Chapter 1
When Su Bei walked into the restroom, his mind was still somewhat foggy, as if shrouded in a cloud of mist. He vaguely heard sounds coming from the innermost restroom stall, but they were indistinct.
Wait? Something seemed off?
Suddenly, Su Bei’s mind cleared, and he realized a problem—the school opening ceremony was about to start.
Based on his past experience, the restroom should have been packed at this time. After all, once the speeches began, there would be one or two hours without a chance to use the restroom, which was why he was here now.
But the restroom was eerily empty, except for the innermost stall, which seemed to have someone in it. The other stalls were all unoccupied.
Su Bei belatedly turned his head and abruptly noticed that, at some point, a yellow sign had appeared at the restroom entrance. Without a doubt, it likely read something like “Do Not Enter.”
How had he not noticed it earlier?
Before he could ponder this question further, Su Bei, trained by his military father, keenly sensed an extremely faint movement behind him.
Someone was approaching!
Almost instinctively, he lightened his breathing and didn’t turn around. Instead, he pretended nothing was amiss and continued walking forward, as if to inspect the yellow sign at the entrance.
The presence behind him drew closer. In his mind, Su Bei quickly pieced together the faint air movements to simulate the actions of the person behind him.
It was likely someone about his height. Judging by the timing, they had emerged from the innermost stall after hearing his footsteps. They were holding a sharp weapon—he could hear the sound of metal cutting through the air.
Now!
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Su Bei’s hand precisely grabbed the wrist of the attacker just before the dagger could slice his neck. Without pausing, he stepped back with his right foot, sliding into a low stance, and with a twist of his wrist and waist, he flung the attacker over his shoulder to the ground in front of him.
“Bang!”
The man behind him was slammed hard onto the floor, producing a loud impact. As Su Bei had estimated, the man was indeed about his height, dressed in black, wearing a silver mask that revealed only purple-red eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
The dagger meant for the attack slipped from the man’s hand due to the suddenness of the event and clattered to the floor.
Rapid footsteps echoed from outside, likely school staff rushing to investigate the commotion in the restroom.
Perhaps hearing those footsteps, before Su Bei could remove the mask to see the man’s true face, the restrained attacker suddenly, without warning, turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated into the air.
“An ability user.”
Su Bei’s expression darkened, knowing he likely wouldn’t find the attacker now. Just as he was about to stand up, he let out a pained groan. His mind felt as if it had been struck by something heavy, and his vision went black as he slowly collapsed to the ground.
When he opened his eyes again, Su Bei found himself in a purely white space.
Above, to the left, and to the right—everything was pure white, without any other traces, not even marks of walls. It was as if this place had no boundaries.
Where was this?
Moments ago, he had fainted in the restroom and heard the footsteps of other school staff. Normally, seeing a student collapsed in the restroom, the staff would have taken him to the infirmary or a classroom.
But this place was clearly neither.
After a moment’s hesitation, Su Bei chose to get up from the ground. He had already opened his eyes, and there was no one around. Continuing to feign unconsciousness was clearly not a good strategy.
Rather than lying there helplessly, it was better to take the initiative and explore.
Standing up, his gaze fixed straight ahead. In the entire pure white space, there was only one thing: a table and a chair, with two books stacked on the table.
Su Bei scanned his surroundings, confirming there was indeed nothing else, then naturally walked to the table, pulled out the chair, sat down, and looked at the books.
Unexpectedly, the first book was a manga. The cover featured several flamboyant characters, with a black-haired, black-eyed boy in the center, his expression resolute, exuding a fearless demeanor.
To his left and right were a boy and a girl. The girl on the right had long, water-blue hair tied into two braids at her chest. Her light blue eyes were calm and emotionless. Her mouth was sealed with tape in an X shape, as if she couldn’t speak.
The boy on the left was grinning, with brown hair and orange eyes, looking more like the protagonist of a typical hot-blooded shonen manga than the boy in the center.
In the background were other characters, some young, some older, forming the vibrant manga cover.
At the top center was the manga’s title in large characters—《King of Abilities》.
The only keyword he could grasp from the title was “ability.” Abilities were special superpowers awakened by a rare few. These powers varied widely and differed in strength.
All ability users, once discovered, were sent to the “Endless Ability Academy” until graduation, after which they could become official ability users permitted to use their powers in society.
