Chapter 38

Chapter 38: The First Enhancement, Evolutionary Blood!

In one of the seemingly ordinary laboratories on Level B3, Sector C of the main base of the Truth Society.

The cold-toned lights from the ceiling-mounted strips cast an even colder atmosphere onto the already machine-filled room.

When the elliptical clock on the wall ticked to 4:12 PM, accompanied by a slight rumble as the pneumatic door opened, a man with an unremarkable face walked in.

He was the President of the Truth Society, considered one of the most dangerous people globally. On the darknet, he was listed alongside the other four leaders of the five major powers at the top of the bounty list.

“Has Yulia woken up?”

The President asked emotionlessly, looking at the white-coated figure standing beside a circular machine.

The white-coat replied, “She woke up ten minutes ago, but her mental state isn’t great.”

“It doesn’t matter if she’s mentally sound or not; I have questions for her.”

Half an hour earlier, the President received a message from a spy embedded within the Gene Progenitor, informing him that the operation team sent to the Scrapped Cooling Plant had been wiped out, and the Gene Progenitor was holding an emergency meeting to plan another strike against the Truth Society. He urgently needed to know what happened at the abandoned cooling plant.

The white-coat nodded and operated the circular machine. Shortly after, a large, thick monitor in front of them lit up, displaying Yulia in its center.

Unlike her energetic state at the abandoned cooling plant, this Yulia looked lethargic. She wore a white patient gown, her neck secured by a silver metal collar to the bed frame, with numerous blue and red wires attached to her forehead, wrists, and ankles.

The President got straight to the point, “Tell me everything you experienced at the abandoned cooling plant.”

Yulia slowly opened her eyes and explained, “A group of strangers with unknown origins appeared at the abandoned cooling plant. They seemed to be sent by the Gene Progenitor. Seven didn’t follow my orders and insisted on teaching them a lesson, which exposed our position. Following that, these strangers cooperated with the Gene Progenitor’s agents to attack the Wildfire Gang.”

“Then you all died?”

“The outsiders weren’t afraid to die. Even when I controlled their comrades, they remained fearless. Under their relentless attacks, my dummy body, due to insufficient strength, developed control issues, allowing someone to break free. They took advantage of this situation to kill my dummy.”

Yulia spoke nonchalantly, deliberately being vague about Bai Fu. Instead of saying Bai Fu broke free herself, she implied she had let her guard down momentarily.

As expected, the President’s attention wasn’t on Bai Fu.

“So, you’re suggesting that the dummy I provided was too weak, leading to the failure of this mission?”

The President stepped forward, placing his right hand above the monitor.

“Yulia, you must want to kill me, tearing off my skin inch by inch.”

Yulia remained silent.

The President narrowed his eyes slightly, “Under normal circumstances, I would ignore your hints, but this time, I want something different. Ed, give Yulia a stronger dummy.”

The white-coat named Ed was shocked, “President, wouldn’t that be inappropriate? What if she turns around and tries to kill you after getting a new dummy?”

“Relax.” The President was composed, “She’s smart. She won’t make a move until she ensures the safety of her acquaintances back home. Right, Yulia?”

Yulia simply closed her eyes.

The President smiled, “The Truth Society is vast, gathering all kinds of people. I don’t care about your past or what you desire. As long as you can help me reach the truth, even if you want to kill me, I can turn a blind eye.”

He paused, as if gathering his thoughts.

“Yulia, if you want to kill me, complete the tasks I assign you. Each task completed will earn you a stronger dummy. Once you finish all my tasks, I won’t mind releasing you, and then you can come after me.”

Yulia was so angry her teeth were almost grinding.

This sarcasm was direct, but given the current situation, she had no choice but to swallow it and continue working for the Truth Society.

Fortunately, she wasn’t without countermeasures. If she could capture Bai Fu and understand why Bai Fu broke free, the tide could turn. She would make sure the President of the Truth Society paid for his arrogance!

“Work on the experimental data with her, then start the new experiment immediately.”

