Chapter 183: Bai Fu Growing Into a Star Sea BOSS
In order to stop Bai Fu, Elron, and the others, the Secret Tower’s Chief Steward didn’t hesitate to mobilize a secret fleet hidden near the Sea Lion System.
This fleet wasn’t large; it was originally intended to be used against the Star Web Commonwealth. Now that it had surfaced, it would inevitably draw the attention of the Star Web Commonwealth, and the costly fleet base previously built was essentially going to be scrapped.
However, in the Chief Steward’s eyes, this was a risk worth taking.
In fact, if not for the Secret Tower’s headquarters being too far from the Sea Lion System, making it difficult for other fleets to reach the battlefield in time, he would never have sent just one fleet.
As long as they could successfully capture the members of the Holy Blessing Cult and get their hands on the real True Spirit Pillar, forget one base—even if they had to give away a few more bases to the Star Web Commonwealth, so what?
The Secret Tower’s plan could still proceed without the True Spirit Pillar, but having it would greatly increase the chances of success and significantly shorten the timeline. That value clearly outweighed a few bases!
"Don’t worry, they won’t escape!"
Foster, the Secret Tower fleet’s supreme commander, said confidently to the Chief Steward’s holographic projection that appeared in the ship.
The Chief Steward nodded. "I’ll wait for your good news."
As his hologram disappeared, the Secret Tower’s Star Web fleet broke free from the black zone created by high-speed travel and officially exited warp mode.
Ripples of space spread out across the cosmos, and in the next instant, hundreds of ships burst out from the spatial ripples at extreme speed, densely packed like a flock of geese squeezed together.
"They’re here!"
Onboard the ship, Elron’s pupils suddenly shrank.
In the footage returned by the detectors, the moment the Secret Tower’s ships appeared, their ship cannons immediately activated. A thick beam of energy shot across the starry sky and instantly pierced through the Trelora Pirates’ mining ship.
That mining ship had already been battered and broken. With this shot, it instantly erupted into a chain of explosions, like an extraordinarily dazzling space fireworks display.
Beautiful.
But behind that silent beauty lay a chilling and bone-piercing killing intent!
"Looks like the Secret Tower is going all-in this time—they really want us dead!"
Elron’s expression grew extremely grim, though beneath that grimness was a trace of excitement.
Good!
He hadn’t even asked about the specific location of the True Spirit Pillar yet—he had only just heard from Sean that the Secret Tower had something very similar to it—and already the Secret Tower was so ruthless, trying to kill them. What did that suggest?
It suggested the True Spirit Pillar was truly in the hands of the Secret Tower. The Secret Tower feared they would spread the news, so they had to silence them.
Although every piece of intelligence extracted so far using Psionic Hypnosis had proven accurate, there’s always a chance for exceptions. But fortunately, the Secret Tower’s actions confirmed they were right!
At this moment, both Elron and Sui Xi were one hundred percent certain that the True Spirit Pillar was in the hands of the Secret Tower.
Elron couldn’t help but glance at Bai Fu.
In his view, Bai Fu, the Queen of the Dark Zone, was simply the Holy Blessing Cult’s lucky star. For over a century, the Holy Blessing Cult had searched high and low for the True Spirit Pillar without success. But the moment Bai Fu appeared, they easily found a lead on it.
His Favorability towards Bai Fu skyrocketed.
Not just Elron—Sui Xi’s Favorability towards Bai Fu also rose a bit.
"Isn’t it?"
Bai Fu froze. Did she just see things? She noticed Sui Xi looking at her—and she saw a smile flash across her lips.
She quickly tossed a Psionic Vision each toward Elron and Sui Xi, and to her surprise, found that both of their Favorability towards her had indeed just increased.
What the heck?
Back when she captured that fake Fragment Star with the Players, Favorability didn’t rise. When she subdued Sean, Favorability didn’t rise. Why did it suddenly go up now?
Did the game bug out, or were those two just cooking up wild imaginations?
Bai Fu was confused, but she knew now wasn’t the time to dwell on it, because after blowing up the mining ship, the Secret Tower’s fleet had already begun pursuing them.
Still smiling? You’re still smiling? Let’s see how you laugh when this ship gets blasted!
Bai Fu yanked Trelora up. "You’re familiar with this area, right? If you don’t want to get blasted to death by a single shot from the Secret Tower’s ships, then start showing us the way."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Trelora nodded like a pecking bird.
Under his direction, the ship made a sharp turn and flew toward a highly unstable space zone nearby.
