Too Many Reborn

Bai Fu stopped.

An Ya, who was behind her, stepped forward and nervously grabbed the hem of her clothes.

"Boss."

"Small problem, don't worry."

Bai Fu squeezed An Ya's hand, signaling her not to be nervous.

She was all too familiar with the person standing under the sign.

Martin, a junior manager of the Wildfire Gang, her direct superior, with a combat power roughly equivalent to 20 An Yas, not much stronger than her after the upgrade.

With his strength, this guy wasn't qualified to be a junior manager, but he had a special ability—

He had a rudimentary grasp of first and second grade knowledge!

Yes, he could not only write his own name, but also quickly calculate addition and subtraction within one hundred, and he was also adept at single-digit multiplication and division.

In the Wildfire Gang, where the vast majority of members were hopeless illiterates, Martin, with this skill, stood out like a Foundation Establishment expert barging into a group of Qi Refining rookies.

So he was naturally promoted to junior manager.

At first, he was quite proud of this experience, but he soon realized the problem.

I can do math, so how am I supposed to pretend I can't and make false accounts to embezzle money?

Are the bastards at my level really unable to calculate accounts, or is it possible that they are actually geniuses pretending to be confused?

Martin was about to break down.

He thought long and hard.

He worked so hard to become a junior manager, not to make money, but to make the Wildfire Gang great again?

Since the road to making false accounts was blocked, he could only squeeze the oil from his subordinates!

He kept assigning various tasks to his subordinates, and he liked to urge them like a death knell.

It was best if his subordinates could complete the tasks, but if they couldn't, he would find ways to deduct their money, and occasionally engage in some PUA.

"Why can others do it?"

Bai Fu's predecessor became a victim.

Debt collection has never been easy.

Lending a hundred bucks to relatives and friends, you don't know how long it will take to get it back, let alone going to the Wasteland old-timers who have inextricable links with the Wildfire Gang to collect debts.

"It was decided at the meeting that you will collect this debt. If you can get the money back, I'll give you 5 points!"

Bai Fu's comment on this was—

Damn it, only 0.5%, you're even more ruthless than Huang Shilang!

And Bai Fu's predecessor's comment was—

Please find someone else.

The not-so-human Martin immediately threatened.

"Difficult?"

"Bai Fu, the organization's economic benefits haven't been very good recently, and wages may not be paid as punctually as before. Why don't you earn some extra reward money, and then..."

"Think about the child you picked up, how cute she is. You don't want her to starve to death because you don't have money, do you?"

Bai Fu's predecessor could only pat An Ya's head and set off, and then, she was punched and lay in bed for two whole days.

There are still too many idiots in this world!

It can only be said that you can't be too human in this world.

Bai Fu thought so.

Martin's appearance at this time must be to urge her to continue collecting debts.

Sure enough.

As soon as he saw her and An Ya, Martin greeted them with a smile.

"Why has your hair turned white? Never mind, that's not important. I heard you were injured before. I was quite worried, but it's good that you're okay."

After exchanging pleasantries, he immediately showed his fangs.

"Bai Fu, I know it's difficult for you, but the deadline given by the higher-ups is approaching..."

Ding!

Suddenly, two game prompts popped up in front of Bai Fu.

The first one was—

[You have triggered the Faction Quest [Pay Back Debts]]

The task comes with a detailed introduction, so that's fine.

SKIP!

Though the game didn't have a skip-cutscene function, Bai Fu actively ignored Martin's incessant blathering and read the mission details.

[Mission Brief: Your supervisor, Martin, wants you to recover a debt owed to the Wildfire Gang.]

[Mission Objective: Recover as much of the debt as possible, using any means necessary. Details ← (Time Remaining: 47:59:36)]

[Reward: 2000 Experience Points, 10 Faction Reputation]

[Accept/Decline]

Bai Fu chose to accept.

2000 experience was no small amount. These days, players only doing mundane tasks like moving bricks and collecting bottle caps wouldn't even earn 200 experience in a day.

The reward also indicated that this mission would be difficult.

But whatever.

If she couldn't win, she'd run!

This wasn't some Main God space where failing a mission meant punishment, after all.

