As Su Bei walked into the restroom, his mind felt a bit foggy, as if shrouded in a cloud. He could vaguely hear sounds coming from the innermost stall, but he couldn't make them out clearly.
Wait a minute? Something didn't seem right.
Su Bei, who suddenly snapped out of his daze, realized something important— the opening ceremony was about to begin soon.
Based on his past experiences, the restroom should be crowded at this time. After all, once the speeches start, there would be no chance to use the restroom for a couple of hours. This was the very reason he came to the restroom now.
But the restroom was completely empty. Apart from someone who might be in the innermost stall, the other stalls were unoccupied.
Su Bei, finally realizing something was off, turned his head and noticed, to his surprise, a yellow sign standing at the restroom entrance that he hadn't noticed before. It probably said something like "Do Not Enter."
How did he not see that earlier?
Before he could think it through, Su Bei, who had been trained by his military father, keenly sensed an extremely faint movement behind him.
Someone was approaching!
Almost instinctively, he lightened his breathing, not turning around, and pretended not to notice anything, continuing to walk forward as if to check the yellow sign at the entrance.
The person behind him got closer and closer, and Su Bei quickly, using the faint breeze, simulated the movements of the person behind him in his mind.
The person was likely around the same height as him and had come out of the innermost stall after hearing his footsteps. They were holding a sharp weapon; he could hear the sound of metal slicing through the air.
Now!
As if he had eyes on the back of his head, Su Bei's hand accurately grabbed the wrist of the attacker behind him just before the knife could slice his neck. Without any pause, he swiftly slid his right foot back while using his wrist and waist to throw the person over his shoulder.
"Bang!"
The man behind him was slammed hard onto the ground, making a loud thud. Just as Su Bei had simulated, the person was indeed about his height, dressed in black, with a silver mask that only revealed purple-red eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
The knife, intended for an attack, slipped out of the man's hand due to the sudden event and fell to the ground.
Hurried footsteps echoed from outside; clearly, some staff members had heard the commotion in the restroom and were coming to check it out.
It was probably the sound of those footsteps that caused the man, who was bound by Su Bei, to suddenly turn into a wisp of black smoke and dissipate into the air before Su Bei could remove the mask and see his true face.
"An ability user."
Su Bei's expression darkened, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to find the man now. Just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly let out a painful groan. His brain felt like it had been struck hard, and then everything went black as he slowly collapsed to the ground.
When he opened his eyes again, Su Bei found himself in a completely white space.
Above, to the left, and to the right, everything was white, with no other traces, not even the marks of walls. It was as if there were no boundaries here.
Where was this?
He clearly remembered fainting in the restroom and hearing the footsteps of other people in the school. Normally, the staff would take a student who had fainted in the restroom to the infirmary or a classroom.
But this place was obviously neither.
After hesitating for a moment, Su Bei chose to get up from the ground. He had already opened his eyes, and with no one around, continuing to pretend to be unconscious didn't seem like a good idea.
Rather than lying down and giving up, it was better to stand up and explore, taking control of the situation.
As he stood, his gaze fell straight ahead. In the entire white space, only one area had anything: a table and a chair, with two books stacked on the table.
After scanning the surroundings once more to confirm there was nothing else, Su Bei naturally walked to the table, pulled out the chair, sat down, and looked at the books on the table.
To his surprise, the first book was a comic book. The cover depicted several flashy characters, with a black-haired, black-eyed boy in the center, his expression resolute, looking as if he would charge forward without hesitation.
To the 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 unmoving, with her mouth taped shut in an "X" as if she couldn't speak.
The boy on the other side was grinning, with brown hair and orange eyes, looking more like a typical protagonist of a shonen manga than the boy in the center.
Behind them were several other characters, young and old, gathered together to form this colorful comic book cover.
At the upper middle section, there is a large comic title—*Yi Neng Wei Wang* (King of Superpowers).
The only key word he could grasp from this title was "superpowers." Superpowers are rare, unique abilities that only a few people awaken to. These abilities vary widely and differ in strength.
Once discovered, all superpower users are sent to the "Endless Academy of Superpowers," where they remain until graduation, after which they can officially use their powers in society.
Coincidentally, Su Bei had just awakened his superpower, and today was the first day of school for first-year students at the "Endless Academy of Superpowers." He was a new student in Class F.
Diverting his attention back to the book, Su Bei didn't open it right away but first glanced at the book beneath it. The lower book was very thin, only four or five pages long. The cover was plain white without any illustrations.
