Chapter 259: Head of State’s Assist, Taim Civilization’s No. 1 Idol Bai Fu
Time waited for no one.
The moment the meeting ended, Bai Fu immediately issued the order to all ships to enter Level 1 standby, ready to launch an attack at any time.
“Is it finally time to fight?”
The Players on the ships were all buzzing with excitement.
They had been anticipating this moment ever since the mobilization rally.
For the past twenty-some days, they had been cooped up on the ships, with nothing to do except grind dungeons, play cards, duel in the arena, or wander around the event maps. Those itching for a taste of large-scale warfare were practically suffocating. Their current state could best be summed up with the classic line: “abstinence for a month.”
“Bro, let’s switch— you pilot the ship, I’ll fire the main gun.”
“Not a chance.”
“Come on, bro, just one shot. Let me fire just one shot!”
“……”
Similar conversations were happening on every ship.
Bai Fu was quite satisfied with the Players’ current state of mind.
Madness was good.
The crazier the Players, the more profit they brought her.
What she feared most was Players collectively slacking off, just logging in to do their dailies before logging out to do something else.
If not for these energetic, always-charging-forward Players feeding her, how could she have leveled up so quickly?
“Move on my command when the time comes.”
Leaving those words behind, Bai Fu led Hei Fu, Cersia, Yulia, Ying Fu, Anya, and the recently recruited Dietrich out from the flagship Silent Night.
This strange move drew the attention of every Player present, both on site and in the livestream.
“Huh? What’s Fu-fu doing?”
Bai Fu dashed ahead, leading everyone straight toward a massive starry-sky fortress directly in front of them.
At that moment, everyone understood what she intended.
She wanted to break through the enemy’s defenses with nothing but flesh and blood, opening a path for the fleet behind!
It was a good idea— but could she really pull it off?
This defensive line looked terrifying. Take that starry-sky fortress, for example: its outermost energy shield alone had a shield value of a full one million!
If this starry-sky region had only that single fortress, the Players believed Bai Fu could easily dismantle it. But this fortress was merely one node of the entire defense line, surrounded by countless floating turrets, patrol towers, mechs, and more— making the difficulty easily ten times higher.
While the Players were still wondering, the Glorious Forces had already spotted Bai Fu approaching.
“Bai Fu’s charging straight at us with her team? So arrogant— she’s acting like we don’t even exist!”
Upon receiving the report, the defense line’s commander, Raul, was instantly enraged.
The Glorious Forces might not have a Domination-level commander sitting in, but they had roamed the Taim Civilization for many years— naturally, they had real skill.
For example, their weapons and equipment were, in some ways, even more advanced than those used by the Taim Civilization’s standing military.
With such gear, their combat power was enough to make even a Calamity-class wary.
“That Great One only said we can’t kill Bai Fu, not that we can’t teach her a lesson. Since she’s rushing here herself, let’s show her the real combat power of the Glorious Forces!”
Raul’s words were met with full agreement from the defense line’s leadership.
So what if you could take on seven of our Calamity-class single-handedly, Bai Fu? Our defense line could withstand the simultaneous assault of dozens of Calamity-class at once!
On Raul’s command, the fortress and the tens of thousands of cannons around it opened fire simultaneously.
In an instant, the entire starry sky lit up with colorful lights, carrying the decadent, psychedelic beauty of a bygone era.
Only, behind this beauty lurked the scythe of death!
These weren’t ordinary cannons— each shot could normally destroy a city.
Tens of thousands firing at once was like over ten thousand S+-class attacks launched together.
“Let’s begin too.”
Other mercenaries who had accepted commissions, such as Steel Curtain and Marlen, began attacking the defense line upon seeing this.
They knew these mere ten thousand ordinary cannons couldn’t harm Bai Fu— but if they delayed, and reinforcements from other directions all converged on Bai Fu’s position, the situation would be very different.
As Steel Curtain and the others had guessed, Bai Fu weaved calmly through the cannon fire, untouched despite the constant bombardment.
Seconds later, a Legion Card floated into each of her hands.
Hyperspace Deployment!
A flash of 【Flowing Light】.
