Chapter 27: Our Side Failed to Pierce the Enemy’s Armor
"You’ve arrived."
A voice that could not wait came from the second‑floor platform.
Cao Wenliang quickly looked up, and the moment he saw Bai Fu, his body trembled violently.
He had not expected to be discovered at all, and judging from Bai Fu’s words, it was obvious she had known he would come for a long time.
How was that possible?
Besides brushing past Bai Fu this morning, he had not even once glared at her in her presence.
Did such a person exist in the world—someone who, “just because they were glared at once in a crowd, suspected the other person of plotting against them and immediately prepared themselves”?
Damn it, how perverted!
Just as Cao Wenliang’s expression shifted unpredictably, Bai Fu spoke again: "I’m guessing your next sentence is—How did you know I was coming?"
"How did you know I…"
Cao Wenliang stopped himself mid‑sentence and quickly shut his mouth.
"Are you suspecting I can read minds?" Bai Fu laughed. "Don’t worry, I obviously don’t have such superpower."
Immediately, Cao Wenliang drew his gun, pointed it at Bai Fu, and shouted, “Cut the crap.”
Bai Fu was fearless: "Aren’t you at all suspicious why I, knowing fully you would come to find me, still would not go to sleep and came here at night?"
Cao Wenliang’s pupils constricted.
Shit, a trap!
He hurriedly raised his gun and looked around: “Come out, whoever is hiding there, come out now!”
As time passed, Cao Wenliang gradually realized something was wrong.
If someone really were lying in ambush nearby, why would Bai Fu expose them for no reason?
He quickly looked up again, and sure enough, Bai Fu, who had been standing on the second‑floor platform, had already disappeared.
“Fuck, how dare she trick me, she’s looking for death!”
Overcome with rage, Cao Wenliang charged toward the stairwell with his gun.
He moved extremely fast, taking a few bounding strides, and found himself among a field of broken walls and rubble.
"In such a short time, you can’t have gotten far. Come out nicely, I can let you suffer less pain, otherwise when I catch you, I’ll let you know what it means to be worse than dead, to live in hell!"
There was no response.
"You like playing cat‑and‑mouse with me that much? Then I’ll play it with you thoroughly. This place is far from the Wildfire Gang—you better not expect anyone to come rescue you!"
Perhaps because she thought she was about to catch Bai Fu, Cao Wenliang became extremely excited, and his breathing became uncontrollably rapid.
He wove through the ruins, occasionally laughing loudly, and uttering threats.
"Here I come!"
"Do you know what it feels like to have your nails pulled out one by one?"
"Your fingers are quite pretty—I will break them joint by joint."
While he searched, Bai Fu, hiding in the darkness, silently counted.
1000 minus 7—no, that wasn’t what she was reciting, but—7
"28, 29, 30, alright, it’s time."
When she sensed the time was right, Bai Fu stood up and threw a 【Psionic Vision】 at Cao Wenliang, who was turned away from her.
The skill judgment succeeded, and Cao Wenliang’s attribute panel popped up.
【Name】: Cao Wenliang (Elite) (Weary) (Lightly Wounded)
【HP】: 124/130
【Attributes】: Strength 14 (−4), Dexterity 7 (−2), Constitution 10, Intelligence 3, Spirit 3, Inspiration 4
Seeing these stats, Bai Fu smiled.
She clearly understood that with her extremely specialized stat distribution, it would be very difficult for Cao Wenliang to kill her—and equally difficult for her to kill him.
After all, Cao Wenliang’s Dexterity was as high as 7, while hers was a pitiful 3.
If they fought, and Cao Wenliang shamelessly used his trump move “You Give Way, Dude” to run, she would truly have no way to catch him.
But the situation was different now.
When they first met, she had used a combo of 【Multiplier Boost (Inferior)】 and 【Power Surge (Inferior)】 on Cao Wenliang.
After that, relying on her mouth alone, she successfully delayed the first Power Surge buff on him until it faded, and immediately applied a second set of skills to him.
Counting the 10% effect boost on active skills from the 【Basic Psionics Specialization】 skill, this combo directly drained 44% of his physical strength, which reflected on his character panel as reductions in Strength and Dexterity, leaving his Dexterity at only 5 points.
Five Dexterity was still higher than her 3.
But it didn’t matter—Bai Fu still had one trump card left.
After attacking the player stronghold, she had gained 3,000 XP through faction missions, enough for her to level the [Unemployed Drifter] class to Lv 5.