After instructing Ed, the President left the laboratory. He assigned new missions to the combat forces below:

Eliminate Bai Fu, Yago, and Xia Shi!

“I’ll send assassins immediately and coordinate with our spy embedded in Lin En. Rest assured, President!”

The President nodded in satisfaction.

If he couldn’t eliminate the leader of the Gene Progenitor, how could he not handle three small fry?

He didn’t take this too seriously. He had many things to attend to, and his focus was on military affairs. The Truth Society was preparing for an unprecedented assault on the Gene Progenitor.

…

Not knowing when the player would return, after meeting with Yago and Xia Shi, Bai Fu sprang into action immediately.

She originally planned to spend a day building a monument, but she underestimated the popularity she had gained in the abandoned cooling plant post-bug tide incident. Now, she was considered a savior, and people greeted her wherever she went, offering her food.

Upon learning about her intention to build a monument for the player, a large group of scavengers came forward, willing to help.

With their assistance, she completed the monument in just half a day.

“This is settled.”

Before leaving, Bai Fu placed several paper flowers made by Anya in front of the monument, making the commemoration more solemn.

Next, she only needed to wait for the game update to end and for the player to log back in.

During the waiting period, Bai Fu encountered an unexpected visitor.

“Boss? Why are you here?”

The Wildfire Gang boss stood at the door, with a pained expression, as if someone owed him a million dollars.

Bai Fu suspected that her gold-farming activities had been exposed, but that didn’t make sense. The Wildfire Gang didn’t have surveillance cameras, and she had double-checked there was no one else around.

Regardless, if it did get exposed, she would have no choice but to send the Wildfire Gang boss on his way.

In the past, she wasn’t a match for the Wildfire Gang boss, but times had changed. Her physical stats now stood at 29 points, and she had acquired two bottles of blood medicine from Yulia’s lab, enough to wear down the Wildfire Gang boss who was roughly on par with Seven and Nine.

However, the situation still took her by surprise.

“I’m here to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye?”

Bai Fu was stunned.

The Wildfire Gang boss said with a bitter smile, “I have connections with the Truth Society. Tomorrow, when the reinforcements from the Gene Progenitor arrive, I will surely be caught. This might be our last meeting.”

“Is… is the boss planning to run away?”

“I don’t plan to run. If I get captured by the Gene Progenitor, I still have a chance to live, but if I get caught by the Truth Society, I’m done for. Forget it, let’s not talk about this.”

The Wildfire Gang boss stared at Bai Fu.

Now, he was filled with mixed feelings of regret and pride.

Yes, pride!

Long ago, when Cao Wenliang targeted Bai Fu, he saw her as extraordinary, believing she could lead the Wildfire Gang after he joined the Truth Society and push the gang to new heights.

The facts proved he was correct. Bai Fu had achieved numerous feats, and during the bug tide incident, she bravely ended the bug tide, becoming the savior of the abandoned cooling plant.

Given her performance, how could she not be a good gang boss?

This clearly showed that although he lost, his judgment was spot-on. The fault lay with the Truth Society’s three fools, the ill-timed chaos, and the world’s constant opposition!

“Pity.”

The Wildfire Gang boss shook his head.

“Bai Fu, I planned to entrust the Wildfire Gang to you once I joined the Truth Society. I’ve always had high hopes for you. In this day and age, such ambitious young people are rare. I believed we could bring the Wildfire Gang further together, but now we can’t cooperate anymore. When I returned to the Wildfire Gang, I found the treasury’s door broken, and all the money was gone.”

With no money, he lost his position as the gang boss. The Wildfire Gang was effectively finished.

He suddenly sighed deeply, his eyes filled with resentment. Seeing the treasury in such disarray, he nearly died of anger.

But then he thought, since he was about to be arrested anyway, losing the money didn’t seem so bad.

“I’m passing on the leadership of the Wildfire Gang to you. Whether you accept it is up to you. Oh, this is my last savings. It will be taken by the Gene Progenitor anyway, so I might as well give it to you.”

As he spoke, the Wildfire Gang boss pulled out a card, saying there were thirty thousand credits inside.

