NOVEL NEXT WORLD chapter 21
21:
Upon hearing the reminder from “Comic Consciousness,” Su Bei’s expression remained unchanged. He rubbed his phone in his pocket, composed himself, and continued to watch the unfolding events.
Clearly, Meng Huai did not intend to waste time. After briefly praising them, he walked towards the cage. The assailant inside seemed to be frozen, glaring with a pair of purplish-red eyes at the people who had ignored him for so long, unable to move a muscle.
“I’ll take this person away now,” said Meng Huai, who had somehow acquired a black box in his hand. With a slight twist, he whisked away the cage and its occupant with a swoosh.
Jiang Tianming, who had little exposure to the world, and his companions couldn’t help but widen their eyes in amazement. They never imagined such magical props existed; truly worthy of a superpower user!
Su Bei was equally astonished, yet his focus was more on observing the protagonist group. When the class teacher used the prop, the only two without any sign of surprise were Lan Subing and Mu Tie Ren.
Lan Subing’s lack of reaction was understandable; after all, she was a young lady. Even if she wasn’t a superpower user before, she wouldn’t have been unfamiliar with superpower props.
But what about Mu Tie Ren? What was his identity?
As he pondered, Mo Xiaotian had already cheered and rushed over: “Wow! Such a magical prop! Teacher, teacher, can we play with it for a while?”
In a daze, Su Bei seemed to see a spiraling tail wagging behind him. Could this guy really be a dog that had gained sentience? In the world of comics, it seemed nothing was impossible.
Shaking his head, he cast aside this bizarre thought and joined the others crowding around.
Meng Huai had already unhesitatingly refused Mo Xiaotian but informed everyone that these superpower props could be purchased with points at school, and they were priceless outside.
Points could be checked on the personal homepage of the campus network. Su Bei had seen his own; in twelve days, he had only earned ten points naturally from attending classes.
He had also glanced at the superpower props section of the campus store once. The cheapest prop cost a hundred points, and the most expensive was astronomically priced. It was futile to even dream of it now.
Clearly, these props weren’t meant for ordinary students. Only through some special events could one quickly earn a large number of points to purchase superpower props. And these events, at least for the time being, were out of reach for Class F students.
After scolding the naive youngsters, Meng Huai took out his phone to check a message, reading it out loud, word by word: “To thank Jiang Tianming, Wu Mingbai, Lan Subing, Mo Xiaotian, and Mu Tie Ren for their help in capturing the assailant on campus, the school has decided to award each of them a hundred points. Additionally, as Su Bei was startled at school, the school will provide a compensation of ten points.”
“Eh—so little!” Su Bei complained on purpose, but he had no intention of asking for more. Whether it was ten points or a hundred, it was better than nothing. Even with the points earned from classes, the most expensive prop he could afford before the monthly exam was just a small storage ring.
The storage ring was indeed useful, but he would be with the protagonist group during the monthly exam, so as long as they had rings, it was unnecessary for him to have one.
However, Jiang Tianming suddenly spoke up: “Su Bei also participated in this matter and provided us with a lot of help. We only recognized the final culprit with his assistance, so I believe he should also receive a hundred points reward.”
The others immediately nodded, all hoping the school would reconsider Su Bei’s reward. They knew the clue about the “purple-red smoke” came from Su Bei. Although he wasn’t involved throughout, he provided a crucial lead and shouldn’t just receive a mere ten points.
Watching their reactions, Meng Huai glanced at the somewhat stunned Su Bei: “Where’s the evidence?”
Jiang Tianming took out his phone, showing the message Su Bei had sent him before entering the cafeteria: “This should prove he helped us, right? As for what the clue specifically was, we’d rather not say. That should be fine, right?”
The content of the message raised Meng Huai’s eyebrows, and he took another deep look at Su Bei before nodding briskly: “Sure, then both he and you will receive a reward of 100 points. Does anyone have objections?”
No one spoke, and so it was settled.
Wu Mingbai suddenly remembered something, revealing an innocent smile: “Teacher, can we hand over the murderer to the Sun family tomorrow night?”
Today is the twelfth day, and there are still two days left from the fourteen-day deadline given by Sun’s father and mother. It’s completely feasible to hand over the murderer tomorrow.
But the reason for delaying by a day is nothing but to give the Lan Corporation outside more time to pressure the Sun family. Sometimes, this short span of a day can play a decisive role.
Meng Huai knew what they had done outside, and a hint of amusement appeared in his eyes upon hearing this: “That’s fine, we need to interrogate this person first anyway, we won’t hand him over so quickly.”
Everyone, in unison, revealed a knowing smile, except for Mo Xiaotian.
Mo Xiaotian didn’t care about these matters, but he was curious about something else. Unable to contain his curiosity, he raised his hand and asked, “By the way, Teacher, what is your superpower? You can teleport, create that plant cage, and move so fast.”
At these words, everyone else also looked at Meng Huai with curiosity. As Mo Xiaotian said, Meng Huai had displayed so many abilities, it was hard for them to imagine what kind of superpower could encompass all these things.
“The plant cage and teleportation are abilities inherent to the superpower school,” he said, looking at everyone with a half-smile, “As for my superpower, well, if any of you guess it first, I’ll personally reward them with 200 points.”
200 points is definitely not a small amount, 100 points more than what they received for capturing the murderer. As expected of a teacher, his wealth is substantial.
However, everyone’s focus was not here, but on the “school’s abilities.” The school actually has the ability to teleport people and control everyone inside at any time?
This was indeed an unexpected piece of news, and it was certain that this was an emergency safety state, activated only after the death of Sun Ming. Although this protective measure has increased the students’ sense of security, it also led them to deep contemplation—was this investigation under the school’s control from the beginning?
Except for a certain person.
“Physical enhancement? Speed increase? Strength augmentation…” Mo Xiaotian noisily followed Meng Huai, seemingly determined not to stop until he guessed correctly.
Annoyed by the questioning, Meng Huai disappeared on the spot. Mo Xiaotian looked innocent: “Hey! Where did he go?”
Wu Mingbai couldn’t help but roll his eyes at him, then turned to Su Bei: “Did you know beforehand that shouting ‘Teacher, save me’ would bring the teacher to your rescue?”
When they asked Su Bei if he really had a way to escape danger, Su Bei shouted “Teacher, save me,” and summoned Meng Huai.
() It was hard not to think that he knew the school’s secret in advance. ()
Sure enough, Su Bei nodded.
—
He indeed knew in advance, but not as early as Wu Mingbai and the others thought. In fact, it was only when the wooden iron man shouted, “Didn’t the teacher say no one would get hurt?” that he suddenly guessed.
If the school teacher dared to make such a promise, it certainly wasn’t without aim. Indoor safety alone couldn’t guarantee the safety of all students, as there was no guarantee against unlucky ones like him. There must be some way to ensure one’s safety in such a situation.
Calling out “Help” was very likely to save one’s life.
The reason he didn’t immediately call out after realizing this was, firstly, to give the protagonist group a chance to shine; he couldn’t let the manga’s highlight be completely overshadowed by him. Secondly, seeing that the teacher hadn’t shown up for so long, he presumed the teacher wanted the students to practice more.
With that in mind, he decided to go with the flow.
However, these explanations were unnecessary. Su Bei waved to the crowd, “Thank you for the wonderful show, I’ll head back to the dormitory now.”
Having said that, he didn’t wait for them to ask him to stay and turned to leave.
After all, he still had comics to read!
Yet, just as he turned around, Su Bei keenly sensed the whooshing sound coming from behind.
With agile movements, he stepped aside, and the next second, a Mo Xiaotian pounced at where he had just been.
Unfortunately, the person who was supposed to be there was gone, so Mo Xiaotian, unsurprisingly, grasped at thin air. He first hung comically in mid-air for a moment, then fell face down to the ground with a thud.
“Do you love the school’s land that much?” Seeing his foolish appearance, Wu Mingbai, who didn’t get along with him, immediately felt joy and didn’t hesitate to mock him openly.
Sadly, it was like playing the lute to a cow; Mo Xiaotian didn’t mind at all. He stood up, dusted himself off, and approached Su Bei enthusiastically, “We’ve finally caught the murderer, shouldn’t we celebrate with a big meal together?”
Ignoring the hopeful stars in his eyes, Su Bei decisively refused, “No.”
After saying that, he placed his hands on Mo Xiaotian’s shoulders, turned him around to face Jiang Tianming and the others, and with a gentle push, Mo Xiaotian was back with the protagonist’s group.
Su Bei nodded slightly to Jiang Tianming, “Take him away.”
Taking over the pouncing Mo Xiaotian and putting him behind, Jiang Tianming hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Are you really not coming? We’re quite…”
He stopped mid-sentence, his face subtly blushing with embarrassment. The wooden iron man, with a stroke of insight, completed his sentence, “We were quite looking forward to you joining us.”
Without needing to say those words, Jiang Tianming breathed a sigh of relief, nodded to indicate that was what he meant, and then earnestly said, “How about as friends?”
—
“You don’t think the help you’ve given us isn’t worth this meal, do you?” Wu Ming feigned innocence, using reverse psychology.
Lan Subing didn’t hesitate to punch him, then, while pulling Mo Xiaotian, who had just been handed over by Jiang Tianming, she lowered her scarf and whispered with anticipation, “Please?”
Amidst Mo Xiaotian’s coaxing background noise, “Come on, come on,” Su Bei fell silent for a moment, and finally, with a hint of resignation, nodded, “Tomorrow.”
He had to rush back to read comics today; otherwise, he would feel uneasy.
Watching his retreating figure, the finally freed Mo Xiaotian scratched his head in confusion, “What does that mean? Did Bei Ge agree? Are we still eating today?”
This guy, always out of the loop! Everyone couldn’t help but facepalm, exclaiming in unison, “We’ll eat tomorrow, dummy!”
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