While the Fourth Division urgently deciphered the data obtained from the Dark Web hideout, Bai Fu leisurely walked past the hotel window sponsored by Digging Princess and the others.
This was her signal to the players.
She believed the commotion just now had surely attracted the attention of the assassins and spies lurking in the shadows. If nothing went wrong, the newcomers were watching her from hiding. As long as she showed the slightest opening, those assassins would leap out and send her to her death.
Of course, all of this was Bai Fu's speculation. She could not determine whether those assassins truly dared to act while the Fourth Division had already locked down Lynn.
Not every assassin was like the Makarov Family, who would find a way to complete any mission they accepted, even if it meant sacrificing themselves. Most assassins, when things looked bad, simply ran.
They became assassins to make money. If they lost their lives, what use was the money?
After confirming that the players in the hotel had noticed her, Bai Fu returned to Xia Shi's residence under Xia Shi and the others' protection.
Now, all they had to do was wait.
She chatted with Xia Shi on and off, mainly because she wanted to learn more about her.
From their conversation, Bai Fu learned that Xia Shi had grown up in a single-parent family. Her father was a senior leader in the Gene Primordial Technology Bureau, making her a bona fide second-generation official.
However, Xia Shi and her father had fallen out badly over her choice of work after graduation. Her father wanted her to follow in his footsteps and join the Technology Bureau, but because of her hatred for the Truth Society, she had ignored his objections and insisted on joining the Intelligence Bureau.
In her own words—
"I haven't said a single word to that old stubborn man in two months."
Bai Fu nodded inwardly.
On the surface, Xia Shi seemed like a naturally gifted winner in life who also came from an extraordinary family. But considering that she was very likely an important plot character—or even the protagonist—in the main storyline of Zu Yuan Star, something major would probably happen to her next.
Games like this rarely made their protagonists invincible from beginning to end. If they did, the players would have no sense of participation. Players came to games to have fun, not to work like laborers and then be asked, "Why are you still here?"
After Xia Shi fell asleep in a daze, Bai Fu officially took action.
She quietly climbed out of the house, bypassed the guards whose positions had long been confirmed, and headed straight for the hotel.
Twenty minutes later.
Patrick Star, Convert to My Fu, Sword Aura Piercing Sky, and the others left the hotel one after another.
Once they had taken up their positions, Digging Princess, who had already disguised herself as Bai Fu, also walked out of the hotel.
Digging Princess: [I've left the hotel. Feeling good.]
Patrick Star: [Digging Treasure, it's all up to your performance this time!]
Calamity Dragon: [Don't worry, Digging Treasure. I've been watching from upstairs. If anyone comes over, I'll notify you immediately.]
Sword Aura Piercing Sky: [Remember to look around at every intersection. Act as if you're checking whether anyone is following you.]
Digging Princess: [Mm, I've practiced in front of the mirror countless times!]
She took a deep breath and slowly moved forward along the wall.
The streets beneath the night sky were utterly deserted, and a terrifying aura that made people instinctively recoil filled the air. But Digging Princess was not afraid at all, because she was listening to "Good Days" on repeat!
She had heard online that replacing the jarring music in horror movies with festive music greatly reduced the horror. Now, it seemed that was indeed true.
With the lyrics "Ah~ today is a good day, everything I wish for will come true" setting the mood, even the vicious stray dog that suddenly darted across the roadside looked pleasing to her eyes.
"If I played Good Days during battles in the future, would I be less nervous too?"
Digging Princess abandoned that thought.
Killing people while blood splattered and severed limbs flew, all to the sound of Good Days—anyone who did not know better might think she was playing some bizarre shoe-insole game. Her livestream might even get reported and banned.
As Digging Princess slowly made her way toward the battlefield, Li Cheng was leisurely reading at home.
"Beep, beep-beep-beep, beep."
Suddenly, the intercom on the round table beside him emitted three knocks: "short, long, short."
The code was correct.
Li Cheng put down his book and picked up the intercom.
"What is it? Keep it brief."
The assassin on the other end said urgently, "Bai Fu slipped out of her residence alone. We followed her the whole way, and she stopped outside an abandoned hospital. She seems to be talking into some kind of communicator."
"!"
Li Cheng sat up straight.
He had known that Bai Fu was not simple. She could not really be some village girl who had suddenly awakened superpowers through sheer luck.
"Approach quietly and try to figure out what she's saying."
"What if she notices us?"
Li Cheng tapped his index finger lightly on the table and thought with his eyes closed for a moment. "Capture her alive if possible. If you can't, kill her on the spot!"
According to his original plan, he had intended to spend some more time playing with Bai Fu and the Fourth Division before making a move. That would draw the Intelligence Bureau's attention more effectively. But there was no need for that anymore. Bai Fu running outside alone in the middle of the night and being killed or captured would be enough to throw the Intelligence Bureau into chaos for a while.
