Chapter 3: That Sudden Light
Despite Anya’s reluctance, under Bai Fu’s insistence, her hair was still dyed a beautiful silver–white.
In the sunlight, she crouched there, looking wronged.
“One coin, two coins, three…”
She was counting money, credit coins, one by one, and when done she started counting on her fingers.
“Looks like we’ll be eating porridge every day from now on.”
Bai Fu tugged at the corner of her mouth in a smile.
She hadn’t come here to drink porridge; before transmigrating she’d saved money and drank porridge, and afterwards if she continued, then what was the point of transmigrating?
She patted Anya’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, once we start acting, everything will get better!”
Actually, if money weren’t an issue, she would’ve dressed herself and Anya up as a “yin-yang duo.”
[Bai Fu: white hair, black suit.]
[Anya: black hair, white suit.]
If they stood together before the Players and couldn’t toy with them as Tom did, she would literally eat the Players herself!
With Anya comforted, it was time to get down to business.
But where should they go to farm Player favorability?
The abandoned Cooling Plant settlement was unexpectedly large, and finding a Player needing saving at random on the streets was very difficult.
So earlier, while dyeing her hair, Bai Fu had already opened the gaming community “Star‑Play Society,” found the Cooling Plant section, and hoped to find some leads.
The community was bustling; Players were actively sharing their experiences.
[Brothers, I made a Lovecraftian face and got arrested the moment I entered the game. How do I wipe and restart? Urgently waiting.]
[I can’t believe it—they force you to choose gender. I want to play female!]
[Bad review. The game gave OO a model, but the boxer shorts you get cannot be removed at all.]
[Looking for an 18+ patch. Peace upon good people.]
Bai Fu rolled her eyes.
Ignoring these silly Players, she continued searching for rescue targets.
In principle, she had four types not to save.
She didn’t save pro Players, because they were too specialized; she couldn’t solve the dilemmas that stumped them.
She didn’t save smart Players, because their intelligence made interactions high‑risk, likely to expose flaws and ruin everything.
She didn’t save war‑crazy Players, because they were violent; their minds were full of “fight! pleasure!” and if she accidentally showed a health bar she’d get sliced.
She didn’t save fun‑seeker Players, because they were crazy; their minds were like Schrödinger’s cat—you never knew what they planned before they acted.
Bai Fu switched between the forum and livestream sections of the community until, after leaving the barber shop, she found an interesting target.
In a livestream titled “[Stroll Simulator] Starting from scratch to tour the Stella: Cooling Plant chapter,” a Player called “Excavation‑Princess” was livestreaming.
She wandered through the alleys of the abandoned Cooling Plant, occasionally uttering exclamations like “ah, this light, ah, this water.”
Honestly, she didn’t do much, but her stream’s viewer count had already broken four digits.
The few joining were there for scenery; most were mapping the area—if someone’s helping map for free, they’d jump in to learn.
Besides scenery watchers and mappers, the rest were fun‑seekers. Though Excavation‑Princess didn’t do much, her stream was full of activity.
[Holy crap, someone’s fighting over there, smashing each other’s pants with bricks.]
[I saw. The impact feel isn’t good.]
[Judging the previous one as pure old-school.]
[Little kkk right? The feel still isn’t good, find me one that is.]
[What feel?]
Bai Fu barely glanced at these clownish comments; she paid more attention to comments from regular viewers.
Through the comments, she learned Excavation‑Princess was a content creator making game videos.
Because her gameplay was terrible, Excavation‑Princess could only rely on making “stroll simulator,” “game archaeology,” and “new‑game excavation” videos to attract fans.
But after two and a half years of videos, she hadn’t gained many followers.
The game‑archaeology style already had many high‑quality creators; newcomers couldn’t find anything fresh and didn’t even get a bowl of soup.
As for new‑game excavation content, she couldn’t say she did a bad job—just that she overshot.
Her specialty was over‑interpretation.
She could always deduce a story grander than Romance of the Three Kingdoms from game lore more fragmented than Elden Ring’s.
“Just wait and see!”
That was her catchphrase.
At first viewers believed it: “Wow, is this character really so important, is this plot really that awesome?”
But after a while, developers would show her the truth: “Sis, we really didn’t think that hard!”
After being proven wrong many times, her new‑game excavation segment went cold.
But she was persistent.
She believed the problem wasn’t her, it was the world!
In her words:
I have just not yet encountered the game that resonates with my soul. When that game appears, I will pierce all mockery from the old days with my scorching spear.
Most Players’ reaction was:
“Sounds like she’s relapsing into chuunibyou!”
Watching Excavation‑Princess wandering all around, Bai Fu suddenly relaxed and smiled.
