Chapter 88: Toward the Peak, Bai Fu’s Ultra Evolution!
At the current stage, a fully-formed Mechanic was still somewhat of a counter to Bai Fu.
Because the Skills and Prayer Cards she usually used for sneak attacks were basically ineffective against those metal hulks.
Like Spatial Distortion, and Fanaticism.
The effect of the Visual Fog Card did help a little, but the mechanical dogs and Mechanical Bee Swarm controlled by Qi Yuan relied on dual systems of pure vision + sensors for targeting. Even if she could obscure the cameras of those machines with visual fog, she couldn’t block all the various sensors on their bodies.
However, Bai Fu’s evaluation of this was — not a big deal.
This battle wasn’t a one-on-one between her and Qi Yuan, but a Pokémon-style duel between Qi Yuan controlling machines and her controlling Players!
Mechanic-type vs Player-type, who would be the victor?
The final showdown was about to begin, and the Players in the Livestream Room were getting totally hyped.
They were fantasizing about joining the scene while tightening screws, thinking that would feel absolutely amazing.
But when they snapped back to reality, they were greeted by the foreman's shout: “Why are you standing there doing nothing? Hurry up and move this stuff to the designated spot.”
Damn it.
These Players, who were watching the stream during quest downtime, were now extremely annoyed.
Look at Bai Fu, then look at their “foreman” — even between NPCs, there was a world of difference!
For the first time, some Players had the thought of wiping out all these useless NPCs and bringing Bai Fu in as their team leader.
But thoughts were just thoughts. They knew something like that wasn’t possible. Since things were already like this, better to just keep watching the stream.
In the stream, with commentary from the Excavation‑Princess and the Calamity Dragon, Bai Fu and Qi Yuan had already begun to clash.
“Looks like you're ready to die!”
A bloody gleam flashed in Qi Yuan’s eyes.
He was well aware — with Pedro’s death, the retreat operation had completely failed. Though he was a strong fighter, even he couldn’t possibly wipe out the United Forces and Bai Fu’s side when they had superior numbers and morale.
Leaving the main force behind to flee was clearly the wisest choice for now.
However, Qi Yuan wasn’t planning to run just yet. He was furious. Pedro had been killed right in front of him — and even after he had warned them! That wasn’t just stabbing Pedro in the heart, that was slapping Qi Yuan in the face.
Kill. He had to kill Bai Fu!
He couldn’t defeat the whole United Forces, but couldn’t he kill the lone Bai Fu before they got close?
With that thought, Qi Yuan immediately directed the mechanical troops entangled with the United Forces to begin a coordinated retreat.
“Hmph, trying to run?”
The United Forces, already fed up with the mechanical dogs, were enraged upon seeing Bai Fu finish Pedro with one slash. Their morale soared, and there was no way they would let Qi Yuan escape again.
Xu Hong raised his left arm high, the spiral drill charged forward and struck the rear of the last mechanical dog.
Metal clashed with metal, throwing out countless dazzling sparks.
The next second, the mechanical dog exploded with a boom, sending Xu Hong and his Power Armor flying.
What?
The other pursuers alongside Xu Hong immediately sensed something was off, but there was no time to adjust.
A chain of over a dozen explosions rocked the earth, sending the United Forces flying in all directions.
Seizing this opportunity, the remaining mechanical dogs moved their limbs and charged at Bai Fu with unbelievable speed.
Qi Yuan was overjoyed.
His mechanical legion specialized in blitz tactics, flanking, and encirclement, but even before making them, he had planted custom bombs in each one. So, besides standard tactics, he also had a costly ultimate trump card—
Blow it all to hell!
You can take bullets, but can you take bombs? One bomb? A hundred bombs?
To kill Bai Fu, Qi Yuan was prepared to blow up all the mechanical dogs.
As a Mechanic, he had always considered himself an artist. And as an artist, he especially loved watching big fireworks.
Seeing Qi Yuan’s antics, everyone realized something—
Qi Yuan was crazy!