"It would be best if we could take her alive."
Li Cheng narrowed his eyes. He could hardly wait to let Bai Fu experience the Truth Society's methods of torture.
As professionals, the assassins sprang into action the moment they received the order.
They moved extremely cautiously and even used their special abilities. But they could never have imagined that a player on a nearby rooftop had been monitoring them with the game's built-in video-recording function.
Did they know what a telephoto lens capable of showing every pore was?
Calamity Dragon shouted in the team channel: [They're here! There are four of them!]
All the players tensed up. The five players from the Iron Rain Guild were the most excited of all.
Sword Aura Piercing Sky immediately switched to the guild channel: [Old Dog, get ready!]
The player called Old Dog was nicknamed Dog Head Man. He was an elder of the Iron Rain Guild. [Don't worry. With our strength and teamwork, once we get serious, raising the Favorability of a Saint Mother character like Bai Fu will be effortless!]
Sword Aura Piercing Sky placed his hand on the gun at his waist. He had waited too long for this moment. While crouching in the sewer earlier, he had been anxious the entire time, afraid that the people hiding and watching Bai Fu would not show themselves and that they would spend another night waiting for nothing.
Although he usually acted very confident in front of others, he was actually under considerable pressure.
He was the guild chairman, but the guild was not his personal dictatorship. The others had unanimously supported his decision to join the Truth Society because they trusted him. He had to live up to that trust.
If his decision caused the guild's development to fall short of expectations, the sponsors would complain even if the others did not blame him.
Fortunately, his expectations had not been disappointed. The four bastards hiding in the dark had really been lured out.
Now, he was only two steps away from success.
First, use this opportunity to raise Bai Fu's Favorability.
Second, find the Truth Society.
As for extracting Bai Fu's information, Sword Aura Piercing Sky did not consider it difficult at all.
As Dog Head Man had said, Bai Fu could sacrifice herself for the safety of the Abandoned Cooling Plant despite the heavy burden of her past. She was undoubtedly a Saint Mother character—in the positive sense. After gaining the trust of such a character, if extracting information from her was still difficult, it would be an insult to Bai Fu's Saint Mother persona.
Sword Aura Piercing Sky stared intently at the game footage and reconnaissance results shared by Calamity Dragon. They only had to wait for the four assassins to make the first move. That would be the moment they revealed themselves.
Digging Princess asked in the team channel: [Hey, if they attack later, should I run immediately or stand still and let them hit me?]
Patrick Star: [Running might make them notice something strange. Try to stall for as long as possible. Once Fu Fu gets the message and comes over, everything will be fine.]
Digging Princess was just about to reply when an abnormal chill suddenly clung to the back of her neck like a block of ice.
She felt her scalp crawl. In the blink of an eye, darkness swallowed not only her back but also her vision. Every light around her vanished.
[You have been eroded by darkness. Determining... determination failed. Your vision -100%.] [You have been entangled by shadows.]
Two notifications rang out in succession.
Digging Princess realized something was wrong, but it was already too late. Something sharp pressed against her lower back, and a gentle female voice sounded beside her ear.
"Little sister, you'd better not move. Otherwise, Big Sister's dagger might end up in your kidney."
Digging Princess put tremendous effort into keeping her body from trembling and hurriedly asked in the team channel: [What is going on? I didn't see anything!]
Calamity Dragon frowned tightly. [I saw that woman melt into a shadow. When she appeared again, she was behind you. What an amazing skill!]
Their opponent had superpowers. This was going to be troublesome.
But the players present did not retreat. Come on, the opponent had a health bar!
[Notify Fu Fu's side. Digging Treasure, try to question her. We're coming.]
[Got it.]
Everyone sprang into action. Bai Fu, who had been hiding in the hotel all this time, also received the warning from the player acting as her communications officer.
"This batch of assassins actually has superpowers? No wonder the mission reward is so high."
Bai Fu felt her blood begin to boil.
Strong opponents were good. The stronger they were, the greater the reward for killing them.
She opened the door. The hotel was several streets away from the abandoned hospital where Digging Princess was, but that distance was nothing to her now.
After unlocking the Gunslinger class and raising it to level five, her attributes had become—
[Attributes]: Strength 11, Agility 12, Constitution 47, Intelligence 5, Spirit 19, Inspiration 23
She had also unlocked two new skills.
[Low-level Shooting Mastery]: Shooting accuracy modifier +10% [Precision Shooting Lv3]: Shooting accuracy modifier +6%, ranged attack critical-hit rate +3%
Twelve points of Agility could not compare to that of an ordinary elite agent or elite assassin, but it was more than enough to hurry through an urban area.
The two new skills only gave her a sixteen-percent shooting accuracy modifier, but that was still enough to transform her from a master of sketching human outlines at twenty or thirty meters into someone with a good chance of actually hitting her target.