Bai Fu opened the second prompt.

[You have unlocked the Faction System]

What followed was a dense wall of text.

The Faction System in Above the Stars was much the same as in other games. Players could join a faction after meeting certain conditions.

By grinding faction reputation, they could unlock corresponding levels of Faction Quests, exclusive shops, exclusive profession knowledge, faction positions, and so on. In some special factions, they could even gain stat bonuses.

Joining a faction wasn't necessarily all good. It could lead to the player being targeted by hostile NPCs from opposing factions, leading to various negative consequences.

But none of that mattered to Bai Fu, because her faction was already locked to [Wildfire Gang].

As things stood, Bai Fu had no intention of betraying the Wildfire Gang.

Her view of the Wildfire Gang differed from that of others.

To the other survivors of the Abandoned Cooling Plant, the Wildfire Gang were terrifying devils who specialized in extortion and theft, inspiring fear and dread. But to her, the Wildfire Gang were as appealing as the demon queens in manga.

A large organization meant the Wildfire Gang had money.

Lots of stolen goods meant the Wildfire Gang likely possessed a large quantity of rare upgrade materials and profession knowledge books.

Why wouldn't she stay in the Wildfire Gang and bleed them dry? Was she supposed to go scrape oil from those poor wretches outside?

That made no sense.

How much oil could those poor wretches have?

Of course she'd earn from whoever had the money!

Playing the undercover agent to build rapport with the players, while secretly plundering the Wildfire Gang's coffers—that was the path to ascension.

As for how to bleed the Wildfire Gang dry, Bai Fu first thought of Martin.

Though she'd returned most of her knowledge to her teachers, she'd still graduated from a decent university. Comparing her to Martin was like letting Tyson beat up a toddler.

If Martin could be promoted to a minor supervisor, wouldn't it be fair for her to become a logistics manager?

But it was hard to say.

In other people's eyes, she'd been an illiterate who could barely write her own name not long ago. Now, after sleeping for two days, she suddenly understood a bit of calculus. That was too shocking.

Would they crack her skull open to see what was inside?

What a pity.

If she lived in a place where people were even a little bit superstitious, she could totally play the prophet and shout, "The heavens are dead, the day shall stand!" and then get rich by selling indulgences to her followers.

Damn it, why is making money so hard?

Bai Fu sighed inwardly and looked up, "I'll complete the mission soon, but..."

"But what?"

Martin was displeased at being interrupted.

Bai Fu made her request, "I'd like to take a look at the gang's library first."

The Wildfire Gang piled all the books they collected, whether useful or not, in the library. But not everyone was qualified to enter.

"The library? How many words do you even know?" Martin laughed.

Bai Fu remained calm and pointed to An Ya, "For her. She's young, she can learn."

Heh.

Martin was too lazy to dwell on the matter. "Use my name. You can enter the smallest public library."

That was exactly what Bai Fu wanted to hear.

After a few more smiling assurances, she saw Martin off.

Though Martin had already earned his death warrant, taking action now was still too risky. She'd wait a little longer.

After having dinner with An Ya, Bai Fu didn't delay and went straight to the Wildfire Gang's library.

The gatekeeper didn't give her any trouble after she gave Martin's name.

She stood by the bookshelf, her eyes quickly scanning.

Brother, You Smell So Good, Four Arithmetic Operations, The Art of Being a Person...

"What is all this?"

Bai Fu was speechless.

No wonder you could get into this small library just by saying Martin's name.

After searching around, she finally found the professional knowledge book she had been longing for.

Three Minutes to Get Started with Spiritual Prayer

Bai Fu took the book from the shelf.

Although the book was full of symbols she didn't recognize, that didn't faze her at all.

[You have begun reading *Three Minutes to Get Started with Spiritual Prayer*, current progress 0.3%]

This was the charming moment of the player panel!

Three minutes later, Bai Fu received a new prompt.

[You have unlocked the new profession [Spiritual Apprentice], Spirit+1, Inspiration+1, Attribute Points+2]
[During the reading process, you have comprehended the new skills [Zealotry], [Hardening], [Spiritual Vision]]