A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

49:

With a sense of resignation, everyone exchanges glances, yet they all see a hint of laughter in each other’s eyes. Although Mo Xiaotian doesn’t mean it, his foolish appearance indeed relaxes everyone’s spirits quite a bit.

“Actually, you’re not wrong, it’s like a spring outing,” Mu Tie, the man of steel, nods in agreement, “Let’s take a stroll, I’ve never been to a forest before.”

The group picks a direction and moves forward together. It’s easy to get lost in the forest, and without the sun in sight, to avoid walking in circles, Su Bei suggests looking at the density of the leaves to determine their direction.

In any place where the sun shines, the density of leaves on the north and south sides of a tree is usually different. And they don’t need to discern north from south; they just need to make sure they are walking in one direction.

After walking for a while, suddenly, Su Bei raises an eyebrow, sensing something, and looks in a direction: “There seems to be something over there.”

From the moment he entered the forest, Subei had been constantly using his psychic senses to survey his surroundings. Although maintaining such a state was indeed draining on his mental powers, the ability to sense danger in advance made it worthwhile.

And just moments ago, he sensed something peculiar in the woods to his left—a strange stele.

Upon hearing his words, the others were initially taken aback, then turned to look in the direction he indicated, only to see layers upon layers of trees, obscuring whatever lay beyond.

Jiang Tianming and the other two were familiar with the manifestations of advanced psychic powers and quickly understood the method Subei had used to detect the anomaly.

To prevent others from bombarding Subei with questions and annoying him, Jiang Tianming quickly said, “Is that so? Let’s hurry and take a look! By the way, is it a living creature?”

“I’m not sure, but it hasn’t moved at all,” Subei shook his head. Although the object he sensed remained motionless, there was a possibility it was a camouflaged nightmare beast.

They had seen pictures of nightmare beasts in textbooks, all as black as ink. However, it was said that nightmare beasts, like psychics, possessed a variety of abilities, so he couldn’t be certain whether the object was safe.

Fortunately, there were no real cowards in the squad. Despite the uncertainty of danger, they unanimously decided to investigate.

Pushing aside dense undergrowth and vines as tall as a person, and circling around several large trees, they finally saw what Subei had described.

It was a stele.

Clearly, it was a man-made object, as there was a display screen on the stele.

“It looks like a mission,” Jiang Tianming’s eyes lit up. He walked over, pressed the screen, and it immediately lit up, displaying a line of text—

“Mission 14: Kill 5 nightmare beasts.

Reward: 500 points, 3 bandages, 3 self-heating hot pots.

(The team leader can accept the mission by touching the watch face to the screen. No other missions can be accepted until this one is completed.)”

After reading the content on the screen, everyone fell into silence. After a moment, Lan Subing cautiously asked, “Is 500 points a lot?”

The rewards in terms of other materials could be set aside, but the points reward was essential.

It was a good question, and the reason for everyone’s silence. Undoubtedly, killing five nightmare beasts was a daunting task. Moreover, once they accepted this mission, they couldn’t take on any others, meaning they had to kill all five nightmare beasts to continue earning mission points.

So, whether the reward for this mission was worth the significant risk they had to take was a crucial question. After all, the teacher had never said that the difficulty of a mission was necessarily proportional to its reward.

The Ironwood Man shook his head in distress: “We don’t have any references, do we?”

As he spoke, he glanced at the leaderboard: “It’s still empty.”

They hesitated to rashly take on the task, yet feared missing out on a big opportunity, thus they were at an impasse.

It was Jiang Tianming who made a decisive call with a solution: “Let’s split up as we discussed before. We’ll stay here and decide whether to take the task based on the situation, while you explore elsewhere. If there’s any new discovery, one can come back to find us, as our location is marked on the watch map.”

This seemed like a good plan, but there was another issue. Wu Mingbai frowned and asked: “Isn’t it too early for us to split up? Other teams probably haven’t yet, what if we encounter a whole squad?”

Su Bei responded: “You and Mo Xiaotian both have the ability to alter the terrain. In this forest, just delaying the opponents a little will make our tracks invisible.”

