For Bai Fu, the focus of Combat Etiquette wasn't etiquette, but combat.
There would always be times when she was alone, or when she encountered an enemy that was too powerful. Even if she restrained the enemy, the players' damage might not be enough to deal a heavy blow within two seconds.
So she needed to come up with a form of Combat Etiquette that could not only restrain the enemy for two seconds, but also make the enemy inflict a heavy blow on themself during those two seconds.
"Start by punching yourself in the head?"
After thinking it over, Bai Fu rejected the idea.
With her constitution, even if she punched herself, it would be difficult to cause much damage. However, knocking herself into a [Stunned] state with one punch was still possible.
Although the enemy would imitate her and punch themself in the head, what if she passed out while the enemy got lucky and stayed conscious? Wouldn't she be screwed?
That kind of extremely risky move was out of the question.
"What if I use a gun..."
Before fighting, she could first imitate Huoyun Xieshen and shoot herself twice.
Bai Fu shook her head. Even when her constitution was only in the twenties, she hadn't feared ordinary pistols. Now that her constitution had risen to 37, even large-caliber pistols would have a hard time causing her substantial harm.
The problem was that she carried a pistol with her, but her enemies might not. This form of Combat Etiquette could only be used against specific enemies.
She'd stick with fists. Punching the head wouldn't work, but hitting other places was different.
She had a technique called Fatal Strike, which could guarantee a heavy blow to most enemies without causing her any harm.
If the enemy was wearing armor, the elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles were also good targets.
Bai Fu contentedly placed the book back on the shelf.
After leaving the archives, she found Xia Shi. The two of them walked around nearby, then returned to their lodgings for lunch shortly before noon. Afterward, they went back to the Fourth Division office building.
This time, Bai Fu had come to meet Lu Yuelin, the Chairman of the Fourth Division.
When she entered the Chairman's office accompanied by Xia Shi, Lu Yuelin was reading a report while drinking goji berry tea.
"Oh, Bai Fu! Hahaha, I've heard your name from Xia Shi so many times over the past two days. We finally meet today."
Lu Yuelin stood up with a hearty laugh.
His hair was slightly graying. When he smiled, he looked less like the chairman in charge of an intelligence organization and more like a kindly old man.
Just as his appearance suggested, his words also gave people a spring-breeze-like feeling.
Bai Fu had expected to be interrogated, but Lu Yuelin didn't say a single unnecessary word throughout the meeting. Aside from praising her heroic performance at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, he only discussed her rewards.
"According to the Gene Primordial Anti-Truth Society Attack Regulations (Fourth Revised Edition), individuals or organizations that make particularly significant contributions to preventing, stopping, or combating attacks by the Truth Society will be rewarded. Given your contribution at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, a Silver Moon Medal and prize money are guaranteed. Considering that you also helped our Fourth Division tremendously this time, I'll personally authorize some additional rewards. You can make any request you have, and I'll do my best to satisfy it. Even joining the Fourth Division isn't out of the question."
Join the Fourth Division?
Wouldn't that make her one of their own? If she made great contributions, she should be able to gain access to the Spiritual Energy Knowledge Chain more easily than an outsider.
However, joining the Fourth Division also had plenty of drawbacks. Most importantly, her freedom would be restricted.
Before she understood the strengths and weaknesses of the various factions and figured out which one was most suitable for her involvement in the main storyline, Bai Fu wasn't in a hurry to decide.
Finally, she asked Lu Yuelin, on the off chance, whether she could borrow the advanced spiritual energy knowledge possessed by Gene Primordial.
"Although I'm the Chairman of the Fourth Division, I can't guarantee that either. I can only try to submit an application for you. I can tell you in advance that the chances of approval are very low. However, if you can make even greater contributions to Gene Primordial, the situation will be different."
As expected, it wouldn't work.
Bai Fu had to settle for second best and ask whether she could get a current world map of Zu Yuan Star.
"That's no problem."
Lu Yuelin immediately told his secretary to fetch the map. Feeling that this reward still wasn't enough, he also forcibly stuffed a large stack of meal vouchers and discount coupons into Bai Fu's hands.
"If you plan to live in Lynn for a while, these little things should be quite helpful."
The corner of Bai Fu's mouth twitched.
