A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

They had witnessed Zhou Renjie’s struggles; though the depth of the quicksand was unknown, its area was relatively small—about thirty square meters. The volume of sand Zhou Renjie had sunk into was well within Wu Mingbai’s capabilities to manipulate.

Even if the quicksand possessed some unknown forces of suction or gravity, it shouldn’t have diminished Wu Mingbai’s control to such an extent.

Truth be told, if Jiang Tianming didn’t know Wu Mingbai well, he might have suspected this was a form of retribution for Zhou Renjie’s earlier insolence.

But it was truly impossible. Though it was always Zhou Renjie who sought trouble, it was Zhou Renjie who ended up suffering each time. In such circumstances, even if Wu Mingbai understood the need for vengeance, he could never wish for the other’s life.

Others would likely doubt Wu Mingbai as well. To prevent this small team from fracturing under such suspicion, Jiang Tianming took the initiative to ask. He was, after all, the most suitable among them to pose the question.

Sure enough, as soon as he spoke, Zhou Renjie was the first to look over. For once, he displayed a rare moment of cleverness, saying nothing but waiting for Wu Mingbai’s explanation.

In truth, Wu Mingbai was equally perplexed: “I don’t know. It feels like my ability is… weakened by this quicksand… Yes! Weakened significantly.”

As he spoke, he manipulated the sand to the left of the quicksand, the grains rising effortlessly at his command, as if they were extensions of his own body.

Then, one by one, the grains of sand began to float up, but when they reached the quicksand, only a few could rise, a stark contrast to the vast expanse of sand nearby.

↑Return to Top↑

Now, everyone’s attention was drawn in. Mu Tieren looked toward the patch of quicksand: “This can’t be right, can it? I’ve never heard of quicksand suppressing abilities.”

Brother Dao, who had previously traversed desert terrain, nodded affirmatively: “It shouldn’t be like this. Why don’t we have someone else try?”

They all understood clearly: either the quicksand was problematic, or Wu Mingbai’s ability was flawed, or there was something wrong with Wu Mingbai himself. Having another person test it would be the best way to verify.

“I’ll give it a try.” Si Zhaohua volunteered, as it would be the fairest approach. He didn’t even need to spread his wings; a feather appeared directly in his hand.

He guided the feather down onto the quicksand, thrusting it forcefully into the grains, then attempted to pull it back out.

Soon, Si Zhaohua furrowed his brow, his hand clenched into a fist with effort. After about five seconds, the feather slowly emerged from the quicksand, drifting back into his palm.

“There’s definitely a problem.” He made the feather vanish and cautiously approached the quicksand. “When I pulled the feather out, I encountered tremendous resistance.”

Hearing this, Qingqing spoke in confusion: “Pulling an object stuck in quicksand out will naturally meet great resistance.”

“No, it’s not like that.” Si Zhaohua pondered, seeking a more precise description. “It’s not external resistance; it’s that my control over the feather has weakened.”

Finally, someone understood his feelings at that moment. Wu Mingbai nodded vigorously: “Exactly! Our abilities are diminished in this quicksand.”

As they spoke, Su Bei raised an eyebrow, a sudden hypothesis flashing through his mind.

Almost simultaneously, Jiang Tianming’s eyes widened slightly, turning sharply to Su Bei: “Is it possible that this quicksand is the special factor?”

He spoke of the conjecture that Su Bei had made earlier, pondering what was so special about the “closed point.”

Su Bei thought the same, nodding with certainty.

A place that could weaken supernatural abilities—no matter how one looked at it, it was no ordinary location. Moreover, it lay directly to the north, a perilous land, perfectly aligning with their previous speculation about the possible markers of the “closed point.”

As he said this, Si Zhao Hua immediately caught on: “So, does that mean we’ve completed our mission?”

The task assigned by their teacher was to locate the “closed point,” without requiring them to shut it down or even see it with their own eyes. If they could confirm that the “closed point” was indeed here, they could return right away.

The others in Class S, upon hearing their conversation, quickly grasped the situation. Was the “closed point” really hidden within this quicksand? They had stumbled upon it quite by accident!