They might not win a fight, but they could always escape.

With no other issues at hand, the six split into pairs, with Wu Mingbai and Su Bei leading their teammates in different directions. Before leaving, Su Bei made a point to check the compass needle above everyone’s head, then stopped Wu Mingbai: “Wu Mingbai, go in a different direction.”

He noticed that the needle above Wu Mingbai’s head, although pointing to the left, which signifies victory, was not indicating a significant opportunity.

Hearing this, Wu Mingbai and Lan Subing turned around in surprise, then hesitantly changed direction: “How about now?”

They all knew of Su Bei’s ability to see fate and naturally did not doubt his guidance. Especially now, as a team, Su Bei had no reason to mislead them.

Seeing the needle shift significantly to the left, Su Bei decided it was enough: “That’s fine.”

At his nod, Wu Mingbai smiled brightly: “Thanks!”

Su Bei didn’t reply, choosing a direction at random with Mo Xiaotian to leave.

“Brother Bei, Brother Bei! If the direction Mingbai chose was not good, is ours any better?” Bouncing through the forest, Mo Xiaotian asked curiously.

To tell the truth, Su Bei hadn’t really checked; he couldn’t possibly use his treasured mirror to peek at the compass above his head in such a situation.

Fortunately, with a companion by his side, a glance at the compass above their head was enough to know.

Su Bei nodded nonchalantly: “Not bad.”

He wasn’t lying; although the needle had only shifted slightly to the left, as members of the protagonist group, they wouldn’t be eliminated outright, so any outcome could be considered “not bad.”

Of course, he didn’t intentionally choose a less favorable path; it was mainly because he had already covertly tested the other directions with the group. Aside from the path he pointed out to Wu Mingbai’s team, the conditions of the other routes were quite ordinary.

And the reason Su Bei chose to give that path to Wu Mingbai was, of course, to solidify his own supernatural abilities.

Besides, as mentioned before, as long as one doesn’t get eliminated, in fact, any path wouldn’t be too bad.

“After that, Bei, how did you discover that stele?” After getting an answer, Mo Xiao

Tian, like a “hundred thousand whys,” started asking new questions.

He may be naive, but he’s certainly not foolish, naturally able to discern from Su Bei’s position at the time, it would normally be impossible to see the stele hidden behind the overlapping vegetation.

“I have some special sensory tricks,” Su Bei replied with a smile, subtly changing the subject, “If your ability is [Air], you should have strong perception too, right?”

Like himself, who uses mental power to sense his surroundings, Mo Xiao Tian, who can control air, naturally can also sense the things in the air.

The reason for steering the conversation this way was mainly to stop Mo Xiao Tian from bombarding him with questions. He wasn’t quite sure if the other was simply curious or probing for information. But either way, diverting his attention was a good solution.

Hearing this, Mo Xiao Tian indeed stopped dwelling on the previous question, scratching his head sheepishly: “I’m not that powerful yet, I can only sense a very small area.”

As he spoke, he gestured with his hands to outline a small square space: “Perhaps because the area I can control is so small, my control is very strong, which is why I can successfully create air blocks, explosive blocks.”

It was clear he was being completely open, telling Su Bei everything he could and couldn’t say.

Hearing such a response, Su Bei finally confirmed that Mo Xiao Tian wasn’t trying to fish for information; he was simply curious. However, this conclusion didn’t allow him to lower his guard. Knowing that Mo Xiao Tian was a member of the Black Lightning organization was a nailed-on fact, and having obtained this information, he would surely tell the truth when the organization behind him asked.

Su Bei had realized that Mo Xiao Tian, like the “comic consciousness,” were both unconsciously doing evil. Such people are often more frightening than those who are fully aware of their wrongdoing.

“There are people ahead.” Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, blocking the incessantly talking Mo Xiao Tian, crouching down cautiously to observe the situation ahead.

In his mental perception, about ten meters directly in front, there were six people walking together. The difference in numbers was too great; if they didn’t want to end up fleeing in a sorry state later, it was better not to attract their attention.

