The Path to Salvation Lies Within

"Zhasz, Zhasz... Resurrect, my boss!"

Bai Fu was a little annoyed.

For some reason, a little Bi Zai Zhi had been whispering in her ear since just now.

I'm here to sleep, what do you want?

In a fit of extreme anger, she broke through the quilt barrier in less than a second, then widened her eyes to examine her surroundings.

What met her eyes were mottled stone walls, flickering electric lights, and a tearfully joyful strange face.

"Boss, you're finally awake, that's great!"

I'm awake?

Bai Fu inadvertently glanced at the mirror beside her, and reflected in the mirror was clearly a black-haired girl of pitiable beauty.

Holy shit.

She was shocked.

She had only slept, how could her strengths be replaced by flaws? Although her advantages were more prominent, this was not compensation at all!

In that instant, countless memories flooded in.

Bai Fu remembered that a game called Above the Stars had started its public beta a few days ago. On the way to buy game accessories, she became addicted to watching other players in the community ganging up on the game planner's mom, and accidentally hit the jackpot.

At the time, she experienced a baby-like sleep.

When she woke up from her dream, she had transmigrated into the game.

She didn't transmigrate into the game's protagonist, nor did she transmigrate into a vicious villain or a vicious villain's best friend. She was now just a mob character not even worthy of a separate introduction page.

Actually, she wasn't that mob-like. Compared to ordinary mobs, her status was still a bit higher.

After all, she was someone with her own exclusive follower.

Bai Fu turned her head and glanced at the girl beside her who was nervously staring at her.

That's right, this was her only follower.

An Ya, one meter and thirty centimeters tall, good at eating and sleeping, was someone she picked up from the garbage dump, and now she had joined the biggest local gang, the Wildfire Gang, with her.

What a sin!

Especially after examining her own combat power, Bai Fu felt a burst of despair.

One Bai Fu ≈ ten An Yas.

In this game world, it couldn't be said that she was outstanding, but at least it could be said that she was insignificant.

The day before yesterday, she went to collect debts for the Wildfire Gang, and the old bastard who owed the debt punched her on the forehead, knocking her unconscious for two whole days before she woke up.

With this trash-tier performance, Bai Fu couldn't imagine herself making a name for herself in this world.

In fact, let alone making a name for herself, it was hard enough just to stay alive.

You're right, but Above the Stars is a brand new open-world adventure game set in a dangerous world against the backdrop of the universe.

(Omitted part)

In short, players will play as a traveler from an alien planet, starting from the initial planet located on the distant frontier, and gradually discover the truth of Above the Stars.

There are ferocious Starry Sky Giant Beasts, insane psionic mages, ambitious evil organizations...

With just a slight aftershock of their attacks, they could tear apart the stars.

Damn it.

Bai Fu didn't want to be caught in the aftershocks of a battle and die in a muddle.

After thinking it over, she felt that she could only use that move.

"Come out, my golden finger!"

No response.

No, it's... coming!

Suddenly, a light blue light curtain unfolded in front of Bai Fu.

[Name]: Bai Fu
[Age]: 20
[Race]: Human
[Template]: Ordinary
[Experience]: 0
[Main Class]: Unemployed Lv2 (421/500)
[Sub Class]: None
[Health Points]: 50/50
[Attributes]: Strength 4, Agility 3, Constitution 5, Intelligence 3, Spirit 4, Inspiration 3

[Skills]: None

[Talents]: None

[Attribute Points]: 0

[Reputation]: 1

It's an attribute point system?

Powerful, so powerful!

Bai Fu was delighted.

From a weakling to a big boss, this is her invincible path!

But she quickly realized something was off. Why did this interface look exactly like a player's stat panel?

She quickly flipped through it and, sure enough, found buttons like [Quests], [Map], and [Community] on the side.

Bai Fu understood.

She had become an NPC with a player panel. The biggest difference was that her panel had a unique [Template] that ordinary players didn't.

Templates were great. A high-level template's bonuses allowed NPCs to easily crush opponents with ordinary templates who had similar stats.

But this wasn't something to be happy about, because other than that, she didn't have any of the functions an NPC should have.

