Chapter 182: Savior of Civilization Bai Fu, the True Spirit Pillar Emerges
Bai Fu’s strength had increased rapidly, already far surpassing that of an ordinary S-rank Psionicist, but under normal circumstances, it was still not easy to capture an S-rank Psionicist alive.
The reason she was able to subdue Xien so easily this time mainly boiled down to three reasons.
The first reason was, of course, that Xien was too careless—he took a punch from Big Black Fu right from the start and then fell into the encirclement of the Psionic Legion.
The second reason was that the battlefield was set on a mining ship. Due to the terrain restrictions, Xien didn’t dare use many of his techniques for fear of damaging the ship and getting flung into space. Though an S-rank Psionicist could survive in a vacuum for a long time, once out there, he would be left to the mercy of fate. If he accidentally encountered spatial distortion or a cannon blast, death would be the only outcome awaiting him.
The third reason was that Bai Fu’s Advanced Force Field was terrifyingly powerful once fully upgraded. Even someone like Xien, an S-rank Psionicist, couldn’t immediately break free once caught and could only watch helplessly as Bai Fu stomped him.
This was infuriating!
Rage surged within Xien.
He never imagined that, just recently, he had been showing off in front of Trelora about reclaiming those Ulyssians, and now he had been beaten senseless and even physically stomped. It was an utter disgrace.
Xien struggled with all his might, trying to fling Bai Fu off.
But he was never the strength-type Psionicist to begin with. After enduring repeated beatings from the Psionic Legion and being hit with Bai Fu’s debuff from her dark-attributed psionic power, which reduced his stats, his strength attribute had dropped even further.
With a Strength of 153, the assessment was that he wasn’t even comparable to a single toe of Bai Fu, who wore Psionic Construct gear. Despite his frantic struggle, he couldn’t even budge her toe.
Failing to break free, he had to try another approach.
“This is a misunderstanding, really. I’m not with the Secret Tower. You’ve got the wrong person. I’m the founder of Xien Trading Company. Our company is well-known throughout the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster and even has trading ties with Titan Industries. You can check if you don’t believe me.”
Xien kept pleading, a fawning smile plastered on his face.
Bai Fu remained unmoved. At her signal, two spearmen stepped forward, raised their long spears, and drove them down fiercely. Blood spurted, and Xien’s feet were forcefully pierced through and broken.
“It really is a misunderstanding!”
Xien screamed in agony.
Bai Fu’s gaze landed on Trelora. “What do you say? If I find the Original Sample of the Dissociative Agent on this ship, it’ll be too late for you to admit it then.”
Trelora, slumped on the ground, hesitated to speak.
He saw the murderous glint in Xien’s eyes—that fearsome aura from the Secret Tower made his body tremble uncontrollably. But after weighing his options, he still felt that Bai Fu’s long, powerful legs were more intimidating than Xien’s gaze.
Even if Xien stared until his eyes popped out, he couldn’t harm him right now. But Bai Fu could definitely shatter his skull with the five-to-six-centimeter-thick heel of her shoe.
“In the cooling chamber—I secretly built a lab there!”
Trelora sent the mining ship’s map to Bai Fu.
Receiving the map, Bai Fu had Big Black Fu pin Trelora down, then swiftly grabbed him and dashed toward the hidden lab.
A few minutes later, just as expected, she found another red orb sealed in a glass container in the lab, along with several corpses of Ulyssians nearby.
“You captured Ulyssians to cultivate the Original Sample of the Dissociative Agent, didn’t you?” Bai Fu asked.
Trelora nodded hastily. “People from the Secret Tower said the Ulyssians’ genes are unique. They possess some irreplicable substance that promotes the Original Sample’s growth.”
“Why does the Secret Tower want to cultivate this Original Sample?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me.”
“Alright, then let me ask differently—why did the Secret Tower entrust you and the Singularity Company with cultivating the Original Sample, instead of handling it themselves?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I can only speculate based on things Xien said. There might be two reasons. The main one is that bad things seem to happen when these Original Samples are gathered together. A lesser reason might be that dispersing the cultivation avoids attracting attention, which could expose their objective.”
As soon as Trelora finished speaking, Bai Fu received a completion prompt for the mission 【Beast!】 along with a trigger for a follow-up mission.
