Chapter 48

Chapter 48: The Mantid Catching the Cicada, with Bai Fu Lurking Behind

A few hours before Bai Fu found the player, Xia Shi came with the latest news from Si Chu.

“The mission schedule has been released.”

“What mission?”

“A surprise inspection of Lin En’s secret base set up by the Darknet.”

Xia Shi explained in detail.

On the Source Star, besides the five major forces such as the Gene Progenitors and the Truth Society, there are many smaller but equally formidable factions. The Makarov family, the operators behind the Darknet, is one of them.

The Makarov family was a globally renowned mercenary organization before the war. After the war, the surviving family members expanded their business to include hitmen services.

These people had extremely strong operational capabilities, having worked for over a decade without a single failure. Afterwards, they moved entirely behind the scenes and established a platform.

The Makarov family was widely praised in the past for “keeping secrets and never leaking client intelligence.” Therefore, when this platform was launched, it immediately attracted the attention of many hitmen and those with a need to kill.

To reassure these people, the then head of the Makarov family announced that agreements reached between hitmen and employers on the Darknet would be fully protected by the Makarov family.

Without prior negotiation, any party daring to violate the agreement would be considered as challenging the Makarov family and would be hunted down by them.

At the beginning of the platform’s operation, the Makarov family even introduced a “buy one get half off” promotion for some lucky customers.

Through this ingenious operation, the Makarov family’s platform cut through all obstacles, defeating all competitors and becoming the sole deity in the assassination world, even becoming an official partner of several major forces.

[More efficient, faster, stronger. For killing, choose Makarov!]

Looking at the slogan displayed on the official website of the Darknet that Xia Shi opened in front of her, Bai Fu didn’t know what to say.

Good grief, DD killing, huh!

Xia Shi added, “The logistics team reviewed the communication records of the signal towers during the period when the hitman came to assassinate you, and no abnormal signals were found. This indicates that the spy is most likely hiding in Lin En, and his contact with the hitman and the Truth Society is very likely through the Darknet.”

Bai Fu asked curiously, “Didn’t you say the Makarov family is famous for keeping secrets? Would they willingly hand over the communication records? And wouldn’t doing so completely sever ties with the Makarov family?”

“At this point, who cares about that,” Xia Shi shrugged. “If the Darknet doesn’t cooperate, we can find the records ourselves. Even if we don’t find them, it’s not a big deal. This operation will be our formal declaration of war against that spy. We’ll only give him three chances!”

She held up three fingers.

“This is the first time. There will be another operation next. If he still refuses to show up, the director’s plan is to take you to Sea City. Once we’re there, it will be much harder for him to make a move against you.”

“What if he keeps holding back and doesn’t come out?”

Tough luck.

Xia Shi helplessly shrugged. If that happens, Si Chu will have to take a temporary break and not participate in any further actions by the Intelligence Bureau.

Bai Fu reflected thoughtfully.

After Xia Shi finished introducing the current situation, she received a game prompt.

[You have triggered the quest [Raid the Darknet]]

[Quest Description: To uncover the spy lurking in the shadows, Si Chu has devised a plan to conduct a surprise inspection of the Darknet’s base in Lin En. They hope you, as bait, will cooperate.]

[Quest Objective: Find the database of the Darknet’s Lin En base]

[Reward: 5000 experience points, 5 reputation points with the Gene Progenitor faction]

[Accept/Reject]

As a support personnel, completing the quest alone grants 5000 experience points, which is quite generous.

But Bai Fu was not satisfied.

After acquiring the knowledge chain of the Gene Progenitor’s spiritual energy system, she had the idea of leaving Lin En to collect more knowledge chains elsewhere. She stayed purely because she hoped to obtain high-reward quests from Si Chu.

Now it seemed she could put that idea aside. 5000 experience used to be a lot for her, but now it wasn’t enough to raise her level by half.

“I still have to act on my own.”

Leaving was definitely necessary, but before she left, Bai Fu planned to complete the [Shadow of Truth] quest triggered by the increased bounty from the Truth Society. The rewards for that quest included 30,000 experience points and an additional title.

The objective of the quest was to eliminate the new hitmen. However, due to the tight protection provided by Si Chu, the hitmen dared not reveal themselves.

“We need a plan.”

Bai Fu decided to use the players.

Si Chu could use her as bait; she could also use the players as bait. All the goodwill she had built up with the players wasn’t for nothing!

With that in mind, Bai Fu, accompanied by Anya, went to the inn where Jiujiao was staying.

