Chapter 52: Didn't expect it, huh? I'm the Undercover Agent
After learning from Excavation‑Princess’s livestream that her team had received a new mission from Bai Fu, the Players sitting in the car were now as anxious as ants on a hot pan.
Their concern now wasn’t just about whether they could get a mission from Bai Fu.
After Excavation‑Princess’s analysis, combined with the incitement from Players of guilds rivaling the Iron Rain Guild, a strong sense of urgency had arisen in their hearts.
According to the currently known intel, there was over a 90% chance that Bai Fu was not a main storyline NPC of Origin Star, but rather an important Hidden NPC tied to a much grander story. Once she achieved her goal on Origin Star, she would undoubtedly leave.
If these Players didn’t hurry to interact with Bai Fu, they might permanently miss the opportunity to trigger that grand Hidden Quest.
Oh wait, not necessarily permanently.
【We’ll meet Bai Fu again when the nostalgia server launches!】
【Screw you, the game’s only been in open beta for just over a month and you’re already thinking about nostalgia servers?】
【Waiting for a pro to host a private server, then we’ll crank Bai Fu’s favorability to 100 right off the bat】
【Don’t be too naïve, young folks. With the game’s performance load, no private server’s gonna run this thing properly】
Some Players who still couldn’t get a ticket from the Abandoned Cooling Plant to Lynn resorted to shady tactics, like buying cheats that could supposedly teleport them directly from the Abandoned Cooling Plant to Lynn. In the end, they got scammed, lost 5000 yuan, and were even made into a cautionary example by the official team on the Community.
【A top-laner on Origin Star was scammed of 5000 yuan by someone claiming to sell teleport cheats to Lynn. Stay alert!】
After that post went up, no one dared try anything shady again.
Public execution—who could endure that?!
They could only vent in the Community, complaining to the devs a little.
“Not bad, not bad.”
Bai Fu, who had been silently lurking in the Community, nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this scene.
Thanks to the analysis posts published by Excavation‑Princess at a pace of one every two to three days, virtually every Player who knew her had now reached a consensus that she was a mysterious alien from the universe.
At this stage, her identity had been fleshed out well enough.
Any further embellishment might conflict with future game plot developments.
Her next plan was to make good use of the newly added “Injured” status—making Players believe she had certain abilities when not Injured, thus pushing the Developers to give her those abilities in a future buff.
Bai Fu had a preliminary idea.
Her biggest current weakness was her inability to handle pursuit battles and her lack of area-of-effect attacks, so she planned to work on that angle.
The tactic was simple—just have Anya constantly talk in front of Players about “how awesome the boss used to be.”
That way, Players would enjoy extracting lore from the “big-leak” Anya, Bai Fu would successfully build an expert image in front of them, and Anya would receive Wasteland Cola and dessert rewards in return. Win-win-win!
Thinking of this, Bai Fu looked at Anya with satisfaction.
Anya’s appearance was simply perfect—a Loli, a small, weak, pitiful, and helpless-looking Loli.
Just standing there was enough to earn Players’ trust. Getting her to deceive Players was doubly effective with half the effort.
“Time to move out.”
At that moment, Xia Shi dragged a weapons case out of the room.
It was approaching noon, and the operation was about to begin.
Bai Fu nodded, bringing Anya along as they followed Xia Shi down the stairs.
Their first stop was Division Four.
Because this mission was taking place outside of the Lynn settlement and would take about a day for a round trip—and Players would be tagging along—Bai Fu needed to first drop Anya off somewhere safe.
Without a doubt, the safest place in Lynn right now was the underground air-raid shelter of Division Four.
“Boss, you have to come back alive! If you die, I won’t live either!” Anya clung tightly to Bai Fu’s sleeve.
Bai Fu chuckled and punched Anya: “Scram. Quit talking nonsense. Your boss is tough as nails.”
Forget a mere Truth Society spy—even if she accidentally wandered into Mihua City and was targeted by the death god elementary school student, she’d still put up a fight!
After settling Anya in, Bai Fu held a brief meeting with the people from Division Four. During the meeting, the leader of the operation team reiterated the mission objective.
“The Honey Badger Wanderer camp. A camp of Wanderers who survive by robbing others, with a population between thirty and forty. They possess two heavy machine guns and migrated near Lynn about a month ago. Not long ago, they attacked a Lynn-affiliated merchant caravan, causing seven casualties. Our mission this time is to completely wipe them out. No survivors.”
