Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Big Upgrade, from Version Protagonist to Above the Stars Charm Witch [520010000]

The reaction in the community was much bigger than Bai Fu had imagined.

When she logged into the community, she found that there were already new Xiao Xiao Bai Fu memes circulating, all based on what had just happened. There were more than a dozen variations.

1. [You dirty rascal, living only makes rice expensive; might as well hang you by the lamppost.jpg]

2. [Don’t worry, Big Sister Bai Fu is here to save you all.jpg]

3. [Lightning Whirlwind Split (Xiao Xiao Bai Fu Edition).jpg]

4. [Xiao Xiao Bai Fu continuously punching another Q-version character.gif]

5. [Xiao Xiao Bai Fu angry.jpg]

6. [Xiao Xiao Bai Fu drawing her sword and spinning.gif]

Because of the extremely high live-stream heat earlier, a large group of players were now following trends using these memes.

While spamming memes, these players were happily discussing how Bai Fu had hung Sedric on the lamppost. Most players had two thoughts about it.

The first thought was envy.

Older players were fine; after interacting with NPCs frequently, they knew many NPCs would try to trick and exploit players. But new players wouldn’t know this kind of thing.

If Bai Fu hadn’t come, the players within the Marine Biology Research Institute defense line would have been exploited by Sedric for at least twenty to thirty days. The worst part was that they wouldn’t even realize they were being exploited.

But now Bai Fu had arrived!

Bai Fu not only helped these players get rid of the NPC exploiting them, allowing them to reclaim what should’ve been theirs, but also incorporated them into the Silent Courtyard.

[Damn, this is too satisfying. I want to join the Silent Courtyard but can’t find a way in, and they just stood there and waited for Bai Fu.]

[I’m a staunch supporter of the Fu Sect. When will Fu Fu come to save me?]

The second thought was finding it very interesting.

Since the game’s release several months ago, players had experienced countless plots, but hanging other NPCs on lampposts out of anger like Bai Fu did was truly one of a kind.

A thrilling plot with ups and downs leaves a lasting impression, resonating with many players even years later.

However, from a dissemination perspective, good plots spread much slower than famous scenes or internet slang in the game.

It takes a long time to narrate a detailed plot, whereas a famous scene or slang only requires a single image to quickly spark discussions and sweep through chat groups, forums, and video websites in a short period.

For example, today was full of excitement, or the infamous final golf moment that caused public outrage.

The famous scene Bai Fu had just created quickly gained popularity due to various factors combined. Many players gave her new nicknames.

Names like Savior or Lamppost Knight—regardless of whether they sounded good or not, the effect of spreading was excellent.

Some players even simply and directly gave Bai Fu a one-character nickname: “Mom!”

Other NPCs wanted to be the player’s father, pinning down the players to grind them mercilessly, but Bai Fu was different. Not only did she establish the Silent Courtyard, a player-friendly faction, but she personally intervened to rescue players from dire straits. Isn’t she the big father of the players? No, the gender doesn’t match, so let’s call her Auntie… No, Auntie doesn’t sound good enough, let’s just call her Mom.

Right now, standing before you is Bai Fu, the compassionate mother above the stars. As for the stern father, such a thing isn’t necessary.

[Mom, I’m hungry, I want…]

[No, you don’t want anything.]

Actually, Bai Fu didn’t deliberately try to shape her own image; she just wanted to stir up some heat. But under the imagination of the players, it seemed like she had accomplished everything.

Absurdly, even her smile while thinking about how to exploit the players’ resources was interpreted by some players as “the gentleness of a compassionate mother.”

“Hmm… Upon reflection, it is indeed quite gentle. At least my method of exploitation is far gentler than other NPCs.”

Bai Fu understood sustainable development.

She browsed around in the community and found several posts that caught her eye.

[Bai Fu Cosplay]

What is this speed of the star realm! (Leaning back)

The cosplayers were some already somewhat famous cosplayers and gaming UPs. These players moved so fast because her current popularity was very high, and naturally, many people wanted to capitalize on the trend. Additionally, her attire was relatively easy to cosplay.

