Chapter 56: Bai Fu's Mouth, a lie
At the time she planned to take action against Li Cheng, Bai Fu had already sensed there might be a Hidden Quest concealed here, but the rewards granted by the game afterward still exceeded her expectations.
A standard quest published by Division Four + two Hidden Quests.
Just the combined XP from those rewards amounted to 160,000.
During the previous battle, she had also earned 31,706 XP.
Adding in the 30,342 XP she had saved up, she now had a total of 220,000 XP, enough to instantly level her Psionic Prayer-user from Lv3 to Lv6.
Such a tremendous leap in levels was already thrilling enough, and to her surprise, the Hidden Quest [Who is the Spy?] triggered by exposing Li Cheng even came with bonus rewards!
Bai Fu quickly tapped on the two bonus items to expand their details.
【Special Potion - Gene Enhancement Potion】
【Quality】: Purple
【Additional Effect】: A Gene Enhancement Potion developed by a secret research institute before the war. Stimulates the body’s potential. Works best when used in combination with an Evolution Potion.
【Note】: Carries a certain risk of muscle atrophy. Though not yet perfected, after multiple iterations its success rate has reached 93.7%.
Bai Fu’s eyes lit up involuntarily.
The mention of "stimulates the body’s potential" in the item description translated to increased Stats or acquisition of Talents in practice.
And that latter part was even more intriguing—wasn’t the APT-011 prototype potion she snatched from Yulia precisely the so-called Evolution Potion?
Although the success rate of the Gene Enhancement Potion was only 93.7%, she had the Great Luck Talent and had no need to fear muscle atrophy from failure.
The Lucky Talent she acquired in her last power-up had proven increasingly useful.
Bai Fu’s gaze then fell upon the last reward.
【Prayer Card Blueprint】
As the name implied, this blueprint was a hands-on tutorial for crafting Prayer Cards.
Like other schools, the Psionic stream also had various specializations. One of them relied on pre-crafted Prayer Cards for combat.
While others wielded weapons to slash or carried staves to cast biubiubiu spells, or operated various mechanical equipment for bombardment, the Prayer Card-wielding Psionic Prayer-user fought by continuously tossing Prayer Cards at foes or allies.
This gameplay style resembled the item-spamming type seen in other games—buffing oneself, debuffing enemies, and hurling tools imbued with fire, holy water, poison, hypnosis, etc., to slam them into opponents.
Bam, bam, bam. That’s it.
Although not as hands-free and automatic as high-level Mechanics who could mow down mobs effortlessly, the tactile satisfaction of smashing enemies to death with tools was quite exhilarating in its own way.
This was a good item, but unlike the Gene Enhancement Potion, this reward wasn’t perfect.
Because Bai Fu’s current class was the very ordinary Psionic Prayer-user, she had no Prayer Card-related bonuses and couldn’t use her existing Psionic knowledge to derive custom-effect cards.
If she wanted to craft Prayer Cards, not only would the success rate be low, but she could only experiment with the Skills she currently possessed.
Her assessment of this was—
Barely acceptable!
But that was just temporary.
Once she unlocked a relevant class, her strength would see another explosive leap.
According to the official site, card-based Psionic classes were quite rare across the game, and on a newbie planet like Origin Star, they were undoubtedly advanced rare classes.
“Since the rewards include a Prayer Card Blueprint, that means Origin Star definitely has the corresponding Profession Knowledge Book!”
Bai Fu was brimming with excitement.
As she examined the quest rewards, a truck approaching in the distance had already stopped.
Several Field Division Special Agents jumped down in haste, led by none other than Xu Hong, clad in Power Armor.
Though his face was obscured, the hurried strides betrayed the nervous anxiety in his heart.
“Are you all okay? That traitor Li Cheng and…”
Xu Hong stopped.
He had already seen Li Cheng lying on the ground, along with the several Mutant Creatures who had been beaten beyond recognition.
Shock. Disbelief.
One, two, three… seven in total. Not one missing. Exactly the same as Xia Shi had reported over the terminal communication!
He had been mentally prepared to risk his life to extract Bai Fu and Xia Shi from enemy encirclement, but unexpectedly, when he arrived, all the enemies were already down.
Xia Shi was his teammate, a genius in mechanical crafting and logistics, but in combat, she could only be described as someone who seldom dragged the team down.
Bai Fu’s strength was formidable—this had been proven in the two prior assassination attempts—but for her to defeat all seven of them alone? Impossible.
