Chapter 234: New Main Storyline: Bai Fu Arrives
"Is it happening again?"
In the Dark Zone, on Planet Daren, as night fell, Ernst, the new owner of the planet’s most renowned cybernetic prosthetics company, looked up with a face full of worry.
In the distant sky, a dozen or so streaks of light suddenly appeared, shooting across like flaming meteors.
He knew clearly—those were not meteors. He had seen something similar months ago.
They were spaceships!
Yes, spaceships—vessels that had only existed in fictional works in their understanding until now.
The first time that enormous silver spaceship broke through the clouds and appeared beneath the blood-red dusk sun, Ernst, like everyone else around him, thought it was a mirage or some kind of natural phenomenon.
It wasn’t until the ship landed on the surface and a white-haired girl with a graceful figure stepped out from the open hatch wearing an advanced combat suit that he suddenly realized—this world was about to change.
"Is something going to happen to Planet Daren?"
Ernst quickly contacted a friend of his who worked in the newly established United Government to inquire about the situation.
"You guessed right. Those were indeed spaceships—seventeen in total. Just now, the aliens aboard initiated contact. They claimed to be the Imperial Guards from the Taim Civilization, here under orders to capture the criminal who attempted to assassinate their Supreme Leader."
Ernst’s expression changed. "Could the ‘criminal’ they mentioned be that woman who arrived on Planet Daren a few months ago?"
His friend shook his head, a flash of anger in his eyes. "I’m not sure. These people are outrageous. The External Affairs Officer hesitated for just a few seconds and was forcibly abducted onto the ship. When Kartel tried to intervene, he was instantly crushed into a pulp by some unknown energy."
"This..."
Ernst wanted to say something, but no words came.
Against opponents this powerful—beyond anything he could imagine—what could he possibly say that would matter?
Both sides of the call fell into a long silence.
They felt lost about the future. Perhaps today was their doomsday, and there was no future left for them.
"Sigh... take care of yourself. I’ll go—"
"Who?!"
Just as his friend was about to hang up, he suddenly heard Ernst cry out in alarm. His face turned pale.
"What happened, Ernst?"
"It’s... it’s..."
Ernst’s eyes widened as he stared intently at the figure that suddenly appeared on the rooftop.
He stammered for quite a while without saying the name, but his friend already knew who it was because a familiar voice came through the phone.
"You mentioned the Taim Civilization just now, right?"
It was her!
The woman who appeared on Planet Daren a few months ago—who claimed to be called Bai Fu and had close ties to the Undead!
Bai Fu looked at Ernst with a puzzled expression.
She had been strolling nearby when she saw over a dozen spaceships streak across the sky. So she rushed over to Ernst, wanting to gather some information, and unexpectedly overheard a familiar name.
Why would the fleet from the Taim Civilization leave the Outer Rim and come to Planet Daren?
"Here’s the situation..."
Ernst wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and began to explain hastily.
"Assassination of the Supreme Leader? Hunting an assassin?"
Bai Fu listened in astonishment. She originally thought this fleet had been dispatched by Frank to deal with her. But the truth was far more dramatic than she had imagined.
The Supreme Leader of the Taim Civilization was a widely feared figure across the Outer Rim. To attempt to assassinate him—and get away—meant the perpetrator was beyond bold.
"Interesting."
Bai Fu had been wondering how the official storyline would allow players on various novice planets to connect to the interstellar system after version 2.0 launched. If they simply dropped a batch of spaceships or portals using the “Mechanical Descension” approach, it would feel too forced.
Now she understood.
This was the plot!
To catch the assassin, the Taim Civilization must have dispatched a fleet in full force. In addition to the Taim military ships, bounty hunters would likely enter the Dark Zone too.
Their activity would expose the players' novice planets, and then the players could ride the wave into the galaxy.
Of course, that was the original plan.
Now that Bai Fu had arrived, the Taim Civilization was irrelevant.
