The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Bai Fu Stalks the Mantis

A few hours before Bai Fu found the Player, Xia Shi brought the latest news from the Fourth Division.

"The mission assignments are out."

"What mission?"

"A surprise inspection of the secret stronghold the Dark Web has set up in Lynn."

Xia Shi explained in detail.

On Zu Yuan Star, besides the five major factions like the Gene Primordial and The Truth Society, there were many smaller but equally formidable forces. The Makarov Family, the operators behind the Dark Web, was one of them.

Before the war, the Makarov Family had been a world-renowned mercenary organization. After the war, the surviving family members expanded their business to survive, turning to the trade of contract killing.

These people were highly skilled; they had operated for over a decade without a single failure. Eventually, they simply moved behind the scenes to run a platform.

The Makarov Family had long been praised for being "tight-lipped and never leaking client information." Consequently, the platform they established attracted the attention of many killers and those in need of assassination services as soon as it went live.

To put these people at ease, the head of the Makarov Family at the time declared that any agreement reached between a killer and an employer on the Dark Web would be fully guaranteed by the Makarov Family.

Without prior negotiation, anyone who dared to violate an agreement would be seen as provoking the Makarov Family and would be hunted down by them.

At the beginning of the platform's operation, the Makarov Family even launched a "buy one, get the second half off" promotion for certain lucky clients.

Relying on this miraculous business strategy, the Makarov Family's platform overcame all competitors. Today, it has become the sole true god of the assassination world, and has even become an official partner to several major factions.

[More efficient, faster, more powerful—for killing, just look for Makarov!]

Looking at the slogan displayed on the official Dark Web site that Xia Shi opened before her, Bai Fu didn't know what to say for a moment.

Good grief, is this a buy-one-get-one-free deal on murder?

Xia Shi added, "The logistics team reviewed the Radio Tower communication records from the period before the killer came to assassinate you. They didn't find any abnormal signals, which suggests that the spy is most likely hiding in Lynn, and that his contact with the killer and The Truth Society was likely conducted through the Dark Web."

Bai Fu asked skeptically, "Didn't you say the Makarov Family is famous for being tight-lipped? Will they just hand over the communication records? Besides, wouldn't this mean burning bridges with the Makarov Family?"

"At this point, who cares about that?" Xia Shi curled her lip. "It doesn't matter if the Dark Web refuses to talk; we can find the records ourselves. Actually, even if we can't find them, it's not a big deal. This operation is our formal declaration of war against that spy. We are only giving him three chances!"

She held up three fingers.

"This is the first one. There will be one more operation after this. If he still refuses to show himself, the Director's plan is to take you to Haidu. Once we get there, it will be even harder for him to make a move on you."

"What if he just keeps holding back and doesn't come out?"

Then we're out of luck.

Xia Shi spread her hands helplessly. If it really came to that, the Fourth Division would have no choice but to take a temporary leave and refrain from participating in any further operations by the Intelligence Bureau.

Bai Fu fell into deep thought.

After Xia Shi finished explaining the current situation, she received a game notification.

[You have triggered the mission: [Raid the Dark Web]]

[Mission Introduction: In order to ferret out the spies hiding in the shadows, the Fourth Division has formulated a plan to conduct a surprise inspection of the Dark Web's station in Lynn. They hope that you, acting as bait, will cooperate with the operation.]

[Mission Objective: Locate the database of the Dark Web's Lynn station.]

[Rewards: 5,000 Experience, 5 Gene Primordial faction reputation points.]

[Accept/Decline]

As a support staff member, receiving 5,000 experience just for completing a mission was a fairly generous reward.

But Bai Fu was not satisfied.

After obtaining the Spiritual Energy Knowledge Chain of the Gene Primordial, she had begun to consider leaving Lynn to collect other Spiritual Energy Knowledge Chains elsewhere. The only reason she was staying now was to see if she could squeeze a few high-reward missions out of the Fourth Division.

It seemed she could pretty much abandon that idea now. 5,000 experience was a lot for her in the past, but now it wasn't even enough to level her up by half a level.

I still have to do it myself.

She was definitely going to leave, but before she did, Bai Fu planned to complete the [Shadow of Truth] mission that triggered after the Truth Society increased the bounty on her. The reward for that mission included not only 30,000 experience but also an additional title.

The mission objective was to take out the newly arrived assassins, but since she was currently under the strict protection of the Fourth Division, those assassins dared not show their faces for the time being.

I need to think of a way.

Bai Fu set her sights on the Players.

The Fourth Division could use her as bait, so she could use the Players as bait. She hadn't spent all that effort grinding their Favorability for nothing!

With that decided, Bai Fu took An Ya and found the inn where Digging Princess was staying.

