Chapter 255: Walk the Head of State’s Path, Leave Him with No Path to Take
Julian usually didn’t do much.
But once he actually got to work, he still had the same swift and decisive style as back in the day.
Realizing that the intelligence Bai Fu had provided might allow him to achieve a leap in status, he immediately adopted the most professional attitude—
A passionate demeanor, precise wording, professional knowledge, and a stance that yielded not an inch when it came to safeguarding the Empire’s interests.
“If the intelligence you’ve provided is genuine, then you will gain the friendship of the Empire. The Empire never mistreats its friends, but…”
Everyone knew—the words after “but” were what really mattered.
When it came to rewards, Julian rambled on with a whole bunch of polite formalities.
Unfortunately for him, this time he was dealing with Bai Fu—who, while not especially skilled at negotiations, had the aid of her game panel.
For Bai Fu, none of what Julian said really mattered. What mattered was the quest rewards mentioned in the mission that had just been triggered, and how much Empire faction reputation and contribution she could gain from this cooperation.
Those were the things she could actually count on!
Facing Bai Fu, who was completely immune to his set of tactics, Julian felt his scalp tingle.
This was a real expert!
“I’ll report your request to [Radiance].”
Radiance was the Rebirth Empire’s central core AI, responsible for assisting virtually all Imperial officials—from the Emperor down to local governors—in handling governmental affairs.
Julian was a little frustrated.
Forget it. Even if he couldn’t show off his negotiating skills in this conversation, as long as Bai Fu’s intelligence was genuine, he would still get a huge merit as her handler afterward.
After all, this was the Ten Saints Council. Others might not know the origin of its Saints, but after more than a decade in the intelligence department, how could he not?
Before being hunted by the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations, the Saints had originally been close partners of the Empire. But for some unknown reason, they had later betrayed the Empire, attacking [Radiance] and causing the Empire to suffer heavy losses. If there was a chance to capture him, anyone who provided intelligence or assistance would be handsomely rewarded.
“I’ll inform you as soon as there’s news.”
Bai Fu didn’t have to wait long.
The Rebirth Empire’s efficiency was incredibly high—after just one day, Julian’s direct superior, the Director of the Security Bureau, personally came with the Senate’s decision to speak with her.
The Empire clearly took the Ten Saints Council very seriously, and they weren’t worried about Bai Fu trying to scam them, since they had already checked with the Star Pact and gotten assurances from that side.
Therefore, the Security Bureau Director skipped all the empty pleasantries and directly discussed the terms of the deal with Bai Fu.
This straightforward attitude was naturally to Bai Fu’s liking.
“The Essence of Psionic Resonance and The Application of Mental Projection—the former can greatly improve the efficiency of psionic resonance and the refinement and application of psionic energy, while the latter is foundational knowledge for psionic hyperspace applications. For someone like you, who excels at legion-style combat, they should be a considerable boost. What do you think of these two Domination-level advanced knowledge scrolls?”
Bai Fu nodded without any objections.
The Security Bureau Director smiled and added, “And there’s also this [King of the Earth] enhanced genome. The [Holy Light Clan] psionic talent implant genome you requested was rejected in the Senate meeting—both the Holy Light Clan and the Ethereal Realm Research Society refused to hand it over to you, since you’re neither a member of the Rebirth Empire nor a premium collaborator. If you have no objections to this ruling, we can sign the cooperation agreement now.”
Tch.
Bai Fu spread her hands helplessly.
She had already expected this outcome, but she still wanted to give it a try.
The psionic affinity of the Holy Light Clan was among the highest in all known cosmic races. If she could have obtained the Holy Light Clan’s psionic talent implant genome, then during gene optimization she would definitely have gained a large Psionic Attribute bonus, along with several psionic-related talents or passive skills.
Still, if she couldn’t get it, so be it—the King of the Earth enhanced genome was nothing to scoff at either.
The King of the Earth was a Stellar Beast so meaty it could make people nauseous. Fusing with its enhanced genome could raise her toughness by a huge margin.
[Who knows—maybe my Constitution Stat could end up higher than Cersia’s. That way, even without relying on technique, I could purely overpower her with my body and beat her until she’s in complete disarray.]
