Chapter 193: Shocked Star Web—Bai Fu Is Actually a Domination-level?
Urged by Manu, the signal monitor hurriedly sent the translated signal to his communicator.
He opened it immediately. After being translated into the Star Web Commonwealth's standard script, the message wasn’t long—barely over a hundred words in total. The sender signed off as 【Representative of the Undying Ones from Jingu Star, Feng Youjing】, and the message content stated that Jingu Star was currently in crisis and hoped that 【Newly Appointed Saintess of the Sea Lion System · Founder of the Dark Moon Tide Private Armed Company · Sovereign of the Shadowed Night · Bai Fu】 could come to Jingu Star to help quell the disaster.
"This signal really was sent to Saintess Bai Fu!"
Manu's pupils quivered violently.
Newly appointed Saintess of the Sea Lion System, founder of the Dark Moon Tide—who else could this be but the Bai Fu he knew?
But what shocked him wasn’t that the signal was addressed to Bai Fu—it was how Feng Youjing referred to her—
Sovereign of the Shadowed Night!
Wait, Domination-level?!
Manu shook his head forcefully.
He hadn’t misread, had he? A Domination-level was stronger than even a Cataclysm-level Psionicist, second only to Transcendent beings.
One had to understand that the strongest publicly known individual combatant in the entire Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster wasn’t even Domination-level—barely a lower Cataclysm-level.
"This 'Domination-level' Feng Youjing mentioned probably isn’t the same concept as our 'Domination-level', otherwise that would be too outrageous. A Domination-level from the Dark Zone civilization... impossible. The strength Bai Fu previously displayed was just... hmm?"
Manu suddenly froze.
Deep down, he didn’t really believe Bai Fu was a Domination-level. If a Domination-level had come to a fringe place like the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster, she could have simply become an Empress and done whatever she pleased. Could the Secret Tower even have bullied her then?
But when he tried to recall Bai Fu’s strength in detail, he couldn’t come up with a concrete answer.
When Bai Fu first appeared on Sky Lake Star, her strength seemed to be between peak A-rank and S-rank, but when she reappeared in the Stellar Graveyard, her power among the S-rank Psionicists was already considered upper-mid level.
The gap between those two appearances was less than a month. That kind of power growth was simply too fast—even Transcendent-level beings wouldn’t improve this quickly at Bai Fu’s stage, would they?
"Is Bai Fu just extremely talented, or was she hiding her strength? No, maybe it wasn’t hidden strength—maybe she was injured, and her strength had declined, and now she’s recovering."
Manu furrowed his brows tightly.
Whatever the reason, the Star Web’s level of attention toward Bai Fu had to be elevated again—ideally, to a level even higher than the Void Valkyrie, Hiye.
If Bai Fu was simply highly talented, then raising Star Web’s priority on her was like investing early in a Psionicist with potential to ascend to Cataclysm-level or even Domination-level. The benefits to the Star Web's future development would be obvious.
If Bai Fu had hidden her power or was recovering from injuries, even if they couldn’t befriend her by raising their attention, at least they wouldn’t end up offending her.
"Continue monitoring. Check for any new signals. I have an urgent matter to attend to."
After instructing the monitor, Manu immediately reported the matter to the Joint Council of the Star Web Commonwealth.
Council Chair Clavel, who was currently presiding, replied, "Are you sure this message truly came from the Dark Zone? Judging from the wording, Jingu Star doesn’t seem to be Bai Fu’s homeland. So how did the Undying Ones on Jingu Star know about Bai Fu’s reputation in the Sea Lion System?"
Manu paused. "Maybe they can connect to the interstellar network?"
"If they could, why would they need to send a wide-area signal like this to reach Bai Fu? Why not just use the Commission Platform’s backend to contact her directly?" Clavel rolled his eyes. "Investigate first. It’s a turbulent time—we can’t fall for the Secret Tower’s tricks."
Manu complied immediately.
Half a day later, preliminary analysis of the signal was completed. Judging by the attenuation value over long distances, the signal did indeed originate from deep within the Dark Zone. Whether it was orchestrated by the Secret Tower remained unknown.
But it wasn’t a major concern—the Star Web had its own ways of verifying authenticity.
When Bai Fu left Ulysses Star for Indigo Star, she left in a hurry, bringing only part of the players who were on Ulysses Star at the time. Some players were left behind in the Sea Lion System.
Manu ordered those players to be contacted for intel extraction.
