Chapter 32

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Chapter 32: Bai Fu’s Evil Upgrade Technique

When Bai Fu arrived back at the scene, the players were already closely pursuing Nine into the dark passage.

Due to the narrow underground tunnel, many players were still stuck outside and couldn’t get in for a while.

“How’s it going inside?”

“I heard there’s a boss inside, and she’s very beautiful.”

“So soon we’re facing high-level challenges?”

“Idiot, don’t fall for her trap. So what if she’s beautiful? As long as she’s an enemy, we have to kill her!”

The players left outside were excited, never expecting to trigger a boss battle so quickly after starting the game. This was much more interesting than just grinding in other newbie villages, right?

They regretted not running faster to get ahead, fearing that if the boss died, they would miss out on any rewards.

Just as they were getting anxious, noise suddenly came from the front.

“Hey, it’s my turn?”

“Get lost! Get out of here, quick!”

“What happened?”

In an instant, chaos erupted near the dark door.

Bai Fu saw some players trying to squeeze in, but more were desperately trying to escape.

Something went wrong?

Over a minute later, all the players who had rushed in came tumbling out, but a few of them looked visibly different. They acted like berserkers, attacking anyone in sight, even other players.

“Damn it, Old Five, what are you doing? Is this guy defecting? No, no, don’t hit me! You know what I mean.”

“I didn’t want to! I’m being controlled, I can’t control my body! Get out of the way, quick!”

“Ah, I’m about to die, compensate me with experience!”

Bai Fu used her spiritual vision on the player called Old Five and noticed a new state added to his name: 【御使】.

【御使】: Youlia’s talent ability, able to control targets with inspiration below 15, duration based on the difference in inspiration between both parties.

Bai Fu’s face fell; this talent was outrageous. In a place where everyone’s attributes were low, it could easily lead to chaos. Her inspiration was only 12 points, and others were even lower.

No, it wasn’t just in the newbie village. Even a level 20 character without a talent in inspiration wouldn’t typically have more than 15 points, leading to them being controlled eventually.

It was truly bizarre how such a powerful boss appeared.

Bai Fu stared at the dark door.

As the players caused a commotion, a somewhat familiar figure emerged from inside. It was the ice-blue-haired woman who had been beside the Wildfire Gang’s leader that day.

Wasn’t that Youlia?

She widened her eyes, emitting a strange silver-white glow from her pupils.

“Move away!”

A player cried out, but it was too late. The two players closest to Youlia suddenly had the 【御使】 state added to their names.

“Oh no.”

This made even the mighty Pai Da Xing and the resourceful皈依我芙 feel helpless.

There was no way to fight such a boss at this stage; she could control a portion of the players and bring down the entire group.

How infuriating, Number Nine flew away, and now experience, my precious experience!

“Haha, aren’t you guys strong? Come on, let me see you show off again?”

Number Nine stepped out from behind Youlia, laughing wildly.

He knew about Youlia’s ability and hurried back because of it. This ability was truly unreasonable, but with the restriction lock provided by the chairman, they didn’t need to fear Youlia.

Number Nine’s arrogance enraged the players.

Alright, alright, you old bastard, we’ve marked you, remember that! We’ll tear your head off when the time comes!

Youlia frowned and commanded, “Shut up.”

“Y-You…”

Number Nine started to speak, but his words were cut off.

“If you think you can snipe me, then try shooting.”

Huh?

Not just Number Nine, but the players were also stunned.

Sniping, shooting… but no one here had a sniper rifle.

“Do you think I’m bluffing? Don’t forget I’m an expert in spiritual energy. My perception isn’t any worse than those devices you carry around.”

Youlia’s gaze landed on a water tower, and others followed suit.

“I just came over to check out the odd noises, but I found a big fish.”

A moment later, an annoyed man holding a sniper rifle jumped out from behind the water tower, followed by a female worker.

“Yago, I told you, ambushing her won’t work.”

“Who knows until we try? What if it works?”

They argued for a bit, then Yago pointed at Youlia: “Even though you’ve taken hostages, thinking you can escape is wishful thinking. Surrender now, this is the territory of the Gene Progenitor, and reinforcements from the Truth Society won’t arrive anytime soon.”

Youlia shrugged indifferently: “Why don’t you worry about your own safety first? Number Nine just dropped a bait, and even if you rush over now, it’s too late.”

“What?”

This news shocked Yago, who was initially relaxed.

“Everyone here, including the one hiding there, knows this.”

Were they discovered?

When Yago and Xia Shi were caught, Bai Fu felt she might be exposed as well.

She stepped forward, no longer hiding.

“It’s FuFu!”

A sharp-eyed player immediately spotted her.

However, most players were restrained and didn’t rush over, as a cutscene was playing nearby. Normally, they’d ignore such things, but now they were powerless and could only watch to understand the situation.

Upon hearing about Number Nine’s actions, Yago shouted: “You’re crazy, this will attract all the mutant life forms nearby, and everyone in the abandoned cooling plant will die!”

Youlia coldly replied: “Instead of arguing here, think about how to survive the upcoming bug tide.”

“Damn it,畜生!”

Yago and Xia Shi raised their guns, but the players controlled by Youlia blocked their path.

“Are you going to shoot?” Youlia smoothed her hair, looking relaxed.

Yago and Xia Shi’s temples bulged, but they hesitated to pull the trigger. They weren’t like the Truth Society’s lunatics; they couldn’t justify killing innocents.

How frustrating.

Just days ago, they received intelligence that the Truth Society secretly infiltrated the Gene Progenitor, and just three days ago, they were assigned to investigate the abandoned cooling plant. Why did they encounter such a huge crisis upon arrival?

This was too strange.

