Chapter 45

Chapter 45: The Fourth Catastrophe Enters the City!

Bai Fu’s gun skills were terrible, even though she had been practicing for a while. In actual combat, they were still not good enough.

Considering the precarious situation she was currently facing, she had already decided to use her remaining free class slot to learn a gunslinger-type class.

That class didn’t need to be leveled up too high; earning some attribute points and unlocking a few skills that could increase shooting accuracy would suffice, so as not to slow down the leveling speed of her main class.

The Above the Stars’ class system does not limit the total number of classes a player can learn, but in the initial stage, only three free class slots are given to players. Once all three slots are filled, a player must spend a certain amount of experience points to unlock new class slots if they wish to learn new classes.

Unlocking the first new class slot isn’t very expensive, costing only ten thousand experience points, so Bai Fu wasn’t worried about encountering better classes in the future and being unable to learn them.

Ten thousand experience points is all it takes.

For her current level, eliminating just three elite assassin-level monsters would be enough to accumulate that much. If it were an opponent of the same caliber as the person she was arguing with over the radio earlier, probably one would be enough.

That person’s strength might not be stronger than the three assassins she had just killed, but the game’s reward system doesn’t simply base monster experience on their power. It calculates the rewards by considering multiple dimensions such as the monster’s strength, level, template, and identity.

Take the enigmatic President of the Truth Society as an example. Assuming his real strength equates to only one unit, due to his status bonus, the experience reward players receive from defeating him would far exceed anything ten thousand Anya units could offer.

Bai Fu was looking forward to what kind of reward the person she berated would bring her.

Unfortunately, after waiting for more than ten minutes on the fourth floor until her legs went numb, she still didn’t see that person show up.

She found it absurd.

After being publicly mocked on the frequency and hearing her underlings get taken out, this person ultimately said something harsh and then directly retreated like a coward.

“Did you also learn strategic retreat?”

Bai Fu suspected that person’s past life was spent in a dog-head gang. The meaning behind those harsh words he spouted over the radio essentially boiled down to—

Do you know who you’ve provoked? You’ve provoked the noble Desert Death God! Feel free to be arrogant now, but when I gather enough power and come out of seclusion, that will be the day you regret it!

Her evaluation was that the idea was beautiful, but she wasn’t a squishy soft support; she was a fully tanked-out Desert Emperor.

This was the story of the Sand King (Bai Fu) and her N independently equipped and upgradable sand soldiers (players) taking on the Desert Death God.

Bai Fu put away her grenade launcher during which shouts came from downstairs.

People from Si Chu had arrived.

Leading the charge was Xia Shi, her face full of anxiety, especially upon seeing the bodies of the elite killers, which made her even more worried about Bai Fu and Anya’s safety.

“Why does it have to be at this time!”

She prepared to rush into the hallway, but a special agent in Power Armor reached out and grabbed her arm.

“Have you forgotten what the Intelligence Bureau’s agent code teaches? The killer may still be around, rushing in now is suicide, follow me quietly.”

Although Xia Shi wanted to argue, her strength was no match for the Power Armor, so she complied.

Bai Fu, Anya, you two must not die!

A group of over a dozen people carefully ascended the stairs after examining the elite killer’s body. They walked each step cautiously, fearing that killers might suddenly emerge from the darkness. When they reached near Xia Shi’s residence, nothing unusual happened.

The special agent in Power Armor signaled for everyone to stay put as he entered to check the situation.

Once everyone indicated they were ready, he stepped steadily toward the door but stopped after two steps.

Footsteps!

In that instant, all the Si Chu agents held their breath, staring intently at the shadow projected from inside the room.

Closer, the footsteps grew nearer.

The special agent in Power Armor raised his left hand, where a heavy rotary machine gun was mounted. As soon as someone appeared, this heavy machine gun would turn them into Swiss cheese!

“Relax, it’s me.”

At that moment, a female voice came from inside.

Xia Shi reacted first. “It’s Bai Fu’s voice!”

As the words faded, Bai Fu emerged holding a cup of water, showing no sign of fear despite being pointed at by over a dozen guns.

“Your hospitality at Si Chu is truly unique.”

Looking at Bai Fu’s smiling face, the Si Chu agents exchanged puzzled glances.

They thought they had misjudged the situation.

After receiving the news of the attack on Xia Shi’s residence, most people believed Bai Fu’s chances of survival were slim. Even if they rushed there, they’d likely only be able to collect Bai Fu’s remains.

