Translator: AkazaTL
Proofreader/Editor: JWyck & Ekko
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Chapter 119
The red-haired boy’s face darkened: “Don’t think being an Ability User makes you…”
Knowing he’d say nothing good, Jiang Tianming cut him off: “I heard you failed the finals again. Does the dean know?”
Dean? Wasn’t their dean dead? Su Bei recalled that the first season’s plot was about them investigating the orphanage’s dean's death.
The boy cursed under his breath: “That new old man’s all about grades. Aren’t you sick of it? Everyone is. If you snitch, you’re betraying us all!”
His crew, all bad students, nodded fervently.
Jiang Tianming wasn’t intimidated and calmly replied: “Betrayal implies we’re allies, but we’ve never been, have we?”
Seeing the boy’s resentment, he added flatly: “Still here?”
They knew Jiang Tianming well—he’d really snitch on them. Glaring, they left.
Just then, Lan Subing rushed up: “What happened? Why are you here?”
“Just some troublemakers,” Wu Mingbai grinned. “It’s late. Let’s go to the Different Space.”
They took Lan Subing’s family car to the Different Space’s vicinity, where rickshaw pullers swarmed them. These were weak Ability Users, unable to enter Different Spaces or earn a living through their Abilities, relying on their status and strength for service jobs.
Ordinary jobs were an option, but those working here couldn’t find better ones.
The entrance was a hive of activity. Few Ability Users could enter High-Level Nightmare Beast spaces, the Maze Different Space for example had few visitors.
But this space was different—its High-Level Nightmare Beast wasn’t as lethal. Weather-altered rooms were risky, but safer than other such spaces.
Most crucially, profits were high! High-Level Nightmare Beast spaces often held precious resources, like the Apogod space with Mental Crystals.
This space had rooms brimming with gold, rare herbs, designer bags, watches, shoes…
Stumbling into one such treasure room and getting hold of something meant instant wealth.
Zhao Xiaoyu, hearing about this space’s perks in the group chat, was envious. But her chosen space had treasures too, so she didn’t come.
Where people gather, business follows—vendors hawked items and snacks, walls were plastered with flyers and government wanted posters.
Strong Abilities fueled human ambition. Early on, criminal Ability Users far outnumbered ordinary ones. But with 99% registered now, catching them was easy, reducing crime rates.
Still, some persisted, hiding in Different Spaces—vast, complex, camera-free and hard to search.
Thus, Different Space entrances often had wanted posters. Large bounties were offered for the capture or elimination of criminals. Su Bei’s group queued, after buying tickets. Jiang Tianming reiterated the plan they discussed in the group chat: “Once we’re inside, we’ll find a safe room to stay a day and kill time. Don’t rush to look for treasure rooms - we profit even if we just kill Nightmare Beasts. Take notes whenever something unusual happens for the reflection…”
“Alright, we get it! You’re getting naggy!” Wu Mingbai groaned, cutting off his endless spiel.
Lan Subing grinned, her water-blue eyes curved like crescents and sparkled: “Like a nanny.”
Teased by both, Jiang Tianming smirked coldly: “Who begged to copy my spring outing essay last time? And who wanted to hit a gold room for a big score?”
Getting countered like that, they coughed awkwardly and went silent.
Their camaraderie was close, so warm that it seemed impenetrable to outsiders.
Su Bei had no interest in joining their bond. After their banter, he mocked, feigning surprise: “You haven’t finished your reflections?”
Come on, who writes spring outing essays after the trip?
The trio: “…”
As students, they instantly knew his trick. Just sit down and make it all up, huh?
Why didn’t they think of that?!
Writing reflections was annoying enough and now, on top of that, he dared mock them? Wu Mingbai sneered: “I bet the Teacher’s going to be veeeery curious how you wrote yours before going!”
Su Bei was unfazed: “I bet the Teacher’s going to be veeeery curious whose template everyone used!”
Lan Subing, planning to use the template, yanked Wu Mingbai back for him to surrender. Jiang Tianming gave Su Bei a dead-pan stare: “No mutual destruction, please?”
After bantering, they reached the front of the line. After a brief bout of dizziness they appeared in a room—a large living room, no abnormal weather, clearly a protected spawn point.
In controlled Different Spaces spawn points, unless they were random, were secured to prevent Nightmare Beast ambushes.
A uniformed worker was sitting on the sofa, reading and snacking on grains, looked up: “Need a map? Twenty each.”
“Bought one outside,” Jiang Tianming waved his printed map. They weren’t broke, but also weren't suckers.
