At that moment, Manga Consciousness' prompt sounded in my ear: “King of Abilities has updated. Please check.” My heart skipped a beat. Besides the first few updates, this was the most nerve-wracking. Thıs content belongs to 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩 If my plan worked and the author included my staged plot, my task was half-done. Even if I did nothing more, the author might craft a story to solve this world’s core issue. Back in my room, I eagerly opened the manga. This update covered today’s events. I skimmed the rest, quickly finding what I wanted. As expected, the author drew Jiang Tianming’s group overhearing the conversation. From Jiang Tianming’s perspective, the eavesdropping was flawless, showing no signs of my orchestration. With no plot holes, readers had no doubts, stunned by the revealed info. “The way to wipe out Nightmare Beasts is here!” “What?! The gravel dust in their world’s air?!” “So hard. Totally impossible, right?” “Ahhh, the falling Meteorite! Didn’t Su Bei ask about it?” Seeing no skepticism, though expected, I sighed in relief. Like creating my new ability, even with a perfect process, I worried about the outcome. After checking the key plot, I reread the manga carefully and noticed something odd—the author seemed to be guiding readers to suspect me. He included things like Jiang Tianming questioning why I “enticed” everyone to the shopping center and the spider’s “What are you doing?” These were real events, and Jiang Tianming’s group did suspect me. But drawing them was strange—they were irrelevant to the plot and could’ve been skipped. The author never drew my slip-ups before, even covering for me. When I changed my ability, my first attempt left flaws, but the author didn’t show them, using effects to hide them. He’d done this many times, so why was this different? No, it started last chapter. I frowned, recalling my earlier doubts. Combined with this, the author seemed to want me to expose something. The manga being a world? Impossible. Then it must be my ties to Nightmare Beasts. Was the author shaping me into a villain? Lying back, I closed my eyes and asked Manga Consciousness: “Am I right?” After a pause with no reply, I sneered: “Don’t play dead.” This time, Manga Consciousness appeared: “No, I was handling something else and didn’t notice you.” I didn’t bother debunking the lame excuse, asking directly: “Answer my question.” Honestly, Manga Consciousness didn’t expect me to be so sharp. The author’s shift was barely noticeable, yet I caught it. My keenness caught it off guard—it wanted to hide it, but that wasn’t possible now. No answer meant I was right: “So it’s true.” I felt rare confusion: “But why?” What did making me a villain gain the author? He’d ignored my existence before—why this sudden change? “…Because he noticed you,” Manga Consciousness finally answered, no longer dodging. The reply baffled me: “Why did he notice me? Aren’t you his subconscious, covering for me? And even if he did, why make me a villain?” Manga Consciousness sighed: “You changed something big—worldbuilding-level. I couldn’t hide it anymore.” Fair point. If the author didn’t notice a worldbuilding change, he’d be too careless about his manga. I rarely joined plots or fought bosses before, so my presence didn’t clash with his vision, and Manga Consciousness could conceal me. But this change was too big. Even with an “insider,” the author noticed me—or rather, a character his mind didn’t fully control. “So he wants me as a villain?” I frowned. “But why? Class S has enough villains.” Zhou Renjie, a long-gone traitor, and Mo Xiaotian, an undercover agent—two out of fifteen. A third? “In fact…” After long hesitation, Manga Consciousness spilled the author’s plan: “He wants you off the board. But your popularity’s too high, so he’s testing if turning you into a villain can lower it or make your death more acceptable.” I snapped my eyes open, repeating in shock: “Killing me off?” I worked tirelessly to perfect this world, and just as I neared my goal, the author wanted me dead? Seeing my misunderstanding, Manga Consciousness clarified: “No, no, you won’t really die. The author doesn’t know how to write you since he didn’t create you, so he wants you