She couldn't issue quests, couldn't be a mentor, and didn't have an affinity system, which meant she couldn't exploit those features to fleece players like the infamous Han Daji did.

She was less like an NPC with a player panel and more like a special player who couldn't respawn!

Great, just great. Everyone else gets to play a normal online game, and I get a permadeath run.

Bai Fu almost fainted from anger.

She wasn't a gaming god, nor did she know the game's plot like a reborn transmigrator, and her character template was also ordinary.

Challenge her to a permadeath run?

Some people are alive, but they might as well be dead.

"I'm not playing anymore! This game isn't fun at all! Let me out!"

There was no response.

Bai Fu rubbed her forehead hard.

I can't panic, especially not now.

She turned to look at An Ya, I'll ask about the situation outside first.

"Has anything happened outside recently?"

An Ya stared at Bai Fu for a few moments, and only after confirming that Bai Fu was asking her did she say, "Boss, nothing major has happened in the past few days, except a group of people suddenly came from the west."

"What kind of people?"

An Ya said angrily, "A group of very strange people. They all wear similar clothes, they're all chatterboxes, they ask people questions whenever they see them, they rummage through people's homes, and some even stab themselves with knives for fun."

Bai Fu's expression turned strange.

Judging by that description, aren't those players?

An Ya continued, "Boss, those people are too bad and too arrogant. They even dare to open the Wildfire Gang's supply boxes. The Wildfire Gang's boss said that these are no ordinary refugees and that we must crack down on them!"

Hearing An Ya say that, Bai Fu's face immediately turned green.

You crack down on the players? The players are going to run you over with tanks!

"No, we absolutely must not provoke those people. I'm going to find the Wildfire Gang's boss right away and tell him not to do anything rash."

An Ya looked puzzled. "Boss, why can't we provoke them? The Wildfire Gang's boss has already killed several of them with his own hands, and he's calling on us to deal with them together, saying that as long as we go, we can get paid. The more we contribute, the more we get paid!"

As she said that, she couldn't help but wave her fist excitedly.

Fighting = earning money = awesome!

Bai Fu's heart stopped.

They've already started fighting?

Kid, this isn't funny!

It's over.

Given how some players even split earthworms lengthwise, if she, as a member of the Wildfire Gang, didn't run away as soon as possible, she probably wouldn't even have ashes left.

The question is, how to run?

The settlement she was in was called the Abandoned Cooling Plant, located on a newbie starting planet called Zu Yuan Star.

A hundred years ago, Zu Yuan Star broke out in war.

The war almost destroyed everything, causing Zu Yuan Star to enter a state similar to the "Fallout" series of games. People lived in settlements, and outside the settlements were terrible pollution and monsters.

Bai Fu felt that with her strength, she would probably die as soon as she ran out of the settlement.

Even if she was lucky enough to live a few more days, she wouldn't be able to withstand the various disasters in the subsequent plot.

Calm down. I need to think this through, now!

How do I make an NPC survive for a long time?

Excellent question. Bai Fu's brain spun.

Raw power alone probably isn't enough. What if the devs decide to sacrifice her, or slap a BOSS label on her?

Ultimately, an NPC's fate depends on the developers' design.

A numbers monster is inferior to a mechanics monster.

She remembered a post from the community. It mentioned an NPC who died shortly after appearing in the beta, but her popularity among players was so unexpectedly high that the game was bombarded until they had to change her death ending.

Actually, this kind of thing happened often in games she played before.

In long-term games, once a character becomes popular, it's not so easy for them to die. Even if they do, they'll likely be resurrected. Even a passerby might get a huge chunk of added backstory and become an important character.

Aha! I get it!

Bai Fu's mind instantly cleared.

If she could transform from an anonymous nobody into a player favorite, would she get a massive buff like that NPC in the beta?

Hard to say, but it's worth a try.

Perhaps the path to salvation lies within!

No NPC understands better than she how to become a popular character.

Because she used to be a player, and she can sneak into the community anytime to spy. Whatever players like, she can become. She's all about taking advice.

Thinking this, Bai Fu breathed a sigh of relief.

Children, I'm about to go for it!