Chapter 207: The Secret Tower’s Plan, Bai Fu Officially Opens the Starsea Era

To those on the Secret Tower Fleet, this journey to Jingu Star was nothing short of a nightmare.

They had come filled with the desire to kill, once thinking it would be a delightful cat-and-mouse game—but upon actually arriving at Jingu Star, they realized Bai Fu was the real cat, a ferocious white cat from the Dark Domain!

No matter how they tried with all their might, in the end, they were still easily played by Bai Fu in the palm of her hand.

The commander died a tragic death; out of six S+ grade Esper Power users, three died and one defected; the Dimensional Shard used to trap Bai Fu became a cage for themselves; after finally waiting for the Dimensional Shard to unlock the Starweb and other civilizations, a joint fleet attacked...

All these events combined nearly drove the people on the Secret Tower Fleet insane.

Thankfully, heaven never bars one's way. When the joint fleet launched a full assault, each ship tried to snatch credit for the kill and accidentally exposed a flaw. Seizing that flaw, four ships successfully broke through the encirclement and managed to activate the jump engines.

“We… survived?”

Pavel, who had been temporarily appointed as commander, stared at the status panel of the jump engine on the virtual screen, momentarily feeling it all too unreal.

Only after a while, when cheers erupted around him, did he realize this wasn’t some beautiful delusion before death.

He had really survived!

He had truly survived the hands of the terrifying demon Bai Fu!

Long live!

As an S-grade Esper Power user, Pavel’s eyes filled with tears. From now on, he would never provoke Bai Fu again. If he ever accidentally ran into Bai Fu, he would flee as far and as fast as possible.

Calming down, he hurried to contact the butler and report their survival.

Two hours ago, the butler had already received news of Bai Fu’s furious onslaught, killing several S+ Esper Power users, and of Cersia’s sudden betrayal. Usually composed, even he had trembled all over at the time, like he’d had a stroke.

But now, another two hours later, he had finally calmed down.

This disgraceful defeat of the Secret Tower would surely spark fierce discussions across all sectors and heavily impact the overall morale of the Secret Tower. The situation could be described as dire. But the worse things got, the more a Secret Tower administrator like him had to stay calm—he must not lose his judgment out of rage, nor arbitrarily shift blame.

Could Foster and the others be blamed for this disastrous defeat?

No.

Unless one had clairvoyance, who could have imagined that Bai Fu would be this insidiously cunning—pretending to be weak while actually possessing Calamity-level strength?

The only good news was that they had captured nearly a thousand Immortals. If they could uncover the secret behind the Immortals’ undying nature, then this sacrifice would be entirely worthwhile.

The butler comforted Pavel a few words, then passed on the good news of capturing the Immortals to the Senior Research Director, Scalpel.

“Once the ship returns, those Immortals will be handed over to you.”

After sending Scalpel away, the butler returned to his office. He leaned against the wall, feeling an unprecedented weariness.

He had never imagined Cersia would betray them—yet it had happened.

With Cersia’s betrayal, the bases she had visited had to be abandoned. This blow to the Secret Tower was no less than the consecutive deaths of three S+ Esper Power users.

Fortunately, confidentiality at headquarters had always been handled well. Everyone entering or leaving headquarters had to pass through a Stargate, so very few knew the exact location. He only needed to deactivate the Stargate that Cersia frequently used. There was no need to relocate the entire headquarters, which would have been an even greater loss.

“Cersia, oh Cersia… what exactly did Bai Fu give you?”

The butler massaged his brow and returned to his desk. Just as he sat down, a black vortex suddenly appeared before him.

The Master of the Secret Tower?

He quickly stood up. Moments later, a tall man wearing a strange black mask stepped out of the vortex.

“Leader, your timing is perfect. Over at Jingu Star—”

The Master of the Secret Tower waved his right hand, cutting off the butler’s words. “I already know what happened at Jingu Star. After such a blow, we must strike back. Organize a fleet—I want them to pay the price!”

The butler replied, “Leader, I don’t think now is the best time to strike back. We’d best wait…”

He laid out his essay plan to the Master of the Secret Tower.

The Master of the Secret Tower neither agreed nor disagreed. “Endless retreat only makes the enemy underestimate us. Our ancestors once unleashed Dimensional Catastrophes on their foes despite personal attachments. As Avengers, what do we have to fear? Besides, the fleet is just a decoy. The real trump card is this.”