He flipped it open and found it was also a black-and-white comic.
Frowning slightly, he set this book aside and began to focus on the first one.
Although he didn't know why these two books were placed here, it was clear that someone wanted him to read them.
Right now, he was at the mercy of others, so to proceed, he had to fulfill their purpose.
Just as the cover suggested, this was a typical shonen manga full of hot-blooded action. The protagonist was a black-haired, black-eyed boy named Jiang Tianming.
The protagonist, Jiang Tianming, and the brown-haired boy, Wu Mingbai, were both orphans, while the blue-haired girl, Lan Subing, was the young lady of the "Lan Corporation." The first volume of the comic told the story of how the three of them, in search of the truth behind the "suicide" of the orphanage's headmistress, experienced a series of events. They eventually uncovered the truth and foiled the evil organization's plot for human modification experiments.
As in all shonen manga, the three developed a deep friendship through their various funny and touching daily experiences, and each of them awakened their own superpowers.
Wu Mingbai had a superpower from the start, related to the [Earth Element]. Though he appeared to be a cheerful, sunny person, he somehow managed to hide the fact that he had a superpower. Anyone who read the first volume would know that this guy was a "white lotus in disguise."
Lan Subing, on the other hand, awakened the [Spirit Speech] ability. Awakening the power of [Spirit Speech]—a power requiring speech—was indeed a cruel twist of fate for someone with social anxiety who could barely speak.
As for the protagonist, Jiang Tianming, he awakened the power of [Death Summon], which allowed him to summon an adult woman who bore a 70% resemblance to him, helping him defeat the final boss.
At the end of the comic, Jiang Tianming woke up in a hospital bed, stared at his palm with an inexplicable expression, and muttered, "The third one."
Leaving aside the foreshadowing at the end, Su Bei found that he really enjoyed the comic. The three main characters had interesting and unconventional personalities. The story was tightly plotted with many twists.
Each character's superpower was unique, making Su Bei, who had only awakened a "trash" superpower and was assigned to Class F in the "Endless Academy of Superpowers," feel quite entertained.
Su Bei himself, 16 years old, had the superpower [Gears], which allowed him to create gears of varying patterns and sizes based on his mental strength.
A typical Class F "trash" superpower.
But he didn't plan on relying on his superpower to live. His mother had died in childbirth, and although his father had died in the line of duty two years ago, the inheritance left behind was enough for him to live peacefully.
Su Bei planned to quietly get his diploma in Class F and then open a hardware store to enjoy an early retirement—using his superpower to its fullest potential.
But the problem was that he hadn't even had the chance to attend the opening ceremony before he was inexplicably brought to this space to read comics. No matter how good the comic was, why was he being forced to read it?
As he frowned at the final scene, Su Bei suddenly thought of something. If the three characters had all awakened their superpowers during this period, then it wouldn't be surprising if they soon received their admission letters to the "Endless Academy of Superpowers."
Thinking this, he raised an eyebrow with a subtle expression and decisively opened the second comic.
As expected, the second comic began with the three characters receiving their admission letters to the "Endless Academy of Superpowers."
In a few days, specialized evaluators would come to assess their superpower levels, which would determine their class placement. It was exactly the same process Su Bei had gone through when he entered the academy.
Class placement at the "Endless Academy of Superpowers" wasn't fixed; students could always improve. After all, as mental strength grew and combat experience accumulated, even seemingly useless powers could become highly effective, leading to advancement to a better class.
Lan Subing was initially placed in Class A, but because she couldn't speak, a critical flaw for someone with the [Spirit Speech] power, and at her own request, she was placed in Class F. However, once she could speak, she would easily move up.
Wu Mingbai was placed in Class D due to the limited extent of his power.
Jiang Tianming was assigned to Class F as well. Logically, his power should have placed him in at least Class C, but because he had exhausted his mental strength while battling the previous volume's villain, the evaluation could only detect his superpower but showed his mental strength to be abnormally low, almost like an ordinary person, so he was placed in Class F.
They also attended the "Endless Academy of Superpowers," and they were also in Class F. Seeing this, Su Bei's expression grew even stranger as he muttered to himself, "Could I be in this comic too...?"
Flipping to the next page, the story began with a murder in the school restroom. A male student was lying in a pool of blood, surrounded not only by bloodstains but also by scattered small gears.
Seeing this, all the expression drained from Su Bei's face.
If he wasn't mistaken, the boy lying there might very well be himself.