Mo Xiao Tian obediently shut his mouth and crouched down in the bushes next to Su Bei. The dense bushes and tall trees were the best cover, perfectly concealing their figures.

“Move to the side,” Su Bei whispered, “They’re heading in our direction.”

The two slowly moved behind another tree, and in a short while, a group of people walked past the place where they had been hiding.

The leader was actually an acquaintance.

Mo Xiao Tian’s eyes widened, and he quietly tugged at Su Bei’s sleeve, excitedly mouthing to him: “It’s Qi Huang!”

Indeed, the person who arrived was Qi Huang. She led a team of six girls, exploring the forest.

Suddenly, the group stopped where they had just passed. A girl with green braided hair and glasses pushed up her glasses and said seriously, “It seems like some creature has passed through here?”

Qi Huang, aware of her teammates’ abilities, immediately asked, “Can you tell what it was? Or even the number would be helpful.”

Whether it was humans or shadow beasts, as long as the number was small, they had the power to fight.

The green-haired girl closed her eyes to sense for a while, then opened them a moment later, “It should be humans… Not many.”

() “It seems we’ve encountered another team.” Qi Huang revealed a confident smile, looking at the brown-haired girl in the team, “Points are coming our way, aren’t they? Qiqi, track which way the people went.”

Trouble! Their team actually had a tracker with special abilities. Hearing Qi Huang’s words, Su Bei’s expression changed, and Mo Xiaotian also showed an anxious look, silently asking, “What do we do? Run?”

Running was definitely not an option. Qi Huang’s special ability was the “Fire Phoenix,” which made attacking and tracking in this forest as if aided by divine power. Once discovered by her, it would be difficult for them to quickly shake off the pursuit.

After all, no matter how fast a person runs, they can’t compare to the rapid spread of a large fire. Moreover, once it came to that, others would definitely be attracted to the area. Caught between attacks from both sides, escape would be even harder.

Su Bei remained silent, watching the brown-haired girl seemingly sniffing the air, then an idea lit up in his eyes: “I have an idea.”

…

“Is this really going to work?” Mo Xiaotian huddled close to Su Bei, his face pale and his expression tense, he asked.

Su Bei glanced at the compass on Mo Xiaotian’s head and mouthed, “Don’t worry.”

The needle on the compass had shifted significantly to the left, clearly indicating his strategy was successful.

Seeing him say this, Mo Xiaotian indeed relaxed. Without speaking further, he and Su Bei continued to observe the situation.

The brown-haired girl sniffed around for a while, then decisively walked towards the direction of Su Bei alone.

Mo Xiaotian’s heart, which had relaxed under Su Bei’s reassurance, immediately tensed up again, but this time he did not disturb Su Bei, only secretly observing. Seeing that Su Bei’s expression hadn’t changed, his heart settled down once more.

The brown-haired girl led the others to a spot not far from where Su Bei was hiding, furrowed her brows, sniffed again, and then shook her head, “The scent ends here.”

“Gone? How could it be?” a girl in the team asked in surprise, “This hasn’t happened before, has it?”

Qi Huang also frowned slightly, looking at the girl, “Can you figure out what’s going on? If not, I’ll just burn down this whole area.”

It must be said, this was indeed a good method. The area was dense with trees, making it easy for anyone to hide if they wished. But if the trees were set ablaze, then there would be nowhere to hide.

However, the problem was that Su Bei was now the one hiding, and he couldn’t muster a single laugh.

Fortunately, the girl with the tracking ability, Qi Qi, stopped her: “No need, they’re probably not here. I suddenly can’t smell anything in this area, they must have used some sort of teleportation ability to leave.”

The girl with green hair also advised: “There’s no need to start a fire in the forest. It would not only attract others but could also harm ourselves.”

If this were on their original planet, another reason to add would be “it would damage the environment.” But this was an alternate space, so naturally, there was no need to worry about that.

Qi Huang shared the same concern and asked Qi Qi again, “Are you sure there’s no one hiding here?”

Qi Qi nodded affirmatively: “I’m sure. I didn’t use my abilities during the arena match earlier, so it’s impossible for anyone to have known in advance. Since they didn’t know, they couldn’t have evaded my tracking, which means they must have already left.”

