Chapter 227

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Chapter 227: Storm Approaching, Prepare Early – Bai Fu [4k]

On her way to meet Su Xi, Bai Fu was being undermined by various factions as Andras had mentioned.

Due to prior arrangements, she remained calm.

Her recent performance had not only impressed NPCs like Andras but also players.

With the help of Jiujiao’s promotional videos, she became more attractive to players than any special title that could add significant stats.

Therefore, very few players were genuinely defecting to other factions; most were there on undercover missions as she had expected.

The benefits from titles were clear, but the benefits from her…

Digging and digging on tiny Bai Fu, how could these benefits ever be exhausted?

In short, most players felt that following her would lead to abundant rewards, even if they didn’t win the five million grand prize.

For example, with the second profession.

Most players hadn’t considered training a second profession before following Bai Fu.

The cost of an additional profession was too high; many players couldn’t reach the version’s level cap for their primary profession by the end of the version.

However, after following Bai Fu, these players found it much easier to gain experience, often reaching the version’s level cap mid-version.

Some took this opportunity to train a second profession.

Bai Fu welcomed this situation and did much to encourage it.

She set task rewards as books of knowledge for certain professions, enticing players to train a second profession, especially those in the Spiritual Energy category.

Her motive was to strengthen her players’ capabilities while also maximizing her exploitation of them.

Double the professions, double the demands, double the exploitation!

This move was called proactive demand creation!

Players’ experience stored on themselves never produced interest, but storing it with her changed everything; she grew stronger, which allowed her to provide better services.

In summary—

It’s all about satisfaction!

Speaking of which, Version 1.4 is almost over.

Bai Fu opened the official website.

The previous night, the website announced maintenance.

After nearly three years of effort, the main quests on various new player planets were mostly concluded, with only a few unfinished tasks remaining.

The upcoming 1.5 version, as predicted, is transitional and won’t last long.

“Given the current situation, unless the downtime between 1.5 and 2.0 is long, game time will likely pass another six months before a large number of players enter the Star Ocean.”

“We need to resolve the troubles at the Tower of Secrets quickly and then take advantage of idle times to exploit one or two new player planets. How can we let good players be exploited by other bad men or women?”

Bai Fu nodded silently.

In this vast Star Ocean, she had become one of the earliest NPCs preparing for Version 2.0.

…

Saint Planet.

This was Bai Fu’s first visit to the headquarters of the Blessed Sect.

She had heard of this faction’s name before coming to the Star Ocean.

Shortly after arriving, she had close contact with this faction.

But until now, she finally had the time to look up at the towering white tower in front of her.

A hundred-meter-high spire piercing the sky, like a sword standing upright on the earth, majestic and solemn.

“Thank you for coming, it’s really great to have you here. We invited you mainly because we feared that discussing our plans online might be intercepted by the Tower of Secrets.”

Su Xi approached from afar. While she spoke words of gratitude, her expression remained cold as usual.

Bai Fu was used to this, waving her hand: “If you have no other pressing matters, let’s get straight to the point.”

Su Xi nodded and led Bai Fu and Scarlet Leaf into a conference room.

In the conference room, the Pope and Eron, who had received prior notice, were waiting. Seeing Bai Fu arrive, they immediately stood up to greet her warmly, a stark contrast to Su Xi’s reserved demeanor.

After some pleasantries, Eron spoke:

“Not long ago, through a special channel, we discovered a base of the Tower of Secrets. To our surprise, the True Essence Pillar we’ve been searching for might be located there!”

Eron’s voice involuntarily rose several octaves as he spoke.

Oh, what fantastic luck!

Bai Fu nodded repeatedly, her expression showing both seriousness and approval.

True Essence Pillar?

Unless the Tower of Secrets had another True Essence Pillar, this news was undoubtedly false.

But Bai Fu kept silent; she couldn’t tell the Blessed Sect that the True Essence Pillar had already fused with Youlia.

Although she no longer feared the Blessed Sect, it was better to keep things simple.

Bai Fu placed her hands on the table, interlocking her fingers, and patiently listened as Eron outlined the plan to seize the True Essence Pillar.

The plan was straightforward: similar to the operation in the Tide Star System, they would split into two groups, one focusing externally and the other internally.