【Convergence · Dispersal】
【Mission Description: According to Trelora’s speculation, gathering multiple Original Samples of the Dissociative Agent may lead to something bad. Whether to pursue this mystery is up to you!】
【Mission Objective: Collect at least five Original Samples of the Dissociative Agent】
【Reward: 30 million XP, Blessing of Life *1】
【Note: Completing this mission will unlock the next stage based on your actions】
【Accept/Decline】
Bai Fu accepted without hesitation.
This was a main story quest. She could skip doing it, but she couldn’t afford not to have it!
Then, she opened another main quest issued by Vic on her mission panel. After uncovering the reason why the Trelora Pirates had captured Ulyssians, the progress of this quest shot up by 4 percentage points—from 12.1% to 16.1%.
“Although the next stage of Vic’s quest hasn’t been triggered yet, based on what’s known, once enough Ulyssians are rescued, the next phase will likely be confronting the Secret Tower.”
Only by defeating the Secret Tower could the Ulyssians truly be freed from the threat of extinction.
Speaking of the Secret Tower, Bai Fu recalled a news report she had seen earlier.
Roughly over a hundred years ago, a mining team from the Star Web discovered the Ulysses Star hidden in the Dark Zone. Star Web invested heavily in the planet, but things quickly went south. It was attacked by the Secret Tower and the Flood Demon in succession, forcing Star Web to retreat and abandon its investment. Since then, the Ulysses Star had become a haven for criminals.
When Bai Fu first saw that news, she hadn’t given it much thought. After all, many Dark Zone civilizations suffered similar fates across the vast Star Sea. But now, looking back, the line “Star Web was attacked in succession by the Secret Tower and the Flood Demon” seemed quite meaningful.
Could this have been part of the Secret Tower’s plan?
They might have discovered the usefulness of Ulyssians for cultivating the Original Sample, but feared that a direct assault on Ulysses Star would expose their intentions. So they intentionally stirred chaos, allowing slavers to capture Ulyssians, and then acquired them from those slavers.
The more Bai Fu thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
“If that’s true... spending decades taking such a roundabout approach just to cultivate Dissociative Agent Original Samples—then the Secret Tower’s ambitions are no small matter.”
Bai Fu sighed with realization.
She realized she had underestimated both the difficulty of completing Vic’s main quest and its impact on the Star Sea storyline.
Becoming the savior of a civilization was no easy feat.
Judging by the current situation, Vic’s main quest rewards would certainly rival those of the recently triggered hidden quest and the missions involving Elron and Sui Xi.
Whether for the sake of the quest rewards or her own safety, Bai Fu could not allow the Secret Tower’s plan to succeed.
At this point, she and the Secret Tower were essentially locked in a life-or-death conflict. If the Secret Tower succeeded and grew stronger, they would absolutely come after her.
“I need to find a way to expose the Secret Tower’s plan.”
Although she didn’t know the true face of the Secret Tower’s plan, nor why the Secret Tower was executing it, she could make one up.
Wasn’t it just making up a story?
This was what Bai Fu did best. From the moment she first met the Excavation‑Princess, she had either been fabricating stories or on her way to fabricate one. Her story didn’t need to be real, only eye-catching enough to attract the attention of the major forces within the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster.
With those forces watching, the Secret Tower’s plan would inevitably be affected. That would give her enough room to maneuver. If she could ascend to Disaster-level before the Secret Tower’s plan succeeded, then no matter how flashy their tricks were, she could still sit back and control the situation.
That was the confidence a Disaster-level should have!
At that thought, Bai Fu stored the Original Sample into her personal storage. Through the Tiny Bai Fu left with Xien, she discovered that Elron and Sui Xi had also boarded the ship.
“You’re with the Secret Tower?”
Elron had learned this from a Player, and his expression darkened.
The Secret Tower—known as the greatest terrorist organization in the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster—was actually connected to the pirate group that Fragment Star was part of?
Was it a coincidence, or had Fragment Star secretly aligned himself with them?
Elron leaned toward the latter.
He recalled the arrogant words left behind by Fragment Star when he first reappeared in the Chaos Starpath—
【I’m back, Crystalite... Next, I’ll show you the true meaning of fear!】
Where did Fragment Star get the audacity to say something like that?