Shoo, shoo, shoo—go look somewhere else. Don’t interfere with this big sister exploiting players!
"Whether there are assassins here, I know best. I’ll go talk them down."
Bai Fu volunteered to resolve the crisis.
Ernst stared at Bai Fu in disbelief.
Could she really do it?
...
At the same time—
Inside a spaceship from the Taim Civilization—
The fleet commander stood with arms crossed, indifferently watching the primitive city below his feet.
"What’s the result of the interrogation?"
His adjutant stepped forward. "Commander Roman, that External Affairs Officer confessed. He said a spaceship landed here a few months ago."
"Oh?" Roman’s zombie-like face revealed a stiff smile. "Looks like we’ve found our target. Notify the locals—either hand over the assassin or we’ll raze the entire city!"
"Yes, sir!"
Soon, everyone on the ground heard the adjutant’s broadcast.
To prove their ability to level a city, the adjutant ordered the gunner to fire on the tallest broadcasting signal tower.
A deep blue beam sliced through the night sky. Before the people on the ground even grasped what happened, the top half of the signal tower had vanished. At the broken edge, the glowing red molten metal was shocking to behold.
"Ahhh—!"
Screams of terror swept through the city like waves.
There had been people on the tower. That one shot vaporized hundreds.
"These beasts!"
The Chairman of the United Government looked up at the spaceship in the sky, his whole body trembling.
It was rage.
But all he could do was rage. He was far too weak—completely powerless.
Excellent.
Roman nodded in satisfaction.
"Play the countdown. Tell them they have ten—"
His voice stopped abruptly, because outside the porthole, a white figure floated mid-air.
"Isn’t it excessive to go straight to slaughter without verifying the facts?"
The icy voice pierced through the armor and drifted into the cockpit.
Roman narrowed his eyes.
"Excessive?"
He let out a cold laugh.
The Taim Civilization worshipped strength. As a soldier of Taim, the doctrine he always believed in was one phrase—
The strong should trample the weak!
"Who are you? Judging by your appearance, you’re not one of the locals, are you?"
What?
Bai Fu was stunned.
"You don’t recognize me?"
After taking down Mita, her reputation in the entire Outer Rim had climbed past 400. That number wasn’t incredibly high, but still impressive.
She thought it was enough for people to recognize her anywhere with a crowd in the Outer Rim. But clearly, reality wasn’t what she expected.
Roman frowned. "Why should I know who you are? Whatever. Once we capture you, everything will become clear."
He turned around, about to call his adjutant’s name, only to see him pointing behind him in terror.
"Commander Roman, sh-she..."
"What nonsense are you babbling about?"
Roman snapped in frustration, his face full of annoyance.
Just then, he suddenly heard a cracking sound behind him. By the time he realized the danger, it was already too late.
Boom!
The enormous torrent of spiritual energy unleashed by the Spiritburst crashed into the ship’s armor, shredding it to pieces in an instant. The shattered armor struck Roman's back like cannonballs. The searing pain made him involuntarily open his mouth wide, but before he could let out a scream of agony, the torrent of spiritual energy had already engulfed his entire body.
Zzzzz!
The torrent of spiritual energy dissolved Roman’s body, melted the wall on the other side of the cockpit, and consumed several warehouses next to the cockpit. Finally, it blasted out through the other side of the ship, leaving behind a long-lasting white trail in the pitch-black sky.
"Still has to be Calamity-tier after all."
Bai Fu retracted her right hand, extremely satisfied with her current output.
Back when she was S+-tier, she could already dismantle a spaceship with her bare hands, but it was never this efficient.
Once she leveled up the skills at her disposal, not to mention a single ship—even a massive fleet would be nothing for her.
One person as an army, tearing through fleets—this was exactly why Calamity-tier was called Calamity-tier!
Bai Fu lifted her head and smiled sweetly at the adjutant of this fleet.
"Mind answering a few questions for me?"
