Chapter 46: The Terror of a Hardcore Savage
Division Four had been in meetings for two full days and still made no progress.
Though many were reluctant to admit it, from the attempted assassination of Bai Fu, it was highly likely that a spy from the Truth Society had infiltrated the upper ranks of the Intelligence Bureau.
That presented a very real problem—
Could the intel intercepted by Headquarters have been fake news planted by the spy?
If so, proceeding with the original plan would be walking into a trap.
If not, since they had no idea whether the spy had already passed the information to the Truth Society, they also couldn’t act recklessly and could only send scouts first. But doing so risked missing the best window for a strike.
“Damn this bullshit.”
The head of the Action Unit had a hot temper.
Seeing everyone in the conference room remaining silent, he slammed the table hard.
Not everyone was like Director Lu Yuelin, who had accepted the situation.
The Action Unit leader had hoped this operation would be his time to shine, laying a solid foundation for promotion and a raise to reach the peak of life. But now, as long as the spy issue remained unsolved, the operation couldn’t proceed.
“If I ever find out who the mole is, I swear I’ll shove the gun barrel up his ass and let him experience the bliss of a bullet slamming into his prostate!”
As the Action Unit leader’s words grew more outrageous, Lu Yuelin coughed lightly and changed the subject: “Let’s wait and see what Headquarters says. I still trust everyone in this division.”
The Action Unit leader gave a cold snort.
The conference room fell into silence again, but it didn’t last long.
Another high-ranking figure in Division Four, Secretary Li Cheng, broke the silence: “We could try to draw that spy out.”
“How?”
“Bai Fu,” Li Cheng slowly uttered the name. “The spy revealed himself to kill Bai Fu. After the failed assassination, the Truth Society immediately raised the bounty on Bai Fu, all the way to 500,000 in one go. That’s no small move. Even the Director’s head is only worth a million. Clearly, they’ve now listed Bai Fu as a must-kill target. If there’s another opportunity to kill her, I believe that spy will act again.”
The Action Unit leader said, “Li Cheng, if I remember right, just two days ago you were saying Bai Fu might be a spy from the Truth Society, that everything she did was part of a self-sacrifice plot they staged. And now you want to cooperate with her?”
Everyone turned to look at Li Cheng, but his face remained unchanged.
“This is also a test for Bai Fu. We can take the chance to observe her. Between believing that there’s a Truth Society spy in our leadership and suspecting she staged the whole assassination herself, I’d rather believe the latter. It wouldn’t be hard for her.”
“Nice theory. But how do you get her to cooperate? We both know how dangerous being bait is,” the Action Unit leader pressed.
Li Cheng remained calm. “Didn’t she want to see our Advanced Applications of Psionic Power? Tell her that if she helps us find the spy, we’ll let her see it.”
The Action Unit leader twitched his lips. “Are you dangling pie in the sky? First off, there’s no guarantee the higher-ups would agree. Second, adding a ‘spy-catch’ condition before she gets anything? Only a fool would accept that. What if she dies midway and gets nothing? You go do it. I’m not.”
Others didn’t dare talk back to Li Cheng because he had backing. But the Action Unit leader wasn’t afraid—he had backing too.
Li Cheng’s face darkened, but he didn’t lash out. “I’ll submit the proposal to the higher-ups. Of course, if you can come up with a better plan, I’ll shut up immediately.”
As always, peacemaker Lu Yuelin stepped in. He checked his watch: “It’s getting late. We’re not making any progress anyway. Let’s eat.”
That immediately piqued everyone’s interest.
“What’s the cafeteria serving tonight?”
“Fried chicken legs.”
“Great, I can scarf down a few more bowls of rice with that.”
Li Cheng said nothing and left with a face like thunder.
……
When news arrived that Bai Fu was not only alive but had also killed all three assassins sent after her, even the usually calm President of the Truth Society looked a bit green.
“Three against one and all three got killed—do they even know how to play?”
He immediately summoned the Combat Unit commander and roared.
“Didn’t you say you had this under control? That I could rest easy? This is how you reassure me?”
Fine, if they couldn’t kill the Gene Primordials’ leader, but now they couldn’t even beat a small fry who had to burst free from Yulia’s doppelgänger with brute force? On top of that, they exposed the existence of the spy?
What next—getting humiliated by random nobodies?
This was utterly disgraceful!
The Combat Unit commander was sweating bullets and rushed to explain.
“Bai Fu didn’t die because she’s actually a Psionic Prayer-user. No one knew this before, so she used the information gap to pull off a surprise reversal. Now that we’ve figured out her class, we can send a stronger assassin to finish her off anytime. However…”
“What do you mean, however?”
