A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

The green-haired man nodded with smug satisfaction. “Of course! And it’s a simple task—just hand over the watch.”

At his words, Jiang Tianming and the others suddenly realized that none of the people by the river had watches on their wrists. It wasn’t that they had overlooked it; rather, to prevent the glass face from shattering, they usually kept their watches tucked away in their sleeves. Without a close look, it was nearly impossible to tell.

“Who says that’s right? What gives this task the right to be worth 1,000 points?” Mu Tieren frowned, sensing something amiss.

The green-haired man replied as if it were obvious, “Isn’t it clear? With the watch, we can not only confirm our teammates’ locations but also complete the task and snatch points from others. Without the watch, we can’t do any of that. Once we lose it, we miss the chance to earn more points, so of course, we should be compensated!”

It did sound somewhat reasonable. Yet Jiang Tianming keenly spotted a flaw. “Then why not wait until the last moment to complete the task? That way, you could still earn the previous points and get this task’s rewards.”

At this, the green-haired man shifted his eyes, a hint of unease creeping in before he answered, “Ahem, it’s because the earlier you submit the task, the more points you get! The first person to hand in their watch gets 1,000 points, the second only 950, and it decreases by 50 for each subsequent submission.”

This was also one of the reasons he shared this information with Su Bei and the others. Given how long it had been since he accepted the task, there couldn’t be many points left to earn. At least, it wouldn’t compare to what their group could make. Otherwise, he would be a fool to share such a lucrative opportunity.

So that’s how it is? Jiang Tianming’s understanding dawned. “So you plan to band together and hold out until the end of the three days?”

“Exactly!” The green-haired man chuckled, “That’s one of the reasons I shared this info with you. I can take you to complete the task, and once it’s done, you can stay here with us. We can all wait safely for the monthly exam to finish.”

“I see you’re just looking for free bodyguards,” Jiang Tianming replied, rolling his eyes.

The green-haired man didn’t deny it, eagerly asking, “So, are you in?”

He knew this pair well; despite being mostly from Class F, they ranked in the top ten in individual standings. With them providing protection, he wouldn’t have to worry about being eliminated on the final day.

Of course, even if they were eliminated, it wouldn’t matter much. After all, their watches weren’t on them, so they couldn’t lose points. Being eliminated would only mean a slight deduction, not enough to significantly affect their rankings.

Jiang Tianming hesitated. While it might be true, as the green-haired man said, that the points for completing this task were dwindling, losing their watches didn’t mean they couldn’t earn points. They could still gain points by defeating Nightmares or eliminating classmates; the benefits seemed to outweigh the drawbacks.

Yet, for some reason, he felt an odd sense that this task wasn’t quite right. After all, it seemed designed to boost the scores of struggling students, but was it really necessary for the monthly exam?

“I’m not in.”

Just as he was wavering, Su Bei suddenly spoke up, a smirk playing on his lips, his interest piqued. “But we want to go see that stone tablet.”

As he spoke, he tossed the roasted fish that Mo Xiaotian had just handed him. He used his mental power to control the throw, but the green-haired man, unaware, fumbled to catch it. “Hey! Why did you just throw it? What if it falls?”

Su Bei ignored him and continued, “Consider this my personal reward for guiding you, separate from what Jiang Tianming promised earlier.”

“Sure!” The green-haired man readily agreed. He had intended to lead these people anyway; even if they chose not to accept, earning an extra piece of snake meat was enough for him.

At that moment, Jiang Tianming returned to Su Bei’s side and said to the green-haired man, “We need to discuss something. You can fill your belly first.”

Once the other had left, he turned to Su Bei, his expression serious. “Why not accept? Did you notice something?”

After pondering his words, Su Bei replied with a hint of amusement, “They are all ensnared in deep misfortune.”

This was no lie. Generally, Su Bei wouldn’t deliberately peer into the fate compasses hovering above others’ heads. But upon hearing that their task was to remove a watch, he immediately sensed something was amiss.

He had already verified that the teleportation was fine, and he was puzzled—if there was indeed a conspiracy behind the scenes, how could they be harmed? But as soon as he heard that task, he understood all too well.

Sure enough, when he glanced at the fate compasses of these individuals, the needles were wildly skewed to the right, nearly touching the far edge. To say they were “deeply ensnared in misfortune” was no exaggeration.

