the map panel on my watch, I froze, “What’s wrong with them?”

“What? What?” Mo Xiaotian leaned in curiously, completely forgetting he had a watch too.

Seeing the situation on my watch’s map, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes, “Why are they moving so fast?”

After a brief moment of surprise, I understood, “Looks like they’re being chased. Let’s go see if we can help.”

I wasn’t worried that Jiang Tianming was being chased by the ones who took Feng Lan. It was only the first day—too early for major moves.

Jiang Tianming’s direction was opposite ours. Without the map, we’d never have crossed paths.

We hurried toward them, and by the time the sky was completely dark, we finally neared Jiang Tianming’s location.

Their pursuers couldn’t have been moving in a straight line, or it would’ve been several times harder for me and Mo Xiaotian to catch up.

Mo Xiaotian was half-dead from exhaustion, not wanting to say a word, leaning on me while suppressing his panting.

In the pitch-black forest, lit only by faint moonlight, a group of students whose faces we couldn’t make out was ahead, likely resting. The leader viciously kicked a nearby tree, “Are they rabbits? Running that fast?”

His teammate, exhausted from the chase, said reluctantly, “Why don’t we give up? It’s just two of them. Even if we eliminate them, we won’t get many points.”

“No way!” Before he finished, the tree-kicker rejected it outright, “That damn Jiang Tianming made me lose face in the arena. Let him go, and where’s my dignity?”

Hearing this, I realized who he was. Probably Jiang Tianming’s arena opponent, briefly shown in a manga panel.

In that panel, Jiang Tianming stood in the back, fist-pumping, while a guy in the foreground clutched his groin in pain, quite comedic.

I didn’t watch that match, but from that fleeting panel, it was clear the guy took a major hit. A kick to the family jewels—no wonder he wouldn’t let Jiang Tianming go.