Chapter 312: New Main Storyline Quest, Beyond the Stars
Bai Fu’s plan made the members of the Anti-Holy City of Apostles Alliance excited.
To fight back to their homeland, to revive their civilization!
They had been waiting for this day for a long time.
But not everyone was carried away by this plan.
In just over a year of contact with Bai Fu, they had personally witnessed her rise from a Domination-level Being to Transcendent at an astonishing speed, even beating down a group of veteran Transcendents with overwhelming force.
Yet, even though Bai Fu had grown so quickly, to say she could now lead them in a counterattack against the Holy City of Apostles and reclaim the territories once ruled by their civilization was still nothing but a fool’s dream.
That was the Holy City of Apostles!
The Holy City of Apostles with dozens of Transcendents and a vast arsenal of cutting-edge psionic weapons!
“You are right to be concerned. With my current strength, even if I launched a surprise attack, it would be impossible to deal a heavy blow to the Holy City of Apostles. Not now, not even if I completed two or three rounds of Divine Transformation. To think I could defeat the Holy City of Apostles with one against many would still be impossible. So…”
Bai Fu smiled.
“Our purpose in this action is not to cause losses to the Holy City of Apostles, but to find a way to make the Holy City of Apostles fall into chaos!”
The Holy City of Apostles was a civilization that had been expanding outward endlessly. In terms of warmongering, even the Supernova Legion could not compare to it.
Overexpansion inevitably brought countless problems. The only reason these problems had not yet affected the Holy City of Apostles was because it was still so powerful—powerful enough that no one believed it could suffer any real issues.
If the Holy City of Apostles were not so powerful—or rather, if it appeared less powerful in everyone’s eyes—then many hidden problems would inevitably begin to surface.
Of course, Bai Fu did not believe that the eruption of these problems could bring down such a colossal existence like the Holy City of Apostles in the same way Former Qin collapsed after the Battle of Feishui.
The top-tier power of the Holy City of Apostles was simply too overwhelming. Even if their civilization were ablaze with rebellion everywhere, given enough time, they would still inevitably extinguish every fire.
Therefore, Bai Fu’s true plan was to use the coming series of operations to sow division among the top combat forces of the Holy City of Apostles.
For this, she had to make use of the new persona she had just built.
“The persona of an Apostle is much more useful than that of the Sovereign of the Shadowed Night.”
After explaining, Bai Fu obtained maps of their respective civilizations as well as border maps of the Holy City of Apostles from Ruth and the others.
Then, she quickly left the Empire, taking her Hei Fu clone with her, heading for the Tub Galaxy.
It had been over ten days since the Annihilation of the Black Hole, yet the Holy City of Apostles had not withdrawn its troops. Instead, they remained in the Battle of Tub, confronting the three cosmic-level civilizations, attempting to salvage some face.
Without the need to guard the Black Hole any longer, the Holy City of Apostles could commit all its forces to the offensive. The sheer strength they unleashed left the people of the three cosmic-level civilizations in utter misery, sending multiple desperate requests for reinforcements to their headquarters.
Reinforcements—how could they reinforce?
The members of the Imperial Senate, upon receiving these pleas for aid, felt nothing but headaches.
The Ethereal Realm raid and the Revolutionary Army’s surprise attack had left them too wary to act rashly without first confirming their opponent’s true strength. All they could do was send messages telling the frontline legions and Transcendents to grit their teeth and hold on a little longer.
If they really could not hold out, then retreat.
After all, the Black Hole in the Tub Galaxy had already been destroyed. Though retreating under such defeat would make the Empire lose face, losing face was still better than forcing reinforcements to Tub only to find their own home set ablaze.
When Bai Fu once again arrived in the Tub Galaxy, what she saw were the gloomy faces of Winter of the Apocalypse and the others.
“Why are you here?”
Winter of the Apocalypse and the others were shocked. They had not expected Bai Fu, who was currently at the very center of the storm, to suddenly appear in the Tub Galaxy.
Bai Fu said: “The Empire doesn’t need me for now. Instead of staying there, I might as well come here to support you. Besides, lately everyone keeps saying I’m an Apostle. Even though I held a press conference to deny it, no one believes me. They keep trying to interview me in every way possible. It’s annoying. I’d rather hide here for a while.”
Winter of the Apocalypse and the others hesitated.
Was she really not an Apostle?
Honestly, they did not quite believe it.
But since Bai Fu said so, asking further would only be impolite.
In any case, Bai Fu’s presence was a good thing for them.
They had already heard of Bai Fu’s exploits in the Ethereal Realm. Her strength was now firmly equivalent to a Transcendent who had undergone two Divine Transformations. She would certainly greatly ease the pressure brought on by the Holy City of Apostles.