As it happened, Su Bei was also someone who had just awakened an ability. Today was the opening day for first-year students at the “Endless Ability Academy,” and he was a new student in Class 1-F.
Shifting his attention back to the books, Su Bei didn’t open the first one yet and instead glanced at the book beneath it. The second book was very thin, only four or five pages, with a plain white cover and no illustrations.
He flipped it open briefly, revealing black-and-white manga pages.
Frowning in thought, he set the second book aside and focused on the first one.
Though he didn’t know why these two books were placed here, it was clear someone wanted him to read them.
For now, he was at the mercy of others. Only by fulfilling their purpose could he hope to take further action.
As the cover suggested, it was a classic shonen hot-blooded manga. The protagonist was the black-haired, black-eyed boy named Jiang Tianming.
The protagonist, Jiang Tianming, and the brown-haired boy, Wu Mingbai, were both orphans. The blue-haired girl, Lan Subing, was the heiress of the “Lan Corporation.” The first volume of the manga chronicled the trio’s journey to uncover the truth behind the “suicide” of their orphanage’s director, leading to a series of events. Ultimately, they discovered the truth and thwarted an evil organization’s human modification experiments.
Like all shonen manga, the three formed a deep bond through humorous and touching daily interactions, while each awakened their own ability.
Wu Mingbai had an ability from the start, [Earth Element]. Despite his sunny appearance, he had kept his ability hidden. Readers who finished the first volume would know this guy was a complete schemer beneath his cheerful facade.
Lan Subing awakened the [Word Spirit] ability. It was rather ironic that a socially anxious girl who could barely speak was granted the [Word Spirit] ability.
As for the protagonist, Jiang Tianming, he awakened the [Death Summon] ability, summoning an adult woman with a seven-part resemblance to him at the critical moment, defeating the final boss.
At the manga’s end, Jiang Tianming woke up in a hospital bed, staring at his palm with an inscrutable expression: “The third.”
Setting aside the foreshadowing at the manga’s conclusion, Su Bei genuinely enjoyed the manga itself. The three protagonists had interesting and unconventional personalities. The story was tightly woven with plenty of twists.
Their abilities were also distinctive, making Su Bei, who had only awakened a weak ability and was assigned to Class F at the “Endless Ability Academy,” read with great enjoyment.
Su Bei himself, sixteen years old, had the ability [Gear]: he could conjure gears of controllable patterns and sizes based on his mental strength.
A standard Class F useless ability.
But he had no intention of relying on his ability to make a living. His mother had died in childbirth, and though his father had died in the line of duty five years ago, the inheritance left behind was enough for Su Bei to live comfortably.
Su Bei planned to coast through Class F, graduate, and open a hardware store to enjoy an early retirement, making good use of his ability.
The problem was, he hadn’t even attended the opening ceremony yet and had inexplicably been brought to this space to read manga. Even if the manga was good, why was he being made to read it?
Frowning at the final scene, Su Bei suddenly thought of something. These three had awakened their abilities around this time, so they would likely receive admission notices from the “Endless Ability Academy” soon.
With this in mind, he raised an eyebrow, a subtle expression crossing his face, and decisively opened the second manga.
As expected, the second manga began with the three receiving admission notices from the “Endless Ability Academy.”
In a few days, specialized personnel would test their ability levels for class assignments, the same process Su Bei had gone through upon enrollment.
Class assignments at the “Endless Ability Academy” weren’t fixed. Students could improve at any time. As mental strength and combat experience grew, even seemingly useless abilities could become powerful, allowing promotion to better classes.
Lan Subing was initially assigned to Class A, but her inability to speak despite having the [Word Spirit] ability was a significant drawback. Coupled with her own request, she was placed in Class F. However, if she could speak, she could easily advance.
Wu Mingbai, with average ability performance, was assigned to Class D.
Jiang Tianming was placed in Class F. His ability should have warranted at least Class C, but he had exhausted his mental strength fighting the previous volume’s villain boss. During testing, while his ability was detected, his mental strength was so low it was nearly that of an ordinary person, landing him in Class F.
They were also attending the “Endless Ability Academy,” and in Class F no less. At this point, Su Bei’s expression grew stranger, and he muttered to himself: “I’m not in this manga too, am I…?”
Turning to the next page, right at the start of the school year, a murder occurred in the school restroom. A male student lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by bloodstains and scattered small gears.
Seeing this scene, the expression on Su Bei’s face vanished entirely.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the boy lying on the ground was likely himself.