White shirt on top, slightly tight-fitting pants on the bottom. The only difficult items to gather were the distinctive belt and tactical small bag, shoes.

Other things, like silver-white wigs, gun models, leg rings, and swords, are common among those who often cosplay. Even if the appearance slightly differs, when combined, at least the general form is there.

[Good job!]

[UP, your cosplay isn’t quite accurate. The shirt doesn’t puff out like Fu Fu’s does.]

[Add some padding; being a prop person isn’t bad.]

[MMD experts and illustrators should step up!]

[To be honest, compared to watching others cosplay Fu Fu, I’d rather see Fu Fu cosplay other characters. With her face and figure, it would definitely look amazing.]

[Treasure hunter, since you’re close to Fu Fu, can you persuade her to do some cosplay? It could promote the Silent Courtyard and attract more players.]

[Whoa, this idea is great. If it happens, I’ll send Treasures ten rockets.]

Bai Fu stroked her chin.

She wasn’t interested in cosplay, but she was interested in changing outfits.

More costumes could bring more freshness to the players, and good-looking and distinctive clothes would leave a deeper impression on the players. It would also help those who cosplay her attract passersby and gain popularity.

In fact, besides these reasons, Bai Fu had another significant reason for wanting more clothes: it could make money!

During her collaboration talks with Gao Yuan, she specifically asked him to open a clothing store in Shelter No. 11 to explode the players’ coins. Selling skins, right? The official can sell them, why can’t she?

It turned out her idea was correct. Since the default clothes in the game were very ordinary, even a bit ugly, most players with some spare cash would go to the clothing store to buy a new set of clothes.

Whether the clothes could add stats wasn’t important; what mattered was feeling comfortable when wearing them.

According to Bai Fu’s observation, the most popular clothes bought by players in the clothing store were her white shirts and tight black pants. Popularity was like this; who wouldn’t shout “sales wizard” after seeing her?

“At this stage, the money earned from selling clothes isn’t much, but as the number of players in the Silent Courtyard increases, the variety of clothes I promote increases, and the functions of the clothes I sell become more diverse, the money earned from selling clothes may even exceed the money earned from selling equipment.”

After all, when players level up, certain professions can craft and sell equipment, but it’s different with clothes. Even if players can make them, they won’t bother because clothes are hard to sell at high prices, making it unprofitable.

This money should be left for Bai Fu to earn!

Hehe.

Before closing the community page, Bai Fu found an interesting post.

A player said that after posting Bai Fu’s video on a short video platform, it immediately attracted a crowd of onlookers.

[Her name, please!]

[Who’s this newcomer? She’s beautiful.]

[Is this a TV drama clip? This fight has such a powerful sense; it feels like one kick could explode my head.]

Amidst the inquiries, members of the Fu Sect stepped forward to begin a new round of preaching.

[Hello, sir, allow me to introduce you to Bai Fu, the sect leader of the Fu Sect…]

After several months of development and the events that just occurred, the members of the Fu Sect were not lacking in materials to introduce Bai Fu.

Some people left disappointed upon hearing she was a game character, but others, who either didn’t play the game or played other games, were attracted.

That’s interesting!

[As long as you join the Silent Courtyard, you can interact with her, right? Let me register an account.]

[After registering, be sure to choose Source Star as the beginner planet. You’ll be randomly assigned a beginner village, and if you’re not assigned to Shelter No. 11, you can delete your account and start again.]

[Fu Fu has made it, already stealing players from other games!]

[This is the charm of the first witch of the stars; you can’t deny it!]

For a time, Bai Fu gained a new nickname: Witch.

Bai Fu didn’t particularly dislike this nickname. Liu Bei had the nickname of the first witch of the Han Dynasty, didn’t he? She hoped to always have a group of players and NPCs sticking around wherever she went.

In summary, with the cooperation of short videos and members of the Fu Sect, she successfully brought in some new players to Above the Stars. Although the number of these players wasn’t large, it was undoubtedly a good start.

This shows that Bai Fu was really starting to break out.