Xu Hong and the others, who now knew Bai Fu was truly Bai Fu, turned pale.
Crap!
They wanted to do something, but at this distance, they couldn’t do anything useful besides shouting.
Behind the Mechanical Bee Swarm, Qi Yuan’s eyes gleamed coldly, eagerly awaiting the moment Bai Fu was blown to pieces. You think you can beat me? You're still too green!
Bai Fu stayed calm.
What, fireworks? She had those too.
“Treasure the last moments of your life.”
She looked at Qi Yuan—
Did you know? I don’t even need to move to deal with you!
Bai Fu issued a new quest to all Players from the Garden of Silence present.
【Protect Bai Fu】
【Mission Objectives: Protect Bai Fu from the mechanical dogs’ assault. Let your burning blood and unyielding will show those cold machines who the true protagonist is!】
Quest rewards: XP, Reputation, and +2 Favorability from Bai Fu.
These Players were already raring to go. The chance to raise Bai Fu’s Favorability? No one hesitated now.
Damn it, you think we’ll let you blow up Fu-fu right in front of us?
One Player, closest to the charging mechanical dogs, let out a roar and lunged at one of them.
Qi Yuan froze at the heroic pose. You? A weakling like you trying to stop a mechanical dog? Ridiculous! You think my mechanics are cheap garbage? If you really manage to stop it, I’ll eat the mechanical dog on the spot!
As expected, that Player hadn’t even reached the mechanical dog when bullets shredded his legs, sending him tumbling to the ground.
But that wasn’t the end. Just as the mechanical dog reached him, he suddenly pulled the pin on a Grenade hidden beneath him.
Holy Light be with you!
Boom!
A blinding flash and the roar of an explosion swallowed both the Player and the nearby mechanical dog.
That was just the beginning. The other Players followed suit, charging at the nearest mechanical dogs.
“For Fu-fu!”
“For the glory of the Garden of Silence!”
“Ahahaha, soup’s up!”
There were more than a hundred mechanical dogs, but over four hundred Players — an unmistakable saturation attack.
By the time Qi Yuan realized something was wrong, the vanguard Players had already exploded with the mechanical dogs.
Boom! Boom!
The explosions rang endlessly, igniting not only the battlefield but the hearts of everyone on it.
They’d gone mad—everyone had gone mad together.
Those NPCs who didn’t yet know about the Players were struck by an unprecedented shock, their minds nearly crashing. Even the NPCs who did know about the Players’ resurrection ability stood gaping—trading a Player's life for a machine? So there was this kind of method to deal with a Mechanic?
“My mechanical dogs!”
Qi Yuan’s heart bled.
Every explosion was like a heavy hammer smashing into his chest, shattering his pride and defenses completely.
He had been willing to sacrifice those precious mechanical dogs to kill Bai Fu, but if they were all blown up before she was even dealt with, then what was the point? That was his biggest reliance!
A madman fears someone madder, a savage fears someone more savage.
For the first time, Qi Yuan felt fear toward those Players—those Players he had always regarded as no different from stray cats and dogs that could be kicked to death at will.
These lunatics were terrifying—but what about the one who controlled these lunatics?
Qi Yuan reassessed Bai Fu.
Bai Fu’s only response was one sentence: “Charge with me!”
The new Players and mechanical dogs exploded together, splitting the battlefield in half. The United Forces wouldn’t be able to cross over anytime soon. Now that no one was around to compete for the kill, it was the perfect time to send Qi Yuan on his way.
Kill!
At Bai Fu’s command, the veteran Players with higher levels launched an assault.
Qi Yuan hurriedly directed the surrounding Mechanical Bee Swarm, and under their cover, he raised both arms of his Power Armor.
Fire?
Bai Fu stepped forward and slapped a 【Spatial Distortion】 right in Qi Yuan’s face.
Qi Yuan’s level and Stats were high. Spatial Distortion wouldn’t hold him long, but a few seconds were more than enough for Bai Fu and the Players to act.
