A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 24

Secrets, once shared with others, it won't be secrets anymore. Mo Xiaotian has already infiltrated the protagonist group. Although Wu Mingbai's and Mo Xiaotian's fans are fiercely arguing on the forum, the relationship between these two is not as bad as it seems.

In fact, you could say they are bickering frenemies.

If their relationship were truly terrible, Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing wouldn’t have allowed Mo Xiaotian to stay with them.

If Jiang Tianming were to tell Wu Mingbai and the others about what happened today, it probably wouldn’t be long before Mutieren and Mo Xiaotian found out as well.

If a plan is leaked, it can lead to failure. If someone from the villainous organization were to learn that he hadn’t fully mastered his ability—more accurately, that a powerful ability was still in its developmental stage—it could bring him endless trouble.

"Manga Awareness" wasn’t foolish; after hearing Su Bei’s concerns, it immediately understood his worries. Considering the nature of that organization, it strongly agreed with Su Bei’s caution: "You’re right. It’s better to be safe than sorry."

However, what "Manga Consciousness" didn’t realize was that its response inadvertently provided Su Bei with valuable information.

By agreeing with Su Bei’s point of view, it confirmed that the Black Lightning Organization did indeed like to recruit children whose abilities hadn’t fully developed yet. Moreover, this recruitment was enforced; anyone targeted by them would be forced to join the organization. Otherwise, there’d be no need for such concern.

So, was Mo Xiaotian truly a willing recruit?

Based on his previous behavior, it seemed that he was now loyal to the organization. But Mo Xiaotian was someone with a strong sense of justice—would he really be loyal to a villainous organization?

Su Bei could only think of one possibility: Mo Xiaotian had been brainwashed.

If his guess was correct, then this was clearly advanced information—information that, when the truth was revealed, would give readers a deeper understanding of his abilities.

Thinking about his abilities, Su Bei tossed the fate gear he had just created into the air. At the same time, he felt a significant amount of his mental energy being drained. Based on this rate of consumption, it was just as he suspected—he could currently predict the fates of no more than three people at once.

Moreover, fate gears that could make predictions didn’t appear at will. Regardless of how much mental energy he had left, he could only summon one gear per day. Of course, if the gear only absorbed the aura of fate without activating, there was no limit to how many he could create.

In the next second, the intricate gear disappeared, and two lipsticks suddenly appeared in the air. The two lipsticks clashed with each other, putting on a full display of martial arts. After about half a minute, they both disappeared into the air.

Su Bei: "?"

He was completely stunned.

What the heck was that?

After a long moment of silence, Su Bei finally collected his scattered thoughts and began to analyze what he had just witnessed.

When he used the gear to absorb the fate aura earlier, Su Bei had chosen the first section in the direction the needle was pointing. According to his theory, the direction the needle pointed to was where the next event would occur. The closer the section was to the center, the sooner the event would happen.

In other words, the event he just predicted should occur soon. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be tomorrow, as tomorrow’s handover of the culprit and celebration banquet were the biggest events he could think of in the coming days.

Two lipsticks fighting—what could that mean? Would a girl fight break out soon?

No, no, no, Su Bei quickly shook his head. First of all, he was only predicting something related to Jiang Tianming, so logically, this should be about him. Secondly, the only girl around Jiang Tianming at the moment was Lan Subing. Would Lan Subing fight with someone else? The idea just didn’t seem right!

Maybe he was thinking about it wrong—lipsticks didn’t necessarily symbolize girls. That’s right, the most direct symbolism of lipstick was the mouth. Two mouths fighting would mean an argument.

"Is Jiang Tianming going to argue with someone tomorrow?"

It made sense. Su Bei was almost certain of this hypothesis. It was easy to imagine that when the culprit was handed over tomorrow, Jiang Tianming and the others might very well end up arguing with Sun’s parents.

Of course, they might also get into an argument during the celebration banquet for some reason.

"After all, arguing and bickering are the main themes of youth," Su Bei remarked.

Hearing this, "Manga Awareness" couldn’t help but tease, "You talk like you’re so old."

Su Bei smiled without saying anything. He wasn’t that old, but he had already died once. If he hadn’t become cannon fodder, if "Manga Awareness" hadn’t found him, and if he hadn’t gotten involved in the story, he would still be an optimistic and cheerful fifteen-year-old boy right now.

Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but sigh, but he quickly cheered up again. In other mangas, the protagonist started saving the world at six; he was already a late-blooming savior at fifteen.

With his spirits restored, Su Bei took out his phone and opened his personal homepage to check the post he had made. After some time, the post had already received many replies.

[Su Bei's Source of Intelligence]

[...]

no.1: "The original poster (OP) is an analysis genius. Everything they said makes so much sense!"

no.2: "I also think Su Bei might be spying on the school."

no.3: "Isn't this getting a bit too conspiracy theory-ish?"

no.4: "OP is amazing, I have to say!"

no.5: "I just clicked in and saw a huge block of text. Let me read it all first—hopefully, by the time I'm done, you all have figured it out."

no.6: "OP, we're on the same wavelength. I've also been suspecting Su Bei's source of intelligence. Your analysis seems the most reasonable to me—too many coincidences aren’t really coincidences anymore."

[...]

no.27: "So, what's Su Bei's source of intelligence? The OP just analyzed that Su Bei has another source but didn’t say what it actually is!"

