Chapter 184

Chapter 184: Bai Fu Grows Into a Star Ocean Boss [58k]

To intercept Bai Fu, Eron, and others, the Head Butler of the Tower of Secrets did not hesitate to mobilize a secret fleet hidden near the Sea Lion Galaxy System.

The fleet was not large in scale, originally intended to deal with the Star Network Community. Now that it had appeared, it would inevitably be noticed by the Star Network Community, and the fleet base that cost a great deal to build would be considered scrap.

But in the eyes of the Head Butler, this risk was worth taking.

In fact, if the headquarters of the Tower of Secrets wasn’t so far from the Sea Lion Galaxy System, making it difficult for other fleets to reach the battlefield in a short time, he wouldn’t have sent just one fleet.

As long as they successfully captured the people of the Blessed Sect and obtained the true True Essence Pillar, it wouldn’t matter if they lost a base. Even if they gave the Star Network Community a few more bases, it would be no problem at all.

Without the True Essence Pillar, the Tower of Secrets’ plan could still proceed, but with it, the chances of success would greatly increase, and the time to succeed would be significantly shortened. Its value clearly far exceeded a few bases!

“Rest assured, they can’t escape!”

Foster, the overall commander of the Tower of Secrets fleet, confidently said to the virtual image of the Head Butler that appeared inside the starship.

The Head Butler nodded. “I’m waiting for your good news.”

As his virtual image disappeared, the Tower of Secrets fleet broke free from the Dark Domain formed by high-speed travel and officially ended their jump mode.

Ripples spread through space in the universe, and the next moment, over a hundred spaceships quickly emerged from the ripples, densely packed like a flock of geese crowded together.

“They’re here!”

On the ship, Eron’s pupils suddenly contracted.

According to the images transmitted back by the detector, as soon as the Tower of Secrets ships appeared, their cannons were immediately activated. Thick beams of light crossed the starry sky and instantly pierced through the mining ship of the Trola Pirate Group.

This mining ship was already battered and broken. After this bombardment, explosions immediately erupted on the ship, resembling an extremely spectacular cosmic fireworks display.

Beautiful.

But behind this silent beauty lay a chilling and deadly intent!

“This time, the Tower of Secrets has clearly spared no expense, determined to kill us!”

Eron’s expression became extremely solemn, but beneath this solemnity, there was also a hint of excitement.

Good!

He hadn’t even asked about the exact location of the True Essence Pillar yet; he had only learned from Sien that the Tower of Secrets possessed something very similar to the True Essence Pillar. Yet, the Tower of Secrets had already taken such ruthless action to kill them. What does this mean?

It means the True Essence Pillar is really in the hands of the Tower of Secrets. They fear that we will spread this information, so they must kill us to silence us.

Although all the intelligence gathered so far using spiritual energy hypnosis has been true, there are always exceptions. What if this time it went wrong? Fortunately, the Tower of Secrets used their actions to tell them: you guessed right!

At this point, both Eron and Su Xi were completely certain that the True Essence Pillar was in the hands of the Tower of Secrets.

Eron couldn’t help but glance at Bai Fu.

In his view, Bai Fu, the Queen of the Dark Domain, was truly a blessing for the Blessed Sect. For over a hundred years, the Blessed Sect had searched everywhere without finding the True Essence Pillar, but as soon as Bai Fu appeared, they easily found clues to the True Essence Pillar.

His affinity towards Bai Fu skyrocketed.

Not just Eron, Su Xi’s affinity towards Bai Fu also increased.

“Huh?”

Bai Fu couldn’t help but pause, wondering if she had hallucinated. She noticed Su Xi looking at her, and there was a fleeting smile on her lips.

She quickly cast a spirit vision towards Eron and Su Xi and was surprised to discover that both of them had recently increased their affinity towards her.

What the hell?

When she brought out the fake Shuixing, her affinity didn’t rise. When she controlled Sien, her affinity didn’t rise either. Why did it suddenly increase now?

Was it a game bug, or did these two just imagine something?

Bai Fu was confused, but she knew now wasn’t the time to ponder such things because after destroying the mining ship, the Tower of Secrets fleet was already chasing after them.

Still smiling, still laughing… wait until the spaceship gets blown up, then let’s see how you laugh!

Bai Fu grabbed Trola. “You’re familiar with this area, right? If you don’t want to get blown up by the Tower of Secrets’ spaceship, hurry up and guide us.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Trola nodded vigorously.

Under his command, the spaceship made a sharp turn and headed toward a nearby area where space was extremely unstable.

Whether in firepower, durability, speed, or quantity, the Tower of Secrets’ battleships were enough to crush the spaceship they were currently riding in. Directly jumping wouldn’t work since the jump engine needs time to activate, and before activation, the spaceship might already be surrounded. The best method was to use the harsh environment of the Star Tomb to first shake off the Tower of Secrets fleet, then activate the jump.