Before anyone could see what happened, the starry sky was suddenly filled with a dense mass of True Spirit summons.
“There’s gotta be at least a hundred thousand!”
Excavation-Princess’s jaw dropped into an “O” shape.
She clearly remembered that in the previous version, Bai Fu’s Psionic Legion had barely half this number.
Had Fu-fu really grown this much stronger in just a few months?
Under Ying Fu’s command, the two Psionic Legions launched a fierce assault— Psionic Storm, Psionic Beam, Psionic Curse, Psionic Vortex… attack after attack rained down, shredding the turrets and patrol towers guarding the fortress into space debris in moments.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions chained together, more spectacular than any fireworks show by orders of magnitude.
“Petty tricks.”
Raul scoffed. Under his command, a swarm of ships lunged at Bai Fu while the fortress’s main cannon neared full charge.
“Careful!”
Suddenly, Cersia turned and shouted into the communicator at Bai Fu.
It turned out the turrets and ships were mere bait to draw Bai Fu’s attention— Raul’s true trump card was a Calamity-class mech, enhanced through multiple layers of augmentation and psionic infusion.
With the aid of a directional teleportation device, the colossal machine descended behind Bai Fu. Hundreds of meters tall, it loomed in deep space like a giant god.
“Holy crap, that mech is huge— and awesome!”
The Players were stunned.
Back during closed beta, the devs had used CGI of giant mechs to attract attention, so many Players had been anticipating the day they’d appear in-game.
Now, the giant mech suddenly reached for Bai Fu, every barrel and force-field emitter on its frame lighting up like a star about to go supernova, radiating raw power.
“Fu-fu’s not gonna be in trouble, right?”
Some hearts clenched, while others silently screamed “Die! Die! Die!” inside.
Only Bai Fu and Ying Fu remained perfectly calm.
This?
Her ladyship didn’t even need to dodge!
Ying Fu ignored the giant mech with a cold smile, leading Cersia, Anya, Dietrich, and the Psionic Legions straight toward the fortress.
Bai Fu truly couldn’t be bothered to dodge.
She hadn’t feared this kind of giant mech six months ago— and she was several times stronger now.
Without even tilting her head up, she simply raised her right hand, unleashing a terrifying force field from her palm. Under its distortion, the surrounding space seemed to warp into a disquieting deep purple.
The giant mech’s right-hand fingers clenched like a speeding train, bearing down on Bai Fu with unstoppable force.
If it managed to grab her, it could probably squeeze her into “Bai Fu paste.”
That would make for some hell-themed merch that’d sell like crazy.
Raul couldn’t help but smile.
However, the moment the mech touched that deep-purple force field, its body jolted violently, as if it had slammed into the hardest wall in existence. Sparks sprayed from its right hand, and seconds later— with a soundless explosion— the entire hand blew apart into scrap.
“How is that possible?!”
Raul’s eyes went wide.
Bai Fu stood unmoving as a mountain, while the mech had lost a hand— just how terrifying was that force field?
He was about to find out.
The deep-purple Dark Force Field spread rapidly, engulfing the giant mech in an instant. Psionic energy poured in wildly, the energy strands composing the field vibrating like the strings of a high-speed plucked instrument.
Accompanied by the rippling waves, the Giant Mech was crushed, torn, and twisted at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Finally, amidst a series of continuous explosions, it was forcibly kneaded into a much smaller iron ball, quietly floating before Bai Fu—forming a world-famous masterpiece titled “A Precious Record of Bai Fu’s Early Mech-Taming Days.”
“Wo-wo-wo… what the hell?”
But this wasn’t even the most shocking part.
While everyone’s attention was glued to Bai Fu and the Giant Mech, Ying Fu had already escorted the group to the fortress and completed the slaughter of all its defenders.
They said this fortress was tough—its energy shield alone had a shield value of a million?
Well then, it was time to unleash Life Drain and Psychic Shock!
Cersia and Anya, armed with the Needle of Sin and Punishment, attacked from both flanks, reaping both flesh and soul.
Many of the fortress defenders didn’t even understand what had happened before they became desiccated corpses, stripped of all sense of self.
“Now that’s a full meal.”
