The Fourth Division's meeting went on for two full days, but they still made no progress.
Though many were reluctant to admit it, the Bai Fu assassination suggested that a spy from the Truth Society had probably infiltrated the Intelligence Bureau's upper ranks. That left them facing a very real question—
Could the intelligence intercepted by headquarters have been false information planted by that spy?
If so, acting according to the original plan would be walking straight into a trap.
If not, they still didn't know whether the spy had already passed the information on to the Truth Society, so they didn't dare act rashly. They could only send people to investigate first—but that risked missing the best opportunity to strike.
"Fuck, this is such a mess."
The action team's leader had a short temper. Seeing everyone else in the conference room stay silent, he couldn't help slamming his fist down on the table.
Not everyone had given up like Division Chief Lu Yuelin. He'd thought he could make a good showing in this operation and lay a solid foundation for a promotion, a raise, and the peak of his life. But now, until they got to the bottom of the spy situation, there was no way to put the operation into action.
"If I find out who the mole is, I'll shove my gun barrel up his ass and let him experience the ecstasy of a bullet blasting his prostate!"
Seeing the action team leader's language get more and more outrageous, Lu Yuelin cleared his throat and stepped in to change the subject. "Let's see what headquarters has to say first. I still have a lot of faith in everyone in our division."
The action team leader snorted.
The conference room fell silent again, though this time it didn't last long.
Li Cheng, the secretary to another senior official in the Fourth Division, broke the silence. "We could try to draw the spy out."
"How?"
"Bai Fu." Li Cheng slowly uttered the name. "The spy exposed himself because he wanted to kill Bai Fu. After the assassination failed, the Truth Society immediately raised the bounty on her—by a lot, all the way to five hundred thousand. That's no small sum. Even the division chief's head is only worth a million. That shows they've marked Bai Fu for death. If a chance to kill her comes along, I believe the spy will strike again."
The action team leader said, "Li Cheng, unless I'm mistaken, you were saying just a couple of days ago that Bai Fu might be a mole sent by the Truth Society, and that everything she'd done so far was a ploy by the Truth Society to make her look like a victim. Why are you talking about working with her now?"
Everyone turned to look at Li Cheng. His expression didn't change.
"This would also be a test of Bai Fu. We'd have a chance to keep an eye on her. Compared to believing there's a Truth Society spy among the upper ranks, I'd rather believe she staged the assassination herself. It wouldn't be difficult for her."
"It's a good idea, but how are you going to get her to cooperate? You and I both know how dangerous it is to be bait," the action team leader pressed.
Li Cheng remained calm. "Doesn't she want to see the advanced spiritual energy knowledge we've acquired? Tell her she can have access if she helps us find the spy."
The action team leader's mouth twitched. "You're making promises you can't keep. Forget whether the people above us will agree to your proposal. You're saying she only gets to see it if she finds the spy? Only an idiot would work for you under those terms. If she dies halfway through, she gets nothing. You in? Because I'm not."
The others didn't dare argue with Li Cheng, since he had connections above him. But the action team leader wasn't afraid—he had connections of his own.
Li Cheng's expression darkened, but he didn't lose his temper. "I'll apply to the higher-ups. Of course, if you can come up with a better plan, I'll shut up right now."
At the crucial moment, the peacemaker Lu Yuelin stepped in again. He glanced at his watch. "It's getting late. We're not going to reach a decision today, so we might as well eat first."
That immediately caught the interest of most people present.
"What's for dinner in the cafeteria?"
"Fried chicken legs."
"Great! I can have a few more bowls of rice, then."
Li Cheng said nothing. His face was livid as he left.
When the Truth Society's chairman heard that Bai Fu had not only survived but also killed the three assassins sent after her, even his usually composed face turned a little green.
"Three against one, and all three get killed? Do they even know how to play?"
He immediately summoned the person in charge of the Operations Department and berated him.
"Didn't you tell me you'd take care of the thieves and that I could relax? Is this how you help me relax?"
It was bad enough that they couldn't kill the leader of the Gene Primordial. But now they couldn't even handle a nobody who'd needed an explosive burst of power to break free of Yulia's decoy. On top of that, they'd exposed the existence of their spy. What next—getting humiliated by some random passerby?
What a disgrace!
The Operations Department's head was sweating profusely. He hurried to explain.
"Bai Fu wasn't killed because she's actually a Spiritual Energy Priest. No one knew that before, so she caught us off guard and turned the tables. Now we've figured out what she can do, and we can send more capable assassins to finish her off whenever we like. But..."
"But what?"
The head nervously explained the situation in the Fourth Division.
