21
Hearing the reminder from the "Manga Awareness," Su Bei remained expressionless. He discreetly rubbed the phone in his pocket, calmed his thoughts, and continued to observe the situation.
Meng Huai, not intending to waste time, gave a brief compliment and then approached the cage. The murderer inside seemed to be immobilized, unable to move except for glaring at everyone with purple-red eyes, ignoring them for quite some time.
"I’ll take this person away now," Meng Huai said, holding a black box that had appeared in his hand at some point. With a slight twist, he swiftly sucked the cage and the person inside into the box.
Jiang Tianming and the others, who hadn’t seen much of the world, widened their eyes in amazement. They hadn’t expected such a magical tool—truly worthy of an ability user!
Su Bei was also surprised, but his focus was more on observing the protagonist group. When the homeroom teacher used the tool earlier, only Lan Subing and Mu Tieren showed no sign of surprise.
Lan Subing’s reaction was understandable, given her status as a young lady. Even if she wasn't an ability user before, she likely had seen plenty of ability-related tools.
But what about Mu Tieren? What’s his background?
While he was contemplating this, Mo Xiaotian was already cheering as he rushed over. "Wow! What a magical tool! Teacher, teacher, can we play with it for a while?"
Su Bei almost imagined a wagging tail behind him. Could this guy really be a dog that has taken human form? Well, in a manga world, anything seems possible.
Shaking his head, Su Bei dismissed the strange thought and joined the others in gathering around.
Meng Huai had already refused Mo Xiaotian without hesitation but informed everyone that they could purchase these ability tools with points at school. Outside, they were priceless and unavailable.
Points could be checked on the personal homepage of the school’s intranet. Su Bei had checked his own before; in twelve days, he had only earned 10 points from attending classes.
He had also looked at the ability tools section of the school store once. The cheapest tool cost 100 points, while the most expensive ones were astronomical in price. It was pointless to even think about buying one right now.
It was clear that these tools were not intended for ordinary students but could only be quickly acquired through special events, which students in Class F were currently not eligible for.
After reprimanding the naive kids, Meng Huai took out his phone and read a message aloud: "To thank Jiang Tianming, Wu Mingbai, Lan Subing, Mo Xiaotian, and Mu Tieren for helping to apprehend the school attacker, the school has decided to reward each of them with 100 points. Additionally, Su Bei, who was frightened at school, will be compensated with 10 points."
"Eh—so little!" Su Bei complained on purpose, but he didn’t plan to ask for more. Whether it was 10 or 100 points, it was better than nothing. Even if he combined these points with the ones earned from attending classes, the most expensive tool he could afford before the monthly exam would be a small storage ring.
While a storage ring was useful, he would be taking the monthly exam alongside the protagonist group. As long as they had a ring, there was no need for him to have one too.
However, Jiang Tianming suddenly spoke up: "Su Bei also participated in this event and provided us with a lot of help. We were only able to identify the murderer with his assistance, so I think he should receive the 100-point reward as well."
The others immediately nodded, hoping the school would reconsider Su Bei's reward. They knew that the "purple-red smoke" hint was given by Su Bei. Although he wasn’t involved throughout, he had provided crucial clues and shouldn’t just receive a mere 10 points.
Seeing their reaction, Meng Huai glanced at the slightly stunned Su Bei. "Do you have any evidence?"
Jiang Tianming took out his phone and showed the message Su Bei had sent before they entered the cafeteria. "This should prove that he helped us, right? As for what the hint was exactly, we'd rather not say. Is that okay?"
The content of the message made Meng Huai raise an eyebrow. He gave Su Bei a deep look before nodding briskly. "Alright, then he’ll receive the same 100-point reward as the rest of you. Does anyone object?"
No one spoke up, so the matter was settled.
Wu Mingbai suddenly remembered something and smiled innocently. "Teacher, can we hand over the murderer to the Sun family tomorrow night?"
Today was the twelfth day, leaving two days before the deadline set by Sun Ming's parents. Delivering the murderer tomorrow would still be within the timeframe.
The reason for delaying the handover was to give the Lan family more time to pressure the Sun family. Sometimes, even a single day could make a decisive difference.
Meng Huai was aware of what they were doing outside, and a hint of amusement flickered in his eyes. "Sure, we need to interrogate this person first, so we won’t be handing them over right away."
Everyone exchanged knowing smiles, except for Mo Xiaotian.
Mo Xiaotian wasn’t interested in these matters; he was more curious about something else. Unable to contain his curiosity, he raised his hand and asked, "By the way, Teacher, what is your ability? You can teleport, create that plant cage, and you’re so fast."
His question sparked everyone’s curiosity as they all looked at Meng Huai. As Mo Xiaotian mentioned, Meng Huai had displayed so many abilities that it was hard to imagine what kind of power could encompass all of them.
