Chapter 70: This Is the Joy of Having Cheats!
After the Battle of Bagaros, Bai Fu’s figure temporarily disappeared from the players’ view.
But her departure not only failed to reduce discussions about her, it actually drew even more player attention.
This was thanks to the strong promotion by the Truth Society, Gene Primordials, and the Dark Web.
When words like “800,000”, “1 million”, “beating up the Truth Society”, and “counter-killing the Gene Primordials” were put together, Bai Fu instantly stood out on the Dark Web Bounty List, becoming the new generation super star of the Dark Web. Not only in Shelter Number 7 on the edge of the Goli Desert, but in other places with Dark Web outposts, many were talking about Bai Fu.
“Have you guys heard?”
“Yeah, it’s that Bai Fu!”
“Awesome, seriously awesome!”
Such lines often drifted into some players’ ears unexpectedly.
These players who ignored the community and just focused on their own gameplay might not have cared much at first, but after hearing it repeatedly, they couldn’t help getting curious.
Could this be some important plot clue? Better go investigate.
Once these players took action, Bai Fu’s fame naturally spread wider.
Their involvement made the community discussions about Bai Fu even more intense, with many speculating on Bai Fu’s character positioning in the main plotlines of Origin Star.
Some players believed Bai Fu was tied to either a hidden storyline or the main plot.
Others debated the increasingly popular topic of faction choice, especially in light of Bai Fu’s conflict with the Gene Primordials and the Truth Society.
Although the game’s official team had previously clarified that players could engage in the main story even without joining a faction — and could still progress well even without touching the main story — most players still felt that to best complete the main quests, one had to choose an appropriate faction.
The reason was simple: joining a faction granted a fixed promotion path, triggered quests more easily, and included NPC support. The early game experience was clearly better than playing solo.
Many players born near the Gene Primordials originally planned to follow Bai Fu, but now that she had fallen out with the Gene Primordials and vanished, they had to consider how to play next. They couldn’t just wait for Bai Fu forever, right?
【I don’t want to run around everywhere, I’ll just join the Gene Primordials nearby】
【Fu‑fu helped the Gene Primordials so much, but they not only didn’t appreciate it — they tried to kill Fu‑fu. Damn it, I’m joining the Truth Society to go after the Gene Primordials】
Just as players were enthusiastically debating, Sword Qi Soaring and his hired water army were also vigorously slandering the Truth Society, when suddenly someone shouted in the thread:
【Big news, big news, Excavation‑Princess has joined Bai Fu’s faction!】
【???】
That shout drew massive attention.
In an instant, a flood of players rushed into the thread just posted by Excavation‑Princess. At that moment, she was gleefully answering questions in her post.
【Joining Fu‑fu’s faction wasn’t as hard as I thought. I didn’t really do much these past few days, just stayed by Fu‑fu’s side. Then she suddenly asked me if I wanted to keep accompanying her. Since Fu‑fu said that much, how could I say no? I said yes, and then she gave me a badge and a profession knowledge book】
Damn, she actually pulled it off!
The incoming players were red-eyed with envy.
The sharp-eyed noticed that Excavation‑Princess had leveled up once since disappearing. Leveling up and getting a knowledge book? This wasn’t joining a faction — she basically got herself a beautiful companion to play with. So lucky.
【Digging‑Treasure, have you forgotten the times we fought side by side? Tell me where you are, I swear I won’t tell anyone else】
【Me too, Digging‑Treasure, I’ve been your fan for ten years!】
Many players tagged Excavation‑Princess in the forum, and she received numerous private messages.
【It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but you all know, Fu‑fu is currently wanted by both the Truth Society and Gene Primordials. It’s not convenient to reveal her whereabouts】
【Alright, alright, I’ll go ask Fu‑fu and see what she says】
After being bombarded with private messages, Excavation‑Princess turned to look at Bai Fu beside her.
Everything was within Bai Fu’s expectations.
With Excavation‑Princess’s vain and show-off personality, if she didn’t go flaunt in the community after joining the Garden of Silence, something would be wrong — and that was exactly what Bai Fu wanted.
Since she had already decided to tie players to her bandwagon through factions, seeing them start talking about joining others, she definitely couldn’t sit back and do nothing. Otherwise, by the time she was able to reveal her location, there wouldn’t be many players left for her to choose from.
She invited Excavation‑Princess to join the Garden of Silence specifically to draw player attention, to stop them from rushing to make faction choices.
——Everyone, don’t rush to join other factions yet, there’s still one more faction here for you to choose!
But Bai Fu also knew that such a level of publicity could only grab temporary attention. Once enough time passed, players would again consider joining other factions.
To maintain the hype, she needed to constantly create new buzz to keep players’ eyes on her.
And she had already thought of how to do that — make Excavation‑Princess into a role model.