out. I can prepare another body—you’d revive in it, choosing age, background, looks. I’d meet your needs. So you—” I cut in sharply: “Why should I?” “What?” Manga Consciousness froze, thinking its solution was perfect. But I didn’t agree, laughing angrily: “I help you save the world, and I lose everything? If you’d said this upfront, I might not have agreed to revive. Now that I’m about to finish, you pull the rug out?” Just because the author didn’t want to write me, I should die? I couldn’t accept that. Knowing it was at fault, Manga Consciousness softened: “Don’t be mad. I was too presumptuous, but it’s not hopeless. The author wants you gone, but he won’t ruin his manga. You might not die. I’ll help.” I understood—if I kept my death unacceptable to readers, the author wouldn’t force it. Like now, he’d only try indirect ways to raise acceptance. Calming down, I pondered my next steps. Escaping the author’s plan might be tough, but I could stay so popular, even as a villain, that readers wouldn’t accept my death. Unless I broke laws, they likely wouldn’t. But saving myself didn’t mean letting Manga Consciousness off for its betrayal. The author was somewhat blameless. He didn’t know about our deal, and Manga Consciousness kept him unaware of me. Noticing me suddenly, wanting to remove an unplanned character was understandable, if frustrating. A character not in the original outline appearing in your work? Redesigning their arc was a hassle, and the oddity itself was scary. Even if Manga Consciousness eased his fear, making him less aware of the strangeness, his lazy nature made skipping me normal. But Manga Consciousness wasn’t blameless. It failed to foresee this, hide me properly, or dissuade the author, landing me in this mess. And after the issue arose, it hid it, planning to give me a new body without considering my feelings, thinking it a perfect fix. “How will you make it up to me?” I asked bluntly. Manga Consciousness wasn’t truly unreasonable or out to betray me. So, I asked directly. If its attitude weren’t so conciliatory, I’d have demanded compensation my way. By destroying the Nightmare Beast elimination method I’d created. It’d be easy—tell Meng Huai, who’d debunk it. If debunked before the next update, the author couldn’t use it. Manga Consciousness didn’t disappoint, showing remorse: “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you want, but name it, and I’ll do it within the rules.” What did I want? I thought again. It had to help my survival and rely on Manga Consciousness to counter the author. I’d done plenty of sneaky things. The author could throw in flashbacks to make readers see me as a villain, and the “reader perception shapes plot” rule would backfire, making me one. I made my first demand: “I want the author unable to dig up my past actions and put them in the manga.” “Done,” Manga Consciousness agreed readily. “Anything else?” As expected, I wasn’t stopping at one small request. I nodded: “Next, I want you to tell me the author’s plans for me promptly.” Right now, the author held the advantage, acting in the dark. Knowing his plans early was my best defense. “I can’t always catch his thoughts in time, but I’ll try,” Manga Consciousness said honestly, not daring to lie about my life. I wasn’t surprised and was satisfied with its agreement. But satisfaction didn’t mean stopping. I added a third: “Lastly, I need a warning. If the author can or is close to making readers accept my death, you must tell me.” At that point, it’d be critical. Knowing early might not solve it, but I could hit the author hard. “No problem,” Manga Consciousness agreed readily. I didn’t push further: “That’s it. You can go.” Manga Consciousness didn’t dare object to my dismissal, saying meekly: “I’m truly sorry. My earlier offer stands—you’ll always have a fallback.” It couldn’t tell the author his manga had created a real world, where every stroke decided lives. If he knew, his worldview might collapse, halting the manga and killing Manga Consciousness. So, the author saw me as a character he’d created but forgot how to write. Manga Consciousness thought this setup was fine—authors usually followed reader wishes for popular characters. With my knack for swaying readers, nothing