There was no investigation process, no clever maneuvers against enemies. They went straight from the opening credits to the final battle, as if someone had rewritten the script before they arrived.

Yago was sweating profusely, but he had to continue with the performance.

The bait was already cast; fleeing was no longer an option. They had to take a chance to survive.

“Xia Shi, I’ll keep watch here, go check the situation outside, and contact…”

But Yago’s attention was diverted by the players.

“Those two look like they belong to a righteous organization.”

“The bait, it sounds like a monster trap. If we could get some, maybe we could combine them with traps for automated monster hunting.”

“That’s a good idea, but how do we get them?”

“Holy crap, they’re ready to massacre, this is real combat!”

“Are we going to defend now?”

A group of players gathered to chat, completely ignoring their surroundings, some laughing, some serious, some eager.

Another group of players surrounded Bai Fu, asking questions.

“FuFu, FuFu, is this what you’ve been investigating?”

“Sort of.”

“What’s the Truth Society and the Gene Progenitor?”

“The Truth Society and the Gene Progenitor are one of the five major powers on the Source Star, among which…”

Yago watched in disbelief.

What were they doing?

Was this really the time for enthusiastic chatting? Hadn’t they realized they were hostages?

This was absurd!

Yago rubbed his eyes, suspecting he was dreaming. Otherwise, he couldn’t explain why these people seemed so relaxed.

“Yago,” Xia Shi’s voice rang out.

Yago swallowed hard and asked, “What is it?”

“Let me pinch you.”

“Go away, pinch yourself.”

Yago quickly moved aside. He was certain he wasn’t dreaming, so the only explanation was that these people were insane.

Could the world have gone mad? Although it had become quite chaotic since the war a hundred years ago, madness wasn’t the same as insanity. These people’s behavior was completely irrational.

None of them, except Bai Fu and the players themselves, understood the situation.

Youlia and Number Nine began to suspect that the players were merely shapeshifted aliens.

Only when Pai Da Xing shouted loudly did the eerie atmosphere dissipate.

“What are you two doing, shoot now!”

Yago suddenly looked up, staring in shock at Pai Da Xing who had just spoken: “You’re talking to me?”

“Didn’t you hear her say the bug tide is coming, and everyone will die?” Pai Da Xing urged, “Shoot her, she must have something to repel bugs. Otherwise, she wouldn’t dare provoke the bug tide!”

“That’s true, but…”

Yago and Xia Shi stared at the players controlled by Youlia.

They would die, these players would surely be sacrificed!

“What are you hesitating for? Just a few human shields, surely you don’t lack bullets, do you?”

Pai Da Xing shouted, and the controlled players echoed him.

“Shoot, I’m already controlled, I’ll die anyway. Are you waiting for New Year’s Day to use the bullets?”

“Stop dawdling, the longer it takes, the greater the damage from the bug tide!”

Yago and Xia Shi exchanged glances.

Suddenly, they felt ashamed. They had just called these people lunatics, yet it was precisely these lunatics who stood up at the crucial moment, willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

What kind of spirit was this, truly moving!

“Xia Shi.”

“Yago.”

They nodded at each other, feeling an infinite surge of strength from within.

To prevent these people from dying in vain, to protect the abandoned cooling plant, and for their own sake, they must kill the two beasts from the Truth Society!

Bai Fu was speechless.

Isn’t this her favorite tactic? How did the players learn it and start using it to increase their affinity with NPCs?

At the moment Yago and Xia Shi raised their guns again, Youlia’s eyes turned silver-white. She didn’t want to use this technique often as it drained her, but if her opponents weren’t scared, she had no choice but to fight. She needed to complete her experiment and couldn’t let anyone interfere.

“Kill them!”

The battle resumed, turning the Wildfire Gang into chaos.

Yago and Xia Shi constantly adjusted their positions, attempting to shoot Youlia, but her perception was incredibly sharp, always anticipating their shots and controlling players to block for her. While dealing with Yago and Xia Shi, she could also control other players to attack.

Standing at the entrance of the dark door, her ice-blue hair danced under the fluorescence, making her look like a skilled puppeteer or a master conductor—elegant beyond words.

“Damn it, are these the effect-based players?”

Bai Fu thought if her skill effects were as cool as Youlia’s, her popularity would have skyrocketed by now.

Who doesn’t like playing cool characters?

She temporarily put these thoughts aside and observed. She realized the biggest limitation of Youlia’s 【御使】 skill wasn’t the target’s inspiration being below 15, but the range.

“The maximum range is 30 meters, anything beyond that won’t work.”

This was good news for Yago and Xia Shi, but not so much for Bai Fu, as she lacked long-range attack methods.

Although she had obtained a gun from Cao Wenliang earlier, her marksmanship was questionable. Close range was manageable, but beyond thirty meters, it was too challenging for her accuracy.

If she had enough ammunition, she could launch a saturation attack, but now she only had two bullets.

“Two bullets, who can they kill?”

First, excluding Youlia, whose perception was too strong, even Yago and Xia Shi couldn’t hit her, let alone Bai Fu.

Bai Fu targeted Nine.

Despite being beaten by players earlier, it wasn’t because he was weak, but because he hadn’t expected players to hit him where it hurts. In close combat, his strength surpassed Yago’s, so it was best to eliminate him early.

Eliminating him also had another benefit. Bai Fu had accumulated 8755 experience points, and eliminating Nine would give her enough experience to level up. Then, she could raise her inspiration to 15, directly negating Youlia’s control.

Would it work?

Bai Fu pressed her hand against the gun.

Unless absolutely necessary, she didn’t want to draw attention, as it could involve the Truth Society, a formidable opponent.

But now, the Truth Society was forcing her into a corner, so she had no choice but to take drastic action.

Bai Fu secretly used a frenzy on Nine’s stomach.

…

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