With Psionic Perception activated, Bai Fu essentially had a full 360-degree field of view. Mechanical Bees? Mechanical dogs? Ambush her? Dream on!
She drew her Electric Knife and charged. Following closely were Patrick Star and the others, who all pulled out Grenade Launchers.
Honestly, breaking through Qi Yuan’s Power Armor with these was tough. The front armor had a value of 【1000】, arm armor 【500】, and even the relatively vulnerable joints were well protected.
But Bai Fu never expected the Players to destroy Qi Yuan with grenade fire. What she wanted was suppression—destroy the auxiliary weapons and sensors on the armor, keep Qi Yuan from counterattacking, and turn the Power Armor into a useless metal turtle shell. Then, he’d have no choice but to come out himself.
Disoriented, Qi Yuan panicked and called out to nearby Truth Society members for help.
Before they could respond, Patrick Star spun around and blasted two shots at them.
You sure you wanna help?
Help my ass.
The Truth Society members saw how bad the situation was and bolted immediately.
They’d already been at a disadvantage—Pedro was dead, Qi Yuan was pinned, and Players were constantly self-destructing. They had zero intention of staying.
That’s more like it.
Bai Fu circled around and slashed the Power Armor’s knee joint. That strike only shaved off about 20 armor points, but she wasn’t in a rush.
Qi Yuan was strong, but his mechanical tech wasn’t overpowered for this era. Stun grenades, subsonic weapons—those might be deadly to Players, but not quite threatening to her.
Besides, Qi Yuan wouldn’t dare throw high-yield explosives near his own feet. If Bai Fu didn’t die, he’d blow himself up first.
“If this goes on, I’m going to die here.”
Qi Yuan was drenched in sweat and had to gamble.
He had installed an intelligent module in the Power Armor—so even without him inside, it had limited autonomous combat ability.
As Bai Fu landed another strike that chipped away 20 more armor points from the leg, Qi Yuan suddenly slammed a red button inside.
Emergency Eject!
With a burst of air, the back panel of the Power Armor shot out like a cannonball, smashing into Bai Fu and knocking her several meters back.
“-37”
Bai Fu’s HP dropped slightly—not a big deal.
Seeing her knocked back, Qi Yuan rejoiced. He immediately bolted in the opposite direction. As long as the Power Armor could delay her for even thirty seconds, he could escape by car.
But to his horror, after only a few steps, he found himself completely immobilized.
What the hell?
Behind him lay a freshly used Battle Etiquette Card.
Players on both sides poured bullets and grenades at the frozen Qi Yuan. Though he was armored, it didn’t cover his entire body.
First the right leg, then the left arm—after taking multiple hits, Qi Yuan collapsed, driven by a desperate will to live, crawling forward inch by inch.
If he could just reach the car, he could live. If he lived, he could hunt down Bai Fu and—
“Argh!”
A sharp impact struck his lower back, making Qi Yuan scream. He felt it—a pair of slightly pointed heels had stomped down hard.
“You think you’re still getting away at this point?”
Bai Fu stabbed him repeatedly.
Electric arcs flashed. A stream of dense damage numbers floated up. The explosion from Extra-dimensional Erosion hadn’t even triggered before Qi Yuan’s HP Bar was emptied.
That was a fragile Mechanic for you.
Bai Fu shook her head. An NPC out in the field needed higher Constitution to protect themselves. Never be like Qi Yuan.
【You killed Qi Yuan. Contribution: 61.2%. After level-based adjustment, you received 107100 XP】
Qi Yuan’s death signaled the official completion of the Multinational Joint Operation mission. Instantly, Bai Fu’s ears were filled with system prompts.
She didn’t bother checking them and instead shouted for the Players to get in the vehicles.
She had no intention of facing the United Forces. If they lingered, the vehicles left by the Truth Society wouldn’t be hers. Compared to those she’d snatched from the Wanderer camp, these were much better. Not driving them back would be a waste.
“Get in! Hurry up!”
A few minutes later, under Bai Fu’s lead, all surviving Players piled into the vehicles and roared away.
