Chapter 201: The Strength of the Fourth Calamity, the Terrifying Bai Fu

The Sanctification Tower’s release of the Flood required a special item called the 【Cooling Hive】.

The 【Cooling Hive】was crafted by the engineering bugs of the Dark Zone Zerg. The size of a Cooling Hive ranged from 50 centimeters to 5 meters in diameter. Due to the application of spatial technology during its creation, even the smallest 50 cm version could store 100,000 regular bugs and 100 mature bugs. Throwing one of the largest Cooling Hives onto the surface of a civilization at the level of the Ulysses Civilization would be nothing short of a merciless massacre.

Although the fleet dispatched by the Sanctification Tower this time did not carry the largest Cooling Hive, they brought over a hundred medium-sized ones. These hives alone were enough for them to unleash a Flood with a scale of over a hundred million.

Don’t underestimate the number one hundred million.

The most terrifying aspects of the Dark Zone Zerg were twofold: first, their ability to evolve, and second, their reproductive capability!

If the invaded civilization could not come up with an effective method to exterminate the bugs, the Dark Zone Zerg would mercilessly devour everything they could digest to satisfy their most primitive desires. During this process, their numbers would explode, evolving from one hundred million to two hundred million, four hundred million, billions, and even more, until the entire planet was stripped bare. Only then would they begin to cannibalize one another.

Beginning with destruction and ending with destruction—that was the terror of the Flood.

“Commander Foster, all Cooling Hives have completed the preheating process!”

As the planet Jingu appeared on the large screen in the fleet’s command cockpit, a voice rang in Foster’s ear.

He nodded slightly and said, “Deploy the probes and have the accompanying Brain Bugs explore as well. Confirm that there are no ambushes before advancing toward Jingu.”

The Sanctification Tower’s operation this time had two objectives.

The primary goal was to capture the Immortals. The secondary was to capture Bai Fu alive and interrogate her about the whereabouts of the Origin Mother.

Therefore, the Chief Butler had already issued an order before the operation began, instructing Foster not to initiate a glassing strike on Jingu unless absolutely necessary.

Since they couldn’t use the heavy orbital cannons, deploying the Dark Zone Zerg became the most efficient offensive method that could also minimize their own casualties.

Foster gently pinched his chin, his eyes narrowing.

“There are currently several thousand Immortals around Bai Fu. Who knows how many are on Jingu? If there are ten or twenty thousand of them, and I manage to capture all of them back to the Sanctification Tower…”

The emotion called excitement suddenly bloomed in his chest.

With such a tremendous feat, he could surely take another step up and join the ranks of the Battle Command Room!

“There has to be that many—otherwise, I’ll be very disappointed.”

Foster’s sharp black fingernails lightly traced his neck. His desire to kill was on the verge of being uncontrollable.

A dozen minutes later, the probes and Brain Bugs returned feedback—

No signs of ambush were found in the vicinity!

Foster raised an eyebrow.

No ambush? Could it be that Bai Fu hadn’t arrived yet, or that those bastards from the Gateway Cluster were afraid of being discovered and had set up their ambush far from Jingu?

If it was the former, he could counter-ambush them and catch Bai Fu off guard. If it was the latter, then those Gateway Cluster bastards would be wailing in despair.

The Chief Butler had already considered this possibility. Before they departed, he had specially given Foster a Dimensional Shard. Although the Dimensional Shard wasn’t lethal, once thrown outside Jingu, it would block interference until it disappeared. No matter how anxious the Gateway Cluster bastards became, they could only watch helplessly as the Sanctification Tower did whatever it wanted on Jingu.

Offending them like this—how exhilarating. Just the thought of it made Foster excited.

“Since no ambush has been detected, advance toward Jingu at full speed!”

The fleet sped forward, only stopping once it reached low orbit above Jingu. Then, the drop bay doors of an entire row of ships opened in sequence. The preheated Cooling Hives and airdrop capsules were launched down into Jingu’s atmosphere like cannonballs, propelled by acceleration tracks.

Foster hadn’t ordered the ships to land directly because he feared scaring off the players on Jingu, causing them to go into hiding. Capturing them one by one would be too time-consuming and labor-intensive.

