Bai Fu stopped.
An Ya, who had been following behind her, stepped forward nervously and grabbed the hem of her clothes.
"Boss."
"It's a minor problem. Don't worry."
Bai Fu clasped An Ya's hand in return, signaling that An Ya didn't need to be nervous.
She was more familiar with the person standing beneath the sign than anyone.
Martin, a junior supervisor in the Wildfire Gang and her direct superior. His combat power was roughly equivalent to twenty An Yas, making him only slightly weaker than she was after leveling up.
With his strength, he originally wasn't qualified to become a junior supervisor, but he possessed one special ability—
He had a rough grasp of the knowledge taught in the first and second grades of elementary school!
Yes, not only could he write his own name, he could also quickly calculate addition and subtraction within one hundred. He was even adept at single-digit multiplication and division.
In the Wildfire Gang, where the vast majority of members were desperate illiterates, Martin, who possessed this skill, stood out like a Foundation Establishment expert among Qi Refining newcomers.
Thus, he was naturally promoted to junior supervisor.
At first, he was rather pleased with this experience, but he soon realized the problem.
[I can do arithmetic, so how am I supposed to pretend I can't calculate things and make mistakes in the accounts to embezzle money?]
[Can that bunch of idiots at my level really not settle the accounts, or is it possible they're actually geniuses pretending to be confused?]
Martin was about to fall apart.
He reflected bitterly on the matter.
He had worked so hard to become a junior supervisor. If it wasn't to make money, was he supposed to make the Wildfire Gang great again?
Since falsifying the accounts was no longer an option, he could only squeeze money out of his subordinates!
He kept assigning all sorts of tasks to his subordinates and loved hounding them as if their lives depended on it.
It was best if they completed the tasks. If they couldn't, he would find a way to deduct their pay, and he occasionally engaged in some psychological manipulation as well.
"Why can everyone else do it?"
Bai Fu's predecessor became one of the victims.
Debt collection had never been simple.
Even lending a hundred yuan to relatives or friends could take who knew how long to recover, let alone collecting debts from wasteland geezers with countless ties to the Wildfire Gang.
"It was decided at the meeting that you'll collect this debt. If you can get the money back, I'll personally give you five points!"
Bai Fu's assessment of this was—
Damn you, only half a point? You're even harsher than Huang Shilang!
Bai Fu's predecessor, on the other hand, assessed it as—
"You should find someone more capable."
Martin, who was hardly human in his behavior, immediately threatened her.
"Difficult?"
"Bai Fu, I know things have been hard lately, but the deadline set by the higher-ups is almost here..."
"The child you picked up is so adorable. You wouldn't want her to starve to death because you don't have any money, would you?"
Bai Fu's predecessor could only pat An Ya on the head before setting out. Then, she was punched so hard that she lay in bed for two whole days.
There really were too many scumbags in this world!
It could only be said that in this day and age, one really couldn't afford to be too humane.
That was what Bai Fu thought.
Martin's appearance at this time was definitely to urge her to continue collecting the debt.
Sure enough.
The moment he saw her and An Ya, Martin greeted them with a beaming smile.
"Why has your hair turned white? Never mind, that's not important. I heard you were injured before. I was quite worried about you, but fortunately, you weren't seriously hurt."
After the small talk, he immediately bared his fangs.
"Bai Fu, I know things are difficult for you, but the deadline given by the higher-ups is almost here..."
Ding!
Suddenly, two game prompts popped up in front of Bai Fu.
The first one was—
[You triggered the Faction Quest [Debts Must Be Repaid]]
The quest came with a detailed description, so that took care of that.
SKIP!
Although the game didn't have a function for skipping cutscenes, Bai Fu simply ignored Martin's incessant chatter and began reading the quest details.
[Quest Description: Your superior, Martin, hopes that you can recover a debt lent out by the Wildfire Gang.] [Quest Objective: No method is required. Recover as much of the debt as possible. Details ← (Time Remaining: 47:59:36)] [Reward: 2,000 experience points, 10 faction reputation] [Accept/Decline]
Bai Fu chose to accept.
Two thousand experience points was no small amount. At this stage, even if players only did daily quests like moving bricks and picking up bottle caps, they might not be able to save up two hundred experience points in a day.
The reward alone showed how difficult this quest would be to complete.
But that didn't matter.
If she couldn't win, she would run!
Besides, this wasn't some kind of Main God space where failing to complete a quest would result in punishment.