——Look at how strong Excavation‑Princess became just by following me. You players who think you’re better than her, aren’t you tempted to come over and strike gold?
“Fu‑fu, there’s something I’d like to ask your opinion on,” Excavation‑Princess said.
Bai Fu, who had been watching the community, calmly nodded: “Go ahead.”
Excavation‑Princess said, “Party Big Star, Sword Qi Soaring, and the others who used to act with us also want to help you. I know we’re in a dangerous situation now and can’t expose our location, so I planned to turn them down. But they kept begging me, so I had to come ask for your thoughts.”
Bai Fu pretended to ponder.
Excavation‑Princess quickly said, “If it’s troublesome, I’ll reject them right away.”
Bai Fu shook her head. “It’s not really troublesome. The Truth Society and Gene Primordials are in chaos right now and probably won’t expend much effort on bothering me — at most they’ll send some assassins for minor harassment.”
“Then…”
“I came to the Goli Desert to find something very important to me, not to hide from the Truth Society or Gene Primordials’ pursuit.” Bai Fu paused. “How about this — if they truly dare to face fear head-on, have them go to Shelter Number 5 nearby. Once I find the item, I’ll personally verify their real intentions.”
For safety reasons, she mentioned Shelter Number 5 instead of Shelter Number 7.
Shelter Number 5 was over a hundred kilometers away from Shelter Number 7, but both were at similar distances from Bagaros.
Excavation‑Princess immediately went to the community to reassure other players and relayed what Bai Fu had just said.
This troubled some players.
Even though they now had a way to contact Bai Fu, not everyone had the means to reach Shelter Number 5.
【Let’s wait and see for now】
As part of the first batch to arrive at Lynn and complete several tasks with Bai Fu, Party Big Star and the others were different. Though they weren’t exactly rich now, they could still afford the fare from Bagaros to Shelter Number 5.
After receiving the message, they all rushed to Shelter Number 5 — not a single one chose to back out.
Actually, there was a bit of a situation on the Iron Rain Guild’s side.
After Sword Qi Soaring’s plan to defect to the Truth Society failed, his personal reputation took a hit. So when he suddenly turned around and proposed defecting to Bai Fu instead, some members of the guild began to hesitate.
That pie you’re painting looks delicious, but after your previous misjudgment, it’s hard to believe that pie is real!
In response, although Sword Qi Soaring was quite annoyed, he ultimately adjusted his plan on the spot.
“How about this: Old Dog and I will go find Bai Fu, call it scouting. You guys join the Gene Primordials. That way, whichever side develops better, the other can switch over later.”
Sword Qi Soaring was betting everything this time.
If he lost, he’d be a clown facing off against Batman in Gotham. His position as guild leader probably wouldn’t hold. But if he won, he’d win it all.
Bai Fu didn’t know Sword Qi Soaring had so many twists and turns going on his end. Her full attention was on the group blocking the road ahead.
They were fifty kilometers away from Shelter Number 7, far from any village or outpost. All that could be seen was endless yellow sand and a settlement mostly buried by it.
“Boss (Fu‑fu).”
Anya and Excavation‑Princess looked uneasily at Bai Fu.
Bai Fu waved her hand, signaling them to stay calm.
The data fed back through Psionic Vision indicated that those blocking the road weren’t assassins—just a bunch of ordinary desert Wanderers with mediocre strength and gear. The most likely reason they jumped out to block the road was to pull the classic “This road is mine, this tree is mine, if you want to pass, leave the toll.”
Bai Fu was unfazed.
Even if they went all-out, they couldn’t shave off more than a sliver of her HP. But one thing did need attention: if her vehicle got damaged in the fight, it would take significant effort to continue on to Shelter Number 11.
She jumped off the vehicle and deliberately walked a few steps further away from it: “Brothers, give me some face. Leave now and I won’t hold your rudeness against you.”
“Who the hell are you, why should I give you face? Be smart and lie down, or I’ll shoot you dead.”
The blocking Wanderer was completely rude, raising his gun and cursing.
Since he was rude, Bai Fu was even ruder.
She drew a gun from her thigh with lightning speed.
Psionic Imbue, five-round burst!
All five bullets hit the cursing Wanderer without a single miss, instantly stacking five layers of Dark Corruption. Then, she calmly began to activate Chain Reaction.
By the time she completed the second bind, the other Wanderers around had finally reacted.
“Holy crap, you actually dare—”
His words were cut off by a scream beside him.
“Ahhh!”
Dark Corruption exploded.
Three people dropped to the ground. Besides the Wanderer Bai Fu had shot, who died on the spot, the other two were still alive—but in a far more shocking state than the dead one.
Everyone saw clearly that Bai Fu hadn’t even touched those two, yet now they were writhing on the ground as if being scorched by flames, blood oozing from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
“You’re a psionic user!”
The road-blocking Wanderers were scared out of their wits.
