Chapter 76: Is your Bai Fu realistic?
Truth Society, Combat Unit.
Yu Wei, who was responsible for monitoring the dark web, as always, logged into his backend system after the meeting. The first thing that came into view was the inbox marked with 99+ unread messages.
For him, the main task each day was reading the inbox, categorizing the messages, and submitting them to his superiors based on importance.
Most of the time, the messages in the inbox held no value and could even send the President's blood pressure soaring. For instance, not long ago, Bai Fu had repeatedly thwarted the Truth Society's assassination bounties, which had infuriated both the President and the Minister of the Combat Unit, and even those of them who handled grunt work had suffered as a result.
Fortunately, Bai Fu had recently fallen out with the Gene Primordials. For the time being, there shouldn’t be any more tricks from her, and he no longer had to worry about her news.
For the time being... like hell!
As Yu Wei skimmed through the messages in the inbox, he was horrified to find Bai Fu’s name once again appearing on the screen.
What a disaster.
Could it be that Bai Fu had attacked another base of the Truth Society?
Lately, the President had been clashing with the Gene Primordials and was extremely volatile. If news of Bai Fu causing trouble again reached the President...
Yu Wei dared not imagine what sort of treatment he would face.
Trembling, he clicked on the new message. To his surprise, the message was sent by a dark web A-rank assassin with the codename "Rattlesnake." The message was short, but packed a nuclear-bomb-level shockwave.
【I’ve already killed Bai Fu】
“Damn!”
Yu Wei shouted and jumped up from his seat.
“What the hell are you screaming about this early in the morning?”
His outburst quickly drew discontent from those nearby, but once they came over and saw the screen, they echoed his reaction.
“Damn!”
One damn followed another. Amidst this wave, the Minister of the Combat Unit, Bernardo, quickly sensed something was off.
“What the hell are you—damn!”
Staring at the message on the screen, Bernardo’s eyes nearly popped out.
Although the President had ordered him to stop pursuing Bai Fu after her fallout with the Gene Primordials, if a real opportunity presented itself, how could the President possibly not want to kill the one who repeatedly sabotaged the Truth Society’s plans?
Li Cheng’s capture had left the Truth Society silently seething. The destruction of the Bagaros Base and Guido’s death had left them tasting filth—these were genuine grudges.
If Bai Fu was truly dead, it would be incredible news, worth hosting an internal celebration banquet.
“Pull up Rattlesnake’s file.”
Bernardo forced himself to remain calm. The authenticity of the situation still couldn’t be confirmed, so he couldn’t report it to the President just yet.
After reading Rattlesnake’s profile, he nodded slightly.
“No one has ever seen TA’s real face, but TA is a psionic-type ability user and an A-rank assassin. With TA’s ability, if it was a surprise attack, it’s indeed possible to take down Bai Fu. This message is very likely to be real. Contact TA and have TA send over a few photos!”
Yu Wei immediately followed orders.
About ten minutes later, “Rattlesnake” came back online and sent over two photos.
One showed Bai Fu pressing her hand against her forehead, standing in place, looking dazed. The other showed Bai Fu lying on the ground, eyes shut tight, her abdomen soaked in blood.
“That face is definitely Bai Fu’s.” Bernardo had seen photos of Bai Fu no fewer than a thousand times, so he recognized her instantly. “Ask TA how Bai Fu was killed and where TA is now. Tell TA that if TA hands over Bai Fu’s corpse, the 800,000 will be transferred to TA’s account immediately.”
Yu Wei clacked away on the keyboard.
“TA said TA was hired by a Wanderer organization in the Goli Desert. A few days ago, Bai Fu had a conflict with that Wanderer group. TA recognized Bai Fu and launched a surprise attack with a psionic shock while Bai Fu was distracted. Even so, it still cost TA dearly to finish her off. After killing Bai Fu, TA temporarily left the Goli Desert and is now near the Ilinas Settlement within the Railway Guild’s territory.”
The Railway Guild, huh?
Judging by Rattlesnake’s message, Bernardo couldn’t find any signs of lying.
He thought briefly and said, “Send Graham to handle this. Make sure to bring Bai Fu’s body back intact.”
“Yes!”
The Truth Society quickly sprang into action.
Bernardo looked around, feeling elated.