They came in a rush, and left in a rush—like a tornado, gone as quickly as it came.
By the time the smoke on the battlefield cleared and the United Forces cautiously arrived, all they saw were wrecked machines and corpses. They stared at each other in shock.
Too brutal!
From appearing to wiping out the Black Hawk Base members and retreating, that mysterious group had taken only ten minutes at most.
This was truly like an old lady going down the stairs—she just couldn’t do it without support.
Damian could hardly suppress the shock in his heart. After instructing his subordinates to clear away the corpses of Pedro and Qi Yuan, he hurried to report to his superior.
These death-defying Outsiders needed to be reported immediately.
Nearby, Xu Hong and the wounded Yago, having just disembarked from their Power Armor, exchanged glances.
They hadn’t gotten a clear look at Bai Fu’s face, but they had spotted another familiar face—
Excavation‑Princess!
This meant that the white-haired figure who rampaged invincibly across the battlefield was Bai Fu!
“She’s already so strong I can’t even comprehend it.” Yago’s eyes were filled with astonishment.
Xu Hong thought the same. Perhaps this was what a true genius was—she was once thought to be a fleeting meteor, but now, she seemed to be steadily becoming the moon.
“We’re going after her.”
Xu Hong was full of doubts now. He had so many questions he wanted to ask Bai Fu.
……
This time it wasn’t just Bai Fu—every Player who participated in this battle had reaped great rewards. Those who self-destructed and respawned at Shelter Number 11 went without saying. Even Excavation‑Princess and the Calamity Dragon, who were only commentators occasionally firing a shot or two, earned the guaranteed minimum reward.
After all, this was a high-level mission. Even the guaranteed reward made the viewers in the Livestream Room envious to no end.
【We’re all new Players from version 1.1, so how’s the gap this wide?】
【Because you didn’t join the Garden of Silence】
【If only I’d been born in Shelter Number 11!】
【I want to be Miss Bai Fu’s dog!】
【If Fu-fu doesn’t abandon me, I’ll call her my adoptive mother!】
Watching the barrage of Live‑stream Comments flash past in Excavation‑Princess’s stream, Bai Fu knew—starting from the teaser video, to the welcome ceremony she staged for the Players, to the elevation of the Graham takedown operation—she had truly made a name for the Garden of Silence and the Psionic Prayer-user profession.
From here on out, more and more Players would cross great distances to join her in the Goli Desert.
That was a good thing. The bad part was that after this operation, the Truth Society and the Gene Primordials would definitely take note of her.
Although the clash between these two sides would surely intensify after this, and it was unlikely they would go all-out just to deal with her, she still needed to stay vigilant.
Bai Fu closed the Livestream Room and, like the other Players, began checking the rewards from this operation.
After the mission ended, the contribution rate for the storyline quest 【Truth Unknown】 to eliminate the Truth Society jumped from 2.36% all the way to 13.81%—an increase of 11.45%.
Of course, simply eliminating one Black Hawk Base wouldn’t make the progress bar spike like that. The jump was because the Truth Society’s other three bases were also attacked. Since she was the one who leaked the intel, the quest granted her a substantial amount of indirect contribution. Indirect contribution wasn’t as significant as direct contribution, but better than nothing.
Bai Fu, satisfied, opened the next prompt.
The Multinational Joint Operation mission had four objectives.
The first objective was to eliminate members of the Truth Society. This time she had taken down 31 of them, earning 31,000 experience points.
The second objective was to eliminate Pedro. The reward for killing Pedro was 75,000 experience points. Since she had 100% contribution, she received a generous additional reward: 200,000 experience points and 3 attribute points.
Bai Fu dumped all the attribute points into Inspiration, raising the stat to 70. Without hesitation, she decided to push Inspiration to 77. Once it reached 77, her Psionic Value would break 800, unlocking a new Psionic enhancement from the Psionic Knowledge Chain.
This enhancement was substantial. She would gain bonuses to Constitution, Intelligence, and Spirit.