Cersia glanced at the unscathed Bai Fu, then at her own flushed reflection—she was in excellent spirits.
At this moment, Bai Fu flew up to the fortress, and with the Psionic Legion’s support, took less than a minute to shatter its shield.
“Begin the full assault.”
She issued the order over the command channel.
Attack—they would attack at once.
The Players, snapping back to their senses, swallowed hard.
Oh, damn.
Without them noticing, Fu-fu had already grown this powerful? The enemy’s weapons hadn’t even had time to show their might before they were dismantled—this was terrifying.
“Pfft~ I thought that mech was impressive. Fu-fu could’ve just pulled out a hair, blown on it, and killed it. Everyone, charge!”
Excavation-Princess shouted in excitement.
Soon after, thousands of ships surged through the gap Bai Fu had opened.
The scale was so overwhelming that everyone watching was left shaken to their core.
On Steel Curtain’s side—
“It’s done—Bai Fu pulled it off! Charge! Let’s beat the drowning dog together!”
On Raul’s side—
“It’s over. It’s all over!”
This was completely different from the original plan.
Normally, they were supposed to fight Bai Fu here for days and nights, then feign defeat and retreat.
During the withdrawal, the “traitor” would seize the chance to escape, and they would chase relentlessly.
But due to Bai Fu’s group coming to the rescue, they would be forced to leave in frustration.
However, in the very first step of the plan, they had been thwarted—Bai Fu had taken less than ten minutes to break through the defense line.
Forget “feigning defeat”—now they were facing an actual rout.
How many lives would be lost?
Raul’s heart bled.
The Head of State’s heart bled too.
“My men! My money! Bai Fu, you f—”
The Head of State’s words were sharp, but he was helpless.
He felt as pained as one of those “honest guys” in a certain strange anime, pinned to the ground and forced to watch as his wife and some blonde guy… did things.
Hold it in. Hold it in.
Though there had been some setbacks, as long as Bai Fu could be made to die at the hands of the Glorious Forces in the end, the current losses would be worth it.
One must be optimistic in life!
The Head of State kept telling himself that.
But soon, he could no longer console himself, because new news came from Glorious Forces headquarters.
“M-my lord… the fake traitor we planted is dead. When he was raising the flag to surrender, he was accidentally killed by a stray shell.”
“?”
The Head of State collapsed to the floor on the spot.
Thankfully, he was already a Domination-level being—otherwise, he might have died instantly like Wang Situ in those dramas.
“Hurry! Arrange a few more people to surrender!” the Head of State roared.
The Glorious Forces commander received the order and rushed to act.
But it was too late.
The Players who had stormed into Tieliu Mining Planet had long since gone mad.
With a million Players competing for kills, the process went like this: spot someone, slash first, ask questions later.
Hesitate even slightly and the kill might be stolen—wasting the whole trip.
Since Bai Fu had deliberately divided the Players into several combat groups before the operation, competition between groups only made them fight harder.
“I sur—”
“Surrender my ass! Die!”
“At this point, you think you can repent? Kill!”
“Tch, reconciliation? You want reconciliation? When you slaughtered those civilians, why didn’t you give them a chance?”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted all across the surface of Tieliu Mining Planet.
After reaching A-rank, the Players could unleash truly terrifying destructive power.
“Looks like I’ll have to surrender myself.”
Seeing the chaos before him, Raul gritted his teeth and decided to act out the scene himself.
But just as he was about to move, Hei Fu suddenly appeared at his side.
“You should just die quietly.”
Heavenly Burial descended, and Raul—only S+ rank—was flattened into a meat patty in an instant, without even time to scream.
Whoosh~
Bai Fu let out a long breath—now she was comfortable. She quickly had Anya read his memory.
Raul’s mind was “locked.” Clearly, the Glorious Forces took secrecy seriously.
But perhaps the mentalist who placed the lock wasn’t very skilled, because the lock couldn’t stop the Needle of Sin and Punishment’s thrust.
After some effort, Bai Fu still managed to obtain the location of the Glorious Forces’ headquarters.
