Chapter 20: Who Let You Become This Free?
“Go to the morning meeting right away?” ㄴ
Early in the morning, Bai Fu, who had been full of energy, wilted upon receiving this message.
She had already transmigrated, yet still had to attend a morning meeting—was this the part of drudgery that corporate workers must endure?
“This can’t be helped—the other day, another brother died at the hands of Outsiders, and it was a gruesome death. Da Biao merely had lime thrown in his eyes, but not only lime—he was also showered in chili powder. Right now, the Boss is furious.” –
The messenger smiled wryly and pointed at the goggles over his face.
“These are the new gear from the Logistics Department. The Boss said when dealing with those Outsiders we must first wear these. Oh, and the Boss gave each of us a bag of lime, saying we should use tooth... tooth what again.” —
Bai Fu’s mouth twitched.
Wasn’t something off here?
She pictured the scene: the Player and the Wildfire Gang met in a narrow alley; after exchanging insults, they suddenly pulled out bags of lime from their waists and dumped them into each other’s eyes. —
Damn it, truly unscrupulous!
The atmosphere in this abandoned Cooling Plant was already awful; this seemed to make it even worse.
Now they were just throwing lime—but what next? One day they might bring in feces‑throwers or concentrated sulfuric‑acid‑hurlers. Would people in the abandoned Cooling Plant need to reinforce their doors and become steel‑door zombies when heading out? 一
Too over the top!
Who let you become this free? 一
Bai Fu secretly felt relieved—thankfully she was more skilled and had focused on Vitality, so these sneak‑attack methods affected her much less.
After instructing Anya not to wander around, she followed the messenger to the Wildfire Gang headquarters.
There were already many people in the venue. She had just taken her seat when someone in the front row smiled at her.
Bai Fu checked her memory; if she wasn’t mistaken, that person should be Logistics Minister Cao Wenliang!
In fact, she had only seen Cao Wenliang once from a distance, but he had a feature that made him easy to remember—
【Cao Wenliang might be illiterate, but he was ugly!】 —
Bai Fu returned the smile.
Today’s morning meeting theme was nothing more than the Boss venting anger before delivering a speech to mobilize everyone. She could skip all the puff and only listen to the conclusion.
Thinking that was delightful—having a hidden panel that no one else could see was wonderful; when others had to grin and bear it, she could openly browse the community.
Now was a good time to check last night’s Players’ reactions.
She opened the Abandoned Cooling Plant section and discovered two new trending posts with over 1,000 replies each.
Both posts were by Excavation‑Princess.
The first one—
【A first‑person perspective lets you see FuFu’s coolness from above】
Bai Fu clicked in.
The top reply read: “Clickbait title—‘from above’? Why not just say from the sky?” The second reply corrected itself: “Sorry, my bad, it really is in first‑person perspective and from above.”
She read the post content.
Excavation‑Princess recounted what had happened last night as an involved party. The post included several videos, one of which was filmed by her when she had been lifted off the ground by her neck.
High‑definition, uncensored, up‑close!
Indeed, exactly that first‑person view! —
The videos in the early part of the post had already pushed the post’s popularity to the max, but this one video took it to an entirely new level.
【Caught a blade bare‑handed, ahhhh, my wife is so badass!】
【Up‑close footage still so flawless—guys, fetch the guy who did modeling a chicken drumstick!】 —
【This is getting interesting; although Bai Fu’s words were a bit confusing, her true identity definitely wasn’t ordinary】
【Awesome, Excavation—this time you guessed right. It’s time to show yourself, Green Garlic.】3
【I’m crying—when will you stop talking and look at Bai Bao’s trembling eyes. My heart is in pieces. Luckily the misunderstanding is cleared.】
【When she cursed me, she even called me the legendary Hero, hehe】 —
【Wake up, noob dogs can’t be Heroes】 —
A tide of Players chatted happily about Bai Fu’s true identity.
Some said she was a female secret agent, some said she was a reborn war goddess, and others claimed she was a fugitive from a cosmic power.
Bai Fu read it with relish, like enjoying a short story.
The more they talked, the better—easier for her to copy!
She had to admit, these gullible fools were growing stronger and more robust, and just as she had hoped, they had begun to fill in her backstory with their own imaginations.
