Chapter 51: Saint Fu Empress, Let You Win Till You’re Numb
Under Sword Qi Soaring’s arrangement, the members of the Iron Rain Guild began searching for traces of the Truth Society across Origin Star.
At this time, other players still had no idea what scheme they were plotting. In the Community, Sword Qi Soaring, Kobold, and others had already become the envy of nearly every player, just like Excavation‑Princess and her group.
Excavation‑Princess was easier to understand—after all, Bai Fu, this incredibly powerful NPC, was discovered solely by her. When she first posted in the Community praising Bai Fu, a whole bunch of people mocked her.
But she hadn’t been discouraged by the ridicule.
On the contrary, she had doubled down and placed all her bets on Bai Fu, repeatedly making new judgments about Bai Fu’s identity.
The amazing part was that every single one of her guesses had been right.
Now, many players joked in the Community that Excavation‑Princess was actually the Developer who created the character Bai Fu. Occasionally, she would even receive some bizarre @ messages.
【Fu‑baby, Fu‑baby, can you change Fu‑fu’s profile and make her a black stockings and leather shoes lover?】
【Nonsense, white stockings are undefeated】
【Let’s compromise—how about one foot in black, one in white?】
Excavation‑Princess always scoffed at such messages.
What stockings?
She liked those combat suits that clung to the body like tight rubber!
In any case, Excavation‑Princess was happily reaping the rewards behind Bai Fu. Other players could only envy her—no one could actually be jealous.
After all, the average person didn’t have her kind of outrageous insight.
But Sword Qi Soaring and Kobold’s situation was different.
They had only spawned in the Abandoned Cooling Plant after the Insect Tide incident.
Their gameplay progress had been nearly a month behind the average player.
However, by pooling together enough tickets, they managed to hitch a ride with Starfish‑bro and the others to Lynn.
Thanks to this move, Sword Qi Soaring and his group quickly surpassed many players who had entered the game earlier and even unlocked an Advanced class.
That alone made a lot of players’ eyes turn red with jealousy.
Damn it. If they had managed to buy that ticket, could they have taken Sword Qi Soaring’s place?
When Excavation‑Princess posted what had happened that night to the Community, a group of players erupted in complaints.
【I was just a few minutes away from getting that ticket. I’m so pissed I might faint】
【Fu‑fu herself helping with the level-up… ahhh, I wonder if there will be more chances like this in the future】
【Crying… Thank goodness more buses have been added from the Abandoned Cooling Plant recently. Otherwise, I still wouldn’t have been able to buy a ticket】
Mixed in with these posts were remarks from players of other guilds.
These players were clearly up to no good. Most of them were in competition with the Iron Rain Guild. Seeing them rapidly rise by hugging Bai Fu’s leg felt like being ambushed themselves.
So they kept replying to posts, urging other players to head to Lynn quickly.
Once more players gathered around Bai Fu, no matter how much she trusted Iron Rain Guild, the benefits they received would inevitably decrease.
【Believe in Fu Sect, attain eternal life—Saint Fu Empress, let you win till you’re numb!】
【Hurry up, if you delay too long, Fu‑fu might leave Lynn for another place. Fu‑fu is different from other plot NPCs—she doesn’t stay in one place for long】
【Exactly, if you don’t go now and she finds a way to leave Origin Star, it’ll be hard to see her again anytime soon】
【Brothers, I’m not trying to scare you, but Fu‑fu is currently at a low point. Helping her now is like delivering coal in the snow. Once she recovers, helping her won’t have the same effect】
【I compiled a route from other newbie villages to Lynn. If anyone needs it, take a look】
Thanks to these provocations from other guild players, for a while the Community seemed full of Fu Sect members.
【You people from Fu Sect are really something, huh】
All that could be said was that players nowadays were as scheming as Abe-san.
Previously, some dumb players had even faked death while playing SLG games.
Once both their allies and enemies let their guard down, they would suddenly pop out and ambush the opposing faction with their own team.
Sword Qi Soaring wasn’t an idiot. How could he not see through the tricks behind those familiar accounts?
But it didn’t matter.
He hadn’t bet everything on Bai Fu anyway.
【They must be feeling pretty smug now, but when they find out our ultimate goal is to join the Truth Society, they won’t be laughing】
The other core members of the Iron Rain Guild were now in complete awe of Sword Qi Soaring.
With a hidden dragon like Brother Sword, how could the Iron Rain Guild not flourish?
Sword Qi Soaring cheerfully closed the game’s Community.
Time waited for no one—he had to seize the moment and extract some intel from Bai Fu’s sister, Anya.
Perhaps out of security concerns, Bai Fu had been sending Anya over to the hotel where Excavation‑Princess stayed these past two days whenever she had free time.
After last night’s incident, Anya’s attitude toward him had clearly improved.