The commander, trembling with fear, first reported the situation on Division Four's side.
“President, actually, the fact that Bai Fu wasn’t assassinated this time may not be a bad thing. Right now, the Gene Primordials Intelligence Bureau is in chaos due to the mole situation. They’re trying to use Bai Fu to play a game of ‘lure the snake from its hole’ and capture our spy, so they have no energy left to monitor our other operations.”
The President paused in thought.
That was indeed a valid point.
From this perspective, Bai Fu was actually a very useful piece. Her existence could tie up much of the Intelligence Bureau’s resources.
“Then let Bai Fu live a few more days. Let our people have some fun with the Bureau. When the time comes, we’ll send Bai Fu on her way!”
The Combat Unit Commander hurriedly agreed.
The President sneered.
Just a little underling—did she think she could defy the heavens?
……
Bai Fu waited for an entire day.
During that time, since Excavation‑Princess hadn’t seen her for almost two days, many people on the forum thought something had happened to her.
She specially sent someone to inform Excavation‑Princess that she was fine and had just encountered some minor trouble.
Unexpectedly, this small move sparked intense discussion among the Players—many thought her actions carried deeper meaning.
【What, Fu‑fu ran into trouble?】
【What’s the big deal? If Fu‑fu didn’t have trouble, how would we get our chance to show up?】
【Digging‑Treasure is only level 9 now. She’s still got a way to go before unlocking an advanced class.】
【If I remember right, this game’s quests change dynamically. It’s not like other games where you can delay quest completion. That segment just now was clearly urging Digging‑Treasure to hurry up and level. If she’s too slow, she might miss the follow-up quests.】
【Suddenly showing up to prompt her… Could something have happened to Fu‑fu?】
【Judging from how Fu‑fu spoke to Digging‑Treasure earlier, probably not.】
【That doesn’t prove anything. Maybe Fu‑fu pretended to be relaxed so we wouldn’t worry. Don’t forget she’s still injured. I don’t believe those wounds had no effect on her.】
This got a bunch of Players riled up. They hated that they couldn’t get to Lynn right now. Even if they wanted to help, they were powerless.
They didn’t even have the heart to be jealous of Starfish‑bro and the others who were about to arrive in Lynn. Instead, they kept tagging Starfish‑bro and others in the forum, urging them to quickly raise their strength once they got to Lynn, then check on what trouble Bai Fu had gotten into.
Starfish‑bro and the others turned grim when they received the messages.
They were anxious too, but leveling up wasn’t something that happened overnight.
They knew absolutely nothing about Lynn.
They could only hope to unlock their advanced classes before the timer ran out and trigger the new quest.
Who knew if there would still be a chance to receive Bai Fu-related quests after this chain broke?
Driven by urgency, as soon as the train arrived at Lynn Station, Convert to My Fu sprang into action.
“Let’s split up first, get familiar with Lynn, and see if we can find any XP-looping errands. If we don’t find anything, we’ll regroup to find Excavation‑Princess. Sound good?”
“Fine by me.”
“Let’s do it then.”
Convert to My Fu’s suggestion got unanimous approval.
After separating from the other Players, he opened his livestream.
He actually wasn’t interested in livestreaming at all.
He played games purely for his own enjoyment and never intended to share that joy with others. But when it came to quest finding, he was a total noob, so he figured he might as well consult the livestream viewers.
Back in the day it was crowdfunding novels, now it’s crowdfunding gameplay—totally reasonable!
Once Convert to My Fu started the stream, a flood of Players poured in. Bai Fu also saw the related posts on the forum and joined.
Since she had nothing better to do, she figured she might as well observe these Players’ actions.
That way, when she met with them next time, she’d know better how to manipulate them.
8 p.m.
“I’m level 8 right now. To unlock an advanced class soon, I need over 37,000 XP to hit level 11. Honestly, the pressure’s intense.”
“Back at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, I could team up with other Players to farm Type II Amoeba, but there are barely any Players here. Group farming isn’t an option. For now, I’ll have to look for delivery quests.”
“Best would be ones that reward both XP and money. Only with money can I buy high-grade weapons and food. This game’s hunger system is way too realistic. Get too hungry and your Stats drop—might even die of starvation. That’d be such a waste.”
Convert to My Fu walked through the streets of Lynn, explaining the challenges he was facing.
With advice from the livestream viewers, he triggered several hidden quests with no prompts. Unfortunately, after an hour’s grind, he’d only racked up just over 1,000 XP and a few dozen Credit Coins.
At this pace, who knew when he’d hit the XP goal? Maybe four or five days. But by then, would Bai Fu’s quest chain still be available?
Convert to My Fu realized he had to change tactics. He needed to take on some hardcore savage stuff.