Bai Fu was very satisfied with the power of Dark Corruption.
It might be a bit of a waste to use this move on ordinary mobs, but it was godlike for dealing with slow, lightly armored, low-psionic-resistance meatheads.
Seeing her place her finger back on the trigger, one Wanderer panicked and shouted: “Y‑you… do you even know who we are?! We’re from the Red Sand! Even that infamous Black Crow wasn’t a match for our boss! If you kill us, you’re dead meat!”
Black Crow?
Bai Fu didn’t expect to hear Yulia’s nickname here. Her interest was immediately piqued.
“I heard that under Black Crow’s leadership, the Watchers nearly became the strongest force in the Goli Desert. And your boss could beat Black Crow?”
“That’s our boss!”
“How did he win?”
“Well… uh…”
The Wanderer stammered for a long time but couldn’t say anything coherent.
Bai Fu instantly understood. This was clearly a live rendition of “After Lü Bu’s death, everyone had Lü Bu’s courage.” Now that Yulia was already “dead” and couldn’t refute anything, everyone came out to brag they were stronger than her.
She swiftly dealt with the Wanderers, then continued driving.
She drove nearly two whole days before finally reaching Shelter Number 11.
Shelter Number 11 was located in an oasis, but the environment was awful. All over the exterior wall were glaring bullet holes, and the main gate had long vanished.
“Good thing I have the map function, or I might have gotten lost in the desert.”
Bai Fu gulped down several mouthfuls of water.
Yulia had only told her to come to Shelter Number 11, not what to do afterward. So she first booked a room at a nearby inn, then began wandering around to gather information.
Her first destination was a tavern named Oasis. Taverns were places for drinks and chatter, so they should be hubs of information.
When she pushed the door open, the wind chime let out a pleasant sound. In front of Bai Fu stood a middle-aged man with an eyepatch, wearing a vest and white gloves.
“Welcome.”
The moment she saw him, Bai Fu knew he was a man with a story.
【Name】: ? (Disabled - all attributes severely weakened)
【Template】: Ordinary
【Main Class】: ? Lv14 [Sub-class ? Lv10], Wanderer Lv10
【Sub Class】: Bartender Lv4
【HP】: 186/?
【Stats】: Strength 11, Agility 4, Constitution ?, Intelligence 13, Willpower 18, Inspiration ?
【Skills】: ???
【Talent】: Unyielding
【Affection Level】: Unacquainted (0)
【Threat Level】: Green
Total level 34, five levels higher than her, but due to his disabled state, all attributes were low.
Agility was only 4 points. From how the tavern patrons addressed him, his name was Old Nissen.
“Two glasses of water, and one of your most special liquors.”
Bai Fu sat at the bar.
“Huh, we’re drinking water?” Anya tilted her head up.
Bai Fu flicked her forehead: “If not water, what—liquor?”
Anya immediately quieted down.
Before long, the liquor and water were brought over. Bai Fu took a sip and smiled as she asked, “Boss, can I ask you about someone?”
Old Nissen nodded. He had encountered such requests many times before. But this time was a bit different—because the name that came out of Bai Fu’s mouth was a very particular one.
“Do you know Yulia Viviani?”
Old Nissen’s pupils contracted uncontrollably.
But what truly made Bai Fu realize something was off about Old Nissen was the change in his affection level toward her right after she spoke that name.
15!
It seemed that not only did Old Nissen know Yulia, their relationship was anything but ordinary.
As for whether that relationship was good or bad, that still needed further confirmation.
“I heard that Yulia Viviani was that once-famous villain, Black Crow. She was born near Shelter Number 11.”
Bai Fu deliberately spoke slowly.
As soon as her words landed, she noticed Old Nissen’s affection level toward her drop from -15 to -27.
“But in my eyes, she’s a good person. And a very interesting one at that.”
In the next second, Old Nissen’s affection level rose again, from -27 to -1.
Bai Fu smiled slightly.
The answer was obvious now. Old Nissen had a positive relationship with Yulia.
Still, the joy of having cheats was unbeatable!
Without the player interface, just figuring out whether Old Nissen’s relationship with Yulia was good or bad would have taken a long time.
Old Nissen paused, then suddenly said, “You’re not one of Yulia’s admirers, are you?”
He gave Bai Fu a once-over. A girl her age admiring Yulia wasn’t all that strange.
Bai Fu gave no clear reply.
Old Nissen continued, “If you came here because you heard stories about Yulia and want to trace her footsteps by visiting her birthplace, I suggest you give up that idea immediately. There’s nothing here for you, only danger.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“When Yulia was around, Shelter Number 11 was peaceful. No one dared stir up trouble here. But since her death, the Watchers fell apart. Those Wanderer groups that suffered under her and the Watchers started coming here one after another to cause trouble. Lately, it’s Red Sand that’s been squatting here. They collect protection money every month. If you don’t leave soon and accidentally run into them, you’ll be in for a lot of trouble.”