Her logic made sense, and Qi Huang believed her, showing a disappointed expression: “They sure ran fast. Let’s go. Since we can’t eliminate anyone, we might as well look for a mission to take on.”

After they left, Mo Xiao

Tian finally breathed a sigh of relief, then excitedly said, “Brother Bei, you’re amazing! They really didn’t find us!”

As he spoke, he retracted the air blocks he had created earlier: “I didn’t expect these air blocks to actually prevent that girl Qi Qi from finding us. Can air block her abilities?”

From this question, it was evident that Mo Xiao Tian was actually quite clever. Without knowing Qi Qi’s abilities, he was able to deduce this from Su Bei’s countermeasures, showcasing his analytical skills.

Su Bei nodded without hiding anything: “Qi Qi’s search ability is likely related to her sense of smell. You used fresh air to isolate us, and once our scent was gone, she naturally lost our trail.”

“I see!” Mo Xiao Tian had an epiphany, then asked with confusion, “But how did you know her ability was related to smell? Was it a prediction?”

Su Bei just smiled without saying a word.

Of course, he wouldn’t reveal that he had guessed her ability because he saw Qi Qi sniffing around earlier, having a moment of insight.

If this part were drawn in a comic, it would show his careful observation and deduction of the truth. If the comic didn’t illustrate this part, then it might as well be taken as Mo Xiao Tian being correct.

Either way, he wouldn’t lose out.

“What should we do next?” Having escaped the crisis, a relaxed Mo Xiao Tian felt a bit lost.

From noble mtl dot come

Su Bei pondered for a moment: “Let’s follow Qi Huang and the others. We might just find an opportunity. And don’t forget to use your air blocks in front when tracking, to prevent Qi Qi from detecting our scent.”

Upon hearing this, Mo Xiaotian jumped on the spot twice, full of enthusiasm: “Yay! Stalking, stalking! I absolutely love spy movies!”

“You better not be talking about the kind of spy movies like 007,” Su Bei couldn’t help but facepalm at Mo Xiaotian’s various poses.

Suddenly, he remembered another issue: “By the way, can your psychic power last that long?”

When Mo Xiaotian had conjured so many air cubes to surround them both, his face had already turned quite pale, and even now, it hadn’t recovered much. Su Bei was a bit worried he might falter midway.

Sure enough, upon hearing his words, Mo Xiaotian’s face immediately turned bitter: “It seems a bit difficult… But if we only need to block the front, getting a bit closer should be no problem.”

“Get closer? How so?” Su Bei asked indifferently, trailing far behind Qi Huang and the others at a leisurely pace.

At this, Mo Xiaotian perked up. He put one hand on his hip and bent his arm to form a small circle: “Hurry, hold onto me! Then the distance between us can be minimized!”

Su Bei couldn’t help but sigh, placing a large hand on Mo Xiaotian’s fluffy head and giving it a vigorous rub: “Didn’t you just say that it’s enough to block the front? Wouldn’t following behind you be the smallest area to cover?”

It was really hard to understand how this guy could abandon the simplest method and choose to do things the hard way.

Mo Xiaotian had an epiphany: “Right! That’s the most convenient way!”

Then, somewhat embarrassed, he lowered his arm and chuckled sheepishly: “Brother Bei, you’re still the smart one.”

Su Bei, tired at heart, gave him a gentle push, signaling him to hurry up and follow Qi Huang and the others.

After walking for a while, Su Bei suddenly remembered something and quickly looked at his watch. They had entered the alternate space at exactly eight o’clock, and now it was half-past eight. As expected, several teams’ scores were already on the leaderboard.

There were three teams on the leaderboard, with the Si Zhaohua squad in first place with 40 points. The other two groups each had 10 points.

There were four known methods to earn points: plundering, “killing,” eliminating nightmare beasts, and completing tasks.

The first method probably didn’t need to be considered; the probability of gaining points and then having them stolen within half an hour was not significant enough to worry about.