The Secret Tower’s warships far outclassed their current vessel in firepower, durability, speed, and numbers. If they wanted to escape, direct warp was out of the question. Warp engines needed time to activate, and the ship would likely be surrounded before that. The best approach was to first use the treacherous environment of the Stellar Graveyard to shake off the Secret Tower fleet, then initiate the warp.
The ship sped ahead, and Bai Fu’s heartbeat quickened in sync.
Since arriving in the Star Sea, this was probably the most dangerous moment she had faced—except for that one time when she was locked on by Night Mother Cersia.
The only reason she didn’t consider this more dangerous than that incident was because Cersia’s skills had made her feel the real approach of death back then. Now, what she felt most was thrill and excitement. As for death...
Let’s just say that death was still chasing her, right behind her butt.
"Like to bully with numbers, huh? Just you wait!"
Bai Fu scribbled another mark under the Secret Tower’s name in her little grudge notebook.
Right now, she only had just over three thousand Players under her command. That wasn’t enough to make the Secret Tower tremble. But when her Players grew to the tens or hundreds of thousands—would the Secret Tower still be laughing then?
Hundreds of thousands of Players, piloting thousands of ships, surging toward the Secret Tower in perfect sync—that scene, just thinking about it made Bai Fu feel like flying.
As Bai Fu’s heartbeat sped up, the Players’ heart rates also began to skyrocket. The difference was, the Players weren’t afraid at all—on the contrary, they were thrilled.
[When I watched movies before, I always loved car chases. Never thought I’d get to see a spaceship chase first!]
[Whoa, the Secret Tower’s ships look awesome! Way cooler than the Star Web’s.]
[You think our ship’s gonna get blasted apart?]
[Eh, let it get blasted. It’s not like we’ll die. I actually kinda wanna feel what it’s like to be inside an exploding spaceship.]
[We won’t die, but Fu-fu will.]
Ah. That’s true!
Now the Players couldn’t stay excited anymore. If Bai Fu died, what would be the point of this gathering?
"Call for reinforcements. We’re still within the Sea Lion System. If the Star Web finds out the Secret Tower’s causing trouble here, they’ll definitely send help."
"Contact Hiye—she’s a member of the Star Covenant."
The Players started shouting over one another.
Bai Fu helplessly shrugged her shoulders.
The moment she discovered the Secret Tower’s ships, she had already sent a distress signal to Hiye. Unfortunately, the Secret Tower’s fleet had emitted signal jamming waves, causing the distress signal to fail to send out.
At that moment, Sui Xi suddenly spoke, “I’ve already contacted the Pope. The Pope has informed the Star Web of what’s happening here. The Star Web responded that reinforcements will arrive in 2 to 3 hours.”
2 to 3 hours?
In the past, Bai Fu would have thought 2 to 3 hours was short. Sometimes, just doing a Psionic Transfer verification experiment with Yulia would take longer than that. But now, it felt endless.
“How far is the Secret Tower’s fleet from us?”
“1.27 million kilometers,”
the pilot replied.
That was well within firing range!
Just as that thought surfaced, Bai Fu saw a massive purple laser beam streaking toward them. The beam pierced through the pitch-black space and flew just past the front of their ship. Although it didn’t severely damage the ship, it still caused the ship’s shield to flicker continuously.
Right after, several more laser beams followed. However, these beams weren’t as accurate. They encountered distorted space mid-flight. One was swallowed by a rift, and the others were twisted off course.
“That was close!”
Everyone aboard the ship exclaimed in shock. No one dared to relax. Dodging one round of attacks didn’t mean the danger was over—far from it.
To their surprise, what arrived faster than a second wave of fire was a broadcast from Foster, commander of the Secret Tower fleet.
“Stop the ship now. Surrender immediately. Hand over the people you just captured and everything you took, and I’ll let you live. You’ll even be allowed to join the Secret Tower.”
Foster was not a merciful man. On the contrary, he was a cold-blooded killing machine.
The reason he hadn’t ordered a full barrage yet was partly due to Bai Fu and the others hiding in a zone of spatial distortion, making it difficult for ship cannons to aim. But more importantly, he feared the cannons might shatter the True Spirit Pillar along with the ship. Even if the pillar wasn’t destroyed, it might be sucked into a space rift during the explosion’s shockwave. If that happened, all his efforts would be wasted.
Faced with Foster’s threat, Elron responded with fierce defiance.
“Cut the crap! If you want the people and the goods, come get them yourself!”
Provocation. Pure provocation!
Foster was furious, but he didn’t dare to launch an all-out attack just because he was angry.
“You think you’re invincible just because you’re holding one trump card?”
He only meant to mock Elron for thinking that having the True Spirit Pillar made him untouchable. But Elron misunderstood, thinking Foster was referring to his hidden abilities. That little misunderstanding made Elron’s face darken instantly.
