Chapter 23: Ready to Make the Sacrifice
Bai Fu’s coward’s path upgrade plan encountered a small hiccup, because it was getting harder and harder for the Wildfire Gang to capture Players alive.
As time passed, Players were gradually able to protect themselves in fights against regular Wildfire Gang members.
This was thanks to the overall level increase among Players, as well as that combat comparison video Excavation‑Princess had uploaded to the forum a few days ago.
After watching that video, two groups of Players stepped forward.
The first group had a rather mixed composition.
Among them were handicraft experts, engineering students on holiday, overworked software engineers who could only game for an hour after work, and brothers working in plumbing and construction.
After seeing how free the crafting system in Beyond the Stars was, they made full use of their knowledge to build a small handmade production base.
This production base could not only produce some small traps, but according to the experts, as long as materials were sufficient, they could even handcraft firearms.
The second group of Players were more straightforward — they simply stopped behaving like humans.
At first, they just imitated Excavation‑Princess and others by throwing lime and chili powder, but when they realized most Wildfire Gang members were now wearing goggles, they had to develop new tactics.
Some Players enchanted their weapons with feces on purpose, some dressed in drag to lure away isolated Wildfire Gang members, and one Player even developed a highly effective taunt skill during battle, cursing out four enemies’ eighteen generations of ancestors by himself, creating tons of sneak attack opportunities for his teammates.
Thanks to these inhuman tactics, some Wildfire Gang members had already begun to resist fighting them.
A month’s pay was so little — who the hell wanted to risk their life?
Lose and die on the spot, win and feel grossed out for a lifetime.
Bai Fu had once seen a Wildfire Gang member, hit square in the face by flying feces, kneeling on the ground vomiting non-stop, sobbing as he puked.
“So brutal!”
Bai Fu felt a chill down her spine at the sight.
She was quite glad she had built a good relationship with the Players.
Facing such unreasonable attacks, even she would have trouble staying calm — after all, all her stat points were in Constitution, not Agility.
After the fear subsided, Bai Fu keenly realized this was a great opportunity.
When everyone else was unwilling to fight the Players, she took the initiative to volunteer — if this didn’t earn her a wave of Reputation with the Wildfire Gang, she’d write her name “Fu” backwards!5
And it turned out she was right.
When it was heard that she had volunteered to face off directly with the Players, the Wildfire Gang Boss’s Reputation with her jumped 21 points, from 12 to 33, and his attitude shifted from 【Noticed】 to 【Appreciated】.
Good, very good!
The Wildfire Gang Boss beamed with gratification.
Seeing the determination in Bai Fu’s eyes, he couldn’t help but think of himself running under the sunset that day — it was his lost youth.
Once upon a time, he too was a young man with ambition, but with the passage of time, he had inevitably become a middle-aged man with hemorrhoids.
One could only sigh — excellent young people like Bai Fu were getting rarer these days.
Smart, loyal, motivated…
If only there were more people like Bai Fu in the Wildfire Gang, why worry about not growing stronger, or even leaving this corner of the abandoned Cooling Plant?
“Go find the Field Division, he’ll assign you a new mission.” The Wildfire Gang Boss paused, then added, “You’ve done really well these days. If you have any extra requests, just ask. I’ll do my best to grant them.”
This was quite the unexpected bonus — Bai Fu naturally wasn’t going to be polite.
“Boss, since you put it that way, I actually do have a small request. I’d like to enter the library and borrow a few books. I picked up a kid outside, and she’s at the age where she should be learning, so I’d like to…”
The Wildfire Gang Boss interrupted her: “Say no more, I understand what you mean. Aside from the locked section, you can go into any library freely from now on.”
He tossed her a card.
Bai Fu quickly caught the card and thanked him.
After two days grinding in the Interrogation Room, she had already leveled her Psionic Apprentice up to Lv7. With Lv10 not far off, she wanted to check the library to see if there were any job advancement books, just in case she got stuck.
After saying goodbye to the Wildfire Gang Boss, Bai Fu immediately hurried off toward the library.
Compared to the trash-filled public library, the advanced library had many more useful books.
There were not only sub class books like A Chef’s Self-Cultivation and Gold Miner, but also main class books like Basic Fist Techniques and Firearm Assembly.
The only problem was that there wasn’t a single job advancement knowledge book — not just for Psionic Apprentices, but none for any profession.
“Is the level cap in the beginner village only Lv10, or are all the good things hidden in that locked library?”
Bai Fu searched around the library several times, and in the end, only found one notebook related to psionics, with an absurd title—
Research Notes: Some Worthless Psionic Prayers (by Freya Egmond).1
Bai Fu: “……”
Good grief, so she really came away with nothing this trip?
