Chapter 212

Chapter 212: The Terrifying Fourth Catastrophe, All Eyes on Bai Fu [79k]

Taking into account the players recruited from Source Star, Indigo Star, and Jin Gu Star previously, Bai Fu now had over fifty thousand players under her command.

This number of players might seem insufficient for an interstellar war, considering a regular-sized attack carrier could carry tens of thousands of people, and any normal star system-level civilization would have at least dozens of such carriers.

However, sending over fifty thousand players with strength comparable to B-class superhumans who were fearless in death to deal with small factions holed up on a minor planet was akin to having a sure thing.

“Let’s go!”

Bai Fu issued the order to move out. Shortly after, more than a dozen starships flew out from the Initial Gateway Subcommittee.

At this point, the focal point of public opinion within the Initial Gateway Star Cluster remained the conflict between organizations like the Tower of Secrets and the Star Network. No one paid attention to the cargo ships Bai Fu had rented through Green Mud, nor did anyone know what kind of ghostly things those cargo ships had transported to the Celestial Sea!

…

Neville Star.

It was midnight, and Wei Ke was seriously explaining the specific situation of the mission target to the nearby players.

“Our offensive target is an interstellar logistics company called ‘Between Two Points.’ On the surface, it’s just a regular logistics company, but behind the scenes, it has murky ties with space pirates and the Tower of Secrets. Their boss is named Reeves, a peak A-class superhuman whose strength cannot be underestimated. His subordinates include… Considering the complex terrain of the company’s warehouse, my plan is…”

“Mr. Wei.”

As Wei Ke kept talking, Sword Aura Sky Piercing stepped forward, interrupting him.

“Do you have any questions?” asked Wei Ke.

Sword Aura Sky Piercing said, “Your plan is very ingenious and can effectively reduce the casualty rate during the attack. But you’ve forgotten that we are immortal. Casualty rates mean nothing to us. We care only about whether the mission is successfully completed. If the mission is completed, even if the casualty rate is one hundred percent, it doesn’t matter. If the mission fails, even if the casualty rate is zero, it’s unacceptable.”

Wei Ke was momentarily stunned. “Then what is your plan?”

“My plan is…” Sword Aura Sky Piercing paused, “There is no plan!”

Yes, he hadn’t thought of any plan at all!

Not because he couldn’t come up with one, not because he didn’t have time to think, but simply because he hadn’t bothered to.

There was no need.

For this operation, they were dealing with a faction whose strongest member was merely an A-class superhuman. For targets of this level, direct assault was all that was needed—no complicated tactics required.

What’s so impressive about an A-class superhuman?

Sure, you might be able to defeat one, two, or ten B-class superhumans, but what if we send a hundred B-class superhumans armed with weapons capable of harming you?

Just fight, and that’s it!

Delaying too long might make the other side realize our purpose, and upon sensing trouble, they might destroy the prototype of the Dissociative Medication.

Sword Aura Sky Piercing felt his blood boil, as if possessed by Black Tiger Afu. At this moment, all he could think about was battle, battle, and more battle.

He wasn’t particularly fond of fighting, but he had been pent up for too long. Since the Heaven Lake Star campaign, he hadn’t done a proper combat mission in the game for over a year.

After all, Bai Fu’s level was too high, and the opponents she dealt with were also too high-leveled. Battles at that level were far beyond his ability to participate.

Though even without participating in battles, just following Bai Fu around to watch the plot unfold earned him a large amount of experience. However, compared to this easy way of leveling up, Sword Aura Sky Piercing preferred leveling up by defeating monsters.

As the president of a major guild, speed-running difficult raid dungeons and conquering world bosses…that was what he pursued!

“Haven’t you forgotten the cooperation we honed on Source Star?”

Sword Aura Sky Piercing turned back and said to the guild members.

Among the more than forty thousand players brought by the cargo ships from Source Star, there were several hundred members of the Iron Rain Guild. Many of these players were top players listed on the rankings, which gave Sword Aura Sky Piercing the confidence to charge ahead.