The last method probably didn’t need to be considered either. Although Su Bei had only encountered one task, judging from that task, if nothing unexpected happened, the reward points from tasks should not be too few. It’s hard to say about the one with 50 points, but the ones with 10 points definitely wouldn’t have come from completing tasks.

So, were the 10 points from “killing” or from eliminating nightmare beasts?

Su Bei didn’t dwell on this question. He had already figured out one thing clearly — “Taking on that task to eliminate the nightmare beasts was definitely going to be profitable.”

If these 10 points were earned by slaying beasts, then normally, vanquishing five beasts would only yield 50 points. Yet, the mission rewarded 500 points—a lucrative gain.

Suppose these 10 points came from “murder,” it’s evident that ordinary deeds don’t earn many points. Just 10 points for “murder,” could slaying a nightmare beast possibly offer more? If things go as expected, at most 100 points. Even a subpar mission completion wouldn’t be too disadvantageous.

I wonder if it’s a case of great minds thinking alike. As Su Bei pondered this, the mission column suddenly lit up, revealing a new red dot. Clicking on it, he saw that the previous mission had already been taken by Jiang Tianming.

Now, their mission progress showed (0/5).

Following Su Bei’s gaze, Mo Xiaotian also noticed the new message on his watch and whispered in surprise, “Jiang Jiang has already taken on the mission! Does that mean we should give up tracking and start hunting the nightmare beast now?”

“Do you know where the nightmare beast is?” Su Bei retorted.

Seeing Mo Xiaotian’s clueless head shake, he shrugged, “Well, that settles it. We’re wandering aimlessly anyway, might as well continue following them.”

As they spoke, a girl’s scream suddenly pierced the air from ahead, “Ah! What is that?”

Su Bei’s eyebrows raised, and he turned to look, “Seems like their luck isn’t bad.”

The trees obstructed their view of Qi Huang’s situation. Fortunately, Su Bei’s psychic powers allowed him to cheat, sensing something despite the distance.

He could feel an entity directly opposite Qi Huang and the others, its shape bizarre, somewhat resembling an upright walking lizard.

It launched an attack!

A jolt of alarm struck Su Bei, and he decisively said, “Let’s go up and take a look. They’ve started fighting and probably won’t notice us.”

The two stealthily made their way over and finally arrived at the first row of spectators. The creature was pitch-black, appearing as if it were a lizard made of coal, its form flickering as it tried to approach Qi Huang and the others.

Without a doubt, this was a nightmare beast. Judging by its appearance, it should be a nightmare lizard.

“Does it have the ability to teleport?” Mo Xiaotian asked uncertainly, watching the lizard appear beside Qi Huang one moment and suddenly next to the green-haired girl the next.

Su Bei was also unsure of the answer, but if the ability was indeed teleportation, it would certainly be a formidable opponent.

Due to its unique ability, the nightmare beast didn’t show any signs of fatigue even against six opponents. Instead, it nearly caused Qi Huang and her group to capsize in the gutter several times.

There’s no way around it; for a novice esper still unskilled in the use of their abilities, teleportation is a formidable power. Even if the enemy were to stand still, they might not be able to accurately control their powers to hit the target—let alone with such a teleportation tactic.

It’s a good thing that the shadow lizard doesn’t have much offensive power; otherwise, someone would have likely been injured by now.

During this time, Su Bei had already discerned everyone’s abilities.

Qi Huang goes without saying—naturally, she’s the [Fire Phoenix]. However, she demonstrated some skills here that she hadn’t shown in the previous arena match. When Qi Huang doesn’t summon the Fire Phoenix, she can use a small portion of its abilities, like casting fireballs.

The girl with the green braids must have the ability to control vines or something similar. It must be said, it’s quite fitting for this forest.

Qi Qi’s ability doesn’t seem to have much offensive power; she hasn’t used it at all. But Su Bei noticed that she could always detect where the shadow beast teleported to first, which must be the work of her ability.

The abilities of the other three include creating bows and arrows, summoning monkeys, and hair attacks.

All in all, not bad. At least everyone except Qi Qi has offensive power, and even Qi Qi should have no problem defending herself.

