What, We Assassinated Bai Fu? [Seeking Follow-up Reads]

Bai Fu rubbed her brow, more or less figuring out the situation.

The current scenario was most likely that her appointment as acting supervisor had made her a thorn in the side of someone or some faction within the Wildfire Gang.

Then that person or faction had found a player, hoping to use the player's hands to eliminate her.

From a normal perspective, this was a pretty good deal.

How do you find a reliable killer?

That was the question.

If you were unlucky, you might end up with a fool like the "Five-Star Killer" who killed the wrong target, or some scammer who outsourced the assassination job layer by layer. Not only would the assassination fail, but you'd also be highly likely to get exposed yourself.

Finding a player avoided that trouble.

You could say players didn't understand assassination, but you couldn't question a player's determination to complete a quest they'd accepted.

And players were a perfect scapegoat.

Given the current relationship between players and the Wildfire Gang, unless a player ran around shouting through a megaphone, no one would ever suspect the mastermind actually came from the Wildfire Gang.

"Too bad your target is me!"

Bai Fu laughed.

In Above the Stars, no one understood players better than her.

At the Abandoned Cooling Plant, no one was more popular with players than her.

She just had to show her face, do nothing else, and she could easily defuse the enemy's move this time.

But Bai Fu didn't plan to resolve the crisis that simply.

Over the past couple of days, she had suddenly appeared to rescue Digging Princess when she was blocked by thugs, and put on a show in front of players of caring deeply about their safety. She had worked hard to win over a batch of players' hearts.

Now that the players were delivering themselves to her door, how could she let them off easily?

Bai Fu, activate!

Beneath the faint moonlight spilling from above, Patrick Star and the others advanced slowly.

It was 7:20 PM. They had spent half an hour dodging one NPC after another, finally reaching the vicinity of the mission location.

Patrick Star took a deep breath and looked back at Digging Princess, Convert to My Fu, and the others following close behind him.

[Everyone do one last check to see if there are any problems with the traps and tools we set up]

He gave the order in the party channel.

A few seconds later, Digging Princess was the first to reply with "no problem," followed by a string of +1s.

Good.

Patrick Star repeated the pre-arranged tactics in the channel.

[No one has any questions, right? If not, let's split up and move. Be careful where you step. We've already made it this far—don't blow our cover and let the target get ready because of carelessness]

[Patrick, don't worry]

[I'm a master of stealth games]

Patrick Star smiled and nodded.

To ensure the mission went smoothly, each of them had prepared weapons like daggers, iron rods, and bows and arrows. They had also learned from Bai Fu's advanced tactics, gathering a batch of lime, rusty nails, chili powder, tripwires, net bags, and lubricant.

Prepared in advance plus a sneak attack—he was at least eighty percent sure they could take down the target in one go!

After waiting quietly for over a minute, everyone reached their designated positions.

The evening wind rolled debris through the streets, carrying a chill mixed with a hint of killing intent.

In the dim light, Patrick Star looked around.

Everyone held their breath. Everyone was thrilled.

That was 3500 experience points.

For experience, for leveling up, to get closer to Bai Fu, to dig deeper into the story behind Bai Fu—fuck it, let's go!

Patrick Star slowly raised his right hand.

The moment his hand fell, the operation would officially begin.

Five, four...

Patrick Star counted silently in his heart.

When he reached two, something no one expected happened.

"How long are you planning to hide?"

In the silent night, a slightly muffled voice suddenly came through the wall.

Holy shit!

That sound was no less shocking than a jump scare in a horror game.

Several players were so frightened that their minds went blank, and they began looking around in panic.

The remaining players wailed in the team channel.

[It's over, it's over, we've been spotted, how are we supposed to ambush now]

[What the hell, how did she find us? We didn't make a single sound the whole way here. Does she have some kind of qi-sensing ability?]

[Is she hacking?]

[Patrick, Patrick, do we still fight?]

[That voice sounds kind of familiar]

Patrick Star was startled too.

But he had seen plenty of big scenes in other games, so he quickly calmed down.

The more critical the moment, the less you could panic.

If the opponent was strong, they wouldn't have been able to run the second they were discovered anyway. Rather than flee, it was better to turn and fight.

If the opponent was weak, then there was nothing to worry about—just charge in.

In summary, it came down to one word—

Fight!

[Stick to the plan. Afu and I will take point and draw aggro.]

"That's more like it. Screw the consequences, let's fight first and talk later!"

As a battle maniac, Black Tiger Afu had been holding back for ages. Hearing Patrick Star's call, he dropped the act, hefted his newly bought iron staff, and charged through the half-open door like a wild bull, smashing it open.

Seeing him go, Patrick Star quickly followed.

"Ah—!"

Black Tiger Afu raised the iron staff above his head and brought it down in a leaping smash aimed at the person inside.

The strike was fierce and fast. The person inside only had time to raise their left arm.

Bang!

The iron staff landed solidly.

Patrick Star's heart leaped with joy. A perfect opportunity.

He slid out from behind Black Tiger Afu's massive frame with a Slide Step, gripping his dagger, aiming straight for the target's left ribs.

But in that instant, he suddenly saw the target's face clearly. Wasn't this Bai Fu?

"Stop, stop, everyone stop!"

Patrick Star twisted his dagger sharply to the side.

He managed to avoid it himself, but the other players charging in from the window and the back couldn't dodge in time.

"Patrick, I'm coming to help!"

Convert to My Fu drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

Whoosh.

An arrow shot straight for the back of the neck.

Digging Princess raised her blade and charged in with a roar.

Patrick Star didn't have time to shout again, nor to block. Off-balance, he could only watch helplessly.

Time seemed to slow down countless times in that moment.

He saw Bai Fu turn around. He saw Bai Fu flick her right hand, knocking the flying arrow away. He saw Bai Fu reach out with her left hand, grab the blade of Digging Princess's descending sword, then twist hard and wrench the weapon away.

"Fu Fu?"

Digging Princess froze in place.

The next second, Bai Fu grabbed her by the throat and slammed her entire body into the wall. Under the force of that brutal strength, she was lifted into the air.

Throughout this process, not a single damage number floated above Bai Fu's head, and no wounds appeared on her body.

Not injured at all?

Patrick Star let out a long breath, but his heart immediately clenched again.

"Why is it you?"

Bai Fu's gaze was ice-cold, and her voice was just as cold.

Digging Princess struggled to look down. In that icy stare, she clearly saw disbelief.

In fact, at that moment, every player, including Digging Princess, felt the same disbelief.

Why was it Bai Fu? Why was their assassination target Bai Fu?

Didn't that mean they had betrayed Bai Fu's trust and repaid kindness with enmity?

It was over. All of it was over!

They had worked so hard to raise Bai Fu's Favorability to 82. Now it would probably drop straight to -82.

The first one to take the quest, Convert to My Fu, was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

What could be more regretful, painful, and despairing than hurting the person you liked?

He almost wished he could just stab himself.