“I have no objections.”
Bai Fu signed the confidentiality agreement the Security Bureau Director sent over, then, as requested, sent him the location of the Ten Saints Council’s hideout.
With everything arranged, what she needed to do next was simple—
Eat melon seeds and watch the show!
Bai Fu threw herself into the frontlines of gossip consumption.
She was dying to see how the Ten Saints Council would deal with the Head of State, and how the Rebirth Empire would deal with the Ten Saints Council.
To that end, she directly used the excuse of “having been attacked, failing a commission, and needing to take some time to recover” to turn down several new commissions that had just come in.
…
Time rewound one day.
While Bai Fu was speaking with Julian, the Head of State suddenly received bad news.
While cleaning up a war-ravaged factory, a subordinate unit of the Bovalya Planetary Defense Council discovered several pieces of buried machinery marked with a special emblem. The machinery had been damaged beyond easy restoration, but the emblems remained relatively intact.
“If I’m not mistaken, isn’t this the emblem of the Ten Saints Council?”
The Council members looked at each other.
The Ten Saints Council was notorious among interstellar fugitives, so they quickly confirmed they weren’t mistaken.
And in the next moment—
“Holy crap, amazing!”
The Council members exclaimed in shock.
So the Head of State had come all the way to Bovalya just to strike at the Ten Saints Council!
Who said the Head of State was incompetent? Look at this—he not only unearthed the Ten Saints Council’s hiding spot with a single move, but also wiped out everyone in that base!
This was something even the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations hadn’t managed to do.
One move to accomplish what the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations could not—high, the Head of State was high!
One move to kill all the Ten Saints Council members there, tearing all pretense with them—tough, the Head of State was tough!
After the amazement came a wave of fear.
Good heavens—the Ten Saints Council, such a vicious organization, had been hiding right here in Bovalya. Fortunately, the Head of State had acted decisively to take them out, otherwise, if they had launched an attack, they’d all be dead.
With that in mind, the Council members felt deep gratitude toward the Head of State.
At that moment, one person suddenly said, “Do you think it’s possible that, in this civil war, the one laughing last might be the Head of State? Look—he’s clearly not as useless as the rumors say. Once this gets out, public opinion about him will definitely change.”
The person next to him shook his head. “Hard to say. Sure, Li Si Te is being beaten back step by step right now, but who knows—maybe he’ll suddenly turn the tables and eliminate Nilis.”
“That’s true, but whether or not the Head of State laughs last, it won’t hurt for us to help spread the news of what happened here. If he does win in the end, we’ll be credited with helping him. If he loses, what’s wrong with publicizing a strike against the Ten Saints Council?”
“Wouldn’t that anger the Ten Saints Council?”
“You don’t seriously think they’re not already angry, do you?”
True enough.
So the group pooled their information, compiled the materials, had an AI write a praise-filled article about the Head of State, and sent it out immediately.
Ten Saints Council + Head of State—when these two keywords appeared together, they instantly set off a firestorm in the Edge Worlds’ public opinion sphere.
“What? The Ten Saints Council?”
“Is he insane? Daring to provoke them at a time like this.”
“Head of State, so this was your real plan all along?”
Not long after, the Head of State also heard the news—delivered from the mouth of a Taim Civilization official who had come to commend his bravery.
In the Head of State’s residence, hearing those words of praise, he felt completely numb.
For a moment, his mind went utterly blank—he forgot who he was, where he was, and what he was supposed to be doing.
When he finally broke through that blankness, like a drowning man bursting to the surface, the first thought that came to his mind was—
Damn it all!
His plan to lower Bai Fu’s reputation had failed—that had been a big blow, but he could endure it, since Bai Fu didn’t know it had been his scheme, and he could still set up another.
But this…
This wasn’t just an ordinary blow—this was a hammer that had nearly killed him!
The Head of State was confident, but no matter how confident he was, he would never dare challenge the Ten Saints Council.
The Ten Saints Council had two Transcendent-rank Psionicists. Sure, both were just ordinary Transcendents, but even so, they were far beyond the reach of a Domination-level like him.
