Chapter 302: Let the World Listen, We Are the Calamity!
The discovery of the Supernova Legion made every civilization in the explored universe tense.
The exploration fleet had reached a location merely 1 billion light years away from the border of the Supernova Legion.
1 billion light years—it sounded like an unreachable distance.
But one had to know that even the smallest star region under the Supernova Legion’s rule stretched up to 900 million light years at its longest.
「In other words, the vanguard of the Apostles’ Holy City was only one star region away from the Supernova Legion, and merely over 2 billion light years away from the border of the Rebirth Empire！」
Bai Fu opened the game map.
Through positioning Suixi, she had already figured out the approximate location of the Apostles’ Holy City headquarters. Although she could not calculate exactly how far it was from the Rebirth Empire, it was definitely more than 2 billion light years. Otherwise, after all these years, those adventurers and criminals wandering in the Dark Zone would have already discovered the Apostles’ Holy City—it would not have been left to the Saints to make their move.
「The Apostles’ Holy City suddenly showing up so close to the explored universe… it looks like they’ve already launched their proactive offensive！」
Bai Fu’s expression grew extremely grave.
The good news was that she had advanced to Transcendent just before the great war approached, and the experience she had accumulated was nearly enough for her to trigger her first Divine Metamorphosis.
The bad news was that the Apostles’ Holy City had come far too quickly. Even with her help, the improvements made by the Rebirth Empire were minimal, while the Supernova Legion and Titan Industries had made none at all.
Could they even win?
It felt difficult.
After all, Rufas and Painter were still watching from the outside.
That Srik, who had suddenly betrayed the Empire, might have only been an ordinary Sovereign, but the mission line tied to him was very likely to be extremely dangerous.
Indeed, any “World” with active Players was destined to be full of calamities!
Fight first, think later.
If even the combined strength of the three Universal-level civilizations could not resist the Apostles’ Holy City, then at worst, she would just lead a group of Players to a more distant starry sea and play Dark Zone Survival.
With her current strength and reputation, she would never lack for Players to follow her.
And as long as she had Players following her, she would always be able to siphon experience from them. With that experience, she could continue leveling up.
「Whether I can surpass the Oathmaster or even Yuan Yi depends on this round！」
Bai Fu’s eyes sparkled with dazzling brilliance.
The Great Cosmic War—a war fought with Universal-level civilizations as factions. In such a war, even Sovereigns and Transcendents risked falling. As for ordinary people—once swept into war, death was counted in planetary units.
There was no doubt this was a massive crisis. But within crisis lay opportunity.
The rewards for Dark Zone exploration missions were already considered lavish. The rewards for a Great Cosmic War mission would surely be even more tempting.
Holding over 20 million advanced “green shoots” in her hand, she dared not even think in detail about just how many benefits she could harvest from this war—lest she faint from the sheer joy.
After closing the game map, Bai Fu immediately contacted the Rebirth Empire to learn the specifics.
The civilization invaded by the Apostles’ Holy City was called the Tub Civilization, a very pure technological civilization.
The Tub Civilization was the undisputed overlord of its star region. About a month ago, one of its mining fleets encountered the fleet of the Apostles’ Holy City deep in the Star Sea.
At first, the mining fleet thought they had stumbled upon some reckless interstellar pirates. When questioning failed, they launched an attack against the Apostles’ fleet.
But they soon realized this was no ordinary pirate band, but an absolutely invincible opponent. Their shells and energy beams had not even reached the enemy’s ship shields before being intercepted mid-flight.
How?
A bizarre-looking figure flew out from a ship, opened his mouth, and inhaled with force. In that instant, shells, energy beams, cosmic dust—even a mining vessel—were sucked straight into his mouth and vanished without a trace.
Faced with such a monster, the miners despaired.
Unexpectedly, the Apostles’ Holy City spared them. Instead, they were told to carry a message—urge the Tub Civilization to surrender quickly, or else the Apostles’ Holy City’s main fleet would soon arrive to attack.
The Tub Civilization refused.