At this moment, there were only a few Players in the inn; the others had gone out to find suitable targets to attack. Relying on money borrowed from the local Dark Forces, Patrick Star and the others had bought quite a few firearms. Supported by the powerful firepower of these weapons, they had wiped out several small Dark Forces gangs over the past two days, and their Experience had been rising rapidly.

Among them, Patrick Star, who already had the highest level, had successfully unlocked the Advanced Class Martial Artist, evolving from a rookie into a core combat force on the Novice Planet, which drew the envy of countless Players.

Hearing that Bai Fu had something to discuss with them, Digging Princess, Calamity Dragon, and Convert to My Fu quickly gathered around.

"The situation is like this."

Surrounded by Digging Princess and the others, Bai Fu told a story that was half-truth and half-fabrication.

The gist of it was—

"I am investigating a group of very, very bad people. In the process of my investigation, I was targeted by another group of very, very bad people. I am not sure if these two groups are related. In order for the investigation to proceed smoothly, I need to figure out who is targeting me. However, I cannot conduct any overly obvious probes, as this might alert the enemy and cause all my previous efforts to go to waste."

Bai Fu deliberately did not mention that the people targeting her were the Truth Society.

She did this mainly because she had specifically emphasized to Digging Princess earlier that there were some things she couldn't tell the Players yet—not even their names—otherwise, it would bring the Players endless nightmares.

If she told the Players now that she was investigating The Truth Society, wouldn't that contradict what she had said before?

Besides, not revealing the target of her investigation could create a sense of mystery, driving the Players to constantly draw closer to her in order to uncover the truth.

Digging Princess said, "Fu Fu, just tell us, how do you need us to help you?"

Bai Fu explained, "Before coming to find you, I thought about it all night, trying to come up with a suitable method. But no matter how much I tossed and turned, I eventually realized that to find out the identities of those targeting me with the minimum cost, I can only rely on your strength!"

What, only rely on us?

Digging Princess couldn't help but puff out her chest.

This was recognition!

She could already imagine how the other Players would react when they heard this. It was a good thing she had started recording; she would post this clip to the community later.

"I need you to disguise yourself as me and act as bait. This mission is very dangerous and you will very likely die, but you are an Undying, so... I'm sorry."

Bai Fu lowered her head, looking somewhat guilty.

Hearing this, Digging Princess was delighted.

Seeing Bai Fu so nervous, she had thought it was something major. It turned out to be just acting as bait; she was a Player, after all, so what did she have to fear about dying?

"Leave it to me, but," Digging Princess scratched her head, "my height is close to yours, Fu Fu, but other aspects are completely different. It probably won't be easy to disguise myself as you."

Calamity Dragon nodded in agreement, "The hair can be dyed, the chest can be padded, but the face—no matter how much makeup you use, it won't be the same."

"That's simple." Bai Fu took out two black masks. "I will wear this during our upcoming operations, and you will wear this too. Oh, and this outfit."

She took out another bag containing a replica of her own clothes and pants.

"With this equipment, it can indeed look quite similar, but to fully fool those hiding in the shadows, we might need to do a little more."

At this moment, a flash of inspiration struck Digging Princess.

"Fu Fu, can you say a few words?"

"Say what?"

"Just these few lines..."

Bai Fu immediately understood what Digging Princess meant. Digging Princess wanted to use the game's recording function to record what she said and then play it back while impersonating her.

Dressed the same, sounding the same—who could say Digging Princess didn't look the part?

Very good, I dub you the Queen of Ideas!

Bai Fu gladly complied.

At this moment, in the corner of the room, watching Bai Fu and the others chatting heatedly, Sword Aura Piercing Sky's face turned a shade of green.

Back when he was eighteen, at a meeting in a hotel, he stood there like a mere lackey.

It was supposed to be a story starring everyone, yet in the end, only Digging Princess had received a mission. As for him, it was even worse; he hadn't even managed to get a chance to speak with Bai Fu. He was purely an outsider.

Sword Aura Piercing Sky was stung by this. He had to remember that in the past, he had always been the brightest one standing at the center of the crowd.

But this was only temporary!

He secretly made up his mind that in the upcoming operations, if he found the chance, he would win it all.

Bai Fu's favorability, An Ya's favorability, the stepping stone to The Truth Society—he wanted it all!

That evening, Bai Fu met up with the Fourth Division's operation squad.

Looking at her new attire, Xia Shi and the leader of the first operation squad, Xu Hong, were both stunned.

"Why are you wearing a mask?"

Bai Fu explained, "This way, the people from the Dark Web won't be able to recognize me so easily. My name is already on the Dark Web bounty list. Unless necessary, I don't want to have any direct conflict with the Makarov Family again."

