Chapter 98: Queen Mode Unlocked, Who Let Bai Fu Become an NPC?
The shouts of battle were intense, yet there wasn't the slightest hint of panic on Bai Fu’s face.
When the attention of all the guards in the Institute had focused on her, it was precisely the time for Su Li and the others, along with the Players who had entered the Institute in advance under her arrangements, to make their move.
All she had to do was withstand the first round of attacks from these guards. After that, it would be her turn to enjoy the game.
Clearly, this was hardly a challenge for her, as she had activated the 【Psionic Shield】.
Due to the limitations of psionic capacity on card materials, Bai Fu could currently create a 【Psionic Shield】 card with a maximum of 2000 shield points. But that was 2000 points—not 200!
Even after suffering a continuous barrage and being hit by fireballs from 【Esper Power】 attacks, the shield enveloping her still had 1427 points left.
1427!
Looking across the entire Institute, who knew if any NPC even had an HP bar that long.
Though the shield value of the 【Psionic Shield】 wasn't as durable as the HP of high-level monsters, this number was still outrageously high.
If the guards in the Institute saw such a thick shield on Bai Fu, and then noticed there was still a 1950-point HP bar under it, they would definitely lose all courage to fight her on the spot.
Beat your mom!
A terrifying demon queen had descended. Don’t think, just run!
However, the guards didn’t know any of this. Provoked by the deaths of their comrades, they surged forward like a tidal wave, determined to tear Bai Fu, who stood high and “pretending” at the shooting point, into shreds.
【Sharpshooter】, 【Berserker】, 【Sword Saint】... guards of all kinds of Classes launched their attacks at Bai Fu simultaneously.
Bai Fu felt like a sea-swallow standing at the edge of a cliff.
——Let the storm come even fiercer!
Among the guards, the Players acted slyly. The scene was chaotic, and no one was really watching them. They all imitated Han Tianzun and quickly retreated, pulling a bunch of guards in front of themselves.
Good—wise decision!
This way, Bai Fu didn’t have to worry about accidentally injuring the Players.
Even though killing a Player by mistake at this moment wouldn’t really damage her image, it was still better not to kill if she didn’t have to.
As the torrent of attacks engulfed her, Bai Fu pulled out two pistols.
The charging guards were briefly stunned by this move.
Pistols?
Even if it’s dual pistols, they’re still just pistols. There had never been word on Origin Star about a pistol that could cause a massive explosion with a single shot.
Bai Fu fired.
After months of training and with the shooting bonuses from the Sharpshooter Class, her accuracy was now very high. She fired five shots with each hand, and each bullet hit a guard.
The guards hit screamed and fell to the ground, seemingly without any abnormalities. The others secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Protect the Institute! Kill her!"
A strength-type Esper Power user roared and charged forward. Just as he reached the side of a fallen guard—
A glint of light suddenly burst forth.
It was a Psionic Storm!
Boom——
The violent explosion swept everything within a two-meter radius. It was so sudden that those nearby didn’t react in time. Those with low physical resistance were killed on the spot; those with higher resistance were blown off their feet and rolled across the ground multiple times. Though not dead, they were gravely wounded and moaning in pain.
The group of guards turned pale in fear.
They had no idea what had just happened—only that their comrade suddenly exploded. If every comrade hit by Bai Fu was untouchable, then how were they supposed to keep fighting?
They had to dodge both Bai Fu’s attacks and their own allies. That made cooperation impossible. And humans had limits—sooner or later, they’d slip up.
In that instant, the area nearest to the shooting point where Bai Fu stood fell into a strange silence.
What now?
Sweating profusely, the guards didn’t get a chance to breathe.
Bai Fu kept firing. Once her bullets ran out, she immediately threw out several 【Summon True Spirit】 cards.
Bang bang bang!
The Prayer Cards exploded midair, transforming into several Tiny Bai Fu. The Tiny Bai Fu darted straight into the crowd.
Another series of explosions erupted, plunging the entire Institute into chaos.