Yeah, just a little bit of breaking out, but you can’t say she didn’t break out at all, right?

Everything has a beginning. Next, with the continued popularity of the famous scene…

As more and more players cosplay her at events like comic conventions, and with the increasing number of derivative works featuring her, her popularity is set to surge again.

“Bai Fu is no longer just Bai Fu; she’s now the Bai Fu who can attract new players to Above the Stars!”

Bai Fu smiled.

There was no way the planner could ignore her now.

With more iconic moments, even if she couldn’t become the hostess of the entire game, she should still have a good chance of becoming the main character or an important one in the promotional video for the next version of the game.

After all, her current strength and influence are already enough to impact beginner planets like the Source Star. Her exploration rate has quietly reached 0.9%. With these two points alone, even if the planner makes no adjustments to her, she will become an NPC on the Source Star that cannot be overlooked.

“Decided, I must find a way to unlock the advanced class before the new version arrives!”

Bai Fu casually closed the community page.

The first thing to do is to perfectly complete this quest and get the fourth chain of Spiritual Energy knowledge.

“They shouldn’t have been discovered, right? There’s no sign of movement at all.”

After staring at the marine biology research institute for a while, Su Li became restless and turned to ask Bai Fu.

Reasonably, after those undead entered the institute and reported the news about the breached defenses, there should have been some activity at the institute. But now, it was as if the whole place had fallen into a deep sleep.

Bai Fu remained calm: “Don’t rush, wait a bit longer, about ten more minutes should be enough.”

Su Li frowned slightly but finally nodded without saying much.

Now they could only trust Bai Fu.

Bai Fu was very clear that things were proceeding according to her plan because while browsing community posts, she also opened Calamity Dragon’s live stream on the side.

This time, Calamity Dragon and Jiujiao separated. Calamity Dragon was responsible for entering the institute to film materials and investigate the situation, while Jiujiao was tasked with relaying any intelligence she found through watching the live stream and private chats back to Bai Fu. However, none of them realized that Bai Fu could directly watch the live stream herself.

Hey, I can watch the live stream myself!

Because the player carried Sedric’s corpse, they easily gained the trust of the guards at the institute – the guards only knew the number of players inside the defense lines, not their specific appearances. Thus, even when they saw Pai Da Xing and the others, they didn’t detect anything unusual.

Upon receiving the news of enemy intrusion, the guards quickly contacted their superior, who then promptly informed the head of the entire institute.

Bad news, someone is attacking!

Good news, according to those undead who fled back, there are only three attackers.

The head issued orders to have the undead and the guards quickly set up new defensive lines, especially strictly controlling the roads leading to important areas of the institute.

“If the outer perimeter can’t hold, then lower the gate.”

“If lowering the gate doesn’t work either, then activate the self-destruct program and destroy all research data. If even one piece of data leaks out, we’ll all be dead. Understand?”

The head was full of killing intent, and the others beneath him were sweating profusely.

Turning around, the head smiled and said, “But considering there are only three people on the other side, everyone doesn’t need to panic. What I just said is the worst-case scenario.”

That’s right, there are only three people on the other side, what is there to fear?

Besides, they also have undead who can act as human bombs and die alongside the enemies.

The people inside the institute immediately sprang into action.

Players are just players, they weren’t stationed in important locations. However, during the process of being moved here and there, they gradually figured out the situation inside the institute, including how the roads go, where the switch for the gates is, which places are off-limits to ordinary people, and where the self-destruct button is.

“Fufu!”

Jiujiao softly called Bai Fu’s name.

Bai Fu nodded, understanding that this information was sufficient.

“We can move now.”

Su Li was momentarily stunned. “What’s different now compared to before?”

Not far away, Coyote, Ferreira the Bug Father, and others also turned their heads. They were all quite shocked upon hearing that Bai Fu had single-handedly persuaded the undead to surrender and killed Sedric in an extremely short period of time. They felt that Bai Fu might be even stronger than they imagined.

However, despite their shock, in such a critical operation, if Bai Fu didn’t explain clearly, it would be hard for them to follow Bai Fu’s order to attack now.

