A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The faint sympathy that Wu Mingbai had initially felt had completely dissipated, and he no longer thought that what he was doing was excessive.

Although losing a son after raising him for fifteen years was truly tragic, it wasn’t a reason for them to lose control. The blame could be placed on the murderer, the school, or even fate, but it had nothing to do with him.

Since they chose to act irrationally, they should bear the consequences.

Sun’s parents didn’t understand what Wu Mingbai meant and thought they had successfully appeased him. In their eyes, Wu Mingbai was just a child and therefore easy to deceive.

After they finished speaking, Meng Huai snapped his fingers, and a plant cage suddenly rose from the ground, enclosing the unconscious culprit.

The moment they saw the culprit, Sun’s parents couldn’t help but lunge at him, their faces twisted in anger as they hurled the most venomous curses they could think of at the person who had killed their son.

Once their emotions had calmed down a bit, Meng Huai said, "The culprit has been caught. We’ll send him to prison and bring him to justice."

"No," Sun's father, his eyes slightly red but his expression calm, said, "I want you to hand over the culprit to us so we can personally avenge Xiao Ming. This should count as part of your compensation, right?"

Because the student was killed on the academy grounds, the Ability Academy bore a lot of responsibility. To make amends, they had given Sun’s parents a large sum of money, some interests in the abilities world, and a promise to capture the culprit.

But now it seemed the Sun family wanted more compensation: to take the culprit with them.

Under normal circumstances, such a request would be entirely acceptable to the school. However, this culprit was no ordinary person.

Meng Huai shook his head regretfully. "I’m sorry, but we can't agree to that. This culprit must be kept under strict control."

"Why? He killed my son! Why can't I take him away?" Sun's mother, like a lioness who had lost her cub, furiously demanded.

Sun’s father, on the other hand, remained calmer. He restrained his anger and stopped his wife, then looked at Meng Huai. "What kind of background does this culprit have?"

"A dangerous organization," Meng Huai replied, glancing at the culprit with a cold expression. "We still need to investigate."

Hearing that even the famous Ability Academy still needed to investigate, Sun’s father gave up the idea of taking the culprit. If the culprit truly had an organization behind him, taking him by force could put them in danger.

Although Sun’s mother was unwilling, she also understood the seriousness of the situation and gave up the idea of taking the culprit. However, having more confidence in the Ability Academy, she made another request: "After you’ve investigated the organization behind the culprit, I want to deal with him personally."

In the normal world, even if they were the parents of the deceased, the law wouldn’t allow them to take matters into their own hands. The law would take care of the culprit.

But in the world of abilities, such constraints didn’t always apply.

"We’ll notify you when the time comes," Meng Huai gave an ambiguous answer since the future couldn’t be predicted.

Seeing the unconscious culprit, Mo Xiaotian curiously asked, "What kind of organization is backing him?"

Upon hearing this question, Su Bei, who had accidentally learned about Mo Xiaotian’s identity, instinctively looked at him but quickly averted his gaze, joining the others in looking at Meng Huai.

Meng Huai waved his hand dismissively, unwilling to elaborate on the matter. "You kids don’t need to get involved in this."

Su Bei knew the inside story, but he wasn’t sure if he should reveal it at that moment. After some thought, he asked the "Manga Awareness" in his mind, "In the original Manga, didn’t the protagonist already discover the Black Lightning at this point?"

In the original Manga, without Su Bei’s guidance, the protagonist group could only rely on the clues left by the deceased to find the culprit. Thus, they must have figured out the truth about those cards.

Sure enough, the "Manga Awareness" confirmed his guess: "Yes."

Hearing this, Su Bei raised an eyebrow, looked at the culprit, and planned to use some subtle acting to "accidentally" discover the tattoo, then loudly point it out.

The culprit was lying face down in the cage, but his collar effectively covered the lightning tattoo. To see the tattoo, Su Bei would have to go around to the other side. However, if he did so without a clear reason, it would seem too deliberate.

By the way, Su Bei had always thought the location of that tattoo was quite unreasonable—placed on the back of the neck, it had a high chance of being discovered. Mo Xiaotian had easily spotted Su Bei’s little secret because Su Bei was taller than him.

In Su Bei’s opinion, the tattoo should either be placed somewhere not easily seen by others, like the inner thigh, or be made invisible, only appearing at specific times. If all else failed, he could at least cover it with a sticker!

While Su Bei was thinking this, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mo Xiaotian had a band-aid on the back of his neck, right where the tattoo would be.

He almost burst out laughing.

It was clear that Mo Xiaotian was feeling guilty. Should he be grateful that Mo Xiaotian hadn’t just slapped on any random tape? But was a strawberry-patterned band-aid really the best choice? Wasn’t this thing just asking to make people laugh?

While his mind was wandering, Jiang Tianming had already keenly noticed that Su Bei’s gaze seemed to be focused on the culprit’s neck.

Why was he looking there?

