A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 12 (Update)

Chapter 12 (Update)

A person died at the school, which is undoubtedly a very serious matter.

Upon hearing Jiang Tianming’s judgment, a boy who had come over to join the commotion turned pale and then skeptically asked, “Are you sure? Don’t just make things up!”

Jiang Tianming had not only seen dead people before but had also killed people himself, so he definitely wouldn’t be mistaken. He ignored the boy and looked up at the teacher who had rushed over upon noticing the anomaly: “Teacher, someone has died. Should we temporarily close the cafeteria?”

The teacher was taken aback by how calm he was, then quickly nodded, lifted the loudspeaker hanging from his neck, and shouted, “Everyone, please stay where you are and don’t move!”

As he spoke, he quickly checked the condition of the deceased. After confirming that the person was indeed dead, he snapped his fingers and shut the cafeteria door.

His expression turned grim as he used his walkie-talkie to contact his superior and report what had happened in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was in an uproar; no one had expected such a thing to happen. Those who were timid were already anxious, while the braver ones were discussing the incident among themselves.

Wu Mingbai quietly tugged on the clothes of Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing, and nodded in one direction: “Look over there.”

The other two looked over and saw Su Bei sitting there, leisurely eating his meal, seemingly unaffected by everything happening in the cafeteria.

The three of them simultaneously recalled Su Bei’s earlier comment about “watching a show.” Just as he had said, the three of them were performing on stage while Su Bei was watching from the audience.”Should I call him over?” Wu Mingbai suggested maliciously. “He must know something.”

Having been companions for so long, Jiang Tianming could easily see through his malicious intent and rolled his eyes at him: “No way. If we call him over now, we’ll completely offend him. Offending someone like him… don’t be reckless.”

Lan Subing nodded in agreement and quickly typed on her phone: “Let’s wait and ask him later. By the way, remember your meal card is still with me, got it?”

Wu Mingbai pursed his lips but knew his companions were right. Su Bei was most likely not the culprit, so exposing him would be pointless.

“Got it, got it! I won’t expose him.”

At this moment, the teacher had finished reporting the situation and came back to ask them for details. What had happened was actually quite simple. Wu Mingbai needed to go to the bathroom. Since the other side was blocked, he lightly pushed the deceased, intending to wake him up and ask him to move. Who knew that with this push, the deceased would fall to the side, causing a nearby girl to scream, and then everything that followed became widely known.

Without a doubt, Wu Mingbai was caught in an undeserved disaster this time. Logically, this matter had nothing to do with anyone, and it should be handed over to the school for investigation.

However, Su Bei knew very well that for the plot to progress, there would definitely be a reason forcing the main trio to investigate the truth.

Soon, the school sent someone over, a beautiful female teacher. She arrived without saying a word and efficiently set up a tent, then went inside herself.

The previous teacher instructed everyone to line up and enter the tent one by one.

After seeing the worried expressions on everyone’s faces, he thoughtfully explained, “Teacher Zhou’s ability can help clear everyone’s suspicions. If there’s no problem after you go inside, you can leave the cafeteria.”

After all, there were more than 50 students in the cafeteria, and keeping everyone here wasn’t feasible.

Upon hearing they could leave, everyone quieted down and lined up obediently. They knew they hadn’t killed anyone, so there was no reason to be nervous. If they could easily clear their suspicions, that would be ideal.

The first student went in and came out within five minutes. No matter what others asked, he didn’t respond and left the cafeteria under the guidance of the assisting teacher.

His behavior made the initially calm students a bit nervous, wondering what had happened inside the tent.

Su Bei was near the front of the line. He knew the manga would update tomorrow, and he could find out what happened during this time through the manga, so he didn’t plan to waste time in the cafeteria.

When it was his turn, he walked in confidently. Teacher Zhou sat behind a table and said coldly, “Answer a few questions. If there are no issues with your answers, you can leave.”

“Did you kill Sun Ming?” The deceased’s name was Sun Ming.

“No.” Su Bei shook his head. Although the deceased’s fate was changed because of him, he did not actually kill the person.

At this point, he also understood Teacher Zhou’s ability, which was likely lie detection.

“Do you have any special relationship with Sun Ming? For example, family, friends, or enemies?”

“We are not relatives, not friends, and definitely not enemies. We hadn’t even met before.” Su Bei answered, then shrugged. “As for our relationship, if you must say, we share a common enemy, which is this world.”

Originally, he only intended to answer the first part of the question, but after he finished speaking, he found that he couldn’t close his mouth.

It was clear that this was the effect of Teacher Zhou’s ability, as he hadn’t given a definitive answer to the question, “Do you have any special relationship with Sun Ming?”

