A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

45:

Heart-shaped pupils in comics are a subtle thing, often used for content that Jinjiang would not allow. Simply put, they often express the emotion of “affection” in comics.

If it wasn’t a lapse in the author’s judgment resulting in the pupils being drawn that way, then Su Bei could only consider it an effect of Wu Jin’s superpower.

Could his superpower make others fall in love with him? Such a realization furrowed Su Bei’s brow. If that were true, it would indeed require caution.

If Wu Jin were to say something he shouldn’t because of this superpower, it would be a devastating blow to him.

After making a mental note of this, Su Bei continued reading. The competition of the Wooden Iron Man didn’t have the same contrast as Wu Jin’s, but it revealed a considerable amount of confidence.

In the competition, facing the opponent Wang Lei’s “Barrage of a Thousand Arrows,” the Wooden Iron Man displayed an incredibly strong physical constitution.

That attack, in Su Bei’s view, was not much different from Si Zhaohua’s feather attack. Although the latter’s attack had greater individual lethality, the former had the advantage in numbers!

Even though Wang Lei couldn’t fully unleash the power of “Barrage of a Thousand Arrows,” summoning over a hundred arrows at once was still effortless for him.

In such circumstances, the Wooden Iron Man was able to deflect most of the arrows with his bare arms, forcing Su Bei to reassess his special ability “Physical Enhancement”.

Should this ability really be classified in Class F? Or has Wooden Iron Man improved so rapidly in this period?

Either guess points to Wooden Iron Man’s extraordinary nature.

If it’s the former, then Wooden Iron Man being in Class F means he intentionally concealed the strength of his ability. What could be his purpose for doing so?

And if it’s the latter, to ascend from Class F to at least Class B strength in just a month is no small feat. Such rapid progress in ability is not something one can achieve through normal training.

With many competitors in the second round, the comic didn’t showcase everyone, only illustrating Mo Xiaotian from the protagonist group’s battles in full. The rest were given a single frame, showing their opponents and abilities.

Su Bei thought this segment would have nothing to do with him, yet there were numerous comments mentioning him.

“Su Bei’s opponent has the ‘Fire Phoenix’ ability??? How can he win?”

“Even though I’m sure Su Bei will win, it’s still somewhat unbelievable.”

“I always said Brother Bei must have offensive/defensive abilities, otherwise how could he possibly win?”

“Can ‘Destiny’s Gear’ defeat ‘Fire Phoenix’? Was that girl just too weak?”

“I really want to see their match, stop hiding it, old thief!”

These comments were an unexpected delight for Su Bei. Don’t be fooled; his ability has changed a lot. Not only can he peek into destiny, but he can also slightly alter it.

But in the actual match, Su Bei is still just an ordinary person, relying on his excellent physical fitness, combat experience, and advanced mental strength to save himself.

He really needs offensive/defensive skills!

Su Bei didn’t hide these thoughts, so the “Comic Consciousness” could sense them. There was no need to conceal these ideas, and he wondered, what if the other side, moved by compassion, decided to help him out of his predicament?

However, what the “Comic Consciousness” thought was,

Yes, if those defeated by Su Bei heard these words, they would probably curse.

Although Su Bei’s ability lacks offensive power, his own attack and evasion skills are nearly maxed out! Even if someone starts learning martial arts now, they couldn’t compare to Su Bei, who has trained for ten years. It’s safe to say that without abilities, no one in the first year could beat Su Bei.

And yet, he still looks down on himself. Isn’t that just being pretentious?

The plot continues to unfold, and although the match between Su Bei and Qi Huang isn’t depicted, the subsequent scenes are vividly drawn.

Seeing Su Bei emerge first, everyone wears an expression of disbelief. It’s only when Wu Ming reveals the truth that the tension finally eases.

The reason Su Bei didn’t carry the unconscious Qi Huang out sparks a wave of commentary, and the comic provides a flashback.

[Su Bei first hoists the unconscious Qi Huang onto his shoulder, then seems to glance at the direction the referee left, and decisively puts the girl back down.]

The barrage of comments erupts into laughter.

“Hahaha, Su Bei is such a good dog!”

“It’s clear Su Bei has no love interest; he’s a lone wolf.”

“Putting her back down, really?”

“Was he carrying a sack at first, Su Bei?”

The comic then moves on to Su Bei revealing his points, contrasting his four-digit score with the others’ sub-five hundred scores.

This part of the story reminds Su Bei that he now has just under 3000 points. With the team battle yet to start, it’s time to exchange for the necessary props.

But he decides to wait until after finishing the comic and checking the forums.

Soon, the other matches are also completed. To save space, the author only illustrates the main group’s content. But these are enough to satisfy readers who enjoy battle scenes.