Unconvinced, Bai Fu flipped open the notebook.
【Would you like to read Research Notes…】
【Yes】
【You begin reading Research Notes…. Basic Inspiration Specialization activated. Your reading speed +10%. Current progress 0.1%.】
A few minutes later, the progress bar smoothly reached 100%.
【During your reading, you comprehended two new skills: [Power Surge (Inferior)], [Multiplier Boost (Inferior)]】
Bai Fu opened her Stats panel.
【Template】: Normal
【XP】: 191
【Main Class】: Psionic Apprentice Lv7 (0/7500), Unemployed Drifter Lv3 (0/1000)
【Sub Class】: None
【HP】: 220/220
【Psionic Value】: 55/55
【Stats】: Strength 5, Agility 3, Constitution 22, Intelligence 3, Spirit 11, Inspiration 11
【Skills】:
Fanaticism Lv1, Hardening Lv1, Psionic Vision, Innate Psionics Lv1, Basic Inspiration Specialization, Power Surge (Inferior), Multiplier Boost (Inferior)
【Talents】: None
【Stat Points】: 0
【Reputation】: 12
【Faction】: Wildfire Gang (Faction Reputation 20)
Bai Fu’s gaze swept over the two newly acquired skills.
Power Surge (Inferior), 10-second cooldown, consumes 20 Psionic Value to increase Strength by 3, but only lasts 60 seconds and reduces Stamina by 20% — the cost-performance ratio was abysmal.5
In Beyond the Stars, Stamina was closely tied to Stats; once Stamina dropped to a certain level, Stats would temporarily decrease — mildly, you’d feel weakened like a kobold debuff, severely, you’d faint on the spot.2
That Multiplier Boost (Inferior) was even worse — 1-second cooldown, consumes 5 Psionic Value, its effect was to reduce the duration of your next active skill’s buff by 50%. Who the hell would use that to sabotage themselves?6
“No wonder the notebook’s called Some Worthless Psionic Prayers.”
Bai Fu’s mouth twitched.
Fortunately, skills in the game didn’t take up skill slots, otherwise learning these two would’ve been a huge loss.
Just as she was about to check if she had missed any books, a thought struck her.
If these two skills were used on herself or allies, the effect would be increasing Strength by 3 for 30 seconds, and then deducting 20% Stamina afterward.
But if used as offensive skills on enemies, the description changed to: after 30 seconds of channeling, deduct 20% of the enemy’s Stamina — the downside being that the enemy’s Strength would increase by 3 during those 30 seconds.11
Considering that Psionic Apprentices were a glass-cannon class, normally they would never use this combo on enemies.
In early-game, 3 points of Strength wasn’t a trivial amount.
Using this combo on enemies — if they closed the gap during the channeling, Bai Fu could get instantly KO’d by the Strength boost before the Stamina debuff even kicked in.
But Bai Fu had no such concerns.
She glanced at her whopping 22 Constitution and smiled in satisfaction — a tanky Psionic Prayer-user feared nothing!6
“At least the trip wasn’t in vain.”
Bai Fu stood up and shoved the notebook back in its place.
After circling the library a few more times to confirm she hadn’t missed any other psionic books, she pushed the door open and left, heading to the Logistics.
Since the Wildfire Gang Boss had already informed them in advance, she received a new mission as soon as she arrived.
【You have triggered the Faction Quest [Counterattack]】
【Quest Description: Although the Wildfire Gang has gained the upper hand in the struggle against the Outsiders, a significant portion of its members have become fearful. Their hesitation has seriously impacted morale. The Field Division is extremely displeased and has organized a surprise assault against the Outsiders to restore momentum.】
【Quest Objective: Launch a surprise attack on the temporary base established by the Outsiders on the western edge of the abandoned Cooling Plant. Show them the might of the Wildfire Gang!】
【Reward: Based on contribution】
【Accept / Decline】
Bai Fu’s eyes lit up.
So the Wildfire Gang was finally reacting after being battered by the Players’ outrageous tactics?
She clicked “Accept.”
The Field Division tapped his desk lightly: “Very good. Go make your preparations. We regroup here in thirty minutes and begin the operation.”
“Thirty minutes?”
Bai Fu was briefly stunned.
So urgent?
She had originally wanted to secretly warn the Players to farm some Reputation, but half an hour wasn’t enough time to go back and forth — she had to give up on that idea.
She’d finish the mission today and apologize to the Players tomorrow.
Bai Fu went to the Logistics Department, grabbed a pair of goggles and a knife, and returned to the Logistics.
