Chapter 159: Void Valkyrie Appears, Bai Fu’s Popularity Faces Tremendous Challenge
Bang bang bang!
Two thugs were desperately throwing punches at each other, fists crashing into cheeks, sending spurts of blood spraying from between clenched teeth, followed by stifled groans and curses.
In the Chaotic Star Road, brawls and mutual attacks were common occurrences. Passersby simply glanced at the scuffle and calmly walked away.
But today’s situation was a bit different.
If one listened closely, beneath the cursing could be heard a faint rustling sound.
“Pah, how long has it been since this place was last cleaned?”
In the sewer beneath the two thugs’ feet, Green Slime, who had turned into a puddle of sludge, slid along the wall and nearly vomited. But upon remembering the true objective of this mission, he could only press on with his burden.
Fortunately, the situation didn’t last too long. A few minutes later, he successfully infiltrated the Singularity Company’s factory-like headquarters.
Boom!
A violent explosion rocked the entire city, flames leapt into the sky, illuminating half of it.
“What just happened?”
“The power boiler exploded. Damn, we’ve lost contact with everyone in that area!”
“Damn it, who the hell was maintaining the boiler? A boiler blast means at least five or six days of halted operations. If the Secret Tower holds us accountable, who’s going to take the fall?”
Panic instantly erupted within the Singularity Company.
“Now! Go!”
Cragsplitter seized the moment, giving the order. The mechanical arms hidden beneath his clothes spread out like spider legs, and surged forward like a berserk mechanical beast toward the Singularity Company, with Red Lotus close behind.
Bai Fu called out to the others, “Let’s go too. Don’t rush to fight—first, figure out how to find the source of the Disassociative Agent.”
Compared to destroying the Singularity Company, she placed more importance on obtaining the agent’s source.
After shouting, Bai Fu drew a large-sized rail rifle and charged straight toward the chaotic scene.
With the reinforcement of Psionic Construct, even without activating any skills, her Agility had reached 258 points—undeniably fast. As soon as she moved, Vic, Hei Fu, and the Player all sprang into action.
Dozens of power armors streaked across the open ground, their machine guns spewing fire and weaving a blazing net of destruction in the dark night—utterly spectacular.
“Damn, we’re under attack!”
“Hell, I was just here to watch—who the hell hit me?”
“Shit, my ass!”
In the chaos, the Singularity Company finally managed to organize a resistance squad. They holed up in reinforced buildings, gripping railguns and particle beam weapons, firing wildly in every direction.
In such a critical moment, they couldn’t care less about who was friend or foe—everyone got shot.
Bullets wove through the air, mowing down a swath of people in the blink of an eye. Blood stained the open space before the company’s gates, but rather than halting the battle, it only further fueled the chaos.
Some enraged thugs, attacked without reason, flew into a fury and joined Cragsplitter’s side. Others hid in the shadows, eyes gleaming with greed, ready to pounce and reap the spoils.
Bai Fu darted through the rain of bullets, with Vic and Hei Fu flanking her, and the Player shielding her from behind like a wall of iron. Their tight formation resembled a spearhead, instantly piercing the first line of defense formed by explosions, lasers, and electric nets.
Things were different now. Not only had her strength significantly increased, but the Player had also rapidly improved in recent times. If Version 1.3 had already unlocked Advanced Classes, the fastest-leveling Players could have officially promoted to B-rank Certified Assassins. Even so, boosted by power armors and equipment, these dozens of Players still exuded a razor-sharp presence.
They were unstoppable!
“Well done!”
Cragsplitter, who was using mechanical claws to tear open the front gate, was overjoyed—he felt that his revenge was finally within reach.
Just then, a surge of scorching Qi surged in from the flank like the blazing sun. Bai Fu turned her head and saw an A-rank Psionicist charging at her.
A Martial Artist?
Then it had to be Singularity Company’s strongest Psionicist—Jai.
Bai Fu didn’t stop at all and crashed headfirst toward the A-rank Psionicist. With Psionic Shelter applied, and just as the two were about to collide, she activated a pitch-black Boundary of Darkness, engulfing the A-rank Psionicist.