The spaceship sped forward, and Bai Fu’s heart rate accelerated accordingly.

Since coming to the Star Ocean, this should be the most dangerous time for her, aside from when she was locked onto by Night Mother Tessia.

The reason this situation isn’t as perilous as that one is because Tessia’s skills at the time truly made her feel the passage of life and the approach of death. This time, her strongest feeling was excitement and thrill. As for death…

It could only be said that death was still chasing her from behind.

“You like bullying the weak, huh? Just wait!”

Bai Fu added another mark against the Tower of Secrets in her grudge notebook.

Now, she only had over three thousand players under her command, which wasn’t enough to make the Tower of Secrets fear, but when the number of players under her control grows to hundreds of thousands, even millions, she wonders if the Tower of Secrets will still be able to laugh then.

Hundreds of thousands of players driving thousands of spaceships rushing towards the Tower of Secrets—just imagining the scene makes Bai Fu almost fly with excitement.

As Bai Fu’s heartbeat quickened, the players’ heart rates began to soar as well. The difference was that the players weren’t afraid at all now; instead, they were quite excited.

[I’ve always liked car chase scenes in movies. I didn’t expect to start racing spaceships instead.]

[Wow, the Tower of Secrets’ spaceships look so cool, much better than the Star Network’s.]

[Do you think our spaceship will get blasted apart?]

[Even if it does, it doesn’t matter since we won’t die. I actually want to experience what it feels like when a spaceship explodes.]

[We might not die, but Fu Fu will.]

Ah, that’s true!

The players’ excitement faded. If Bai Fu dies, how will they continue playing?

“Let’s request backup. We’re still within the Sea Lion Galaxy System. Once the Star Network knows the Tower of Secrets is causing trouble here, they’ll definitely send reinforcements.”

“Contact Scarlet Leaf. She’s a member of the Star Treaty.”

The players shouted various suggestions.

Bai Fu helplessly shrugged her shoulders.

The moment she spotted the Tower of Secrets’ spaceship, she had already sent a distress signal to Scarlet Leaf. Unfortunately, the Tower of Secrets fleet had launched a signal interference wave, preventing the distress signal from being successfully transmitted.

At this moment, Su Xi suddenly spoke up. “I’ve already contacted the Pope. The Pope informed the Star Network of what happened here, and the Star Network replied that reinforcements would take 2 or 3 hours to arrive.”

2 or 3 hours?

Previously, Bai Fu would have thought 2 or 3 hours was short. Sometimes she and Youlia would conduct a spiritual energy transmission verification experiment that lasted longer than this, but now she only felt it was interminable.

“How far is the Tower of Secrets’ fleet from us?”

“1,270,000 kilometers.”

The pilot replied.

That’s completely within firing range!

As soon as this thought arose, Bai Fu noticed a massive purple laser beam flying towards them. The laser beam pierced through the dark void of space and skimmed past the front of the spaceship, failing to cause serious damage but still making the spaceship’s shield flicker repeatedly.

Then several more laser beams came, but these beams weren’t as accurate. Halfway through their trajectory, they encountered distorted space. One beam was swallowed by a fissure, while the others were deflected in different directions.

“Close call!”

Everyone on the spaceship let out a startled cry. They dared not relax their vigilance. Avoiding one round of attacks was just the beginning; more trouble awaited them.

Unexpectedly, what arrived faster than the second round of attacks was the shout from Foster, the commander of the Tower of Secrets fleet.

“Stop the spaceship immediately and surrender voluntarily. Hand over the people and items you just captured, and I’ll give you a chance to live, allowing you to join the Tower of Secrets.”

Foster was not a merciful person; rather, he was a cold-blooded killing machine.

The reason he didn’t rush to order all the spaceships to fire simultaneously was partly due to Bai Fu and the others having entered a spatially chaotic area, making it hard for the ship’s cannons to aim accurately. But the main reason was that he feared accidentally destroying the True Essence Pillar while blowing up the spaceship. Even if the True Essence Pillar wasn’t destroyed directly, if it were accidentally sucked into a spatial fissure during the explosion, his efforts this time would be wasted.

Facing Foster’s threat, Eron acted extremely tough.

“Don’t talk nonsense. If you want people and items, come and get them yourself!”

A complete provocation!

Foster was furious, but he truly dared not launch a fierce attack solely out of anger.

“Do you think you’re invincible just because you have some trump card?”

By saying this, Foster merely wanted to mock Eron for thinking that possessing the True Essence Pillar would ensure his safety. However, Eron completely failed to understand this implication and assumed Foster was referring to some hidden ability of his own. This small misunderstanding caused Eron’s face to turn extremely grim.