“How could we forget? Sword Master, let’s start! My big gun has been thirsty for a long time!”

“Indeed, it’s time to remind Fu Fu how powerful we are!”

“Let’s announce our arrival to the stars with this battle!”

One sentence after another of middle-school-level lines came out.

Apart from the Iron Rain Guild, the other players were also rubbing their hands in excitement.

Seeing this scene, Wei Ke twitched at the corner of his mouth. He was somewhat worried. Would this really work? Maybe he should ask Bai Fu.

With that in mind, he quickly contacted Bai Fu and told her what happened here.

Bai Fu’s reply consisted of only five words—

“Let them charge!”

She had brought the players from the beginner planets to the Star Ocean precisely to let them charge, of course, she meant letting the players help her charge, not charging at her.

Wei Ke took a deep breath. If that was the case, then let’s charge!

With his command, tens of thousands of players surged toward the Between Two Points Logistics Company from all directions.

A hundred people charging is already quite spectacular, but ten thousand people charging is something we usually describe with only two words—

Flood!

“What the hell is going on?”

Everyone inside and outside the logistics company was completely baffled by the scene.

Due to the suddenness of the event, many people even thought the walls surrounding the warehouse of the Between Two Points Logistics Company had collapsed, and the charging players were there to take advantage of a free-for-all.

What, free-for-all?

For a while, many troublemakers joined the players in the charge, only to soon realize that something was off.

Wait, isn’t the wall intact? What free-for-all nonsense is this?

Oh.

It was fine earlier, but not now.

The players at the forefront carried portable cannons and bombarded the wall mercilessly. Despite its sturdiness, the wall was shattered to pieces under such relentless attacks.

“Who the hell is causing trouble?”

Reeves, who was busy recording accounts, threw down his ledger and rushed out of the office upon receiving the news.

By the time he started organizing the defense, the players were already rampaging through the warehouse area.

“Surrender your guns, and we won’t kill you!”

“Surrender, and we won’t kill you!”

Reeves laughed bitterly. How dare they try to rob him? This must be because they mistook him for someone weak. It was laughable since, despite appearing scholarly now, he used to be a space pirate. Back in his pirate days, arson, murder, dismemberment—you name it, he’d done it all. These people dared to rob him, clearly not knowing what death means.

“Fine, I haven’t fought for years. Today, since you’ve come here to die, I’ll show you what a real tough guy looks like!”

Reeves slapped a button on his waistband, and the next second, a cigarette box-sized device hanging on his belt rapidly expanded into a massive two-meter-long rolling saw.

This giant saw was so terrifying that blood and flesh splattered everywhere when cutting people, creating a visually shocking effect.

Actually, Reeves wouldn’t normally get this excited. The blame lies with the recent intense conflicts between the Tower of Secrets and the Star Network, putting immense pressure on him due to his connections with the Tower of Secrets. He feared being exposed.

When someone’s under great pressure, they want to release it. Now that someone was attacking his logistics company, wasn’t it the perfect opportunity for some killing?

“Give these bastards a taste of real power!”

Reeves swiftly issued orders to his partners and the group of henchmen he maintained.

Time to start the slaughter!

The smell of blood stimulated Reeves, making him extremely excited.

In his imagination, the development of the battle should proceed like this—

Under the fire suppression of his henchmen, the audacious intruders would be utterly confused. While these fools were bewildered, he would descend from the sky holding the massive saw. With the sound of landing and the roar of the saw starting, he would transform into a spinning battle top sweeping all directions, slaughtering until blood rained down and bodies turned to paste, resembling a reincarnation of a demon god, instilling deep fear in everyone daring to covet him at this moment!

Reeves’ vision was indeed beautiful, but his plan faltered at the first step.

Fire suppression? Bewilderment?

These things did exist, but it was his henchmen who were suppressed and bewildered.

No fault of his men for not trying hard enough; the players were just too formidable.