Bai Fu, oh Bai Fu, this is what you get for going against the Truth Society. So what if you’re skilled? Didn’t you still get crushed with ease?
……
Meanwhile, on the other end of the dark web, Bai Fu smiled as she read the replies on the screen.
“Looks like little Yulia’s intel was correct. There really is a Truth Society base near Ilinas.”
The reason she impersonated Rattlesnake to contact the Truth Society was partly to find the location Graham was hiding, as mentioned by little Yulia, and partly for the bounty the Truth Society offered.
Everyone wanted to trade her life to the Truth Society or the Gene Primordials for bounty money. What a coincidence—she wanted to as well!
That was 800,000, after all. Even for her current self, it wasn’t a small sum. Why should others be able to earn it, but not her?
To ensure she could secure the money, after learning that Cui Jiming had once been a plastic surgeon, Bai Fu began scheming.
In fact, even if Cui Jiming couldn’t do it, she could find a doctor at any other settlement for the same result. It was just cheaper to let Cui Jiming handle it.
Bai Fu’s plan was to have Cui Jiming perform plastic surgery on a Player to make them look like her, and then use this Player to deceive the Truth Society.
Yesterday, before coming to Shelter Number 5, she had shared her plan with the Players. Of course, she deliberately left out the part about earning the bounty and only said she intended to use this method to lure out the Truth Society operatives hiding in the shadows.
Upon hearing there was a quest to do, and that it not only increased Bai Fu’s favorability but also awarded several thousand XP, all the female Players stepped forward.
Bai Fu chose one called "Rice Immortal," a female Player whose build most closely resembled hers.
While she came to Shelter Number 5 for business, the Player had taken Cui Jiming back to the Red Sandworm Camp's lab for surgery.
So far, everything was progressing smoothly. Next, she only needed to wait for the surgery to finish and then head to the Railway Guild to collect the money with the Player.
After extracting the Rattlesnake identity card from the terminal, Bai Fu swiftly cut off the network connection. Her next destination was the Gao family’s external office at Shelter Number 5.
However, this time she didn’t plan to appear in person. Instead, she would have Sword Qi Soaring bring Old Dog and the others to negotiate with the Gao family.
This would prevent her from being exposed and also give the Players more engagement, making them more loyal followers.
Bai Fu had learned from conversations between the Excavation‑Princess and other Players that the Excavation‑Princess had recently been preparing a video series called 《Garden of Silence News Express》. This had greatly piqued her interest.
Wasn’t this essentially her becoming the external publicity window of Garden of Silence?
She decided to add a bit more exciting material to the first episode of the video series.
Just think about it—when other Players were still slaving away for NPCs, they’d suddenly discover that the Players who joined Garden of Silence could now communicate on equal footing with high-status NPCs. How would they react?
Envy and jealousy, of course!
Everyone agreed to be Pals together, and you secretly went off driving a Land Rover?
I’m screwed!
If she didn’t come up with some visible benefits and contrasts, Bai Fu wasn’t confident she could get the Players to willingly become undercover agents to steal intel from other factions.
She randomly picked a shop by the roadside to sit and quietly waited for the results of Sword Qi Soaring’s negotiation with the Gao family.
About twenty minutes later, her personal terminal rang. The contact was Sword Qi Soaring.
“BOSS, the Gao family’s Boss Gao wants to speak with you directly.”
Since Bai Fu’s name couldn’t be disclosed externally, Sword Qi Soaring always addressed her with the generic title “BOSS” when outside.
“Let him speak to me.”
“Wait a moment.”
Shortly after, Bai Fu’s terminal rang again. This time, the contact was a stranger.
“I’m Gao Yuan. I heard you eliminated the Red Sandworm Camp and want to replace it in working with our Gao family?”
“No, I think you misunderstood.” Bai Fu corrected immediately. “I don’t intend to replace Red Sandworm Camp—I want to open a new trade route for your family.”
Gao Yuan showed interest in her words: “You speak quite boldly.”
Bai Fu asked, “When Red Sandworm Camp was working with you, how much supplies did they purchase from you annually?”
“Around 200,000.”
“How much was the value of the sandworm materials they sold you?”
“Two to three thousand when it was low, five to six thousand when high.”
Bai Fu chuckled, “Let’s not talk about the firearms for now. I mean, if I increase the quantity of sandworm materials sold to you by ten times, even a hundred times—can you handle that volume?”