At that time, they had no idea how terrifying the Apostles’ Holy City was. They thought it had only punished a mining fleet. The method might have been peculiar, but nothing extraordinary.
【As long as our God-level experts take action, everything will turn around.】
In reality, the Tub Civilization’s “God-level experts” were only Calamity-class Psionicists. In contrast, the Apostles’ Holy City had dispatched several Sovereigns, along with multiple Mother-class mobile fortress ships.
Their first large-scale battle ended with the Tub Civilization’s fleet cut in half by the fortress ships’ charge, followed by a swift rout.
By the time the Supernova Legion’s exploration fleet accidentally arrived near the Tub Civilization, its capital star had already fallen. Only a few remaining forces were still conducting guerrilla warfare against the Apostles.
According to the account of a Tub guerrilla fleet captain, the Apostles’ Holy City invaded mainly because of the black hole in the capital star’s system. They planned to build a gravitational harvesting base there to power long-range Stargates.
「Clearly, the Apostles’ Holy City intends to use the Tub Civilization as a springboard for attacking us！ Their speed of action is far beyond what we anticipated—but fortune is on our side. We captured their movements not long after they entered Tub territory.」
Dmitri pointed at the map in front of him as he explained.
「So, our task is clear. We must stop the Apostles’ Holy City from constructing a Stargate within the Tub Civilization. Once that gate is completed, their main force will be able to reach the frontlines at extremely low cost and unprecedented speed. The situation would then be disastrous for us.」
Bai Fu strongly agreed with Dmitri’s words.
If things truly turned out as Dmitri said, then even if she went all out, tirelessly guiding the Sovereigns and Transcendents of the three Universal-level civilizations stuck at their bottlenecks, the decline might still prove irreversible.
Even her own advancement to Transcendent required time to complete the Awakening Quest. For the others, their breakthroughs would only take longer.
「Have you already reached an agreement？」
Dmitri replied: 「Yes. His Majesty, the Chief of the Supernova Legion, and the President of Titan Industries held a meeting not long ago. Each civilization will send a special operations unit to the Tub Civilization, doing everything to stop the Apostles. For this, even the Empire is deploying the Dimensional Cube—to directly annihilate the Tub black hole. As for you, my advice is to leave Origin Star immediately and head to the Imperial Capital. The Apostles surely already know that you can assist Transcendents with their Divine Metamorphosis. If they catch the chance, they will absolutely target you. Staying here is too dangerous.」
「To the Imperial Capital, then? Very well.」
Bai Fu nodded.
After all, she still had Hei Fu as her avatar. Even if her main body was in the Imperial Capital, she would not miss out on quests.
Her main body would head to the Imperial Capital to guide Sovereigns and Transcendents, while also awaiting the Empire’s Ethereal Realm Development Plan to officially commence. Meanwhile, her avatar would remain outside, tackling Version 3’s main storyline. Dual-thread parallel processing—absolutely perfect!
「Then let’s depart quickly.」
Being a woman of action, Bai Fu wasted no time. After arranging things with Dmitri, she issued an emergency notice that very night, deploying fleets to temporarily evacuate all inhabitants of Origin Star to Ulysses Star, so they would not die from collateral damage in the coming war.
After that, she formed an expeditionary force led by her avatar Hei Fu. Its members included Shadow Fu, Anya, Fei Ye, Cecia, Yulia, and many other Players. Their destination—the Tub Civilization.
After she explained the situation to the three Universal-level civilizations, the game promptly issued a main storyline quest.