He extended his right hand. In his palm lay a black insect the size of a fingernail.

The moment he saw the insect, the butler’s expression changed sharply. “That plan succeeded?”

He was referring to the plan made after the Master of the Secret Tower collaborated with the Dark Domain Insect Queen—the full name being the [Dark Domain Parasite Plan]. The plan involved both parties jointly researching a special parasite that would not harm the host normally, but could be activated by the Insect Queen using some special method at a critical moment.

Once activated, the minds of those parasitized would be controlled and become nodes on the Dark Domain Insect Queen’s psychic network. She could then command them to do anything she desired.

If successful, this plan would deal a devastating blow to the Starweb and other civilizations. But it was difficult to execute.

Since forming the partnership with the Insect Queen, research on the parasite had continued for over thirty years with no breakthrough.

The butler had thought this plan was likely doomed to fail—in fact, he had opposed it from the start.

Although the plan looked promising, the parasite’s control was in the hands of the Insect Queen, not the Secret Tower. This was unacceptable to him. He had more faith in the Secret Tower’s secretly ongoing Higher-dimensional Projection Plan. But since the current Master was determined, all he could do was support in silence. He hadn’t expected the parasite to be completed today.

The Master of the Secret Tower shook his head. “The parasite’s function isn’t fully complete yet. We need a few more rounds of verification. Launching a counterattack now will serve as a perfect cover for testing. That’s it—follow my instructions.”

The butler, helpless, could only accept the task.

After all, he was just the butler—not the Master of the Secret Tower.

It wasn’t until late at night that the butler finally finished all arrangements. Returning to his office again, he immediately summoned his trusted aide and handed over two essays related to Bai Fu.

“Find somewhere to publish them. Don’t let anyone trace them back to us.”

“Don’t worry, Butler!”

The butler nodded in satisfaction.

Once these essays gained traction and successfully drew the attention of Transcendence-level powerhouses, Bai Fu, that cunning villain, would no longer be a threat.

…

With Pavel and the others' retreat, the Jingu Star Defense Battle officially came to an end.

After receiving the game notification, Bai Fu and all the players on Jingu Star excitedly opened the mission panel to begin settling rewards.

In this war, Bai Fu’s personal contribution reached as high as 53.9%. In one go, she earned over 60 million experience points and received an orange-grade [Prayer Card Upgrade Card].

[Prayer Card Upgrade Card] worked just like its name suggested—it could upgrade a Prayer Card blueprint by one tier, and the orange-grade card could upgrade a Prayer Card blueprint to an orange card at most.

After staring at her Prayer Card Blueprint for a long while, Bai Fu used the card on 【Little Hei Fu】. Although Little Hei Fu's combat power was far inferior to Big Black Fu and the others, their functionality was extremely powerful. They could fight and also work. Without them, Bai Fu wouldn't be living her good life today. So the moment she got something good, Bai Fu immediately used it on them.

After upgrading to an Orange Card, all aspects of Little Hei Fu received a tremendous boost.

First, their HP Bars got longer, which meant they could work for longer periods.

Next, their hands and feet became even more dexterous than ordinary people’s. That meant they could handle more complex tasks.

Then, their level of intelligence was further enhanced. They could respond differently depending on different scenarios. That meant they could now handle jobs like waitstaff or front desk reception.

Lastly, they learned several small skills, including remote Psionic Strike, Psionic Shield, and transforming into Psionic Form for high-speed movement. That meant they could now even handle field work.

"Little Hei Fu at Orange Card level is already this powerful. What would a Red Card version even look like?"

Excellent, excellent.

Bai Fu immediately leveled up the advanced Little Hei Fu Card to Lv10 in one go.

After going through the quest rewards, it was about time to leave Jingu Star.

Considering that the civilizations in the Star Sea had already learned the location of Jingu Star, she didn’t plan on hiding it any longer.

Let it begin—Players’ Starsea Era!

Rather than wait for other civilizations to secretly send ships to snatch her Players, it was better to boldly send her own ships to ferry the Players from Origin Star, Indigo Star, and Jingu Star to the Star Sea in batches.

After roaming the Star Sea for more than a year, Bai Fu was now very confident in her popularity among the Player base.

She believed that even when facing the temptations of the Star Sea’s dazzling world, the majority of Players from these three Newbie Planets wouldn’t abandon her.