With Bai Fu present, even if they still could not win against Cathedral Number Four of the Holy City of Apostles, they could at least retreat in an orderly manner without suffering massive losses.
“I’ll arrange a place for you to stay first.”
“Thanks for the trouble.”
Once settled, Bai Fu immediately contacted Anya and the others, who were still roaming near the Tub Galaxy, and told them to come see her quickly.
“Boss!”
As soon as she saw Bai Fu, Anya leapt onto her, rubbing against her while smugly showing off to Yulia, Scarlet Leaf, and Cecia.
“All right, all right, stop playing.” Bai Fu lifted Anya off her. “The reason I called you here this time is because I need your help.”
“My help?”
Anya was puzzled.
Bai Fu led her into her room, then took out the Paradise Ark.
The Mentalist she had captured in the Ethereal Realm had already been handed over to the Beast God for “training” for quite some time. But this guy had an iron will. Even after more than ten days of being tormented by a lunatic like the Beast God, he still refused to say a word. This left Bai Fu deeply impressed—and made her decide to serve him some heavy punishment.
And by heavy punishment, she meant Anya’s Needle of Sin and Punishment.
Anyone who refused to speak would be stabbed with a thousand needles!
“So it’s stabbing people? That’s what I do best!”
Anya was brimming with fighting spirit.
Yet to both Bai Fu and Anya’s surprise, even after being relentlessly pierced by the Needle of Sin and Punishment for half a day, the Mentalist still refused to reveal his true identity or the faction to which he belonged.
“?”
“Give it up. Either way, I’m dead. No matter how you torture me, I will not speak.”
“”
Bai Fu frowned.
“You’re very afraid of the organization you belong to?”
The Mentalist said: “No.”
Bai Fu said: “What do you mean by ‘either way I’m dead’? You don’t have any curses or restrictions on you, nothing that would cause your organization to kill you the moment you spoke. Are you worried that I would kill you after learning the truth? You really don’t need to have such a concern.”
The Mentalist said: “You don’t need to waste your time here. No matter what you do, I will never tell you the truth. I am a Mentalist. These so-called torture methods of yours are nothing but child’s play in my eyes.”
So tough!
Bai Fu switched strategies.
If threats wouldn’t work, then she would try temptation.
“If you tell me the truth, I guarantee I can help you rise from one Divine Transformation to four, even five Divine Transformations.”
The Mentalist laughed: “That is indeed a tempting offer. If it were an ordinary Transcendent, they would surely take the bait. But I am different. More than the pursuit of ultimate power, what I value most is balance.”
At this point, he suddenly paused. When he spoke again, his tone had turned extremely heavy.
“Bai Fu, if you stop guiding others through Divine Transformation, and if you yourself abandon the pursuit of the supreme, then we still have a chance to be friends. Otherwise, the only thing waiting for you is death.”
Damn, he actually dared to threaten her back!
Fine, fine.
If interrogation yielded no useful intel, then he could just work hard in the Paradise Ark as a prisoner of labor!
For now, she could not deal with him, but once Anya grew stronger, she refused to believe she couldn’t dig out intelligence from him!
Bai Fu put the Paradise Ark away.
At that moment, she received a new quest prompt.
【You have triggered the Main Storyline Quest［Beyond the Stars (I)］】
【Quest Description: ……】
【Quest Objective: Find out the true identity of the Transcendent-level Mentalist you captured, and the name of the faction to which he belongs】
【Reward: 5 billion XP, Random［Rainbow］-grade Prayer Card Blueprint*1】
Bai Fu was stunned by the quest rewards.
Five billion XP wasn’t particularly rare, but the key was that this quest even rewarded a Rainbow-grade Prayer Card.
And this was just an investigation quest!
For comparison, another investigation quest—investigating the painter in 【Overturn the World】—only gave 500 million XP and a Psionic Construct Evolution Card. Was this the weight carried by quests named after the game itself?
“Could it be that I’ve stumbled into the ultimate main storyline quest of this game?”
Bai Fu muttered in her heart.
Then she shook her head, temporarily setting it aside. She passed on the recently acquired Spiritual Attribute Training Method to Anya.
Anya was now already at Upper Calamity-level, only lacking attribute accumulation to reach Domination-level. As for knowledge, with Bai Fu feeding her, she had no worries about falling short.
“You learn this first. Once you’ve mastered it, come out with me.”
“Go where?” Anya asked curiously, looking at Bai Fu.
Bai Fu narrowed her eyes: “The Holy City of Apostles!”
……
One day later, Bai Fu brought Anya, Yulia, and Shadow Fu, driving the Mobile Palace straight toward the Holy City of Apostles.
Hei Fu she had left behind in the Tub Galaxy. Her main purpose was not to have Hei Fu assist Winter of the Apocalypse and the others, but to let Hei Fu command the Players to wage large-scale battles against the Holy City of Apostles in the Tub Galaxy—drawing their attention and creating an opportunity for her to launch a sneak attack on the Holy City.
