Chapter 49: Birth, I’ve Already Remembered You!
While Division Four was urgently decoding the data obtained from the Dark Web base, Bai Fu strolled leisurely past the window of the hotel sponsored by Excavation‑Princess and others.
This was her signal to the Players.
She believed that the recent commotion must have drawn the attention of the assassins and spies lurking in the shadows. Without a doubt, the new assassin was now watching her from a hidden location. As long as she showed the slightest flaw, those assassins would jump out and send her to the afterlife.
Of course, all of this was Bai Fu’s speculation.
She couldn’t be certain whether those assassins truly dared to act while Division Four had already locked down Lynn.
Not all assassins were like the Makarov family, who would try to complete the task once accepted, even if it meant sacrificing themselves.
Most assassins would retreat once the situation turned unfavorable.
Being an assassin was for money. If your life was gone, what use was the money?
After confirming that the Players in the hotel had taken notice of her, Bai Fu, under the cover of Xia Shi and others, returned to Xia Shi’s residence.
What followed was waiting.
She chatted idly with Xia Shi, mainly wanting to learn more about her.
From the conversation, Bai Fu learned that Xia Shi had grown up in a single-parent household. Her father was a senior official of the Gene Primordials’ Technology Bureau—a true second-generation official.
But after graduation, Xia Shi had a major disagreement with her father regarding career choices. Her father wanted her to follow in his footsteps and join the Technology Bureau, but out of hatred for the Truth Society, she defied all persuasion and insisted on joining the Intelligence Bureau.
In her own words—
“I haven’t spoken a single word to that old stubborn man for two months now.”
Bai Fu nodded inwardly.
On the surface, Xia Shi seemed like a bright and successful person from a privileged background, a winner in life. But considering that she was likely a key plot character—or even the protagonist—of the Origin Star main storyline, she was very likely about to encounter some Big Trouble.
These kinds of games rarely featured a protagonist who was invincible from start to finish.
That would leave Players with no sense of participation.
Players came to games for enjoyment, not to be workhorses, and certainly not to be told off after doing the grunt work: “Why are you still here?”
Once Xia Shi drifted into sleep, Bai Fu began her operation.
She quietly slipped out of the house, avoided the guards whose positions she had already confirmed, and made her way straight toward the hotel.
Twenty minutes later.
Starfish‑bro, Convert to My Fu, Sword Qi Soaring, and others left the hotel one after another.
Once everyone was in position, Excavation‑Princess, who had long since dressed up as Bai Fu, also walked out of the hotel.
Excavation‑Princess:【I’ve left the hotel, feeling good】
Starfish‑bro:【Excavation‑Princess, it’s all up to your performance now!】
Calamity Dragon:【Don’t worry, Excavation‑Princess, I’m watching from upstairs. If anyone approaches, I’ll notify you immediately】
Sword Qi Soaring:【Remember to glance around at every intersection, act like you’re checking whether someone is tailing you】
Excavation‑Princess:【Mhm, I’ve already rehearsed in front of the mirror many times!】
She took a deep breath and crept forward along the wall.
The street beneath the night sky was deserted. An eerie and intimidating atmosphere loomed everywhere, but Excavation‑Princess wasn’t afraid at all—because she was looping “Good Day”!
While surfing the internet before, she had read that replacing jump-scare horror music with cheerful tracks drastically reduced the fear factor.
Turns out, it was absolutely true.
Accompanied by “Ayy~ Today is a good day, everything you wish will come true”, even the vicious stray dog darting across the road looked elegant to her.
“If I play ‘Good Day’ during battles too, maybe I won’t be so nervous?”
Excavation‑Princess dismissed the thought.
Killing people with blood and limbs flying while playing “Good Day”? Outsiders might think she was playing some crazy footpad game. Worse yet, her livestream might get reported and shut down.
While Excavation‑Princess was slowly making her way to the battlefield, Li Cheng was leisurely reading at home.