A bad‑at‑games + not‑smart + over‑interpretation + livestreaming UP‑profile.
Isn’t this the chosen one I’m looking for?
Hah, girl, you’ve successfully piqued my interest!
Bai Fu had originally planned to hire someone to cause trouble for Excavation‑Princess, then step in, but she soon found there was no need.
Because Excavation‑Princess was already delving into hard‑to‑traverse side‑paths.
In the honest and simple folkways of the abandoned Cooling Plant, there was a more than 90% chance that these side paths would spawn at least one road thug.
Sure enough, after walking into an alley cluttered with junk, Excavation‑Princess was stopped by a muscular man in a tank top.
“Hm?”
Bai Fu was slightly startled.
Just a couple of days ago, when she went to collect a debt, wasn’t this guy standing behind that old geezer who punched her?
Average strength, nothing to fear.
Fate, huh, bro?
Bai Fu felt this was a perfect chance for revenge and to clear her name.
“Anya, come on, we’ve got work!”
…
In the alley.
Facing the man who looked straight out of a Hong Kong comic, Excavation‑Princess’s heart kept sinking.
Just like how DIO couldn’t remember how many slices of bread he had eaten, she, as a game content creator, also couldn’t remember how many dangers she had faced in games.
Just last week, she had been beaten up for 500 rounds by a monster in a dim psychiatric hospital.
Last night before sleep, she played a horror game similar to P.T.
With her courage, normally a mere human brute in a game wouldn’t scare her.
But she was scared now, frozen like she had been hit by a monkey’s immobilizing spell.
She couldn’t be blamed—the game “Beyond the Stars” was simply too realistic.
In every possible sense—too realistic!
This game had only been officially announced half a year ago. Though its marketing wasn’t massive, its promotional slogans caught a lot of attention.
Things like “a breathing universe” and “99% ultra realism” really stirred interest.
A lot of people thought it was digital fraud. Excavation‑Princess had thought the same—until she entered the game with a critical mindset and realized those so‑called beta testers weren’t bots.
99%?
100%!
This was clearly a game of epoch-making proportions.
Anyone unaware might mistake it for the real world with a bit of UI layered on top.
It was this unbeatable realism that made Excavation‑Princess instinctively afraid when faced with the road thug.
If she got killed—could she really revive?
“I can’t tell—I really can’t tell!”
At that moment, the thug spoke.
“Outsider?”
“I…”
“Looks like you are. Haha, what luck today—just stepped out and ran into an outsider.” The thug grinned, revealing yellowed teeth.
Excavation‑Princess tensed up. “What do you want?”
“What do I want? Of course, I’m gonna catch you for a bounty. You outsiders really pissed off the Wildfire Gang the moment you arrived—seriously gutsy!”
Speaking of which, the thug couldn’t help but marvel.
When facing the local tyrants like the Wildfire Gang, these outsiders showed no fear.
Not only did they sneak open the gang’s supply crates, but when blocked on the road, they even threatened the gang, saying things like “you’re finished, you messed with us, and no one in heaven or earth can save you.”
That was like a counterfeit detector breaking down—no currency to show!
The thug pulled out a sack and, without another word, threw it over Excavation‑Princess’s head.
“Hey hey, you… help! Help!”
Darkness closed in.
Excavation‑Princess struggled desperately, but with only 3 Strength, how could she break free?
“Scream all you want, even if your throat tears, it’s useless!” Thinking of the high bounty from the Wildfire Gang, the thug chuckled.
With that classic line, the Players in the livestream couldn’t hold it anymore.
[He’s got that dubbing flavor!]
[Did I click the wrong stream? Where’s the stroll simulator we were promised?]
[Such simple and honest folkways here.]
[The abandoned Cooling Plant, aka alien Gotham.]
Amid the laughter, a cold, melodious voice with a hint of authority suddenly rang out in the stream.
“What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
The thug dropped Excavation‑Princess and turned around.
Taking advantage of the moment, Excavation‑Princess finally tore off the sack. She leaned against a broken crate to stand up shakily.
Because the thug blocked her view, she had to sidestep to the side.
With that step, blinding sunlight poured into her eyes, and she quickly raised her hand to shield her forehead.
Hiss—so dazzling!
After a while, she gradually adjusted to the sudden brightness.
She saw her.
She saw a girl standing against the light.
The soft sunlight gilded the girl’s silhouette in gold, and the wind blowing diagonally lifted her long, silver-white hair like silk.
That wind came just perfectly.
It passed through the narrow alley, around the clutter, and hit Excavation‑Princess right between the brows.
Already dazed, Excavation‑Princess unconsciously opened her mouth.
At that moment, she thought she could finally answer a question someone had once asked her years ago.
“Do you believe in light?”
“I do!”