Moreover, Su Bei discovered that, whether by Qi Huang’s good luck or not, the small team she assembled was particularly well-suited to the forest’s otherworldly environment.

Her fire attribute, the green-haired girl’s wood attribute, and the girl who could summon monkeys—three out of the six people could cooperate with the environment.

On the field, Qi Huang, dodging awkwardly, grew increasingly grim. Not until she saw a teammate tackled by the shadow beast, scraping a bloody streak on their calf, did she finally lose her patience: “Xiao Lin, can you enclose this space so the shadow lizard can’t escape?”

Xiao Lin, the green-haired girl, glanced at Qi Huang. This time, without further persuasion, she nodded firmly: “No problem!”

Hearing this, Qi Huang’s lips curled into a beautiful smile, but her eyes held no mirth, only blazing anger: “Good, then everyone except Xiao Lin, start retreating slowly. I’m going to set the forest on fire!”

Currently, she hadn’t developed any area-of-effect skills, but that was under normal circumstances. In this dense forest, even an ordinary fireball could serve as an area attack.

If single-target attacks won’t hit, she wanted to see if setting the forest ablaze could burn this shadow beast to death!

“Brother Bei, what do we do? Do we run now?” Mo Xiao Tian quickly realized the implication after Qi Huang’s statement.

If Qi Huang was planning to burn down this patch of forest, they would definitely not be able to escape later. Leaving now was their only chance.

However, Su Bei didn’t immediately leave. Instead, he thoughtfully watched the shadow beast scurrying across the field: “Do you still think its ability is teleportation?”

Mo Xiao Tian paused, then followed his gaze to the field: “Isn’t it?”

After saying this, as if suddenly understanding something, he quickly added: “Are you suggesting that the shadow lizard’s landing spots have been repetitive?”

Indeed, Mo Xiaotian also noticed this. Unlike the others in the arena, they…

() As clear-sighted bystanders (), they naturally saw more details of the battle.

From the perspective of a bystander, this was not hard to notice, but for Qi Huang and others who were under attack in the chaotic battlefield, it was difficult to pay attention to such details.

Su Bei nodded, “Since it doesn’t teleport randomly, we can definitely hit it.”

If it could teleport at will, Su Bei wouldn’t be able to control the gears to harm it. After all, unless one’s speed far exceeded that of the creature, the nightmare lizard could simply teleport away as soon as it sensed danger.

This was the dilemma faced by Qi Huang and her team.

But if it could only appear in five fixed spots, then the task became much easier. As long as they prepared attacks for those five positions, no matter where it appeared, it would be doomed!

Mo Xiaotian instantly understood his intention, his eyes lighting up, “Are we going to snatch the beast?”

Seeing his excitement, Su Bei looked surprised but didn’t have time to ask more. He quickly justified, “First of all, this isn’t snatching. They can’t beat it; we’re just ‘helping’.”

After saying that, he immediately instructed, “Prepare a few more air blocks to cover our tracks. Once I successfully ambush it, we’ll turn and run, got it?”

“Got it!” Mo Xiaotian said, brimming with enthusiasm.

Su Bei prepared ten sharp gears, controlling them with his mental power. In pairs, they moved stealthily along the ground to those five positions.

At this moment, Qi Huang’s team was cautiously retreating to the outer circle, and no one noticed his subtle actions.

Soon, Su Bei’s arrangement was in place, and Qi Huang’s team had also retreated a certain distance.

To prevent the nightmare lizard from leaving the encirclement to chase others, Qi Huang launched a dense attack, trying to trap the beast.

This gave Su Bei an excellent opportunity to act. After observing for a few seconds and confirming Qi Huang’s attack rhythm, he decisively raised the gears at the moment she launched another fireball spell.

As expected, in the next second, the nightmare lizard appeared at one of the spots. Even though its body was pitch black, it was still flesh and blood. Unprepared, it easily fell victim to Su Bei’s ploy.

The sharp gears swiftly slashed across its throat, and black blood, like oil, spurted out. The nightmare lizard fell to the ground, dead.

Without hesitation, Su Bei immediately turned and whispered, “Run!”