Yet, simply returning was out of the question. Mu Tie Ren shook his head: “We at least need to go down and see the ‘closed point’ to be certain. Guessing like this, even if we are right, the teachers probably won’t accept it.”

“I think so too,” Zhao Xiao Yu nodded, and in the brief silence, she animatedly mimicked looking around, eyes darting left and right.

Everyone understood her implication: the teachers were surely still nearby, and even if they tried to deceive them into believing they had already gone down to take a look, it would be futile.

Ai Bao Zhu cast a disdainful glance at the quicksand; the mere thought of getting covered in sand made her want to kill: “So, who’s going down?”

“I will, I will!” Mo Xiao Tian, who had just secretly asked Feng Lan and learned what they were discussing, couldn’t miss out on such an exciting opportunity. “I want to go down!”

He was genuinely curious about what lay beneath the quicksand!

“I’ll go,” Wu Ming Bai raised his hand as well. His ability was [Earth Element], and even if this quicksand had the power to suppress abilities, he had the greatest advantage among them.

Seeing that only two people were willing to go, Jiang Tian Ming thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go down too. There might be many Night Beasts below, so we need more people. Just leave one or two up here to assist.”

What he said made sense. If there truly was a space below containing the “closed point,” it would undoubtedly be filled with Night Beasts. Sending just one or two people down might not guarantee a safe return.

Convinced, more hands shot up. Si Zhao Hua, Li Shu, Ling You, Qi Huang, Zhao Xiao Yu, Mu Tie Ren, and Lan Su Bing all decided to go down. With the three from before, that made a total of ten—enough in numbers.

Just as they were about to finalize their decision, Qing Qing, who had been lost in thought for a long time, finally couldn’t help but ask, “Wait… what are you all talking about? What do you mean by going down?”

Only then did everyone realize they had overlooked the four of them. Zhao Xiao Yu cleared her throat: “Our teacher assigned us a task to explore a special quicksand. We think this must be what the teacher was referring to.”

“I see,” Qing Qing, unsure whether to believe it or not, feigned understanding and cheerfully said, “Then we’ll stay up here to assist you. If there really are many Night Beasts down there, don’t forget to bring some back up for us to deal with.”

She cast a glance at the five who had decided to stay behind. Coincidentally, aside from Zhou Renjie, the others had not lifted a finger when they encountered the giant serpent earlier, and now they were reluctant to descend. Their strength should be lacking.

But there were still a few too many of them…

With this thought, Qingqing exchanged glances with her teammates. Brother Gun and Sister Shield “casually” stepped forward, blocking the figures of the other two.

From noble mtl dot com

Moments later, Brother Knife approached and suddenly asked, “I need to go to the restroom over there. Anyone want to join? Better to stick together and avoid danger.”

Zhou Renjie raised his hand, still shaken from the earlier fright: “I’ll go.”

Whether it was urgency or something else, Brother Knife didn’t bother asking the others and hurriedly led Zhou Renjie away to the distant sand dunes.

The others paid them no mind and began discussing their next arrangements. They weren’t worried about getting caught in quicksand; Mo Xiaotian’s ability was [Air], so they wouldn’t face the danger of suffocation.

However, quicksand was tricky; even if the ground below was empty, going down was easy, but coming back up was hard. Zhao Xiaoyu asked earnestly, “How do we get back up after we go down?”

“There must be a way,” Mo Xiaotian said nonchalantly. “The teachers can come out from below; we can definitely do it too!”

Adhering to the principle of not conversing with fools, everyone tacitly ignored his words. Qi Huang turned to the two seers, Su Bei and Feng Lan: “Hey, can either of you predict the route?”

Su Bei’s predictions were vague, while Feng Lan’s were quite specific, but he had already used up his prediction opportunity for the month.

However, after a month of training, he had indeed developed a useful new ability. Feng Lan closed his eyes, and after a moment, opened them again, his golden gaze fixed on the others: “Just go with the flow.”

“Go with the flow? So we don’t have to worry about anything? That answer is quite carefree,” Qi Huang muttered, turning back to discuss with the others.

Seeing her turn away, Su Bei raised an eyebrow at Feng Lan: “What kind of ability is this? Newly developed?”