“Beep, beep-beep-beep, beep.”
Suddenly, the walkie-talkie on the round table beside him transmitted three knocks in a “short-long-short” pattern.
The code was correct.
Li Cheng put down his book and picked up the walkie-talkie.
“What is it? Keep it short.”
The assassin on the other end spoke urgently: “Bai Fu sneaked out of her place alone. We’ve been tailing her. She stopped outside an abandoned hospital and seems to be speaking into some kind of communicator.”
“！”
Li Cheng sat upright.
He had known all along that Bai Fu wasn’t simple—it was impossible she was just some village girl who awakened superpowers by luck.
“Quietly move closer, try to figure out what she’s saying.”
“What if we’re discovered?”
Li Cheng tapped his index finger lightly on the table, closed his eyes, and thought for a moment: “Capture her alive if possible. If not—kill on the spot!”
His original plan was to toy around with Bai Fu and Division Four a bit longer before making a move.
That would better distract the Intelligence Bureau. But now, there was no need. Bai Fu wandering outside alone in the middle of the night and getting caught or killed was enough to throw the Intelligence Bureau into disarray.
“Preferably, capture one alive.”
Li Cheng narrowed his eyes.
He couldn’t wait to let Bai Fu witness the Truth Society’s methods of torture.
……
As professionals, the assassins moved swiftly upon receiving the order.
They proceeded with extreme caution, even employing special abilities. But they had no idea that on a nearby rooftop, a Player was using the game’s built-in video recording function to monitor them.
Did they even understand what a long-focus lens that could capture every pore meant?!
【They’re coming, four of them in total!】
Calamity Dragon shouted in the squad channel.
All the Players tensed up, especially the five from the Iron Rain Guild—they were the most excited.
Sword Qi Soaring immediately switched to the guild channel:【Old Dog, be ready!】
The Player called Old Dog—whose nickname was Kobold, a veteran of the Iron Rain Guild—replied:【Relax. With our strength and coordination, if we get serious, it’s easy to win favor with a Saintess character like Bai Fu!】
Sword Qi Soaring placed his hand on the gun at his waist. He had waited too long for this moment. While squatting in the sewer earlier, he’d been filled with anxiety, worried that those watching Bai Fu wouldn’t make a move, wasting their entire night.
Though he always appeared confident in front of others, he actually bore considerable pressure.
He was the guild leader, but the guild wasn’t a dictatorship.
The others had unanimously supported his decision to side with the Truth Society because they believed in him. He had to live up to that trust.
If his decision caused the guild’s progress to fall behind expectations, even if the others didn’t blame him, their sponsor would surely have something to say.
Fortunately, his expectations were met.
The four scum lurking in the shadows had indeed taken the bait.
He was now only two steps away from success.
Step one: use this opportunity to increase Bai Fu’s favorability.
Step two: find the Truth Society.
As for extracting intel from Bai Fu, Sword Qi Soaring didn’t even consider it a challenge.
Just like Kobold said, Bai Fu had been willing to sacrifice herself for the safety of the Abandoned Cooling Plant despite the burdens of her past—she was undoubtedly a Saintess (in a positive sense). If gaining a Saintess character’s trust still didn’t make information extraction easy, then it would betray Bai Fu’s own Saintess setup.
Sword Qi Soaring locked eyes on the game footage and scouting data shared by Calamity Dragon. Now all they had to do was wait for those four assassins to make the first move—then it would be their time to strike.
Excavation‑Princess asked in the squad channel:【Hey hey hey, if they attack me, should I run or just stand there and take it?】
Starfish‑bro:【Running might alert them that something’s off. Try to stall as long as possible. Once Fu‑fu gets the message and arrives, everything will be fine.】
Just as Excavation‑Princess was about to respond, an unusual chill suddenly clung to the back of her neck like a block of ice.
A shiver ran down her spine. In the blink of an eye, not only her back, but her entire field of vision was swallowed by darkness—all the lights around her disappeared.