The third objective of the Multinational Joint Operation was to eliminate Qi Yuan. Since her contribution was only 61.2% this time, the extra experience reward was a bit lower—just 250,000 experience points. But besides that, she also obtained a new skill.
【Summon True Spirit】: Consumes 50 Psionic Value to summon a micro True Spirit capable of scouting nearby terrain. While active, consumes an additional 5 Psionic Value per minute. Can be manually detonated to deal (Inspiration*1.5+50) Psionic damage to a 10-meter radius. No cooldown.
Bai Fu’s eyes sparkled.
This was a skill combining mobile reconnaissance and remote detonation—an extremely useful addition for her current toolkit.
Summon several True Spirits and toss them into a mob? Goodness, the trash-mob clearing efficiency would rival Musou games.
The only issue was that the micro True Spirit’s movement speed wasn’t very high. But as long as she timed the cast right or placed it in a hidden location, that wouldn’t be a problem.
“Maximum range is 1,000 meters. What it sees will be transmitted directly into my mind.”
Bai Fu was very pleased with this new skill.
The final objective—eliminating Black Hawk Base—also had delightful rewards: 300,000 experience points and a passive skill, 【Natural Breathing】.
Natural Breathing was Pedro’s exclusive passive. The effect was similar to healing-through-breathing in FPS games—when out of combat, health regeneration speed +300%.
With her high Constitution of 75, Bai Fu’s health regen rate already far surpassed that of normal NPCs. With this boost, her regeneration would rival a Player’s. Even if gravely injured, she could recover quickly.
What a pity this skill didn’t work in combat. If it did, it would be insane.
“I currently have 1.02 million experience. After turning in Little Yulia’s Request (3), my experience should exceed 1.2 million. At that point, I can level up three times in one go, raise Apprentice Psionic Illustrator to Lv16, and once I complete the Goli Desert’s Regional Main Storyline, I’ll be close to unlocking the threshold for an Advanced Class.”
Unlocking an Advanced Class meant standing at the peak of Origin Star. As long as she didn’t get swarmed or locked onto by heavy weapons, she could strut around like a queen!
Unconvinced?
Beat you until you’re convinced!
Bai Fu was beyond excited.
She could start preparing now. Unlocking an Advanced Class required five Psionic Knowledge Chains—she still lacked two. In addition, she had to complete an Advancement Quest, though that wasn’t urgent for now.
“The Gene Primordials’ stash is almost completely looted by me. The other major factions probably also have Psionic Knowledge, but I don’t know them well—I’ll have to check the dark web.”
Bai Fu wasn’t short on money anymore. Nearly a thousand Players were constantly generating wealth for her.
To appease those Players who had remained in Shelter Number 11 and missed out on the operation, she planned to take them on a desert sweep after returning to the Goli Desert and completely wipe out the disobedient Wanderer Camps.
The Goli Desert only needed one shot-caller—and that was her, Bai Fu!
As Bai Fu was thinking about the future, Excavation‑Princess’s voice suddenly rang in her ear.
“Fu-fu, a car is chasing from behind. It’s a United Forces vehicle—just one.”
A United Forces vehicle, and only one?
Bai Fu was slightly surprised.
This seemed like the perfect time for her new skill, Summon True Spirit, to shine.
She spent 50 Psionic Value to summon a True Spirit, and to her surprise, the summoned True Spirit looked just like a chibi version of herself.
Tiny Bai Fu?
Trying to play cute, huh.
She directed Tiny Bai Fu to float toward the chasing vehicle.
What Tiny Bai Fu saw was immediately reflected into her mind. This was a very novel experience—much more interesting than watching surveillance footage with the naked eye.
Soon, Bai Fu saw through Tiny Bai Fu who was sitting in the pursuing vehicle.
“Division Four’s people?”
Bai Fu instructed the Player driver to pull over.
Seeing Bai Fu’s vehicle stop, Xu Hong also hit the brakes. The moment he saw Bai Fu get out of the vehicle, he knew—
They had found the right person this time!