The Blessed Sect and Bai Fu had previously cooperated very smoothly, so when planning this operation, they thought of Bai Fu first.

However, this time, the situation differed slightly from the previous operation. This time, they were attacking a base, whose defense force was significantly stronger than the previous secret laboratory, and the internal situation was much more complex.

Thus, in Eron’s plan, the Blessed Sect would attract the attention of the Tower of Secrets, while Bai Fu would infiltrate the base to seize the True Essence Pillar.

He said that Bai Fu’s strength was sufficient to handle any unexpected situations.

Considering the high risk of infiltration, to persuade Bai Fu, Eron offered a substantial reward.

“Three million plus a set of prayer card blueprints for blessing!”

Bai Fu looked at the mission interface that popped up in front of her.

Three million?

That was a considerable sum.

A set of prayer card blueprints for blessing?

These prayer cards were not very useful for someone nearing the Catastrophe tier like her, but selling them to players or other NPCs would make them a cash cow.

In addition to the rewards proposed by Eron, completing the mission would also grant her 10 million experience points.

After some consideration, Bai Fu accepted the mission.

Given the amount of experience required, the difficulty of the mission wasn’t high.

Since this was the case, why not play along with the Blessed Sect and take a shot at retaliating against the Tower of Secrets?

The only issue was that the mission couldn’t be delayed; once the game version updated, players would be forced offline, and her plan to have them complete the mission and gain experience, followed by exploiting them, would fall apart.

Eron said, “Can we act anytime? Then let’s schedule it for the day after tomorrow, as we still need some preparations.”

Bai Fu had no objections: “Fine.”

The meeting ended, and Bai Fu and Scarlet Leaf left the conference room. After escorting them to their guest rooms, Su Xi returned to the laboratory. The Pope and Eron remained, waiting for Su Xi to return.

Bang!

As the door closed, Eron placed a metallic sphere on the table. Soft white light emanated from the sphere, enveloping the entire room.

This metallic sphere effectively prevented outsiders from spying, making it highly effective.

“Bai Fu has accepted the commission, we can now contact His Excellency and have them prepare.”

Su Xi casually sat down in a chair, her face expressionless.

Eron replied, “Rest assured, I’ve already sent the minutes of the meeting. His Excellency will have it ready within two days. From now on, it’s showtime. If we successfully attract the Tower of Secrets’ attention, Bai Fu’s strength will surely allow her to easily infiltrate the base and obtain the fake True Essence Pillar. Then…

He paused, a smile forming on his face.

“By observing how Bai Fu handles the fake True Essence Pillar, we’ll know whether she’s acting under the orders of the Sworn One to find the True Essence Pillar.”

Su Xi nodded.

Recently, she had received an order from the backer of the Blessed Sect, instructing her to investigate Bai Fu’s relationship with the Sworn One and determine if Bai Fu truly came to the Initial Gateway Star Cluster to seize the True Essence Pillar under the Sworn One’s command.

However, Bai Fu was so busy that she first demonstrated her invulnerability to ship cannons on Xiudun Star and then teamed up with Scarlet Leaf to eliminate a Catastrophe-tier member of the Tower of Secrets on Red Ring Star.

Bai Fu’s strength far exceeded expectations, making it unlikely that anyone could exploit her abilities to get close to her.

Reluctantly, they had to come up with another plan, and the solution they devised was to deliberately leave a bait to test Bai Fu.

The base was real, but it contained no True Essence Pillar. The so-called True Essence Pillar was a fake one secretly placed by His Excellency.

The fake pillar was marked with a special symbol. By observing how Bai Fu handled the fake pillar, they could determine her relationship with the Sworn One.

If there was no connection, they could continue cooperating with Bai Fu and use her strength to seize the True Essence Pillar from the Tower of Secrets.

If there was a connection, things would become troublesome; a Ultra-Class intervention would make the situation completely unpredictable.

…

During the two days of preparation by the Blessed Sect, Bai Fu was not idle. She either played cards with Scarlet Leaf or conducted experiments with Youlia in the spaceship’s laboratory.