After speaking, they quickly left the crime scene with Mo Xiaotian.

Had it been before, Qi Huang and the others would surely have noticed the strange commotion in the woods. But now, their attention was captured by the sudden death of the Yan Beast, and no one realized that the true culprit had already quietly left the scene.

“Phew! That was thrilling!” After running about a mile in one breath, Mo Xiaotian stopped, gasping for air, his cheeks flushed with excitement, clearly still not recovered from the recent adrenaline rush.

Su Bei, the mastermind behind all this, was quite calm. He glanced at his watch and, seeing that the task completion status had changed to (1/5), nodded in satisfaction: “It seems that killing the Yan Beast automatically counts towards our goal.”

He was curious about the mechanism behind this—how could it sense that the Yan Beast was killed by them and count it so swiftly?

This question might be something to ask the class teacher later…

Before that, Su Bei had another doubt: “I thought you would oppose what I did?”

He was addressing Mo Xiaotian.

In his perception, setting aside the issues of his background, Mo Xiaotian was the epitome of a youthful comic hero—sunny, passionate, and just, capable of illuminating every dark soul.

Su Bei was prepared—if Mo Xiaotian opposed his behavior of stealing the kill, he would decisively part ways with him, creating some dramatic focus for himself.

But who knew, not only did Mo Xiaotian not oppose, but he also seemed quite eager to try?

“Why oppose?” Mo Xiaotian scratched his head in confusion. “The rules even support stealing for points, so why would they mind us stealing the kill?”

Such sound logic! Su Bei hadn’t thought of this before.

This topic seemed like a good opportunity to probe further. A glint of cunning flashed in Su Bei’s eyes as he asked, “What if there were no rules for stealing points, and the Yan Beast we just fought was already on its last breath, and I chose to sneak attack and steal the last hit for our team’s mission, what would you do?”

Su Bei thought Mo Xiaotian would hesitate for a long time before answering, but to his surprise, he said without a second thought: “Help you steal it.”

Now Su Bei was genuinely surprised: “Why?”

“Because we are teammates!” The words that came out of Mo Xiaotian’s mouth always carried a sense of righteous indignation, “As long as the decision is good for the team, I will support it.”

“Even if it goes against your principles?”

“Not really,” Mo Xiaotian shook his head honestly, “At least it shouldn’t harm a companion.”

To the uninformed, his words would be quite moving. Indeed, Mo Xiaotian’s words sounded like those of an excellent companion.

He holds conventional values, yet for the team, he’ll yield, with one bottom line: do no harm to his mates.

Su Bei had no doubt that once this plot was released, Mo Xiaotian would attract a lot of fans. The protagonist’s fans should have a good impression of such a character; today, he’s definitely the epitome of justice.

But those fans wouldn’t know that the “mates” Mo Xiaotian refers to are not Jiang Tianming and the others. He’s surely talking about the people from the Black Lightning organization; they are his true companions.

In other words, if that organization asked him to harm the protagonist’s group, Mo Xiaotian would probably do it, even if reluctantly.

He could barely contain his helplessness, and in the end, he let out a faint sigh. He wasn’t angry because of the other’s villainous identity. Instead, leveraging his height, he ruffled Mo Xiaotian’s hair: “Don’t think too highly of your mates…”

Could a character sent by the villainous organization to infiltrate the protagonist’s group have a good ending? At best, they’re abandoned upon discovery; at worst, they’re backstabbed by the organization.

Without waiting for Mo Xiaotian’s response, he changed the subject: “We didn’t get points for eliminating the Nightmare Beast earlier. It seems after accepting this mission, we can’t earn points from other sources.”

“Ah?” Mo Xiaotian was indeed easily distracted, “Then we must complete the mission quickly, or it’ll be a loss!”

If they don’t complete the mission, even if they eliminate others they encounter, they won’t earn new points. And compared to Nightmare Beasts, Mo Xiaotian was looking forward to battling humans even more.

There’s no need to rush, Su Bei thought. Who knows what will happen next? In a situation where surprises are certain, the points earned now might all be in vain!

()