Facing gunfire, the players charged forward without dodging, carrying portable laser cannons, firing while charging, shouting wildly as they advanced. Occasionally, when a player was blown apart into four or five pieces with eyeballs flying out of their sockets, the surrounding players showed no fear at all. Instead, they laughed heartily, stepping on the eyeballs while cursing the exploded player as a loser and an unlucky bastard. The scene…

Reeves’ henchmen didn’t know what others might think, but they themselves were close to fainting from fright.

What the hell were these guys? Had they accidentally fallen into a horror abyss and been surrounded by fearless Dark Domain bugs?

No.

Being surrounded by Dark Domain bugs wasn’t as scary as being surrounded by these people.

Dark Domain bugs don’t dodge attacks and step over their comrades’ corpses without flinching because they lack brains and possess only an instinct for killing. Yet, these people, who clearly had brains, easily performed actions even more terrifying than the Dark Domain bugs. What else could be scarier than this?

“How can we fight? This is impossible. Are you asking me to trade my life for one of these lunatics? Don’t joke around!”

“Mom, I’m sorry, I won’t do bad things anymore. From today onward, I’ll reform and become a good person. Please bless me to survive!”

“Shit, those notorious wanted criminals aren’t half as ruthless as these people. Who gathered these dragons and phoenixes together?”

No matter how Reeves urged, his henchmen refused to expose themselves.

Urging, urging, urging, urging your mother’s head! If you’re so capable, why don’t you do it yourself, or just cut us all down directly!

Reeves never imagined things would turn out this way, but worse was yet to come.

After successfully breaking through the firepower points inside the Between Two Points Logistics Company, all that stood before the players were various traps, walls, and those B-class and A-class superhumans.

In other games, when facing traps, players would spend time solving puzzles, and when encountering walls, they would curse at prompts like “the door cannot be opened from this side” before searching for alternative routes.

But in Above the Stars, players didn’t need such worries.

Encountering traps?

Charge straight ahead!

Dying is no big deal; as long as the trap is destroyed, it’s worth it. After all, the resurrection point isn’t far away, so running back is all it takes.

Encountering walls?

Tear them down!

If this wall can’t be demolished, tear down the adjacent ones. Eventually, one will give way.

What does it mean to leave no grass standing wherever one goes?

Forget about Reeves’ people; even Wei Ke, who belonged to the same camp as the players, was left dumbfounded.

Damn, is this really happening?

Previously, watching the players battle the Dark Domain bugs, he only thought the players were brave. Now, seeing them fight against the Between Two Points Logistics Company, he was grateful to be on the same side as the players. Otherwise, who could withstand such fierce assaults?

“A single ten-thousand-strong group of immortals is already terrifying. When the two million immortals from Source Star and other planets are all transported here…”

Wei Ke couldn’t help but gasp.

“Perhaps, I am witnessing the birth of a legend!”

Watching the steadily advancing players, Wei Ke couldn’t help but marvel.

When the players pushed deep into the warehouse, Reeves finally lost his patience and jumped out with his cronies.

The players couldn’t be allowed to continue their arrogance. Otherwise, the secrets he hid would surely be exposed. Even if he managed to fend off this attack, he would still be ruined.

Before coming out, Reeves did one more thing—

Call the police!

“Officer, I’ve suddenly been attacked by a group of unknown thugs!”

Reeves’ thinking was simple.

No matter how fierce these thugs were, they wouldn’t dare to harm the Star Network police, right?

If they dared to attack the police, the next to arrive would be the planetary anti-terrorism mobile units. After dealing with them, fleets would follow. This was truly the scenario where attacking the little ones brings the bigger ones.

“As long as the police on Neville Star initiate the attack, everything will be fine!”

With this expectation, Reeves plunged into the crowd of players.

A peak A-class superhuman is still a peak A-class superhuman. Reeves, wielding the massive electric saw, killed seven times in and out among the players. To intimidate them, he deliberately chopped each player hit by the giant saw into a pulp.

In just a few short minutes, the battlefield was covered with shredded meat. One could say this was a true Hell Scroll.

Even Reeves, the instigator, felt nauseous looking at it. What terrified him was that the players showed absolutely no reaction, continuing to chat and laugh.

“What’s going on?”

Reeves was dumbfounded.

