That Was the Light That Suddenly Descended

Though An Ya was unwilling, Bai Fu insisted on dyeing her hair a beautiful silver-white.

She squatted in the sunlight, looking aggrieved.

"One, two, three..."

She counted the money, credit coins, one by one. After counting, she started counting on her fingers.

"Looks like it's thin congee every day from now on."

Bai Fu's lips twitched.

She didn't come here to drink thin congee. She drank it to save money before transmigrating, and she'd be wasting her transmigration if she still had to drink it now.

She patted An Ya's shoulder.

"Don't worry, things will get better once we start moving!"

Actually, if she had enough money, she would have dressed herself and An Ya as a "Yin-Yang Duo."

[Bai Fu: White hair, black suit.]

[An Ya: Black hair, white suit.]

If they couldn't manipulate the players like Tom with this look, she'd eat them on the spot!

After comforting An Ya, it was time to get down to business.

But where should she go to farm player goodwill?

The Abandoned Cooling Plant settlement was unexpectedly large, and it would be very difficult to randomly find players worth saving on the street.

Therefore, while dyeing her hair, Bai Fu opened the game community [Star Travel Society], found the Abandoned Cooling Plant section, and wanted to see if she could find anything useful.

The community was very lively, and players were actively sharing their experiences.

[Brothers, I made an Old God face, and I got arrested as soon as I entered the game. How do I delete the save and start over? Urgent.]

[I'm so done, why is gender locked? I want to play a female character!]

[Negative review, the game clearly modeled OOs, but the boxer briefs they give you can't be taken off.]

[Looking for an 18+ patch, good karma for life.]

Bai Fu rolled her eyes.

Ignoring these silly players, she continued to look for rescue targets.

In principle, there were four types of players she wouldn't save.

Professional players, because they were too specialized, and any predicament that troubled them was beyond her ability to solve.

Smart players, because they were too intelligent, and interacting with them was too stressful, making it easy to slip up and ruin everything.

Battle-maniac players, because they were too ruthless, with their minds full of "Fight! Awesome!" If she accidentally revealed her health bar, they might just chop her down.

And troll players, because they were too crazy. Their brains were like Schrödinger's cat, and you could never guess what they were going to do until they actually did it.

Bai Fu switched back and forth between the community's forums and live-streaming sections, and it wasn't until she came out of the hair salon that she found an interesting target.

In a live-streaming room titled [(Walking Simulator) A Guide to the Stars from Scratch · Abandoned Cooling Plant Edition], a player named [Digging Princess] was live-streaming.

She wandered through the streets and alleys of Abandoned Cooling Plant, occasionally uttering exclamations like, "Ah, this light, ah, this water."

To be honest, she didn't have much content, but her live-streaming room had already broken four digits in viewership.

A few of the players who squeezed in were there to see the scenery, but most were there to draw maps. If someone was offering free map measurements, they had to come in and learn.

Besides the scenery watchers and map drawers, the rest were trolls. Although Digging Princess didn't have much content, her live-streaming screen was full of it.

[Holy crap, there's a fight over there, smashing each other's crotches with bricks.]

[Watched it, the impact isn't good enough.]

[Identifying the person above as a pure old fart.]

[Little black, huh? The impact isn't good enough? Show me one that is.]

[What kind of impact?]

Bai Fu only glanced at these trolling comments. She was more concerned with the comments from the live-streaming room's old fans.

Through these comments, she learned that Digging Princess was a UP Master who specialized in making game videos.

Because her gaming skills were terrible, Digging Princess could only rely on making videos like Walking Simulator, Game Archeology, and New Game Discovery to attract fans.

But she had been making videos for two and a half years, and she hadn't attracted many fans in total.

There were already many high-quality UP Master making game archeology videos, and newcomers couldn't come up with anything new, so they couldn't even get a sip of the soup.

And in terms of exploring and discovering new games, it wasn't that she was bad, but that she was overdoing it.

Digging Princess's specialty was over-interpreting things.

She could always deduce a story more magnificent than Three Kingdoms from game data more fragmented than Elden Ring.

"We'll see!"

This was Digging Princess's catchphrase.

At first, the audience believed her, thinking, Wow, this character is really that important? This plot is really that amazing?

But after a while, the game developers would use their actions to tell her: "Sis, we really didn't think that much!"

After repeating this many times, Digging Princess's new game digging column went cold.

However, she was a person of perseverance.

She felt that it wasn't her who was wrong, but the world!

In her words:

"I just haven't encountered a game that resonates with my soul yet. When such a game appears, I will use my burning spear to pierce through all the mockery from the past!"

To this, most players commented:

"Looks like her chuunibyou is relapsing!"