"Let's go!"
Bai Fu rushed into the night.
Meanwhile, Digging Princess, who had a knife pressed against her, tried to ask about the assassin behind her. But the female assassin ignored her completely and simply took out handcuffs to cuff her hands.
In that case, there was no choice.
Digging Princess suddenly raised her right foot and stomped hard on the female assassin's foot.
The female assassin seemed to have anticipated this. She shifted her foot ten centimeters to the right, narrowly avoiding the stomp.
"Little sister, you're a bit unruly. Since that's the case, I'll have to teach you a lesson."
She stabbed Digging Princess in the back. The strike was placed with extreme precision: it caused excruciating pain without making her bleed to death.
But the female assassin never imagined that Digging Princess, despite being stabbed, would break free as if nothing had happened.
She turned, drew her gun, and fired in one smooth motion.
Didn't expect that, did you? I turned pain off!
The female assassin tilted her neck aside. She dodged quickly, but a burning pain suddenly flared across her neck, relentlessly stimulating her nerves.
"You're courting death!"
She was about to stab Digging Princess to death when the other three assassins emerged from hiding in a hurry. "Calm down. The employer wants her alive."
"How am I supposed to stay cal—"
The female assassin had only gotten halfway through her sentence when several gunshots rang out from the darkness, immediately sobering her.
"It's an ambush!"
The four assassins' expressions changed drastically. They quickly scattered. After confirming that the hidden attackers' marksmanship was poor, they secretly relaxed. But this time, they had still underestimated their opponents.
The players' individual strength was crushed by the assassins, but the players had both numerical superiority and Calamity Dragon calling out enemy positions from above.
What would happen when four experts fought more than a dozen rookies with full-map vision who were completely unafraid of death?
"Why are bullets coming from there?"
"How did they find me?"
"How many people are there?"
"Damn it, I got shot in the ass!"
The four assassins, unable to see in the darkness, grew more and more alarmed as the battle continued. Their opponents did not say a word and only fired coldly. For a moment, they even felt as if they were the innocent civilians and the people opposite them were the real assassins.
The female assassin gritted her teeth and fixed her eyes on Digging Princess, who had fallen to the ground. Perhaps they could escape safely only if they controlled "Bai Fu," the bait.
"I'll suppress their fire. You three kidnap that woman."
Her body turned into a shadow and vanished from the spot. The remaining three assassins had no time to worry about anything else. They began constantly shifting positions to dodge the bullets while gradually approaching Digging Princess.
After a chaotic exchange, one assassin rolled in front of Digging Princess. He drew his gun, pointed it at her forehead, and shouted, "Stop shooting, all of you! Otherwise, I'll kill her right now!"
The response was an even denser barrage of gunfire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets rained down, striking Digging Princess as well as the assassin.
The assassin's eyes were still wide open when he collapsed. He could not understand why the people hiding in the darkness had shot Bai Fu as well. Could it be that they were not allies?
The female assassin, who had just used her superpower to deal with one player, was dumbfounded when she saw this.
What the hell was she supposed to do against a group of lunatics like this?
All she wanted now was to run.
But just as she was about to move, Sword Aura Piercing Sky charged out from the side.
The Iron Rain Guild had made this their stage. They were throwing everything into it now!
So what if the enemy was strong? Even if they could only stall them for a few seconds before being killed, as long as they held out until Bai Fu arrived, every sacrifice would be worthwhile.
For Bai Fu's Favorability, charge!
One Iron Rain Guild player rushed out. Then a second. Then a third...
As they charged, they shouted:
"How dare you assassinate Fu Fu? I'll send you to hell right now!"
"Die, die, die! Anyone who dares oppose Fu Fu can all die!"
"Fuck your mother! How dare you target Fu Fu!"
The female assassin was completely numb. Seeing this scene, she thought she had somehow wandered into a fan meeting for an idol surrounded by frenzied fans.
Wait, if you respected Bai Fu this much, why had you just riddled her with bullets?
Patrick Star and the others were also dumbfounded.
Damn, so the Iron Rain Guild are also frenzied supporters of Fu Fu? That's really unexpected. Convert to My Fu could not help wondering whether his support for Bai Fu was insufficient. After all, he had not charged out to block the three assassins like those people from the Iron Rain Guild.
The female assassin stabbed the nearest player through the heart. Just as she was about to deal with the next player, she was shocked to discover that the player whose heart had been pierced was still clinging tightly to her leg.
He didn't die even after that?
"Get away from me!"
She kicked the player on the ground away, then turned into a shadow and appeared behind Sword Aura Piercing Sky.
Sword Aura Piercing Sky sensed the danger, drew in a breath, and exploded into action, slamming an elbow into the female assassin's stomach. The move came so swiftly that she had no choice but to block it with her right hand.