This move’s effectiveness was indeed extraordinary.
As the most discussed person in the Explored Universe in recent times, Bai Fu’s mere appearance in the Tub Galaxy drew massive attention. Immediately, news reached the Holy City of Apostles.
“She dares to come back?”
The followers of Cathedral Number Four of the Holy City of Apostles were shocked.
The Fourth Candidate Apostle, Lit, was so furious he laughed.
The competition between the seven cathedrals of the Holy City of Apostles never ceased for even a moment. This time, he had personally led the army to the Tub Galaxy, only to suffer a humiliating defeat at Bai Fu’s hands thanks to her base-trading tactics. Because of this, he had been widely criticized within the Holy City of Apostles. How could he possibly swallow this humiliation?
“Since you’ve come, don’t think of leaving again!”
Lit’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
The outside world was abuzz with rumors that Bai Fu was an Apostle. If she truly was one, then capturing her now would not only redeem his lost honor but could very well allow him to rise even further within the Holy City of Apostles.
As a Candidate Apostle, what lay beyond?
Naturally, becoming a Supreme Apostle!
“Test her first. See if Bai Fu came in person or sent a clone. If it’s her true self, capture her. If it’s a clone, request authorization to deploy 【Mind Desert】.”
Cathedral Number Four of the Holy City of Apostles quickly moved into action.
Meanwhile, Bai Fu was not idle either.
On the way toward the Holy City, she trained diligently with the Spiritual Attribute Method while keeping a close eye on the situation in the Tub Galaxy.
For the past few days, the Tub Galaxy had remained relatively stable, with no fierce clashes between the allied forces of the three cosmic-level civilizations and the Holy City of Apostles.
But everyone knew this was merely the calm before the storm.
A great collision was coming.
Among those at the frontlines, only the Players carried on as relaxed as ever.
They took on little quests, browsed the Community in their spare time.
Ever since the rumor that Bai Fu was an Apostle had spread, the Community had become bustling, with people tagging Digging-Treasure every few days.
【Digging-Treasure, Digging-Treasure, if Fu-fu really is an Apostle, doesn’t that mean your previous analysis was wrong?】
【Didn’t Fu-fu hold a press conference saying she wasn’t an Apostle?】
【Do you believe that? I sure don’t.】
【An Apostle, huh? No wonder Fu-fu levels up so fast. No wonder she’s the protagonist.】
【She’s basically the Seria of Beyond the Stars version!】
At first, Digging-Treasure really thought she had analyzed wrong, feeling like the sky was collapsing. She had finally shaken off the label of always guessing wrong—was she about to fall back into it?
But she quickly realized that Bai Fu being an Apostle didn’t actually conflict with her deductions. With just a little adjustment, everything made sense again.
The real situation was like this——
【Bai Fu was indeed an Apostle at the start. Later, for some unknown reason, she descended into the Explored Universe and became human. And then… and then the storyline went exactly as I previously analyzed.】
【Reasonable. Very reasonable. That perfectly explains why Fu-fu is the protagonist spanning the entire game, and why her psionic talent is so exceptional. Even after reaching Domination-level, her leveling speed was still astonishing. Wouldn’t an Apostle of the Ethereal Realm naturally have such psionic gifts?】
【Sigh, not bad, not bad. Trust me to casually latch onto the thigh of an Apostle of the Ethereal Realm.】
In her replies, Digging-Treasure never forgot to brag about herself a little.
This left both the Players and Bai Fu speechless. Yep, that was so her!
Thanks to Digging-Treasure’s response, all the Players now firmly believed Bai Fu truly was an Apostle.
Bai Fu was very satisfied with this result.
Since the Players believed she was an Apostle, the NPCs who interacted with them would also be more inclined to accept it. Her new persona had now been firmly established.
“Next, I’ll just wait for someone to come throwing themselves at me with anti-Apostle techniques.”
If she could take down a few Domination-level and Transcendent opponents, she could gorge on XP to her heart’s content.
“Boss, we’ve already entered Rayas Civilization territory!”
At that moment, Anya shouted loudly.
Rayas Civilization—the very civilization Ruth came from—had been annexed by the Holy City of Apostles a few years ago. From here, the Holy City itself was not far.
“The Holy City of Apostles must be preparing right now to attack the Tub Galaxy base where Hei Fu sits. They would never expect me to launch another base-trade tactic, and this time aimed directly at their homeland!”
Hehe!
“First, let’s capture someone with inside knowledge nearby. Ask them where to find advanced Dark Energy Knowledge. If I can activate 【Ethereal Spirit】 and 【Spiral】, whether my power skyrockets depends entirely on this attempt!”