A hundred years ago, Fragment Star had been entirely unremarkable, just an ordinary B-rank Psionicist. A hundred years later...
Frankly, after using psionic hypnosis and failing to extract any useful intel, Elron had begun to doubt whether the person they had found was the real Fragment Star at all.
Sure, genetic and physical tests showed that this Fragment Star’s genes, body, and appearance bore no traces of artificial editing. He had naturally been born with Fragment Star’s face. Sure, he had reappeared right after the original Fragment Star returned. Sure, he was just as weak, a mere B-rank Psionicist... But it was still possible that he was just a lookalike from the same species.
But now Elron no longer thought that way—because the Secret Tower had suddenly appeared.
Why didn’t psionic hypnosis work?
Because the Secret Tower had used special means!
Why was Fragment Star so arrogantly defiant?
Because he had the Secret Tower backing him!
Why couldn’t they find the True Spirit Pillar on Fragment Star or this mining ship?
Because Fragment Star had handed it over to the Secret Tower!
Elron suddenly felt like the clouds had parted—everything now made sense.
If Bai Fu knew what Elron was thinking, she’d definitely shout “badass!”—that imagination was almost on par with the Excavation‑Princess.
But then again, Elron couldn’t really be blamed for his overactive imagination. The real culprit was the Secret Tower, infamous for their constant misdeeds. Whenever something big happened somewhere, people would reflexively shout—
【Damn it, it must be the Secret Tower’s doing!】
And more often than not, they’d find out later that it really was the Secret Tower. Over time, people had grown used to scripting them into every bad situation.
When Bai Fu returned to the spot where Xien was being restrained, she found Elron and Sui Xi locked in a fierce “confrontation” with him.
Xien was desperately denying any ties to the Secret Tower, but Elron completely ignored his words.
“Trying to bluff your way past us? Not so easy. I want to see whether the Secret Tower can truly block my psionic hypnosis!”
Elron turned his head to Sui Xi.
Sui Xi stepped forward, crouched in front of Xien, and then pulled a blue six-faced crystal from her chest.
The six-faced crystal floated into the air, releasing a powerful psionic aura. It made one feel as if they were falling into a serene void, their body and mind unconsciously relaxing.
“What is that?”
Bai Fu was startled and quickly cast Psionic Vision on the crystal. The panel that popped up identified it as a special piece of equipment that fused psionic power and Mental Esper Power, possessing a powerful hypnotic effect.
“You...”
Xien instinctively sensed danger, but as the crystal’s light enveloped his body, he was no longer able to escape.
Sui Xi began to softly sing a melody in an unknown language. As the song entered Xien’s ears, he felt his body becoming lighter and lighter. Eventually, his body relaxed entirely, and his eyes turned pure white—he had fully succumbed to Sui Xi’s song.
“Ask him.”
Sui Xi stood up, stuffed the crystal back into the slit in her chest, and casually walked into the corner.
Elron immediately asked the questions he had been dying to know.
First: Had Fragment Star truly defected to the Secret Tower?
Second: Was the Secret Tower also collecting True Spirit Pillars?
Xien’s answer to the first question was that he didn’t know. People joined the Secret Tower every day. He was just a patrol officer, not privy to personnel intel. Maybe Fragment Star had joined the Secret Tower, maybe not. His task was merely to supervise the Trelora Pirates.
The answer to the second question was more unexpected. Xien initially claimed he didn’t know what a True Spirit Pillar was. But after Elron described its appearance and characteristics in detail, Xien quickly admitted he had seen something similar in the Secret Tower.
This got Elron extremely excited.
The Secret Tower had a True Spirit Pillar?
Ha! That meant his earlier guesses had all been correct!
It had been a hundred years since the True Spirit Pillar last appeared, and they had finally located one again. If they could seize the True Spirit Pillar from the Secret Tower, they could attempt to contact the Apostle in the Supreme Void. If they received a response...
Elron didn’t dare think further, afraid it would all be false hope.
This was all thanks to Fragment Star being too full of himself. He thought that with the Secret Tower backing him, he could act recklessly and exact revenge—so he deliberately exposed his movements to Crystalite. If not for that, how else could Elron have known that Fragment Star had returned?