Bai Fu’s expression turned extremely odd as she took the card.

She knew the Wildfire Gang boss had a private stash, but she never imagined he would voluntarily hand over his entire private stash to her. She hadn’t expected him to transfer the entire faction to her at the last moment.

Don’t underestimate this faction transfer. With this, she could arrange more people to work for her and use the faction to deepen her identity, attracting more players to her side.

Bai Fu was moved to the point of speechlessness.

The Wildfire Gang boss truly did this, and she was moved to tears!

What is a top-tier ally? This is what a true top-tier ally looks like. Compared to Da Biao Ge, the Wildfire Gang boss was far superior. If she could successfully escape Origin Star and venture into a wider world in the future, the Wildfire Gang boss deserved a third of the credit.

“Boss, I’ll remember this!”

The Wildfire Gang boss nodded with a smile, “Having this heart is enough. Well, it’s getting late. I won’t keep you any longer to avoid involving you.”

He turned and walked away, muttering “What a pity, what a pity” as he went.

Minutes later, his figure finally disappeared around the corner.

Bai Fu put the card in her pocket and activated the faction system. As the faction leader, she could now make various settings.

“Let’s change the name first.”

Continuing to use the Wildfire Gang name made no sense.

Bai Fu changed the faction name from [Wildfire Gang] to [Silent Courtyard].

Can’t understand the meaning behind this name?

That’s right!

Bai Fu didn’t understand either. She wanted this mysterious effect to better deceive the players.

After changing the name, she closed the faction system. Other things weren’t important; she could adjust them gradually after luring more people to join.

Closing the door, Bai Fu returned to her room. After sitting for only a few minutes, she suddenly received a new game prompt.

[Plot Participation Confirmation (0%…23%…100%)]

[Character Setting Adjustment (0%…11%…)]

Wait, could it be that the big thing she had been waiting for was finally happening?

Bai Fu’s breathing became rapid.

When the data adjustment reached 100%, she felt as if celestial music was playing in her ears.

[You obtained the talent [Luck]]

[Luck]: Your natural luck surpasses ordinary people. Success rate +10% when making judgments.

It’s here, it’s here, the enhancement she had been looking forward to has arrived!

Bai Fu’s hands trembled with excitement, indicating that her strategy of boosting her popularity to strengthen herself was correct.

Although the game didn’t give her a special template or a new background setting, the [Luck] talent came at the perfect time.

A 10% success rate increase meant she could successfully digest the enhancement potion made by Yulia with 100% certainty.

Bai Fu quickly took out the enhancement potion. As expected, the description of the additional effects had changed, with a (10%) added after 90%.

She decisively drank the entire potion in one go.

It took her an hour for the enhancement progress bar to reach 100%. During this time, her body occasionally felt needle-like pain, but this level of discomfort was worth it.

After unlocking the [Evolutionary Blood] template, her various stats increased significantly.

[Race]: Human (Evolutionary Blood)

[Template]: Special (Evolutionary Blood)

[Experience]: 54007

[Primary Profession]: Spirit Apprentice Lv10 (Max Level), Vagrant Lv5 (Max Level)

[Secondary Profession]: None

[Health Points]: 690/690

[Spirit Energy]: 95/95

[Attributes]: Strength 11, Agility 7, Constitution 33, Intelligence 3, Spirit 14, Inspiration 19

[Skills]: Zeal Lv3, Harden Lv1, Spirit Vision, Natural Spirituality Lv1, Basic Spirit Energy Expertise, Surge of Strength (Inferior), Multiplicative Boost (Inferior)

Spirit Boil – During an attack, 10% of Spirit Energy is converted into equivalent basic physical damage, which benefits from critical hit bonuses.

[Talent]: Luck

[Knowledge Chain]: Spirit Energy Chain (4)

[Title]: Wildfire (Health Points +30)

[Attribute Points]: 0

[Fame]: 3

[Faction]: Silent Courtyard (Faction Fame MAX)

Seeing her health bar skyrocket, Bai Fu’s mouth couldn’t close. Now, she could easily defeat two or three of her former selves, clearly showing the power of a high-level template.