By this time, version 1.4 had already launched. Those players had gone online immediately, so it didn’t take the Star Web much effort to reach them.
"Jingu Star? How did you hear about Jingu Star? Why are you asking this?"
The Cataclysm Dragon looked at the Star Web agent warily.
Despite the agent’s best efforts, he couldn’t get any useful intel from the Cataclysm Dragon. Still, judging by his reaction, he could deduce that Jingu Star did exist and had ties to the Undying Ones and Bai Fu.
Left with no choice, he went to question other players. After some searching, he found the seemingly gullible Black Tiger Ah Fu.
If it was him, extracting information should be easy, right?
"Have you heard of Jingu Star?"
"Jingu Star? Isn’t that the planet those ** are on? What about it? Something wrong?" Black Tiger Ah Fu asked back.
The word "Player" was censored by the system, but it didn’t matter. The Star Web agent didn’t even notice—he was too thrilled to care. He almost laughed out loud. Damn, he’d actually gotten useful intel!
He launched into a long-winded explanation—about the Secret Tower’s threats, world peace, signals from the Dark Zone—blabbering for quite a while before finally circling back to Bai Fu.
As a Berserker-class Player, Black Tiger Ah Fu had always lived by one rule: never waste words on NPCs if it could be avoided. The Star Web agent had officially worn out his patience.
You’re asking why Bai Fu’s power grew so fast?
"Seems like she was injured or something. I’m not sure, don’t ask me."
Then you ask what ‘Domination-level’ means in her nickname, Sovereign of the Shadowed Night?
"Domination-level is Domination-level. What else could it mean? Alright, alright, I told you to ask someone else. I’ve got quests to do."
Black Tiger Ah Fu turned and walked away, leaving only his towering back in the Star Web agent’s view.
Holy crap holy crap holy crap!
The Star Web agent trembled with excitement. This time, he had truly gathered super valuable intel. A promotion and raise were surely on the way. With that thought, he rushed to send the intel back to Manu.
Upon receiving it, Manu went straight to Clavel.
"Everything is clear now!"
Bai Fu is a Domination-level—one who’s injured and currently recovering!
At this moment, Manu suddenly recalled something Bai Fu had said to the media in the Sea Lion System. What impressed him most was the line, "I want to save my homeland with my own strength." At the time, he’d thought she was being a bit too stubborn. What was so bad about relying on others in critical moments?
Now that he looked back—he realized he had been too naïve!
To gravely injure a Domination-level and force her power down to S-rank—how terrifying must that entity be? At the very least, it had to be another Domination-level.
Bai Fu’s refusal of the Star Web’s aid wasn’t stubborn pride—it was to protect them, to keep these “newbies” from getting dragged into a high-level Psionicist clash.
"No wonder she’s the Savior Saint!"
Manu couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
He had already thought Bai Fu was kind-hearted. Now, knowing she was a Domination-level, he believed even more that her kindness came from deep within.
Strong, high status, and still so kind—if this wasn’t true kindness, then what was?
In fact, had Manu thought about it more carefully, he would have realized some things didn’t quite make sense. For instance, if Bai Fu was a Domination-level, why had she come to him to ask for Advanced Applications of Psionic Power? But his preconceived notions had already overridden his curiosity. As he grew increasingly wary of the strength of the enemies Bai Fu might face, he became even more convinced that knowing Bai Fu was an excellent opportunity for the Star Web to rise.
From a galaxy-level civilization to a galaxy-cluster-level one, the Star Web had been striving toward this goal. Yet, after so many years, they had never been able to retain a Cataclysm-level seed. If they could manage to build a rapport with Bai Fu when she was at her lowest, perhaps they could use this chance to cross that threshold.
Manu shared his thoughts with Clavel, who, along with the other members of the Joint Council, unanimously agreed with him. They were desperate to progress!
"It’s worth noting that with Bai Fu’s personality, if we tried to force benefits on her, she would likely refuse. So we need to try a different approach."
"Let’s use advertising fees. Didn’t she say she doesn’t reject advertisements? We can invest in her indirectly by introducing her to commercial partnerships."
"That’s a good idea, but I have another one. Didn’t she start a private armed company? We can hire more of those Undying Ones under her command."
Clavel nodded repeatedly.
They were all solid ideas, but one problem still loomed before them.
"The signal from Jingu Star was a wide-area signal—other forces could receive it too. If other powers, like the Secret Tower, discovered Bai Fu’s secret and reached out to her before us, we’d be under a lot more pressure."
