First Enhancement: Evolution Blood!

In an ordinary-looking laboratory in Area C, Level B3 of The Truth Society's main base.

Cold-toned light spilled from the strips embedded in the ceiling, making the room, already filled with frigid machines, seem even more desolate.

When the time on the oval wall clock reached 4:12, a faint rumble accompanied the pneumatic door as it opened, and an utterly unremarkable-looking man walked in from outside.

He was The Truth Society's Chairman, hailed as one of the most dangerous men in the world. On the Dark Web, he shared the top bounty ranking with the leaders of the other four of the five major powers.

"Has Yulia woken up?"

The Chairman expressionlessly questioned the lab-coated man standing beside a circular machine.

"She woke up ten minutes ago, but she's not in very good spirits."

"Her state of mind isn't important. I have questions for her."

Half an hour earlier, the Chairman had received word from a spy planted inside Gene Primordial. He had learned that the operation squad sent to the Waste Gas Cooling Plant had been wiped out, that Gene Primordial had urgently convened a meeting, and that it was preparing a new round of attacks against The Truth Society. He desperately wanted to know what exactly had happened at the Abandoned Cooling Plant.

The lab-coated man nodded and operated the circular machine. Before long, the bulky, square-headed monitor directly ahead lit up, revealing Yulia in the center of the screen.

Unlike the energetic Yulia at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, this Yulia looked listless. She wore a white hospital gown, her neck fastened to the bed by a silver-white metal collar. Blue and red wires were attached all over her forehead, wrists, and ankles.

The Chairman got straight to the point. "Tell me everything that happened to you at the Abandoned Cooling Plant."

Yulia slowly opened her eyes and began to explain. "A group of Outsiders of unknown origin appeared at the Abandoned Cooling Plant. They were suspected to have been sent by Gene Primordial. Number Seven refused to obey my orders and insisted on teaching them a lesson, exposing our whereabouts. Those Outsiders then coordinated with Gene Primordial's agents to launch an attack on the Wildfire Gang."

"And then you died?"

"Those Outsiders weren't afraid of death at all. Even when I controlled their companions, they showed no fear. Under their relentless attacks, my proxy body wasn't strong enough, and there was a flaw in my control. Someone broke free, and they seized that opportunity to kill my proxy body."

Yulia spoke casually. When mentioning Bai Fu, she deliberately obscured the details. Rather than saying Bai Fu had broken free herself, she changed it to say that she had carelessly relaxed her control over Bai Fu.

Just as she expected, the Chairman's attention was not on Bai Fu.

"So you're saying that the proxy body I provided you was too weak, which caused this operation to fail?"

The Chairman stepped forward and rested his right hand atop the monitor.

"Yulia, you must really want to kill me. You'd love nothing more than to slice my flesh inch by inch."

Yulia neither confirmed nor denied it.

The Chairman narrowed his eyes. "Normally, I would ignore your implication, but this time, I want to do something different. Ed, give Yulia a stronger proxy body."

The lab-coated man named Ed was startled. "Chairman, isn't that inappropriate? What if she gets a new proxy body and turns around to kill you?"

"Don't worry." The Chairman remained composed. "She's a smart woman. Before she can ensure the safety of those acquaintances back home, she won't make a move. Isn't that right, Yulia?"

Yulia simply closed her eyes.

The Chairman smiled. "The Truth Society is vast and gathers all kinds of people. I don't care about your pasts, nor do I care what you want. As long as you can help me reach the truth, even if you want to kill me, I can turn a blind eye."

At that point, he suddenly paused, as though gathering his emotions.

"Yulia, if you want to kill me, then complete the tasks I give you properly. For every task you complete, I'll give you a stronger proxy body. Once you've completed every task I assign you, I won't mind setting you free. Then, you can come seek revenge on me."

Yulia was so furious that she nearly crushed her back teeth.

The mockery was absolutely maxed out, but given the current situation, she really had no choice but to swallow it and keep working for The Truth Society.

Fortunately, she was not entirely without countermeasures. As long as she could capture Bai Fu, as long as she could figure out why Bai Fu had been able to break free of her control, the situation would turn around. Then, she would definitely make The Truth Society's Chairman pay for his arrogance!

"Coordinate the experimental data with her, then begin the new experiment immediately."

After giving Ed his instructions, the Chairman left the laboratory directly. He had arranged a new task for the troops below—

Eliminate Bai Fu, Yago, and Xia Shi!