Calming his excitement, Elron quickly asked the third question: Why was the Secret Tower collecting True Spirit Pillars?
Xien replied, “I don’t know. I just know that the Secret Tower places great importance on that True Spirit Pillar you mentioned. It’s guarded by several S-rank Psionicists. To even reach it, you have to pass through five consecutive security gates. The place is also equipped with the most advanced security systems and special treasures.”
Elron furrowed his brows.
He tried asking Xien several more questions, but most of the time, Xien knew nothing.
It was unclear whether this was due to the Secret Tower’s strict internal hierarchy and excellent intel management, or if Xien had undergone the same kind of special treatment as Fragment Star.
“Take him back for further questioning.”
Elron and Sui Xi exchanged glances, and their eyes finally fell on Bai Fu.
Since it was Bai Fu who defeated Xien, they naturally had to consult her before taking him away.
“This person is deeply connected to the one we commissioned you to investigate. We want to take him with us. Don’t worry—we’ll give you extra compensation. I heard you’re collecting psionic advancement knowledge. What I have may not be high-level, but it’s extremely rare. It should be a great asset to you.”
Elron sent a piece of advancement knowledge to Bai Fu.
Such a good deal?
Bai Fu had originally planned to finish off Xien outright, but since Elron was offering a price, there was no harm in handing Xien over to them.
“If you want to take him, go ahead.”
“It was only thanks to you that we were able to find the target smoothly this time. I hope we’ll have more opportunities to work together in the future.”
Elron smiled at Bai Fu. Then, just as he placed his hand on Xien’s shoulder, preparing to use a skill to seal Xien’s strength, something strange suddenly happened.
After blinking a few times forcefully, Xien’s eyes suddenly widened, his pupils shifting from white to a deep red-black that sent chills down one’s spine.
“Something’s wrong!”
Elron’s expression changed dramatically, and he quickly leapt back.
The instant he retreated, Xien lunged forward, both hands clawed as he struck where Elron had just stood. As his hands came down, two black beams of light shot out from his eyes, instantly piercing through the ship and vanishing into the boundless outer space.
Elron stared at the two massive melted holes in front of him.
Fortunately, Xien had previously been heavily injured, which had greatly slowed his movements. Otherwise, Elron definitely wouldn’t have been able to dodge the sneak attack just now.
“Courting death!”
A vast force erupted from Elron’s body and completely enveloped Xien. Xien felt as if a mountain had landed on his back, forcing his body to bend involuntarily.
“You’re not Xien. Who are you from the Secret Tower?”
Elron questioned sharply.
The suppressed Xien laughed. “Take a guess?”
After saying that, the light vanished from Xien’s pupils, and his HP bar dropped to zero.
Bai Fu, Elron, Sui Xi: “!”
Dead?
As Xien collapsed to the ground, Elron’s communicator suddenly rang.
“Holy Son, we detected abnormal spatial fluctuations. Someone is heading our way!”
“It’s the Secret Tower—they’re fast!”
Staring at Xien’s corpse on the ground, Elron was consumed with fury.
With Xien dead, the lead was temporarily severed—but no amount of anger could fix that now.
“Let’s go. We need to leave here first!”
As for the True Spirit Pillar, they would find another opportunity to snatch it from the Secret Tower later.
Everyone hastily left the mining ship and boarded the ship they had arrived on.
Hmph, trying to escape?
At the Secret Tower headquarters, the Chief Steward who had just invaded Xien’s consciousness couldn’t conceal the excitement in his eyes. He didn’t actually know what had happened on the mining ship. His ability only let him see the images Xien witnessed right before his death, but even those glimpses had yielded substantial rewards.
Earlier, Elron had told Bai Fu that it was thanks to her they had found the target. Since it was known that Elron’s target was Fragment Star, that line implied Fragment Star had already fallen into the hands of the Holy Blessing Cult, and even the True Spirit Pillar was likely now in their possession.
“The True Spirit Pillar!”
The Chief Steward’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
The True Spirit Pillar had a massive boosting effect on the Secret Tower’s plan. Previously, since no one knew where Fragment Star had taken the True Spirit Pillar, the Master of the Secret Tower had even created a fake one modeled after it. But now that the real one had resurfaced, what use was the fake?
“Stop them. Don’t let them get away!”