Chapter 305: Bai Fu: Join the Glorious Evolution!
When the Players sweeping through the True Spirit Puppets outside Graywind Star received news that their base had been stolen, they were dumbfounded.
No way— the fight had just started and their base was already gone. What were they supposed to do next? Could it be that they were about to be driven out of the Tub Galaxy?
If that were the case, then wouldn’t their main questline in the Tub Galaxy be completely impossible to continue?
That must not happen!
Something had to be wrong.
Wasn’t Fufu the protagonist? How could the protagonist, after appearing only a few days, be beaten so badly by the villains that she had to flee in disgrace? What kind of protagonist was that?
Some Players began to question Bai Fu’s status as the protagonist.
Others ran off to leave messages for the Developers.
Of course, the Players who had defected to the Apostle’s Holy City very opportunely jumped out to mock.
“See? This is the mighty hand of the Apostle’s Holy City— a hand so powerful even the protagonist can’t withstand it!
Just enjoy your Fu. Enjoy her until you’re crying.”
But soon, the situation reversed.
Was it that the Apostle’s Holy City had ambushed the temporary base Bai Fu established on Graywind Star?
Wrong!
The truth was that Bai Fu had used her doppelgänger, Hei Fu, to hold off the Apostle’s Holy City, while giving her other doppelgänger a chance to attack the Apostle’s Holy City base in the Tub Galaxy.
“I am approaching the Apostle’s Holy City base at maximum speed. You must hold back the Fourth Candidate Apostle!”
Inside the speeding ship, Big Black Fu urgently contacted Doomsday Winter and the others.
Previously, the Fourth Candidate Apostle had been stunned for several seconds. Now, it was Doomsday Winter’s turn.
What? An opportunity had just appeared like that— and it was Bai Fu who had found it?
He no longer knew how to describe what he was feeling.
Excited, envious, impressed…
After a long pause, Doomsday Winter asked, “Can you ensure the Black Hole is completely destroyed, and disrupt the surrounding spatial stability so that space cannot be easily located?”
Bai Fu replied, “Of course there’s no problem. After all, the Void Blood flows in me.”
And it really did.
Doomsday Winter let out a breath of relief.
Bai Fu had never concealed the fact that she had shared the Void Blood from Scarlet Leaf in order to help her.
Although some who despised Void Lifeforms accused Bai Fu for it, many more people’s goodwill toward her had only increased.
The countless words in Doomsday Winter’s heart condensed into a single sentence: “Before Imperial Standard Time enters a new day, the Fourth Candidate Apostle will not appear before you. I swear it upon my Blood of Ice!”
Bai Fu smiled and nodded. “Then I am at ease.”
She cut the comms and gazed into the bizarre distortion of the hyperspace channel.
Wasn’t she now carrying the hopes of the entire village?
It really felt like being a hero!
For her, whether or not she became a hero didn’t matter.
But the feeling she created truly sent the Players following her into a frenzy as they charged toward the Apostle’s Holy City base.
“Where are the mockers now? Come out and take a stroll!
What Apostle’s Holy City ‘mighty hand’? It’s not even worth one of Fufu’s toes!”
“When all you can do is scurry around doing chores in the Apostle’s Holy City, we are already following Fufu into a super event that can change the main storyline itself!
‘Take down the Apostle’s Holy City base, and in the future, our names will even appear in the textbooks inside the game! Charge!!!’”
“Holy shit!”
In the Community, Wind-rises-among-Stars almost broke his nose in rage.
Fuck— there was a reversal even here? Wasn’t Bai Fu basically cheating?
He was seriously beginning to suspect Bai Fu was the Developers’ illegitimate daughter. Otherwise, there was no way the game would be run like this.
The agitated Wind-rises-among-Stars immediately reported to his superior in the Apostle’s Holy City, and his superior in turn passed the news to Sui Xi.
At first, upon seeing the message, Sui Xi prepared to withhold it from reporting.