From noble mtl dot come

Su Bei pays particular attention to whether anyone in the main group is secretly developing powers he’s unaware of. Fortunately, there’s no such case. The most significant change in these battles is with Lan Suling. He finally overcomes some of his psychological barriers and successfully uses “Word Spirit” without a second thought.

However, once outside, Lan Suling struggles to use his powers again. He smartly realizes that he can only use his abilities when facing a single opponent, without the gaze of others.

Social anxiety remains an insurmountable mountain for him.

At lunchtime, the scene where Qi Huang comes looking for Su Bei is drawn as a small interlude. Even if she’s not convinced, she’s gracefully unconvinced, and the comic even includes two shots of her using the Phoenix to attack Su Bei, showcasing her prowess.

From the barrage, it’s clear many readers like her. If things go as expected, Su Bei thinks Qi Huang’s interactions with the main group won’t be few.

It’s not until Qi Huang leaves that Su Bei realizes the extent of Lan Suling’s imagination behind the teasing remark he blurted out.

The author even dedicates several panels to her imagination, including but not limited to Su Bei and Qi Huang as bickering lovers, the chase to the crematorium, graduating together, and a successful marriage…

Su Bei: “?”

Well, he just went “well, I’ll be!” He knew Lan Subing had a wild imagination, but he never thought it would be this wild. She should just become a novelist instead of pretending to be a superpower wielder!

Watching the barrage of comments, no one spoke up for him; it was all laughter and links to “haha” and ” Su Bei could only sigh at the decline of public morals, adopting an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude as he turned the page.

The next page was Su Bei’s response. When he mentioned that Qi Huang and Si Zhaohua seemed somewhat alike, both the readers and the protagonist group fell silent.

After a brief silence, the comments exploded like a tidal wave.

“HAHAHA, no problem at all, she’s the female version of Si Zhaohua!”

“Damn, now that I think about it, I can’t unsee it.”

“Are you serious, you really think so?”

“Jiang Tianming’s expression is killing me, HAHAHAHA!”

The only match fully illustrated that afternoon was between Wu Mingbai and Zhou Renjie. The drawings did seem to show Zhou Renjie swallowing someone whole; as soon as Wu Mingbai appeared, Zhou Renjie opened his mouth wide, and Wu Mingbai was unexpectedly gulped down.

What followed was Wu Mingbai’s solo perspective.

[He was disoriented for a few seconds after falling into Zhou Renjie’s stomach, then he reopened his eyes. As soon as he did, he found himself in a pitch-black space.

That was to be expected; there’s no light inside a stomach, so of course, it would be dark. But at that moment, Wu Mingbai didn’t know that. He cautiously stood still, tentatively touching his surroundings.

Soon, he felt the sticky flesh walls around him. There was stomach acid, trickling down the walls. Wu Mingbai touched it and felt a sharp pain on his hand.

It was the corrosion from the stomach acid.

Wu Mingbai frowned, sniffed his hand, and detected an unpleasant odor, which, in fact, permeated the entire space.

So what exactly was this place? A trash can?

He tried walking a few steps and suddenly realized that the ground beneath his feet wasn’t smooth either. He crouched down to touch the ground and was surprised to find that it felt the same as the walls.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was, whether it was his imagination or not, it seemed like the ground was collecting water?

This wasn’t entirely deduced by touch but rather by analysis. The water on the ground didn’t seem to flow, yet the walls kept seeping water. If there was no outlet, wouldn’t that mean water was accumulating?]

After a careful feeling, Wu Mingbai finally confirmed that there was indeed no exit in this place, and it had indeed been accumulating water. The accumulated liquid was corrosive, and if he stayed here for a long time, his clothes would soon be corroded away.

“What on earth is this place?” Wu Mingbai, full of confusion, finally decided not to stay put any longer. He was a very bold person; since there had been no other attacks for so long, he dared to explore actively, even in a strange space without a glimmer of light.

Feeling the wall, he walked for a long time and Wu Mingbai could roughly confirm that this was a space that could barely be considered circular.

He couldn’t continue to stay any longer. Feeling the water under his feet accumulating more and more, Wu Mingbai punched the fleshy wall. However, the wall was very elastic, and his punch didn’t cause any damage to it.

After thinking, he used the “Earth Element” to create a rather sturdy earth knife. Of course, this thing couldn’t compare with stone or iron knives, but at most, he could change out a piece of stone. When it came to real proficiency, it had to be earth.

Wait? Stone?

Suddenly, Wu Mingbai’s eyes lit up, his wrist flipped, and a stone emitting a faint light appeared in his hand — this was fluorite.

Wu Mingbai held the fluorite next to the wall, using its faint light to illuminate his field of vision, and unexpectedly discovered that the wall in front of him was red.

Red fleshy walls?