Despite his outwardly relaxed demeanor, his heart felt heavy. This team competition was indeed fraught with conspiracy, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he could escape unscathed.

“Misfortune?” Hearing their conversation, Mu Tieren also approached. “Is it because there’s something wrong with the task they accepted?”

Before he could respond, a voice rang out from Wu Mingbai: “We set off early this morning and finally rejoined the main group!”

Beside him, the somewhat disheveled Lan Subing nodded vigorously. With no one else around, she whispered, “We discovered you all had gathered together early this morning. What happened?”

Jiang Tianming nodded, handing each of them a piece of Mo Xiaotian’s snake meat, then succinctly recounted what had just transpired.

After finishing, he looked back at Su Bei, waiting for a response.

Su Bei shook his head. “I’m not sure either, which is why I want to go take a look.”

He couldn’t directly say he suspected a conspiracy; that would be too unfounded. But he was nearly a hundred percent certain that this task was problematic, betting on his ten years as a comic book fan!

Seeing him like this, Mo Xiaotian raised his hand. “Let me give it a try! If I take on that task, you can see if I’m also entangled in misfortune. How about it? Ouch! What are you doing, Class Leader?”

Before his words had fully settled, Mo Xiaotian covered his head, looking pitifully at Mu Tieren.

Mu Tieren withdrew the hand that had just patted his head, revealing a rare expression of disapproval. “That’s your punishment for not valuing yourself.”

The mocking skill had finally found its purpose. Wu Ming understood and let out a cold laugh, “You know full well that taking on a task could lead to danger, yet you still want to try. You don’t think you’re being noble, do you?”

Mo Xiaotian, as always, paid no heed to his derision, replying earnestly, “I just think this is the simplest way to test things. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

In his presence, even those who disagreed with his earlier methods found it impossible to feel anger. Jiang Tianming sighed, “Next time, think more about yourself.”

After their discussion, the group followed the green-haired man to the location of the stone tablet he mentioned. It wasn’t far from where they were, and the green-haired man had cleverly marked the way; otherwise, he wouldn’t have found it himself.

At that moment, the area around the stone tablet was deserted, standing alone in a small clearing. Su Bei approached and saw that it was indeed identical to the stone tablet they had encountered on their first day, though the content was different.

“Task 30: Retrieve the watch. Touch the display screen with the watch to recover it. After recovery, you will be eliminated or may leave the alternate space after three days.

Reward: 650 points.”

“Well? I didn’t lie to you, did I?” the green-haired man chuckled, “So I suggest you take on this task. 650 points! If you want to take on another later, there won’t be as many points available.”

Gazing at the inscription on the tablet, Su Bei’s expression grew serious. He turned to the green-haired man, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately held his tongue.

Perhaps sensing his hesitation, Mu Tieren kindly led the green-haired man away. Once they were gone, Su Bei resumed a relaxed demeanor, “Do you remember what the director said about how we can leave the alternate space?”

Everyone recalled the methods clearly. Jiang Tianming repeated from memory, “Smash the glass cover to exit, suffer a fatal attack, eliminate all students, kill all Night Beasts, or wait for three days to end. Any of these five methods can allow us to leave the alternate space.”

He remembered it all thoroughly, and Su Bei nodded in satisfaction. He feared someone might have a memory lapse and forget one or two methods; explaining that would be too embarrassing.

“So, which of these five methods relates to our watches?”

On the surface, only the first two seemed relevant, but it was certainly more than that. Jiang Tianming pondered before answering, “Smashing the watch and suffering a fatal attack… perhaps leaving after three days also requires the watch’s assistance?”

It was something the director hadn’t explicitly stated; she had said, “After three days, we will teleport you out.” What was this “teleportation” reliant upon? Clearly, it was the watch.

Lost in thought over this question, he didn’t notice the others nearby who had overheard his answer, their expressions shifting in unison to something uneasy.

Seeing their faces, Su Bei smiled, “What are you all thinking?”

The wooden iron man spoke with a stoic face: “The watch is the only tool that guarantees our exit from this alternate space.”

