Chapter 22: True Monarch Bai Fu Who Saves the Suffering and the Needy
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Bai Fu took out a total of seven Players, earning 1130 XP.
When she submitted the 【Wildfire Burns】 quest just now, because she had captured 10 Players, she received 2000 XP.
Counting the remaining XP from her last level-up and the XP gained from defeating Martin, she now had a total of 3841 XP.
This speed of gaining XP left the Players speechless and brought tears to the NPCs who had to slowly build their strength.
Considering how much effort Cao Wenliang had contributed, Bai Fu struggled not to laugh in his face.
"You’ve proven your loyalty to the Wildfire Gang."
Cao Wenliang said this perfunctorily and then ignored Bai Fu.
With his status in the Wildfire Gang, he had no obligation to give Bai Fu any explanations.
The atmosphere was a bit awkward, and it was the Wildfire Gang Boss who came out to end this farce.
"Clean up the corpses, and lock up the three still alive for now."
After arranging the Players' “aftermath,” he also had someone give Bai Fu an extra 500 Credit Coins as a reward for her excellent performance.
Bai Fu accepted gladly.
She didn’t care what the Wildfire Gang Boss's true intentions were—she only knew that turning down money made one a fool.
When she went to get the money, the person handing it over whispered, "You’d better be careful these days."
"What do you mean?"
"You haven’t dealt with Minister Cao much, so you don’t know how petty he is. He was already unhappy with you, and today you embarrassed him in front of everyone. There’s no way he’ll let this slide. You know he’s in charge of logistics, so... well, you get what I’m saying."
As he said this, the man shook his head. It seemed he had long been dissatisfied with Cao Wenliang.
Bai Fu smiled and thanked him.
She truly didn’t know much about Cao Wenliang, but she had hacks, after all.
When Cao Wenliang left just now, she had deliberately used Psionic Vision on him.
【Name】: Cao Wenliang (Elite)
【Template】: Normal
【Main Class】: Ordinary Boxer Lv9
【Sub Class】: None
【HP】: 130/130
【Stats】: Strength 14, Agility 7, Constitution 10, Intelligence 3, Spirit 3, Inspiration 4
【Skills】: ?
【Talents】: ?
【Favorability】: Hatred (–46)
【Danger Level】: Red
Psionic Vision couldn’t see Cao Wenliang's true thoughts, but a Favorability of –46 already said plenty.
Bai Fu was actually looking forward to how Cao Wenliang might try to get back at her.
Surely he wouldn't just withhold her supplies, right?
If that was all, then his status in her mind would drop from Angel Investor to something else entirely.
Overall, Bai Fu remained calm.
Although it would be difficult to defeat Cao Wenliang with her current strength, unless he showed up at her doorstep, there wasn’t much to worry about.
...
The next day, Bai Fu deliberately got up early, first to apologize to Party Big Star and the others she had taken down, and only then did she report to the Wildfire Gang.
Shortly after she arrived, a Wildfire Gang Member from the field division—responsible for distributing various tasks—found her.
"The higher-ups discussed it. Considering your team is currently weak and you overachieved yesterday, they’re giving you a relatively easy and nice gig for now."
A cushy gig like this? Why do I find that hard to believe?
Bai Fu asked, "What kind of gig?"
"Interrogator."
"Huh?" Bai Fu froze. "Thing is, I’ve never done anything like that. If I’m made an interrogator, I probably won’t be able to extract any useful intel."
"It’s fine. Your job’s simple. You’re in charge of interrogating the Outsiders. When someone comes in, just rough them up a bit. If they confess, great. If they don’t, just send them on their way."
"This is allowed?"
"Sure, why not?
Those Outsiders are really tight-lipped, even professional interrogators might not be able to get anything out of them.
You don’t need to feel any psychological burden."
At this, Bai Fu was convinced the person in front of her wasn’t lying.
Because this was indeed a cushy gig—she could hardly think of anything better at the moment!
According to what the person said, her job was very simple: kill Players.
Given the level gap between her and the Players, killing one Player could net her 150–200 XP.
And as the average Player level increased, that number could go even higher.
This was basically a zero-cost, high-return trade.
Bai Fu never dreamed she’d transition in one second from "My Years at the Abandoned Cooling Plant" to "My XX Days of Player-Slaying in the Interrogation Room," finally experiencing the joy of leveling up the coward’s way.
Could it be she had finally encountered the goddess of luck?
Bai Fu wasn’t worried at all that she’d go full rampage in the interrogation room, cutting down Players one by one, and spark any backlash.
The reason was simple.
Once a Player got captured by the Wildfire Gang, they couldn’t play the game normally.
All they could do was log off or browse the Community and internet.
If she killed those Players, it was essentially freeing them—letting them get back to gaming normally.
They’d be too grateful to blame her for it.
Seeing Bai Fu still deep in thought, the quest-assigning NPC asked,
"So, are you taking this gig or not?"
Bai Fu nodded.
"Of course I am."
"Great, I’ll take you to get familiar with your work environment then."
...
Logistics Office.
Cao Wenliang looked up and asked the person who just entered, "So? Did she take the job?"
The person smiled.
"She did. Looked quite pleased about it too."
Cao Wenliang tapped his index finger on the table, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes.
With his strength, killing a supervisor wouldn’t normally be this complicated.
But Bai Fu had been personally appointed by the Boss.
Unless he was ready to completely fall out with the Boss, no matter how furious he was, he’d only dare go as far as he did yesterday—not actually make a move.
But none of that mattered anymore.
He had already prepared a much tastier death dish for Bai Fu.
He had specifically ordered his men to publicize Bai Fu’s “glorious achievements” in the interrogation room whenever they went out in front of the Outsiders.
First, she’d captured ten Outsiders in one go, killing seven of them.
Then she racked up a blood debt in the interrogation room.
Cao Wenliang was looking forward to releasing Bai Fu on some pretext and watching the Outsiders take revenge on her like madmen.
Would they dismember her?
Or mince her into paste?
Or use even more cruel and heartless methods?
Now that would be interesting.
Over the next three days, Bai Fu didn’t go anywhere.
She just stayed in the Wildfire Gang’s interrogation room.
Just as she suspected, the Players captured by the gang were overjoyed upon seeing her—aside from some initial surprise.
As time passed, Players even gave her a new nickname in the Community—
【True Monarch Bai Fu Who Saves the Suffering and the Needy】
【But I don’t think Fu‑fu looks too happy. She got suddenly assigned to be an interrogator and can’t even do what she really wants.】
【She must be suffering inside. After all, she has to kill every day—even if it’s just us undying ones.】
【Wildfire Gang’s way outta line for doing that to Fu‑fu.】
【Maybe it’s that bastard Cao Wenliang behind it. Damn it, we need to find a way to kill him and rescue Fu‑fu.】
No, please—don’t "rescue" me. I’m doing great here.
In three days, Bai Fu had taken out a total of 23 Players.
And since the Players had gradually leveled up over those days, she earned more XP than expected.
"4350 XP. At this rate, in another ten days or so, I should be able to get my Psionic Apprentice to level 8 or 9."
Cao Wenliang?
Just wait and see if I beat the crap out of you or not!