His eyes lit up again, and with a stroke of genius, he realized where he was. A place surrounded by flesh could only be inside Zhou Renjie.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this should be the stomach, and the water seeping from the wall was gastric juice, no wonder it was corrosive.

Having understood this, Wu Mingbai began to ponder how to get out. If he let Zhou Renjie release him, there was no doubt that he would have lost, so he had to rely on himself to get out.

It was difficult to cause damage from the inside; first of all, he didn’t have particularly strong means of attack, and the “Earth Element” was not mainly for attacking.

Moreover, Wu Mingbai thought very clearly; he was not the first person to be sucked in by Zhou Renjie in this way. The previous opponents must have tried to attack the walls, but they obviously didn’t succeed, so there must be strong protective measures here.

To get out successfully, relying on attacking means certainly wouldn’t work; he had to find another way, starting from a different line of thought.

Wu Mingbai was indeed clever; he quickly curled up the corners of his mouth and began to use his special ability to summon a large amount of sand. As his complexion grew paler, more and more sand filled the space.

“Ugh!”

The sound of vomiting came from above, and Wu Mingbai felt dizzy. When he opened his eyes again, he was back on the arena, and in front of him was Zhou Renjie, kneeling on the ground and retching.

“Ugh… Take back the dirt in my stomach! Ptooey! You’re disgusting!” Zhou Renjie gagged and spoke in agony.

He felt as if his stomach was about to burst, and what was worse, he could clearly see that his stomach was filled with dirt, not something digestible.

“I haven’t even mentioned how disgusting it was being swallowed by you,” Wu Mingbai retorted with a sneer. “Do you give up?”

Zhou Renjie immediately cried out, “I give up, I give up!”

He had no choice but to surrender, especially since Wu Mingbai had already been released by him. Superpowers couldn’t be used again in quick succession, and now he was like fish on the chopping board, completely at the mercy of others.

Hearing his surrender, Wu Mingbai finally withdrew his superpower with satisfaction.

So that was how he won. Su Bei revealed an expression of sudden realization, his eyes filled with admiration. It was no wonder Wu Mingbai was one of the protagonists; his intelligence was indeed remarkable.

Considering how many had failed against Zhou Renjie before, even unable to discern what his superpower was, it was clear how difficult it was to accurately identify what that dark space really was.

Yet, Wu Mingbai not only figured it out quickly but also realized that ordinary attacks were futile and immediately thought to use the stomach’s own function to force Zhou Renjie to release him.

Full marks for the thought process.

The barrage was full of praise.

“Mingbai really understands.”

“Those who like Wu Mingbai, let me say it loud: I’m an intellect-lover!”

“A satisfying victory! I’ve been annoyed by that fatso for a while now.”

“Our ‘Superpowers Reign Supreme’ is all about high IQs!”

After the two left the arena, it was clear that Si Zhaohua and the others were surprised by Zhou Renjie’s defeat, contrasting sharply with the cheering protagonist group.

Then there was Su Bei, who couldn’t help but remark on how useful this control group was.

After the protagonist group left, the manga gave Zhou Renjie a moment in the spotlight.

In the dormitory, Zhou Renjie’s personal defeat was already known to his parents. Parents who could raise such a sharp-tongued child were naturally cut from the same cloth, berating Zhou Renjie over the phone with a barrage of insults.

“Worthless,” “Raised you for nothing,” “Utterly useless,” “Go die”… Just a few words were enough to make the reader’s fists clench.

Zhou Renjie, the subject of the abuse, had a face full of gloom. However, having been brainwashed for so long, he naturally wouldn’t blame his parents for their heartless scolding. Instead, he stared darkly at his phone, muttering to himself, “I’ll make those in Class F pay.”

At this point, Su Bei couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed Zhou Renjie’s personality was shaped by his family environment—indeed, there’s something hateful about someone pitiable. In fact, the inherently evil characters in comics are few; most villains have their own deep-seated reasons.

But speaking of suffering, who doesn’t suffer? Those chosen by the comics are more or less unlucky. Su Bei had no sympathy for others, lowering his eyes indifferently as he turned the page.

That night in the comic, everyone was practicing their special abilities. The author was generous in this section, allotting one to two frames to each person.

Su Bei was also depicted in a frame, his face pale, expression resolute, with a large pile of gears before him.

This previously unseen image sparked much discussion.

“What is Su Bei training for?”

“So many patterned gears, he’s not going to predict many people’s fates at once, is he?”

“Such a strange image, Su Bei’s training is always different from the others.”

“Feels like Brother Bei is about to unleash a big move!”

“He can produce so many gears at once?”

Watching these comments, Su Bei wore a thoughtful expression. The depiction of his training in the comic had its pros and cons.