Still, since it was a kind gesture, she accepted them.
After she left, Lu Yuelin's secretary said, "Chairman Lu, aren't you being a little too polite to her? We still can't confirm that she has nothing to do with the Truth Society."
Lu Yuelin took a sip of tea. "A suspect is innocent until proven guilty. She's currently the Fourth Division's benefactor, so we should treat her with the courtesy due to a benefactor. What good would shouting threats do? Besides, if you really want to pry some information out of her, you should be friendlier. If you guard against her from the start, don't you think she'll guard against us too and refuse to tell us a single truth?"
The secretary remained cold-faced and said nothing.
When he said nothing, Lu Yuelin said nothing either.
He knew very well that this secretary wouldn't listen to him completely. Most likely, he would cause Bai Fu some trouble in private to show off his own abilities.
What could he do? He could only forgive the fellow like a father. Who could blame him when the man had someone backing him?
Everything about the Fourth Division was good except that it had too many people with connections, making its work extremely difficult to carry out.
Still, Lu Yuelin's mindset remained very relaxed.
If the work was difficult, so be it. At his age, even if he performed excellently, he couldn't possibly get promoted anymore. So why work hard?
His current attitude was to lie flat. During work, he did whatever needed doing. Whether things succeeded depended on how well his subordinates carried them out. Otherwise, his main goals were simply not being late, not leaving early, and not working overtime. Once mealtime arrived, he would lead the way to the cafeteria.
What a comfortable life.
After leaving the Fourth Division, Bai Fu went straight back to Xia Shi's lodgings.
She entered the map Lu Yuelin had given her into the game's map system. Combined with the books introducing the origins of the five major factions, she now had a very clear understanding of their distribution.
The five major factions were currently all located on the same continent. The Gene Primordial she belonged to was primarily made up of scientists sponsored by a prewar major power and part of its military. After the war, these people used the shelter where they had hidden as their starting point and established Gene Primordial in the easternmost region of the continent. Their goal was to rebuild a new order in the wasteland. After a century of development, Gene Primordial now controlled six super-large settlements and dozens of small shelters.
The development histories of the Old Republic and the Railroad Guild were similar. The Human Alliance and the Truth Society were more unusual.
The Human Alliance had emerged from the once most powerful faction, the Old Republic. After the Old Republic erupted into a mutant rebellion, the humans who had suffered persecution broke away from the Old Republic and established the Human Alliance.
As for the Truth Society, no one had figured out the origins of its Chairman even now. Even within the Truth Society, most people didn't know the Chairman's true appearance or name. They usually addressed him as "that lord."
This was very much like the Winery.
Unlike the Winery, however, the Truth Society didn't have that many infiltrators and traitors within it.
Otherwise, given how much the other factions hated the Truth Society, they would have attacked its headquarters long ago.
Bai Fu committed all this knowledge to memory. Such information was usually useless, but at critical moments, she might be able to use it to bluff the players and make them think she was unfathomably profound.
Speaking of players, after teaching An Ya how to read for a while, Bai Fu opened the community. She planned to see what the players from the Abandoned Cooling Plant had been doing recently.
As soon as she entered, she saw a post saying that Digging Princess had boarded a vehicle from the Abandoned Cooling Plant to Lynn.
[Digging Treasure went all out this time. She went completely broke just to buy a ticket.]
[What did Digging Princess eat? How did she suddenly become a natural livestreaming prodigy? She just keeps going.]
[There's no such thing as an innate livestreaming prodigy. This is the benefit of clinging to a powerful patron!]
[Wasn't that also because Digging Princess had a discerning eye and immediately saw that Bai Fu was extraordinary?]
One group of players praised Digging Princess, while another kept @-ing her.
[Digging Treasure, charge! Hurry up and find Fu Fu! I won't feel at ease until I see Fu Fu safe and sound with my own eyes.]
[Damn it, I was one step too slow. By the time I got there, today's tickets were already sold out.]
Sigh, I wonder if Fu Fu is doing well in Lynn. Has anyone bullied her?
[Digging Treasure, stop lurking! I know you're secretly reading the replies and laughing as you do it.]
Bai Fu nodded inwardly. Digging Princess had taken the morning train. Given the current road conditions, she should arrive in Lynn by noon tomorrow at the latest.