“After something like this, those lunatics definitely won’t let me go. If they’re targeting me, how am I supposed to compete for the Taim Civilization’s throne when the time comes!”
The Head of State was on the verge of losing his mind.
What a disaster!
If he could do it over again, he definitely wouldn’t have gone looking for trouble with Bai Fu in the near future.
Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets.
Faced with officials coming to congratulate him, the Head of State could only force a stiff smile.
Explaining? Impossible. If he said it was just an accident and that he’d never intended to target the Ten Saints Council, his newly gained prestige would immediately plummet, and the impact of targeting the Glorious Forces next time would be severely diminished by this incident.
Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!
His mentality was about to collapse.
After finally sending everyone away, he immediately went to find the commander-in-chief of the Glorious Forces.
“You know what I’m here to say.”
The commander-in-chief was drenched in sweat. “I’ve already done a full internal purge. If it happens again, you won’t even need to say a word, I’ll come to you with my head in my hands!”
Honestly, the Head of State wanted to kill this unreliable man right on the spot.
But he couldn’t. If he really did that, the morale of the Glorious Forces would scatter instantly.
“Do we really need to go to the Rebirth Empire for help?”
He didn’t want to.
The only reason the Rebirth Empire had been willing to support him in the first place was because they saw his plan as bold and potentially highly profitable if it succeeded.
If he suddenly went running to them for aid now, his image in their eyes would take a nosedive.
The Ten Saints Council was something you provoked, and now you want us to send people to protect you?
“Just hold on a bit longer. If the situation really gets bad, then we’ll talk.”
And after that wait came the Ten Saints Council’s revenge.
The Saint was a man daring enough to attack [Radiance], and with his violent temper, the moment he saw the Head of State constantly appearing in the news and receiving countless accolades, he couldn’t resist sending him straight to the afterlife.
“Since our presence has already been exposed, let’s use the Head of State’s death to tell the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations that we’ve returned!”
A group of powerful fighters burst forth, launching attacks on all of the Head of State’s trusted aides.
…
“Holy crap, awesome—one shot directly killed a Calamity-class!”
“Nice! This ship’s performance might even be better than my Silent Night!”
“Kill, kill, kill! I want to see rivers of blood!”
In her bedroom, Bai Fu was lying on a lounge chair—drink in her left hand, fried chicken in her right, Hei Fu massaging her shoulders from behind, Ying Fu kneading her feet from the front—utterly enjoying herself.
If outsiders saw this scene, it would definitely cause an uproar.
Ah, so this is what the Saintess is really like in private?
To which Bai Fu would answer—getting stronger is for the sake of living a good life, so keep the music playing and the dancing going!
Her mood had been excellent lately. Even though the progress of her various quests hadn’t increased and her XP pool hadn’t grown much, under her scheming, the main villain of the hidden main quest and the main villain of the Taim Civilization storyline had started fighting each other.
Especially the Head of State—his losses were truly miserable.
In just a few days, half of his Special Operations Division had been wiped out, with three of its four Calamity-class members killed.
As for the division’s bases, aside from the few near Taim Star, all the rest had been blown to ash.
The reason the losses were so severe was partly due to the Ten Saints Council’s efficiency, and partly because—aside from Nilis—everyone else was just sitting back to watch the show.
Starting a brand-new instance and immediately challenging the Ten Saints Council?
Oh, impressive—we’d love to see just how impressive you really are!
The result was that the Head of State got completely crushed.
Damn it!
With these overt Calamity-class subordinates gone, any future operation he attempted would become exponentially more troublesome.
Fortunately, his bad days didn’t last long—just a few days later, things temporarily calmed down.
“My mission contribution just went up. Looks like the Rebirth Empire has started fighting the Ten Saints Council.”
Bai Fu was so delighted she raised both hands high, even her toes relaxing.
And indeed, just as she suspected—
After meticulous preparation, the Rebirth Empire launched an attack on the Ten Saints Council’s foothold in the Edge Worlds. This time, they dispatched two Transcendents, three Dominations, and several of the Empire’s top-tier warships all at once.
The reason they didn’t send more was to avoid drawing the attention of the Supernova Battle Group and Titan Industries.
