Chapter 82: King versus King, BOSS Bai Fu's Strength
According to the intel sent by the Players, this time Graham’s target for the raid was a biochemical factory belonging to the Gene Primordials.
To ensure the mission’s success, Graham brought along 50 elite Special Agents trained by the Truth Society, and even purchased auxiliary intel support from the Dark Web.
Bai Fu couldn’t wait for the Truth Society and the Gene Primordials to suffer a mutual defeat. That way, she could reap the benefits as the fisherman. Therefore, she didn’t intend to interfere in the clash between both sides, but rather prepared to ambush along Graham’s inevitable retreat route and deliver him a huge surprise.
Considering that Graham only brought 50 men, Bai Fu didn’t mobilize all the Players. She only brought those veteran Players who had joined Garden of Silence back in version 1.0, as well as 10 outstanding new Players.
The average level of the veteran Players was Level 11. Although most of them were not as strong as the elite Special Agents of the Truth Society, they had the advantage in numbers and were unafraid of death. That was enough to help her carve out a 1v1 opportunity with Graham during the battle.
As for the new Players, even the fastest leveling one was only Level 3 at the moment. Their combat impact could hardly be described as decisive—at best, they were utterly unhelpful.
Bai Fu brought the 10 new Players along purely as a promotional showcase for Garden of Silence.
As the saying goes, don’t look at the advertisement—look at the effectiveness.
No matter how bombastic the slogans were, it would be far more convincing to let Players from other factions personally experience how enjoyable it was to be a new Player in Garden of Silence.
See that? While you’re panting and toiling in another faction, contributing labor to build your faction boss’s new vehicle, the Players from Garden of Silence are already following me to do big things and reap faction quest rewards while leveling up at lightning speed!
Of course, Bai Fu’s move also served to stimulate other Players within the faction.
See that? This is the benefit of working hard to level up and do quests! Stop slacking off and idling around, you damned fools, and dedicate every waking moment aside from eating and sleeping to building up Garden of Silence!
“Move out!”
After confirming that all Players had completed their pre-battle preparations, Bai Fu drove off, leading a convoy of eight vehicles toward the Gene Primordials’ territory.
All these vehicles had been seized during battles with nearby Wanderer camps. Not a single coin was spent. Just one word—
爽! (爽 = exhilarating!)
……
Christopher Village.
This was a relatively inconspicuous small village within the territory of the Gene Primordials. It had been transformed into a biochemical factory over twenty years ago, responsible for producing biochemical weapons against Mutant Creatures. Nowadays, there were no longer any residents—only a factory and a defensive line composed of military police units.
Bai Fu and the Players lay in wait nearby for a long time before Graham finally showed up.
Since it was a raid, Graham immediately issued a scouting mission upon arrival, and as soon as the scouting was complete, launched a direct assault.
The 50 elite Special Agents split up. Snipers took positions in concealment, while assault troops charged forward to draw enemy fire. Then, Graham himself drove a modified armored vehicle and rammed straight toward the barricade at the factory gate like a rampaging Giant Sandworm.
The military police guarding the factory reacted swiftly. They hastily tried to call for reinforcements, but Graham’s side had already deployed signal jammers.
Looking for backup?
Dream on!
Gunfire rang out across the wilderness.
Seated in her vehicle, Bai Fu stared at the floating virtual screen in front of her—something only she could see—and kept nodding to herself.
“Pretty intense fighting.”
Among the elite Special Agents Graham brought were two Players. One of them, named 【Riddle-speaker】, was live-streaming the battle as he fought. Fortunately, there were no Players on the Gene Primordials’ side at this biochemical factory. Otherwise, one glimpse of the stream could’ve caused the Truth Society to suffer a disastrous defeat.
While Bai Fu watched the show with peace of mind, the other Players were all visibly excited.
On their way to the village, they received a mission issued by Bai Fu—【Wailing of the Truth Society】. This was a very special faction mission. As long as the mission was completed, every participating Player would receive basic XP rewards.
But the rewards didn’t stop there. After the mission ended, all Players would be ranked by contribution, and the top three would receive extra rewards.
First place: 【Custom Card·Battle Etiquette】*1, 30,000 XP;
Second place: Alloy Combat Knife (Blue) *1, 20,000 XP;
Third place: 10,000 XP!
These rewards were undeniably enticing. One needed just 30,000 XP to level from 12 to 13. And more importantly, the first place prize was a Prayer Card never seen before.
“To be used as a top reward, this card must be something else. It might even be more powerful than 【Psionic Shield】.”
Sword Qi Soaring was full of confidence. “This card is as good as mine!”