At that moment, most of the crew in the fleet had their eyes fixed on the virtual screen ahead. No one noticed that a cloud of black mist had silently attached itself to the base of one airdrop capsule and was following it into Jingu.

……

Eastern hemisphere of Jingu, a gravel clearing.

Night had fallen, drowsiness loomed.

A man standing beside a boulder, holding binoculars, rubbed his sleepy eyes and sighed, “Are evil aliens really going to attack?”

“Who knows. The Boss says they are and told us to prepare, so we prepare. It’s not like he’s not paying us.” The burly man beside him shrugged.

“I’m not doubting the Boss. I’m just worried he’s been fooled by that woman who doesn’t look like us.”

“That’s none of our concern. We just need to—wait, what’s that?”

Mid-sentence, the burly man suddenly stood up and stared intently at the night sky.

The man with the binoculars followed his gaze with a puzzled look, only to see countless streaks of crimson light suddenly appear in the previously clear night sky.

The light streaks plummeted at high speed, dyeing the entire sky blood red as if ignited, creating an awe-inspiring doomsday scene.

What’s going on?

Right.

Aliens—it’s the aliens!

The two men who had been chatting moments ago rushed toward a nearby signal station, but before they could get far, a streak of fire fell right in front of them.

The explosion’s firewave blasted them into the air. The scorching heat made them scream in pain, but even so, the overwhelming fear inside them forced them to their feet, trembling.

Through the swirling smoke, they saw a brown sphere riddled with pores. One by one, black, bizarrely shaped bugs crawled out of those pores.

Some bugs had wings. Some had bifurcated horns…

No matter what they looked like or how they behaved, the moment they emerged from the pores, their bodies suddenly inflated a hundredfold like balloons.

NPCs living on Jingu had never seen such a horrifying sight before. They turned and fled in terror—but how could their speed compare to that of these bugs, whose strength rivaled that of C-rank Espers?

The moment they left the Cooling Hives and caught the scent of flesh, the Dark Zone Zerg entered hunting mode. They charged in packs like a mudslide pouring down a hillside, accompanied by strange buzzing sounds.

“It’s over, we’re doomed!”

The two fleeing men turned pale. How could they possibly escape such a bug tide?

Despair spread. Just then, a white streak of light suddenly tore through the long night, sweeping past above their heads and piercing into the surging swarm.

Boom!

The explosion was deafening. As the two looked up, several figures suddenly appeared before them. Leading the group was the strange woman who had killed the King of Espers two days ago and warned on television that evil aliens were coming.

“You…”

Bai Fu ignored the two of them. She stepped forward a few paces, then suddenly raised her right hand. Spirit Burst activated, and a massive tide of psionic energy surged out, violently colliding with the incoming bug swarm.

The swarm pouring out of the Cooling Hive was already terrifying enough, but compared to the torrent of psionic energy unleashed by the current Bai Fu, it was nothing but a joke!

The surging psionic energy melted all the bugs in front into fragments. The seemingly unstoppable swarm was torn in half in the blink of an eye. The roar echoed across the wilderness, almost drowning out every other sound between heaven and earth.

Accompanying the tide of psionic energy were ten dazzling spinning demon blades. The blades rotated at high speed, sweeping through the air and leaving behind long trails of black afterimages. They roamed freely through the bifurcated swarm. Whether it was the fragile bugs or the armored defensive types, as long as they were grazed by a demon blade, they were instantly sliced in two, their lives completely severed.

In just twenty seconds or so, by the time Bai Fu lowered her right hand, the surging bug swarm had completely died down. Not a single living bug remained on the pile of rocks—only dismembered corpses scattered across the ground.

“Such a pity the range of Spirit Burst is still a bit too small. Otherwise, I could’ve wiped them all out in two seconds.”

Bai Fu shook her head regretfully.

The two men standing behind her stared, eyes wide.

Good heavens—she wiped out so many terrifying bugs clean in twenty seconds and still thought that wasn’t efficient enough? What kind of alien superhuman was this?

Bai Fu ignored their stunned stares. She opened her communicator and contacted Fei Ye and Excavator Princess, who were firefighting elsewhere.

“The Sanctification Tower didn’t use orbital bombardment directly but chose to deploy the Flood instead. That means they didn’t come to Jingu just for revenge. Maybe they came for me, or maybe for you Immortals. But that’s not important now. Deploy the Flood? Today, we’ll let them know—in the Starsea, they can’t do as they please. On Jingu, they’ll be flat on their bellies! Let’s go, begin extermination operations!”