This explanation was reasonable, so Xia Shi and Xu Hong didn't say anything more.

"Begin the operation!"

Including Bai Fu, the group of five rushed toward the Dark Web's stronghold in Lynn at high speed.

This stronghold was very well hidden; ordinary people couldn't see anything unusual at all. Although the Fourth Division had long since discovered the location of the stronghold, they had always treated it as if it didn't exist because the Dark Web had many business dealings with the Gene Primordial. The operators of the Dark Web were usually very tactful and never took the initiative to cause any friction with the Fourth Division.

Tonight's situation could be described as quite special.

When Xu Hong led the charge into the stronghold, the people inside were completely caught off guard.

"Hands up, all of you!"

"What... what do you think you're doing?"

The few people sitting around the table playing cards stood up. They threw their cards down and raised their hands quite consciously.

When Xu Hong walked closer, the expression of one of them suddenly changed. "Aren't you from the Fourth Division? What is the meaning of this?"

Xu Hong sneered and pressed his gun against the man's forehead. "You tell me what I mean. Tell me, was the person who hired the assassin to kill Bai Fu the one who contacted the assassin through your private network? Is he hiding in Lynn?"

The man with the gun pointed at him furrowed his brows. "Our Dark Web's principle is to never reveal client information. Not to mention I don't know, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"It doesn't matter if you won't talk; I'll investigate it myself."

Xu Hong gave a wink to his subordinates, signaling them to tie up the few people who had been playing cards.

The people being held at gunpoint shouted, "What you're doing is sabotaging the relationship between the Makarov Family and the Gene Primordial! If the higher-ups blame you for this, can you even bear the responsibility?"

Xu Hong acted as if he hadn't heard the shouting. Once the binding was finished, he took the lead and began searching the stronghold.

Just as he walked up to a storeroom, Bai Fu's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"Careful, there's someone inside!"

However, it seemed too late. The moment Xu Hong's hand touched the doorknob, the door swung open, and what appeared in his field of vision was a pitch-black gun barrel.

Damn it!

Although he was wearing a bulletproof vest, at such close range, the vest would never stop a bullet of that caliber.

Bang.

The muzzle spat out a Flame, and the bullet shot out.

For a split second, Xu Hong felt despair, but when the bullet struck him, he realized the pain wasn't as intense as he had imagined. He hurriedly looked down, first seeing the bullet that had pierced his vest, and then the bullet mark, which, while swollen and red, hadn't actually drawn much blood.

"A little bit of psionic trickery to reinforce skin defense."

Bai Fu walked past Xu Hong calmly, grabbed the person who had attempted the ambush by the throat, and slammed him to the ground.

This...

Xu Hong and Xia Shi were both stunned. Did she really have to be so composed? She was supposed to be a support unit!

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and see if the records are hidden in this room," Bai Fu urged.

Xu Hong hurriedly entered the room. "Right away, right away."

While waiting for Xu Hong's investigation results, Bai Fu remained constantly vigilant. She didn't know when a killer looking to take her life might pop out from somewhere.

In truth, in her estimation, that spy would never dare to make a move during this operation because it was too flashy and would easily lead to their true identity being exposed.

Bai Fu waited for over ten minutes, after which Xu Hong walked out of the room carrying several hard drives.

"Leave the rest to the Appraisal Team. Take everyone in this stronghold away and lock them up for now!"

Upon hearing this, the people from the Dark Web panicked.

"What are you doing? Even if the Gene Primordial isn't afraid of the Makarov Family, aren't you individuals afraid?"

"Let go of me! Let go of me!"

"Damn it, I was about to win that hand! You guys messed everything up, and now it's all over!"

No matter how the members of the Dark Web cursed and shouted, Xu Hong remained as calm as ever, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

"That's just how the captain is," Xia Shi whispered to Bai Fu. "We owe you tonight. If it weren't for you, the captain would have been seriously injured, if not dead."

Bai Fu nodded slightly. The mission was complete, and she had gained 5000 Experience, but she didn't care about that right now. The upcoming operation was the real key to the night.

Back at the hotel, Sword Aura Piercing Sky was also full of anticipation.

In a little while, he would show Bai Fu his courage and intelligence. Once he beat up those who were trying to harm her and then staged a scene where he blocked bullets with his own flesh and blood, he didn't believe he wouldn't be able to raise Bai Fu's Favorability.

Once her Favorability was high enough, he could start fishing for information from her.

"The Truth Society, get ready to witness my value. I will help you turn the tide!"

Sword Aura Piercing Sky stared intently out the window.

A few minutes later, he shouted in the squad channel.

"Bai Fu is here!"

PS: Thanks to Tropical Storm Spiral Flying Penguin and I Was a Cat in My Past Life for the tips.