Players: Didn’t expect that, did you? We’ve activated harmony mode!

In fact, even if the players didn’t activate harmony mode actively, the game would automatically apply basic harmony to such a Hell Scroll to prevent those who dislike bloodshed…



Players who suddenly see a bloody scene might be scared out of their wits.

This is quite necessary in the early stages of the game. The bloody scenes players see are generally more acceptable, but in the later stages, the situation becomes much more complicated.

Imagine such a scene: hundreds of thousands of players charge at an extremely powerful boss. Suddenly, the boss uses a slicing skill and instantly cuts all the players in half at the waist. Then, the upper halves of the players slide to the ground, leaving only the blood-spraying lower halves standing neatly…

This is no longer just about being bloody; it’s verging on the realm of cult classics.

Lives became increasingly anxious as he fought on.

How many people were involved in this attack? He killed one after another with great effort, but why did it seem like there were no fewer attackers outside?

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard the sound of sirens from outside. He looked up and saw several police cars flying in the sky.

Lives was overjoyed and began shouting loudly: “Here, here, I’m here!”

He raised his giant chainsaw high, which roared. The next second, the police cars made a 180-degree turn in mid-air and flew away.

Drip… drip… drip…

The sound of the police cars gradually faded until it disappeared.

“???”

Lives was utterly confused.

No, guys, why did you leave? Were you scared off?

This time, it really wasn’t the fault of the Neville Star police for being cowardly. Although the number of players seen from above was indeed terrifying, what made them turn back was that they saw Wei Ke and learned from him that this was a special operation by the “Savior Holy Maiden Bai Fu” against the Tower of Secrets.

After the Jin Gu Star operation, Bai Fu’s reputation on the Star Network had exceeded 2000.

Just how high was this reputation? Some people on the Star Network might not know that the current rotating chairman of the Star Network Council was named Clayver, but they knew Bai Fu as Bai Fu.

Hearing that Bai Fu was causing trouble here, the police who arrived left without saying a word.

Lives was furious.

But at this point, there was nothing he could do about his anger, or rather, he didn’t have the energy to be angry anymore.

Knowing that Wei Ke had already arranged things with the local police, the players no longer had any concerns. They used every trick in the book to attack these A-class superhumans from the Two Points Logistics Company. On average, each A-class superhuman had to face more than a thousand players.

In response to this, Lives commented, “I’ll beat your ass,” wanting to escape, but surrounded by over a thousand players, he had nowhere to run.

After fighting continuously for several minutes, he suddenly noticed several familiar faces.

Wait, weren’t these people torn apart by him earlier? Why are they…

At this moment, Lives suddenly realized.

The ones attacking him were undead!

That explained why these people didn’t fear death or bloodshed. Everything now made sense.

But realizing this only made Lives feel even more desperate. Ha ha, it turned out he had been putting on a monkey show for the undead all this time.

If his opponent were “people” who would die when killed, then in a desperate situation, he could still make a last stand and drag a few down with him. But now, facing opponents who wouldn’t die even if killed—”undead”—what was the point of struggling? He might as well die sooner.

With his fighting spirit shattered, Lives’ combat ability dropped significantly.

“Only 10% left!”

“8.4%!”

“1%… Damn, I got a critical hit! Haha, the boss’s head is mine!”

Amid cheers and regrets, Lives collapsed onto the ground. His body was covered in countless wounds. His eyes were hollow, showing neither fear nor shock, looking completely worn out.

What a miserable end!

Wei Ke, walking from afar, shook his head at the fallen Lives.

Then, he laughed.

Although being the enemy of the undead was terrible, being their ally was exhilarating!

His only concern now was that once news of the undead’s terrifying combat abilities spread, many people might covet their power and develop distrust towards Bai Fu, who could command the undead. Some of these people might even secretly plot against her. He needed to warn Bai Fu properly. Bai Fu was pure-hearted and might get taken advantage of.

Wei Ke let the players drag Lives’ corpse away to hand over to the Neville police. Then, he personally interrogated Lives’ subordinates who were so frightened they couldn’t even stand. Soon, he obtained the intelligence he wanted.