“Alright, alright, next, I need to continue increasing player affinity!”

Bai Fu had a preliminary plan. After using the monument to boost affinity, she intended to use the professional knowledge books obtained from the Wildfire Gang to help players level up, giving them some benefits. This would allow her to better utilize the faction system and her fabricated background to command players to work for her.

The next day, approaching noon, the Gene Progenitor’s reinforcement convoy entered the abandoned cooling plant.

They immediately arrested the Wildfire Gang boss and called Yago and Xia Shi for questioning. Upon learning about Bai Fu, they summoned her for a brief interrogation. After confirming she had no connection with the Truth Society, they expressed that the Director of Four Places wanted to personally commend her and hoped she would accompany them to meet Lin En.

Bai Fu was naturally pleased.

With the collapse of the Wildfire Gang and the death of Yulia’s dummy, staying in the abandoned cooling plant offered no benefits. It was better to go to Lin En sooner, where she could also request advanced knowledge books from Four Places.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

The Gene Progenitor’s reinforcements swept through the abandoned cooling plant, thoroughly searching the Wildfire Gang. After confirming nothing was overlooked, they left by car that night.

While Bai Fu and Anya were hitching a ride to Lin En, the official announcement for the new promotional video of Above the Stars was finally released—

Shining Stars!

As soon as the promotional video was launched, it instantly went viral.

This wasn’t an ordinary promotional video. It included clips shot by players themselves, so many players had been eagerly anticipating it before its release.

Being featured in the video or having a favorite NPC showcased would be a great honor.

The moment the video was released, countless players opened it and began flooding the comments with messages.

[“Holy shit, it’s in! Really in! It’s the cool scene where FuFu choked Digging Maiden and lifted her up!”]

[“Hold on, there’s more than one scene featuring FuFu. The scene where she bid farewell to everyone after the bug tide also made it into the video!”]

[“Digging Maiden is killing it! Two scenes featuring her made it in!”]

Players were celebrating until a comment jumped out:

[“Cool as it is, the question is, is FuFu still alive?”]

Damn!

This question completely floored the fans of Bai Fu.

Throughout the waiting period for the game to reopen, they had been pondering this very question. Some posted analyses on the community, others left messages for the developers, but no one could provide a definitive answer.

Due to the lack of response from the developers, their hearts sank even deeper—

FuFu was likely beyond saving.

This kind of thing shouldn’t happen!

The Digging Maiden, who usually loved posting on the community, closed it this time. She wasn’t afraid of being harassed by trolls but mainly because she dared not read others’ analyses, fearing she would faint upon seeing “Bai Fu is dead.”

[“Open the server, why hasn’t it opened yet? I need to confirm in-game immediately”]

Finally, when the game reopened, Digging Maiden didn’t waste a second and immediately clicked to enter.

After respawning from the revival point, she rushed straight to Bai Fu’s house. There, she saw an empty house.

“Com… complete!”

Digging Maiden’s heart sank.

The real shock came from the conversation of the passersby. Walking along, she heard two scavengers talking.

“I heard Bai Fu left?”

“Yes, she did.”

Digging Maiden couldn’t hear anything else. All she could think about was those words, “left.”

“Left,” wasn’t that a euphemism for “dead”?

Digging Maiden’s mentality exploded.

“Ahhhh—”

She shouted and ran out aimlessly.

Without a destination, she ran randomly, but perhaps driven by subconscious, she eventually found herself in a familiar place, the site of her first encounter with Bai Fu.

That should have been the beginning of a “legend,” but the legend ultimately faded into nothingness.

Why did it turn out this way?

Digging Maiden walked, stopped, and noticed a stone tablet blocking her path.

“Were there stones here before?”

She took a few steps closer and examined the inscription on the stone tablet.

“In memory of the brave souls who sacrificed themselves to save the abandoned cooling plant—

Bai Fu”

“Hmm?”

Digging Maiden froze.

—

PS: Thank you to ~xy~ and East Summer Cicada for their support. Please keep reading!

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