“What?”
The usually composed Gao Yuan was so shocked that his voice involuntarily rose.
He suspected he had misheard.
Ten times? A hundred times? That’s not a funny joke.
How many people would it take to gather that many materials? How many would die?
Even if you mobilized all the Wanderers in the Goli Desert to hunt sandworms full-time, the efficiency wouldn’t last long—soon most of them would flee out of fear.
“Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Bai Fu replied, “I’m very clear-headed. I only want to know whether you can absorb that much sandworm material. After all, it’s not a small amount.”
Gao Yuan answered, “As long as you can deliver it, I can take it!”
“I’ll deliver the first batch soon. By then, you’ll know I wasn’t messing with you.”
Bai Fu chatted with Gao Yuan for a few more minutes. She had him send a batch of weapons to Red Sandworm Camp, which would soon serve as Garden of Silence’s temporary headquarters. She also asked him to transport the new wave of Players arriving at Shelter Number 5 over there.
This wave had quite a few people. Just in the community, there were 30 to 40 posts claiming they were on their way—so the real number could be double that.
With the current transport resources under Bai Fu’s control, there was no way she could move that many Players at once. So, she had to rely on the Gao family for now.
After reaching an agreement with Gao Yuan, Bai Fu also purchased some materials at Shelter Number 5 to craft Prayer Cards. Next came the dreaded gamble-card phase feared by all Cursed Luck types.
So-called gamble-carding was the act of using XP and current psionic knowledge to synthesize new Prayer Card blueprints. It was a unique ability of the Apprentice Psionic Illustrator, and also the core of this card-centric class.
Generally, an Apprentice Psionic Illustrator could acquire new Prayer Card blueprints in three ways: buy, learn, or gamble.
Among them, gambling was undoubtedly the most thrilling and commonly used.
Take a shot—your bike might turn into a motorcycle.
Even Cursed Luck types couldn’t resist trying their hand, let alone Bai Fu, who possessed the Lucky Talent.
The infuriating part was that in Beyond the Stars, the gamble-card system had no pity mechanism. In other games, drawing characters or weapons at least came with a hard or soft pity. But in Beyond the Stars, if you couldn’t draw it, then tough luck.
However, Beyond the Stars also didn’t use card pools. Players could pick the type of Prayer Card they wanted to draw at any time, then invest XP and known psionic knowledge to gamble-card. There was no fear of missing a limited pool and having to wait ages. The most important thing was—XP was free. As long as you had the grind, you were good.
“My turn, draw!”
【Synthesis Failed】
【Synthesis Failed】
【Synthesis Successful, you obtained [Generic Card·Visual Fog]】
【Synthesis Failed】
After five more failures, Bai Fu finally got the group-control-type Prayer Card she had been aiming for.
【Generic Card·Spatial Distortion】: Causes the target to fall into a special state where up/down, left/right, and front/back are completely reversed. Covers a radius of 10 meters. Duration depends on the difference in Inspiration between both parties. Cooldown for the same target: 10 minutes. (Judgment Target: Prayer Card Creator)
Though the effect of this Prayer Card was far inferior to the skill card dropped by Rattlesnake, it still made up for Bai Fu’s lack of group-control methods. It would be very useful for her upcoming operations.
The only issue was—she had spent over 24,000 XP in that one round.
When you needed XP, you always found yourself short.
Bai Fu rubbed her temples.
Whether for leveling up, skill upgrades, or gamble-carding—it all required tons of XP. She had to complete more missions.
She even felt like dragging out Little Yulia for an interrogation. What was she dawdling for? Hurry up and release more missions already!
But considering they were still in the honeymoon phase of their collaboration, it was better not to go overboard.
“One sugar momma isn’t enough for me anymore. I need to use these perceptive eyes of mine to find a few more sugar mommas.”
The first person Bai Fu thought of was Xia Shi. It seemed necessary to have the Players make contact with Xia Shi, to see if they could squeeze something out of her.
Once everything was done, Bai Fu filled the car’s tank and took the Players back to Red Sandworm Camp.
Cui Jiming’s plastic surgery operation had concluded successfully. Players healed much faster than NPCs. Although not to the exaggerated degree of breathing to heal like in COD, non-fatal wounds like this healed within a day.
Even so, Bai Fu still gave Rice Immortal a bottle of Recovery Potion to speed up her recovery.