Lives’ confidants admitted to colluding with the Tower of Secrets and storing the prototype of dissociative medication for them.

Under their guidance, Wei Ke easily found the prototype. He quickly informed Bai Fu of what happened here and kindly reminded her.

Bai Fu nodded: “I know, don’t worry.”

What Wei Ke worried about was also something she was concerned about. However, she had already planned her countermeasures—just send some players to infiltrate other factions.

The only issue was that this “sending” shouldn’t appear too deliberate, otherwise, the other side might suspect her ulterior motives. If not for this concern, she would have sent tens of thousands of players to infiltrate the Tower of Secrets at the beginning.

“How should I send them?”

Bai Fu thought seriously.

While Wei Ke successfully completed his task, the progress of Scarlet Leaf, Anya, and Youlia was also very smooth.

Especially on Anya’s side, as Bai Fu’s loyal little follower, Anya was recognized by the locals as soon as she appeared.

“Isn’t this Anya, the sidekick of the Holy Maiden?”

Anya, surrounded by spectators, showed no signs of shyness. Facing the camera of reporters, she placed her hands on her hips and proudly advertised for Bai Fu’s private armed company, Dark Moon Tide.

“If you have problems, find Dark Moon Tide. Fu Fu guarantees quality service, and the undead guarantee strength!”

“From hunting interstellar pirates to finding lost cats, Dark Moon Tide serves you wholeheartedly, with fair prices and no cheating!”

“Don’t look at the ads, look at the results. To know how efficient the undead are…”

Please watch the VCR!

Through the live news broadcast, the people of the Initial Gateway Star Cluster witnessed the terror of the players for the first time.

Actually, the players accompanying Anya on this mission were much gentler compared to those with Wei Ke. At least, they didn’t do things like stepping on their comrades’ eyeballs while chatting and laughing, which could scare someone unconscious. Even so, the people beaten by them were almost driven mad with fear. Their expressions of horror, pain, and despair were deeply imprinted in the minds of every viewer.

It was just like the Evil Dead!

…

Bang!

Inside the Tower of Secrets, the Head Butler angrily slammed the table in front of him upon receiving the message.

Others might think Bai Fu was merely using the suppression of the Tower of Secrets to advertise her Dark Moon Tide company, but he clearly understood that Bai Fu’s real intentions went far beyond that.

“The prototype, she’s collecting prototypes of dissociative medication!”

Considering that Bai Fu might already possess two prototypes yet continues to collect more, a strong sense of unease arose within him. Could it be that Bai Fu knows the true origin of the prototype?

If that’s the case, the time left for the Tower of Secrets might not be long.

“What the hell kind of person is Bai Fu?”

The Head Butler immediately contacted Liuye Dao to inquire about the progress of the parasite experiment.

“The good news is that parasites can affect the undead. The bad news is that once these undead die, when they resurrect, the parasites inside them will disappear. So using parasites to control the undead around Bai Fu is a tactic that can only be used once. Once they realize the problem, as long as they commit suicide before we activate the parasites, they can easily escape control.”

“Is that so? Then this move can only be kept as our final trump card.” The Head Butler frowned. “How’s the brainwashing of the undead going?”

At this, Liuye Dao became excited: “Everything is going smoothly. It has been verified that the brainwashing methods effective on ordinary people also work on the undead, and even more firmly. Those brainwashed undead have now become the most loyal warriors of the Tower of Secrets. Butler, you might not believe it, but they even take the initiative to ask me if I have any tasks for them. This enthusiasm, I’ve only seen before in the assassins trained by the Tower of Secrets since childhood!”

“Could such a thing happen?”

The Head Butler’s eyes suddenly lit up.

He remembered the news he had just watched. The terror of the undead had left a deep impression on him. Originally, he was thinking about how to deal with the undead under Bai Fu’s command, but now, since brainwashing works effectively on the undead, and with excellent results, why bother thinking too much? Just use the undead to counter the undead!