How did the people of the Tower of Secrets know about his hidden abilities? Could it be that there was a spy from the Tower of Secrets hiding within the Blessed Sect?

It was entirely possible.

The Tower of Secrets wanted the True Essence Pillar, and their Blessed Sect had also been searching for it. It was reasonable for the Tower of Secrets to infiltrate spies into their group.

Eron chuckled…





There was a shout: “Your intelligence work is excellent, but what if you already know?”

His words further stimulated Foster, making Foster absolutely sure that the True Essence Pillar was in his hands, after all, he had admitted it himself!

What do you think?

Of course, take it back!

“I’ll let you know the consequences of provoking the Tower of Secrets!”

With one command from Foster, the fleet was divided into three waves, attempting to encircle Bai Fu and her companions on their starship from different directions.

A chase ensued on the desolate Star Tomb, a place usually visited only by pirates.

Because they were unfamiliar with the terrain, even though the Tower of Secrets’ starships performed better, they could not close the distance with Bai Fu’s group. However, this situation wouldn’t last long.

Foster specially altered the output level of the laser cannons; the power of the starship’s laser cannons decreased significantly, insufficient to destroy another starship directly. But this continuous assault placed an immense burden on the shields of Bai Fu’s starship.

“The shield has 21% left, we can hold out for at most 20 minutes. Once the shield breaks, they can directly attack the starship. If the power module is damaged, we won’t be able to escape!” The pilot from the Blessed Sect shouted anxiously.

Eron approached Teroa, “Are there any twisted single-lane paths in the Star Tomb? If they keep attacking us from three different directions, we will soon be caught up.”

Teroa frowned, “There are indeed such places, but they’re too dangerous. No one dares to go there because any mistake would lead to the loss of both people and ship. I don’t suggest going there; otherwise, the Tower of Secrets wouldn’t even need to apply pressure—we might kill ourselves.”

Eron shook his head; since this method didn’t work, they needed to try something else.

“Find a planet with harsh environment, full of mountains and valleys. Let’s head to the surface!”

After such a long chase, he realized that the Tower of Secrets dared not destroy the starship outright, probably because there were other things on Xien or Teroa and Suixing that the Tower valued highly.

This was a point they could exploit.

Anyway, they just needed to buy time until reinforcements from the Star Network arrived. It would be much easier to delay on the planet’s surface than in the vast emptiness of space, as the surface’s peaks and valleys would obstruct the Tower of Secrets’ aim.

Teroa immediately pulled up a star map and pointed out several locations.

Eron chose one of the planets and instructed the pilot to change direction.

The chase continued. After about ten minutes, when the shield dropped to around 5%, the starship successfully broke through the thick atmospheric dust and sandstorms, descending into the dim yellow canyon below. Not long after, the Tower of Secrets’ fleet also arrived.

“Futile struggle!”

Foster sent starships to block the way and dispatched numerous aircraft to engage in dogfights.

The aircraft covered the sky like locusts, quickly sweeping over the planet’s surface, stirring up scorching winds and sandstorms. Amidst the sandstorm, small laser cannons continuously fired.

“It seems the starship can no longer hold,” Bai Fu said.

Eron nodded, “Let’s split up. Me, Su Xi, and you, each of us takes one person, so the Tower of Secrets cannot concentrate their forces. If we can hold on for half an hour, the reinforcements from the Star Network should arrive.”

Bai Fu agreed without objection; staying together made them too easy a target.

She took Teroa with her and, before leaving, Eron gave her a device to conceal their presence.

At the moment the starship’s shield was shattered, the starship’s hangar suddenly opened, and subsequently, more than ten aircraft swiftly slid out like swallows.

Bai Fu piloted one of the aircraft, roaring into a gap between two mountains. Behind her were player-piloted aircraft and numerous pursuers from the Tower of Secrets.

As the aircraft passed through the gap, she looked back at the pursuers.

“Previously in the Star Ocean, I faced large starships, and my attacks found it hard to hit targets, even if they did, they’d have to break through the shields first to cause damage, so I’ve held back until now. Now that we’re on the surface, there’s no need to hold back anymore.”

Aircraft?

You dare to chase me so closely? I’ll make you fly!

Bai Fu raised her hand and conjured several cards of “Imprisonment Realm” and “Mind Storm” in mid-air.

Go!

The cards transformed into beams of light and flew away.

A flash of white light appeared, and suddenly, a huge black cage materialized in the wilderness. The leading Tower of Secrets aircraft had no time to dodge.

“Uh oh, we’re going to crash!”