"I'll dispatch assassins immediately and have our spy embedded with Lynn cooperate with the operation. Leave the cleanup to me, Chairman. Please rest assured!"

The Chairman nodded in satisfaction.

If he couldn't kill Gene Primordial's leader, could he not kill three little nobodies like them?

He did not take the matter too seriously. He had many things to do, and he needed to focus his energy on military affairs. Next, The Truth Society would launch an unprecedentedly large-scale assault on Gene Primordial.

Because she did not know when the players would return, Bai Fu immediately got to work after meeting up with Yago and Xia Shi.

She had originally planned to spend a day building the monument, but she had still underestimated her popularity at the Abandoned Cooling Plant after the Insect Tide incident. She was a savior now. If she merely stood by the roadside, several passersby would greet her and offer her food.

Once people learned that she wanted to build a monument for the players, a large group of scavengers quickly stepped forward and offered to help.

With the scavengers' assistance, she completed the monument in only half a day.

"That settles it."

Before leaving, Bai Fu deliberately placed several paper flowers folded by An Ya in front of the monument, making the memorial feel more solemn.

Now, all she had to do was wait for the game update to end and for the players to log back in.

While waiting, Bai Fu encountered an unwelcome visitor.

"Boss? Why are you here?"

The Wildfire Gang's Boss stood at the doorway with a miserable expression, as though someone owed him a million.

Bai Fu suspected that her looting the Wildfire Gang had been exposed, but that couldn't be right. The Wildfire Gang had no surveillance cameras, and she had repeatedly confirmed that no one else was nearby at the time.

No matter what, if the truth really came out, she would have no choice but to send the Boss of the Wildfire Gang on his way.

In the past, she truly had not been a match for the Boss of the Wildfire Gang. But times had changed. Her Constitution was now as high as 29, and she had also gotten two bottles of blood medicine from Yulia's laboratory. That was enough for her to wear down and kill the Boss of the Wildfire Gang, whose strength was roughly on par with Number Seven and Number Nine.

However, things still developed somewhat differently from what she had expected.

"I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

Bai Fu froze.

The Boss of the Wildfire Gang said with a bitter smile, "I have ties to The Truth Society. Once the Gene Primordial reinforcements arrive tomorrow, they'll definitely arrest me immediately. This should be the last time we see each other."

"Th-this... Boss, are you planning to run?"

"I don't plan to run. If the Gene Primordial catches me, I still have a chance of surviving. But if The Truth Society catches me, I'm dead for sure. Forget it, let's not talk about that."

The Boss of the Wildfire Gang stared at Bai Fu.

Right now, he was simply feeling sentimental, though mixed in with that sentiment was a trace of pride.

That's right, pride!

He had recognized Bai Fu's extraordinary nature back when Cao Wenliang had targeted her. He had believed that after he left the Wildfire Gang to join The Truth Society, Bai Fu could take his place at the helm of the Wildfire Gang and lead it to new heights.

The facts proved that he had been completely right. Bai Fu had repeatedly distinguished herself, and during this Insect Tide attack, she had stepped forward to put an end to the Insect Tide, becoming the savior of the Abandoned Cooling Plant.

With Bai Fu's performance, how could she possibly fail to be a good leader of the Wildfire Gang?

This fully proved that although he had lost, the fault was not his. There had been nothing wrong with his judgment. The ones at fault were those three idiots from The Truth Society, the timing that had insisted on causing him trouble, and this world that had targeted him at every turn!

"What a pity."

The Boss of the Wildfire Gang shook his head.

"Bai Fu, after joining The Truth Society, I originally planned to hand the Wildfire Gang over to you. I've always thought highly of you. Young people as ambitious as you are truly rare these days. I believed that if we worked together, we could take the Wildfire Gang even further. But now, we can't work together anymore. I went back to the Wildfire Gang just now, and I don't know which bastard smashed open the vault door. Every last bit of money inside had been taken."

The money was gone, and so was he, the gang leader. The Wildfire Gang was finished.

He suddenly let out a long sigh, his eyes filled with resentment. When he saw the vault picked so clean that even rats would disdain it, he had nearly died of anger.

But on second thought, since he was about to be arrested anyway, losing the money did not seem like such a big deal.

"I'm passing the position of leader of the Wildfire Gang to you. Whether you're willing to take it is up to you. Oh, and this is the last of my savings. If I keep it, the Gene Primordial will confiscate it in the end anyway, so I might as well give it all to you."