“Yeah.” Feng Lan nodded, a rare smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, “It was your suggestion before.”

Surprised, Su Bei pointed at himself: “Me?”

Feng Lan didn’t keep him in suspense: “That day you told me you often see fragments of prophecies. I actually have that too. After you left, I thought about it—my ability is pure [Prophecy]. I wondered if I could utilize these fragments.”

With that, Su Bei understood: “So now you can control the fragments you see?”

“Once a day.” Feng Lan nodded again, affirming his words, “I can ask about a small matter, and if I succeed, relevant fragment images will flash in my mind. But the success rate isn’t high yet.”

A low success rate was to be expected; after all, he had just mastered this ability. With more practice, the success rate would surely rise. For all ability users, being able to actively develop new uses for their powers was the greatest success.

—

Su Bei raised an eyebrow and asked, “So what did you just see?”

“There’s only one path in the space below,” Feng Lan replied.

Hearing this answer, Su Bei couldn’t help but laugh. Only one path—if it led up, they would simply follow it; if it didn’t, they would have to wait for the teachers to come rescue them.

So it really was a matter of going with the flow.

But he wasn’t laughing because of that; rather, he suddenly realized that Feng Lan was quite the riddle master. “Going with the flow” was a suitably enigmatic response.

Over there, based on Feng Lan’s words, they had decided to proceed downwards. Mo Xiaotian began preparing air blocks for everyone to use as hoods.

Zhou Renjie and Brother Dao returned together, looking no different from before. However, Su Bei, paying close attention, noticed that Zhou Renjie seemed to steal a glance at Qingqing?

As he observed, Wu Jin approached and whispered, “Zhou Renjie carries the scent of affection.”

At this, Su Bei’s heart sank in understanding. It seemed they had made their move earlier; it must have been Qingqing who, in the moment, passed the pink arrow to Brother Dao, who then took the opportunity to backstab Zhou Renjie while he was in the restroom.

Zhou Renjie was truly a pitiful man.

That said, there were currently five people on the shore: him, Feng Lan, Wu Jin, Ai Baozhu, and Zhou Renjie, with Zhou Renjie temporarily having turned traitor. If the others left, and Zhou Renjie devoured one more person, the remaining three might not stand a chance against the opposing four.

Moreover, Su Bei had a premonition that, barring any surprises, when Zhou Renjie made his move, it would surely be him who got swallowed. After all, he was the strongest in terms of attack among the few left.

Thinking of this, Su Bei couldn’t help but twitch his lips. He wasn’t afraid of Zhou Renjie’s abilities; even if he got sucked in, he would surely be released before long. But being swallowed by someone else? That was something he would prefer to avoid.

Should he warn the others?

After some thought, Su Bei decided against disrupting the plot.

Neither Feng Lan nor Ai Baozhu were the type of characters the author would paint as fools; the chances of them being hit by that pink arrow were low. As for Wu Jin, Su Bei even suspected that he wouldn’t be affected even if he were struck.

So even if he didn’t warn them, the worst that would happen was they’d get caught. The best-case scenario would be a chance to step away from the main protagonist group and establish their own identities.

—

“We’re going down!” Jiang Tianming shouted, drawing everyone’s attention.

The ten of them stepped into the quicksand together, struggling with all their might, and within mere seconds, they sank, leaving only their heads above the surface.

—

The shifting sands swirled away from the head, forming a square shape—this was the manifestation of Mo Xiaotian’s air cube.

Watching them trapped in the quicksand, sinking deeper, a picture of helplessness, Qingqing and the others exchanged glances, a flicker of intrigue igniting in their eyes.

Noticing their restless hearts, Su Bei’s lips curled into a smile, yet no warmth graced his eyes. He could overlook their antics above, but if they dared to disrupt the task at hand, he would not stand idly by.

Su Bei stepped in front of Qingqing, blocking their gaze, and asked with a grin, “Sister Qingqing, are you so fixated on them that you wish to join them below?”

How could Qingqing possibly want to descend? She shook her head vigorously, “No, no! I’m merely curious about how they look as the sands consume them.”