The Ten Saints Council wasn’t wanted by the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations just because of the crimes of the Saint and others, but also because they possessed great secrets.
The assault came so suddenly that the Ten Saints Council was left completely stunned.
When the news spread, others—such as Yuan Yi, as well as members of the Supernova Battle Group and Titan Industries—were stunned as well.
Yuan Yi: “I was still investigating the relationship between Rufas and the Ten Saints Council, still pondering what impact their return would have on the Edge Worlds, and you guys from the Rebirth Empire have already gone straight for their headquarters?”
Then they all realized something felt off.
Wait a minute—wasn’t the news of the Ten Saints Council’s return just revealed a few days ago by the Taim Civilization’s Head of State? How is it that you’ve already hit their base? That’s way too fast.
Could it be…
That the Head of State was actually working for the Rebirth Empire?
He attacked a small outpost of the Ten Saints Council to draw their attention, and then the Rebirth Empire used the opportunity to go straight for their main stronghold?
The more they thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
This needed to be investigated thoroughly. If the Head of State had indeed secretly defected to the Rebirth Empire, then he had to be added to their list of targets—there was no way they could allow him to fish in troubled waters.
Bai Fu had only intended to mess with the Head of State and the Ten Saints Council, never imagining that her maneuver would make every major force suspicious of him.
The Head of State’s strength was considerable—after all, he was a bona fide Domination—but other major factions in the Taim Civilization’s civil war also had Dominations on their side. Losing the concealment of his identity stripped away more than half of his advantage.
At this point, the Taim Civilization’s main storyline had completely deviated from its original path.
…
Beep beep beep—
Several hours later, the Virtual Heart sent the intelligence it had gathered to Bai Fu.
It was the latest report on the Rebirth Empire’s encirclement of the Ten Saints Council.
Under the Rebirth Empire’s assault, the Ten Saints Council suffered heavy losses, even losing a Domination—but the Saint still managed to slip through the encirclement with his eel-like agility.
“Looks like this main quest still has some play left in it.”
Bai Fu casually submitted the quest [The Saint’s Lament].
Since she hadn’t participated directly in the battle, the final reward was only 390 million XP, with nothing else—but better than nothing.
[The next quest stage will be triggered upon finding the Ten Saints Council’s new foothold or raising Rebirth Empire favorability to 400 or above.]
“Four hundred favorability, huh? That’s a bit tricky.”
After providing the Ten Saints Council intelligence to the Rebirth Empire, Bai Fu had unlocked that faction’s favorability and reputation systems.
Her current favorability was 180, and her reputation was 30—both could only be described as unremarkable.
No rush. There was still more than a month left before the end of Version 2.0. When players truly entered the struggles between the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations, it would surely be Version 3.0.
Time passed slowly, until finally Bai Fu’s communicator rang.
She tapped the virtual screen and saw that the Rebirth Empire had already sent her the two Domination-level advanced knowledge scrolls she’d requested.
“The King of the Earth enhanced genome is also en route. It will be delivered to the Lockheed Observatory in two days—please be ready to receive it.”
Bai Fu smiled and nodded, then looked at the slightly downcast Julian and said, “You seem to be in low spirits.”
Julian sighed. “Don’t even mention it—we let the Saint escape again. The worst part is… no, stop, I can’t tell you that. Anyway, your intelligence was still very useful.”
Since Julian didn’t want to elaborate, Bai Fu didn’t press him.
Her focus now wasn’t on that, but on quickly absorbing what she’d gained from the Rebirth Empire.
Once she mastered the two new advanced knowledge scrolls and fused the King of the Earth enhanced genome, she would only be two steps away from Domination.
Step one—raise her base Inspiration to 5,000!
Step two—defeat an opponent with no less than 4,000 in a single attribute!
Bai Fu had already decided who to target.
“It’s decided—it’ll be you, Glorious Forces!”
She intended to sacrifice the Glorious Forces before the Head of State could.
Walk the Head of State’s path, leave him with no path to take!
It would definitely infuriate him—but by then, she’d be a Domination herself. What did she have to fear from the Head of State?