Even with Youlia’s rapid spiritual energy recovery rate, it was impossible to extract enough energy from her to stack layers of the Apostle Heart, even if Bai Fu spent 24 hours a day doing so.

However, machines do wear out, especially something as complex as Youlia.

She needed to give Youlia some rest, otherwise, playing her too hard could cause issues.

Two days later.

The Blessed Sect was prepared, and everyone boarded the spaceship to head for the Tower of Secrets’ base.

Upon arrival, Bai Fu handed over all her players to Eron’s command.

Her mission was to infiltrate the base, so she couldn’t possibly take the players with her. It was better for the players to follow Eron and earn some experience, which would also increase the success rate of the Blessed Sect’s operation to attract the Tower of Secrets’ attention.

Everything was set, and both sides acted immediately.

Seeing the Blessed Sect attack, people in the Tower of Secrets’ base contacted headquarters for reinforcements.

Reinforcements?

To hell with that!

The most important task was dealing with Bai Fu and the Blessed Sect; everything else had to wait.

“That base is lost, evacuate directly!” the Head Butler ordered.

“Yes.”

The Tower of Secrets’ response stunned Bai Fu, who was just about to infiltrate.

Were they preparing to engage the Blessed Sect head-on? How strong was the Blessed Sect’s ability to provoke hostility?

Soon, she realized something was off.

She had already reached the core area of the base, yet no one turned around to trouble her.

“What are they doing?”

Bai Fu was puzzled. She shook her head, looking at the “True Essence Pillar” in sight.

She had seen the real True Essence Pillar, so she knew instantly that this one was fake. After using her spiritual vision, the situation was as expected.

[“Forged True Essence Pillar”]

Forget it, true or false, as long as she handed it over to the Blessed Sect, the mission would be completed.

Bai Fu placed the fake pillar in the container provided by the Blessed Sect and began to retreat. Midway through, the Tower of Secrets finally noticed her.

“Holy shit, it’s Bai Fu!”

“Run, run, run!”

The people in the base were terrified, turning green-faced.

Aside from a few from headquarters, most members of the Tower of Secrets, after the battles on Xiudun Star and Red Ring Star, were almost scared out of their wits by Bai Fu. Very few dared to confront her directly, let alone look her in the eye.

People’s hearts were scattered.

That’s why the Head Butler and the Master of the Tower were willing to take risks and gamble.

If they won, they could kill Bai Fu and seize the True Essence Pillar from the Blessed Sect, reviving the Tower of Secrets instantly.

If they lost, even without external threats, most peripheral members of the Tower of Secrets would voluntarily leave the organization and flee.

To the Head Butler and the Master of the Tower, the Tower of Secrets had reached a critical moment of life and death!

“Bai Fu, it’s her again!”

Upon receiving the urgent message from the base, the Head Butler’s face turned pale.

Calm as he was, he could not remain calm. He must kill Bai Fu, even if it meant dying with her!

“Initiate the plan, release the bait.”

On the other side, watching the fleeing members of the Tower of Secrets, Bai Fu frowned.

The situation was not looking good.

The Tower of Secrets seemed to fear her too much. Given the current situation, if they knew she had advanced to the Catastrophe tier, they might avoid her altogether, making it difficult for her to continue accumulating contributions by eliminating the Tower of Secrets.

It seemed she couldn’t be too conspicuous lately.

After flashing out using the Seer Mark, Bai Fu handed the fake pillar to Eron.

Eron thanked her profusely, breathing a sigh of relief.

It seemed Bai Fu’s relationship with the Sworn One wasn’t as rumored, which made things easier.

“Great collaboration!”

Both parties exchanged friendly words and parted ways.

Returning to the branch office, Bai Fu declined all commissions and focused on stacking layers. Two days before the 1.5 version update, she finally reached the fifth layer of the Apostle Heart.

Her base inspiration rose to 2013 points, fully meeting the conditions for awakening. As long as she wanted, she could advance to the Catastrophe tier anytime.

“Finally gained the ability to jump out of the board before players fully enter the Star Ocean.”

Bai Fu didn’t rush to awaken; she planned to give the Tower of Secrets a surprise.

Thus, two days passed quietly. When the clock struck midnight, the 1.5 version update arrived.

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