【You have triggered the Main Quest［Battle of Tub］】
【Quest Description: ……】
【Quest Objectives:
Branch – Establish a foothold: Build your own base in Tub Civilization and hold it for 13 days without falling. Reward: 500 million XP;
Branch – Overcome the enemy: Kill a Sovereign or Transcendent from the Apostles’ Holy City faction. Rewards based on kills;
Branch – Collapse the idol: Destroy a God-statue-class mothership of the Apostles’ Holy City. Rewards based on contribution;
Branch – Black Hole Annihilation: Erase the black hole in the Tub system, destabilize the nearby space, and prevent the Apostles from constructing a long-range Stargate. Reward: Special Title［Beyond the Black Hole］, additional rewards based on contribution;
Branch – Restore the homeland: Fully recover all Tub Civilization territory. Rewards based on contribution.】
【Note 1: Completing Branch 4 within 13 days will trigger a hidden quest reward】
【Note 2: After 13 days, this quest’s difficulty will automatically increase (Countdown: 311:59:59)】
【Note 3: This is a faction war quest. Your performance will influence the outcome of the entire war. If your faction achieves final victory, you will receive additional rewards. Give your all—let your brilliance shine on the battlefield！】
This was without a doubt the most complex quest Bai Fu had received in years—especially Notes 1 and 2, which puzzled her deeply.
What did it mean that the difficulty would “automatically increase after 13 days”?
Since it was tied to the black hole destruction, the matter seemed even more puzzling.
「Will the Apostles send reinforcements after 13 days? Or will that black hole mutate after 13 days? Or perhaps something else will happen after 13 days to affect the Battle of Tub？」
Bai Fu reread the quest several times, then flipped through the data Dmitri had sent her again and again, but never found a clue.
In that case, even if she wanted to warn the three Universal-level civilizations, it would be difficult.
How could she warn them? Say that she could foresee the future, that in 13 days disaster would strike?
That was far too vague. If there was no way to make targeted preparations, then such a warning would be meaningless.
What if the three Universal-level civilizations reinforced the Tub Civilization after hearing her words, but the disaster instead befell them internally—then what?
「We’ll just have to fight and see as it comes.」
Bai Fu shook her head.
Although the quest stated there were still 13 days, in reality she had far less time—after all, the travel time had to be subtracted.
Fortunately, the Supernova Legion was already urgently constructing a Stargate leading near the Tub Civilization. Thus, her journey would take no more than four days.
「That means I’ll only have nine days left to complete the quest.」
Time was tight, the task heavy.
Closing the quest panel, Bai Fu immediately gathered all Players willing to fight and began boarding.
During the boarding process, she made a brief pre-battle speech.
Though it was only a formality, she deliberately summoned a batch of livestream robots to broadcast the entire mobilization process on the largest livestreaming website in the explored universe, giving the rally a strong sense of ceremony.
「This war is happening far away from us, but it is connected to every single one of us.」
「The Apostles’ Holy City is a civilization that practices absolute hegemony.」
「They conquer every land they see. They force every land they reach to believe what they believe. They call this ‘returning to the embrace of God’. What do you think of that?」
Bai Fu swept her gaze across the room without speaking.
本作品由整理上傳~~
She left ample space for the Players to discuss. After a full minute, she took a deep breath and suddenly shouted.
「I don’t know what everyone else thinks, but as for me, I, Bai Fu, absolutely cannot agree with the dogshit ideology of the Apostles’ Holy City！」
Her clear, resonant voice echoed through the ships and in the livestream room.
Everyone who heard her words was stunned.
Wait.
What did they just hear—dogshit?
Bai Fu continued: 「Yes. In my eyes, the ideology of the Apostles’ Holy City is dogshit. ‘Returning to the embrace of God’? Fuck that！ Do they deserve to call themselves God’s representatives? They’re nothing but a bunch of bastards without mothers, a mob that spreads calamities wherever they go！」
「Against such thugs, preaching is meaningless. Negotiation is impossible. The only answer is to fight—fight until they feel the pain！」
「They call themselves calamity？」
「Bullshit！」
「From today onwards, we will tell them, we will tell the whole universe, we will tell every corner of sentient existence—we are the calamity, and a calamity made specifically for them！」
「Move out！」
Bai Fu slammed her hand down on the podium, then turned sharply. Her silver ponytail swished past the camera like a blade drawn from its sheath—one “cut” that shook the “earthquake.”
Unexpected.
This mobilization rally by Bai Fu was simply far too unexpected!
【Holy shit, if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time Fu-fu has cursed in public！】
Excavation-Princess, a “White Studies” master, widened her eyes in shock.