So the credit for this feat must go to the dozens of unknown individuals who had suddenly appeared.
Although each of them looked plain and acted sluggish, and occasionally spoke incomprehensible things, anyone capable of such acts on a blood-soaked battlefield was either a complete fool or a true master.
Xu Hong still found the latter possibility easier to accept.
But that thought was quickly denied by Xia Shi.
A Special Agent who had just caught up from behind gasped in astonishment when he saw Li Cheng and the others lying motionless on the ground: “Damn, what the hell happened here?”
Xia Shi explained, “Li Cheng suddenly attacked with these Mutant Creatures. Fortunately, Bai Fu’s strength is extraordinary. Not only did she severely injure Li Cheng, she nearly wiped out all six Mutant Creatures by herself.”
“？”
The gazes of all the Division Four Special Agents who had arrived turned toward Bai Fu.
The setting sun’s afterglow bathed her silver-white hair, as if adorning the warrior with a medal named the Blood of a Hero. That beautiful face showed no expression, yet silently conveyed the coldness of the White Death.
Damn it, she completely nailed the act!
All the words in Xu Hong and the others’ hearts condensed into a single sentence—
“Awesome!”
Soon after, Lu Yuelin and the others arrived at the scene.
After grasping the situation, their reactions were not much better than Xu Hong’s.
“Well done. Once we return, I’ll immediately hand over the data drive containing Advanced Applications of Psionic Power as promised,” said Lu Yuelin with heartfelt emotion.
Bai Fu replied, “Pleasure doing business.”
While others were handling the Mutant Creatures’ corpses, the surrounding Players also tried to run over to watch the show. But the Division Four personnel were not going to indulge them, immediately cordoning off the area.
All the Players could do was wave frantically at Bai Fu from outside the perimeter, hoping to catch her attention and maybe get a quest if they were lucky.
But they could only be disappointed today.
Bai Fu, after only a short while at the scene, drove the car she had seized and returned to Lynn with the Division Four team.
Li Cheng had said the ones he called weren’t limited to just those six. Staying any longer might risk encountering others.
Before leaving, Bai Fu leaned out of the car window and smiled, greeting the Players. These Players could be very useful—it was important to leave a good impression.
“Fu‑fu just smiled at me, hehe.”
“Smile your ass, stop being so damn narcissistic. Ugh, what a pity this time. If I had a gun, I’d have earned way more XP.”
“XP is nothing. It’s quests that really matter.”
“Say, what class do you think Bai Fu is? Her combat power is insane. If only we could class transfer to what she has.”
“Let’s go, let’s go—hurry to Lynn. We’ll unlock our Advanced Class first.”
A noisy group of Players shoved back onto their vehicle.
……
On the road back to Lynn, Xia Shi, after much hesitation, couldn’t resist asking, “I’m not sure if I should be asking this, but…”
Bai Fu casually replied, “Ask away.”
Xia Shi said, “Why is there such a huge difference between the strength you showed at the Abandoned Cooling Plant and what we just saw?”
“You think I’ve been hiding my strength?” Bai Fu slowly turned her head.
Xia Shi didn’t reply, but her expression clearly showed that’s what she believed. If it were simply a power awakening, the strength wouldn’t fluctuate this wildly.
Bai Fu nodded. “Any bugs in the car?”
Sincerity glimmered in Xia Shi’s black pupils. “No.”
“Good.”
Then I’m gonna start bullshitting!
As soon as she finished speaking, Bai Fu rolled up the window, turning the entire vehicle into an enclosed space.
No one spoke.
For a moment, the only sound was the ticking of the swaying ornament inside the car.
Xia Shi’s heart tensed inexplicably.
Based on her experience, when things suddenly turned like this, it usually meant Bai Fu was about to make a move on her.
But that couldn’t be… Bai Fu didn’t seem like that kind of person. And even if she were, she wouldn’t do it here. The Division Four vehicles were nearby. Unless Bai Fu was confident she could wipe everyone out…
Xia Shi quietly turned her head, trying to glimpse Bai Fu’s expression. To her surprise, Bai Fu was staring straight at her.
“！”
She immediately straightened up, like a student caught slacking when the teacher was suddenly standing outside the window.
“Actually…”
After much buildup, Bai Fu suddenly smiled and shook her head. “It’s not that I deliberately wanted to hide it from you. It’s just that until today, I didn’t know whether you were in league with Li Cheng.”
Big secret detected!
Xia Shi turned her head again.