Starfish‑bro wasn’t about to fall behind either. He wasn’t particularly interested in the Prayer Card, but 30,000 XP was nothing to scoff at. Normally, he’d need to complete two or three high-difficulty commissions to earn that much XP.
The 10 new Players didn’t speak up, but deep down they were also filled with desire for the extra rewards.
Noobs or not, desires were desires. Couldn’t they be allowed to imagine pulling off a perfect sliding kill on a tiger boss?
Even if they couldn’t execute it, they could always rely on luck.
People win lotteries all the time. Maybe today would be their day of explosive luck—a headshot to the enemy boss’s weak point and voilà—first place!
Time passed.
As Graham stormed into the biochemical factory’s interior, the Gene Primordials’ defense line collapsed completely, and the battle entered garbage time.
However, even during this so-called garbage time, Bai Fu still picked up some interesting intel.
“Controlling Mutant Creatures?”
She clearly saw that the Gene Primordials’ factory researchers were commanding Type II Amoebas to fight against the Truth Society’s Special Agents. Looks like what this factory was working on wasn’t as simple as it seemed on the surface.
Though the Gene Primordials fought fiercely, their resistance only made Graham more excited. In this heightened state, Graham’s reaction speed increased dramatically. Eventually, the last Gene Primordials researcher still fell under his blade.
“Trash.”
Graham spat the insult at the corpse with disdain.
Not long after, several Special Agents emerged from the researcher’s office.
“Sir, we’ve retrieved the data.”
Graham nodded. “Let’s go.”
Alright, you’re done.
Now it’s my turn to enter the stage.
Garden of Silence, activate!
Several Players who had been watching the battle in the Livestream Room relayed the news of Graham’s imminent exit to Bai Fu. She feigned just learning about it and issued the ambush command.
“Wait for my first shot, then move!”
The roar of an engine echoed from deep within the factory. A dozen seconds later, the riot-control vehicle appeared in Bai Fu’s line of sight.
Bai Fu’s eyes sharpened as she aimed her gun at the windshield of the riot-control vehicle.
The other Players beside her all lay flat on the ground. A few even cheekily mimicked movie characters—checking the wind direction, using thumbs to estimate distance.
After extensive combat experience, Bai Fu’s marksmanship had become quite decent.
But she had no expectations of taking down Graham with this shot. She wasn’t a Gunner or Ammunition Expert, had no firearm bonuses, and the gun in her hands was just a standard model.
This shot was simply to announce her arrival!
“Sir, we’ve already notified Commander Bernardo of our success.”
Inside the riot-control vehicle, the elite Special Agent in the passenger seat turned to the resting Graham and spoke.
Graham’s massive frame resembled a raging bear. In fact, many within the Truth Society privately referred to him as the “Brown Bear”—not as an insult to his appearance, but as recognition of his strength.
“Six dead in this operation. I’m not satisfied.”
Without opening his eyes, Graham reprimanded the people riding with him in a cold tone. No one dared to argue.
Yeah yeah, whatever you say is right!
Just then, the driver of the riot-control vehicle suddenly cried out, “Sir, the road ahead shows signs of disturbance.”
Graham replied, “Detour.”
As the riot-control vehicle turned, suddenly—a bullet whistled through the air and struck the windshield with a bang. The glass, like it had been hit by a sledgehammer, cracked with a spiderweb of fractures.
What shattered wasn’t the glass—but the excited hearts of the Truth Society members.
“Ambush!”
A scream rang out.
The next second, a massive explosion and fire engulfed the riot-control vehicle, with scattered gunfire mixed in the cacophony.
The battle erupted in an instant.
Most of the Players who hadn’t chosen a Gunner-type Main Class had terrible aim, but the Truth Society side, unaware of the situation, was stunned by the first wave of attacks.
By the time they realized something was wrong, most of their vehicles had already had their tires shot out. Escape was no longer an option; they could only fight to the death, kill the ambushers, and change the tires afterward.
“Why the hell is Graham so composed? He’s being ambushed and still calmly sitting in the car?”
Bai Fu was a little surprised.
Since she couldn’t draw Graham out, the only option was to let the Players lure away the other NPCs, and then she would make her move.
“I have a way to lure those NPCs over!”
In the chaos of battle, Convert to My Fu, full of devious ideas, stepped forward.
“What way?”
The other Players all turned to him.
Convert to My Fu explained, “There are Players on the other side too. We can have part of our group hide, then start a livestream and intentionally expose our position. When they see the stream, they’ll think they’ve found an opportunity and bring those NPCs over to die.”
Sword Qi Soaring nodded. Not a bad idea. The only question was—how to make the other side notice the livestream?