Dogshit, fuck you, bastards, bullshit…
These words were nothing short of vicious. But what mattered most was—they had come from Bai Fu’s mouth! Bai Fu, the Saint, praised for nearly twenty years without a single scandal!
For the Apostles’ Holy City to make someone with Bai Fu’s terrifyingly high composure curse like that—their weight was indeed unmatched.
【Amazing, this is what a proper cutscene should be like！ If all cutscenes were this quality, I’d never skip them again. What’s the ‘skip cutscene’ button, anyway？】
【Cool cool cool—Fu-fu swearing is too damn cool！】
【Wait, did Bai Fu just insult someone’s mom live on stream? For real？】
【Say more! I love the tone when Fu-fu curses, it’s just too fun.】
On the ships, in the livestream rooms, across the communities—Players everywhere grew restless at that moment.
Fu-fu was right. Apostles’ Holy City was a calamity?
Bullshit!
In this game world, many things could be called calamities. But the real calamity—there was only them!
From Version 0’s entry into the game, to Version 0’s full leap into the Star Sea, to today’s Version 3—for twenty stormy years, now was the time to declare the true strength of the Fourth Calamity to the world!
One ship, two ships, three ships… countless ships followed behind Bai Fu’s flagship, rushing into the depths of the starry sea.
As the engines roared, the entire explored universe trembled with Bai Fu’s words.
Was this the passion of youth?
But passion came with a price. The Undying Ones could not die. But Bai Fu?
「Do you think she can survive until the war with the Apostles’ Holy City ends？」
On a distant planet, Tigerhead Man asked the Painter beside him.
The Painter replied with a blank face: 「No.」
Tigerhead Man was surprised: 「So certain？」
The Painter said: 「Because I will not let her live until then.」
Tigerhead Man raised a thumb.
Good.
Ambitious.
I like you!
……
Aboard the ships.
Watching the excited Players, Yulia’s lips twitched uncontrollably.
One heartfelt outburst from Bai Fu had actually stirred the Undying Ones so much. It was unbelievable. If those Undying Ones knew that Bai Fu’s earlier behavior was her true self, what would they think?
「Life is a play, and all depends on acting.」
Bai Fu giggled.
Not only had she prepared an inspiring speech for the Players, she had even prepared a television station for them.
Just moments ago, she had applied to establish a television station—its sole purpose being to broadcast the heroic deeds of Players in the Battle of Tub.
She would regularly send Tiny Bai Fu to interview outstanding Players, helping them boost their reputation across the explored universe, turning them into superstars in the eyes of NPCs.
Players played games to feel good.
Fighting fiercely felt good. Reaping huge rewards felt good. Becoming the red-hot celebrity chased by tens of thousands in the game felt just as good.
Bai Fu was sure this trick would drive Players to charge forward like crazy.
The faster and fiercer the Players rushed, the more experience they gained. The more experience the Players earned, the more she could happily exploit.
In short—just go for it!
Four days later, Bai Fu led the fleet across over ten billion light years and finally reached the Tub system. By then, war had already engulfed the entire system.
Under the blows of the Apostles’ Holy City, the Tub Civilization’s government had long since collapsed.
To counter the guerrilla fleets, the Apostles had deployed vast numbers of True Spirit Puppets across the Tub system’s planets. With such puppets around, the guerrillas dared not land recklessly. Without landings, they could not replenish supplies. The situation was on the verge of collapse.
「According to a guerrilla fleet with connections to the Supernova Legion, this planet before us has two Calamity-class True Spirit Puppets.」
Looking at the virtual screen, Bai Fu nodded.
「This planet is good. Its location and environment are excellent, perfect for establishing a base. Two Calamity-class puppets, huh? Hah！」
A Calamity-class could easily crush S+ and S-rank Psionicists.
But what if a million S-rank Psionicists stood before them?
Bai Fu turned to Anya at her side: 「Deploy a million Undying Ones—let those two Calamity-class True Spirit Puppets feel the weight！」