Red Sand—wasn’t that the organization those people who blocked her on the road belonged to?
Bai Fu asked, “Since it’s so dangerous here, why don’t you all leave?”
Old Nissen chuckled, “You think it’s not dangerous outside? The Goli Desert is vast and chaotic, full of mutated creatures, Wanderers, and raiders. Ordinary folks like us don’t dare travel far. We’d likely die on the way. It’s a shame... if Yulia hadn’t… things wouldn’t be like this. Anyway, take my advice—get out of here while you can.”
Bai Fu’s smile grew even brighter.
Chaos?
She loved chaotic places!
Bai Fu felt she had truly come to the right place this time.
Even if she couldn’t get what she wanted from Yulia, she planned to stay in the Goli Desert for a while—not for anything else, but to develop her faction.
To make players wholeheartedly stay in the Garden of Silence, things like immersion, emotional value, and a sense of achievement could wait.
The most important thing early on was providing enough quests. If there were quests to do and rewards to get, most players wouldn’t bail easily.
From that perspective, places like the Goli Desert, crawling with monsters and scum where she could hand out grind-and-level-up quests like candy, were truly rare.
Sweep across the sands, seize dominance over Goli—what the Watchers couldn’t achieve, let the Garden of Silence do it! What Yulia couldn’t fulfill, let the players complete!
In the time that followed, Bai Fu drank a little and asked Old Nissen all sorts of questions about Yulia.
Perhaps believing her to be one of Yulia’s admirers, Old Nissen’s affection and attitude improved, and he no longer avoided her questions.
“That child was a genius. If she’d had enough time, I believe she could have grown into one of the top experts on Origin Star.
“What’s most commendable is that even with such great power, she still kept a pure heart. Many people in Shelter Number 11 benefited from her—medicine to cure illnesses, food to save lives.
“She once said her greatest wish was to restore order to the Goli Desert. Unfortunately, she… died.
“Lucky you met me. If you’d told someone else you admired her, you’d probably get cursed. The name Yulia has practically become taboo in Shelter Number 11 now.”
Those words piqued Excavation‑Princess’s curiosity.
A Excavation‑Princess who didn’t dig into the story wasn’t a proper Excavation‑Princess.
“Why did things turn out like this? Wasn’t Yulia a benefactor to Shelter Number 11?”
Old Nissen sighed, his lone eye flashing with a cold light. “That was in the past. Now everyone sees her as a disaster. If not for her, groups like Red Sand wouldn’t be constantly coming to Shelter Number 11 for trouble.”
Excavation‑Princess didn’t know how to respond. She had seen plenty of similar situations.
As they were talking, a sudden commotion arose outside.
“What’s going on?” Old Nissen was puzzled.
Someone rushed in, flustered: “It’s Red Sand! Red Sand people are here!”
Old Nissen was stunned. “Didn’t they just come a few days ago? It’s not even a full month yet. Why are they back?”
The man said, “They claim someone killed their men. Now they’re looking for the murderer—not just here, but in other shelters and settlements too.”
That may be what they said, but would those from the Red Sand Wanderer Camp really leave without looting? That would ruin their infamous reputation.
Soon Shelter Number 11 was in total chaos, and it wasn’t until midnight that the group finally left.
Old Nissen was exhausted. “Now you see? Today they just came to make a show. Next time, it might be you they come for. You should leave while you still can.”
Bai Fu asked, “If I’m not wrong, your relationship with Yulia wasn’t ordinary, was it? Are you a relative of hers, or a member of the Watchers?”
Old Nissen didn’t expect Bai Fu to say that. He stared at her with a grave expression.
Bai Fu waved her hand. “No need to panic. Yulia sent me here. She said she’d find a way to contact me once I arrived.”
“You…” Old Nissen’s mouth fell slightly open.
So he knew Yulia wasn’t dead.
Bai Fu stood up. “To prove I’m not lying, I’ll present those Wanderers from earlier as my greeting gift.”
“You’re going to kill them?”
“No need for me to do it. Excavation‑Princess.”
Bai Fu’s call left Excavation‑Princess dumbfounded.
“Huh? I’m fighting the Wanderers?”
She was already level 12, but her actual combat power wasn’t even equal to a level 10 mob. Fu‑fu asking her to fight those Wanderers was a bit much.
“Don’t worry. It’s a small matter.”
Bai Fu tossed a card to Excavation‑Princess.
【General Card·Psionic Shield】: After use, generates a full-body shield with 450 shield points, lasting 5 minutes.
Seeing the effect of the card, Excavation‑Princess immediately felt reassured.
There’s no way I’m losing tonight!
That was the plan.
Bai Fu was preparing to make money from players by selling cards—this was the buyer’s showcase she had prepared for them.