【[Unemployed Drifter] leveled up to Lv 4, Strength +1, Constitution +1, Stat Point +1】
【[Unemployed Drifter] leveled up to Lv 5, Strength +1, Constitution +1, Stat Point +1】
Two system prompts rang out in succession.
Bai Fu wasted no time, spending the two extra stat points on Dexterity, raising her stats to—
【Strength 7, Dexterity 5, Constitution 24, Intelligence 3, Spirit 11, Inspiration 11】
"Psionic Value is down to only 5, but it’s more than enough."
She still had a class‑exclusive skill that could consume 20 HP to restore 5 Psionic.
Now, it was time for a reversal of the cat‑and‑mouse roles!
A sharp glint passed through Bai Fu’s eyes.
"Cao Wenliang!"
She shouted.
Cao Wenliang whirled around sharply, and after the shock passed, a hideous grin appeared on his face: "What, you realized you couldn’t hide anymore so you’re not hiding? But it’s already too late!"
He laughed uproariously and strode toward Bai Fu.
Bai Fu stretched her body as if relaxed, and smiling, asked: "I was waiting for your Strength buff to expire—what are you waiting for?"
Power strengthening effect?
Cao Wenliang was stunned for a moment by what Bai Fu said.
But he quickly tossed that thought aside. “I’ve already been fooled once, you think I’ll fall for it again?”
He pulled the trigger.
The gunshot pierced through the night, the flash of fire appeared and disappeared in an instant, and the bullet accurately hit the wall ten centimeters to Bai Fu’s left.
“If you don’t want to get shot, stand still.”
Unexpectedly, Bai Fu acted as if she hadn’t heard him at all and walked straight toward him.
“Hoho, you’re actually approaching me voluntarily? Instead of running away, you’re getting closer to me.”
Cao Wenliang became even more excited.
He reached out to grab Bai Fu’s hair, but Bai Fu easily dodged his attack with a light sidestep to the left.
Only then did Cao Wenliang suddenly realize that his body felt a bit fatigued, but there was no time left for him to figure out why.
Bai Fu’s right foot, empowered by fanaticism, kicked him squarely in the chest.
That spot had already been kicked once by the Wildfire Gang Boss, and now with a new injury on top of the old one, the moment he hit the ground, a bright red 【-9】 floated above his forehead.
“You bastard, die for me!”
That kick completely shattered Cao Wenliang’s sanity. He raised his right hand and fired a shot at Bai Fu.
Only when the gun went off did he snap back to his senses.
It’s over.
At this range, Bai Fu couldn’t possibly survive. He had planned to torture her brutally—now it was all ruined!
Cao Wenliang looked up in frustration.
But what he saw was different from what he expected—Bai Fu hadn’t fallen, nor was there a burst of bright red blood blooming on her body.
She stood there smiling faintly, her right hand slightly raised, and between her fingers was clearly a bullet!
“You…”
At that moment, Cao Wenliang felt something stuck in his throat, a chill like never before rising from his spine straight to his crown.
Catching a bullet with her bare hands—he wouldn’t even dare to imagine it!
He watched helplessly as Bai Fu stuffed the bullet into her pocket, and then watched helplessly as she snatched the handgun from his hand.
Your gun is nice—but it’s mine now!
Bai Fu examined the gun in her hand with great interest.
【Trash Star P7】
【Quality】: Gray
【Base Stats】: Attack Power 16–23, Fire Rate 2 shots/s, Magazine Capacity 8 rounds, Effective Range 50m
【Additional Effects】: None
“My calculations were indeed correct. After using Hardening, this kind of poor-quality handgun poses no real threat to me.”
Catching bullets bare-handed—Bai Fu was confident in doing it.
The gun Cao Wenliang used was the same model the Minister of the Field Division had used the previous night.
When the Minister of the Field Division had shot at a Player, she had observed the damage numbers. After comparing the Player’s and her own stats, she believed that unless the gun hit one of her weak points, it wouldn’t pose a threat.
And indeed, that last shot only shaved off 2 HP. For someone with a total of 270 HP, that damage was negligible.
Even if her estimate had been wrong and the bullet embedded in her palm, Bai Fu still wouldn’t have been worried.
She wasn’t an ordinary NPC. As a digitized body, she had a power that all NPCs envied—the Great Healing Through Breathing technique!
As long as she was out of combat, not crippled, and didn’t have a heavy bleeding debuff, her wounds would heal over time with her HP.
If not for this ability, she wouldn’t dare to take on missions with such intensity.
“Now, it’s time to send you on your way.”
Bai Fu raised the gun.
By now, Cao Wenliang had already scrambled up from the ground and was desperately running in the direction of the Wildfire Gang like a madman.