The leader of the operation team spoke with killing intent in his voice.
Wanderer camps were typically small groups formed by people unwilling to be constrained by the laws and regulations of major powers.
Most of these were criminals so lawless they would even make an outlaw like Zhang San blush.
The primary task of the Gene Primordials Intelligence Bureau, aside from gathering intel on other factions, was regularly eliminating these roving Wanderer camps.
Bai Fu didn’t pay much attention to what the Combat Unit Commander was saying. She took the opportunity to cast a Psionic Vision skill on Li Cheng, who was sitting beside Lu Yuelin.
【Name】: Li Cheng (Elite)
【Template】: Special
【Main Class】: Berserker Lv6 (+10)
【Sub Class】: Bartender Lv2
【HP】: 500/500
【Qi】: 145/145
【Stats】: Strength 29, Agility 16, Constitution 22, Intelligence 7, Spirit 9, Inspiration 6
【Skills】: Qi Accumulation Lv3, Berserker’s Might Lv4, Slide Step Lv2, Iron Body Lv1, Triple Punch Rush Lv1, Bloodrage Stance, Endurance, Intermediate Melee Mastery...
【Talents】: Naturally Robust
【Favorability】: Wants to eliminate on sight (‑83)
【Threat Level】: Blue
Bai Fu didn’t care much about the stats—they weren’t better than hers anyway. What she cared about was Li Cheng’s favorability toward her.
They hadn’t seen each other for just one night, yet the value had dropped by nearly ten points. Even if Li Cheng had no intention of acting today, a little provocation from her should be enough to make him take the bait.
With that thought, Bai Fu was completely at ease.
As soon as the meeting ended, she and Xia Shi drove a truck to pick up the Players.
Since all of Division Four’s higher-ups were participating in today’s operation, she had warned the Players early on to disguise themselves well to avoid being recognized by Li Cheng.
What reassured her was that the Players had heeded her words.
They not only covered their faces but also deliberately changed into different clothes from the other night.
“Don’t be fooled by their sloppy appearance—their combat power is no weaker than that of ordinary Special Agents, and in critical moments, they can deliver unexpected results.”
Bai Fu smiled as she introduced the Players to the members of Xu Hong’s squad riding in the same vehicle.
“For real?”
Xu Hong’s squad members looked skeptical.
“Don’t worry, you’ll soon see their true strength.”
The Special Agents exchanged glances and extended their hands to the Players with a friendly smile.
“Nice to meet you.”
What Bai Fu hadn’t expected was that before Xu Hong’s squad could witness the Players’ strength, they first witnessed the Players’ absurdity.
“Whoa, is this Power Armor? That’s amazing!”
Reach out and touch.
“Damn, what’s this gun called? Looks even cooler than the HK416.”
Reach out and touch.
“Can this terminal make calls? It’s a bit bulky, but it’d probably be great for cracking walnuts.”
Reach out and touch.
At first, the Players were relatively normal. Even when they saw the Power Armor, they didn’t do anything too extreme—until that Berserker Player who always stuck with Patrick Star, Black Tiger Afu, stepped forward.
“Bro, your muscles are so well-defined. Even through your clothes, they radiate an intoxicating beauty. How did you train them?”
Reach out and touch.
The Division Four Special Agent who was suddenly touched by Black Tiger Afu jolted and turned pale as if he had been drained of color.
Damn, it's Nantong all over again!
Right now he was just touching muscles—what if the next step was can can need?!
He looked at Xu Hong in horror, and Xu Hong looked at Bai Fu in horror.
You brought these people—go do something about them!
Bai Fu’s eyelid twitched slightly. That was just how Players were.
They always did things that could make others momentarily black out from disbelief. Only someone like her, familiar with their nature, could feel at ease bossing them around.
She looked at the touched Special Agent.
Bro, do you know there’s a saying—moderate workouts attract the opposite sex, excessive workouts attract the same sex?
“I swear on my integrity that he means no harm. He’s just genuinely interested in your muscles, not in you romantically.”
Black Tiger Afu nodded repeatedly.
Since it was the White Death Bai Fu herself who said so, Xu Hong’s squad members reluctantly accepted the explanation.
“So it was a misunderstanding, huh.”
Though he said so, the Special Agent who was touched still moved to sit far away from Black Tiger Afu.
Black Tiger Afu looked innocent. What was wrong with loving muscles and combat? Wasn’t that a real man’s passion?
—
An hour later, the convoy arrived near the Honey Badger Wanderer camp.