As everyone began to assemble, she spotted Cao Wenliang approaching and whispering something to the Field Division.
“Hm?”
Bai Fu frowned slightly and immediately tossed a Psionic Vision skill at the Field Division.
【Reputation】: Indifferent (−3)
This value wasn’t the issue, but Bai Fu still didn’t feel at ease.
Cao Wenliang hadn’t shown up earlier or later — he just had to show up now, clearly up to no good.
“Could it be he plans to use this operation to get rid of me?”
Bai Fu thought that was very likely.
Especially after seeing the people she was grouped with for the operation — she was even more convinced.
Four people — only one had positive Reputation with her, the others had a max of −25. If anyone believed they weren’t here on a mission, they’d be fooling themselves.
Bai Fu stayed calm.
At the call of “move out,” she followed behind the main force, heading toward the temporary Player base.
One hour later.
The sun had set in the west, night began to fall.
Amidst the ruins of the western sector of the abandoned Cooling Plant, the Field Division began his final arrangements: “Bai Fu, you and your group are in charge of the west side. When you see my signal, don’t hesitate — just charge in.”
“No problem.”
Bai Fu agreed readily, her eyes scanning the four teammates.
Once they were separated from the main force, those four would likely make their move.
She’d been killing Players for days now — time for a change of pace. She wondered how much XP these four could drop.
But the development of things took a turn she hadn’t expected.
Even after the signal flare went up, those four still showed no signs of aggression. Instead, they stopped after running some distance and called out to her.
“What are you standing there for? If we’re late, we’ll definitely be punished afterward.”
Bai Fu: “……”
Had Cao Wenliang turned over a new leaf?
Full of confusion, Bai Fu followed the four of them as they charged toward the Player base.
As they ran, Bai Fu began to realize something was off.
The four looked like they were sprinting full speed, but kept weaving and detouring. Soon, she — the one starting behind — ended up in front.
At this rate, she’d be the first to reach the Players. As for whether those four would follow, who knew?
“So that’s how it is!”
Bai Fu understood instantly.
These guys never intended to do anything themselves — they planned to use the Players to kill her!
It was a good plan. Once things were tallied, no one would suspect foul play. They’d just think she was too eager to perform, rushed ahead alone, got separated from her team — and tragedy struck.
Unfortunately for them, they never considered her great relationship with the Players.
Even if their relationship were just average, with her Constitution, the Players couldn’t kill her easily — their plan would still fail.
“So you guys like playing this way, huh?”
Bai Fu couldn’t help but laugh.
She had just been worried about not having a chance to warn the Players in advance — and here came the perfect opportunity.
“Attacking the Player base first and apologizing later” didn’t boost Reputation nearly as much as “risking being outed as an undercover to warn the Players.”
Thank you, Wenliang — if not for you, it’d have taken me a while to find such a perfect chance to ‘sacrifice’ myself!
Thinking that, Bai Fu picked up speed and charged straight into the Player base.
……
At that moment, inside the base—
Party Big Star and the others sat together, discussing how to give Cao Wenliang a surprise.
“That Old Deng keeps picking on Fu‑fu. If this keeps up, her true identity might get exposed. We can’t let him continue.”
“I agree. He was even yelling in the livestream a few days ago about killing us all.”
“I’ve already found out his home address. My suggestion is…”3
Just as their discussion heated up, a white silhouette suddenly leapt through the window and landed inside the house.
“Enem— wait, it’s Fu-wu.”
Seeing it was Bai Fu, Calamity Dragon — who was closest — opened her mouth to shout.
“Keep it down!”
Bai Fu quickly reached out and covered her mouth.
All the Players in the room froze.
Why was Bai Fu here?
“Sis Fu, what’s going on?” Party Big Star asked.
Bai Fu looked around. This time, she had completely lost her usual composure, only urging them anxiously: “No time to explain — just pack up and go. Now.”
Huh?
Excavation‑Princess couldn’t help but ask: “Fu‑fu, what happened?”
Bai Fu gritted her teeth: “I said there’s no time to explain. Just trust me and go!”
Party Big Star stood up, shaking his head: “Sis Fu, the more you say that, the more we won’t leave. Something big must’ve happened, right? Sure, it’s easy for us to leave — but what about you? What happens to you for tipping us off?”
“Yeah, exactly. We’re not going.”
“Fu‑fu, I’ll never let you get hurt because of me!”
The Players shouted one after another.
Bai Fu stared at them for a long moment, then finally let out a long sigh: “I’m starting to understand why you all qualify as heroes of legend.”