【You’ve been affected by Dark Corruption. Determining… Determination failed. Your vision -100%】
【You are entangled by Shadows】
Two consecutive prompts appeared.
Excavation‑Princess realized the situation, but it was too late.
A sharp object pressed against her lower back, and a soft feminine voice whispered into her ear.
“Little sister, you’d better not move. Otherwise, big sister’s dagger might go straight into your kidney.”
Excavation‑Princess used all her strength to keep her body from trembling. She quickly asked in the squad channel:【What’s going on? I didn’t even see anything】
Calamity Dragon frowned:【I saw that woman melt—she turned into a shadow. By the time she reappeared, she was already behind you. What a powerful ability!】
The opponent had superpowers. That complicated things.
But it didn’t make the Players back down. Are you kidding? Her HP bar’s visible now!
【Notify Fu‑fu. Excavation‑Princess should try to stall her in conversation. We’re on our way.】
【Roger】
Everyone sprang into action. Meanwhile, Bai Fu, who had been hiding in the hotel, received a reminder from the Player beside her acting as communications officer.
“The assassins this time even have superpowers? No wonder the mission reward is so high.”
Bai Fu felt her blood boiling.
The stronger they were, the better—the stronger they were, the greater the reward for taking them down.
She opened the door.
The hotel and the Abandoned Hospital where Excavation‑Princess was located were separated by several streets, but that distance was nothing to her now.
After unlocking the 【Sharpshooter】 class and leveling it to 5, her stats had become—
【Stats】: Strength 11, Agility 12, Constitution 47, Intelligence 5, Spirit 19, Inspiration 23
She also unlocked two new skills.
【Basic Shooting Specialization】: +10% shooting accuracy correction
【Precision Shooting Lv3】: +6% shooting accuracy correction, +3% critical hit rate for ranged attacks
Although 12 Agility couldn’t match an average Elite Assassin or Special Agent, it was more than enough to travel quickly through the city.
The 16% total shooting correction from the two new skills might not be much, but it was enough to evolve her from a body-outline shooter to someone who had a solid chance of hitting the target at 20–30 meters.
“Let’s go!”
Bai Fu dashed into the darkness.
Elsewhere, Excavation‑Princess, with a blade pressed to her, tried asking the assassin behind her some questions. But the female assassin completely ignored her and instead pulled out handcuffs, intending to shackle her hands.
Well, there was no choice.
Suddenly, Excavation‑Princess lifted her right foot and stomped hard toward the assassin’s foot.
The female assassin seemed to have expected this.
She sidestepped 10 centimeters to the right—just enough to dodge the stomp.
“Little sister, you’re being naughty. In that case, big sister will have to teach you a little lesson.”
She stabbed Excavation‑Princess in the back.
The strike was calculated precisely—to cause excruciating pain, but not enough blood loss to be fatal.
But what the female assassin didn’t expect was that Excavation‑Princess, whom she had just stabbed, broke free of her restraints as if nothing had happened.
Turned, drew her gun, fired—all in one motion.
Bet you didn’t expect that—I didn’t turn on pain feedback!
The female assassin jerked her neck aside—she dodged swiftly, but a sudden, burning pain flared on her neck, continuously searing her nerves.
“You’re asking for death!”
She made a move to stab Excavation‑Princess to death.
The three assassins hiding in the shadows quickly stepped out: “Calm down, the employer wants her alive.”
“How am I supposed to calm d—”
She had barely spoken half her sentence when several gunshots rang out from the dark, silencing her.
“It’s an ambush!”
The expressions of the four assassins changed drastically.
They scattered at once and, upon confirming that the attackers' marksmanship wasn’t that great, they let out a sigh of relief—but they still underestimated their opponents.
Although the Players’ individual strength was completely crushed by them, the Players had the advantage in numbers and also had Calamity Dragon reporting from above.
What happens when four experts go up against more than a dozen rookies with full-map vision who aren’t afraid to die?