She no longer ordered him around with those pitifully low-reward missions like before.
Sword Qi Soaring felt this was the perfect opportunity he had been waiting for. To achieve his goal as quickly as possible, he threw away all sense of dignity, calling Anya “Anya-jie” with every sentence, and frequently handing her Wasteland Cola and cake-like desserts, making Anya laugh heartily.
Excavation‑Princess, Calamity Dragon, Convert to My Fu: “……”
Damn, calling a little girl your elder sister—your face really is thick enough!
Though grumbling internally, Excavation‑Princess and the others didn’t stop him.
If Sword Qi Soaring was willing to do that, what could they say? Besides, they were also curious to see whether he could get some interesting intel from Anya.
So far, their understanding of Bai Fu was still too shallow—vague and unclear. If they could get solid intel, who would want to keep guessing?
Hard work paid off. After a wave of exaggerated flattery toward Anya and Bai Fu, praising them like they were the only ones in the world, Sword Qi Soaring finally succeeded in getting Anya to open up.
“That female assassin from last night was really amazing. I didn’t even see what happened before she vanished in front of me. But she made the huge mistake of targeting Bai Fu-jie and Anya-jie. No matter how strong she was, just one glare from Bai Fu-jie and down she went!”
“Hmph, that’s our boss!” Anya took a proud gulp of Wasteland Cola, looking so smug her little tail could’ve flown up to the sky. “Let me tell you, even without our boss, I could’ve easily taken her down back in the day!”
Sword Qi Soaring’s eyes lit up and he quickly poured Anya another cup of cola. “As expected of Anya-jie! Does Anya-jie also have old injuries like Bai Fu-jie?”
Anya waved her hand. “Nope, I have a special healing superpower. It can not only heal others, but also strengthen myself. But later on, my power got sealed.”
Sword Qi Soaring’s eyes gleamed again, nodding rapidly. Good, new intel acquired. Next step: steer the topic slowly toward Bai Fu.
“Hiss—” Sword Qi Soaring deliberately sucked in a cold breath. “So if Anya-jie’s power wasn’t sealed, you could help Bai Fu-jie heal her internal injuries? Whoever sealed your power is such a bastard!”
Anya seemed to find resonance in his words: “Exactly, exactly. If my power hadn’t been sealed, our boss wouldn’t be hurt. She wouldn’t need to drag me around everywhere now, looking for a way to lift the seal.”
She stomped her foot viciously as she spoke.
Sword Qi Soaring’s pupils shrank sharply upon hearing this.
He understood.
He completely understood!
They had previously thought Bai Fu was secretly investigating the Truth Society at the Abandoned Cooling Plant to find a way to leave Origin Star. But now it seemed her main objective was actually to find a way to lift Anya’s seal.
This was heavyweight intel.
Reporting this to the Truth Society would surely earn him a reward.
But that wasn’t enough.
He needed to dig deeper into what exactly Bai Fu wanted. If Anya accidentally revealed Bai Fu’s true identity, that would be even better.
Sword Qi Soaring was full of confidence. He had already discovered the perfect trick to deal with Anya.
Kids loved being praised. If he flattered her enough to make her forget herself, she’d start spilling intel like beans from a pod without him even asking.
One could only say Bai Fu had been clever all her life but made a momentary lapse in judgment. Instead of keeping the big-mouthed Anya quiet, she’d handed her straight over to him.
“Anya-jie, you—”
Just as Sword Qi Soaring began to speak again, only having said her name, Anya suddenly clutched her belly and cried out.
“Ow, my tummy, my tummy hurts—I need to go to the bathroom.”
Anya jumped down from her chair and dashed into the bathroom.
Sword Qi Soaring’s eyelids twitched wildly. What terrible timing. Once Anya calmed down, it would be much harder to coax information out of her again.
He waited helplessly for over half an hour. During that time, Anya ran to the bathroom four times.
Until Bai Fu came to pick her up, he never got another chance to continue the conversation.
Nothing to be done—he’d have to wait for the next opportunity.
Sword Qi Soaring secretly contacted the other guild members and shared with them his method of getting Anya to talk.
Though he didn’t believe Anya was sharp enough to notice anything strange, there was always a chance his repeated questions might raise her suspicion.
Better to let others get involved and share the sense of participation.
“Fu‑fu!”
Seeing Bai Fu arrive, Excavation‑Princess and the others quickly gathered around her.
Now that they had all unlocked Advanced classes, they should be able to trigger more quests related to Bai Fu.
“Come in.”
With Bai Fu’s call, Xia Shi walked in from outside.
Everyone looked puzzled.
Xia Shi got straight to the point: “In the earlier meeting, Bai Fu recommended you to Division Four, hoping you could join the operation. The Chief was hesitant at first, but with her full endorsement, the Chief ultimately agreed. I’m here to ask for your opinion.”