Bai Fu’s words were transmitted through Excavator Princess’s livestream to every player on Jingu.

At the same time, the system notification sounded.

【You have triggered the hidden mission [Battle for Jingu]】

【Mission Description: The evil force Sanctification Tower from beyond the stars has deployed numerous Cooling Hives containing Dark Zone Zerg onto Jingu. If not stopped, the terrifying Flood will sweep across the planet, turning Jingu into a forbidden zone of life. For Jingu—contribute your strength!】

【Mission Objective: Stop the Sanctification Tower’s invasion of Jingu! (Current Progress: 0.00%)】

【Reward: Determined based on contribution value】

Whether it was native Jingu players or other players who came with Bai Fu, all received the mission.

Even before the mission, they were eager to fight the Sanctification Tower. Now that the mission had arrived, their enthusiasm burned even brighter.

This was a mission to stop the invasion of a powerful faction that had Calamity-level Espers—the rewards would surely be generous!

All right then, the Sanctification Tower, was it?

I don’t care if it’s fire or flood—it’s nothing compared to us, the Fourth Calamity!

【Charge, brothers! Smash these bugs!】

【Damn it, Jingu’s my old home in this game! No way I’m letting a bunch of scum-bug freaks ruin it!】

【Time to show real skill. I even bought a set of neural-response-enhanced gear from Fufu just for this—kill kill kill kill kill!】

The players whom Bai Fu had previously split into dozens of groups across Jingu’s major cities mobilized. They boarded troop transports, launched into action, and charged straight toward the landed Cooling Hives.

Each player group was further divided into multiple combat squads. Each squad was commanded by players Bai Fu brought from the Ancestral Source Star, like Starfish and Sword Qi Soaring.

Their average combat strength was far higher than other players, and they had participated in the Tianshu Star War. With rich experience fighting the Dark Zone Zerg, their leadership earned the respect of Jingu’s players. In any case, they wouldn’t be competing for Starsea advancement quotas.

As the players launched attacks across the planet, the NPCs of Jingu, after the initial shock, began to take action as well. Jingu wasn’t just for the players—it was their Jingu too. They had to do something.

If they couldn’t join the front lines, then they’d handle logistics—weapons, ammo—whether it could actually kill the bugs or not didn’t matter. They’d prepare anyway.

With Bai Fu’s command, the entire Jingu began to operate at high speed, officially entering a state of war.

At that moment, she was no queen—she was more than a queen.

Countless people were chanting her name. Many residents of Jingu stopped praying to gods and started praying to her instead.

“We must win, white-haired big sister!”

Bai Fu raised her head and calmly looked at the temporarily quiet night sky.

She believed that the people from the Sanctification Tower above must have already noticed the changes on the ground.

……

Foster had indeed noticed.

At first, he was thrilled. Not a single one of the more than a hundred Cooling Hives had malfunctioned—they had all landed safely. That seemed like a good omen.

And when he saw players gathering near the Cooling Hives, he became even more excited.

“They’re here, they’re here—this kind of death-defying combat style, this kind of abnormal behavior of laughing even when about to die—they’re Immortals! Jingu really has a ton of Immortals!”

With a rough estimate, Foster counted at least a thousand Immortals on the screen.

If there were a thousand here, the whole of Jingu might have several thousand or even tens of thousands of Immortals!

“Notify the Brain Bugs—tell the bugs on the ground not to kill the Immortals blocking the way immediately. If we kill them right away, who knows where they’ll respawn? Catching them one by one would be too much trouble.”

“Yes!”

The notified Brain Bugs quickly passed down the order.

Foster beamed as he watched the players being chased all over the screen.

What he saw was not their fleeing backs—but his own promotion and pay raise; what he heard was not their screams—but the Chief Butler praising him.

As time passed and the number of players on screen kept rising, Foster’s smile grew wider.

“Two thousand!”

“Five thousand!”

“Ten thousand!”

“Tsk, I really underestimated them. Jingu might have twenty or thirty thousand Immortals!”

Foster’s eyes gleamed.

Total win!