The surging Qi slammed into her, sending her flying backward. At that moment, four cannons on her Psionic Construct fired simultaneously.
Boom! Boom!
Four psionic beams shot out like spears.
The A-rank Psionicist, deprived of all senses, instinctively felt something was wrong and tried to dodge, but Vic and Hei Fu gave him no chance. A Mental Spiral Piercer shattered his True Qi Shield and knocked him unconscious on the spot, followed by Hei Fu’s Psionic Burst and Bai Fu’s Psionic Beam exploding into brilliance.
It wasn’t until three seconds later that the A-rank Psionicist broke free from the Boundary of Darkness. His True Qi Shield was gone. Panic-stricken, he tried to flee—only to find Bai Fu had already charged deeper into the Singularity Company.
Safe?
Before he could catch his breath, a torrent of Players appeared like a steel flood, their whirling scythes and cannon fire ruthlessly mowing over him. When he scrambled to his feet again, he was shocked to see ten heavily armored, powerfully-built Lancers surrounding him, each wielding a massive spear.
“What the hell are these things?”
Formation, thrust, uppercut, sweep!
The attacks came in waves, unrelenting. Already injured, the A-rank Psionicist was completely overpowered by these Lancers—each benefitting from a 20% legion bonus.
Nearby Singularity Company employees tried to rush in and help, only to be blown away by a blast of Extra-dimensional Erosion.
The intense explosion dropped him to his knees. Clutching his chest, he was horrified to see his shadow eclipsed by another rapidly approaching shadow.
True Qi surged within him, and he released a burst of energy, managing to fling one Lancer away—but he couldn’t block the one coming in from the side.
The long spear swung around, trailing a brilliant psionic flare like a bright crescent or a soaring dragon. In an instant, it cleaved through his neck, severing his spine, brutally separating head from body. Blood gushed wildly, spraying the ceiling. His rolling head stared wide-eyed, filled with disbelief.
An A-rank Psionicist—had fallen!
This scene horrified many. Several less resolute Singularity Company staff began fleeing in all directions.
Red Lotus stepped through the terrified crowd to the headless corpse. “Prayer Card?”
Just then, Green Slime stumbled out of the crowd and rushed to her side. “Supervisor, I searched near the power boiler—didn’t find any place where people were held.”
Red Lotus frowned tightly. “Keep looking. We must find them today, or else...”
The white, alien-shaped ring around her neck began to emit a strange red light.
Green Slime hastily nodded—he dared not face this lady’s wrath and sprinted off.
Deep within the Singularity Company, several executives nearly fainted from rage upon seeing this scene.
“I’ll deal with them myself!”
The magician Jai, dressed in classical robes, stormed out in fury. After several flickers of his body, he appeared out of thin air in front of Red Lotus, his gaze venomous and fixed intensely on her.
“You’ve caused such tremendous damage to the company—today, you must pay the price!”
Before he even finished speaking, Jai raised his right hand. After a silent chant, countless fine magical sigils suddenly appeared in the air. These sigils rapidly contracted inward, and then exploded with a thunderous roar, engulfing Red Lotus like a black storm.
A few seconds later, the black storm vanished—and Red Lotus was gone too.
“Hmm?”
Jai was briefly stunned.
Had she been blasted into fragments too fine for the naked eye?
Since when did his explosive magic become this powerful? Or was that woman just bluffing, actually incredibly weak?
While he pondered this, his communicator began to vibrate.
“Jai, get back here—the Secret Tower laboratory has been discovered!”
Jai’s expression changed drastically.
The Secret Tower was the force behind the Singularity Company. While most people weren’t familiar with the name, the Secret Tower’s other name was infamous throughout the entire Fringe Worlds.
That’s right—the Secret Tower was the Ghost civilization that, after losing in the civilization war of the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster, unleashed the Dimensional Catastrophe!