“Just yell something like ‘Cut it out, I’m livestreaming!’—loud enough for them to hear.”
Convert to My Fu’s suggestion was accepted unanimously, and the Players quickly got to work.
“Will this really work?”
Old Dog, hiding behind cover, was a bit nervous.
Sword Qi Soaring said, “Give it a shot. Even if it fails, there’s nothing to lose.”
Under Convert to My Fu’s maneuvering, a new development soon occurred in a corner of the battlefield.
“They’re coming!”
Players hiding in the shadows perked up.
Seconds later, the waist-high grass was parted, and a Player looking extremely sneaky dashed out from behind it.
“Ready—”
“Stop stop stop, don’t shoot, I’m friendly!”
Just as Convert to My Fu raised his gun, the Player lifted his hands high above his head and performed a well-known military salute made famous online.
What the hell?
The Garden of Silence Players exchanged bewildered looks, unable to figure out what this Player named 【Riddle-speaker】 was trying to do.
Riddle-speaker explained, “Finally found my people! Damn, luck—this is what they call luck! I’ve wanted to join Garden of Silence for ages but never got the chance. Who’d have thought I’d run into you guys here—Bai Fu… oh my god, it’s really Bai Fu!”
Seeing Riddle-speaker with eyes shining in excitement, Bai Fu and the surrounding Players were all stunned.
They were fishing for enemies, but instead of catching a fish, they directly recruited one from the other side.
So even in-game, fishing ends in an empty haul?
Bai Fu grumbled inwardly.
But honestly, this was kind of hilarious. Just imagine—in a future faction war, halfway through the battle, half of the other side’s Players defect right there on the battlefield. Just imagining it was exhilarating.
Nobody spoke, and everyone’s expression looked strange. Riddle-speaker, mistaking their silence for suspicion, quickly said, “If you don’t believe me, I’ll quit the Truth Society faction right now—”
Convert to My Fu interrupted him, “Actually, here’s the situation—”
He explained everything.
Riddle-speaker listened in astonishment.
Damn, livestream fishing? It’s just a game, and you’re already pulling tactics like this? That’s cold-blooded.
Good thing he didn’t have bad intentions from the start, or he’d have been totally screwed.
Thinking this far, Riddle-speaker suddenly realized—this was his chance to shine in front of Bai Fu.
“I can go back now and bring them over.”
Perfect.
After some discussion, Convert to My Fu and Sword Qi Soaring let Riddle-speaker return.
Even if Riddle-speaker was lying, it wasn’t a big deal. If the bait didn’t work, they’d just jump in the water to catch the fish directly.
Sure, dying would cost XP, but as long as they completed the mission, the base XP rewards would be enough to cover the loss and still net them some gain.
Riddle-speaker didn’t disappoint—he successfully lured over more than ten Truth Society Special Agents.
“Brothers, attack!”
“Don’t let them get away!”
The Players no longer cared about conserving bullets. For the sake of mission contribution, they poured bullets with everything they had.
Those dozen or so Truth Society Special Agents were out of luck. Despite their skills, they had no room to use them and were riddled like beehives by raw damage.
This wave of losses dealt a significant blow to the Truth Society, and Graham could no longer sit still.
From the shooting, he could tell the ambushers weren’t particularly strong—nothing to worry about. That was why he had remained calm and still without any excessive actions.
Who would’ve thought things would escalate to this degree?
“A bunch of useless trash!”
Graham flared with anger. Looking at the two sides locked in battle, he couldn’t help but sneer coldly.
Fine, time to stretch his limbs a bit. These ambushers clearly didn’t know their place. His nickname, “Brown Bear,” wasn’t given for nothing!
Graham stomped his right foot and, using immense rebound force, shot toward the Players like a cannonball.
The Players fired desperately, but the bullets were blocked by an invisible martial aura before they could even reach him, not dealing the slightest damage to Graham.
“Die!”
Graham unleashed his twin blades. One slash split a bullet mid-air, and the momentum of the blades didn’t falter, crashing down directly on the head of a Player before him.
“Holy crap, red-level danger, insanely long HP bar, one-slash-one-kill—so this is the strength of a suspected BOSS-class enemy?”
The nearby Players were terrified.
They had done plenty of missions with Bai Fu, but never had they faced an enemy as terrifying as Graham. No wonder the mission rewards were so generous—there was a price to pay!
Graham slaughtered with glee. Under his twin blades, Player bodies were easily carved into gruesome chunks. Even the viewers watching from the Livestream Room were no longer entertained—this was way too bloody, more terrifying than any splatter film.
At that moment, a sharp gunshot shattered the heavy atmosphere. A bullet fired from the side struck Graham, dealing a high damage of “-47”.