Maps were vital here. The exit and the entrance were the same room; retracing your steps let’s you leave the Different Space. But with numerous complex rooms arranged like a labyrinth, that wasn’t easy.
Seeing that he couldn’t make some cash, the worker lost interest, shooing them away: “Hurry up, don’t block the spawn.”
Four doors led from the spawn point, each to a different room. Rooms had two to four doors.
They picked a direction and moved. The rooms themselves didn’t change positions and spawn-adjacent ones were thoroughly explored and mapped.
But the weather in the rooms shifted and Nightmare Beasts didn’t stay in the same ones, so maps didn’t guarantee safe passage. Rooms marked on the map were mostly devoid of all valuables.
The door opened and hail pelted Jiang Tianming's face. He slammed it shut, calmly pulled an umbrella from his bag, and opened another door.
This room was rainy, cool droplets pattered on his umbrella. Jiang Tianming smirked at his friends: “Get your umbrellas.”
His was a small one, only covering him. Knowing this Space’s characteristics, Jiang Tianming had them all bring umbrellas, so they took them out and they entered the rainy room.
It was a moderate rain that drenched everything. The room was styled like a bathroom in a state of disrepair, suited to being wet.
According to the information provided, this room was always rainy, with moss in the corners and a damp, foul smell.
They hurried through to the next rooms, which all had light rain. In the fifth room, the rain stopped—a weatherless room.
Not all rooms had special weather; many were normal. These were generally safe for short stays, although not guaranteed.
Opening the door, they were startled to see it packed full of people. They glared at them, ready to throw out the intruders.
Su Bei’s group had no intention of staying there, carefully stepping over sprawled legs to reach the opposite door.
Opening it, they realised why the other people lingered there—the next room was sunny.
The instant they opened the door, blinding sunlight hit their faces. Even with umbrellas, it stung their eyes. Worse was the searing heat, like being grilled. Jiang Tianming slammed it shut.
“Hahahaha!”
Laughter erupted behind them. The crowd knew the next room’s state, anticipating their reactions since they entered. This Different Space had a rule: if you return to the spawn point, you either leave or pay the entry fee again.
Entry to High-Level Different Spaces wasn’t cheap, especially safer ones like this one. This path had no profitable rooms till there. Everyone was reluctant to repay the entry fee, so they waited there for the next room’s weather to change.
Seeing their schadenfreude, Wu Mingbai feigned distress: “Such a big sun—what do we do?”
Then he grinned: “Good thing I’ve got a plan!”
A clump of wet mud appeared in his hand, rapidly expanding to encase him like a skin suit. He reopened the door, the mud shielding him from heat and light.
He turned to his group, his muddy mouth splitting in a grin: “Your turn.”
His grins were never innocent. Su Bei tensed and stepped back. The next second, mud crawled over Jiang Tianming, covering him swiftly.
Unlike Wu Mingbai’s mud suit, this mud not only encased Jiang Tianming but styled him—cat ears on his head and a curled mud tail behind.
Without the mud, his face might’ve made the look cute. But as a mudman…
“Pfft!” Lan Subing, mostly silent due to strangers, burst out laughing.
Jiang Tianming sensed something wrong because he knew his friend’s antics. Turning, he saw the tail and felt up his head, grabbing the ears.
Without hesitation, he used his Ability to shed the extras, glaring at Wu Mingbai: “You’re done.”
He pounced, smearing the removed mud on Wu Mingbai’s face. Wu Mingbai fought back and they wrestled.*
Su Bei’s mouth twitched, glancing at the retreating Lan Subing he said: “I thought Jiang Tianming was the mature one…”
Lan Subing wanted to defend them, but seeing Jiang Tianming brawl in public, she couldn’t.
Closing her eyes, she snapped: “Both of you, [Stop]!”
With [Word Spirit], none could resist. They froze, then separated from each other standing up obediently, acting as if the fight before was an illusion.
Satisfied with their belated compliance, Lan Subing turned to Su Bei and calmly said: “Yes, they’re both very mature.”
Su Bei: “…”
Shivering, Su Bei stayed silent.
Under the great demon’s threat, Wu Mingbai stopped messing around, dutifully coating his group in mud.
Seeing them about to cross the sunny room unscathed, a woman spoke up: “Can you use that Ability on me? I’ll pay!”
Her words woke the crowd, who echoed her, hoping Wu Mingbai’s help would get them out. Paying a small fee was cheaper than re-entry.