She hadn’t intended to resort to violence. Although her relationship with the Taim Civilization wasn’t exactly friendly, it was Roman who preferred physics over logic.
The adjutant had nearly lost his mind witnessing Roman’s death. He screamed shrilly, "She killed Commander Roman! Kill her! All ships, kill her!"
At his command, the other ships turned their cannons.
"Looks like I need to help you all calm down a bit."
Bai Fu used Voidcraft to conjure a card—[Eye of Grief]. She planned to test her blade on this fleet from the Taim Civilization.
The card dispersed.
High in the sky, a black eye suddenly materialized. It spanned several meters wide. The moment it appeared, everyone aboard the ships felt as if someone had drained several tubes of blood from them—they felt utterly weak.
Those with stronger psionic power were still fine. Even with the debuff from Eye of Grief, their power didn’t immediately plummet.
But those with weaker psionic power—or ordinary soldiers without any psionic power at all—were not so lucky. In just a few seconds, the grief meter above their heads maxed out.
"What’s happening? I suddenly feel like crying. Mom… I want my mom… I want to go home."
"What’s the point of living? We all die eventually. Might as well die now to avoid more pain."
A group of soldiers known for their iron-blooded discipline collapsed to their knees, bawling.
As they wept, one raised his gun and shot himself in the head.
Bang!
Brain matter splattered.
Some went even further, switching between sobbing and laughing, guns in hand, indiscriminately shooting at their comrades around them.
It was chaos.
Complete chaos.
These seventeen ships had turned into a living hell. Engulfed in overwhelming grief, no one had the will to pay attention to Bai Fu anymore. They only wanted to run, to escape the muzzles of their comrades’ guns.
"Whoa, that’s insane."
Even Bai Fu, who had unleashed the Eye of Grief, was startled by the sight, let alone the others.
Bai Fu walked up to the adjutant. "Feeling a bit calmer now?"
"Calm. Completely calm."
The adjutant's lips were trembling. What he had just witnessed was more terrifying than death itself. He no longer harbored a single thought of resistance. Whatever Bai Fu asked, he answered.
As the questioning went on, Bai Fu gradually pieced together the full picture.
It made sense that Roman didn’t recognize her.
Her name had only begun to spread within the Taim Civilization after she advanced to Calamity-tier and annihilated Mita. Roman and his group had already been sent into the Dark Sector by then, tasked with hunting down the assassin who tried to kill the Führer.
"Who sent the assassin?"
"No idea. Some suspect General Gustav, some suspect the Honor Unit, and others think it was the neighboring Free Star System Alliance. The Führer sent us to chase the assassin to uncover the truth."
According to the adjutant, the Taim Civilization appeared to be doing well on the surface, but tensions were rising both internally and externally.
Internally, a rebel group called the Honor Unit was causing chaos, assassinating multiple colonial governors. Despite crackdowns, they continued to grow. Meanwhile, conflicts between the old nobility, represented by General Gustav, and the newly risen military aristocrats were intensifying and could erupt into civil war at any moment.
Externally, while the Taim Civilization had the colossal Supernova Legion at its back, it was far from worry-free. Titan Industries and the Rebirth Empire had long coveted the Edge World and were itching to carve out a share of the Supernova Legion’s domain.
Although it had been many years since the three major cosmic civilizations fought a full-scale war, the factions and civilizations they supported frequently clashed.
"Unstable situation… possible war?"
Bai Fu pondered.
She believed she had grasped the core theme of the Taim Civilization's main storyline—
War!
Interstellar war!
"This mainline is probably the most important storyline in the Edge World, continuing from version 2.0 all the way until version 3.0 begins. After that, players should be able to get involved in the three cosmic civilizations’ disputes."
Bai Fu’s eyes sparkled.
Perfect opportunity!
If she could profit handsomely from this war, then when version 3.0 began, even if she couldn’t ascend to Transcendent-tier, becoming a Sovereign would be no problem.
Can she profit?