Watching Digging Princess wander around, Bai Fu suddenly smiled in relief.

A game noob + not smart + good at over-interpreting + currently streaming UP Master.

Wasn't this the chosen one she was looking for?

"Heh, woman, you've successfully piqued my interest!"

Bai Fu originally wanted to spend money to hire someone to cause trouble for Digging Princess and then step forward to help, but she quickly realized that it wasn't necessary.

Because Digging Princess was going down a difficult path.

In the folksy Abandoned Cooling Plant, there was a 90% chance that at least one thug would spawn on this kind of path.

Sure enough, after walking into an alley full of debris, Digging Princess was stopped by a burly man in a vest.

"Hmm?"

Bai Fu was slightly stunned.

Wasn't this burly man standing behind the old geezer who punched her when she went to collect debts the other day?

Mediocre strength, not to be feared.

"What a coincidence, buddy!"

Bai Fu felt that this was an excellent opportunity to take revenge and clear her name.

"An Ya, let's go, there's work to do!"

In the alley.

Looking at the burly man opposite her, who looked like he came straight out of a Hong Kong comic, Digging Princess's heart sank.

Just like DIO couldn't remember how many slices of bread he had eaten, she, as a game UP Master, couldn't remember how many dangers she had encountered in games.

Just last week, she had been beaten up by monsters five hundred times in Dark's Spirit Hospital.

Before going to bed last night, she had also played a horror game similar to P.T.

With her courage, normally a mere human thug in a game wouldn't be able to scare her.

But she was still afraid, so afraid that she couldn't move as if she had been immobilized by a monkey's spell.

It wasn't her fault; she could only blame Above the Stars for being so realistic.

Realistic in every sense of the word!

This game was only officially announced half a year ago. Although the publicity wasn't huge, the promotional slogans caught the attention of many people.

Something about a breathing universe, something about 99% ultra-high realism, it really whetted people's appetites.

Many people thought it was an electronic scam, and Digging Princess initially thought so too, until she entered the game with a critical attitude, and she realized that those so-called closed beta players weren't shills.

99%?

100%!

This was clearly a groundbreaking game.

People who didn't know better would probably think this was the real world disguised as a game with some UI added!

It was this invincible sense of realism that made Digging Princess instinctively afraid when facing the big guy blocking her way.

If she was killed, could she really respawn?

"I can't tell, I really can't tell!"

At this moment, the burly man blocking the way spoke.

"Outsiders?"

"I..."

"Looks like it, haha, my luck is really good today. I just went out and already met an Outsider." The burly man smiled, revealing his teeth full of yellow stains.

Digging Princess was nervous: "What do you want to do?"

"What do you think I want to do? Of course, I'm going to catch you and exchange you for a bounty. You Outsiders really pissed off the Wildfire Gang as soon as you arrived. That's really awesome!"

Saying this, the strong man couldn't help but sigh.

When facing local bullies like the Wildfire Gang, these Outsiders showed no fear. They not only stole from the Wildfire Gang's supply crates but also threatened them after being ambushed, saying things like, "You're finished. You dare provoke us? No one in heaven or earth can save you!"

It was like a broken bill counter—completely off!

The strong man pulled out a burlap sack and, without a word, shoved it over Digging Princess's head.

"Hey, you... Help! Help!"

Darkness descended, and Digging Princess struggled desperately, but with only 3 Strength, she couldn't break free.

"Shout all you want! No one can hear you!" Thinking of the high bounty offered by the Wildfire Gang, the strong man chuckled.

As soon as this classic line was uttered, the players in the live stream couldn't hold back.

[Sounds legit!]

[Did I enter the wrong live stream? I thought this was a walking simulator?]

[The local customs here are so simple and honest.]

[Abandoned Cooling Plant, also known as Alien Gotham.]

Amidst the laughter, a clear, melodious, and authoritative voice suddenly came from the live stream.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

The strong man released Digging Princess and turned around.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Digging Princess finally removed the sack, staggering up while holding onto a nearby rotten wooden crate.

Because her view was blocked by the strong man, she had to move sideways.

With this shift, the sun's rays poured into her eyes, and she quickly raised a hand to shield her forehead.

Ugh, so dazzling!

After a while, she finally gradually adjusted to the sudden brightness.

She saw it—a girl standing against the light.

The soft sunlight gilded the girl's silhouette with a golden outline, and the obliquely blowing wind gently lifted the girl's silky silver-white hair.

The wind came so perfectly.

It passed through the narrow alley, bypassed the cluttered piles of objects, and finally struck Digging Princess's forehead directly.

Already dizzy, Digging Princess unconsciously opened her mouth wide. At this moment, she thought she could answer a question asked many years ago.

"Do you believe in light?"

"I do!"