The Star Sea was full of allure, but Bai Fu, the Star Sea Succubus, wasn’t one to be underestimated.

Besides, who knew whether the temptations of the Star Sea were blessings or disasters in disguise?

Wandering aimlessly in the Star Sea could easily end in disaster, but following Bai Fu guaranteed “Fu luck.” And the price? Just a little exploitation—not painful at all. She wasn’t a real Succubus, after all. No matter how much she squeezed experience out of the Players, it would never be to the point of death.

Bai Fu shared her plan of sending ships to fetch Players to the Star Sea with Digging‑Treasure, and Digging‑Treasure broadcasted the plan to the Players of the three Newbie Planets via livestream.

【Yay, we can finally enjoy Fu like Digging‑Treasure and the others!】

【Damn, are the Players on Jingu Star benefitting from misfortune here?】

【I just hate that I wasn’t born on one of those three Newbie Planets!】

【Unfair! I want to enjoy Fu too! I want Fu-benefits too!】

Players from Origin Star, Indigo Star, and Jingu Star were grinning ear to ear, while Players from other Newbie Planets were green with envy, eyes reddened. They flocked to the official account to pray for Fu, begging the Developers to dispatch Bai Fu to their Newbie Planets too. If not Bai Fu, then at least another color Fu would do.

Faced with the emotionally charged Players, the Developers played dead as always.

Bai Fu laughed at the scene. She wasn’t in a hurry to harvest XP from the other Newbie Planets just yet.

Just the three Newbie Planets like Origin Star could already yield over 2 million Players. Better to wait until her Dark Moon Tide Private Armed Company grew stronger, and until her envisioned Player Capital—Bai Fu City—had taken shape, before recruiting Players from other Newbie Planets. Otherwise, she simply wouldn’t be able to manage them all.

The first thing to do after returning to the Star Sea was to meet with Cersia.

Bai Fu closed the Community, then led Yulia, Scarlet Leaf, and the others onto the spaceship and followed the Joint Fleet back to the Sea Lion System.

A few hours after the spaceship took off, Yulia came to her with a strange expression.

"You better take a look at this yourself."

"Look at what?"

"News from the Star Covenant. They sent it to Scarlet Leaf, but Scarlet Leaf was too embarrassed to give it to you directly, so she forwarded it to me first."

"?"

Bai Fu clicked open the news Yulia had shared with her, totally confused.

It was two short essays.

The first essay claimed she was a pawn of the Oathmaster, and had come to the Sea Lion System to help the Oathmaster seize the True Spirit Pillar from the Sanctification Order. The essay also claimed she was two-timing—being lovey-dovey with the Oathmaster while secretly getting involved with Scarlet Leaf. One day, the Oathmaster supposedly caught them getting close, and from then on, the once highly-valued Scarlet Leaf was utterly cast aside. The Oathmaster hadn’t seen her again in years.

"What the hell is this nonsense?"

Bai Fu gasped sharply.

Though not as wild as gutter fanfics or the essay she once wrote herself, this tabloid story was still absurdly juicy.

She quickly opened the second essay, which seemed a bit more reasonable. It only stated that she was a higher-dimensional lifeform attempting to invade the Edge Worlds and had a relationship with Scarlet Leaf.

"Do you know who wrote this?"

Yulia shook her head. "No way to trace it. By the way, while I was gone, did anything happen between you and Scarlet Leaf…?"

"Nothing!"

Bai Fu was speechless.

Did they think everyone liked doing the Double-Slit Light Interference Experiment like Yulia?

"These two essays were obviously written by one of my enemies. Damn, they really captured the essence of my essay-writing style. But they made a huge mistake. They claimed Jingu Star had several hundred million Undying Ones. That kind of blatantly fake info—where did they even hear it from? And they went ahead and included it in the essay. Once Manu and the others release the real situation on Jingu Star, the content of these essays will be debunked in no time."

Bai Fu didn’t take it to heart. Ever since she became famous in the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster, gossip about her had been nonstop. If she let it bother her every time, how would she get anything done?

While Manu was organizing people to clarify the rumors, the two essays had already sparked a huge storm on the Interstellar Network of the Edge Worlds—because one of the main characters was none other than the Oathmaster, one of the strongest figures in the Edge Worlds.

The Oathmaster stayed home all day, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care about the outside world.

So, when she opened the news headlines and saw the first essay, her eyelid twitched.

"Who wrote this?"