Recently, Bai Fu had sacrificed herself to save the players, bid them farewell, and erected a monument for them, directly bringing their emotions to a peak. After those emotions had fermented for several days, it was time to give the players an outlet for their emotional explosion.
However, she wasn't satisfied with simply appearing in front of Digging Princess. Her plan was to use this opportunity to further enrich her persona in front of the players.
In the players' eyes, she was currently "a beautiful, mysterious NPC who cared for players." That was good, but not enough. She needed to build on that framework and create a second layer, further drawing herself and the players closer and giving them the feeling that "Fu Fu is dazzling, but she doesn't make people feel unreachable."
"An Ya, do you feel bored staying here?"
"Um... It's okay, I guess. A little, but it's fine." An Ya hesitated before answering.
Bai Fu called her over. "It's rare for us to travel so far from home. I'll take you out tomorrow. Oh, right, you..."
She gave An Ya a few instructions, and An Ya nodded repeatedly to show that she remembered them.
Her admiration for Bai Fu had already reached its maximum. If Bai Fu told her to go east, she would never go west.
After resting for one night, Bai Fu discovered first thing the next morning that Digging Princess was livestreaming.
She sat beside the window, occasionally commenting on the scenery outside. Half an hour later, the vehicle finally entered Lynn Station.
When both her feet touched the ground, Digging Princess suddenly felt as if everything were unreal.
Had she really arrived in Lynn? Could she really find Fu Fu? Could it be that Fu Fu had left Lynn again by the time she arrived?
She quickly suppressed this uneasiness.
She was someone who dared to watch A Wicked Ghost alone in the middle of the night with the sound on. What was there to fear now? She just had to search!
Digging Princess cleared her throat and smiled at the camera.
"We've arrived at Lynn, the settlement closest to the Abandoned Cooling Plant. It's so beautiful, everyone!"
The comments flew past at high speed.
[Holy crap, this Syrian-style city is overflowing with wasteland vibes.]
[This game is seriously ridiculous. The map being huge is one thing, but there isn't even any loading when fast traveling.]
[Digging Treasure, Digging Treasure, stop dawdling at the station. Go see Fu Fu in the distance!]
"Okay, okay, don't rush me. I'll go find Fu Fu right now."
Digging Princess officially set out on her journey.
She had already prepared herself to search for several consecutive days, but the pain of looking for someone still exceeded her expectations.
"Bai Fu? Never heard of her."
"A pretty white-haired girl? There are plenty of white-haired people these days. Red, orange, and green-haired people are everywhere too."
After returning empty-handed again and again and mistaking one person after another, Digging Princess felt herself going numb.
[Digging Treasure, what are you doing, Digging Treasure?]
[As long as you don't stop, the road will keep stretching ahead. So, Digging Treasure, don't stop!]
[Digging Treasure, do you really want all your previous efforts to come to nothing?]
Looking at the scrolling comments, Digging Princess hurriedly explained, "Giving up is impossible. I'll never give up in this lifetime. I'm just a little thirsty right now. Damn, this game is too realistic. I need to find a way to earn some Credit Coins, or I feel like I'll collapse before I find Fu Fu."
But where could she find a quest that would let her earn money?
Digging Princess clutched her stomach and wandered aimlessly through the streets and alleys.
She didn't know how much time had passed. With the sun setting in the west and the bright moon hanging high, she reached an intersection. Across the road hung an orange-yellow lamp, and two people stood beneath it.
One was tall and one was short. Both had beautiful, long white hair. Under the orange-yellow light, their faces were unusually indistinct.
Yet at that moment, Digging Princess's gaze pierced through the blur, firmly imprinting their features in her eyes.
Bai Fu. An Ya.
Digging Princess stood rooted to the spot.
She had never imagined that they would reunite in this way.
The unexpected encounter felt like the first time she had met Bai Fu, and also like the moment she had found the monument Bai Fu had erected.
In that instant, enormous waves surged through Digging Princess's heart, and the comments in the livestream exploded as well.
[!!!]
P.S. Although I said I'd finish earlier, I still ended up being a little late. Fortunately, I managed to get both chapters out as scheduled. Please follow for more!
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