That was...
Both the Players and Graham turned their heads and saw a young woman with long silver-white hair standing atop a small hill.
It was Bai Fu!
A black mask covered her face, concealing her appearance but not the killing intent emanating from her.
Graham didn’t recognize Bai Fu, but he was clearly enraged.
A powerful enemy among the opponents?
So what? It still wouldn’t stop his twin blades!
Graham wiped the blood from his cheek with his hand and locked eyes with Bai Fu across the battlefield, his aura menacing.
He remained composed, unaware that the two Players on his side were completely spooked.
“Holy shit, is this for real?”
Their outburst caught the attention of Convert to My Fu and the others.
What do you mean—is what real?
“Livestream, check the livestream!”
When one Player shouted in shock, Convert to My Fu and the others quickly entered the Livestream Room.
The first thing they saw was Bai Fu’s face. What caught their attention next was the HP bar above her head. Since Bai Fu was in the same faction, they normally couldn’t see her HP bar—but for the Truth Society Players, it was a different story.
If they hadn’t seen it, it wouldn’t have mattered. But seeing it now, every Player couldn’t help but gasp.
Holy crap, that HP bar is insanely long!
They originally thought Graham was invincible, but Bai Fu’s HP bar was over 50% longer than Graham’s, and he was a Martial Artist with a naturally tough body!
Terrifying beyond reason.
【This is insane, isn’t Psionic Class supposed to be squishy? How is her HP this long?】
【Damn, is this the strength of the version’s protagonist?】
【Unkillable, absolutely unkillable!】
【Just based on the difficulty of fighting this BOSS, no one should join Bai Fu’s enemy faction】
Amidst the flurry of exclamations, Bai Fu threw her gun to the ground and drew the special weapon—the Electric Knife from Kirilenko, taken from Red Sandworm Camp’s boss Marco.
Her first shot announced her arrival, and the second shot just now marked the beginning of Graham’s countdown.
She charged straight at Graham.
Oh? Not only did she not flee, she was charging right at him?
Graham’s spirit lifted.
“I’ll send you to the afterlife right now!”
He roared, igniting a fiery red aura around his body—almost like a Saiyan going berserk.
Of course, Graham’s strength couldn’t compare to a Saiyan, but crushing ordinary people was easy enough.
His twin blades, wrapped in flames, slashed down like dancing dragons straight at Bai Fu’s forehead.
Imbuing Qi onto the weapon’s surface to greatly enhance its damage—this was a Martial Artist’s common technique.
To Graham’s surprise, Bai Fu didn’t even try to dodge this ferocious attack.
Was she too slow to react, or just overly confident in her own strength?
Didn’t matter.
Graham’s eyes flashed coldly, and without a sound, he activated his Esper Power【Capture】.
No matter what tricks you have—in my eyes, they’re all just laughably slow motion!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
In an instant, Graham unleashed four slashes at Bai Fu.
Two of them landed solidly, yet strangely didn’t even tear Bai Fu’s clothes, let alone draw blood.
The other two were blocked by Bai Fu’s Electric Knife, and the crackling current surged through the weapon into Graham’s body. The sudden jolt almost made him fling his left-hand blade.
“Electric Knife? No wonder you dare to engage me in close combat even when you’re clearly weaker!”
Graham’s face darkened as he kept hacking away, unwilling to believe Bai Fu could truly nullify his attacks.
Speed, strength—he had the overwhelming advantage. Bai Fu seemed to be falling back under pressure. Nearby Players were all on edge, with many rushing in to try and help her.
But Bai Fu remained calm. The immense force from each weapon clash did cause her discomfort, but she wasn’t fighting for nothing. Every time her Electric Knife scraped Graham, it applied another layer of Extra-dimensional Erosion to him.
Against a target with low psionic resistance and no defense, Extra-dimensional Erosion was the deadliest weapon!
Three layers. Four layers. Five layers.
Three seconds later, Bai Fu gently parted her lips and said one word: “Explode!”
Explode?
Graham froze for a moment—then an intense unease surged from deep within his body.
Boom!
Centered around him, a two-meter radius was engulfed in a psionic explosion. Several unlucky Players who had gotten too close were blasted away with screams.
When the smoke cleared, the Players were shocked to find Bai Fu gripping her glowing Electric Knife and standing tall, while her opponent, Graham, knelt on one knee, hand clutching his chest, pain contorting his face—his posture resembling one who was bowing before a queen.
Yes.
This is my strength as the New Regional Boss!
That single explosion dealt 192 HP damage to Graham, sending him into a【Injured】state.
Bai Fu once again walked toward Graham.