Then Bai Fu clicked on the second post.
In this post, Excavation‑Princess had edited together "the player's battle with her" and "the player's battle with the white-undershirt man."
She originally only wanted to make a simple record, using the white-undershirt to highlight Bai Fu’s strength, but unexpectedly, the video’s popularity spread quickly to other parts of the Star‑Play Society forum.
Even players who had no interest in Bai Fu at all, or who were solely focused on leveling up, flocked in.
【Whoa, I heard yesterday that players could craft their own items, but the freedom in this game still exceeds my imagination】
【You can do that?】
【Learned it! I’m going to get some lime too!】
【So satisfying, this game cured my digital ED】
Many players shared the video as they watched.
This high-frequency sharing brought a new wave of popularity to Bai Fu.
【Who is this female character?】
【Bai Fu, an NPC from Origin Star】
Bai Fu was in a great mood, but as she scrolled to the next comment, her pupils suddenly contracted.
Beyond the Stars: 【Hello, we found your video very promising and would like to include it in our promotional trailer. If you’re interested, please click the backstage link.】
This wasn’t a phishing comment—in the game Beyond the Stars, there was only one official entity that could use that name.
Whoa, Excavation‑Princess’s video got noticed by the official team?
Bai Fu couldn’t help but give her a big thumbs up.
Well done, Excavation‑Princess!
If she appeared in the trailer, even for just one second, she would no longer be just an ordinary NPC.
If she got lucky, the developers might buff her in the next update. If players hyped it up, the chances would be even higher.
She didn’t know when she could become the star of a trailer—of course, she meant as a key storyline character, not a boss who made a cool entrance and then got their HP bar smashed by players.
Anyway, she truly had to thank that silver-haired bastard who sent someone to assassinate her.
If not for him, how could she have skyrocketed her favorability with players and even scored a shot at being in the official trailer?
Bai Fu contentedly closed the Community.
By now, the Wildfire Gang Boss’s long speech was almost over, and he gave his final instructions.
At the same time, Bai Fu received a game notification.
【You have triggered the faction quest [Wildfire Burns]】
【Quest Description: The brutality of the Outsiders has crossed the Wildfire Gang Boss’s limit. Driven by rage, he has decided to launch even fiercer retaliation against the Outsiders.】
【Quest Objective: Kill or capture Outsiders. Note: there is no specific number required, but failure may result in a faction reputation loss (0/∞)】
【Reward: 200 EXP and 1 faction reputation point per kill or capture】
【Accept/Decline】
Bai Fu gladly accepted.
She and Anya had been scheming to capture players for profit for days, and just when she was struggling to find a good excuse, the Wildfire Gang Boss handed her the perfect one.
What a great guy!
After the morning meeting, Bai Fu met up with several members of her group before heading to logistics to collect supplies.
At the logistics department entrance, Cao Wenliang smiled at her again.
It wasn’t until she left with her things that Cao Wenliang squinted his eyes.
Under the pretense of tit-for-tat, he’d convinced the boss to issue goggles and lime to everyone.
This upcoming fight would be extremely fierce.
With Bai Fu’s strength, if she dared to get involved in a fight of this level, it wouldn’t be long before she was killed by the Outsiders.
To survive, she would have to become a cowardly lizard.
That would make things easy. Every other group would have results except Bai Fu, and when that happened, he wouldn’t even need to say a word—the boss would demote her, maybe even kill her.
“Now that is a perfect plan!”
Cao Wenliang happily lit a cigarette.
…
“Don’t move around too much here. I’ll go gather intel and come back for you.”
After distributing the equipment to her team members, Bai Fu gave a few more instructions before leaving.
She had already arranged a meeting with the players yesterday. Now was the time to pass along the Wildfire Gang Boss’s meeting agenda—and build up her favorability with them.
Before heading to the meeting spot, she deliberately went home and brought Anya along.
Everything went smoothly. Twenty minutes later, Bai Fu arrived at the location.
She didn’t rush in but circled the area to ensure there were no surprises. Then she turned to look at Anya beside her.
“Did you remember everything I just told you?”
“Got it, Boss!”
“Good, then let’s go!”
Bai Fu led Anya toward the ruined building where Excavation‑Princess and the others were hiding.
She hadn’t gone far before Excavation‑Princess spotted them.