Bai Fu opened the second prompt.
[You unlocked the faction system]
A dense block of explanatory text followed.
The faction system in Above the Stars was more or less the same as those in other games. Once players met certain conditions, they could join factions.
By raising faction reputation, they could unlock faction quests of corresponding levels, restricted shops, restricted profession knowledge, faction positions, and more. In some special factions, they could even obtain attribute bonuses.
Joining a faction wasn't necessarily entirely beneficial. It could cause players to be disliked by NPCs from opposing factions, thereby triggering all sorts of disastrous consequences.
But none of that mattered to Bai Fu, because her faction had already been set as the [Wildfire Gang].
Given the current situation, Bai Fu had no intention of defecting from the Wildfire Gang.
Her opinion of the Wildfire Gang differed from everyone else's.
In the eyes of the other survivors of the Abandoned Cooling Plant, the Wildfire Gang was a terrifying demon king that specialized in committing evil deeds through coercion and extortion, making people tremble with fear. But in her eyes, the Wildfire Gang was just as alluring as the female demon king in a certain kind of book.
A large force meant that the Wildfire Gang had money.
Having looted so many things meant that the Wildfire Gang likely possessed a large amount of rare upgrade materials and Profession Knowledge Books.
At a time like this, if she didn't stay in the Wildfire Gang and exploit its wealth to the fullest, was she supposed to go outside and squeeze oil from those miserable paupers?
That made no sense.
How much oil could those paupers possibly have on them?
Of course, she should earn money from whoever had money!
Pretending to be an undercover agent and earning players' favor on one hand, while secretly digging into the Wildfire Gang's treasury on the other—that was the path to ascension.
As for how to exploit the Wildfire Gang's wealth, Bai Fu thought of Martin first.
Although she had returned most of her knowledge to her teachers, she had at least received a proper education. Comparing her to Martin was like having Tyson beat up a child.
If Martin could be promoted to junior supervisor despite his shortcomings, then making her the head of logistics wouldn't be excessive, would it?
Still, it was hard to say.
In the eyes of others, she had been an illiterate who could only write her own name not long ago. After sleeping for two days, she suddenly understood a bit of calculus. That would be far too astonishing.
Would they crack open her skull and examine her?
What a pity.
If she had been living somewhere where people believed in things a little more, she could have pretended to be a mystic, shouted, "The heavens are dead, and the day is ours," and then made a fortune selling indulgences to believers.
Damn it. Why was making money so difficult?
Bai Fu sighed inwardly and raised her head. "I'll complete the quest soon, but..."
"But what?"
Martin was somewhat displeased at being interrupted.
Bai Fu made a request. "I want to look around the gang's library first."
The Wildfire Gang had piled every book it collected into the library, whether useful or not, but not everyone was qualified to enter.
"The library? How many characters do you know that you want to go to the library?" Martin burst out laughing.
Bai Fu remained calm. She pointed at An Ya. "Let her look. She's still young and can learn."
Hmph.
Martin couldn't be bothered to argue over this matter. "Give my name. You can enter the smallest public library freely."
That was exactly what Bai Fu wanted to hear.
After smiling and making a few more promises, she saw Martin off.
Although Martin had already earned his death sentence, acting now would still be too risky. She would wait a little longer.
After eating dinner with An Ya, Bai Fu didn't delay and headed straight for the Wildfire Gang's library.
After giving Martin's name, the gatekeeper didn't make things difficult for her.
She stood beside the bookshelves, her gaze sweeping rapidly over them.
Brother, You Smell So Good, The Four Basic Operations, The Art of Being Human...
"What are these things?"
Bai Fu was speechless.
No wonder this little library could be entered simply by giving Martin's name.
After searching through the shelves, she finally found the Profession Knowledge Book she had been dreaming of.
<Three Minutes to Get You Started with Spiritual Prayer>
Bai Fu took the book down from the shelf.
Although the entire book was filled with symbols she didn't recognize, that couldn't stump her at all.
[You began reading <Three Minutes to Get You Started with Spiritual Prayer>. Current progress: 0.3%]
This was the player interface at its most miraculous!
Three minutes later, Bai Fu received a new prompt.
[You unlocked a new profession: Spiritual Apprentice. Spirit +1, Inspiration +1, Attribute Points +2] [While reading, you comprehended new skills: Frenzy, Hardening, Spiritual Vision]
Before you continue