"Bai Fu hates evil deeply, and the Night Mother of the Secret Tower just made a scene on Ulysses Star. Even if they tried to cozy up to Bai Fu on purpose, she likely wouldn’t pay them any mind," Manu explained confidently. "We just need to guard against the other civilizations. Still… if the Secret Tower really did receive the signal, it could cause quite a bit of trouble. According to the Undying Ones, there are many of them on Jingu Star. If the Secret Tower sends people to recruit them—even if only a few of them switch sides—it would still be a major headache."
"We can’t let the Secret Tower succeed. Manu, find a way to contact Bai Fu and tell her what’s happened here."
"Leave it to me."
As soon as the meeting ended, Manu took his people straight to Ulysses Star.
He knew Bai Fu wasn’t on Ulysses Star, but his purpose was to rack up some favorability with her. To that end, he had brought an engineering team to rebuild the structures that Cersia had previously smashed.
Only after finishing all that did he actively call Bai Fu.
"No response?"
Manu paused. Bai Fu was supposed to be at the Star Covenant branch in the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster—how could she not be receiving his call there?
He waited. It wasn’t until the next day that he finally got a reply from Bai Fu.
"What happened?"
At that moment, Bai Fu had just arrived in the Star Sea with the players from Indigo Star.
Manu didn’t jump into the main topic but instead asked, "Sovereign of the Shadowed Night?"
Bai Fu paused. "How did you know that?"
She was merely puzzled about how Manu knew her nickname, since she had never told him and hadn’t mentioned it in media interviews either.
But from Manu’s perspective, her question carried deeper meaning. "How did you know that"—wasn’t that just indirectly admitting it?
As expected, Bai Fu was a Domination-level!
What Manu hadn’t realized was that "Sovereign of the Shadowed Night" couldn’t be split into "Shadowed Night" and "Domination-level".
"Here’s the situation."
He quickly relayed both the events on Ulysses Star and the signal sent from Jingu Star.
"I’m worried the Secret Tower might take action."
Bai Fu’s expression darkened.
Well, well—so this kind of thing was happening too?
She had seen similar live-stream comments in Excavation‑Princess’s video but thought the players were joking. Who would’ve thought they were actually making moves?
The good news was that even if the Secret Tower had received the signal, without a reference point like Origin Star, calculating the exact location of Jingu Star would take considerable time.
While the Secret Tower was busy doing the math, she could get there first and sweep up a haul. In fact, this might be a prime opportunity to screw over the Secret Tower.
"I can contact the various civilizations of the Initial Gate and have them lie in wait near Jingu Star. When the Secret Tower shows up, they can jump out and gang up on them—to avenge Cersia’s attack on Ulysses Star."
"But…"
Bai Fu’s eyes suddenly lit up.
She felt that this kind of revenge was too mild—it wouldn’t really hit the Secret Tower’s core. After all, there was no way they’d send a large force to Jingu Star. They might not even go there at all.
"A different method is needed."
As she pondered, Bai Fu suddenly thought of Tai’er Zhenren.
Got it—she could make contact with the players on Jingu Star and intentionally get some of them to join the Secret Tower. With these players as spies inside, she would have plenty of chances to get back at the Secret Tower in the future.
Wasn’t that long-term harvest way more satisfying than a single ambush?
"Thanks for informing me in time."
"Don’t mention it." Manu chuckled and smoothly changed the topic to advertising. "By the way, Saintess, during your absence, a bunch of companies reached out to me. They want you to endorse their products…"
As Manu rambled on and on, a bunch of question marks popped up over Bai Fu’s head.
Back on Indigo Star, she had just been wondering how to make money. Then, the moment she returned to the Sea Lion System, a ton of endorsement offers came knocking? Wasn’t this timing a little too perfect?
Whatever—who cared why. She was flat broke. As long as it wasn’t something like underwear ads that would ruin her image, she was going to shoot every ad she could. Only by making enough money could she afford to support Anya, Yulia, Xia Shi, and Hiye—those four gold-devouring beasts.
Oh, and now she herself was a gold-devouring beast. More than that, she was a scripture-devouring beast.
Then it was settled.
"Thanks!"
Bai Fu quickly thanked Manu. At the end, she didn’t forget to praise the people of Star Web.
The people of Star Web were just too enthusiastic. Bai Fu loved the Star Web most of all!