But now, Bai Fu was not only alive, but there wasn’t even a noticeable wound on her body.

“Didn’t the killer come for you?” The special agent in Power Armor asked anxiously.

Bai Fu took a sip of water. “They came.”

“Where are they?”

“You’ve already seen one on your way upstairs, the other two are lying near the garbage incinerator.”

Ignoring everything else, the agents hurriedly ran downstairs. Upon seeing the two neatly arranged corpses in the corner, they were all shocked.

“I recognize this person, he’s Hyena, a B-class certified killer on the Darknet!”

“His expression… damn, what is this?”

Hyena’s body had four bullet wounds, one hitting the heart, which should have been the fatal injury. However, no one was focusing on that now. All eyes were on his face—

It was a face twisted as if witnessing Sadako crawling out of the TV!

“What did he encounter before death?”

The agents present felt a chill run down their spines. They instinctively looked up at Bai Fu standing by the window at the end of the third-floor corridor.

All of this was done by the woman from the abandoned cooling plant. From that moment on, no one dared to underestimate Bai Fu anymore.

A few minutes later, inside Xia Shi’s residence, everyone gathered around the coffee table.

“Miss Bai Fu.” The special agent who emerged from the Power Armor spoke solemnly, “I am Xu Hong, captain of the First Squad of the Si Chu Action Group, and the leader of this operation. I need to confirm something with you.”

“You’re asking how I killed them, right? Actually, I’m a Spiritual Prayer Mage.”

Bai Fu revealed the intelligence that could currently be disclosed.

Even if she hadn’t said it, both Si Chu and the Truth Society would suspect she had special abilities. Since that was the case, it was better to selectively disclose part of it, using this portion to cover her greatest reliance—

A constitution score so high it mocks opponents!

Sure enough, after learning she was a Spiritual Prayer Mage, all the Si Chu agents showed expressions of…





An expression of sudden enlightenment.

“This is not surprising.”

The Spiritual Prayer Mage, a noble magical profession, although more inclined towards support roles, still has a considerable chance of success in killing those few assassins off guard by relying on the information gap and wiping them out completely.

Xu Hong nodded slightly: “Regarding tonight’s assassination attempt, I must apologize to you first. Si Chu has already promised to protect you, but still…”

“Captain, don’t you think this matter is strange?” Xia Shi suddenly interrupted Xu Hong’s words.

Xu Hong frowned: “Strange?”

Xia Shi said: “The timing of these assassins showing up coincides exactly with after I received the message to attend a combat meeting, and also coincides with the shift change of the people responsible for guarding here. I don’t believe such a coincidence exists; there must be a saboteur within Si Chu!”

“Xia Shi!” Xu Hong warned her in a low voice, “The temporary combat meeting was called by the Intelligence Bureau headquarters. Are you suggesting there’s a saboteur at the headquarters?”

Xia Shi was completely unfazed by Xu Hong’s tone: “Maybe there is one, who can guarantee that the headquarters is clean? This matter must be investigated thoroughly. Bai Fu is a hero against the Truth Society, we cannot sit idly by while the hero is harmed by the Truth Society, otherwise, who would dare to stand up against the Truth Society in the future!”

Xu Hong stared at Xia Shi, who was full of righteous indignation, for a long time, finally squeezing out a sentence: “Do not make remarks detrimental to unity.”

He turned around and looked at Bai Fu apologetically: “Sorry to have embarrassed you.”

Bai Fu remained calm: “It’s nothing.”

Xu Hong stood up: “I have no further questions for now. I need to quickly take back the things we found on those assassins for testing. Rest assured, they will all be here guarding for the next few days. Unless the Truth Society has gone completely insane, they absolutely won’t dare to act rashly during this period.”

Bai Fu nodded.

After seeing Xu Hong off, only she, Anya, and Xia Shi, who was curled up on the sofa, were left in the room.

After a moment of silence, she asked: “Do you have deep grudges with the Truth Society?”

Xia Shi raised her head, her brown eyes filled with confusion: “Why do you ask?”

Bai Fu said: “Because your attitude towards the Truth Society is much more intense than theirs.”

Xia Shi explained: “You mean this? Actually, Xu Captain and his team have deeper enmity with the Truth Society. Xu Captain… never mind, I just purely hate the Truth Society. They kill and set fires, committing every kind of evil deed.”