[...]

Seeing the question in post 27, Su Bei immediately responded.

Prophet no.44 (OP) replies to no.27: "There's not much information given in the manga about this, but I think it might be related to Su Bei's ability. His ability is connected to fate, so if he can see fate, it wouldn’t be surprising if he could see other things too."

Before long, the thread received many more replies.

no.45 replies to no.44: "Haha, I’m convinced!"

no.46 replies to no.44: "I thought the OP was serious, but turns out they’re just being silly!"

no.47: "Hahahahahaha!"

no.48: "Not gonna lie, the OP's got a point, though."

no.49: "The OP’s analysis actually makes sense. I also think it's a specific use of his ability."

no.50: "If what you're saying is true, then Su Bei's ability is way too strong! It can predict, monitor, and some people even speculated it has offensive capabilities. A triple threat? And he just awakened it recently!"

no.51 replies to no.50: "Not necessarily. Maybe he awakened earlier, and not everyone awakens at 15."

no.52: "Both beautiful and powerful... The creator won’t make him suffer too, right?"

no.53: "You’ve mastered the creator's pattern, but I can't help loving 'beautiful, powerful, and tragic'!"

no.54: "Me too! Without the 'tragic,' the 'beautiful and powerful' would be meaningless!"

[...]

no.55: "Could Su Bei’s source of intelligence be some organization backing him?"

no.56 replies to no.55: "What organization could monitor everything happening at the school? Could Su Bei’s backing be the school itself?"

Seeing post 56, Su Bei raised an eyebrow. Whoa! He hadn’t thought of that. Not a bad idea—he could definitely go with that.

Prophet no.57 (OP) replies to no.56: "That’s actually a possibility. Sometimes the least likely answer ends up being the truth."

This was followed by a wave of laughter, indicating that no one took his reply seriously. But Su Bei didn’t mind—he just wanted to plant a seed in their minds.

One impression might not be enough to change the readers' thoughts, but what about the second time? The third time?

As long as he shows enough inclination in the manga, there will be plenty of people analyzing things in that direction.

Moving on to other posts, Su Bei, just for fun, clicked on a thread where people were clearly arguing.

"Is Mo Xiaotian a 'royal' character? The creator is practically spilling their desire to give him more screen time."

[Xiao Yama Xiao Yilang no.0]: "rbt, I really don’t understand what this character is supposed to do in the manga. Pretending to be dumb and clueless? He can’t do anything, every plan has to be explained to him, and he even deliberately annoys Wu Mingbai. I get angry on Wu Mingbai's behalf!

But the creator still gave him an ability that lets him join Class A—that’s favoritism, right? It was even more obvious in the last panel of the first chapter; they directly gave him the spotlight.

That spotlight should have been Wu Mingbai’s, shouldn’t it? If it weren’t for trying to highlight Mo Xiaotian, Wu Mingbai would have tripped the villain and ended it!"

no.1: "I don’t know about the rest, but OP is definitely a fan of Wu Mingbai."

no.2: "Big Brother’s got a point."

no.3: "Big Brother’s got a point."

no.4: "Big Brother’s got a point."

no.5: "Big Brother’s got a point."

[Xiao Yama Xiao Yilang no.6 (OP) replies to no.1]: "I am indeed a fan of Wu Mingbai, but what does that have to do with me ranting? Mo Xiaotian is definitely a 'royal' character, don’t derail the topic!"

no.7: "It’s not that bad. The back-and-forth between the two of them is kind of interesting, don’t you think?"

no.8: "I also think Mo Xiaotian is a 'royal' character; he gets way too much screen time. The person above said that Mo Xiaotian and Wu Mingbai aren’t the same type of character, but on the surface, they’re both in that cheerful and outgoing category. The creator is clearly trying to let him ride on Wu Mingbai’s popularity!"

[...]

no.21: "Wu Mingbai fans, don’t lose it. Our Mo Xiaotian is genuinely cute, not like some people who say one thing and mean another. If anyone’s trying to piggyback, I’d say it’s you guys! Why would your black-hearted character try to leech off our little angel?"

no.22 replies to no.21: "Angel, my □□□□□□! You think you deserve to talk about angels, □□□□□?"

no.23: "Look, Wu Da Ma (Aunt Wu) is losing it."

no.24 replies to no.23: "Losing it, my □□□□□!"

no.25: "Obviously, Mo Xiaotian is leeching off Wu Mingbai’s popularity. No way would someone with lower popularity leech off someone with higher popularity, right?"

no.26: "Mo Xiaotian has the personality of a main character anyway. Sooner or later, he’ll surpass Wu Mingbai!"

[...]

no.67: "This argument is getting intense. Why hasn’t a mod deleted this thread yet?"

no.68: "Get your sunflower seeds, cigarettes, and bottled water here—orange cats, ragdolls, and Siamese cats too!"

no.69 replies to no.68: "I’ll take a ragdoll cat, please."

no.70: "Quietly promoting our MoWuCP in this thread—Mo Xiaotian x Wu Mingbai. The superthread is already up, and you won’t regret joining!"

no.71: "You’re so brave..."

no.72 replies to no.70: "You □□□, go to hell □□□□□!"

Note: Please keep in mind that some information may have been lost in translation. Thanks for your understanding!