The pilots panicked, but unexpectedly, the aircraft didn’t break apart upon collision. Instead, they broke through the cage’s boundary and entered inside.

We survived?

No!

They soon discovered a more terrifying crisis awaited them.

Storms, spiritual energy storms, enormous spiritual energy storms!

No matter how skilled these pilots were, under the sweeping spiritual energy storms, they could only watch helplessly as their aircraft disintegrated, their bodies torn apart.

“Get out of the way, fast!”

Other pilots witnessing this scene hurriedly ascended their aircraft, but as soon as they ascended, they saw several spiritual energy clouds and black orbs appear in the sky.

Swish Swish Swish—

Countless spiritual energy fragments fell from the clouds, and the spiritual energy beams shot by the black orbs cut like long knives. Under dual assaults, many aircraft were damaged and fell from the sky like dumplings.

“How has her strength suddenly increased so much?”

In the battleship, the members of the Tower of Secrets watching the scene transmitted by the aircraft were all shocked.

This was no ordinary S-class superhuman!

“Should I go meet her?”

At this moment, an extremely tall and strong S-class superhuman with skin like stone stepped forward.

“She doesn’t matter now. First, catch those from the Blessed Sect and the Shuixing in their possession,” Foster shook his head and then looked at another subordinate beside him, “Send a few ships. Kill Bai Fu if you can, if not, just stall her. Don’t let her escape. I’ll deal with the Blessed Sect first.”

The people of the Tower of Secrets immediately sprang into action. A large number of troops rushed towards Eron and Su Xi, while four ships descended from above the clouds intending to blow Bai Fu up directly.

Bai Fu had been prepared for this. Before splitting up, she had given the players several “Phantom Whispers.” The moment the ships were spotted, the players holding the “Phantom Whispers” immediately activated their prayer cards.

The gunners on the ships tried to lock onto Bai Fu’s craft, but they were baffled to find a Bai Fu on every aircraft.

“???”

Undoubtedly, only one was real, but which one?

The aircraft engines roared as they scattered everywhere, and he had no idea whom to lock onto. Initially, he tried to judge where the real Bai Fu was based on which aircraft the Mind Storm and Imprisonment Realm came from, but soon he realized that wouldn’t work either because every aircraft had Mind Storm and Imprisonment Realm coming out.

“Damn it, forgot that Bai Fu is a Spiritual Energy Artist who makes prayer cards usable by others!”

The people on the ship were furious.

Why did they encounter such a difficult opponent as Bai Fu?

Alright, alright, since they couldn’t tell, they’d just bomb them all.

The four ships split up, sending aircraft to assist in chasing the scattered aircraft. In the process, a large number of the Tower of Secrets’ aircraft were torn apart by the storm, and Bai Fu’s experience points soared.

“The people of the Tower of Secrets must never have guessed that I had already abandoned the aircraft and hidden on the ground, right?”

On the ground, in a cave, Bai Fu watched leisurely.

Watch carefully; this is how players play!

Who says players with insufficient strength can’t influence the battle? With her as the Spiritual Energy Artist, there are plenty of ways for players to play.

The players were indeed having fun this time.

The thrilling chase between starships and aircraft was exciting enough, and they had received a large number of prayer cards from Bai Fu, allowing them to fire freely, which was exhilarating…

[“Ah ah ah, you’re not allowed to shoot, let me shoot!”]

[“I can’t stand it, I want to be Fu Fu’s dog too.”]

[“Please, let me shoot too, the guy upstairs can do everything.”]

Players flooding into the live stream really had bloodshot eyes this time. They were still fighting on the ground, but here it had already evolved into spaceship battles. The difference was like being on one side primitive humans and on the other modern humans.

Bai Fu nodded satisfactorily; this wave of advertising effect was fully maximized.

Whoever gives players a good gaming experience will win the players’ affection. Clearly, she had achieved that. Players give her experience, and she lets players enjoy the game. This trade was very fair.

“We should be able to hold out smoothly until the reinforcements from the Star Network arrive. I wonder how the Blessed Sect is doing.”

Bai Fu waited quietly for another ten minutes. When only one of the player-piloted aircraft remained uncrashed, the spaceships and aircraft pursuing the players suddenly stopped.

After a few seconds, one of the spaceship captains couldn’t help but stomp his foot in frustration.

“Bai Fu, I’m not done with you!”

He had been busy chasing the aircraft everywhere, dizzy from running around, only to find out that every Bai Fu on the aircraft he bombed was fake. If he hadn’t been professionally trained, he might have fainted from anger.

This thing was too hard to kill, aaaah…

“Let’s go!”

With a roar of resentment, the spaceships and aircraft turned around and prepared to run away.

Bai Fu stood up.

Judging by this, the reinforcements from the Star Network should have arrived.

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