Is this the protagonist’s special kindness?

“I actually also dislike the Human Alliance, but the people of the Human Alliance at least have reasons for killing, even if their reasons are extreme. The Truth Society is different. You simply can’t understand them. They act without any rules, and before an action begins, no one knows what they’re going to do. I detest this kind of disorder. The reason I joined Si Chu is to eliminate the Truth Society.”

Ah, so it’s the Good Order faction.

Bai Fu smiled.

Then, if Xia Shi knew her true identity, she would definitely dislike her.

After all, she might be the most disorderly NPC in this world, and her existence itself is a form of disorder.

While Xia Shi was accusing the Truth Society of their atrocities, suddenly, the personal terminal similar to a radiation beeper on her wrist rang.

“Wait a moment.”

She got up and walked to the balcony. A few minutes later, she returned, her face becoming extremely serious.

“Bad news. The director just contacted me. The Truth Society has modified the bounty for your assassination.”

This was entirely expected by Bai Fu: “What kind of bounty is it now?”

Xia Shi said: “A-class bounty, with a reward of 500,000 credits! They also announced that they will resolve you within half a month.”

Good grief, am I worth 500,000 now?

Bai Fu asked: “What’s the highest bounty on the Darknet?”

“25 million credits, which is the president of the Truth Society himself.”

Fifty times as much?

Bai Fu was slightly surprised, but soon calmed down.

500,000 isn’t my limit. I’m destined to become the queen of the wasteland. If everything goes well, sooner or later I will top the Darknet bounty list!

While lost in thought, Bai Fu heard the game prompt.

[You have triggered a special quest [Shadow of Truth]]

She opened the details page.

[Quest Introduction: The Truth Society has issued a new bounty on you. They seem angered by your actions and have decided to use higher-level forces to kill you, declaring to the world the inviolable dignity of the Truth Society. But the Truth Society underestimates the resilience of wild grass. Wildfires cannot burn it all, and storms may not uproot it.]

[Quest Goal: Resist the upcoming new round of assassination attempts from the Truth Society]

[Reward: 30,000 experience points, 15 reputation points on Source Star, Title [Shadow of Truth]]

[Note: Based on your performance in the quest, you will have the opportunity to unlock new quests]

[This quest is mandatory]

The quest rewards were tempting, giving a full 30,000 experience points and a title. The previous Wildfire title provided her with a 30-point health bonus, and this Shadow of Truth clearly seemed superior to Wildfire, likely offering even greater enhancements.

Bai Fu wanted to shout, “Let the storm come harder!”

Xia Shi said: “You’re in great danger now. For safety reasons, I suggest you find a place to hide, or better yet, collaborate with our Gene Progenitor Intelligence Bureau. Although there are saboteurs within the bureau, it remains the safest place outside of the military.”

“I will consider it carefully.”

Bai Fu felt that, in terms of intelligence, she should rely on Si Chu for now.

In the following two days, Si Chu held meetings nonstop.

They discussed Bai Fu’s assassination in the morning and discussed messages from the Intelligence Bureau headquarters in the afternoon.

Not long ago, agents from Section Three of the Intelligence Bureau intercepted a secret report from the Truth Society and determined the location of one of the Truth Society’s bases from the report. The Gene Progenitor had already decided to raid this base and level it.

With Si Chu busy, Bai Fu had some free time.

Besides unlocking the Gunner class, she spent the rest of her time observing player movements.

Jiujiao’s “success” had stimulated too many players. Now, all the players at the abandoned cooling plant were trying to save up money for train tickets.

On the third day after Jiujiao and Bai Fu met, another train departed from the abandoned cooling plant heading straight for Lin En.

Almost all the passengers on this train were players, including Pai Da Xing, Black Tiger Afu, Calamity Dragon, Convert to Me Fu, who received the notification early because of their good relationship with Jiujiao, and Sword Aura Sky Piercing of the Iron Rain Guild, who bought tickets through guild funds.

As the abandoned cooling plant receded continuously outside the car window, Convert to Me Fu clenched his fists excitedly.

“Lin En, we’re coming!”

Seeing their posts, Bai Fu became excited too.

“My sand soldiers are here!”

Only with players does she become truly complete!

Assassinating me, huh?

I’ll show you what real terror looks like!

PS: Thanks to Sailor Moon for the tip

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