Chapter 84: New Exploration Value, Bai Fu’s Real Identity
Graham was on the verge of tears.
In his life, he had fought more than fifty battles of various scales. Some were victories, some defeats—hard to categorize—but if he had to choose the moment he felt most despairing, it would definitely be this one.
In truth, Bai Fu was not the strongest opponent he had ever faced.
No need to mention distant memories—even within the Truth Society, the President’s strength made him feel that all the Qi he had cultivated in his life was a waste.
During battles with the Gene Primordials, he had once been pushed to the brink of death by one of their ace Special Agents, only surviving thanks to timely reinforcements.
But those enemies, as strong and ruthless as they were, even if tied together, wouldn’t be qualified to lick the toes of this masked young woman standing before him!
It wasn’t just that her methods were strange and unfathomable—she could even manipulate him into cursing the President with ““F*ck your mom!””.
What kind of demonic energy stage technique could make this possible?
“I f*cking…”
Graham nearly blacked out.
He was done for.
No one had ever dared to curse the President with such vulgar words right to his face. Given the President’s personality, no matter where he ran, he’d be hunted to the ends of the earth—certainly more intensely than when Bai Fu was hunted before.
His chances of survival were now nearly zero, yet he still wanted to resist—not for any noble reason, just because he dreaded falling into the President’s hands and enduring the full extent of human torment.
Looking at Bai Fu who had her foot on his chest, Graham glared fiercely, his eyes filled with grievance.
He glared for a long time.
“I can answer your questions, but you must promise me I won’t be killed by the President of the Truth Society!”
That’s it?
Such a request was way too easy to fulfill.
Bai Fu stuck the Electric Knife into the ground, crossed her arms, and took a stance of imposing curves.
“I promise.”
Graham stared at her for a while longer. He suspected she was lying, but right now he had no choice but to believe her.
“Give me a map.”
Bai Fu immediately pulled a map and a pen from her satchel and tossed them to Graham, moving her foot aside in the process.
Graham didn’t waste time with extra moves and quickly marked the map.
“There are four bases in total. The Truth Society has more than that, but I only know the exact locations of these four. Among them, the Black Hawk Base holding Yulia’s relatives and friends is located within the Old Republic.” He handed the map back to Bai Fu. “But I have to tell you some bad news.”
“What bad news?”
“The President captured Yulia’s family and friends to prevent her from escaping. When they found out, some chose to take their own lives rather than burden her. The President has kept this from Yulia.”
Bai Fu: “……”
She couldn’t judge the actions of those who took their own lives. She just knew she mustn’t tell Yulia now. If Yulia lost control and went berserk, and got killed by the President of the Truth Society, this quest chain would break.
Graham said, “One more reminder—now that the President knows I’ve defected, you have to act fast. Otherwise, by the time you find those bases, the people inside might already be gone.”
His warning was sincere.
Since he had defected, his hope was that the Gene Primordials could use his intelligence to heavily damage the Truth Society, so the President would be too occupied to deal with him.
Bai Fu said, “Your warning is valuable. I still have a few questions.”
“Ask away.”
“What notable powerhouses and heavy weapons are at the Black Hawk Base?”
Graham didn’t hold back: “Most people there can’t even beat me, so they pose no threat to you. But there’s one person you must be careful of—his name is Qi Yuan, a Mechanic. He alone is worth hundreds.”
Mechanic?
This profession made Bai Fu wary.
Aside from Xia Shi, Qi Yuan would be the second Mechanic she had encountered.
Xia Shi wasn’t very strong in combat, but could build battlefield-killers like Power Armor. A Mechanic that Graham singled out must be something else.
She made a mental note of it.
Bai Fu asked, “What do you know about the President of the Truth Society? Speak.”
Graham was silent for a while. “He’s very strong—the strongest I’ve met. No, to be precise, he’s not human.”
“Hmm?” Bai Fu pressed, “Not human, what do you mean?”
Graham said, “I overheard it from Bernardo. He said the President is an artificial human—maybe that’s why his power is so abnormal.”
Artificial humans were different from the Mutant Creatures Bai Fu had fought before. Mutants were usually modified with some kind of injection, while artificial humans had far more complex origins.