Make a quick buck, then spend it on gear, then grind monsters—or take monster-killing quests.
“Maybe I should rob a bank?”
He quickly shot down that idea.
First, he had no decent weapons. Second, Lynn was nothing like the Abandoned Cooling Plant.
It was a major settlement under direct control of the Gene Primordials, with Intelligence Division Four and various law enforcement agencies.
If he tried robbing a bank now, that’d be like a dung beetle going on a road trip—asking for shit.
Even if he didn’t get shot dead on the spot, he’d end up in a detention center.
Robbery was out. He didn’t know how to forge money. So what else could he do—be a con man, a mercenary, an assassin?
Convert to My Fu was stuck.
As he walked, he saw someone nearby walk out grinning.
“Ha! I’ve got money now—I’ll definitely make it back this time!”
Well, well. A gambling addict?
Convert to My Fu turned his head and saw a dozen people crowding around what looked like the gate of a factory.
He squeezed in and listened for a while before understanding—they were here to borrow money, the kind with sky-high interest.
The lender was a guy called Brother Dao. All the borrowers were broke, and the only thing they could offer as collateral was themselves.
“I’ll pledge a kidney.”
“I’ll pledge…”
Convert to My Fu’s mind started spinning.
He wasn’t good at other things, but not paying back loans?
That he could manage.
He quickly moved in and grabbed someone who had just borrowed money.
“They’re not afraid you’ll run off without paying?”
The borrower shrugged. “Run? Run where? Other than the station, every place around here is crawling with mutated monsters. And there are always their people watching the station. Even the cops are no help—they’ve got connections in the police department.”
Hearing that, Convert to My Fu grinned.
That’s exactly what he needed.
It meant Brother Dao wouldn’t refuse to lend him money just because he was a stranger.
Sure enough, once Brother Dao heard he wanted to borrow money, his grin bloomed brighter than a chrysanthemum. But when he heard that Convert to My Fu was willing to pledge everything he had, Brother Dao’s expression turned a bit odd.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Bro, you’ve got quite the gambling streak... But since you want to bet, I’ll play along.”
Just like that, Convert to My Fu successfully obtained 5,000 Credit Coins, and he couldn’t help but grumble.
“Pawning every valuable part of my body only got me 5,000 Credit Coins? Sure, Credit Coin buying power is high, but this is daylight robbery.”
After securing the cash, he asked for the black market’s location and immediately rushed off to buy weapons.
Lynn was Lynn, after all.
Handguns, which were nearly impossible to find at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, could be bought here via the black market.
Just as Convert to My Fu was examining his newly acquired handgun, Brother Dao, who had lent him the money earlier, suddenly showed up with a group of people.
“Isn’t the repayment deadline not up yet? What are you looking for me for?”
Brother Dao’s face was cold. “Bro, you bought so many weapons—looks like you’re planning something big, huh? I don’t think you have the means to pay me back, so I need to reclaim your collateral in advance.”
That statement was the spark.
Seeing the other side ready to use force, Convert to My Fu dropped the act.
You think just because you showed up right away I can’t make money off you?
He shot Brother Dao—who was charging at him—twice, killing him instantly, then shot himself just as the others were about to grab him.
His ruthlessness stunned everyone.
What kind of lunatic was this? Things go south, and he instantly offs himself? It really felt like they had provoked something terrifying.
After respawning, Convert to My Fu immediately contacted Starfish‑bro and the others.
【P‑Dawg, P‑Dawg, I found a way to make money】
He shared the borrowing scheme with Starfish‑bro and the rest.
That very night, several loan shark gangs in Lynn’s settlement all experienced extremely bizarre events.
Out of nowhere came a group of hardcore types.
These people would pledge their entire bodies to borrow money, then go buy weapons.
When the lenders came to collect, these hardcore types attacked without saying a word, then killed themselves.
Looking at the corpses on the ground, the loan sharks were completely confused.
What the hell?
They were all boiling with rage, but had nowhere to vent.
The people who pissed them off were already dead. In the end, all they got back was a few weapons and a corpse.
What they didn’t know was that Convert to My Fu and the others had already regrouped.
After borrowing the money, the first thing they did was stash part of it.
After self-termination and respawning, they would secretly retrieve the stashed cash. Totalling it up, they made 20,000 Credit Coins in a single night!
【Holy crap, you can play the game like this?】
Viewers in the livestream were dumbfounded.
【Legendary move, but don’t use it too often—do it enough times and the other side will catch on】
【Jesus, toying with NPCs like this—where’s your conscience?】
Even Bai Fu was speechless.
As expected of you guys—the ones who enchant weapons with Golden Oil!