“Now, the number of undead we’ve captured is still too small. We need to find ways to capture more undead.”

The Head Butler’s mind raced, quickly coming up with a plan to capture players.

“I’ve got it! Dark Moon Tide!”

Isn’t Bai Fu advertising for her Dark Moon Tide company? He could perfectly arrange for a few seemingly innocent people to pretend to be clients and contact Dark Moon Tide, luring the undead working for Dark Moon Tide into the Tower of Secrets’ ambush circle to capture them.

While the Head Butler was scheming against the players, other forces who saw Anya’s “advertisement” also held internal meetings.

“I’ve heard there are hundreds of thousands of undead on Jin Gu Star. Including Bai Fu’s hometown, Bai Fu probably commands over a million undead now. That’s over a million B-class superhumans who won’t die.”

“At least they’re only B-class superhumans. If they were over a million A-class superhumans who wouldn’t die, every faction in the Initial Gateway Star Cluster would have to avoid Bai Fu.”

“The undead on Jin Gu Star don’t seem to have a close relationship with Bai Fu. Perhaps we can try to poach some of them.”

“Poach, we must poach!”

“If we can train these undead into A-class superhumans, or even S-class superhumans, things will get interesting.”

From large star-level civilizations to famous mercenary groups and space pirate gangs, everyone started having ideas about the players.

When the number of players following Bai Fu was small, they didn’t pay much attention. But now, knowing that the number of players reaches the millions, it was hard for them not to be tempted.

There are so many uses for the undead.

They could form undead armies, conduct experiments to reduce costs, or explore dangerous places.

However, everything depends on whether these undead can resurrect even if they leave Bai Fu. If their resurrection ability comes from Bai Fu, then capturing them would be a waste of effort.

Of course, if confirmed that the undead’s resurrection ability originates from Bai Fu, instead of trying to poach the undead, they could directly aim to poach Bai Fu.

“Savior Holy Maiden, millions of undead… Interesting. Is this the doing of the Sworn One?”

Among numerous observers, one individual stood out in terms of identity and status—Lufas, one of the three Ultra-Class beings of the Edge World, President of the Ten Thousand Spirits Cultivation Association.

“Let those close to Bai Fu investigate whether the undead’s resurrection ability is related to Bai Fu.”

…

As the external world churned with hidden currents due to the players’ performance, Bai Fu was immersed in the joy of her harvest.

Anya’s team had carried out their operations smoothly, and naturally, there were no mistakes on her side. After tallying everything up, this operation had allowed her to breach five bases and discover four prototypes. Adding the two prototypes she had previously acquired, she had collected six prototypes in total. All she needed was for Anya and the others to deliver the prototypes, and she could complete the special task called [Aggregation · Dispersion].

“What will be triggered after collecting five prototypes?”

Bai Fu was filled with anticipation.

Besides the task, Bai Fu’s greatest gain was the widespread recognition of Dark Moon Tide’s name due to this operation.

She had just checked the backend of her account registered on the Pan-Universe Commission Platform. In less than half an hour since the news aired, the backend messages had already reached 99+.

What does this mean?

It means she was about to get rich!

Sending players out on missions, the majority of the mission rewards go to the players, but even if she only took 0.1% commission, she could quickly accumulate a large sum of money.

This is different from shooting advertisements. Advertisements decrease with each shot, whereas taking commissions is a long-term business that can continuously generate wealth for her.

“Things are getting better!”

Bai Fu smiled widely.

With money, she could purchase large amounts of spiritual energy crystals to enhance her own and Youlia’s strength.

With money, she could build a player main city to bind the players closer to her.

With money, she could procure advanced knowledge from various schools to better exploit the players’ experience.

While daydreaming about the future, Bai Fu checked the progress of her class change mission.

After this operation, Branch 1 [Warrior Glory] accumulated 371 battle points. She estimated that completing two or three large commissions would be enough to finish the class change mission.

Two or three commissions, but now she had received a pile of them.

“Back to the branch office, let’s hold a meeting to discuss the development plan for Dark Moon Tide.”

Bai Fu sent a message to Anya and the others.

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