At the moment, there were only a few players in the inn, while others had gone out to look for suitable targets. With the money borrowed from local criminal organizations, Pai Da Xing and his group bought numerous firearms. With the powerful firepower of these weapons, they had taken down several small criminal gangs in just two days, gaining experience rapidly.

Pai Da Xing, who already had the highest level, successfully unlocked the advanced class of Martial Artist, evolving from a rookie to a key combatant on the novice planet, causing envy among countless players.

Hearing that Bai Fu had something to ask, Jiujiao, Calamity Dragon, and Convert to Me Fu quickly gathered around.

“It’s like this,” Bai Fu said amidst the encirclement of Jiujiao and the others, telling a story that was partly true and partly false.

The gist was —

“I am investigating a group of very bad people. During the investigation, I was targeted by another group of very bad people. I’m not sure if these two groups are related. In order to continue the investigation smoothly, I need to figure out who is targeting me. But I cannot conduct overly obvious tests, as this might alert them and ruin all previous efforts.”

Bai Fu deliberately did not mention that the ones targeting her were the Truth Society.

She mainly did this because she had previously emphasized to Jiujiao that some things couldn’t be told to the players yet, not even names, as it might cause endless nightmares for the players.

If she told the players now that she was investigating the Truth Society, wouldn’t that contradict her earlier statements?

Moreover, not revealing what she was investigating would create a sense of mystery for the players, driving them to continuously approach her in pursuit of the truth.

Jiujiao asked, “Fufu, tell us how you need our help?”

Bai Fu explained, “Before coming to you, I spent the whole night trying to come up with a suitable method, but no matter how I tossed and turned, I eventually realized that to find out who is targeting me with minimal cost, I can only rely on your strength!”

What, only rely on us?

Jiujiao’s chest unconsciously rose higher.

This was recognition!

She could already imagine how other players would react upon hearing this. Fortunately, she had video recording enabled, and she would post this segment to the community afterward.

“I need you to pretend to be me and act as bait. This task is dangerous and you might die, but since you’re immortal, sorry.”

Bai Fu lowered her head, appearing somewhat guilty.

Upon hearing this, Jiujiao…





Jiujiao laughed.

She thought Bai Fu was so nervous that something serious had happened, but it turned out she was just asked to be the bait. She was a player after all, why should she fear death?

“Leave it to me, but…” Jiujiao scratched her head, “I am similar in height to you, Fu Fu, but we don’t look alike in other aspects. It will be hard for me to pretend to be you.”

Calamity Dragon nodded in agreement: “The hair can be dyed, and the chest can be padded, but the face, no matter how much makeup is applied, it’s impossible to make it the same.”

“This is simple.” Bai Fu took out two black masks, “I will wear this during the next operation, and then you wear this too. Oh, and these clothes.”

She then took out a bag, inside were clothes and pants identical to hers.

“With these gears, I can definitely pretend to be you. But to completely fool those hiding in the dark, we may need to do more.”

At this moment, an idea struck Jiujiao.

“Fu Fu, can you say a few words?”

“What should I say?”

“Just these few…”

Bai Fu immediately understood what Jiujiao meant. Jiujiao wanted to record her voice using the game’s recording function, and then play it back when pretending to be her.

Same outfit, same voice, who could say Jiujiao wasn’t pretending well?

Good, I’d crown you as the King of Ideas!

Bai Fu happily complied.

At this time, in the corner of the room, Jian Qi Chong Tian’s face turned green watching Bai Fu and others chatting enthusiastically.

That year at eighteen, having meetings in motels, standing like a lackey.

It was supposed to be a story where everyone played a part, but in the end, only Jiujiao received the quest, while he was even worse off, not even getting a chance to talk to Bai Fu, purely an outsider.

Jian Qi Chong Tian was stimulated. After all, he was always the brightest one standing in the center of the crowd in the past.

But this was only temporary!

He secretly decided that in the upcoming action, if he found an opportunity, he would win everything.

Bai Fu’s affinity, Anya’s affinity, and the stepping stone to the Truth Society, he wanted them all!

…

That night, Bai Fu met up with the action team from Si Chu.

Seeing her new outfit, Xia Shi and Xu Hong, the captain of the first action team, were both confused.

“Why are you wearing a mask?”

Bai Fu explained: “This way, the Darknet people won’t recognize me easily. My name has been on the Darknet bounty list. Unless necessary, I don’t want to have any direct conflict with the Makarov family.”