Manu felt an overwhelming sense of joy in his heart.
This was praise from a Domination-level! And not just any Domination-level, but a sincere one like Bai Fu!
It seemed their plan to win over Bai Fu was progressing smoothly.
After finishing the call with Manu, Bai Fu excitedly patted her cheeks.
Beside her, Yulia asked, "Good news?"
Bai Fu nodded. "Good news. Looks like I’ll be making a few million Credit Coins again. Once the money arrives, I’ll buy you some Psionic Crystals. This batch should be enough for your awakening."
Awakening, huh?
Yulia’s eyes, as cold and sharp as frost, immediately lit up. Her ice-blue eyebrows and eyelashes quivered slightly, revealing the unrest in her heart.
Having mastered Proper Mana Recharge, she had always been calm. Even when Xia Shi and Hiye constantly clung to Bai Fu, she remained composed, because she knew that no matter how others danced around, as long as she possessed the ability of Proper Mana Recharge, she was an indispensable existence in Bai Fu’s eyes.
This kind of supplementation was far more reliable than the sparks she and Bai Fu generated during their experiments.
But deep down, Yulia still felt it wasn’t enough.
She didn’t just want to be indispensable in Bai Fu’s eyes—she wanted to be the most indispensable.
Yes, the role Yulia assigned herself was that of the "main consort." To firmly secure this position, just having the tolerance and dignity of a main consort wasn’t enough—she needed matching strength.
Currently, she was stronger than Anya and Xia Shi, but compared to Hiye, she still fell a bit short. However, if she could successfully awaken, she wouldn’t fear even Hiye.
Never underestimate the power of the True Spirit Pillar!
"Come on, let’s do an experiment. To awaken better, I need a deeper understanding of my own body, but researching alone is inconvenient. I need your help."
Yulia grabbed Bai Fu’s hand.
Bai Fu was momentarily stunned.
Hey, it’s still broad daylight!
Swoosh—
In the next second, she was pulled by Yulia into the nearby laboratory.
……
Two days later.
The spaceship piloted by Bai Fu successfully arrived at the Star Covenant Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster branch.
As soon as the ship landed, Green Sludge led his people to surround it.
During the days Bai Fu and Hiye were away, Herbert and the other supervisors had taken their subordinates everywhere to complete commissions, boosting their scores significantly. Meanwhile, Hiye, who had disappeared for over a month, had her score plummet to the very bottom. If things continued this way, she would have no chance of competing for the Director position.
Green Sludge saw it all and was deeply anxious.
What made him even more anxious was that Herbert and the others had been visiting frequently under the guise of checking on Hiye’s condition—but in truth, they were clearly just showing off. Green Sludge knew this well, but what could he do? He was just a B-rank Psionicist—powerless.
As Hiye cheerfully stepped down from the ship with Bai Fu, Green Sludge rushed over.
"Director, you’re finally back! Where have you been? I couldn’t reach you at all!"
"I went to see Bai Fu’s hometown, and then…"
Hiye giggled.
She wasn’t dumb—just a little slow—but she understood perfectly why Green Sludge was so anxious.
"This trip wasn’t in vain. Just look."
She pointed with a hand. Following her gesture, Green Sludge saw over three thousand players disembark one after another from the ship.
Most of these players were unfamiliar to him, meaning that the Director and Bai Fu had brought them from Bai Fu’s hometown?
His eyes widened.
"Don’t worry. With me here, Director Hiye is definitely securing that Director seat!"
Bai Fu was full of confidence. Herbert? She could knock him down with one punch now!
"Oh right, Green Sludge, I have two favors to ask of you."
Bai Fu asked Green Sludge to help calculate Jingu Star’s coordinates, and also check whether the internal trading platform of the Star Covenant had any Psionic Class Advanced Knowledge for sale.
At present, she was only two pieces of Advanced Knowledge and one Class Transfer Quest away from reaching S+.
Once she crossed this threshold, in the Sea Lion System, no one would be able to overshadow her—not even Hiye!
As Bai Fu was delegating these tasks to Green Sludge, the news of her and Hiye’s return also began to spread.
"What? Bai Fu brought thousands more Undying Ones?"
Herbert and the others, who had been enjoying a good time lately, were stunned upon hearing the news. A bad premonition rose in their hearts.
At the same time, the Secret Tower convened an emergency meeting. The subject of discussion: the signal sent by the players from Jingu Star.