Absolutely!
Bai Fu was confident.
With her current power and popularity among players, if she played her cards right, she might not become the Queen of Arms Dealers, but the title of Mercenary King was certainly within reach.
"If only I could find the assassin before the Taim Civilization does."
Bai Fu shook her head.
That could wait.
Having gathered the intel, Bai Fu stopped being polite. She cleaned out everyone aboard the ships. As for the ships themselves, she avoided damaging them if possible.
She didn’t plan to use these seventeen military vessels herself. Their control systems were too troublesome to crack. Better to sell them on the black market.
The money from selling the ships, Bai Fu planned to use to establish a special fund dedicated to new players entering the Starsea.
[Still struggling with not knowing what to do?]
[Still troubled by having no money at all?]
[Contact the Bai Fu Foundation. We offer every Undying a free ticket to Ulysses Star!]
[Player capital, Ulysses Star Base welcomes you!]
Yes.
Bai Fu planned to use this method to attract more players to join her.
Though it required a lot of funds, she wasn’t worried. She was certain she could earn back hundreds or thousands of times more from those players eventually.
In doing so, she could also expand the Ulysses Star Base while gaining even more favor among the player community—a triple win.
After parking all the ships on the surface, Bai Fu went to meet with Ernst and the others, letting them know the crisis had passed.
Ernst and company had thought she was doomed. They didn’t expect that not only had she survived, she had annihilated the invading fleet single-handedly. Their jaws nearly hit the floor. Looking at her now, she seemed divine.
Bai Fu smiled and nodded.
That favorability boost hadn’t been in vain. Sure enough, two days later, the protagonist of Daren Star came to her voluntarily, hoping to follow her—and she agreed on the spot.
The more promising subordinates, the better.
Ten days flew by.
That day, the game developers released the official teaser for version 2.0.
Countless players eagerly awaited it.
[Wonder how we’ll get into the Starsea?]
[You think Bai Bai will come get us in a ship?]
[Keep dreaming, why would Bai Bai come here?]
[Exactly, she has no reason to come here.]
Amid all the chatter, the game finally reopened. Players flooded in, including those on Daren Star.
Though the server had only been down for a day, in-game, five months had passed. They were eager to see what had changed.
They logged in—only to discover over a dozen new ships on Daren Star.
What?
They quickly asked nearby NPCs.
"You mean those ships? One of them was piloted by a white-haired alien who said her name was Bai… right, Bai Fu! The other ships belonged to a group called the Taim Civilization. They acted all high and mighty when they arrived—until Bai Fu dealt with them."
Holy crap. Bai Fu?! Could it just be the same name?
After investigating, the players confirmed—it wasn’t just the same name. It was really Bai Fu. Bai Fu had come in a spaceship to bring them into the Starsea!
The entire Daren Star erupted.
To have Bai Fu appear beside them—what a shock.
[If the NPCs are right, Bai Bai came because of the Taim Civilization, right? I remember Frank from the Taim Civilization stole Bai Bai’s True Spirit Pillar from the Mita headquarters. Maybe the 2.0 storyline is tied to the Taim Civilization?]
[Who knows, doesn’t matter—I’m going to post right now and tell everyone Bai Bai’s here!]
Within minutes, news of Bai Fu appearing on Daren Star spread across the player community.
Players on other starting planets were dumbfounded.
Seriously? Why her? Why not us?
Bai Fu happily browsed the posts.
When version 2.0 was in development, she hadn’t gotten any buffs from the devs and had felt pretty down. But once the version officially launched, all her gloom vanished.
GoGoGo!
During the update downtime, she had visited several newbie planets—Daren Star was just one of them.
Just a few days ago, she officially contacted Anya to pilot the fleet and pick people up. After this run, her player base would probably double.
Four million warriors—let’s see if the other factions dare to compete!
Hehe.
"Don’t rush, everyone line up. I’ll pamper you all one by one—until you all become just like me!"