“I don’t have much time to explain everything to you slowly. You just need to know that the undead have special ways to communicate. I’ve already learned the internal situation of the institute from the lady beside me. Time waits for no one, if we don’t act soon, reinforcements might arrive.”

Hearing this…

Coyote and the others furrowed their brows deeper. This was the first time they’d heard about such abilities of the undead. Was it real or fake?

Bai Fu stood up: “You don’t need to attack from the front. I’ll go first to draw their attention. Attack from the flanks once you receive my signal.”

She knew she currently lacked authority, so from the start, she hadn’t relied on Coyote and the others. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let the player tell the head of the institute that there were only three attackers.

Coyote and the others wanted to say something, but Bai Fu had already rushed out with Jiujiao.

“Hey…”

Su Li opened her mouth.

Forget it.

“Let’s follow her. I’ll take the left, you guys take the right.”

…

Damn, she’s fast!

Jiujiao had originally worried that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with Bai Fu’s speed, but unexpectedly, after taking a few steps, Bai Fu directly picked her up and put her on her back, giving her a flying sensation.

Fortunately, this was in the game where various sensations could be adjusted; otherwise, she felt she might have been scared to death.

If she accidentally wetted Fufu, oh no, her life might end!

But now, Jiujiao only felt excited.

Just this experience alone, she could boast about until the game shut down.

Quickly record it, and use it as an Easter egg in the new video!

The main reason Bai Fu brought Jiujiao along was to pretend, after all, she couldn’t expose her player panel in front of the players, showing that she could watch live streams and browse communities.

If the players really found out, the image she had carefully crafted would collapse, and the players might even think she was a plant hired by the game, specifically disguised as an NPC to deceive the players.

Of course, apart from having Jiujiao report points to her, she could also use Jiujiao as a shield in critical moments. A big shield for players, breaking it wouldn’t hurt at all!

Under the dual boost of [Frenzy] and [Yi Cai], Bai Fu spent only tens of seconds rushing to near the institute.

The flickering figure immediately caught the attention of the guards inside the defense line.

“Ratatat—”

A barrage of bullets poured down like rain, instantly engulfing the figure. Accompanying the bullets were also several grenades.

Boom!

The explosion stirred up rolling dust clouds, swallowing dozens of meters of the area.

But in the blink of an eye, the figure burst out of the dust cloud, unscathed, with no slowing down in speed.

The guards inside the institute watched in horror.

What kind of iron man is this?

“Fire! Fire!”

“Artillery!”

A guard adjusted the aiming direction of the grenade launcher and heavily pressed the trigger. At the moment he pressed the trigger, he suddenly realized a terrifying problem—he had reversed the direction. This shot wasn’t aimed at the figure outside but at his nearby teammates!

“Holy crap!”

The cries of abuse mixed with explosions and screams, thus tearing open a gap in the dense fire network.

Bai Fu used Flowing Light to flash directly under the tall wall. She was about to charge in through the firing port when suddenly a red light descended from the sky.

Fire attribute anomaly?

No matter!

With the Spiritual Energy Shield activated, she directly charged towards the falling fireball.

“Is she dead?”

The heart of the anomaly user who dropped the fireball hung in suspense. He stared at the fireball intently. The next second, his hanging heart finally died because Bai Fu had broken through the fireball and arrived in front of him. His jaw was held by a grenade launcher.

Boom!

What exploded was a perfect head and the hearts of all the guards near this firing port.

Bai Fu shook the grenade launcher in her hand and looked down coldly at everyone standing below the firing port.

Anyone else?

Monster, this is absolutely a monster!

The guards’ pupils shrank dramatically. Even Su Li, Coyote, and Ferreira watching from afar felt something stuck in their throats.

Absolute violence, absolute power, is this the new dark queen of the Darknet, Bai Fu?

So terrifying!

“Charge!”

They immediately rushed towards the Marine Life Research Institute.

At the same time, the guards inside the institute also roared and charged towards Bai Fu.

PS: