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New Knowledge Chain Acquired, White Fu Transforms into an Living Bodhisattva [5k]

After unlocking the new knowledge chain, White Fu’s knowledge chain bonuses were transformed into:

【All active spiritual energy skills’ effects +80%, spiritual energy resistance +60%, spiritual energy recovery speed +4/minute, inspiration +5, spiritual energy bonus unlocked】

The enhancement to the effects of her active spiritual energy skills was not very noticeable at this stage for her, as most of her skills were passive or control/aide-type skills without damage. Some special skills didn’t benefit from the boost, like Battle Etiquette.

While this bonus may not be useful now, it could become extremely powerful in the future when she acquires more skills similar to “Summoning True Spirit.”

The most significant difference between advanced and intermediate professions isn’t in their base attributes or the number of skills they can learn, but rather in these bonuses.

Improving spiritual energy resistance was quite meaningful for White Fu.

As an apprentice soul painter, her base spiritual energy resistance was already high. With a 60% increase, she wouldn’t be easily warped if she jumped into ordinary pollution sources in the wild. In the future, her ultra-high spiritual energy resistance might prove effective during chases.

The benefits of increased spiritual energy recovery speed were even more evident. White Fu’s base recovery rate was 9 points per minute. Including affinity and knowledge chain bonuses, it reached 15 points per minute. This allowed her to control three Xiao Xiao Bai Fus without any loss.

“If it becomes a percentage-based recovery, that would be even better.”

White Fu felt secretly pleased. She had 760,000 experience points on her, enough for another level-up.

She did not delay and invested the experience to upgrade her from Level 16 to Level 17 as an Apprentice Soul Painter. The extra 3 attribute points naturally went to inspiration.

With the additional 5 points from the knowledge chain, her inspiration officially reached 100!

Her stats panel became:

【Health Points】: 1990/1990

【Spiritual Energy】: 1030/1030

【Qi】: 140/140

【Attributes】: Strength 25, Agility 31, Constitution 88, Intelligence 27, Spirit 28, Inspiration 100

White Fu looked around.

Even among S-level killers like Coyote and Ferreira, their highest attributes hadn’t reached 85. As for health bars, the longest belonged to martial artist Su Li, who had only 1210 now.

This was what it meant to stand out like a crane among chickens!

Satisfied, White Fu closed her stats panel.

She calculated that after completing this mission, she still needed one more spiritual energy knowledge chain, 2,810,000 experience points, and a pre-transfer quest to unlock an advanced profession.

She wasn’t sure about the details of the transfer quest, so she decided to focus on other matters first. Though the experience total seemed large, with two months until the new version update, she had ample time to gather the necessary experience.

“The key lies in obtaining that final knowledge chain,” White Fu focused on Su Li.

“Me?”

Su Li noticed something unusual about White Fu.

White Fu asked, “Apart from you, Gene Progenitors, and the Truth Society, do you know where else I can find advanced spiritual energy knowledge?”

She had yet to directly contact the Human Alliance and the Former Republic among the five major forces on Source Star. The Human Alliance was particularly difficult because they believed in “pure human supremacy,” and since she had fused with the blood of evolution, they might recognize her as non-pure blood and reject her.

Su Li shrugged, “You’ve ruled out these factions, so I’m not sure which other faction has the advanced spiritual energy knowledge you seek. The Former Republic doesn’t research such things, and the Human Alliance, which is extremely wary of non-pure humans, certainly wouldn’t either.”

White Fu rubbed her temples.

Was the worst-case scenario unfolding? She knew meeting the prerequisites for an advanced profession wouldn’t be easy.

It seemed she would have to intensify the reward on the darknet while also pursuing the research institute mentioned in the main quest in the Goli Desert. This institute was likely one of the earliest to research spiritual energy on Source Star, and it might contain advanced knowledge.

If that failed, White Fu had one last resort.

[Save Private Yulia!]

Yulia’s body definitely possessed advanced spiritual energy knowledge. Although her strength didn’t come from cultivation, there must be something to glean from her.

…

About an hour and a half after White Fu and company left the Ocean Life Research Institute, two helicopters resembling ospreys flew in from the north and landed near the institute.

Moments later, under the escort of elite agents, a middle-aged man stepped down from one of the helicopters. He wore square sunglasses and carried a black cane, standing out in the crowd.

“General Pang Baton…”

Pang Baton said expressionlessly, “There are no survivors inside.”

The faces of the accompanying elite agents changed. No survivors meant the institute had been breached, and its critical data might have been stolen.

They followed Pang Baton, approaching the institute with trepidation.

Pang Baton was a member of the seven-person council of Gene Progenitors, holding a lofty position. He had once ordered Basque to eliminate White Fu during the Bagalos operation.

The investigation of the Ocean Life Research Institute ended quickly, and the situation was indeed dire.

Dead bodies and bloodstains littered the entrance!

Inside, all data storage devices that could be removed had been taken!

But the worst part was that there were no signs of a struggle along the path from the first door to the surveillance room, except for a single corpse shot dead, and the only destruction was to the surveillance room door.

“There are only two possibilities: either the intruders had special abilities to pass through walls, or there was an insider within the institute who opened the gate for them!”

Pang Baton’s face was like a frozen sheet of ice.

He favored the latter possibility, as if the former were true, the intruders wouldn’t need to kill so many people at the entrance or destroy the surveillance room door.

Of course, the most crucial point was, without an insider, why would the intruders target this ostensibly marine biology research institute?

But he knew it was not the time to dwell on this matter.

The research materials had been stolen, and once revealed, the impact would be ten times greater than what the Truth Society had announced. At that point, the reputation of the Gene Progenitors would plummet, becoming as despised as the Truth Society.

If the plan failed, it could lead to the plan’s demise.

A wave of uncontrollable anger rose from Pang Baton’s heart.

First Li Cheng, then White Fu, followed by Graham from the Truth Society, and now these unknown individuals—why were they all opposing the Gene Progenitors?

Kill, kill, kill. Once the plan succeeds, he would exterminate all those unwilling to submit!

“Find those undead people sent here. They might know something,” Pang Baton immediately issued orders.

Elite agents sprang into action, soon reporting back—

The undead were nowhere to be found!

“What?”

Pang Baton was stunned.

Only two possibilities remained: either the undead had fled at the last moment, or they were the insiders.

He couldn’t determine which was the truth; he only knew his anger was barely contained.

Scum, a group of scum no one knew where they came from!

The world didn’t allow such powerful beings as the undead. If someone had to possess such power, it could only be him!

Back in Sea City after returning from the institute, Pang Baton immediately sought out the other members of the seven-person council. After some discussion, they made a new decision: to rely less on the undead and instead focus on understanding the source of their power.

For now, these undead were weak and could only serve as cannon fodder, though their strength grew, the Gene Progenitors’ plan would be completed long before that.

If the plan failed, these opportunistic undead would probably abandon ship halfway through. If it succeeded, they would be useless anyway.

Under White Fu’s manipulation, another player-rejecting faction emerged!

However, compared to the Truth Society’s approach of transforming all players into mutant warriors, the Gene Progenitors were relatively gentler. They might only use cold violence, anesthesia, and slice studies on players, not completely ruining their characters like the Truth Society.

Oh, thank heaven.

…

A day and a half later, after changing transportation twice, White Fu and company successfully arrived at Shelter No. 5.

“I need to deliver these documents to the Railway Guild, so I won’t bother you further. Let’s part ways here.”

Su Li extended her hand to shake hands with White Fu. Then, she got onto the helicopter sent by the Railway Guild, swaying her voluptuous figure.

The helicopter took off and soared into the sky. Suddenly, the pilot spoke up, “How do you feel?”

Su Li was momentarily stunned, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you think about Silver Moon?”

Su Li’s expression turned serious, “Extremely dangerous, an extremely dangerous existence. I strongly suggest avoiding conflict with her unless absolutely necessary. It’s not wise!”

The pilot replied, “I’ll report your assessment honestly…”

“This isn’t just an assessment, but a sincere recommendation!” Su Li interrupted, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask the others who acted with me. We’re on the eve of a storm. Any misstep could lead to irreparable consequences.”

The pilot paused, then laughed, “I remember you cursing her for slipping on soap and breaking her leg while bathing just a few days ago.”

Su Li looked helpless, “That was then, this is now. We hadn’t interacted with her back then.”

The pilot nodded, “When I report to the higher-ups, I’ll emphasize what you just said. By the way, have you figured out how she controls those undead?”

“This…”

Su Li frowned, recalling the video footage she had captured with a hidden camera and the behavior of the undead during the attack on the institute. She hadn’t noticed any special techniques.

The only useful information might be the joke White Fu had made:

“They think I’m a good person!”

What was the difference between how White Fu treated the undead and how others treated them?

Su Li felt she was grasping something and needed to try it out.

…

After bidding farewell to Su Li, White Fu met with the Darknet representative in Shelter No. 5 and significantly increased the bounty for acquiring advanced spiritual energy knowledge. After finishing everything, she returned to Shelter 11 with the players.

She assigned a new task to Digging Maiden and her team, having them familiarize the new players with the Silent Courtyard. Then, she dived into her own home.

Elder Nissen had taken the players out to search for the ruins of the research institute. She was idle, so she decided to spend time studying the materials obtained from the Ocean Life Research Institute.

The materials were plentiful, thankfully categorized.

[Experiment Logs], [Routine Meeting Records], [Inventory Lists], [Personnel Changes], [Obsidian Project]…

“Obsidian Project?”

These words piqued White Fu’s interest. She opened the corresponding files to read.

The Obsidian Project was simply a special artificial human manufacturing project. Over the past twenty years, the project had successfully created 21 special artificial humans.

The files didn’t mention the identities of these 21 artificial humans, only briefly recording their fates. These artificial humans stayed at the institute until age five. At five, the institute used technology from the biochemical factory attacked by Graham to erase their original consciousness and implant new ones, giving them new identities.

“These artificial humans are different from mass-produced ones. They don’t seem to be used for combat?”

Damn it, creating artificial humans and mutants again, what exactly is the Gene Progenitors researching?

After flipping through the documents, White Fu still didn’t understand the ultimate goal of the Obsidian Project. Perhaps the information was deliberately concealed, or perhaps the researchers themselves didn’t know what their creations would ultimately be used for.

“It’s necessary to activate the players previously embedded within the Gene Progenitors.”

White Fu summoned Sword Aura Sky Piercing and asked him to arrange for players who joined the Iron Rain Guild to collect intelligence.

Sword Aura Sky Piercing looked troubled, “White Fu, this might not be possible.”

“Why?” White Fu was surprised.

Sword Aura Sky Piercing explained, “Just now, I received word that the Gene Progenitors suddenly transferred them from the intelligence bureau to the police force, making them responsible for maintaining order. Moreover, some of the undead were even kicked out of the faction.”

“What?”

White Fu was bewildered. What was going on?

Ah, right, she remembered—the Gene Progenitors probably discovered that the players stationed at the frontlines had fled, thus developing a strong distrust towards all players.

White Fu checked the community’s Source Star section. Sure enough, she saw many Gene Progenitors faction players cursing.

[Ah ah ah, Gene Progenitors, I won’t let you off!]

[I poured my heart into this, hoping to help you against White Fu, but this is how you treat me? Fine, fine, fine, from today, I’ll join the Bai Sect and fight you!]

[Seven-person council, damn it!]

Among the curses, a clear current stood out: these players were from the Railway Guild.

When the players in the Gene Progenitors faction were suffering, the players in the Railway Guild suddenly found their usually indifferent NPC superiors suddenly caring about them. Furthermore, the Railway Guild had specially introduced promotion regulations specifically for players.

Suddenly, players in the Railway Guild were no longer mere beasts of burden but had prospects.

With hard work and a bit of luck, they might even rise to become mid-level or high-level officials in the Railway Guild.

[Wow, the official has finally woken up and decided to adjust the factions?]

[Adjust the Railway Guild positively, and the Gene Progenitors negatively. Is the planner out of his mind?]

[This is kind of satisfying. Now I don’t have to go to the Silent Courtyard. Staying in the Railway Guild isn’t worse.]

[Let me tell you a secret, the change in the Railway Guild is related to White Fu.]

[Stop dragging everything into it. Everything is related to White Fu. Don’t you understand the concept of one fan outweighing ten haters?]

[You don’t believe me? Ask Damsel. Yesterday, an NPC called Su Li took him away. That NPC asked him many questions. Others had similar experiences, and these questions were all related to White Fu—mainly asking why players liked White Fu and how she interacted with them. Only a day later, the Railway Guild announced new promotion regulations. I wouldn’t believe it if they weren’t related to White Fu.]

This news swept through the community like a tornado.

As more witnesses came forward, even the most skeptical players had to admit that the changes in the Railway Guild were somehow connected to White Fu.

[Learned from White Fu]

[Without White Fu as a role model, who knows how long these NPCs would keep us as beasts of burden]

[I won’t say White Fu is a female bodhisattva, but this is the truth!]

After witnessing the entire turmoil, White Fu exclaimed, “Well, well, well.” The development was completely unexpected. She had become a living bodhisattva in some players’ eyes?

Only Su Li had done a great job.

Since she couldn’t get the Iron Rain Guild players to investigate the Obsidian Project, she would have to see if the Railway Guild could uncover anything.

White Fu flipped through the community again, finding that after the official released a video explaining how to trigger the main quest, players on various starter planets had started triggering the main quest and finding NPCs resembling the version protagonist of their planet.

“It’s time to step up the activities. Otherwise, with the current pace of information dissemination, I’m not sure how long my popularity will stay high.”

The game never lacked beautiful female NPCs or unique ones.

Gentle big sisters, crazy lolis, mental deviants, heroic hotshots… there was always one to shine.

The good news was that she was no longer an ordinary passerby. Even facing challenges, she had many countermeasures.

White Fu returned home and continued reviewing the seized materials.

That night, Elder Nissen relayed a message through the players.

“We found the institute!”

PS: Thanks to Liu Piao Cong Feng Yi for the donation.

Yesterday’s writing posture was incorrect, resulting in a sore hand. Once I recover, I’ll write double.

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