“Why are bullets coming from places like this?”
“How did they spot me?”
“How many of them are there?”
“Damn it, I got shot in the butt!”
The four assassins, blinded in the dark, grew more alarmed with each passing second.
Their opponents didn’t utter a single word—just kept firing with cold precision.
For a moment, the assassins even hallucinated that they were the civilians and the other side were the real killers.
The female assassin gritted her teeth and focused on the fallen Excavation‑Princess. Perhaps only by controlling the “Bai Fu” decoy could they break out successfully.
“I’ll suppress their fire. You three, grab that woman.”
Her body turned into a shadow and vanished on the spot.
The remaining three assassins had no time for anything else.
They dodged bullets while gradually approaching Excavation‑Princess.
After a chaotic exchange, one assassin rolled right up to Excavation‑Princess. He pointed a gun at her forehead and shouted, “Drop your weapons or I’ll kill her now!”
He was met with even denser gunfire.
Bang bang bang!
Bullets rained down, hitting both Excavation‑Princess and the assassin.
The assassin’s eyes remained wide open even as he fell.
He couldn’t understand—why would the hidden attackers kill Bai Fu too? Were they not on the same side?
The female assassin, having just taken down a Player with her superpower, was also stunned at the sight.
How do you fight a bunch of lunatics like this?!
She just wanted to run now.
But as soon as she was about to act, Sword Qi Soaring came charging out from the side.
The Iron Rain Guild had turned this into their stage for glory—they were going all out!
So what if the enemy was strong?
Even if they only lasted a few seconds before dying, as long as they bought time for Bai Fu to arrive, every sacrifice would be worth it.
For Bai Fu’s favorability—chargeeee!
One Iron Rain Guild Player rushed forward. Then two. Then three...
As they charged, they shouted:
“How dare you try to assassinate Fu‑fu! I’ll send you straight to hell!”
“Die die die! Anyone who opposes Fu‑fu must die!”
“F**k you! You dared to target Fu‑fu?!”
The female assassin was stunned. Watching this unfold, she thought she had accidentally walked into some fanatical idol fan meeting.
Wait a second—if you guys revere Bai Fu so much, why did you just shoot her to death?!
Even Starfish‑bro and the others were dumbfounded.
Damn, so the Iron Rain Guild were also crazed Fu‑fu fans?
That was unexpected.
Convert to My Fu began to wonder if his own support for Bai Fu had been lacking.
After all, he hadn’t charged out to block the three assassins like the Iron Rain Guild members did.
The female assassin stabbed the nearest Player through the heart.
Just as she was about to move on to the next target, she was shocked to find that the stabbed Player clung tightly to her leg.
He wasn’t dead?
“Get off me!”
She kicked the Player flying, then turned into a shadow and reappeared behind Sword Qi Soaring.
Sensing danger, Sword Qi Soaring gathered his strength and lashed out with his elbow, slamming it hard into the female assassin’s abdomen.
It was a fierce move, forcing her to block with her right hand.
“Got her—wait, no!”
Before he could rejoice, Sword Qi Soaring saw the female assassin split into several illusions. One illusion moved, and a blade sliced cleanly across his chest, spilling blood.
Damn it, she’s too strong. There’s no way to win.
But Sword Qi Soaring didn’t give up—instead, he shouted even louder.
“Since you came here tonight, as long as I still draw breath, you’ll never escape! I won’t let you keep harming Bai Fu!”
“You?”
The female assassin sneered.
In the next second, a bullet shot through the darkness and struck her left arm precisely.
“Ugh.”
She grunted, trying to see who ambushed her. When she finally caught a clear glimpse of the person emerging from the night, her heart sank.
It was Bai Fu!
That meant—they had really walked into a trap tonight!
Without a word, Bai Fu opened fire at the female assassin.
The assassin spat in frustration.
There’d be no kills tonight—but if she wanted to escape, no one here could stop her!