Jai broke into a cold sweat. If news of their ties to the Secret Tower were to leak, they wouldn’t just be facing a few A-rank Psionicists—it would be S-rank Psionicists coming in droves to wipe them out.
“I’ll be there right away! Gather everyone and evacuate. If you can’t wipe them out cleanly—blast the company and all of them to pieces with ship cannons!”
A fierce glint flashed across Jai’s face.
……
At the same time, in the underground warehouse district of the Singularity Company—
After crushing the A-rank Psionicist, Bai Fu began searching through the company’s interior.
This was when the benefit of bringing the Player and Vic really showed. In terms of combat, neither the Player nor Vic could compare to her. But when it came to navigating complex terrain and locating hidden spots, the Player and the spiritually-perceptive Vic proved their worth.
“Found it, Fu‑fu!” Excavator Princess shouted in delight.
Bai Fu rushed over and used the high-frequency vibration blade that popped from the back of her hand to neatly slice through the wall. Sure enough, behind it was a hidden door.
The door was sturdy—but meaningless to her now. With Psionic energy wrapped around her fists, she smashed the door to pieces in just two punches.
“Who are you people, what are you trying to—”
Several researcher-looking individuals behind the door panicked when the entrance exploded open. As they tried to grab their weapons, the incoming Players tackled them to the ground after only a couple of steps.
“Stay down!”
“Is the source of the Disassociative Agent here?”
Faced with the Players’ interrogation, the researchers stammered and refused to speak.
No answer? No problem.
Bai Fu strolled through the lab. With her Psionic Sight skill, she didn’t need their answers to identify the source of the Disassociative Agent.
One minute later, she stopped in front of a glass chamber. At the center was a round sphere resembling red agate. Beneath the machine supporting the sphere was a freezer. Using Psionic Sight to investigate, she confirmed the sphere was indeed the source of the Disassociative Agent, and the freezer held unpurified agent samples—roughly estimated, there were at least twenty to thirty tubes.
“Finally found it!”
Bai Fu was elated. She stored all the Disassociative Agent into a sealed container, and even dismantled the entire glass case containing the source.
Seeing this, the researchers struggled frantically—but to no avail.
Bai Fu raised the Gloomy Staff, ready to send them off. But at the last moment, she retracted it. If they surrendered and helped research the Disassociative Agent, they might still be useful.
“Bind them. We're leaving from here.”
As Bai Fu reached the door, she saw Green Slime rushing over.
“I’ve already cleared this place.”
She kindly reminded him, but Green Slime barged straight into the chamber as if he hadn’t heard, rummaging through the cold storage units one by one. Each time he opened one, it was as if he bore immense emotional weight. When he reached the 13th unit, he stared silently at the person inside for a long time before letting out a long sigh.
“Sigh, still dead.”
Green Slime stood up and was just about to pull up the virtual screen on his communicator when Red Lotus appeared beside him as if she had teleported.
The scene left Bai Fu stunned.
Wait, how did you just pop up? And… you two were on the same side?
Green Slime spoke: “Supervisor, Auguchi, he…”
“I know. He’s already dead.” Red Lotus crouched beside the freezer. Her expression was unreadable, but the room’s temperature plummeted by more than ten degrees, “He followed me for a year—not long, but he was my subordinate. I’ll make the Singularity Company pay for him.”
“Pay? Such bold words. I’d like to see who dares to make us pay!”
Suddenly, Jai appeared at the chamber’s entrance.
Bai Fu’s expression darkened. The power of a peak A-rank Psionicist was evident from Red Lotus’s panel. If it were only Jai, it would be manageable—after all, they had Red Lotus on their side. But Jai wasn’t alone; he was followed by a large group. Escaping with the source of the Disassociative Agent would not be easy.
Instinctively, she cast Psionic Sight on Jai—and what she saw left her dumbfounded.
Jai’s panel level was one rank higher than Red Lotus’s, yet his danger rating was only yellow. He was stronger than her—but not by much.
How could Jai, also a peak A-rank Psionicist, be so much weaker than Red Lotus?
While she was baffled, Red Lotus suddenly spoke: “Was it you who captured Auguchi and brought him here?”
