Chapter 12: You Are the One Truly Born
After slightly brewing her emotions, Bai Fu crossed the street and approached Anya and the two ruffians.
“Are you guys alright?”
Anya shook her head. “Big Sis, how about you?”
“I’m fine, but…” Bai Fu turned to the two ruffians. “I have bad news for you. On the way out, I saw your boss trapped in a dead-end alley by those outsiders. I didn’t stay long because I was worried something might go wrong.”
She sighed deeply as she said that.
“Your boss probably didn’t make it. Speaking of which, how did you guys even get into trouble with those outsiders?”
Hearing this, the two ruffians immediately cried out in grievance.
“How could we know? The bad things we… I mean, our boss has done over time are too many to count.”
“If these outsiders dared to kill our boss today, I don’t even want to imagine what they’ll dare to do tomorrow.”
“Sis Fu, now we can only rely on you.”
The two of them spoke back and forth, making Bai Fu feel a headache coming on.
She quickly waved her hand. “Where are your other two companions? Where did they go?”
Ruffian B’s voice trembled. “They’re dead. Their injuries were too severe. They died on the way while escaping.”
“What?” Bai Fu’s eyes widened. “Such a pity, truly a pity. How could good people just… sigh, it’s all those outsiders’ fault.”
If only she had come out earlier, or if the players had been gentler, maybe she could’ve farmed a bit more experience.
Her appearance fell into the eyes of the two ruffians, who finally felt at ease.
Bai Fu even mourned for their dead companions, so surely she wouldn’t make things difficult for them because of past conflicts.
Great!
Now that they had relaxed, all they wanted to do was get a good sleep—one where they slept like the dead, not even dreaming.
It wasn’t that they were tired, it was just that they’d been mentally scarred. Just thinking about what happened earlier made them tremble all over.
Those outsiders were far too brutal.
They were nearly chopped in half and still laughed while saying they’d kill them all. Even cult horror films from the old times weren’t that terrifying.
“Come with me.”
Bai Fu called out, and the two ruffians quickly followed.
The two of them seemed to be a bit chatty. As they walked, they even discussed getting treatment.
“I heard that Dr. Lin at Huishui Bay is a psychiatrist. Let’s go see him in a few days.”
“Will that work? What if we spend money for nothing?”
“We have to do something. Do you want to be haunted by nightmares your whole life?”
“Who the hell wants that? But even if we get treated this time, what if we run into those outsiders again next time? Problems will still come up.”
“I… it’s just karma. Who the hell brought those outsiders here anyway?”
After a long sigh, the two fell silent.
What else was there to say? Just thinking about needing a lifetime to heal from the trauma caused by the players made them break down again.
“Actually.” Bai Fu, who was walking in front, broke the silence. “If you trust me, I can take a look for you.”
The two ruffians froze. “Huh, Sis Fu, you?”
Bai Fu smiled confidently. “I’m a Psionic Prayer-user, after all. Treating psychological problems is a piece of cake for me.”
That actually made sense?
The two ruffians’ eyes lit up.
“Trust! Of course we trust you, Sis Fu.”
Bai Fu pointed at Ruffian D who was walking ahead. “Then let’s start with you. Anya, cover your eyes.”
Although she didn’t understand what Bai Fu meant, Anya obediently covered her eyes.
Bai Fu, satisfied, walked toward Ruffian D. When she was only two steps away from him, she suddenly raised her right hand.
Her slender fingers landed on Ruffian D’s neck at lightning speed. With the force of a sudden blow, Ruffian D was slammed against the wall behind him.
Bang!
With the loud noise of the back of his head hitting the wall came a spray of blood.
The next second, Bai Fu’s left hand held a dagger and mercilessly stabbed it into Ruffian D’s chest.
‘-5’ “-24!”
Critical Hit.
【You killed a Ruffian (Normal) and gained 120 experience points】
Only then did Ruffian B react, trembling as he said, “Sis… Sis Fu, didn’t you say you were going to help us heal?”
Bai Fu pulled out the dagger. “I said I’d help you heal, but I never guaranteed you’d live. Now he doesn’t have to worry about nightmares anymore. So tell me, did I cure him or not?”
Ruffian B turned pale with fear and made a move to seize the also-stunned Anya nearby.
But Bai Fu had already seen through his escape route.
If she hadn’t been worried about one of them getting away in a two-on-one fight, she wouldn’t have needed to sneak attack with her current strength.
Her Agility stat was the same as Ruffian B’s—both at 3—but Ruffian B was injured, and his stats had dropped.
She gave chase and knocked Ruffian B to the ground with a wild charge.