How did the Secret Tower know about his hidden powers? Could there be a spy in the Holy Blessing Cult?
It was quite possible.
The Secret Tower wanted the True Spirit Pillar, and the Holy Blessing Cult had also been searching for it all along. It would make perfect sense for the Secret Tower to plant a spy within their cult.
Elron sneered, “Your intelligence work is impressive. But so what?”
That response goaded Foster even more, confirming with absolute certainty that the True Spirit Pillar was in Elron’s hands. After all, he practically admitted it himself!
So what?
Obviously—they were going to take it back!
“I’ll show you what happens when you mess with the Secret Tower!”
With a single order, Foster split the fleet into three formations, attempting to encircle Bai Fu’s ship from different directions.
A high-speed pursuit began on the desolate Stellar Graveyard, a place rarely visited by anyone besides pirates.
Due to unfamiliarity with the terrain, even though the Secret Tower’s ships had superior performance, they still couldn’t close the gap with Bai Fu and the others. But this advantage wouldn’t last long.
Foster had deliberately adjusted the output level of the laser cannons. The blasts now packed less punch—no longer enough to destroy a ship outright—but the sustained barrage was putting immense pressure on the shields of Bai Fu’s ship.
“Shields are at 21%. We can only hold on for another 20 minutes. Once the shields go down, they’ll be able to strike the ship directly. If the power module is damaged, we won’t be able to run!” the pilot from the Holy Blessing Cult shouted in panic.
Elron walked up to Trelora. “Is there any kind of twisted one-way path in the Stellar Graveyard? If they keep attacking us from three directions, we’ll be caught soon.”
Trelora’s face turned bitter. “There is, but it’s way too dangerous. No one dares to go through those. One misstep and the ship and everyone in it will be swallowed whole. I wouldn’t recommend it. The Secret Tower wouldn’t even need to pressure us—we’d be killing ourselves.”
Elron shook his head. If that wasn’t viable, then they had to try something else.
“Find a planet with a harsh environment—lots of mountains and valleys. We’ll head to the surface.”
After this long chase, he had figured it out: the Secret Tower didn’t dare to destroy the ship outright. It must be because Sean or Trelora, or perhaps Fragment Star, were carrying something of great value to them.
That was a weakness he could exploit.
They only needed to stall for time—until the Star Web reinforcements arrived. Dragging it out on the surface would be easier than in the open void of space. After all, mountain peaks and valleys would obstruct the Secret Tower’s line of sight, making it harder for their ships to aim and fire.
Trelora immediately pulled up the star chart and marked several locations on the map.
Elron selected one planet and ordered the pilot to change course.
The chase continued. About ten minutes later, with the shield down to roughly 5%, their ship broke through thick atmospheric dust and sandstorms, descending into a dim yellow canyon on the planet’s surface. Soon after, the Secret Tower fleet also arrived.
“A futile struggle!”
Foster dispatched ships to block the escape routes and sent out a swarm of drones to engage them.
The drones swarmed like locusts, sweeping over the planet’s surface, kicking up scorching winds and blinding sand. Amid the dust, small laser cannons kept firing.
“Looks like the ship can’t hold much longer,” Bai Fu said.
Elron nodded. “Let’s split up. You, me, and Sui Xi—each of us will take one person. That’ll prevent the Secret Tower from concentrating their forces. Stall them for another half hour, and the Star Web reinforcements should arrive.”
Bai Fu nodded in agreement. Staying together made them too big a target.
She took Trelora. Before leaving, Elron gave her an item to conceal her presence.
As the ship’s shield shattered under enemy fire, the hangar bay of the ship suddenly opened, and a dozen or so carrier-based aircraft shot out like swifts.
Bai Fu piloted one of them, roaring through a gap between two mountain peaks. Behind her followed aircraft piloted by Players—and a large number of Secret Tower pursuers.
As her carrier-based aircraft burst through the gap, she turned her head to glance back at the pursuers.
“Back in the Star Sea, I was up against massive warships. My attacks couldn’t land, and even if they did, I had to break their shields first to do any real damage. That’s why I held back. But now that we’re on the surface, there’s no need to hold back anymore.”
Aircraft?
You dare chase this close? I’ll make you fly!
Bai Fu raised her hand and instantly cast a Void Card Creation. Several cards—【Prison Realm】 and 【Psychic Storm】—appeared in her palm out of thin air.
Go!
The cards turned into streaks of light and shot out.
With a flash of white light, a massive black prison suddenly emerged in the wilderness. The Secret Tower flyers in the lead had no time to dodge.
“We’re done for! We’re gonna crash!”