It was a barren red wasteland, littered with shattered stones and scattered debris. Occasionally, half-buried skeletal remains could be seen—proof that a brutal battle had once taken place here.
Lu Yuelin jumped off the vehicle and began assigning the main assault directions.
Xu Hong’s squad, Bai Fu, and the Players were assigned to the west. Two other squads went east and north, leaving the south side vacant.
Upon receiving the orders, Xu Hong’s squad, Bai Fu, and the Players quickly reached their designated positions, laying prone on the ground, waiting for the general assault signal.
Soon, Lu Yuelin raised a megaphone and began persuading the Wanderers to surrender. What he got in return was a barrage of gunfire.
“If you refuse a toast, you’ll get forced wine. Open fire!”
At Lu Yuelin’s command, the action teams from three directions launched their assault simultaneously.
Da-da-da—
The bullets formed a sweeping curtain, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, relentlessly cutting down the hastily built shelters on the camp’s outskirts.
The attacked Wanderer camp wasn’t easy prey either.
With angry roars, they launched a counterattack.
“Kill those bastards outside!”
“Those watchdogs think we’re pushovers? I’ll bash their dio in today!”
Alongside the cursing came an unexpectedly dense volley of firepower. Even with Xu Hong’s Power Armor holding the line, the western flank couldn’t break through right away.
“Damn, the intel was wrong. Didn’t it say they only had two machine guns? Why is the firepower this intense?”
“We’ve got to suppress those machine guns!”
Xu Hong was in a panic.
Everyone knew they had to suppress the enemy firepower first.
The problem was how—this mission didn’t include heavy firepower weapons. If they wanted to neutralize the machine gun nest, they could only use grenades.
“I’ll go.”
Everyone turned around and saw that the one who spoke was one of the ten or so people who came with Bai Fu. His codename seemed to be Patrick Star.
“This is too dangerous.”
Xu Hong had just started to object, but Patrick Star was already picking up two grenades from the ground.
In the next second, clutching two grenades, Patrick Star burst out from behind cover like a cheetah. His movements were immediately spotted by the Wanderers hiding in the camp.
Gun barrels swung toward him, and in an instant, bullets rained down on Patrick Star like a torrential downpour.
Patrick Star activated a forced displacement skill, sliding two meters diagonally to the front left, narrowly dodging the incoming bullets. Before the enemies could react, he performed a roll and dove into a pit ahead.
The whole series of movements flowed seamlessly—so smooth it nearly left Xu Hong dumbfounded.
Was this the true strength Bai Fu had spoken of?
“Quick, fire and create an opening for him!”
Xu Hong hurriedly commanded his Special Agents to open fire.
With the Special Agent squad covering him, Patrick Star, despite taking several bullets, managed to reach the machine gun nest without serious injury. He hurled both grenades into it.
Boom, boom!
Two explosions later, the machine gun nest fell silent.
“Charge!”
Excavation‑Princess shouted, and in that moment, all the Players surged forward.
“Wait—”
This time, Xu Hong was genuinely stunned.
No way—brothers, sisters, are none of you afraid of death? What kind of Special Agents fight like this? Aren’t they supposed to scout out the enemy’s position first, then choose an appropriate tactic to strike?
But one had to admit—reckless charging really worked. The Players’ charge completely threw the Wanderers into disarray.
“Screw it, let’s follow them!”
Xu Hong led the way, Bai Fu right behind him. The group swiftly charged into the Wanderer camp through the breach created by the Players.
From afar, Li Cheng, who had been observing everything, couldn’t help but twitch his eyelids wildly.
These people Bai Fu brought were this fierce?
No wonder the second wave of assassins he sent that night was heavily damaged.
No wonder these people, even when facing death, weren’t afraid—instead daring to speak harshly to their Truth Society.
“Iron Rain Guild, is it?”
After the Dark Web reactivated yesterday, he had transmitted all the intelligence he had gathered to the Truth Society through it. He believed that, with the Truth Society’s formidable intel network, it wouldn’t take long for them to uncover the background of this organization and eradicate it.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
While sending intel to the Truth Society, he had also requested reinforcements from them.
Though the situation had deviated slightly from his expectations, it hadn’t completely derailed. What he needed to do next was lure Bai Fu into the trap he had laid out in advance.
If she could be captured alive, great. If not—then it was time to send Bai Fu off.
Li Cheng could hardly wait to see Bai Fu’s expression when she realized he was the Undercover Agent all along.
Didn’t expect that, did you!