As he spoke, the Boss of the Wildfire Gang took out a card. He said there were still 30,000 Credit Coins on it.

Bai Fu's expression became exceedingly strange as she accepted the card.

She had known that the Boss of the Wildfire Gang still had a private stash, but she had never expected him to hand that private stash over to her voluntarily. What she had expected even less was that, at the very end, he would transfer the entire faction to her as well.

Do not underestimate this faction transfer. With it, she could arrange for more people to work for her. She could also use the faction to further build up her identity and thus draw more players toward her.

Bai Fu was so moved that she could barely speak.

Boss, you really... I'm crying.

What was a true Top Spender Bro? This was what a real Top Spender Bro looked like! Compared to the Boss of the Wildfire Gang, Brother Dabiao was nothing. If she could successfully break free of Zu Yuan Star in the future and venture into the wider world, then the Boss of the Wildfire Gang would deserve one-third of the credit.

"Boss, I'll remember you!"

The Boss of the Wildfire Gang smiled and nodded. "It's enough that you feel that way. All right, it's getting late. I won't disturb you any longer, lest you get implicated because of me."

He turned and left, muttering, "What a pity, what a pity," as he walked.

Several minutes later, his figure finally disappeared around the corner.

Bai Fu slipped the card into her pocket and opened the faction system. As the leader of the faction, she could now make all sorts of adjustments to it.

"Let's change the name first."

What was the point of continuing to use the name Wildfire Gang?

Bai Fu changed the faction's name from [Wildfire Gang] to [Silent Court].

Couldn't understand what that name meant?

Good!

Bai Fu did not understand it either. This was exactly the kind of vaguely impressive effect she wanted. Only then could she fool the players more effectively.

After changing the name, she closed the faction system. The other things were unimportant. She could slowly make adjustments after she tricked people into joining in the future.

After closing the door, Bai Fu returned to the room. She had only been sitting there for a little over ten minutes when she suddenly received a new game prompt.

[Confirming Plot Participation (0%...23%...100%)]

[Correcting Character Setup (0%...11%...)]

Wait, could it be that the big thing she had been waiting for all this time was finally here?

Bai Fu's breathing suddenly quickened.

When the data correction progress reached 100%, it seemed as though celestial music sounded by her ears.

[You have gained the talent [Luck]]

[Luck]: You were born luckier than ordinary people. When making checks, success rate +10%

It was here, it was here—the power-up she had been waiting for had finally arrived!

Bai Fu was so excited that her hands trembled. This meant her idea of strengthening herself by increasing her popularity had been correct.

Although the game had not directly given her a special template or new backstory, this [Luck] talent had come at exactly the right time.

A 10% increase in success rate meant she could achieve a 100% successful absorption rate when taking the enhancement potion Yulia had made.

Bai Fu hurriedly took out the enhancement potion. Just as she had expected, the description under its additional effects had changed: a (+10%) had appeared after the 90%.

Without hesitation, she downed the entire potion in one gulp.

This time, it took a full hour for the enhancement progress bar to reach 100%. During that time, her body occasionally suffered needle-like pain, but that level of suffering was completely worth it.

After unlocking the [Evolution Blood] template, all of her stats shot up dramatically.

[Race]: Human (Evolution Blood)

[Template]: Special (Evolution Blood)

[Experience]: 54007

[Main Profession]: Spiritual Apprentice Lv10 (Max Level), Unemployed Lv5 (Max Level)

[Secondary Profession]: None

[Health Points]: 690/690

[Psychic Energy]: 95/95

[Attributes]: Strength 11, Agility 7, Constitution 33, Intelligence 3, Spirit 14, Inspiration 19

[Skills]: Frenzy Lv3, Hardening Lv1, Spiritual Vision, Innate Spirituality Lv1, Basic Spiritual Energy Mastery, Power Surge (Inferior), Rate Amplification (Inferior)

Psychic Boiling - When attacking, converts 10% of Psychic Energy into an equal amount of base physical damage. This damage benefits from critical-hit bonuses.

[Talent]: Luck

[Knowledge Chain]: Spiritual Energy Knowledge Chain (4)

[Title]: Wildfire (Health Points +30)

[Attribute Points]: 0

[Reputation]: 3

[Faction]: Silent Court (Faction Reputation MAX)

Looking at her massively increased health bar, Bai Fu grinned from ear to ear. She could now take on two or three of her former selves without breaking a sweat. The strength of an advanced template was clear to see.