would change—a win-win. But King of Abilities’ author wasn’t typical. Knowing his worldbuilding had flaws but too lazy to fix them, he clearly avoided effort. For me, with no planned arc, he’d rather remove me than craft a new one. Reasonable or not, plenty of popular characters died in manga if done right. When Manga Consciousness realized the author’s intent, it felt the sky fall. I’d worked to perfect this world, only for its creator to kill me. Who wouldn’t call that betrayal? But the author didn’t know his characters were real, so killing one off was no issue to him. With no choice, Manga Consciousness tried to fix it. But I rejected its plan. Thankfully, we reached an agreement, or it feared I’d wreck the manga. I ignored it, opening the forum. The top thread discussed the Nightmare Beast elimination method. 《How to Clear Earth’s Dust? Experts Welcome》 【YellowHandbagNo.0: I don’t know what you think of this chapter’s method to wipe out Nightmare Beasts, but my thought is the title. The dust and gravel in the Nightmare Beast world’s air—I thought it was just a setting to show their world’s difference. Now you tell me clearing it all wipes them out? That’s like saying in Journey to the West, the emperor decrees rain only if chickens eat rice, dogs lick flour, and fire breaks a lock. It’s impossible.】 【No.1: Same. I was stunned when Wu Mingbai spoke.】 【No.2: No ability user’s range is that big! Like OP said, it’s impossible.】 【No.3: Good news: we found a way to wipe out Nightmare Beasts. Bad news: it’s undoable.】 【No.4 replying to No.2: Not true. Meteorite doesn’t regenerate. Earth-type users could clear it slowly—no need to do it all at once.】 【No.5 replying to No.4: But Beasts know this. Would they let humans clear it bit by bit? It’s their turf—humans cleaning there is tough. Once we try, they’d swarm. One goes in, one dies; two go in, two die.】 【No.6: Hahahaha, that’s kinda funny.】 【No.7: Looks like our Mingbai’s finally getting a big role.】 【No.8 replying to No.7: You bet. The only Earth-type in the protagonist team, with pure Earth Element.】 【No.52: I just thought—when Wu Mingbai’s ability first got boosted, it was through Black Flash’s research. Could they know this truth and be studying how to focus all Earth elements into one person to clear the Meteorite at once?】 【No.53 replying to No.52: If so, Black Flash is kinda heroic (?).】 【No.54: They really take sacrificing the small for the big to the extreme.】 【No.55: Could Black Flash be the good guys?】 【No.56 replying to No.55: Mind blown! (Not really)】 【No.57: King of Abilities’ villains all have their reasons. That’s why they’re hated but still have fans.】 【No.111: How did Su Bei know this? Only Beasts and top officials should know, right?】 【No.112 replying to No.111: Is Su Bei knowing stuff others don’t new?】 【No.113: Not even a bit curious.】 【No.114: Your Bei’s intel network…】 【No.115: But Su Bei’s been weird these two chapters. There’s a thread about it.】 【No.116 replying to No.115: Which thread? Link?】 【No.117 replying to No.116:】 【No.118: Suspected shilling, but I’m clicking.】 Seeing the thread’s end, I clicked the link to the other post. Saving the world wasn’t my priority anymore. With “clear Meteorite to wipe out Beasts” set, it was practically done. What mattered was surviving as Su Bei, tied to the readers’ views. If they thought I should die, the author could justifiably kill me. Being a villain was fine, but I had to control reader sentiment. 《Su Bei’s Plot Analysis These Two Chapters》 【YouAreMeWhoAmINo.0: Something’s off since last chapter, when Su Bei made a deal in the dark. From that brief exchange, he’s giving “results” to someone not on his side. Who could it be? Black Flash or Nightmare Beasts. That’s my take. Now, this chapter: Su Bei slacks or flees when he can. Safety > slacking for him. Yet he pushed everyone to the dangerous shopping center. For slacking? I don’t buy it. Then the spider’s “What are you doing?” Odd question. Su Bei, on the human side, attacking it while it traps his team is normal. What’s it questioning? You should get what I’m suspecting. I think Su Bei’s secretly working with Beasts, luring Jiang Jiang’s group here. But I can’t see him doing anything bad to them after they arrived.】