She turned into a shadow once more, but this time, instead of the ground, she shot straight toward the rooftop.
“Hmph, trying to escape?”
Bai Fu was unfazed.
This female assassin’s superpower was indeed formidable—but she made one mistake: of all the directions, she shouldn’t have chosen to go upward.
The moment the female assassin reached the rooftop, Bai Fu used Battle Etiquette on her.
This time, Bai Fu didn’t make any unnecessary moves. She simply stood there quietly.
She stood very steadily—but under the female assassin’s feet, there was only air.
“You… ah!”
The female assassin fell straight from the rooftop over thirty meters high.
At the moment she hit the ground, Bai Fu fired six consecutive shots at her head, blasting her face into a bloody mess—so dead she couldn’t be more dead.
【You killed Shadow Serpent, contribution 94.2%. After level correction, you gained 6594 XP】
Bai Fu looked over at Starfish‑bro, Sword Qi Soaring, and the others.
To be honest, she was a bit surprised.
She didn’t expect the leader of a major guild to be such a fanboy, and to perform so fiercely in battle.
It seemed her charm was truly exceptional.
She nodded, then quickly charged toward the other assassins.
Starfish‑bro, Sword Qi Soaring, and the others who witnessed this scene couldn’t help but gape.
Since when had Bai Fu become this powerful?
Oh right—the injuries. It had to be that her injuries had healed somewhat, so her strength had partially recovered too!
At this moment, Sword Qi Soaring was in high spirits.
Tonight’s performance had maxed out Bai Fu’s favorability.
Most of his plan had already succeeded.
“Hahaha!”
In that instant, Sword Qi Soaring’s mind filled with the perfect trajectory: using tonight’s action to earn a ton of favorability from Bai Fu, then indirectly extracting large amounts of intel from Anya about her.
After that, he’d defect to the Truth Society with the intel, be highly valued, and help Iron Rain Guild rise to become the top guild in Beyond the Stars—securing his place in online gaming history.
In the time that followed, Bai Fu cooperated with the few surviving Players to take down another assassin.
Only one remained, and she deliberately let him escape instead of giving chase.
Of course, not chasing didn’t mean she hadn’t ordered a Player to secretly tail him.
“Damn it, damn it, where the hell did that freak Bai Fu come from?”
Cold sweat streamed down the surviving assassin’s forehead.
He’d taken a bullet to the butt, but fortunately, it was because of that bullet that he had kept hiding and moving cautiously—managing to break out of the encirclement by sheer luck.
Now, he had zero intention of continuing the mission.
“I have important intel. I must report to you in person.”
After contacting Li Cheng through the walkie-talkie, the surviving assassin limped along for over twenty minutes before finally meeting him.
“What is it? Don’t you know it’s a sensitive time?”
“See for yourself!”
The surviving assassin handed over the footage captured on his terminal to Li Cheng.
The more Li Cheng watched, the darker his expression became—especially when he saw the message from Iron Rain Guild’s Kobold.
At that time, another assassin had shouted at Kobold: “You’re defending Bai Fu like this—aren’t you afraid of retaliation?”
Kobold responded like he’d heard the funniest joke in the world. He clutched his belly and laughed: “Retaliation? From you? Or from those garbage behind you? If you’ve messed with Fu‑fu, you’d better surrender right now. Otherwise, there’s no one in heaven or earth who can save you!”
Arrogant!
This was the first time Li Cheng had seen someone this arrogant.
Fine, fine, fine. That name of yours—I’ll remember it. That face—I’ll remember it. If I ever catch you, I’ll make sure you beg for life but can’t die even if you want to!
Li Cheng turned off the terminal and suddenly said to the assassin before him: “Go take out the person outside.”
“Outside?” The assassin froze.
Li Cheng snapped: “Idiot! He’s been tailing you all this time and you still haven’t noticed?”
The assassin’s eye twitched.
So… he had been followed?
“I’ll take care of it right now!”