"Good, good, good! Next, I need to keep farming player Favorability!"

Bai Fu already had a preliminary plan. After using the monument to farm a wave of Favorability, she would use the Profession Knowledge Books taken from the Wildfire Gang to help the players level up, giving them a few benefits. That way, she could better use the faction system and the backstory she had made up for herself to direct the players into doing things for her.

The next day, close to noon, Gene Primordial's massive reinforcement convoy drove into the Abandoned Cooling Plant.

The moment they got out of their vehicles, they arrested the Wildfire Gang's Boss, then called Yago and Xia Shi in for questioning. After learning of Bai Fu's existence, they summoned Bai Fu as well. They only asked her a few simple questions, and after confirming that Bai Fu could not possibly be connected to The Truth Society, they immediately said that the director of the Fourth Division wished to personally reward her and hoped she would accompany them to Lynn.

Bai Fu was naturally happy to agree.

The Wildfire Gang had collapsed, and Yulia's fake body had been killed. There was nothing left for her to gain by staying at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, so it was better to head to Lynn as soon as possible. Once there, she could also ask the Fourth Division for advanced Knowledge Books.

"Thank you very much for your cooperation."

Gene Primordial's reinforcements swept through the area around the Abandoned Cooling Plant, then turned the Wildfire Gang's hideout upside down. After confirming that nothing had been missed, they drove away that very night.

Just as Bai Fu and An Ya caught a ride to Lynn, the official Above the Stars account finally released a new promotional video—

When the Stars Shine!

The moment the promotional video went live, its popularity exploded.

This was no ordinary promotional video. It included plenty of footage recorded by players themselves, so many players had been eagerly anticipating it long before its release.

How wonderful would it be if footage they had recorded themselves—or an NPC they liked—appeared in the promotional video?

The instant the video was released, countless players opened it and began flooding it with bullet comments.

[Holy shit, it got picked! It really got picked! It's that badass scene where Fu Fu grabbed Digging Treasure by the neck and lifted him up!]

[Wait, Fu Fu has more than one scene! The part where she said goodbye to everyone after the Insect Tide arrived was included too!]

[Digging Princess totally won—two clips got selected all by herself.]

A group of players celebrated, until one bullet comment suddenly appeared.

[Cool as it is, the question is... is Fu Fu still alive?]

Fuck!

That question instantly left all the players who liked Bai Fu stunned.

While waiting for the game to reopen, they had constantly been thinking about that question. Some people had posted analyses in the community, while others had gone to leave messages for the official account, but no one had ever been able to get a definite answer.

As the official account continued to give no response, their hearts sank deeper and deeper—

Fu Fu... was probably beyond saving.

Don't let that be true!

Digging Princess, who had always loved posting in the community, shut it down outright this time. It wasn't that she was afraid of being roasted by those trolls; she just didn't dare read other people's analyses, afraid that the moment she saw the words "Bai Fu is dead," she would faint from anger.

[Open the servers already! Why aren't the servers open yet? I need to get into the game and confirm it immediately!]

After finally waiting for the game to reopen, Digging Princess wasted no time and immediately clicked to enter the game.

After respawning at the revival point, she rushed straight to Bai Fu's home, only to find an empty house.

"It's... it's over!"

Digging Princess's heart turned cold.

The real critical hit came from a pair of passersby talking. As she walked along, the voices of two scavengers drifted into her ears.

"I heard Bai Fu left?"

"Yeah, she left."

Digging Princess couldn't take in anything they said after that. At that moment, the only words echoing in her mind were "left."

Left—wasn't that just a euphemism for dying?

Digging Princess completely broke down.

"Ahhh—"

She shouted and charged off.

She had no destination and simply ran at random, but perhaps guided by her subconscious, she eventually arrived somewhere familiar—the place where she had first met Bai Fu.

That should have been the beginning of a "legend," yet in the end, that legend had still vanished like a bubble.

Why had things turned out like this?

Digging Princess kept walking until she suddenly stopped. She discovered that a stone monument was blocking the path ahead.

"Was there a monument here before?"

She stepped closer and focused her eyes, only to find words carved into it.

[In memory of the brave ones who sacrificed themselves to save the Abandoned Cooling Plant—

Bai Fu]

"Huh?"

Digging Princess froze.

PS: Thanks to ~xy~ and Dongxia Chanming for the donations. Please keep following!