He looked towards the same spot in confusion and took a few steps closer. As he did, the black lightning that had been hidden beneath the collar became clearly visible.

Jiang Tianming's eyes widened in shock, and he instinctively wanted to speak up. However, the next second, he closed his mouth and remained silent.

If this symbol was truly connected to that organization, revealing his discovery now could force him to get involved. As an orphan, Jiang Tianming understood the basic principle of self-preservation.

He wasn’t ready to drag his friends into such a troublesome matter.

However, Su Bei clearly didn’t count as one of those friends. Based on Su Bei’s earlier behavior, Jiang Tianming suspected that he had already noticed the symbol.

With this in mind, he quietly moved next to Su Bei and, taking advantage of the moment when Meng Huai was recounting the process of capturing the culprit to Sun's parents, whispered, "Did you see what was on the back of the culprit's neck earlier?"

As soon as he said this, Su Bei's pupils contracted. As expected of the protagonist—he managed to figure out this secret. Su Bei had originally planned to reveal it himself, but now it seemed that wouldn’t be necessary.

There was no need to hide the truth, so he nodded. Curious, he asked, "Why did you ask me?"

Jiang Tianming answered in a low voice, "I noticed you were looking in that direction earlier, so I guessed you had already seen it."

As he listened to Jiang Tianming's quiet response, Su Bei suddenly realized what he was worried about. What could he be worried about? The only logical answer was that he didn’t want others to know he had discovered the secret.

Understandably so, since it was clear that this situation was dangerous. Given Jiang Tianming’s character, if it weren’t for the plot pushing him forward, he wouldn’t have gotten involved in such matters.

Admittedly, despite being a bit of a riddle-maker now, Su Bei actually preferred protagonists who were straightforward. He really liked characters like Jiang Tianming, who directly asked questions when they had something on their mind.

With this thought, Su Bei didn’t mind sharing a bit more: "That organization isn’t simple—not just any demons or monsters can go up against the Ability Academy."

In fact, what he most wanted to reveal was that there wasn’t just one member of the Black Lightning organization in the school, or even go further and directly tell him that Mo Xiaotian was a member of this organization.

But if he said too much, it would ruin the fun, and it wouldn’t fit his character. A mischief-maker would likely choose to watch from the sidelines, and might even help Mo Xiaotian hide the truth just to enjoy the spectacle. Directly exposing the truth would break character.

But in reality, if Su Bei were to act according to his own personality, he would have reported Mo Xiaotian’s identity to the teachers on the day he discovered it.

So Su Bei only said that much. If Jiang Tianming thought deeply about it, he might realize: how could an organization capable of opposing the Ability Academy only have one member planted there?

However, such a thought was still too far-fetched. Jiang Tianming didn’t think too much about it and merely looked more serious due to the organization’s apparent strength.

After the culprit was handed over, Meng Huai quickly sent Su Bei and the others away. Mo Xiaotian excitedly jumped up and down, saying, "Are we going to eat now? Celebration dinner! Celebration dinner!"

It was now 5:30 p.m., just in time for dinner.

Lan Subing nodded and sent everyone the details of the restaurant she had booked on her phone. Although everyone had to live on campus, they were allowed to go out as long as they returned before the 11 p.m. curfew. However, except for Mo Xiaotian, none of them were particularly fond of going out, so

they hadn’t explored the area around the school much.

For this celebration dinner, Lan Subing had taken the trouble to do some research. After spending time with everyone, she had become comfortable enough to speak a few simple sentences in front of them. Lowering her scarf, she introduced in a soft voice, "There’s a snack street outside the school, and I’ve booked a six-person meal at a stir-fry restaurant there. It’s said to be very good."

As she spoke, her fists clenched nervously, and her eyes remained downcast, as if raising them would make her confront something terrifying.

Jiang Tianming and the others were considerate enough to hold their breath and keep silent, giving her a quiet environment in which to speak.

After Lan Subing finished, she let out a long breath, as if she had just completed a monumental task. When she pulled her scarf back up to cover her mouth, the others all breathed a sigh of relief too and began to liven up.

"You definitely picked a good one," Wu Mingbai said, winking at her with a playful expression. He was very aware of the principle that you don’t criticize someone who’s treating you to a meal.

Knowing him well, Jiang Tianming immediately reported to Lan Subing, "He’s just humoring you."

This successfully led to a playful scuffle between him and Wu Mingbai.

Already hungry, Mo Xiaotian cheered, "I'm a big eater! I’ll finish everything!"

Mu Tieren looked up the restaurant and nodded in approval. "It has lots of positive reviews, and the comments are all from our school, so it shouldn’t be fake. Subing found a good place."

He then smiled at Mo Xiaotian and said, "Then we’ll have to see who can eat more. I have a pretty big appetite too."

"Ding!"

Suddenly, Lan Subing’s phone chimed. When she opened it, she saw that Su Bei had sent her a transfer of 50 yuan.

The note read: "AA meal cost (Split bill), no need to treat for the celebration dinner -!"