“I’m sorry, but someone mocked me earlier. I’m so upset, my Mental Energy is down with my mood, so I can’t use my Ability,” Wu Mingbai, ever vengeful, spouted nonsense.
The woman blinked, then looked around: “Who mocked you? They’re blind!”
Others joined, feigning a search, forgetting they had all laughed, cursing others to clear themselves.
Seeing their act, Wu Mingbai relented. It wasn’t a big deal. He set a fair price, stipulating a half-hour wait between groups to avoid disputes.
With only three paths forward, people could clash over loot or beasts. Separating early was better.
The mud wouldn’t dry out in half an hour and the rainy room next door could re-wet it.
After Wu Mingbai was done, the group entered the sunny room.
Just like the info they collected mentioned, a head-sized sun hung at the ceiling, a fireball turning the room into a glowing oven.
The info also said that the Different Space used sunny weather, as a transitional phase. Suns burned most room contents and once the room was blank, new decor appeared, making a new room.
Therefore sunny days signaled room refreshes, which wasn’t entirely bad. Many rooms were looted, needing a sun to reset them.
That room was empty, save for ashes in the corners and white walls. Their mud suits dried fast, so they hurried through to the next.
It was a hail room. Opening the door, a bean-sized hailstone hit Su Bei’s head. Now he understood why the info described hail rooms as the safest.
Hail should be deadly—large chunks of ice could crack skulls, dense ones could trap you. But the rooms were only three meters high. Unless head-sized hail fell, the damage they caused was minimal.
Crossing several hail rooms, they opened the door to the next room and a rat-like Nightmare Beast lunged at them. Lan Subing reacted fast: “[Freeze]!”
Simultaneously, Jiang Tianming slammed the door shut.
“A Rat Nightmare Beast? Makes sense,” Su Bei remarked, stepping forward to reopen it. The beast lunged again and its throat was sliced by a Gear.
Crisis averted, they entered. The room was spacious, a storeroom full of cans.
The cans’ were poorly sealed; Su Bei faintly smelled meat sauce. Seeing undamaged cans, he mused: “Nightmare Beasts really only eat humans…”
Otherwise, they wouldn’t ignore so many cans full of food. They seemed made to only hunt humans.
“Should we make this our base?” Jiang Tianming suggested, circling the room on the map.
Nobody objected—they noted the spot and explored further. Soon, they reached another weatherless room, but unlike the last, it had fewer Ability Users.
Two adult men, dressed in wilderness gear, looking professional and fierce.
They were wary at first, but relaxed seeing kids. The wolf-tailed man mocked: “Wrong place, kids? This isn’t a place for children to train.”
His partner with the metal neckband was smarter, probing them: “Which school’s S-Class are you?”
Students in High-Level Different Spaces were either reckless or elite S-Class. S-Class kids were school treasures; harming them could bring trouble.
Su Bei’s group exchanged glances. Wu Mingbai feigned shy excitement, rubbing his head with a silly grin: “S-Class? You think that highly of us? If only!”
His dim-witted act relaxed the necklaced man. His eyes flickered, adopting a friendly tone: “This is a High-Level Different Space. It’s dangerous for students. Do you know that?”
He acted like a caring elder, but they weren’t fooled by gratuitous kindness, especially not verbal one.
Wu Mingbai answered, smug: “We researched this Space! The High-Level Nightmare Beast here lacks attack power and won’t appear. Mid-Level Nightmare Beasts? With so many rooms here, we can run from them. In the worst case, the four of us can kill one.”
From this, the men gauged their strength—they thought them naive, ordinary students.
The necklaced man frowned disapprovingly, acting concerned: “You’re underestimating this Space. It’s not that simple. If you do not have any Ability Items, I will escort you out for your safety. Protecting minors is everyone’s duty.”
His intent was clear—robbery. His righteous words were a facade; only fools would buy it.
The wolf-tailed man chimed in: “Exactly. As responsible adults, we can’t let you recklessly court death**. If you don’t have any Items, go back.”
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*Ekko-Note: I know that people would pay to watch this secne, if they would have less clothes on lol. Remember Mud Wrestling on TV? It was mostly between women with bikinis, but as far as I know mud wrestling is an ancient sport in Uganda, India, etc. Pretty badass actually
**In Chinese, "courting death" translates to "找死 (zhǎo sǐ)". It's a common idiom used to express that someone is taking serious risks or acting recklessly, essentially inviting trouble or even death. It can be used as a warning or an insult, often implying that the person's actions are foolish and will lead to negative consequences.