With Su Bei’s interruption, she abandoned her earlier thought. Though the sight of those few ensnared by the sands was tempting, acting on it now would be far too risky.

Better to deal with the ones above first, those were comparatively safer.

As this thought crossed her mind, a glint of determination flashed in her eyes. Once Jiang Tianming and the others vanished into the quicksand, she exchanged a knowing glance with her teammates and Zhou Renjie.

Receiving Qingqing’s signal, Zhou Renjie immediately approached Su Bei, speaking as he walked, “Su Bei, I need to talk to you about something.”

His ability required proximity, ideally a touch, and achieving that without raising suspicion was not difficult.

However, to his surprise, Su Bei raised a hand, halting his advance: “Good news or bad news?”

The unexpected response left Zhou Renjie momentarily stunned, before he quickly replied, “Of course it’s good news.”

“Liar.” Su Bei arched an eyebrow, “If it’s bad news, then I won’t be involved.”

In the next moment, he vanished into thin air.

“Where did he go?” Zhou Renjie’s eyes widened, panic seizing him as he turned, “He just disappeared! You all saw that, right?”

Ai Baozhu wore a look of disbelief, “I’ve never heard of Su Bei having invisibility powers. How did he just vanish?”

Perhaps this question sparked a realization, for Ai Baozhu then questioned, “By the way, what was that ‘bad news’ he mentioned?”

At this, Zhou Renjie stiffened for a moment, then his eyes darted, and he approached her, “Well, I can tell you.”

Unlike the already wary Su Bei, Ai Baozhu held no guard against Zhou Renjie, allowing him to draw near. In an instant, she was effortlessly drawn into his grasp as he activated his ability.

“Good job, now only two remain.” A smile crept into Qingqing’s eyes as she witnessed the scene unfold.

Though Su Bei’s sudden disappearance had startled her for a moment, the outcome remained largely unchanged. As long as she could control the remaining two, Su Bei’s escape would be of no consequence.

With this thought, she turned her head, ready to speak, but her expression froze, eyes widening: “Why is there only one person left?”

At her words, everyone turned to look, and indeed, the purple-haired youth and the white-haired boy who had stood side by side had vanished, leaving only the white-haired boy calmly standing in place.

Brother Gun furrowed his brow, his earlier jovial demeanor replaced by a menacing air as he strode over, seizing Feng Lan by the collar: “Where’s the purple-haired one?”

“I don’t know,” Feng Lan replied, his face devoid of expression. “Maybe he left just now.”

“Don’t know? How could you not know!” Brother Gun was about to retort when he was interrupted by Sister Shield.

Sister Shield’s expression remained calm as she approached, curiosity in her voice: “Then why haven’t you left?”

“Can’t leave,” Feng Lan answered honestly. Though he sensed something was amiss, he was neither able to vanish like Su Bei nor blend into the background like Wu Jin, making it impossible for him to slip away unnoticed.

At his words, Sister Shield chuckled, attempting to pat his shoulder, but Feng Lan instinctively shifted back to evade her touch. She didn’t mind: “As long as you behave, we won’t treat you poorly. Bind him up.”

Brother Gun pulled out coarse hemp rope from his bag, expertly preparing to tie him up, while Qing Qing anxiously asked, “What do we do? Both of them have disappeared; they will definitely go back to find their teacher.”

“Don’t worry, there’s still a way to salvage this,” Sister Shield reassured patiently. “You and Brother Dao keep them here; when the others come out, control them. Brother Gun and I will head to the entrance now. I have acceleration abilities, so I can definitely get there faster. Those two shouldn’t be too strong; we just need to block them at the door.”

Hearing this, Qing Qing felt less anxious, nodding: “Alright, you two hurry. We’ll meet at the entrance. If we haven’t come to find you by nightfall, it might mean something has gone wrong, and you should run then.”

“Su Bei, that blonde boy is very strong,” Zhou Renjie suddenly spoke, his eyes filled with affection as he looked at Qing Qing, but his words were harsh, “With just the two of them, they probably can’t defeat him.”

At this, the four of them froze. Brother Gun asked incredulously, “That pretty boy? How could we possibly lose to him?”