They had not considered this issue before, but after hearing Jiang Tianming summarize several methods, the group suddenly realized this point. Compared to the uncontrollable options of “killing all the nightmare beasts” or “eliminating all the students,” the remaining three methods that allowed for an easy exit were all related to the watch!

This clearly indicated that the task of having students surrender their watches was fraught with problems! It was akin to severing their path to easily leave this alternate space.

Moreover, and more importantly, without the watch, what would happen if they encountered a fatal attack? Could they still leave this alternate space smoothly?

If they could, then it wouldn’t be an issue, but if they couldn’t, wouldn’t that mean this group was in a perilous situation?

“What’s going on? Is this a task set by the school to test our analytical abilities?” Wu Mingbai furrowed his brow and half-jokingly said, “Maybe not taking this task would earn us more points instead.”

This was indeed something the average person might think of upon discovering this, for without a god’s-eye view, one would never suspect that there could be enemies in the alternate space controlled by the school.

Regarding this speculation, Su Bei remained noncommittal, merely stroking the watch on his wrist: “Perhaps. I plan to act alone from here on.”

“Eh? Why?” The group was taken aback by this sudden news, and Mo Xiaotian directly asked, “Are you not taking me with you?”

Su Bei nodded: “This place is quite interesting; I want to explore it on my own. Now that the group has gathered, you can go with everyone else.”

Previously, he had rushed to join the main character group out of fear that, without the halo, he would encounter unforeseen dangers alone.

However, after seeing the task monument, his previously tense mood had relaxed. From the content on the monument, it was clear that the puppet master wanted to trick the students into removing their watches.

In other words, they could not stop the watch’s teleportation function, so they aimed to cut off the root of the problem. As long as he kept wearing the watch, he wouldn’t have to worry about being unable to leave this place.

With that in mind, he naturally wanted to take this time to wander a bit. Being with the main character group would undoubtedly lead to many encounters and participation in various plots.

But it also lost its sense of mystery.

Following the main characters would undoubtedly lead him to be cast into their group; only by remaining somewhat elusive could he carve out his own storyline. He had never intended to position himself as entirely righteous. Joining the villainous organization could provide him with additional clues, perhaps aiding him in completing his ultimate mission.

Lan Subing softly advised, “It’s easy to encounter danger alone.”

“Don’t worry, if it gets too risky, I’ll just withdraw from the competition,” Su Bei said, shaking his watch with a playful smile.

After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Tianming asked, “Do you know something?”

This question is not easy to answer. Su Bei pondered for a moment, conjuring a gear of fate: “I still owe you a chance to predict destiny; it seems fitting to repay that debt now.”

At these words, Jiang Tianming’s expression tightened. He realized that Su Bei, by choosing this moment to suddenly use the opportunity, must believe the time had come.

But if Wu Mingbai’s guess was correct, then they held a significant advantage now, and there was no need to use a prophecy opportunity at all.

So, it must be that Wu Mingbai had miscalculated somewhere, and it was a rather dire miscalculation; otherwise, Su Bei wouldn’t need to offer them a glimpse into fate.

With this thought, he nodded. If there was indeed something they had overlooked, he too hoped to receive fate’s answer.

Su Bei, with his controlled mental power, directed the gear above Jiang Tianming and the others, the compass needle pointing slightly in one direction. With his advanced mental prowess, he was no longer limited to predicting just three people at once; he could now foresee five.

After the gear absorbed the essence of fate, his complexion paled slightly, yet he chose to release it, allowing the gear to reveal its secrets.

Almost the moment he cast the gear forth, he felt a significant drain of mental energy from his mind. The sensation of losing mental power was unpleasant; Su Bei gritted his teeth against the headache and, along with the others, looked up at the gear.

To his surprise, the hint from fate was strikingly simple.

It was an arrow, boldly pointing southeast.

“What does this mean?” Mo Xiaotian scratched his head. “Is it telling us to go in that direction?”

The others shared the same thought, as it was the most straightforward interpretation. They turned to Su Bei, eager for the master of this indication to provide clarity.

Su Bei had indeed guessed a few things, for the hint was too obvious this time. However, he needed to buy himself some time, so he cryptically replied, “The time has come; its meaning will reveal itself.”

At these words, Jiang Tianming couldn’t help but recall their first prophecy. Indeed, it had been something they could never have guessed before, but upon seeing the murderer’s crimson eyes, the meaning of the prophecy had struck him immediately.