Just like the androids in Dragon Ball, the ones on Origin Star could be built through human transformation, mechanical modifications, or even cultivated from the cellular level.
As Graham finished speaking, a pleasing notification rang in Bai Fu’s ear.
【You have triggered a hidden storyline. Origin Star Storyline Exploration +0.3%】
“Ah?”
Bai Fu froze.
Exploration value?
Good heavens, what a delightful surprise—0.3% exploration! That meant she was one step closer to becoming the protagonist of a region’s storyline, or even of an entire version.
Of course, the intel from this game prompt went far beyond that. It validated what Graham said: the President of the Truth Society was indeed an artificial human, and that fact was crucial to the main storyline!
Seeing Bai Fu fall silent, Graham couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have any other questions?”
Bai Fu said, “Do you know Li Cheng? What exactly did the President of the Truth Society show him?”
Graham shrugged. “Although I’m the Deputy Director of the Special Operation Division, intel is usually handled by the other Deputy Director.”
What a pity.
Bai Fu had hoped to gain a bit more exploration value.
“I don’t have anything else to ask.”
Graham said, “Then take me to your superior quickly.”
He didn’t want to stay a second longer in this hellhole, nor see this cursed woman born from hell again!
Bai Fu nodded and pulled the Electric Knife from the ground.
At that moment, Graham suddenly sensed something was wrong—this wasn't the posture of someone about to take him to meet a superior, it was clearly a move to kill him.
He shouted, “What are you doing? Have you forgotten what you just said? I already answered your questions as agreed—you can't kill me!”
Bai Fu stomped on him with one foot.
“Forget? How could I forget? I always keep my word. I said I guarantee the President of the Truth Society won’t kill you—so if I kill you in advance, doesn’t that fulfill the goal?”
Damn, how could she twist words like this without feeling guilty?
Graham turned pale. “I’m of great value to the Gene Primordials. If you kill me, your superior won’t let you off!”
“Superior?” Bai Fu pulled down her mask. “Recognize this face?”
Graham’s pupils suddenly shrank.
Wait.
Isn’t this Bai Fu?!
The moment he realized it, Bai Fu had already stabbed the Electric Knife into his body. Electric energy surged—within seconds, Graham’s chest was scorched to charcoal amidst his screams.
“-20”, “-11”……
A string of damage numbers floated up. As they drifted, Graham’s voice grew fainter until, finally, there was no sound at all.
Game prompts rang out in succession.
【You have killed Graham. Contribution rate: 93.4%. After adjustment for level difference, you have gained 130760 XP】
【You have completed the Hidden Mission [Graham’s End], reward: 150,000 XP】
【You have completed the mission [Little Yulia’s Request (2)], reward: 120,000 XP】
【Mission [Truth Unknown] progress +0.53%】
【You have triggered the mission [Little Yulia’s Request (3)]】
【Mission Description: ……】
【Mission Objective: Go to Black Hawk Base to rescue Yulia’s relatives and friends】
【Mission Reward: Reward Based on Contribution】
【Hidden Reward: ?】
Including the rewards from eliminating those Special Agents earlier, Bai Fu earned over 460,000 XP this time. Just a bit more and she could level up twice—what a haul.
Unfortunately, Graham wasn’t a main storyline boss—if he had been, the rewards would have gone beyond XP, at least including one or two items.
Bai Fu pulled out the Electric Knife, then joined the Player faction to finish off the remaining Truth Society Special Agents.
Once she joined, the Special Agents couldn’t hold on anymore. Within a few minutes, they were all wiped out.
Only Bai Fu, a portion of players from the Garden of Silence faction, and that one Player who surrendered after watching the livestream—Tai Er Zhenren—remained alive on the field.
Jian Qi Chong Tian and the others rummaged through the Riot Vehicle and pulled out a document.
“Production records from the Gene Primordials' Biochemical Factory?”
Bai Fu began flipping through the records, and the more she read, the deeper her frown became.
On the surface, this biochemical factory attacked by Graham was producing biochemical weapons against Mutant Creatures, but secretly, it was researching technology to completely erase human consciousness and manufacture empty shells.