This explanation was reasonable, and neither Xia Shi nor Xu Hong said anything more.

“Start the operation!”

Including Bai Fu, five people quickly headed towards the Darknet’s hideout in Lin En.

This hideout was very secret, ordinary people wouldn’t notice anything unusual. Although Si Chu had long known the location of the hideout, due to the Darknet and Gene Progenitor having many business dealings, they usually treated this hideout as air. The operators of the Darknet were usually very prudent, never causing any friction with Si Chu.

Tonight’s situation was quite special.

When Xu Hong led the charge into the hideout, the people inside didn’t react at all.

“Raise your hands!”

“What… What do you want?”

A few people sitting around the table playing cards stood up. They threw their cards and raised their hands voluntarily.

When Xu Hong approached, one of them suddenly changed expression: “Aren’t you from Si Chu? What do you mean by this?”

Xu Hong coldly pressed his gun against the man’s forehead: “What do you think I mean? Tell me, did the person who hired the killer to kill Bai Fu contact the killer through your private network? Is he hiding in Lin En?”

The man being pointed at frowned: “Our principle of the Darknet is to never disclose customer intelligence. Even if I know, I won’t tell you.”

“You don’t have to tell me, I’ll investigate myself.”

Xu Hong signaled his subordinates to tie up these card players.

The man being pointed at shouted: “What you’re doing is damaging the relationship between the Makarov family and the Gene Progenitor. If the higher-ups blame you, can you take the responsibility?”

Xu Hong acted as if he hadn’t heard the shout. After tying them up, he began searching the hideout.

Just as he reached a warehouse, Bai Fu suddenly focused her eyes.

“Be careful, there’s someone inside!”

But it seemed everything was too late. As Xu Hong’s hand touched the doorknob, the door opened, revealing a gun barrel in his view.

Damn!

Although he was wearing a bulletproof vest, at such close range, the vest couldn’t withstand bullets of this caliber.

Bang.

The gun spewed flames, and bullets flew out.

For a moment, Xu Hong felt despair, but when the bullets hit him, he realized the pain wasn’t as intense as expected. He quickly looked down and first saw the bullet that penetrated the bulletproof vest, then noticed the red swelling, which actually didn’t bleed much.

“A little bit of spiritual energy technique, it can strengthen the skin’s defense.”

Bai Fu calmly walked past Xu Hong, grabbed the neck of the person who attacked from behind, and slammed them to the ground.

…

Xu Hong, Xia Shi were all stunned. How could she be so calm and composed, isn’t she supposed to be support?

“Don’t just stand there, quickly check if the records are hidden in this room.” Bai Fu urged.

Xu Hong hurried into the room: “Right away, right away.”

While waiting for Xu Hong’s investigation results, Bai Fu remained vigilant. She didn’t know when a killer wanting to take her life might appear.

Actually, in her understanding, the spy absolutely dared not make a move during this operation because it would be too conspicuous and easily expose their true identity.

Bai Fu waited for several minutes, then Xu Hong came out of the room with several hard drives.

“The rest is up to the appraisal team. Take all the people in this hideout away, lock them up first!”

Hearing this, the Darknet people panicked.

“What are you going to do? Even if the Gene Progenitor doesn’t fear the Makarov family, aren’t you personally afraid?”

“Let me go, let me go!”

“Shit, I was about to win that hand of cards, ruined by you guys!”

No matter how the Darknet people cursed and scolded, Xu Hong remained calm, as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“That’s how the captain is,” Xia Shi whispered to Bai Fu, “Tonight, thanks to you, otherwise the captain would either die or get seriously injured.”

Bai Fu lightly nodded. The mission was completed, she earned 5000 experience points, but she didn’t care about these now. The next action was the real key tonight.

In the motel, Jian Qi Chong Tian was also full of anticipation.

Soon, he would let Bai Fu witness his courage and wisdom. When he beat those people trying to harm Bai Fu, and then staged a scene of blocking bullets with his body in front of Bai Fu, he didn’t believe he couldn’t increase Bai Fu’s affinity.

Once Bai Fu’s affinity increased, he could extract information from her.

“The Truth Society, take a good look at my value. I will help you reverse the situation!”

Jian Qi Chong Tian stared intently at the window.

A few minutes later, he shouted in the team channel.

“Bai Fu has arrived!”

PS: Thanks to Tropical Storm Luo Xuan Feitian Penguin and Shangzhen Shishizai Cat for their rewards.

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