This time, she saw Bai Fu gazing out the front window, staring at the vast plains speckled with stars. Her eyes were deep, as if containing an entire galaxy.
“What you’re seeing now isn’t the complete me.”
Xia Shi: “Huh?”
“Anya and I come from a place so distant you can’t even imagine it. That place is known to some as the Afterworld. We used to be part of a mysterious organization there. But just like what you're facing now, that organization was betrayed. A traitor traded away everything we once stood for and pushed the things they had guarded for most of their life into the abyss.”
Bai Fu recounted slowly.
Although she kept saying “we,” her tone was so calm, it felt as if she were talking about someone else’s story.
A traitor like Li Cheng?
Thinking back to her own feelings upon learning that Li Cheng was a traitor, and then realizing that at least he had been caught—while Bai Fu’s organization was probably utterly destroyed—Xia Shi suddenly understood why Bai Fu seemed so calm.
Because a gunshot had torn through her heart, leaving a wound that would never fully heal!
“After that great upheaval, I fled here with Anya. We’ve been searching for a way to return ever since. We’ve also been looking for a way to recover our strength. What you’ve seen as my increasing power wasn’t us hiding anything. It wasn’t a double awakening. It’s that my injuries have been healing gradually. I’m chasing after the person I once was.”
Bai Fu stepped harder on the gas.
Amid the roaring engine, the car sped faster toward the horizon, as if racing against an invisible rival.
Xia Shi’s heart was moved. “Is there anything I can do to help? You saved my life—I want to repay that kindness.”
Bai Fu shook her head. “No need. Didn’t I just say? That place is so far away, you can’t even imagine it.”
Xia Shi wasn’t convinced. “The Gene Primordials are still one of the Five Major Factions. I may not command the Gene Primordials’ intelligence division, but helping you investigate an enemy or find their weaknesses shouldn’t be hard.”
Bai Fu kept driving, silent.
Xia Shi suddenly realized something. Her right hand and gaze lifted together, finally landing on the boundless starry sky. “You mean… you’re from there?”
Her voice trembled slightly. So did her hand.
Incredible, yet somehow believable.
With Bai Fu’s power, there was no way she was just some nobody. But over the past days, Division Four had been investigating in secret, even calling in help from headquarters, and they still couldn’t dig up anything useful.
If Bai Fu was an alien visitor, then all the anomalies—her vague identity, her rapid growth in strength—made perfect sense!
“How you understand it is your business. But can you keep it a secret for me, Miss Xia Shi?”
A calm voice rang out. Xia Shi nodded instinctively. After a moment of silence, she realized a problem.
“Why did you go so far in explaining? You could have just made something up to brush me off. Aren’t you afraid I’ll expose your secret?”
Is it possible I did just make it up?
Bai Fu held back a laugh.
She went through all this effort to fabricate a story just to increase Xia Shi’s favorability. What Li Cheng had angrily shouted at Xia Shi made her realize that any quest associated with Xia Shi was definitely not simple, and likely contained a massive reward not inferior to eliminating the Truth Society.
By planting the impression early that she was reliable and completely trustworthy, she could enter the quest earlier and gain more rewards when the time came.
Of course she wasn’t worried about Xia Shi blabbing. On one hand, Xia Shi now had a 62-point favorability score with her. On the other hand, Bai Fu never explicitly said she came from the stars—so even if Xia Shi ran around chirping everywhere, she could just say Xia Shi was spewing nonsense.
“I won’t assume all people are untrustworthy just because I was betrayed once. We’ve been through life and death twice together. At least for now, you seem worth trusting. And while you can’t help me now, who knows—maybe one day I’ll need something from you.”
“Hmm?”
“I can see things that ordinary people can’t. Your future may be far greater than you imagine.”
Xia Shi seemed about to speak, but held back.
Her greatest dream was to wipe out the Truth Society in her lifetime. What kind of future could be even greater than that?
She couldn’t quite picture it.
But then, she suddenly recalled a piece of information she had come across unintentionally.
“I don’t know how to help you recover your strength, but as for leaving this place—I might have a clue. Before I joined Division Four, I found a file in my father’s lab marked with the code 001. According to that document, Origin Star was once a world without psionics. Everything changed on a certain day twenty years before the war. The file speculated that psionic power was brought by an extraterrestrial lifeform. If such a lifeform really existed, then there must be a way to leave this place.”
【You have triggered the story quest [Source of Psionic Power]】
The game prompt rang out, and Bai Fu was overjoyed.
Excellent, excellent. The quest came this fast?