A smile appeared on Bai Fu’s face—this was the power of area-of-effect skills. Before she had mastered 【Summon True Spirit】 and 【Extra-dimensional Erosion】, her efficiency in assaulting the Bagaros Base had been frustratingly slow.
Now, just by standing here, she alone was a small-scale army!
Who dared defy her? Anyone who did could come challenge her!
No one dared. At least none of the guards who had personally experienced the might of psionic explosions dared. They stood frozen like statues, unable to advance or retreat.
This was the Institute. There was nowhere for them to run. Deeper into the facility?
Even if they somehow survived today, none of them would escape the aftermath once accountability came.
Damn it.
Each of the guards looked up. Against the light, Bai Fu’s upper body was almost entirely shrouded in shadow, so oppressive it felt like the sky itself would collapse.
「I’ll take care of her!」
Amid the silence, a Mutant from deep within the Institute stepped forward, a determined look in his eyes.
The Institute Director shook his head. 「You alone won’t do. All of you go. Even if you can’t kill her, stall her. I’ll request reinforcements from Haidu immediately!」
A dozen Mutants approached Bai Fu grimly.
Bai Fu spotted them instantly. Quite a number, but she also had plenty of people on her side.
In the time just passed, Su Li and the others had already fought their way to the vicinity of the Institute. Though their total level was below hers, within the Dark Web, they were bona fide S-rank Certified Assassins.
Sure, there were gaps even among S-ranks, but there was still a baseline to that rank.
Once Su Li and the others entered the Institute through other shooting points, the entire tide of battle shifted completely.
「Tiger Sprint Fist!」
Wearing gauntlets, Su Li charged into the guards. Her whole body surged with energy—every punch resulted in an explosion.
Ferreira was unwilling to fall behind. He laughed heartily as he flung open his coat, revealing a swarm of dense, scalp-numbing black bugs.
「Go!」
The words had barely left his mouth when the bugs surged forward like a flash flood, overwhelming the guards blocking their path.
Coyote, though his name was Coyote, had a more graceful combat style. He was an Esper Power-user. Standing still, he waved his arms and controlled a phantom of a giant wolf, as if conducting a symphony orchestra.
「Weren’t there only three of them?」
The Mutants rushing out from deep inside the Institute turned pale, but they had no time to worry about that now. They split up, each picking an opponent, just hoping the reinforcements from Haidu would arrive soon—otherwise, they might all die here.
「Bastards!」
The Institute Director smashed a cup beside him in fury.
There was no time for hesitation. He rushed to the mic. 「Hear my command: shut all gates. Immediately, now!」
Those who received the order didn’t dare delay and quickly pressed the button to lower the gates. They too feared the intruders breaking in and sending them to the afterlife.
Watching the three gates lower successfully, the Director let out a sigh of relief.
「Perfect.」
The gates were made of special materials. No matter how strong those people outside were, they wouldn’t break through for a while. They should hold out until reinforcements arrived.
The Director couldn’t help but laugh.
「These intruders are too green. If they had just focused their strength and charged in at the start, I might not have been able to stop them today. At that point… I would have had to activate the self-destruct button.」
Now that the tension had eased, he turned to study the surveillance footage.
These people looked a bit familiar.
Especially the ones who joined the fight later—controlling a wolf phantom, controlling bugs—weren’t they famous assassins on the Dark Web? As for the woman using martial arts, he couldn’t quite place her.
And the first one who broke in, the white-haired woman...
「Bai Fu!」
The Director recalled a name that the upper echelon of the Gene Primordials loathed with passion.
Yes, it had to be her. No wonder she’d come to attack this Institute.
His body trembled with excitement. Today might be the day he achieved great merit. Once reinforcements arrived and Bai Fu was captured, he would surely be promoted.
「Hahaha, Heaven helps me!」
The Director was about to contact Haidu and report his discovery. But just as he turned around—
He suddenly heard a heart-wrenching scream from outside.
「?」
He looked around, and finally located the source of the scream on a monitor in the upper left corner.