“???”
Several hours later, looking at Rice Immortal who was bouncing around after the bandages were removed, Cui Jiming was dumbfounded.
Was this a monster? How could a normal person possibly recover so quickly?
He had originally been thinking of running away during this time, but now he completely gave up that idea.
Little Yulia, who noticed the situation, became excited.
If Bai Fu’s tagalongs had this kind of ability, did Bai Fu have it too?
If she did, then there would be no need to hold back when studying Bai Fu’s body—she could play however she wanted, and even if something went wrong, it would automatically heal.
Truly thrilling with every expectation.
“Nice work.”
Bai Fu looked at herself in the mirror, then at Rice Immortal standing beside her, and gave high praise to Cui Jiming’s technique.
Realistic—this was damn realistic!
Aside from the chest size being a bit inferior, Rice Immortal now looked almost identical to her. Fooling the Truth Society with this was going to be a piece of cake.
……
Railway Guild, Ilinas Settlement.
It took Bai Fu more than two days to arrive here.
Unlike the Gene Primordials, the major settlements of the Railway Guild were all connected by rail. The convenient transportation made the Railway Guild’s trade very prosperous, and the dark web’s largest office was located within their territory.
Thanks to this thriving trade, the Railway Guild generally disliked getting involved in the disputes of other factions. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Graham dared to hide within the Railway Guild.
Bai Fu didn’t waste time. She had a Player who had never dealt with the Truth Society before deliver Rice Immortal’s “corpse” to the dark web’s Ilinas branch.
“Hurry up and inform the Truth Society to come and verify. I even spent money to buy a freezing device to preserve Bai Fu’s corpse. They better reimburse me for that.”
The Player disguised as Rattlesnake impatiently complained to the dark web staff. As he did, he handed over Bai Fu’s dark web identity card.
“I found this on her body after killing her. It’s enough to prove her identity.”
The dark web staff replied respectfully, “Please don’t worry. We will notify them immediately and pass on your requests to the Truth Society. Even if they breach the deal, we will cover the bounty ourselves.”
“That’s the best.”
The Player nodded with a pretentious air but was inwardly impressed.
No wonder the dark web had grown so big—this service was top-notch!
He turned and left, then relayed everything to Bai Fu who was hiding in the shadows.
“Now we just have to wait for the Truth Society’s people to show up.”
While waiting, Bai Fu idly browsed the community, and a new post instantly caught her eye.
《Exclusive News: Bai Fu is Dead!》
She clicked on the post.
The poster claimed to be a member of the Truth Society and said he had just heard from his superior that a killer named Rattlesnake had killed Bai Fu in the Goli Desert.
【Just a while ago, Bai Fu’s corpse was delivered to the dark web office in Ilinas. Our base commander Graham ordered it to be retrieved immediately.】
Players who opened the thread were stunned.
Wait, are you kidding? How could Bai Fu be dead? Sword Qi Soaring and Starfish‑bro were still with her, weren’t they?
Many Players privately messaged Sword Qi Soaring and Starfish‑bro, but no matter how they asked, they got no replies.
Could it be...
The poster laughed.
【I told you, Bai Fu is dead. How are they supposed to reply? Don’t doubt me—my info is 100% authentic. If you don’t believe it, watch the video I just recorded from the NPC who gave me the info.】
【Haven’t you noticed even the Excavation‑Princess stopped livestreaming and hasn’t appeared in the community? It’s not like she doesn’t want to show up—but Bai Fu is dead, how could she?】
【It makes sense. After all, Bai Fu did provoke the Truth Society—one of the most powerful factions on Origin Star. No matter how well she hid, how many assassination attempts could she survive?】
【Brothers, take my advice—join a major faction. Otherwise, who knows when your faction might collapse, and all your investments will be wasted.】
At this point, even skeptical Players had to believe it.
The video was right there, and the poster had also proven himself to be a member of the Truth Society.
It’s over. Bai Fu was really dead!
The community exploded.
Bai Fu: “？”
No doubt about it, this Player was clout-chasing, using the moment to promote the Truth Society.
But man, your timing was perfect!
With this guy creating buzz, once everyone found out she had faked her death to trap the Truth Society, the effect would be nothing short of explosive.
Promote the Truth Society?
Promote to everyone that they should never join the Truth Society!