【You have completed mission [Fall of the Glorious Forces] Sub-quest 1 [Investigation]. Reward: 50 million XP, 3 Positioning Cards.】
“At last… Next, I just need to find a chance to stick a Positioning Card on the Head of State, and once my base Inspiration stacks to five thousand, I’ll immediately send the Glorious Forces on their way!”
Bai Fu had Hei Fu and Anya leave the ship, then used the Virtual Heart to pilot it toward the Dark Zone. She didn’t want anyone to know Raul had died at her hands.
The siege of Tieliu Mining Planet ended in total victory for Bai Fu’s side after five hours.
In the shattered skies above, Steel Curtain and the others sighed helplessly.
“That Glorious Forces member who defected died… victory’s not so sweet now.”
“I’m speechless. What kind of luck is that—getting killed by a stray shell?”
“Enough, complaining won’t help. Let’s return to the Head of State.”
As Bai Fu and the others returned to report their victory, the details of the battle spread through the Edge Worlds.
The Glorious Forces had suffered a crushing defeat, losing half their ships and personnel.
Bai Fu had shone brilliantly in this battle, crushing a Giant Mech as easily as kneading clay…
At first, many thought the Head of State was spreading fake news.
But when the on-site footage came out, and people actually went to Tieliu Mining Planet to confirm the scene, they realized it was all true.
Then, the Taim people went mad.
Aaaaah!
It had been decades—decades since the Glorious Forces had suffered such a devastating loss.
And it was all thanks to Bai Fu.
Bai Fu!
Bai Fu!
Bai Fu!
In no time, Bai Fu’s reputation in the Taim Civilization soared past one thousand, making her its number one idol of the moment.
The heat of the Tieliu Mining Planet battle even surpassed that of the massive war between Gustav and the Free Star System Alliance, which had involved tens of thousands of warships.
During a media interview, Bai Fu wore a look of regret.
“We could have done even better—if we had ensured the safety of that Glorious Forces member who defected, we might already know the exact location of their headquarters.”
Her words left many viewers feeling the same regret.
But no one blamed Bai Fu—on the contrary, countless people stepped up to comfort her.
【Saint, you’ve already done wonderfully. Don’t be too hard on yourself—you owe us nothing!】
【I’m crying. Look at Saint Bai Fu, putting her whole heart into a commission… then look at those clowns we have at home. How can people be so different?】
【The Head of State should’ve hired Saint Bai Fu earlier to deal with the Glorious Forces—then they’d have been wiped out long ago, and the old Head of State wouldn’t have died.】
【It’s not the Head of State’s fault—it’s the Glorious Forces’ fault for hiding so well. Even if he’d hired Bai Fu earlier, without a lead on their location, it wouldn’t have helped.】
Alongside Bai Fu’s soaring fame, the Head of State’s reputation also rose.
Facing reporters, the Head of State spread his hands helplessly.
“This operation was a great success, but we still have a long way to go before the Glorious Forces are completely eliminated.”
When asked if he had anything to say to Bai Fu, the Head of State clenched his right fist and said:
“I saw Saint Bai Fu’s interview, and I want to say—the Glorious Forces member’s accidental death wasn’t her fault. I hope she can recover quickly.”
Bai Fu, watching the livestream, nearly burst out laughing.
Her plan had ruined his, and yet he still had to comfort her on camera.
When he found out the truth someday, his expression would be priceless.
Heehee.
Thank you for the gift, Head of State!
This time, not only had he given her a richly rewarding mission, he had also brought her a flood of reputation and connections.
After the Tieliu Mining Planet battle, Bai Fu’s strength—and the Players’ combat power—had drawn the attention of many.
Numerous corporations and factions reached out to her, including an investment company from the Rebirth Empire.
“With this money, once I advance to Domination-level, I can have the Silent Court expand massively. I’m going to build ten new bases!”
While replying to the investment company from the Rebirth Empire, Bai Fu pondered the Head of State’s next move.
Over there, the Head of State was seething.
He wanted nothing more than to strangle Bai Fu with his own hands, but for the sake of the bigger picture, he forced himself to endure.
The top priority now was to quickly devise a plausible way to leak the location of the Glorious Forces’ headquarters.