"I hit her... No!"
Sword Aura Piercing Sky had no time to celebrate. He saw the female assassin split into multiple afterimages. They moved, and a blade swept solidly across his chest, spraying blood everywhere.
Damn, she was strong. He had no chance of beating her.
Sword Aura Piercing Sky wasn't discouraged. If anything, his voice grew louder.
"Since you came here tonight, as long as I'm still breathing, you're not getting away! I won't give you another chance to hurt Bai Fu!"
"And what are you going to do about it?"
The female assassin sneered.
The next second, a bullet shot out of the dark and struck her left arm.
"Ugh."
The female assassin grunted. She tried to make out who had attacked her from the shadows, and when she finally saw the person stepping out of the darkness, her heart sank.
It was Bai Fu!
That meant they really had walked into a trap tonight!
Without a word, Bai Fu unleashed a barrage of shots at the female assassin. The assassin spat in frustration.
She might not be able to kill anyone tonight, but no one here could stop her from escaping!
She turned into a shadow again, but unlike before, this time she darted straight toward the rooftop.
"Hmph, trying to run?"
Bai Fu didn't seem concerned.
The female assassin's ability was certainly powerful, but she'd made one mistake: she should never, ever have gone up into the air.
The instant the female assassin reached the rooftop, Bai Fu used Combat Etiquette on her.
This time, Bai Fu didn't make any unnecessary movements. She simply stood there, perfectly steady. But there was nothing beneath the female assassin's feet.
"You... Aah!"
The female assassin fell straight down from the rooftop, more than thirty meters above the ground. The instant she hit the ground, Bai Fu fired six shots into her head, leaving her face a bloody ruin. She was well and truly dead.
[You killed Shadow Snake. Contribution Points: 94.2%. After adjustment for the level difference, you gained 6594 experience.]
Bai Fu looked toward Patrick Star, Sword Aura Piercing Sky, and the others.
To be honest, she was a little surprised. She hadn't expected the chairman of a major guild to be one of her biggest fans—and to fight so hard, too. It seemed her charm really was something special.
She nodded, then immediately charged toward the other assassins.
Patrick Star, Sword Aura Piercing Sky, and the others watched, their mouths dropping open.
When had Bai Fu gotten so strong?
Right, her injuries. Her wounds must have healed a little, so some of her strength had returned!
Sword Aura Piercing Sky was in high spirits.
His performance tonight had maxed out Bai Fu's Favorability toward him. His plan was already more than halfway complete.
"Hahahaha!"
In that instant, Sword Aura Piercing Sky imagined the perfect path ahead: his actions tonight would earn him a huge amount of Bai Fu's favor; he would then subtly coax a wealth of information about Bai Fu out of An Ya; after that, he would take the information to The Truth Society, win their favor, and use this ingenious move to help the Iron Rain Guild overtake its rivals and become the number-one guild in Above the Stars—all while making a name for himself in gaming history.
After that, Bai Fu teamed up with the few surviving players to take down another assassin. There was one left. She deliberately chased after him, then let him escape.
Of course, just because she didn't chase him didn't mean she hadn't arranged for the players to follow him in secret.
"Damn it, damn it! Where the hell did that lunatic Bai Fu come from?"
The surviving assassin was drenched in cold sweat. He'd been shot in the butt, but that was probably what saved him. He'd kept out of sight, and managed to slip through the encirclement by sheer luck.
Now he had absolutely no intention of continuing the mission.
"I have important information. I need to tell you in person."
After contacting Li Cheng on the walkie-talkie, the surviving assassin hopped along the way. It took him more than twenty minutes to finally reach Li Cheng.
"What is it? Don't you know we're in a critical period?"
"See for yourself!"
The surviving assassin sent Li Cheng the footage captured by his terminal.
The more Li Cheng watched, the darker his expression grew, especially when he saw what the Dog Head Man from the Iron Rain Guild had said.
At the time, another assassin had demanded of the Dog Head Man, "You're protecting Bai Fu this much. Aren't you afraid of retaliation?"
The Dog Head Man had reacted as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world. He'd clutched his stomach and laughed. "Retaliation? From you, or the trash behind you? You picked a fight with Fu Fu. If you've got any sense, you'll surrender right now. Otherwise, there's no one under heaven or on earth who can save you!"
How arrogant!
Li Cheng had never seen anyone this arrogant.
All right, you bastard. I've memorized your face. If I ever get my hands on you, I'll make you wish you were dead!
Li Cheng switched off his terminal, then suddenly said to the assassin in front of him, "Go kill the person outside."
"Outside?" The assassin was stunned.
Li Cheng cursed. "You idiot. He's been following you for ages. You still haven't noticed?"
The assassin's eye twitched.
So he'd been followed?
"I'll take care of it right away!"
Before you continue