It came from a Mutant who had left the room moments ago. He lay before Bai Fu, his chest a mess of blood and flesh—clearly, he wouldn’t survive.
The Director’s pupils shrank violently.
He knew that Mutant’s strength. Yet he had been killed by Bai Fu in less than a minute of battle. How could the gap in strength be so vast? Back when Bai Fu was being hunted by the Gene Primordials, she could only run!
He could only thank himself for not blindly trusting those Mutants’ strength, and for lowering the gates in time.
The Director shook his head quietly and turned to contact Haidu and report the good news.
……
At the same time, outside the gate.
Bai Fu strode calmly over the corpses on the ground, using her electric blade and psionic explosion—perfectly effective against these melee-powered Mutants.
Just then, Su Li’s voice rang out.
“Yinyue, quickly find whether there is a path deeper into the Institute—we must acquire the Institute’s data.”
Bai Fu waved her hand.
“No need for that trouble.”
She had already arranged everything; now all she needed to do was walk forward.
“You…”
Su Li panicked and fumbled, revealing a flaw.
A Mutant punched her, but she did not get angry.
She kicked the Mutant flying, looking completely baffled as she stared at Bai Fu.
“Fighting, what are you spacing out for?”
Coyote’s face darkened, but when he followed Su Li’s gaze, he too froze.
Then, like an infection, both the Railroad Guild members and the Institute staff all turned to look at Bai Fu in unison.
They watched Bai Fu standing at the first gate.
They watched the gate slowly rising.
They watched the players behind the gate bending down to pull the lever.
“Fufu, the second gate is this way, please follow me.”
Bai Fu nodded slightly.
“Thank you for your effort.”
The scene was exactly like a queen arriving to inspect and the others were here to receive her.
Led by players, Bai Fu walked toward the second gate.
Only then did the hall and its sides’ staff realize something was wrong.
“What are you doing? Why are you opening the gate? Do you want to kill everyone? No, you are in…”
Bang!
Bai Fu shot the person babbling to death, then continued forward as if nothing had happened.
The other Institute staff mumbled, and in the end not a single whole sentence was spoken.
They had seen the surveillance—they knew Bai Fu killing powerful Mutants was like killing a chicken, so killing researchers or minor security would be even easier.
And so Bai Fu reached the second gate, where the player behind it had already pressed the button, raising the gate halfway.
“Fufu, the third gate is this way, please follow me.”
“Stop her, hurry up and stop her!”
The Mutants outside screamed in terror, but no one responded.
What use was it? The Institute was already thoroughly infiltrated.
Bai Fu entering the Institute was as easy as returning home.
Everything was over.
Instead of running to die, they might as well wait here—perhaps they could survive.
The unheeded Mutants tried to step forward to stop her, but Su Li and the others would not allow it.
Charge, Bai Fu!
Bai Fu now wanted to describe the situation in one phrase—
Our path is unobstructed, our path is unobstructed!
Through the second gate was the third gate.
Through the third gate was a maze-like corridor.
Through the corridor was the monitoring room where the Director was.
Bai Fu stood at the doorway, dozens of excited players behind her.
In this operation they had earned indelible merit.
When the post-operation video was made, everyone could boast properly!
Bai Fu drew her electric blade and cut the door apart with one stroke.
The loud noise immediately drew the attention of the Director inside the room.
“Who?”
He had just been talking with Haidu’s people when someone came to cause trouble.
He was furious, but when he recognized Bai Fu he went stunned.
He didn’t even notice the terminal in his hand falling to the ground.
How could Bai Fu be here?
It was over—his dream of promotion, his life!
Child, this is the surprise!
Bai Fu executed a Flash Displacement to next to the Director.
Before the Director could press the self-destruct button, she landed a heavy punch on his chin.
A full-force strike with 25 strength lifted the Director into the air, his head smashing into the ceiling so hard that his seasoned skull cracked.
When the Director fell to the ground, she drew her gun and pressed it to his forehead.
Goodbye!
A shot that hit the soul.
