Chapter 5 – I'm Truly a Clever Little Genius

“————”

In the silent darkness of the night, a suspicious group suddenly appeared in the suburbs. Their chaotic footsteps brought a chilling tension to the air.

Hidden in the grass, Su Ming watched the scene intently, his eyes fixed on these unwelcome, suspicious visitors.

All of them wore masks—some covering their entire faces, others only half—making it impossible to discern their appearances.

Yet they were uniformly dressed in combat gear, armed with weapons, clearly not people to be trifled with.

Su Ming was certain these individuals were either Hunters or Sorcerers.

A group of twenty to thirty people daring to gather in the suburbs late at night—Su Ming didn’t believe for a second they weren’t acting with absolute confidence.

What happened next confirmed Su Ming’s suspicions.

A masked leader issued some instructions to two members of the group, who then stepped forward from the formation.

The two simultaneously raised their hands, and circular arrays continuously materialized in their palms.

Without a doubt, these two were Sorcerers.

They began casting a Spirit Art, causing streams of light composed of particles to sweep out like sound waves.

Seeing this, Su Ming’s heart tightened.

“They’re using [Lifting Restraint Flow] for detection?”

[Lifting Restraint Flow], an Intermediate Spirit Art, ranked forty-fifth in the sequence, was a detection-type Spell Formula.

Its function was to detect living beings within a certain range.

Recognizing this Spirit Art, Su Ming didn’t hesitate. He immediately opened his mental interface’s backpack and retrieved a potion.

It was a Hidden Dive Potion. After consumption, it would reduce one’s life reactions, halting almost all life activities for an hour without causing any physical discomfort or side effects.

Such an alchemical potion was typically used only when entering extremely harsh environments.

For instance, in toxic swamps or deep underwater, taking this potion would allow one to stop breathing and metabolizing, enabling exploration of perilous, hostile conditions.

Sometimes, people also used this potion to feign death, deceiving their enemies.

The value of this alchemical potion wasn’t low—ordinary students generally couldn’t afford to keep it on hand. Only professional Hunters and Sorcerers would equip themselves with it.

Su Ming had obtained this Hidden Dive Potion during a loot box event and had kept it in his backpack until now, when he finally took it out.

After retrieving it, Su Ming quietly consumed the Hidden Dive Potion.

That’s right—he intended to use this potion to evade the detection of those suspicious individuals.

[Lifting Restraint Flow] was a Spirit Art specifically designed to detect living beings.

In other words, as long as something wasn’t a living being, it wouldn’t trigger a reaction from [Lifting Restraint Flow].

Although Su Ming didn’t yet know the background of this Suspicious Group and couldn’t be sure how they would react if they discovered someone nearby, he wasn’t going to gamble with his personal safety when it was uncertain.

Therefore, Su Ming had no intention of exposing himself. Almost as a conditioned reflex, he chose to remain hidden.The stream of detection particles continuously swept over him, yet triggered no life response.

The two Sorcerers didn’t cease their detection but began moving around the area, persistently conducting their reconnaissance.

The masked leader also waved a hand, signaling the other suspicious figures—presumably Hunters—to scatter in all directions, as if searching for something.

“Could they be specifically targeting me?”

Hidden in the grass, Su Ming’s heart gradually sank.

However, he quickly dismissed this thought.

“Throughout this year, I’ve never exposed my true strength, nor accepted any particularly conspicuous missions. There’s no reason for them to be after me.”

Moreover, tonight Su Ming had acted entirely on impulse when leaving the Academy. No one could have known he would appear here. That this suspicious group had rushed over so hastily, completely unconcerned about alerting him, made it highly unlikely they were targeting him.

Besides, a group of twenty to thirty people composed entirely of Hunters and Sorcerers would be complete overkill if deployed just to deal with him.

Based on these considerations, Su Ming concluded it was improbable these people were specifically after him.

And besides, what reason would they have?

“But then what are they searching for?”

Su Ming merely entertained this thought briefly before abandoning it.

The reason was simple—it had nothing to do with him.

“Better focus on escaping first.”

That was Su Ming’s only concern.

A highly suspicious group appearing deep in the night in the suburbs, searching for something—no matter how you looked at it, this didn’t seem like a minor matter.

Whatever their purpose, one thing was certain: getting involved would inevitably lead to tremendous trouble.

And Su Ming had absolutely no interest in inviting trouble upon himself.

Let’s not forget—his dream was to lay low until he became invincible.

With invincibility still far off, Su Ming naturally wouldn’t voluntarily involve himself in such obviously suspicious affairs.

“Time to slip away.”

Su Ming prepared to quietly make his escape.

But the next second, he froze in place.

A sudden thought had occurred to him.

“Please don’t tell me this is when I get hit with some cliché plot development?”