Ruffian B rolled twice on the ground and, suppressing his pain, pulled out a dagger hidden in his clothes.
As Bai Fu approached, he suddenly turned around and roared as he stabbed the dagger toward Bai Fu’s stomach.
This was a sneak attack—he believed there was no way Bai Fu could dodge it.
And indeed, with Bai Fu’s current reaction speed, she couldn’t dodge, so she used her right hand to block.
Puff!
The stab landed.
But the dull feeling of a blade piercing flesh didn’t occur.
Ruffian B’s eyes widened.
He clearly saw the dagger stab into the back of Bai Fu’s hand, yet it didn’t even break the skin—just a bit of red oozed out.
Catching a blade bare-handed!
“No way… Just a few days ago, you couldn’t even take a punch from our boss. Now how come…”
“Surprised? Unexpected?”
Ha, this is the power of full Constitution stat investment and the Hardening buff!
Bai Fu reached out with her other hand, grabbed the dagger’s blade, and with a gentle tug, took it away.
Ruffian B watched as Bai Fu stepped forward, towering over him and filling his entire field of vision.
It was the first time he realized that the much shorter Bai Fu could appear so tall.
He was overcome with terror, but he had no time left to scream.
Bai Fu drove a dagger into his throat.
“Gurgle…”
Ruffian B clutched his neck, dying in disbelief at how powerful Bai Fu had become.
Damn it, she’s a fraud!
【You killed a Ruffian (Normal) and gained 120 experience points】
Now the experience gap had been filled.
“After leveling Psionic Apprentice to Lv5, I added all the attribute points to Constitution. I wonder if I can now catch bullets from a low-quality handgun barehanded.”
Bai Fu looked forward to finding out.
She walked over to Anya.
It was just two deaths.
In the chaotic, abandoned Cooling Plant, such things were far too common.
Anya wasn’t scared—just a little nervous as she grabbed Bai Fu’s hand to check her condition.
“Boss, it’s such a relief that you’re okay.”
“What could possibly happen to me? Come on, let’s go home.”
Anya replied with an “Oh” and then asked curiously, “Boss, how did you know that outsider could call a whole bunch of comrades to surround those old bastards?”
Bai Fu said, “Secret.”
“Eh, fine then.”
Anya quickly shifted her attention to something else.
“Boss, even though those outsiders are pretty strong, they all seem a bit crazy, like they’re not even afraid to die. I think we should stay away from them from now on.”
Bai Fu explained, “Don’t worry. They do act crazy, but it’s not the kind of crazy you think. That’s just how they express emotions. Deep down, they’re kind. Their moral standards are at least higher than the average around here.”
Anya opened her mouth.
Boss, our average here is already rock bottom. Saying they’re higher than that doesn’t really reassure me.
“Besides, they’re extremely hardworking. As long as you offer them a small benefit, they’ll work harder than oxen. If you smile at them while giving orders and say stuff like ‘warrior’ to praise them, they might not even ask for payment—and might even give you gifts.”
“Huh?”
Anya was a bit stunned.
Working for pay… do people like that really exist in this world?
Maybe next time they should try finding a few outsiders?
“As for not fearing death—that’s even easier to explain. They’re the Undying Ones. If they die, they can resurrect.”
In Beyond the Stars, the death penalty was actually not light.
When players died, they lost a certain percentage of experience based on their level.
There was also a Resurrection Cooldown Time that increased with the number of deaths, ranging from 0 to 6 hours.
It reset every Monday.
This effectively squashed some players’ bolder ideas.
But this mechanism posed no problem for new players at Level 1.
After all, if your EXP was 0 to begin with, you couldn’t lose negative experience, right?
“Ah, the Undying Ones?”
Anya was stunned.
She found it hard to believe, but if it was true, then everything those outsiders said and did suddenly made sense.
Boss also said their value far exceeded the bounty price set by the Wildfire Gang—that also made sense now.
“Boss, we might be about to hit it big!”
“Hm?”
Anya exclaimed excitedly, “Boss, look! Since those outsiders can resurrect, we could work with them—send them to the Wildfire Gang to claim the bounty. After getting the reward, we split it fifty-fifty—no, seventy-thirty! One outsider is worth 200. A hundred of them, and we could earn… fourteen thousand!”
Stars began to sparkle in her eyes.
With that much money, they could easily hire a private vehicle to leave this place and head to the nearby mega settlement—Lynn.
Bai Fu was stunned.
She thought about what she had been doing the past couple of days—always feeling like she wasn’t acting very human.
After all, she constantly schemed how to boss players around.
But now, it turned out Anya had silently fast-forwarded all the way to the triangular trade version of the plan.
Anya, so you’re the one truly born for this!