But after thinking it over carefully, she felt that although this would benefit Bai Fu the Apostle, it could also risk exposing her own identity— which was hardly worth it, since she had not yet obtained the True Spirit Molted Fragment in the hands of the Apostle’s Holy City.
Better to report it directly.
It didn’t matter anyway.
Even if reported, it wouldn’t change the outcome.
The Tub Galaxy wasn’t that large. Its widest diameter was only about fifty thousand light years. By the time her report reached the Apostle’s Holy City and was relayed to the front lines, Bai Fu the Apostle would likely have already reached the outskirts of the base.
Sui Xi had full faith in Bai Fu’s strength.
She believed that as long as Bai Fu could reach the base, not even the return of the Fourth Candidate Apostle could stop her.
And just as Sui Xi predicted—
By the time the Apostle’s Holy City contacted the Fourth Candidate Apostle and the others, Big Black Fu, controlled by Bai Fu, had already led the fleet to the outskirts of the Apostle’s Holy City base.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A thousand ships fired as one.
Energy beams, explosions, psionic impacts, esper bombardments…
Countless flashes lit up what had once been pitch darkness.
The Apostolic Lord guarding the base rushed out in panic. Before he could display his might, he was struck hard— once by the suddenly appearing Big Black Fu, and once by the peerless Kabaya— leaving him spinning rapidly.
“Blow it up! Destroy it all! I don’t want to see a single thing left intact!”
“We can’t hold out! We can’t hold out at all! That giant chibi Bai Fu, and the True Spirit Summon she called forth, are far too strong! If you don’t return soon, the base will fall!”
The Fourth Candidate Apostle and the four Peerless near Graywind Star, who were beating Hei Fu and the Prayer Angel, were all stunned.
What the hell… a base-trading tactic?!
How did Bai Fu pull this off? How many doppelgängers did she have, how many summons?
And her true body was in the Rebirth Empire, one doppelgänger was trapped on Graywind Star— how did she send doppelgängers and summons all the way to the base?
Could it be that Bai Fu had actually known their plan in advance, and had placed her doppelgängers and summons outside beforehand, acting as soon as they moved?
Damn it!
Anyway, now was not the time to dwell on such things!
They had to return immediately, or once the base fell, the Black Hole destroyed, and space disrupted, their plan to use the Tub Galaxy as a springboard to invade the Explored Universe would collapse.
Finding a new stable passage would take a tremendous amount of time.
Though they could use the Apostle-grade Dark Energy Engine of the God-statue-class mothership to make ultra-long-distance jumps, the God-statue-class took a long time to start up each time, and the supplies and other warships it could carry were ultimately limited.
The Fourth Candidate Apostle instantly thought of abandoning Doomsday Winter and the others to return to the mothership.
But with their mission’s completion so close at hand, how could Doomsday Winter and the rest possibly let him leave?
He was already at a disadvantage, one against six. Now he still wanted to flee? Dream on.
The Fourth Candidate Apostle fought with all his might, reducing every nearby celestial body to cosmic dust, yet he still could not break through the encirclement.
“I can only drag this out, wear them down until their consumption grows too great, and then escape using my near-infinite energy reserves. But…”
That way, the base could not be saved.
Veins bulged on the Fourth Candidate Apostle’s forehead. He wished he could devour Bai Fu alive for putting him in such a miserable position.
His plan had been so flawless— how had it come to this? It couldn’t possibly be his fault. Someone must have betrayed him to Bai Fu!
After roaring inwardly, the Fourth Candidate Apostle immediately contacted those on Graywind Star.
“Forget the doppelgänger Bai Fu left on Graywind Star. Return at once!”
Shenlan and the others hurriedly acknowledged the order.
They wanted to run too.
But with Bai Fu, the Prayer Angel, and Shadow Fu together, they couldn’t all withdraw.
If so, then at least one should return. A single one of them should be enough to resolve the siege at the base.
“I’ll return. You stay here and deal with Bai Fu’s doppelgänger.”