The pilots panicked. But to their surprise, the flyers didn’t smash into pieces. Instead, they broke through the edge of the prison and entered its interior.
Survived?
No!
They soon realized a far more terrifying crisis awaited them.
A storm. A Psychic Storm. A massive Psychic Storm!
No matter how skilled the pilots were, under the sweep of the Psychic Storm, they could only watch helplessly as their flyers disintegrated and their bodies were torn to shreds.
“Evade! Quickly!”
The other pilots who saw this from outside frantically pulled their flyers upward. But just as they ascended, dark psionic clouds and several black orbs materialized in the sky.
Swish, swish, swish—
Countless psionic debris rained down from the clouds. Psionic beams shot out from the black orbs, slicing back and forth like long blades. Under the dual assault, a large number of flyers were damaged and fell like dumplings from the sky.
“How did her power suddenly increase this much?”
Inside the warship, the Secret Tower members watching the footage relayed by the flyers were all shocked.
This wasn’t just any S-rank Psionicist anymore!
“Should I go deal with her?”
At that moment, a massive, stone-skinned S-rank Psionicist stepped forward.
“She’s not the priority right now. First, capture those members of the Holy Blessing Cult—and that Fragment Star in their hands,” Foster shook his head. Then he turned to another subordinate. “Send a few ships. If you can kill Bai Fu, do it. If not, just stall her. Don’t let her escape. I’ll deal with her after I’ve handled the Holy Blessing Cult.”
The Secret Tower troops moved immediately. A large force charged toward Elron and Sui Xi, while four ships descended from the clouds, aiming to bomb Bai Fu directly.
Bai Fu had already anticipated this move. Before they split up, she had handed out several 【Whispers of the Aberration】 cards to the Players. The moment the ships were spotted, the Players who received the cards all played their Prayer Cards.
The gunner on the ship tried to lock onto Bai Fu’s aircraft—and was stunned to see every single carrier-based aircraft below had a Bai Fu on board.
“???”
There was no doubt only one was the real one, but which one?
With all engines pushed to full power, the aircraft scattered. The gunner had no idea who to target. At first, he tried to tell by identifying which aircraft had fired the Psychic Storm and Prison Realm—but soon realized that wouldn’t work either, since all of them had Psychic Storm and Prison Realm coming from them.
“Damn it, I forgot Bai Fu is a Psionic Illustrator. The Prayer Cards she creates can be used by others!”
Rage erupted among the ship crew.
Why did they have to face such a troublesome opponent as Bai Fu?
Fine then! If they couldn’t tell, they’d just bomb them all!
The four ships split up in four directions, sending out flyers to assist in the pursuit. During the chase, a large number of Secret Tower flyers were shredded by storms, and Bai Fu’s experience bar soared.
“The Secret Tower folks would never imagine I’ve already abandoned the carrier-based aircraft and hidden on the ground, right?”
On the surface, inside a cave, Bai Fu lounged comfortably, enjoying the show.
Watch closely—this is how Players are meant to be used!
Who said weak Players couldn’t influence the battlefield? With a Psionic Illustrator like her, the ways to play were endless.
And the Players were indeed having fun.
The high-speed chase between ships and carrier-based aircraft was thrilling enough. Plus, they had received a ton of Prayer Cards from Bai Fu. They could recklessly bombard enemies—it felt amazing...
[Ahhh, stop firing, let me do it!]
[I can’t take it anymore, I wanna be Fu-fu’s dog too]
[I’m begging you, let me fire some shots, I’ll do anything!]
The Players flooding into the livestream room had red eyes. While they were still having gunfights on foot, this side had already advanced to spaceship battles. The gap was like primitives versus moderns.
Bai Fu nodded in great satisfaction. The promotional effect this round achieved was maxed out.
Whoever gave Players a good gameplay experience would win their affection. Clearly, she had done it. The Players gave her experience; she gave them fun. A very fair trade.
“We should be able to hold out until the Star Web reinforcements arrive. I just wonder how things are going on the Holy Blessing Cult’s side.”
Bai Fu waited quietly for another ten-plus minutes. When only one of the Players’ carrier-based aircraft remained airborne, the ships and flyers pursuing them all abruptly halted.
After a few seconds, the captain of one ship stomped his foot in frustration.
“Bai Fu, this isn’t over!”
He had chased carrier-based aircraft all over the place for so long that his head was spinning, only to find out every single Bai Fu on those aircraft was fake. If not for his professional training, he might have passed out from rage.
She was just too hard to kill—arghhhh...
“Withdraw!”
With a furious roar, the ships and flyers turned around, preparing to retreat.
Bai Fu stood up.
Judging by the situation, the Star Web reinforcements had probably arrived.