As far as the Wildfire Gang's Boss was concerned, Brother Dabiao's death was no more important than finding a dead rat by the side of the road.
But Martin's death was another matter. Martin was a supervisor he had personally promoted.
Someone had killed Martin. That was practically rubbing the Boss's face in the dirt!
He immediately summoned several of his trusted men. Furious, he spat as he barked, "Investigate! You have one day to find out who was bold enough to attack a Wildfire Gang supervisor at the Abandoned Cooling Plant!"
"Yes, yes, yes."
None of them dared provoke the Boss at a time like this. They could only agree for now.
Truthfully, they had no hope of finding the real killer.
Before they came, they'd heard that there hadn't been anyone nearby when Martin died, and that no obvious evidence had been left at the scene.
Investigate?
Investigate what, exactly?
Their dump of a place wasn't like those enormous settlements with advanced equipment that could track down a killer through blood tests and fingerprints.
Still, it didn't matter if they couldn't find the killer. They'd already come up with a solution.
Just say the Outsiders did it!
The Outsiders were already at loggerheads with the Wildfire Gang. Blaming them for a few more things wouldn't change the situation.
Actually, these trusted men quite liked the Outsiders.
With the Outsiders around, investigations became simple. With the Outsiders around, they could finally settle old scores.
They only wished the Outsiders had arrived sooner, and hoped they'd hold out a little longer against the Wildfire Gang's attacks.
But that might be asking a bit too much of them.
If the Boss hadn't been so busy lately, doing his utmost to entertain the distinguished guests who'd come from afar, the enraged man would probably have driven those Outsiders into the contaminated zone beyond the settlement already.
"Boss, now that Martin's dead, what should we do about the team he was in charge of?" one of the trusted men asked cautiously.
He'd wanted to put one of his own people in the position, but things hadn't gone quite as he'd hoped.
The Wildfire Gang's Boss pulled Martin's file from the desk and glanced at it before pointing casually.
"Her. She did the most work in Martin's group, and I hear she was the first to discover Dabiao's death. Have her take charge of Martin's group for now."
The trusted man leaned over to look. The name on the file was Bai Fu.
He quickly lowered his head, hiding his displeasure.
"I'll take care of it right away."
It was only temporary. She could take charge today, but if she died tomorrow, someone else could take over.
But he couldn't do it himself, nor could he have his men do it. Better to find people who didn't know her at all.
Like the Outsiders.
Things had gone a little more smoothly than expected.
Before the investigation results were even in, Bai Fu received the appointment naming her Martin's successor.
She'd thought there would be at least a few complications.
An Ya was practically jumping for joy. "Boss, does this mean we can collect money while lying around, just like Martin?"
"We can, but his methods were too crude. And before that, we have other things to take care of."
"Other things?"
Bai Fu watched the person who'd delivered the notice walk away.
Out of habit, she'd used Spiritual Vision to check his attributes. They were nothing special, but his Favorability score was glaring.
[-78]
Bai Fu almost thought she'd killed his mother. How else could he hate her so much?
She thought about it for a while, but couldn't remember ever meeting him. If she hadn't angered him through direct contact, then it could only be a matter of competing interests.
Two days ago, she'd been broke. There'd been no way she could compete with anyone for a share of the profits. That left only one possible explanation—
This old bastard wanted to be a supervisor too!
What a despicable old geezer. He was up to no good.
She didn't know what move he'd make, but Bai Fu wasn't exactly a saint herself.
Bai Fu looked away and opened the new faction feature she'd unlocked after being appointed acting supervisor.
Above the Stars had a very comprehensive faction system. Once players earned a position within a faction, they could unlock all sorts of new features.
For Bai Fu, the most important features were the higher-level faction access privileges and the supervisor's management functions.
As a supervisor, she could allocate certain resources and appoint a [Quartermaster] for her group. The faction would recognize the appointment.
In the game, Quartermasters could usually issue [Quartermaster Missions] to players.
Bai Fu planned to appoint An Ya as her Quartermaster and see if this could give An Ya the ability to issue Quartermaster Missions.
She'd originally wanted to appoint herself as Quartermaster, but unfortunately, the game had rejected her request. She couldn't appoint herself, since she had a player interface.
"Done. I'll take An Ya to find a few players for a test later."
If it worked, she'd effectively have a weaker, loli version of Celine under her command!
Two in the afternoon.
The sun blazed overhead.
[Convert to My Fu] crouched by the roadside. The breeze, warm with the faintest hint of heat, brushed against him and stirred a restless feeling in his heart.
It had been two days since Bai Fu's supporters had driven him to delete his account and start over in the community.
After restarting, he'd been lucky enough to end up at the Abandoned Cooling Plant. But he'd spent nearly a whole day looking for Bai Fu and still hadn't found her.
With no other choice, he'd decided to find some missions first.
To find a high-reward mission and level up as quickly as possible, he'd even taken the risk of entering Wildfire Gang territory.
He didn't want the other players to leave him too far behind in levels. Otherwise, even if Bai Fu needed help from players next time, he wouldn't be able to do anything for her.
"Argh! Those people are so stingy! I privately messaged five or six of them, and not one would sell me the Credit Coins Fu Fu gave them!"
Convert to My Fu vigorously ruffled his hair.
He stood up, but before he could take a step, he saw someone walking toward him with a big golden "!" floating over their head.
Oh, a quest!
Convert to My Fu's eyes lit up, and he rushed over.
"Hello! Is there anything I can help you with?"
The newcomer jumped. "O-Outsider?"
Convert to My Fu nodded.
The newcomer narrowed his eyes.
Normally, if he ran into an Outsider, he'd immediately slap them with a seven-day lock of unbreakable love, choke them unconscious, and then turn them in to the Wildfire Gang for a reward.
But today, he was here on a mission. He couldn't afford to lose sight of the bigger picture over a small gain.
"I heard you Outsiders will do anything for money. Help me kill someone."
"Who? Why do you want him dead?"
"Don't ask so many questions. A thousand Credit Coins. Just tell me if you'll do it. If you will, I'll pay you five hundred up front."
Do it? Of course he'd do it!
Convert to My Fu accepted. "Tell me the details of the mission."
The newcomer gave him the target's address, the hours he'd be home, and the meeting place where they'd rendezvous after the job was done.
A game notification appeared in front of him.
[You have triggered the hidden quest [The Killing Pact] (can be completed in a party)]
What he hadn't expected was that the quest offered a whopping 3,500 experience points!
With such a high reward, the difficulty was obvious too. There was no way he could complete it on his own.
After seeing the newcomer off, Convert to My Fu immediately opened the Abandoned Cooling Plant section of the Star Travel Society.
He'd have to call for help.
Besides, this was the perfect chance to get on good terms with Patrick Star and the others. Then he'd be able to approach Fu Fu openly.
Perfect!
[@Patrick Star Pai Da, Pai Da, are you free? I picked up a hidden quest with a really high reward.]
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