The downside was that it stripped away some of the mystery, letting readers see his training content, which would undoubtedly disappoint some who thought him strong. After all, the fact that he trained for the last day of the individual battle proved he didn’t have overwhelming strength over the first years.

But the upside was that if used properly, it might enhance the upper limit of his ability use. Previously, when he first changed his ability, Su Bei was restricted to using his power once a week, predicting for up to three people at a time.

However, after his mental strength became advanced, Su Bei could feel his predictive ability had definitely improved. He could still predict only once a week, but the number of people he could predict for at once should be at least five.

It would be great if this skill could be upgraded again, but Su Bei was more eager to upgrade his ability to change others’ fates. As long as the readers believed he could throw out many such gears, his power would surely increase.

The story continued, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next day. Perhaps to enrich the characters’ personas, the author spared no detail in each battle of the final day.

Su Bei guessed that was why he couldn’t restrain his pen, having to extend the team battle into another chapter.

The match between Mu Tie Ren and Zhou Renjie was not lengthy. Mu Tie Ren’s special ability was indeed suppressed by Zhou Renjie’s, and although he had successfully uncovered the secrets of space, he ultimately couldn’t struggle free.

Next was the match between Mo Xiaotian and Si Zhaohua. Despite Mo Xiaotian’s powerful “Air” ability, at least for now, it truly paled in comparison to Si Zhaohua’s “Angel”.

Through this plot, Su Bei discovered that Mo Xiaotian could control the explosive power of air cubes. It must involve some compression techniques; overall, his attack power was not weak, showing his adept use of his special ability.

The next battle was between Su Bei and Feng Lan, which was undoubtedly more of a spectacle than the previous two. It was clear from the fight that Feng Lan was the real “Prophet”. He was entirely fighting with his special ability.

Su Bei, on the other hand, was different. He started with overwhelming physical strength, and it wasn’t until Feng Lan suddenly stopped, surrounded by floating gears, that the readers realized he had secretly done so much.

Anyone could see that Feng Lan had lost. Completely encircled, even if he had seen this scene five seconds earlier, he couldn’t have shaken off all the gears to escape his fate.

What followed was a scene of the two talking.

[The golden-haired youth, a mastermind, stood opposite the white-haired youth trapped by the sharp edges of countless gears. Feng Lan’s face showed undisguised confusion: “You should know, you don’t need to do much to win, right?”

As they spoke, their respective physical and mental values were displayed beside them. It was clear that Su Bei’s exhaustion was far less than Feng Lan’s.

Su Bei’s response confirmed this: “Winning by exhausting someone else’s mental strength? Possible, but unnecessary.”

He smiled like a golden fox, proud and sly: “Don’t you think this way is more interesting?”]

“Ah, so handsome, Brother Bei!”

“Brother! You’re my brother forever!”

“These two are a perfect match, I’m totally shipping them!”

“dbq Brother Bei, I’m going to start idolizing you, baby, you’re a proud little fox.”

“Su Bei: What’s the fun in winning easily? If you play, play on hard mode!”

“Am I the only one who thinks Su Bei didn’t want Feng Lan to fail so miserably, so he chose a more difficult way to defeat him?”

“Fighting! That’s what youth manga needs, fights!”

Su Bei hadn’t expected the discussion this plot would spark to be so heated. He himself hadn’t said anything extraordinary, but the atmosphere of the manga as it was drawn was indeed very palpable.

Upon seeing that the next match was between Ai Baozhu and Lan Subing, Su Bei suddenly realized that the author had arranged the tournament sequence based on the readers’ interest.

Ai Baozhu, who had activated her “Glorious Domain” right from the start, intended to strike first, attempting several times to lure Lan Subing into a trap. Unfortunately for her, Lan Subing was now capable of facing someone speaking alone, and even though she had severe social anxiety before, she hadn’t missed learning the necessary skills, so Ai Baozhu’s schemes were to no avail.

When it was her turn to speak, a simple “Word Spirit” easily knocked Ai Baozhu out of the ring. Among everyone, Lan Subing was indeed the one who could best restrain Ai Baozhu.

For the readers who regarded Lan Subing as a daughter or goddess, this plot was clearly delightful. Especially for those who had been following since the first season, they had witnessed Lan Subing’s transformation from someone with severe social anxiety who couldn’t speak a word, to a confident young woman who could now confront and defeat her opponents in verbal duels. Their pride was naturally unspeakable.

This is probably what they call a “nurturing series,” Su Bei thought to himself. Perhaps he could also experience a bit of growth in some minor area, to let the readers feel the joy of “nurturing.”

The last match of the first round was between Jiang Tianming and Wu Mingbai. A battle within the protagonist group was naturally the center of attention, and Su Bei planned to watch this segment closely to see if these two had any hidden cards up their sleeves!