Bai Fu pulled the trigger.
The bullet burst from the chamber and hit Cao Wenliang on the butt, causing him to scream and fall to the ground.
“Missed?”
Bai Fu rolled her eyes.
She had clearly aimed at his back just now.
Oh well, no big deal—if you’re bad, just train more!
Bai Fu holstered the gun and rushed up to Cao Wenliang. As soon as he tried to get up, she kicked him in the chest again.
“Ah!” Cao Wenliang let out a beast-like roar from his throat. “Bai… ahhhhh…”
He had meant to shout Bai Fu’s name loudly, but his suddenly hardened jaw made his voice slurred and incomprehensible.
Before he could figure out what was happening, Bai Fu had already kicked him in the chin.
“-27”
That kick not only dealt significant damage, but also inflicted a 10-second 【Stun】 debuff on Cao Wenliang.
Bai Fu pressed the gun to Cao Wenliang’s neck. “I hadn’t planned to kill you so soon, but you insisted on seeking death. So be it.”
Bang!
The bullet shot into Cao Wenliang’s throat. After a while of struggling, his HP bar was completely emptied.
【You have killed Cao Wenliang. Contribution: 100%. Adjusted for level difference, you gained 1750 XP.】
Just like when she killed Martin, no quest was triggered this time either. That was normal—they were in the same faction, after all. If killing someone from your own faction triggered quest rewards, that would be utterly absurd.
Bai Fu dragged Cao Wenliang’s corpse to a distance, did some obviously fake camouflage, and then headed home.
The next day, she didn’t hear from the Wildfire Gang until noon.
“Minister Cao is dead!”
“I heard he was killed by those outsiders as revenge for the ambush the night before. Minister Cao died terribly—his jaw and throat were completely blown apart. The Boss rushed to the scene the moment he got the news.”
“Damn it, those outsiders are totally lawless!”
When Bai Fu arrived with the main group, she saw the Wildfire Gang Boss squatting and inspecting Cao Wenliang’s corpse.
Beside the Wildfire Gang Boss stood a woman she had never seen before. The woman clearly had Western features, with ice-blue hair that couldn’t grow naturally in real life. She stood expressionlessly, radiating an aura that warned people to stay away.
“What is that?”
Someone beside her explained, “That’s an honored guest from elsewhere. The Boss has been hosting her recently. Otherwise, those outsiders wouldn’t be acting so arrogant.”
Bai Fu instinctively threw out a 【Psionic Vision】.
【Skill check failed】
“?”
Bai Fu was shocked.
This was the first time she had ever seen a Psionic Vision fail a check.
Even the Wildfire Gang Boss hadn’t caused such a failure—at most, the data returned was all question marks.
She felt like she might have encountered a hidden quest, or perhaps it was part of the main storyline for the newbie village at the Abandoned Cooling Plant.
While she was thinking, the Wildfire Gang Boss stood up. “Looks like I’ll have to make time to personally visit those outsiders.”
“Wait.”
Suddenly, that ice-cold woman spoke up.
The Wildfire Gang Boss turned around in confusion.
“It probably wasn’t the outsiders who killed him.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Think about your people’s encounters with those outsiders over the past few days. They only use some filthy tricks. If it had been them, there would definitely be some human excrement on his body or somewhere around here.”
Damn—student, you’ve discovered the key detail!
Almost instantly, everyone’s eyes focused on the ice-cold woman.
Bai Fu was no exception.
You must’ve come from a Detective Conan movie—how the hell did you even notice that?
The bystanders whispered among themselves.
These past few days, every time they went out to fight with those outsiders, there were always a few brutes with poop-smeared weapons.
Even during the ambush the Field Division Minister pulled off the other night, it was the same.
There’s no way the ones Cao Wenliang ran into suddenly became decent folks.
The Wildfire Gang Boss’s expression darkened. “If it wasn’t the outsiders, then...”
The ice-cold woman said, “I’m not sure. There’s no evidence.”
The Wildfire Gang Boss didn’t say anything more, but his face clearly showed his anxiety.
Whether or not Cao Wenliang was killed by the outsiders, the fact that this had happened meant the entire Wildfire Gang’s survival was now under threat.
He had no choice but to take this more seriously.
He thought of Bai Fu.
It had taken him a lot of effort to find a successor who looked promising. He couldn’t let this successor follow in that idiot Cao Wenliang’s footsteps.
After instructing his men to drag Cao Wenliang’s body back, he shouted to the underling guarding the entrance:
“Go get Bai Fu. I have a new mission for her.”