Before his head burst, the Director’s only thought was—
In this fucked-up world, which unlucky bastard caused Bai Fu to be born in it?
Everyone’s strength improvements might be described as rocket-speed, but Bai Fu’s was a leap.
Strength increasing so fast was bad enough—but that she could also get so many undead puppets to willingly serve her? It was absurd!
……
Ten minutes later, Bai Fu and the players had moved all the printed data and every storage device out of the base.
At this time, the battle outside had concluded.
All the Mutants were eliminated, the remaining people crouched, heads in hands.
They did not dare speak or move.
Seeing expressionless Bai Fu and the smiling players, Su Li felt extremely conflicted.
If there had been no prior beating by the players, no little emotional grudge, she’d be ready to kneel to Bai Fu right now.
She never thought that doing a mission could be this easy.
Is this Bai, Queen of the Dark Realm, Fu?
Being shielded by the big boss felt amazing!
Coyote and Ferreira had no such burden—they were glowing as if they were seeing a divine being.
Ferreira, who had admired Bai Fu’s achievements, shouted in an exaggerated tone—
Queen returns victorious!
Bai Fu didn’t respond to his cheering.
Shh, it’s enough to know this, shouting it would be embarrassing.
“I’ve checked all these documents—they weren’t damaged.”
Bai Fu handed everything to Su Li with satisfaction.
She had the players photograph all the printed materials once.
As for the digital data, she copied it all onto her hard drive.
She had to admit the data was explosive.
The first page of the printed material mentioned a key term—
Android!
Yes, this was an Institute for research on androids.
The Gene Primordials had captured a large number of scavengers.
Under the guise of marine biology research, they had performed bloody experiments unacceptable to ordinary people.
Bai Fu remembered—if she was not mistaken, during her interrogation of Graham, he had told her that the Wailing of the Truth Society Leader was an android.
However, the Truth Society Leader was rumored to have lived at least fifty or sixty years.
The earliest research logs in this Institute could be traced back over twenty years.
The first log even stated “we have finally developed android technology.”
From this angle, it was difficult to say the Truth Society Leader was connected to this Institute.
Exactly how things stood, she would study this data back at Refuge Shelter 11.
Maybe that would trigger a new task.
“This is your reward.”
After checking the data, Su Li handed a hard drive containing advanced psionic knowledge to Bai Fu.
Bai Fu didn’t hesitate—she quickly imported the data into her terminal.
Data import successful
“Let’s go. If we don’t leave soon, reinforcements from the Gene Primordials might arrive.” Bai Fu urged.
Su Li nodded and began calling logistics troops to pick them up.
The logistics arrived quickly—in just over ten minutes they reached the Institute.
After loading the data and prisoners onto vehicles, Bai Fu boarded with the players.
There were no incidents the entire way.
The engines roared, and the vehicle sped away from the Marine Biology Institute.
You completed the mission [Secret Commission of the Railroad Guild].
You gained 300 000 experience points, Psionic Knowledge Chain (11).
Attack the Institute counted as mission completion reward.
Bai Fu earned a total of 410 000 experience points—quite a haul.
But what she valued more was the new Psionic Knowledge Chain and the stir in the Player community after video of the battle was shared.
Seated in the vehicle, Bai Fu opened her personal terminal.
You begin reading “Advanced Psionic Knowledge Held by the Railroad Guild.” Intermediate psionic specialization is in effect, reading speed +20%. Current progress 0.1%...
After more than twenty minutes, a crisp, pleasant tone sounded.
You unlocked Psionic Knowledge Chain (11)
PS: thanks to SadWords, Rainbow Qi, 1cel, BookFriend20240330102320376 for donations
Two updates, ten thousand words done.
I could have finished sooner, but my right hand hurt from typing in a bad posture—fortunately it no longer hurts.
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Comparison of Bai Fu’s popularity with other NPCs is scheduled for the Starlit Sea arc.
The Newbie Village’s combat power is too low now—raising popularity will come later since Bai Fu was originally a pure deer-person.