Jai was momentarily taken aback. “You’re still alive?”
Red Lotus seemed to lose patience without getting the answer she wanted. “Never mind. Whether it was you or someone else doesn’t matter. You’re all already dead.”
Jai laughed in exasperation. It had been a long time since anyone had been this arrogant to him.
“You’ve caused so much damage to the company. Today, I’ll make you beg for life and wish for dea—”
Boom!
A sudden blast cut off Jai’s words. When the sound faded, Jai had vanished entirely—only his classical robe, now ownerless, floated gently to the ground like a falling leaf.
In an instant, the entire chamber was deathly silent—so quiet that even a pin drop could be heard.
This situation lasted for several seconds. Then, those who had followed Jai in to kill suddenly began fleeing in panic like madmen.
“It’s an S-rank Psionicist!”
“Run!”
“Damn it, why is there an S-rank Psionicist here?!”
Other high-ranking members of the Singularity Company were drenched in sweat. They crawled and scrambled into the spaceship they had long prepared for escape.
“Quick, contact the Secret Tower and tell them what happened here!”
“Forget this damn company—blast them to death, blow them all to hell!”
The spaceship rapidly ascended into the night sky. In the bridge, human shouts and the voice of the Ship AI blended together, while directly beneath the spaceship, the giant cannon began to flash with a bright blue glow.
“Holy crap!”
Everyone near the Singularity Company, including Bai Fu who had just exited the chamber, felt their scalps go numb. Given the caliber of this laser cannon, one shot would reduce the entire Singularity Company and surrounding area to ash. So they had been hiding such a terrifying weapon? Such a cannon couldn’t possibly be acquired through normal means—it was a restricted weapon among the major civilizations.
Bai Fu looked at the source of the Disassociative Agent in her hand, then at Vic beside her.
Her Psionic Construct had built-in flight capabilities—if she wanted to escape, she could. But she could only carry so much. She had to choose between the source of the Disassociative Agent and Vic. Considering Vic’s protagonist potential and that the source wasn’t unique, she ultimately chose to take Vic.
However, just as she was about to take off, something unexpected happened.
The ring on Red Lotus’s neck suddenly shattered into countless fragments. Countless crimson light particles floated from her body like summer fireflies. Her clothes, her flesh, even her soul—seemed to ignite at that very moment.
“You really think any of you can leave?”
【Huh?】
The Players gathered around Bai Fu were all stunned.
They only saw Red Lotus extend her right hand, then, inch by inch, a blazing giant ship-slicing blade emerged from her palm.
“It’s her!”
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, and in that instant, a single name surfaced in many minds.
She was the embodiment of might. She was one of the brightest names in the Sea Lion System. As she swung the massive ship-slicing blade toward the rapidly ascending Singularity Company spaceship, the entire night sky seemed to freeze. People only saw the light blade sweep across the heavens, like an inverted fire from the sky, slicing straight through the spaceship.
In the next second, the spaceship split in half mid-air. The rupture triggered an explosion, sending countless massive fragments raining down, threatening to cause a catastrophe.
At that moment, the fiery red figure wielding the ship-slicing blade merely raised her left hand. From the center of the spaceship, a crimson shockwave erupted, illuminating half the sky and grinding the vessel into dust.
This scene was witnessed by many on-site—and countless Players watching the live stream.
When the dust settled, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the woman floating in mid-air, wrapped entirely in flame.
Even without any introduction, Bai Fu recognized her—
The only person in the entire Sea Lion System selected into the 《Cosmic Web》 card roster, a member of the Star Covenant Organization, an S+ rank Psionicist, rumored to be just one step away from Calamity-class, known by the title Void Valkyrie.
Red Lotus = Void Valkyrie!
Bai Fu felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.
This was the wicked woman who would steal her Players. She didn’t even dare imagine how much popularity Void Valkyrie gained among the Players with that single blade swing.
She had always known that after entering the Star Sea she would face many NPCs competing for popularity—but she didn’t expect a rival to appear this quickly.