“They’re here, they’re here!”
At the shout, all the players present stood up.
“Fu…”
“Shh.” Bai Fu raised her index finger to her lips. “The situation is urgent, so I’ll keep it short. Last night, did you kill a man in a white undershirt?”
Calamity Dragon raised her hand: “Yes, he’s the one who told us to assassinate you.”
“You guys were too impulsive this time.” Bai Fu shook her head, then recounted what had happened that morning. “As a member of the Wildfire Gang, I also received orders—but don’t worry, I won’t lay a finger on you.”
“Ah?”
Excavation‑Princess and the others looked at each other.
They were really touched that Bai Fu had come to inform them of this.
But that raised a problem—if Bai Fu didn’t attack the players, how would she explain it to the Wildfire Gang?
Party Big Star voiced the doubt in everyone’s mind.
Bai Fu said, “I have my own way.”
As soon as she spoke, Anya became anxious beside her: “Boss, you’re acting tough again. These Outsiders can just revive, you could just randomly grab a few and…”
“Anya!”
Bai Fu suddenly raised her voice, cutting Anya off.
Anya pouted, clearly feeling wronged, but in the end said nothing more.
A helpless expression flashed across Bai Fu’s face: “Sorry, she’s still a child and tends to speak without thinking.”
“It’s fine, no need to apologize.”
Excavation‑Princess quickly shook her head.
Of course she could tell that what Fu‑fu said was a forced excuse.
But that’s just Fu‑fu—always so gentle, always trying not to trouble others!
Excavation‑Princess anxiously said, “Fu‑fu, I know with your real strength you’re not afraid of the Wildfire Gang, but you must’ve infiltrated them to secretly investigate something. If you don’t capture us, they’ll definitely question you. If your cover is blown because of this, that would be terrible.”
What happened last night already made her feel guilty—if she ruined Fu‑fu’s plans again, how could she ever face her?
Convert to My Fu nodded: “Yeah, Fu‑fu, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Just take us in to report back, it’s fine.”
With the two of them leading the way, the other players quickly chimed in.
“We can just revive anyway.”
“And we don’t feel pain, even if the Wildfire Gang beats us, it’s fine.”
To put Bai Fu at ease, Party Big Star started analyzing:
“Sis Fu, here’s the thing. With how our relationship is with the Wildfire Gang now, a big fight is inevitable. The problem is, we know very little about them. If you bring us in now, we can take this opportunity to learn more about their inner workings.”
Party Big Star’s words made the players’ eyes light up.
He was right.
This way, they wouldn’t make things difficult for Bai Fu and could even unlock the Wildfire Gang map. With luck, they might even trigger a special quest—truly a win-win-win!
“Fu‑fu, don’t overthink it.”
Party Big Star kept persuading her: “Sis Fu, I even thought of a cover story for you. Just say you accidentally found us, drugged our food, and captured us while we were unconscious.”
“Ooh, that excuse is solid. The Wildfire Gang definitely wouldn’t doubt you, they’d just think you’re awesome.”
“Damn, Big Star’s brain really works—solved the whole issue in one go.”
“…”
Bai Fu hesitated to speak.
Her original plan was to take back one or two players first, then a few more over time.
That way, she could easily earn over a thousand EXP.
But things didn’t quite go as expected.
She had only barely hinted at her intention using Anya, and before she could even begin her performance, this group of players had already skipped to the ending on their own.
Was this the effect of planting guilt in players?
Bai Fu was overjoyed.
While everyone else was still struggling to find or defeat players, hers had already tied themselves up and delivered themselves to her.
Now this was what you called a quest!
“You guys really leave me no choice. I’ll go get some special drugs to make this look more convincing.”
Bai Fu “tearfully” raked in 2000 EXP.
Just as she was about to leave, Excavation‑Princess called out to her.
“By the way, Fu‑fu, I forgot to tell you something.”
“What is it?”
“Yesterday, when we ambushed that white-undershirt guy, he said it was the logistics minister of the Wildfire Gang who ordered him to harm you.”
Wasn’t that Cao Wenliang?
Bai Fu understood instantly.
So it was you, Old Deng. No wonder you smiled at me for no reason this morning. Now you’ve chosen the path to death!
“Thanks for the warning.”