Shenlan quickly entered a nearby ship. Seconds later, the ship turned about and flew toward the direction of the base.
Of course, Bai Fu would not simply watch him leave. She immediately dispatched several Psionic Legions to block him.
Recently, her Psionic Legions’ combat power had improved significantly, but compared to someone of Shenlan’s Peerless caliber, they were still not enough.
But Bai Fu had never expected her Psionic Legions to stop Shenlan. She only wanted to buy as much time as possible, enough for her to finish off the Apostolic Lord inside the Apostle’s Holy City base.
……
“Too strong, this is impossible to fight!”
Inside the Apostle’s Holy City base.
Amidst a sea of flames, after being struck by debuffs from Dark Burn, Eye of Sorrow, Endless Domain of Darkness and more than a dozen other skills and Prayer Cards, the Lord-class Servant responsible for guarding the base had completely collapsed mentally.
Back in the Apostle’s Holy City, he had already received much information about Bai Fu, most of it praising her and saying how powerful she was.
At that time, he had not believed it at all.
Just boasting.
A Psionic Priest— and not even one trained in a psionic holy land like the Apostle’s Holy City— even if her rank was high, how strong could she really be?
But after experiencing it firsthand, he finally understood that those messages had not been exaggerations.
Bai Fu really was strong!
Her greatest strength wasn’t just her many tricks, but that her body, as a Psionic Priest, was actually tougher than some starry sky behemoths that specialized in refining their bodies.
How the hell was that reasonable?
Studying psionic knowledge and tempering her physique at the same time— was her day twice as long as other people’s?
By now, this Lord-class Servant finally understood why those Undying Ones in the Apostle’s Holy City cursed Bai Fu, but not a single one had ever called her weak.
But it was too late now, all too late.
If, at the very first moment he had seen Bai Fu, he had turned to flee, he might have had a great chance of survival, since Bai Fu’s real target was not him but the Black Hole behind the base.
Now his whole body was covered in wounds and debuffs, and just Bai Fu’s Psionic Legions alone were enough to finish him.
“Enough, stop whining already. Time to be on your way!”
Big Black Fu nodded to Kabaya. Kabaya immediately raised his head, and from his gaping mouth, a deep violet radiance condensed into an extremely unstable sphere.
Damn!
That Lord-class Servant felt the threat of death. He tried to dodge, but the debuff from the Eye of Sorrow caused his body to slip from his control at that exact moment.
He could do nothing.
He could only watch.
Watch as the massive deep violet sphere was spat from Kabaya’s mouth, crossed the empty cosmic void, and finally struck him like a Spirit Bomb.
“Stop!”
As the “Spirit Bomb” disintegrated the Servant’s body, Shenlan’s ship, having broken through the encirclement, ended its jump and arrived near the base.
He only managed to shout one word of protest.
By the time his voice vanished within the ship, the Servant struck by the “Spirit Bomb” had also vanished.
【You have slain…】
【Kill count reached. Your title [Lord Killer] has automatically advanced to [Lord Butcher].】
Two prompts sounded in Bai Fu’s ears.
“Hm? An unexpected bonus?”
Bai Fu opened the description of her new title.
The new title increased damage bonus and maximum base stat bonus by an additional 2%. The boost wasn’t extravagant, but it was still quite considerable.
Considering that the title could continue to advance, Bai Fu was even more delighted.
Against factions of the Explored Universe, she wasn’t free to kill recklessly, since she lived right next to them. But against the Apostle’s Holy City, she had no such scruples.
Bai Fu closed the game prompts and fixed her gaze on Shenlan, who had stormed out of his ship full of fury.
At that moment—
Her back faced the Apostle’s Holy City base.
The massive base had already been reduced to powder earlier by the Players’ indiscriminate bombardment.
All that powder was being pulled by enormous gravitational forces toward the Black Hole, leaving in the starry sky a scar— inconspicuous, yet so black it exuded a sorrowful chill.