With this in mind, he felt no urgency: “I understand. After we see this fate, will you still leave?”

Su Bei nodded, lazily waving goodbye to the group before turning and vanishing into the dense thicket.

Once he was gone, Mo Xiaotian glanced at the direction the arrow had indicated: “So, do we head that way now?”

He hadn’t quite grasped Su Bei’s earlier meaning, mainly not understanding whether the other was suggesting they follow the hint.

Jiang Tianming shook his head: “No. This hint may not be meant for us at this moment; even if we went now, it might be of no use. When the time comes for us to go, we should naturally know.”

Meanwhile, Su Bei had already taken a wide detour, beginning to walk toward the direction indicated by the arrow.

If he was not mistaken, this direction should lead to the lair of the puppet master. The main characters would inevitably have to confront this danger, and fate would guide them toward it.

Undoubtedly, this path was fraught with peril. Yet Su Bei felt compelled to venture forth. It was his best chance to draw near the villainous organization; if he played his cards right, he might even unlock another hidden thread.

They would never expect that someone would discover them so soon, just the next morning. Their defenses must be lacking. He needed to confirm the identities of these individuals before deciding on his next move.

If he were to be found out, it wouldn’t matter; he could simply withdraw from this alternate space. Though that would mean he would no longer be in the spotlight, at least he would be safe from mortal danger.

And most importantly, even if he exited early, it wouldn’t be an issue. After all, the readers would have no idea why he had withdrawn, and they would surely speculate wildly. Later, he could use his forum account to clarify things, perhaps even leading to unexpected gains.

Just as he pondered this, a flicker of his dwindling mental energy suddenly sensed something hurtling toward him. Su Bei furrowed his brow and turned, only to see a swarm of pitch-black wasps erupting from the trees.

These wasps were no trifling matter; ordinary wasps were already troublesome, let alone the nightmare wasps.

“Buzz buzz buzz buzz—”

The cacophony of the swarm was deafening, and Su Bei felt a splitting headache, his senses spinning.

Wait?

He quickly realized something was amiss. Even if he had expended a fair amount of mental energy, it shouldn’t reduce him to this state just from hearing an unpleasant sound, right?

It seemed this was the ability of the nightmare wasps—truly a nuisance. As he sprinted forward, he flung out several gears behind him. The sharp gears, propelled by his mental energy, possessed formidable penetrative power, slicing through the swarm and claiming countless nightmare wasp lives.

But there were simply too many of them, and they weren’t all clustered together. Su Bei’s control over his mental energy was not yet second nature; he couldn’t easily pierce through each wasp’s body with just a few gears.

Moreover, he had just drained a significant amount of mental energy, leaving him severely depleted.

This couldn’t continue!

Su Bei immediately changed direction, running toward the river he had passed earlier. He wasn’t as adept at navigation as Jiang Tianming, but a large river was hardly a concealed thing; finding it wouldn’t be difficult.

He hadn’t run long when a voice rang out ahead: “Get out of the way!”

In an instant, Su Bei executed a sideways flip to evade. The next moment, a jet of flame surged toward where he had just been, incinerating the swarm of nightmare wasps to ashes.

The newcomer was none other than Qi Huang.

After dispatching the wasps, Qi Huang crossed her arms, watching Su Bei with a leisurely air. “Oh! Isn’t this our classmate Su Bei? How is it that in just one day, you’ve become so ragged?”

—

Su Bei paid no mind to her teasing, brushing off the leaves from his clothes: “Thanks. Where are your teammates? Why are you alone?”

Seeing his indifference, Qi Huang pouted in mild annoyance: “They’re not far off. I heard some noise and came to check. What about you? Where’s your team?”

Su Bei did not answer her question but regarded her thoughtfully for a moment before suddenly glancing at his watch. After a brief pause, a look of realization crossed his face: “Someone in your team took that mission?”

Everyone who knew what “that mission” referred to could think of it immediately. Qi Huang was surprised that Su Bei was aware of it, but she didn’t bother to lie, simply nodding: “Yeah, a few think that they can’t kill the Night Beasts and still survive.”

Su Bei raised an eyebrow, pondering for a moment. Considering that she had helped him earlier, he offered a warning: “If you want to keep them safe, you’d best not split up with them.”