"Chairman, it may not be a bad thing that Bai Fu survived this assassination attempt. The Gene Primordial Intelligence Bureau is in chaos over the spy inside its ranks, and they're planning to use Bai Fu to draw him out. They don't have the time or attention to focus on our other operations."
The chairman pondered for a moment.
That was true. From this perspective, Bai Fu was a useful pawn. Her presence could keep the Intelligence Bureau occupied.
"Then let Bai Fu live a few more days. Have our people play along with the Intelligence Bureau. When the time comes, we'll send Bai Fu to her grave!"
The head of the Operations Department hurriedly agreed.
The chairman sneered. She was just a nobody. How much trouble could she possibly cause?
Bai Fu waited through the whole day.
During that time, since Digging Princess hadn't seen her for nearly two days, many people on the forum thought something had happened to her. Bai Fu specifically sent someone to tell Digging Princess that she was fine and had only run into a little trouble. She hadn't expected that small gesture to spark heated discussion among the players. Many thought it had to mean something.
[What? Fu Fu's in trouble?]
[Why's that a big deal? If Fu Fu weren't in trouble, how would we get a chance to show up?]
[Digging Treasure's only level 9 now. She's still got a ways to go before unlocking an Advanced Class.]
[If I remember right, the quests in this game change dynamically. Unlike other games, you can't accept a quest and then put off completing it for ages. That scene just now was clearly urging Digging Princess to level up fast. If she takes too long, she might not get the next quest.]
[She suddenly rushed in to hurry her along. Do you think something happened to Fu Fu?]
[From the way Fu Fu spoke to Digging Treasure before, probably not.]
[Tone doesn't prove anything. Maybe Fu Fu was acting relaxed because she didn't want us to worry. Don't forget she's still injured. I refuse to believe that injury has no effect on her.]
That comment made a whole group of players anxious. They could only wish they could go to Lynn now. Even if they wanted to help, they couldn't.
They didn't even have time to envy Pai Da and the others, who were about to reach Lynn. Instead, they kept tagging Pai Da and his group on the forum, telling them to level up as soon as they arrived and then find out what kind of trouble Bai Fu had gotten into.
Pai Da and the others grew serious when they received the messages.
They were anxious too, but leveling up wasn't something they could just do on demand. They knew next to nothing about Lynn, and all they could hope was to unlock an Advanced Class before time ran out and trigger a new quest. Who knew if they'd have another chance to get a quest involving Bai Fu after this one expired?
With that sense of urgency, Fu Fu immediately got moving as soon as the train reached Lynn Station.
"Let's split up and get a feel for Lynn. See if we can find any chain quests for farming experience. If we don't find anything, we'll regroup and go find Digging Princess. What do you think?"
"I'm fine with that."
"Let's do it."
Everyone agreed with Convert to My Fu's suggestion.
After splitting up from the other players, he opened a livestream.
He wasn't interested in livestreaming at all. He played games to have fun, and he didn't feel any need to share that fun with other people. But when it came to finding quests, he was a complete amateur, so he thought it made sense to ask the audience for advice.
Once upon a time, people crowdfunded novels. Today, they could crowdfund a playthrough. It made perfect sense!
As soon as Convert to My Fu started the livestream, a large crowd of players rushed in. Bai Fu saw the related post on the forum and came over too.
Since she had nothing better to do, she might as well observe how these players behaved. That way, she'd be better able to handle them the next time they met.
Eight in the evening.
"I'm level 8 right now. To unlock an Advanced Class in a short time, I need to reach level 11, which means I'm still more than 37,000 experience short. Honestly, that's a lot of pressure."
"At the Abandoned Cooling Plant, I could team up with other players to farm morphing slugs. But there are hardly any players here, so farming monsters in a group is out of the question. For now, I can only look for some errands to run."
"Preferably quests that reward both experience and money. I need money to buy advanced weapons and food. The hunger system in this game is way too realistic. If you get hungry, your stats drop, and you can even starve to death. If I starve to death, I'll just be giving the game a free kill."
Convert to My Fu made his way through Lynn's streets and alleys, talking as he went about the problems he was facing.
With suggestions from the livestream audience, he triggered several hidden quests that had no prompts. Unfortunately, after running around for an hour, he'd only gained a little over a thousand experience and a few dozen Credit Coins.
At this rate, who knew how long it would take him to earn enough experience? Maybe four or five days. But would he still be able to trigger Bai Fu's quest after four or five days?
Convert to My Fu decided he had to change tactics. He might have to try something for hardcore tough guys.