【You have triggered the mission [Special Operation]】
【Mission Description: Division Four has launched a special operation targeting wandering outsiders. With Bai Fu’s endorsement, Division Four is allowing you to join.】
【Mission Objective: Eliminate the Wanderer camp】
【Reward: 10,000 XP, 5 Gene Primordials Faction Reputation】
【Accept / Reject】
At the same moment, all players in the room received the game prompt.
Was the big moment finally here?
“I have no objections!”
“Wherever Fu‑fu goes, I go!”
“Same here.”
Not a single player hesitated.
They had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Seeing their reaction, Bai Fu knew her plan had worked.
With the current scale of the Faction Garden of Silence she had established, it was impossible to issue players extremely high-reward quests. But she had hinted earlier that players would gain access to more advanced missions once they unlocked an Advanced class.
So what could she do?
Bai Fu’s solution was to pull the players into the Division Four anti-spy campaign and have Division Four issue the quests.
Xia Shi said, “Since you have no objections, then stay put today. Tomorrow at 3 p.m., Division Four will send a vehicle to pick you up.”
Excavation‑Princess and the others agreed on the spot.
After the briefing, Bai Fu, Anya, and Xia Shi walked back to their residence together.
On the way, Anya didn’t forget to claim credit. “Boss, boss, I already did what you told me.”
“Well done.”
Bai Fu smiled and patted Anya’s head.
She had sent Anya over to the players mainly to use her “big sieve” nature to leak some freshly fabricated intel and, in doing so, enrich Anya’s Character Profile.
Healer—that was the role she had assigned to Anya after careful thought.
Today was a good start.
As for whether she could successfully persuade the Developer to add more settings to Anya later on, that remained to be seen.
After returning to their residence, Bai Fu asked Xia Shi with interest about the higher-ups in Division Four.
She was mainly trying to see whether Li Cheng had any other allies among the Division Four executives, so when it came to Li Cheng, she asked a few extra questions.
“His father is the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau?”
Upon learning that Li Cheng, like Xia Shi, was a second-generation official, Bai Fu was genuinely surprised.
If his father was the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau, and if he managed his career well, it wouldn’t be impossible for Li Cheng to one day become the Director. With such a background, why would he be working for the Truth Society? Was it possible the Truth Society had a hold on him?
Bai Fu felt the situation was not that simple.
At that moment, Xia Shi suddenly stood up.
Bai Fu looked up in confusion, only to see Xia Shi circle around the coffee table and walk up to her, leaning down as if about to pin her down onto the sofa.
“What are you trying to do?”
First, she could rule out the possibility of Xia Shi trying to assault her.
She didn’t know Xia Shi’s orientation, but if she truly had such intentions, she wouldn’t have held back until now.
Clearly, she had seemed more delicate before.
Now, with the fierce nickname White Death and the achievement of single-handedly taking out two waves of assassins, she clearly didn’t look like someone easy to assault.
Xia Shi: “I only want to ask you one question.”
Bai Fu: “What question?”
“Who exactly are you?” Xia Shi’s gaze sharpened slightly. “The first time I encountered you at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, I thought you were just a kindhearted civilian who awakened special abilities to save the plant, even willing to sacrifice herself. But the more I interacted with you, the more I felt something was off. Powers can be explained by awakening, but your composure when killing people cannot.”
Bai Fu asked, “Is that really so important?”
Xia Shi gritted her teeth. “It is. I have to understand your intentions. I’ve told you before—the reason I joined the Intelligence Bureau was because I couldn’t stand the Truth Society’s senseless killings. It’s the same now. I can’t accept working with a cold-blooded killer!”
Bai Fu lifted the corner of her lips. “What if I really am a cold-blooded killer? What would you do?”
Xia Shi replied seriously, “I would withdraw from this operation.”
Bai Fu couldn’t help but laugh. “I thought you’d say you wanted to kill me. I’m not a killer—there are just some things I can’t explain to you.”
“Mm.” Xia Shi nodded and backed away from Bai Fu.
Bai Fu was a little surprised. “You believe me that easily?”
Xia Shi said, “Bai Fu, actually, I really admire you.”
“Huh?”
“At the Abandoned Cooling Plant, when you were willing to sacrifice yourself for others, to me, you shone as brightly as a meteor. It’s hard for me to believe that someone who would sacrifice themselves for others could be a cold-blooded killer. So I needed an answer from you to clear the knot in my heart. Now that you’ve given it to me, I feel much more at ease.”
Bai Fu’s mouth twitched.
Being too naive could really cause Big Trouble!
“Get some rest. That spy might show themselves tomorrow.”
The night passed uneventfully.
The next day, as Bai Fu was packing up her things, a new group of players also boarded a vehicle heading toward Lynn.