—

It was well known that those without watches could not exit, making them easy prey. Though Qi Huang was a novice ability user, her powers were indeed formidable. With her around, at least she could protect those people. If she frequently came out to investigate noises, she could easily fall victim to a feint.

Qi Huang wasn’t foolish; upon hearing his words, her expression turned serious: “What do you mean by that?”

She certainly didn’t think Su Bei was mocking her for meddling, especially since she had just helped him. It wouldn’t be so quick for her to forget such kindness.

However, Su Bei did not respond, merely waving his hand: “I’m leaving first.”

Watching his carefree retreat, Qi Huang did not stop him, but her brow furrowed as she contemplated his words. She didn’t know this person well, but after losing last time, she had specifically inquired about Su Bei’s abilities.

Ai Baozhu had told her that Su Bei’s power was the “Gears of Fate,” something tied to destiny…

Moments later, she stomped her foot in frustration and hurried back. Regardless of what his words truly meant, it was always wise to stay with her teammates.

After Su Bei left, he continued toward the direction of the arrow. To support nearly 200 people, this alternate space was quite expansive. Unless one had extraordinary speed, it would take ages to traverse on foot.

The further southeast he traveled, the more uneasy Su Bei felt. It was simple: he had encountered far too many Night Beasts! More than double what he had seen before.

In the dense forest, encountering enemies wasn’t an easy feat. Along the way, he had regained a fair amount of mental energy, naturally expanding his detection range.

Thus, Su Bei sensed that quite a few Night Beasts were lurking nearby. After half an hour of walking, he had at least discovered four sleeping, and he had even killed one himself, totaling five.

If it were just that, he wouldn’t find it particularly strange. After all, who knew if they had always been here, merely undisturbed by human presence? Even if the numbers were a bit higher, it could be understood—consider it a challenging area.

But the problem lay in the fact that these Night Beasts he encountered were different from those before.

In the past two days, he had faced Night Lizards, Night Monkeys, Night Snakes, Night Bees… Though these species were bizarre and varied, they shared a common trait: they were all known for their speed.

But what had he just encountered? Nightmares in the form of bears, pigs, and turtles… No matter how one looked at it, these creatures were certainly not known for their speed.

Especially that nightmare bear—it was something else entirely. Though nightmare beasts were not like ordinary animals, and their strength could not be judged by the same standards, it was clear that this bear could not be a weakling among them.

Before they entered this alternate space, the director had mentioned that all powerful nightmare beasts had been eradicated. So how could a nightmare bear still be lurking about?

After realizing that he had only encountered speed-oriented nightmare beasts, Su Bei had speculated that these were intentionally left by the academy to enhance the students’ precision in their abilities. After all, the monthly exam served two purposes: ranking and identifying gaps in students’ skills.

However, the nightmare beasts he had just faced were clearly not part of the academy’s arrangements. There was no reason for the school to set such formidable beasts against a group of novice ability users. Even Su Bei would struggle to fight them, let alone anyone else.

If they weren’t arranged by the academy, who else could it be? Su Bei could only think of a hidden hand at play.

It seemed his suspicions were correct; he was on the right path, or else the nightmare beasts wouldn’t be multiplying. Su Bei was well aware, and his actions became increasingly cautious. Most of his mental energy was focused ahead, striving to sense any enemies before being detected.

Though he carefully avoided trouble along the way, he still attracted the attention of a couple of nightmare beasts. These creatures were not easy to deal with, and it took considerable time to either evade or eliminate them.

By the time Su Bei finally reached his destination, night had fallen. Fortunately, he had cleverly eaten dinner on the way; otherwise, arriving here on an empty stomach would have been a disaster.

It was worth mentioning that during the past few days of the individual combat exam, he had overheard the cafeteria lady say that nightmare pig meat was tastier than most nightmare beast meat. Unfortunately, his cooking skills had utterly wasted it; the pork he prepared was nowhere near as good as the nightmare monkey dish made by Mo Xiaotian.

Another strange thing was that, for some reason, he had hardly encountered any other students on his journey, aside from Qi Huang. The teleportation should have been random, covering the entire alternate space. Even if everyone was moving about, it was impossible for such a large area to be completely devoid of people.