This ability not only detected lies but also forced the respondent to provide an answer, preventing them from evading the question.

Su Bei couldn’t say that he had no relationship with Sun Ming because he knew they did have a connection—they both had the role of cannon fodder who die at the beginning of the manga.

Originally, he intended to use a subtle way to avoid directly answering the question, but this thought was thwarted by the ability. Fortunately, he had prepared for this and managed to get through the crisis smoothly.

“Answer the questions seriously,” Teacher Zhou frowned, glancing at the blond boy in front of her, while feeling a bit surprised inside.

She knew her ability well—under its influence, the answers given would always be truthful and reflective of the respondent’s genuine thoughts.

This meant that the sunny and handsome boy in front of her genuinely believed that he and the deceased shared the “world” as a common enemy.

Did he really have a nihilistic mindset?

However, now was not the time to be concerned about a student’s mental health. She withdrew her gaze and continued asking, “Do you know if anyone had a bad relationship with Sun Ming?”

“No.”

After a few more questions, Teacher Zhou nodded, “That’s all. You can go now. Please do not tell the students outside about our conversation, and do not inform others about what happened in the cafeteria.”

“Okay, I understand. Thank you, teacher.” Su Bei gave a slight bow, turned, and left the tent. Outside, he saw the trio of protagonists staring at him while waiting in line. He gave them a cheerful wink and walked away from the cafeteria back to the dormitory.

Wu Mingbai’s expression wasn’t pleasant, but he still wore a sunny and bright smile: “Wow, that was definitely a provocation, right?”

Jiang Tianming, standing next to him, said thoughtfully, “He left so easily, which means he probably didn’t orchestrate this incident. At most, he knew something about it because of his ability.”

The fact that Su Bei wasn’t involved in this matter was undoubtedly good news for them. It was safer to have someone watching than someone actively participating.

Understanding his point, Wu Mingbai nodded but didn’t care much: “Anyway, this has nothing to do with us. They can’t pin this on me just because I touched the deceased, right?”

They didn’t kill anyone, and the deceased had no connection to them. So, in his opinion, whatever Su Bei knew was irrelevant.

However, upon hearing this, Jiang Tianming’s expression turned complex as he looked in the direction Su Bei had left. “For some reason, I feel like this won’t end so simply.”

If it were really that simple, there wouldn’t be any need for them to be involved in this drama, right? Su Bei couldn’t have just wanted to see them discover a dead body—it wasn’t that interesting.

Though Wu Mingbai also felt uneasy, he couldn’t pinpoint the problem and had to temporarily give up.

Suddenly remembering something, he turned to Lan Subing, “Subing, why aren’t you saying anything?”

As he spoke, he walked over to her and saw her looking towards the door, her face slightly flushed: “He’s quite handsome.”

Jiang Tianming: “…”

Wu Mingbai: “…”

Meanwhile, Su Bei had already returned to the dormitory. There were quite a few people in the corridor, all curious about what had happened in the cafeteria and eager to gather information.

Seeing Su Bei come in, a few people immediately looked over curiously, itching to get some information from him.

“Hey, buddy! You just came back from the cafeteria, right?” A red-haired, handsome guy approached him familiarly, looking around warily and asking in a low voice, “I heard someone died in the cafeteria?”

Noticing the boys around him perking up their ears upon hearing this, Su Bei felt this person’s wariness was quite unnecessary. Still, he looked the red-haired boy up and down and asked instead of answering, “Where did you hear that from?”

“Uh…” The boy was momentarily speechless, blinking, but soon gave a somewhat awkward explanation, “I saw the cafeteria was sealed off and asked around at the door. But before I could get any concrete information, the teachers sent me back.”

It was evident he wasn’t good at lying. It was normal to infer something major had happened from the cafeteria being sealed off, but knowing specifically that someone had died was unusual.

Although Su Bei had his suspicions, he didn’t show it and acted as if he believed the explanation. He smiled and mimed zipping his lips: “The teachers told us not to talk about it.”

“I see, I understand.” The red-haired boy seemed a bit disappointed but didn’t press further and left.

As he turned away, Su Bei’s eyes suddenly widened. Because he was taller than the boy, he could clearly see a black lightning bolt mark on the side of the boy’s neck, partially covered by his collar.

Lightning bolts were exactly one of the symbols he had connected to the four gears.

Could this student be associated with the murderer?

Before Su Bei could control his expression, the red-haired boy suddenly turned back. His previously sunny and bright face was now expressionless, and he stared directly at Su Bei: “What are you looking at?”