This time, he really had to thank Bai Fu. If it weren’t for her, that Immortal named 【Feng Youjing】 wouldn’t have sent out the distress long-range signal. Without intercepting that signal, they wouldn’t have located Jingu. Without locating Jingu, he wouldn’t have been able to capture the Immortals. And without capturing the Immortals, just relying on fighting the Gateway Cluster scum—when would he ever accumulate enough merit to get promoted?

The Chief Butler said they had made Bai Fu into the high-value target she was today, but Bai Fu was a sincere person. Wasn’t she now repaying their kindness?

Say thank you to Sister Fu!

Thank you, Sister Fu!

The rest of the crew aboard the ship were also genuinely grateful to Bai Fu. If this operation succeeded, they too would be promoted and get raises.

“Commander Foster, when do we begin the capture operation?”

“Let’s wait a bit longer. No rush. They can’t run anyway.” Foster smiled confidently.

But the longer they waited, the more the situation began to change.

Wait a minute—why were the Immortals still pouring out?

Thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand… surely it should be over by now… damn it, why were there so many Immortals ambushed in this godforsaken place!

Foster could no longer smile.

He saw the players luring the bugs deep into the field, setting ambushes halfway, and finally coordinating a pincer attack that wiped out every bug born from a single Cooling Hive.

He had thought this was the limit of the players—but soon realized this was only the beginning.

Because the players were still pouring out!

From fifty thousand to a hundred thousand, from a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand—it felt endless.

The Dark Zone Zerg he deployed were powerful, but when faced with players whose average combat strength rivaled B-rank Espers and who feared no death, the Dark Zone Zerg were simply no match.

Bug swarm charge?

Player swarm counter-charge!

Surrounded by countless Dark Zone Zerg, the bugs sharpening their mandibles, ready to feast?

Eh, hold on—have a taste of my human bomb first!

The bugs could fly, could burrow underground?

What a joke. You think our Esper Powers and the gear we just bought from Fufu were just for show?

Foster had deployed Cooling Hives on other planets more than once. Each deployment would always stir up a storm on the planet. But this time…

A storm?

【We Immortals want to see how you plan to stir up a storm today!】

Those Dark Zone Zerg that were deployed in the wilderness hadn’t even had time to spot a single NPC before being slaughtered by the rapidly approaching players.

Those fortunate enough to be dropped near settlements didn’t fare much better. Those places were key defense zones under Bai Fu’s direct watch. The moment any Dark Zone Zerg appeared, she would immediately dispatch a swarm of drop pods to airdrop players in.

The Flood that Foster had placed such high hopes on didn’t cause any major destruction on Jingu. Instead, it was completely routed by the players.

“Is this even possible?”

Foster was dumbfounded.

Manu and the others were stunned too. Although the Flood on Jingu was small in scale and nowhere near the scale of the Flood on Tianshu Star, it was still absurd how easily it had been wiped out.

It was the first time they truly witnessed the terror of the players—and the first time they realized the immense value of the players.

And let’s not forget Bai Fu’s value.

Bai Fu could command so many Immortals. Her value was immeasurable!

Manu was thrilled. The Starweb Commonwealth had struck gold.

Unlike the excited Manu, Foster at this point felt like he was about to explode.

What the hell—why were there so many Immortals on Jingu?

A terrifying thought suddenly crept into his mind—could it be that the entire Jingu was made up of Immortals?

If that were really the case…

Foster’s scalp tingled. The population of Jingu might well be a billion.

“I get it. I get it completely now. This is a trap. This was Bai Fu’s trap all along. She deliberately had the Immortals on Jingu send out a long-range signal, making us think we had found her weakness. We came rushing in with our ships, thinking we had the upper hand—but in reality, we walked straight into her ambush. What a cunning woman. And to think I just assumed she was a sincere person!”

Foster’s breathing grew heavy.

Since Bai Fu had laid such a trap, there was no way she would let them escape easily. If they tried to flee now, they’d likely be intercepted midway and suffer a crushing defeat—possibly total annihilation.

If they wanted to survive, it seemed there was only one path left—

Survive by braving death!

“Damn you, Bai Fu! So what if you command countless Immortals? As long as we can capture you alive and take you hostage, we still win this war!”

Foster gritted his teeth and immediately issued the order for an all-out assault.

Storm Jingu—capture Bai Fu alive!