First, get some money. Then buy equipment and go fight monsters to level up, or take quests that involved fighting monsters.
"Maybe I should rob a bank?"
Convert to My Fu quickly dismissed the idea.
First, he didn't have a weapon he was comfortable with. Second, Lynn wasn't like the Abandoned Cooling Plant. It was a large settlement directly controlled by the Gene Primordial. It had not only the Intelligence Bureau's Fourth Division but also the police and all sorts of other armed authorities.
If he dared to rob a bank right now, he'd be a dung beetle stepping outside just to look for shit.
Even if they didn't kill him on the spot, they'd arrest him and lock him up.
Robbing a bank was out, and he didn't know how to counterfeit money. So what else could he do? Become a con man, a mercenary, an assassin, or something else?
Convert to My Fu was at a loss.
As he walked, he saw someone come out of a building by the road, grinning from ear to ear.
"Haha, I've got money! This time I'm definitely making it all back!"
Well, well. Had he just run into a gambling addict?
Convert to My Fu turned around and saw more than a dozen people crowding around what looked like a factory entrance.
He went over. After listening for a while, he realized they were there to borrow money—and at very high interest.
The loans were being offered by someone named Knife Bro. Every one of the borrowers was broke, and the only thing they had left to offer as collateral was themselves.
"I'll put up a kidney."
"I'll put up..."
Convert to My Fu's mind started turning. He might not know how to do anything else, but surely he could borrow money and not pay it back.
He hurried over and grabbed someone who'd just gotten a loan.
"Aren't they afraid you'll run off without paying?"
The borrower shrugged. "Run off? Where to? Anywhere outside the station, you've got to deal with mutated monsters. They've got people watching the station, and calling the cops won't help. They've got connections at the police station."
Convert to My Fu was delighted to hear that. That was exactly what he wanted. It meant Knife Bro wouldn't refuse to lend to him just because he was a stranger.
Sure enough, when Knife Bro heard he wanted to borrow money, his face broke into a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum. But when he heard that Convert to My Fu wanted to put up everything on his body that could serve as collateral, his expression turned a little odd.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Brother, you've got a serious gambling streak. But if you're willing to bet, I'm game."
Just like that, Convert to My Fu got his hands on five thousand Credit Coins. He couldn't help grumbling.
"I put up every valuable part of my body, and all I got was five thousand Credit Coins. Sure, they've got a lot of purchasing power, but this is still a rip-off."
After getting the money, he asked where the Black Market was and rushed off to buy weapons.
This was Lynn, after all. Unlike at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, where you hardly ever saw a pistol, you could buy one here through the Black Market.
Just as Convert to My Fu was admiring his newly purchased pistol, Knife Bro, the man who'd lent him the money, suddenly showed up with his men.
"Isn't the repayment deadline still a while off? Why are you here?"
Knife Bro's expression was cold. "Brother, you've bought a lot of weapons. Looks like you're planning something big. I don't think you've got what it takes to pay me back, so I'd better reclaim your collateral early."
That was the last straw.
Seeing that the other side was about to use force, Convert to My Fu dropped the act.
You think just because you showed up so fast, I can't get any money out of you?
He shot Knife Bro twice, killing him, then shot himself just as the others were about to grab him.
His ruthlessness left the others dumbfounded.
What the hell was this guy? The moment things looked bad, he shot himself. It felt like they'd picked a fight with someone they really shouldn't have messed with.
After respawning, Convert to My Fu immediately contacted Pai Da and the others.
[Pai Da, Pai Da, I found a way to make money!]
He told them about the loans.
So, overnight, several loan sharks in Lynn's settlement encountered something extremely strange.
A group of tough guys had come out of nowhere. They put up their entire bodies as collateral, borrowed money, and used it to buy weapons. When the loan sharks' men came to collect, the tough guys attacked without a word and then killed themselves.
Staring at the bodies on the ground, they were completely baffled.
What the hell?
They were furious, but had nowhere to vent their anger. The people who'd made them furious were already dead, and all they could recover was some weaponry and a corpse.
What they didn't know was that Convert to My Fu and the others had gathered together. As soon as they borrowed the money, they hid part of it. After dying and respawning, they secretly retrieved it. When they added it all up, they'd made twenty thousand Credit Coins in a single night!
[Holy shit, you can do that?]
The players watching the livestream were stunned.
[Brilliant, but you can't use this trick too often. They'll catch on if you do it too much.]
[You monsters. How can you treat NPCs like this and still have a conscience?]
Bai Fu was speechless too.
No wonder you were the kind of people who could enchant a weapon with golden juice!
Before you continue