Countless television dramas and novel plots flashed through Su Ming’s mind in that instant, allowing him to easily recall similar contrived scenarios.

For instance, just when preparing to quietly slip away, there would often be some forced plot device—like kicking a soda can, knocking over a bottle, or “accidentally” creating some noise that would lead to discovery by enemies.

This was the kind of hackneyed trope that appeared in countless stories, often called forced plot progression.

His current situation gave Su Ming exactly that sense of déjà vu.

“Please, no.”

Su Ming felt like crying but had no tears.

He knew he might be overthinking things.

But as someone aiming to be an extra, Su Ming understood deeply that in such a cruel world, not thinking enough or not being cautious enough could easily lead to receiving one’s “lunch box” (meeting an untimely end).

Did Su Ming want to receive his lunch box?

Don’t be ridiculous.

He didn’t want to be that kind of extra who gets their lunch box and exits the stage. He wanted to be the kind who could keep laying low indefinitely, unnoticed by anyone, secretly seizing opportunities to develop himself.For this reason, Su Ming would rather think more, consider more, and be more cautious.

Only in this way could he live longer and grow stronger.

In other words, Su Ming did not want to encounter any accidents.

“Should I just use [Fate Heaven Earth Shift] to instantly defeat all these people?”

Su Ming couldn’t help but think this.

But this wasn’t realistic.

It wasn’t that [Fate Heaven Earth Shift] lacked such power, but rather Su Ming knew he couldn’t execute [Fate Heaven Earth Shift].

Just moments ago, Su Ming seemed to have comprehended the Spell Formula of [Fate Heaven Earth Shift], but he knew his own limitations. He was absolutely certain that even if he continued to comprehend it, he ultimately wouldn’t be able to execute [Fate Heaven Earth Shift].

The reason was simple: his Spirit Power was insufficient.

As a powerful Spell Formula that nearly stood at the pinnacle of Advanced Spirit Art, the amount of Spirit Power required to execute [Fate Heaven Earth Shift] was unimaginable.

Although Su Ming had obtained numerous items from packages over the past year that could enhance his Spirit Power, and his Spirit Power had long surpassed the student Rank, this level of Spirit Power still couldn’t support him in executing a Spell Formula close to the pinnacle of Advanced Spirit Art.

As for relying on his own strength to confront them head-on…

Su Ming glanced at the numerous opponents, then at his own solitary figure, and decisively abandoned this idea.

He was no longer at the age of thinking he could dominate everything. Did he really believe that one year of Transmigration would allow him to challenge the heavens, the earth, and the entire Universe?

Su Ming wasn’t that kind of person.

Without knowing the opponents’ strength, head-on confrontation was out of the question, and exposing himself was impossible. The only option was to find a way to continue lying low.

“Since I can’t defeat them…”

Why not… join them?

An idea occurred to Su Ming.

He opened his backpack, took out a set of black combat attire, and put it on while also donning a mask.

Don’t ask why he had these things in his backpack—the answer was caution.

In this day and age, without a set of night clothes and props to conceal one’s identity for tasks that couldn’t be known by others, one would hardly dare call themselves a Transmigrator who played weak to defeat the strong.

Su Ming had long considered the possibility of encountering an emergency where he would need to exert his full strength. Thus, to avoid exposing his identity when the time came, he had always prepared various props to hide his true appearance.

Now was the time to put his preparations for potential dangers into practice!

So, Su Ming quickly disguised himself and quietly stood up from the grass.

“Crack…”

Almost simultaneously, the sound of a breaking twig came from under Su Ming’s feet.

Yes.

He had stepped on a twig.

“————!”

In an instant, all the suspicious figures around turned their heads sharply toward Su Ming’s direction.

Under the gaze of so many people, Su Ming’s heart remained as calm as an ancient well, and he even felt like… cursing!

I knew it… I just knew it…!

While cursing inwardly, Su Ming very naturally began imitating the people around him, slowly rustling through the grass as if searching for something.

At this moment, Su Ming looked exactly like an insignificant extra in a Suspicious Group.

The others looked at this clumsy companion who was dressed similarly to them but moved rather awkwardly, clicked their tongues in dissatisfaction, and then continued with their work.”Nice!”

Su Ming gave himself a mental thumbs-up for his cleverness.

As expected, this group had quite a few members. As long as they didn’t deliberately count heads, logically speaking, they wouldn’t discover there was a spy among them.

As long as he quietly blended in, he could remain an insignificant extra.

Being an extra was indeed the safest option!

Su Ming wouldn’t accept any arguments against this!

Next, all he needed to do was quietly slip away from the group, and he could leave without anyone noticing!

“What a clever little genius I am!”

Just as Su Ming was laughing inwardly, suddenly, a voice rang out.

“Found him!”

These words shattered the rather oppressive silence that had fallen over the scene.

(End of Chapter)