Mutant technology alone had already caused much controversy on Origin Star. Even now, the Human Alliance frequently clashed with the Gene Primordials, who were far ahead in this area. If this got exposed, it would definitely bring trouble to the Gene Primordials.
Should she reveal it?
Better wait until things settled here. Priorities—first beat the Truth Society, then the Gene Primordials!
Bai Fu lifted her head and scanned the players.
“You all performed very well this time.”
The praised players beamed with joy.
Just moments ago, they also received mission rewards. Even the unluckiest of the unlucky got 2,000 XP, while the lucky ones—like Gui Yi Wo Fu, who hit Graham with a bomb—rocketed to the top of the contribution leaderboard, receiving a 【Custom Card·Battle Etiquette】 Prayer Card and 30,000 XP. Many players were now drawing circles to curse Gui Yi Wo Fu.
That’s 30,000 XP, damn it. May you always step in dog poop when you leave the house!
Finally, Bai Fu's gaze landed on the excited Tai Er Zhenren.
Hey, Man!
Bai Fu had a special plan for Tai Er Zhenren, the first to defect from the enemy faction. Whether he would accept it depended on the following discussion.
She gave him two choices.
The first was to follow her back to the Goli Desert and undergo the Garden of Silence's assessment. If he passed, he could join like any other player.
The second was for Tai Er Zhenren to take the stolen data from Graham back to the Truth Society and work as a spy. Seeing those documents, the Truth Society would surely value and promote him—giving him chances to gather more intel.
Tai Er Zhenren fell into hesitation.
He wanted to leave the Truth Society and join the Garden of Silence because the Excavation‑Princess had claimed Bai Fu might be the version protagonist. After today’s events, he was more convinced she was right.
Bai Fu, as the protagonist, was everything!
He desperately wanted to raise Bai Fu’s favorability and ride the protagonist's coattails to glory.
So, how to choose?
The first option was safest—just do missions in the Garden of Silence and steadily improve her favorability.
The second offered bigger returns if successful, but if he gathered no intel, he would have wasted a lot of time and fall behind other players.
Tai Er Zhenren gritted his teeth and chose to become a spy.
This was a huge gamble!
But he believed he was a man destined to become the Spy King.
【Accept Mission】
Bai Fu copied the key data from the documents and gave the original to Tai Er Zhenren, who immediately set off back to the Truth Society base.
Everything had settled.
Bai Fu led the players back to Shelter Number 11.
Before heading to Black Hawk Base, she needed to restock and bring more players. The opponent was a Mechanic who could fight hundreds alone—she couldn’t go unprepared.
Passing by a shelter, she sent the Truth Society base coordinates obtained from Graham via personal terminal to Gao Yuan, asking him to inform the Railway Guild and the Old Republic.
Then she sent the same intel to Xu Hong of Division Four.
With the Gene Primordials, Railway Guild, and Old Republic all entering the fray, the waters would be muddied enough. In that chaos, she could rescue the captives unnoticed—and avoid becoming the Truth Society's top target afterward.
……
Gene Primordials, Division Four Office Building.
“Beep beep—”
Xu Hong, who was repairing Power Armor, suddenly heard his personal terminal ring. He set down his wrench and walked to the terminal on the desk.
“Unknown number?”
Xu Hong picked up the terminal. The screen showed an email—and its contents were shocking.
It listed the locations of four Truth Society bases!
“No way—who sent this… Bai Fu?!”
Upon scrolling to the bottom and seeing the signature, Xu Hong’s pupils contracted in shock.
Did Bai Fu really send this? How did she know the exact locations of the Truth Society’s bases? What was her real identity?
Xu Hong let out a triple-question and no longer cared about fixing the Power Armor—he burst out the door.
“Lu Chu! Lu Chu! Urgent matter—ten-alarm fire level!”
……
While the Division Four personnel reeled from Bai Fu’s email, the player community was also abuzz over Gui Yi Wo Fu’s Prayer Card.
It started when he posted the card’s effect in the Community.
【Custom Card·Battle Etiquette】: Fighting may be exciting, but etiquette must not be abandoned. Can be used once per battle to force the target to perform battle etiquette with you (2s).
No one expected this. Once the effect was read, the entire Community exploded.
【Damn, what kind of ridiculous effect is this?!】