"The plant cage and teleportation are abilities provided by the school." As he said this, Meng Huai looked at everyone with a faint smile. "As for my ability, let's do this: if anyone guesses correctly, I’ll personally reward them with 200 points."
Two hundred points was no small amount—100 more than the reward for capturing the murderer. It was no wonder he was a teacher; his wealth was indeed substantial.
But everyone’s attention wasn’t on the points but on the fact that the school had the power to enable teleportation and control over people within its grounds.
This was indeed an unexpected piece of news. It was clear that this was some sort of emergency safety protocol activated after Sun Ming's death. While having such protective measures in place certainly increased the students' sense of security, it also made them ponder—was this investigation under the school's control from the very beginning?
Except for one person.
"Physical enhancement? Increased speed? Strength augmentation..." Mo Xiaotian noisily pestered Meng Huai with guesses, showing no signs of stopping until he figured it out.
Annoyed by the questioning, Meng Huai suddenly disappeared. Mo Xiaotian looked innocent as he remarked, "Hey! Where did he go?"
Wu Mingbai couldn't help but roll his eyes at him before turning to Su Bei and asking, "Did you know beforehand that if you shouted 'Teacher, help!' the teacher would come to your rescue?"
Earlier, when they asked Su Bei if he truly had a way to escape, he shouted "Teacher, help!" and summoned Meng Huai. Such an action made it hard for others not to believe that he had prior knowledge of the school's secrets.
Sure enough, Su Bei nodded.
He indeed knew, but not as far in advance as Wu Mingbai and the others might have thought. In fact, he only realized it when Mu Tieren shouted, "Didn't the teacher say no one would get hurt?" at which point Su Bei suddenly guessed the truth.
Since the teacher dared to make such a promise, it couldn't have been baseless. Ensuring the students' safety indoors couldn't guarantee everyone's safety, as there could always be unlucky people like him. So there had to be some way to ensure safety in such situations.
Shouting "Help" would most likely actually bring help.
He didn’t shout immediately after realizing this for two reasons: first, he wanted to give the protagonist group a chance to shine—he couldn’t take away their spotlight in the manga. Second, since the teacher hadn’t shown up on his own for so long, it was likely he also wanted the students to learn and grow.
Given that, Su Bei decided to go with the flow.
However, there was no need to explain all this, so Su Bei waved his hand at the others and said, "Thanks for the show. I'll head back to the dormitory now."
Without waiting for anyone to persuade him to stay, he turned around and prepared to leave.
After all, he still had manga to read!
But as soon as he turned, Su Bei keenly sensed the rush of wind behind him.
He skillfully stepped to the side, and in the next second, Mo Xiaotian lunged at the spot where Su Bei had been standing.
Unfortunately, with Su Bei no longer there, Mo Xiaotian ended up diving into thin air. He hung in the air for a moment in a comical, manga-like fashion before falling face-first to the ground.
"Do you love the school's ground that much?" Seeing this foolish display, Wu Mingbai, who didn’t get along with him, burst out laughing and didn’t hesitate to mock him.
But, as usual, it was like talking to a brick wall—Mo Xiaotian didn’t mind at all. He stood up, dusted off his clothes, and eagerly sidled up to Su Bei. "We finally caught the killer. Shouldn't we celebrate with a big meal?"
Ignoring his starry-eyed look of expectation, Su Bei firmly declined, "No."
Then he placed his hands on Mo Xiaotian's shoulders, turned him to face Jiang Tianming and the others, and gently pushed him back into the protagonist group.
Su Bei nodded slightly at Jiang Tianming. "Take him away."
Catching the returning Mo Xiaotian and pulling him aside, Jiang Tianming hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you really not coming? We were kind of..."
He trailed off, visibly embarrassed. Mu Tieren, suddenly understanding his intentions, completed the sentence for him, "We were kind of looking forward to you joining us."
Relieved, Jiang Tianming nodded, signaling that this was indeed what he wanted to say. He then seriously added, "Consider it a gesture of friendship?"
"Surely you don’t think the help you gave us isn’t worth a meal, do you?" Wu Mingbai pretended to use reverse psychology, looking all innocent.
Lan Subing didn’t hesitate to punch him and, while pulling Mo Xiaotian back over and lowering her scarf, she whispered very quietly but with anticipation, "Please?"
Amid the background noise of Mo Xiaotian pleading, "Come on, come on," Su Bei remained silent for a while. Finally, with some reluctance, he nodded. "Tomorrow."
He had to hurry back and read his manga today; otherwise, he wouldn't be at peace.
Watching his retreating figure, Mo Xiaotian, who had finally freed himself from the others' grip, scratched his head in confusion. "What does that mean? Did Brother Bei agree? Are we eating today?"
This guy was always out of the loop! Everyone facepalmed and shouted in unison, "We’re eating tomorrow, you idiot!"
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