Having seen Su Bei not lift a finger, even appearing quite lackadaisical, they all assumed he was merely a filler in their group, as every class had a few stragglers.

Wu Jin was the same; he hadn’t fought nor spoken a word. From the conversations among the students, Qing Qing vaguely guessed he might have gotten into this class through some connections. That made him even less of a concern.

But now, with the situation unfolding, two had vanished, one seemingly playing the fool to catch the wise. Qing Qing suddenly felt a sense of foreboding: “Why do I feel like we’re about to crash?”

This time, Sister Shield frowned, her thoughts aligning with hers. She looked at Zhou Renjie, brow furrowed: “Are you sure the four of us, plus you, can’t defeat him?”

Zhou Renjie pondered for a moment, cautiously replying, “Whether we can defeat him is uncertain, but we definitely can’t outsmart him.”

—

That fellow could see the threads of fate; who could outmaneuver him? To speak plainly, even if love makes one blind, he didn’t think these four were particularly clever.

Perhaps it was because they had been weaklings in school, but how could they truly believe the teachers weren’t watching them?

Like the others, Zhou Renjie could easily guess that Meng Huai and the others, though vanished, were certainly observing them through some means. They were students of Class S, after all, with several possessing deep connections. If they weren’t keeping an eye on things, and something went awry, the entire academy would face dire consequences.

Even Feng Lan, who was already bound, Zhou Renjie didn’t believe he would truly be at the mercy of others.

He was the young master of the Feng family; surely he had some protective charms on him? The only reason he wasn’t using them was that his [Prophecy] ability hadn’t sensed any danger.

Well, it was fine; he was there. As long as no harm came to his classmates, Qingqing would likely not face severe punishment. When the time came, he could plead for leniency, turning a major issue into a minor one.

Seeing the furrow in Qingqing’s brow, Zhou Renjie reassured her, “But really, you don’t need to worry too much. I have a feeling Su Bei might not care about this matter.”

“What do you mean?” Hearing there might be a turn of events, Qingqing lifted her head, her eyes sparkling with surprise. The others quickly turned to look; they didn’t want to miss this rare opportunity.

These few, at a glance, seemed to have boundless potential. If they could truly control them through Qingqing’s ability, they wouldn’t have to toil through storms and winds anymore.

“Su Bei clearly noticed our anomaly earlier; otherwise, he wouldn’t have reacted so swiftly. Yet he didn’t alert anyone else, allowing Jiang Tianming and the others to proceed. He only vanished when I made my move, indicating he didn’t want to get involved.”

It was rare for Zhou Renjie to articulate such reasoning so clearly, and it made sense. Watching Qingqing’s expression ease, he felt a surge of happiness within.

Qingqing indeed thought he was right; Su Bei didn’t seem like someone who wanted to meddle in this affair. She pondered for a moment and asked, “Is his relationship with the others not good?”

“Well, it’s not quite like that…” Zhou Renjie hesitated, to be fair, Su Bei didn’t have any true enemies in Class S. “He just prefers to watch the show.”

It was well-known in Class S that Su Bei enjoyed watching drama; he would occasionally even guide things along. But once the curtain rose, he generally wouldn’t interfere. Zhou Renjie remembered Su Bei’s words: he liked to watch the play, but not to act in it.

Besides, they had teachers watching over them; it was highly unlikely Su Bei would intervene. If anyone were to intervene, it would be the teachers.

With this thought, Zhou Renjie felt a surge of confidence, patting his chest, “Don’t worry, Su Bei absolutely won’t care.”

Seeing his certainty, Qingqing felt much more at ease, knowing Zhou Renjie wouldn’t lead them astray. “Then let’s proceed as planned. We’ll wait here, and you all guard the entrance.”

Meanwhile, the very Su Bei they had been discussing was now hiding behind a distant boulder. The reason he had been able to vanish so suddenly was, of course, thanks to the “Invisibility Talisman” he had exchanged for in the points shop.

What a marvelous item! Su Bei mused, while inwardly grumbling, “Why don’t you open a shop for me too? Here I am, toiling away for you all.”

—