This guy had come at the wrong time.
Bai Fu estimated the distance between herself and the Black Hole. She was not sure whether she could shatter both the Black Hole and the surrounding space before Shenlan stopped her. It seemed she had to put her “mouth-escape” skills to use.
Shenlan’s heart bled.
A Lord-class Servant had died just like that.
Fortunately, he had returned in time— Bai Fu had not yet destroyed the Black Hole.
“Bai Fu, you—”
Just as Shenlan was about to hurl threats, Bai Fu suddenly cut him off: “I don’t know your name, so let me simply call you ‘you’. You, do you really mean to stand against me?”
“?”
Shenlan froze.
What did that mean?
Forget it, no need to dwell on it.
He frowned and barked, “Cut the nonsense!”
Bai Fu remained unbothered. “You should have heard that I can help Lords and Peerless advance. Aren’t you curious why I have this ability?”
That…
Originally ready to attack, Shenlan stopped at Bai Fu’s words.
It was indeed a question that troubled many.
Why?
He wanted to know. The Apostle’s Holy City wanted to know too, and to seize this power.
Bai Fu smiled as she slowly drifted backward.
“Because of evolution!”
“Evolution?”
“I have already stepped onto the path of evolution. I can see my own road of evolution, and the evolution of each of you as well. Perhaps you will say that the Crystal Orb of Secrets has similar abilities, but what I see is far beyond that. Compared to me, the Crystal Orb of Secrets is like the glow of a firefly competing with the brilliance of the full moon!”
“…”
Shenlan said nothing. From what the reports suggested, Bai Fu’s ability was indeed far stronger than the Crystal Orb of Secrets.
But why was she telling him this?
Bai Fu turned and looked at the Black Hole framed within the gravitational confinement device.
“Don’t you feel that the road of evolution is like a road leading to a Black Hole? Until we truly arrive there, no one knows what it looks like, or how dangerous it is. Yet this road must be walked. You, who have already become Peerless, do you really wish to stop here? Do you truly not want to know if there exists a true God in this world?”
Saying this, Bai Fu looked back at Shenlan. “I speak of a true God, not some being who proclaims itself divine just because it wields power. For example, the one you worship— is it really a god?”
Shenlan was left speechless.
Did he believe in a god?
He did.
But he did not believe in the “god” the Apostle’s Holy City publicly preached.
Because the Apostle’s Holy City truly had Apostles!
That was a secret unknown to anyone in the Holy City except the Servants.
“What exactly are you trying to say?” Shenlan finally asked.
Bai Fu replied, “Though I can see the path of evolution, reaching its end requires more than vision— far more. I need companions of like mind.”
Here she paused.
The strange gleam from Big Black Fu’s eyes made Shenlan’s heartbeat quicken involuntarily.
The next second, Big Black Fu suddenly spread her arms wide.
“Your path of evolution is beautiful. Follow me, join the glorious evolution!”
As she spoke, countless deep violet lights surged from her body. They ignored gravity entirely, growing denser and denser until at last they enveloped Big Black Fu completely.
Rumble!
Big Black Fu exploded.
Along with the shockwave came her final words.
“You may not be able to give me an answer now. Then, next time we meet, tell me your answer.”
The power of a Peerless-level True Spirit’s explosion instantly tore space apart. Piece by piece, space collapsed. Soon after, the nearby Black Hole was also affected, triggering an even more violent explosion.
Sensing the danger, Shenlan quickly retreated. He was Peerless, after all; such an explosion was terrifying but not enough to kill him.
When all the dust settled, the Black Hole had been completely swallowed by chaotic turbulence. Shenlan could not speak for a long time.
He had failed to stop Bai Fu.
And it seemed it was his fault.
If he had not listened to Bai Fu’s words, perhaps he could have stopped her.
But…
Forget it.
No one had seen. He would simply claim he had been a step too late.
The key was the things Bai Fu had said.
The glorious evolution?
Could it be real?
Shenlan sank into deep thought.