Chapter 214: Movie Queen Bai Fu, Starsea’s Most Touching Person of the Year

It had been five days since she accepted the TV interview.

During these five days, Bai Fu hadn't gone anywhere, staying at the Star Agreement’s Gateway Cluster branch.

Ever since Dark Moon Tide gained fame, the private messages on her commission platform account had constantly stayed at 99+.

At first, she handled it personally, filtering tasks suitable for players and assigning them accordingly. But as time passed, she had to ask Summer Poem to create an AI solely for distributing tasks to players.

"I'm exhausted."

Bai Fu rubbed her temples.

But even though she was tired, her mood was quite good.

These days, thanks to task commission cuts, renting out Little Black Foxtail, and selling Prayer Cards and recovery potions, she had earned a massive amount of credit points. This pace of earning was far faster than shooting commercials. While doing ads required posing and memorizing lines, once Dark Moon Tide’s operations were on track, all she had to do was make time to coordinate with big clients.

"Once Yulia figures out the secret behind Cecia’s hair, I’ll have her come over and be my secretary. Then, when there’s work, the secretary can handle it, and when there isn’t..."

Hehe, obviously she would slack off.

In a cheerful mood, Bai Fu opened the package box in front of her. Inside were the psychic crystals she had just purchased. Now that she had money, it was time to upgrade her psychic constructs.

She poured in 128 psychic crystals in one go, upgrading both her combat suit and Gloomy Staff from Lv6 to Lv10.

The combat suit [Outfit II] now provided Strength +95, Agility +152, and -10% Physical Damage Taken. The [Gloomy Staff] gained +43% Psychic Skill Effect and +70 Inspiration.

"Not bad. Though the improvement isn't massive, small gains accumulate. Quantity transforms into quality."

Bai Fu nodded in satisfaction, then spent another 120 psychic crystals to raise both Phenomenon Construct and Apostle’s Will to Lv4. This way, she could contract four upgradable psychic constructs.

The only problem was that she currently didn’t have any good psychic construct blueprints. She could only keep using Phantom Fufu to fill the new construct slots until she obtained rare blueprints to replace them.

"High-level psychic construct blueprints are hard to find on the general market. There are only two ways to get them: buy from major powers or grind for mission rewards."

Bai Fu felt helpless.

If the Vow Master had chosen the psychic path, she wouldn’t have to work so hard.

Unfortunately, across the entire Edge Worlds, psychic-path experts were few and far between. Most dominator-level psychic-type Psionicists were concentrated in the Rebirth Empire and the Supernova Battle Regiment.

Just as Bai Fu was feeling troubled, her communicator suddenly vibrated. The contact was Treasure Digger.

Treasure Digger?

Bai Fu paused for a moment, then pressed the answer button.

"What's the emergency?"

Treasure Digger’s anxious voice came through the communicator: "Fufu, I just received word from the Undead stationed at the Secret Tower. They said they suddenly received an urgent mission and are now preparing to board ships and head out."

Oh?

Bai Fu’s eyes narrowed slightly. Was the piece she had placed in the Secret Tower finally about to play its role?

"Did they say what the mission is?"

"The Secret Tower didn’t tell them the details, only that it’s to deal with other Undead and that they should be mentally prepared. Oh, and it looks like the Secret Tower dispatched three S+-ranks and a very powerful starry beast this time."

"I see. Thanks for informing me right away."

Although the Secret Tower didn’t explicitly say it, the situation was already very clear. The Secret Tower’s target for this operation was Onandi Star.

The fish had finally taken the bait!

Bai Fu smiled.

Since the Secret Tower had taken action, it was her turn to step onto the stage and perform.

...

Several days passed in a flash.

Onandi Star—robotic engineering units were endlessly busy, with the roaring of engineering machinery echoing everywhere.

Tens of thousands of players bustled around the construction sites, doing what they could.

At this moment, inside a surveillance outpost, a few idle players on duty were fiercely battling it out in “Cosmic Net.”

"Haha, watch my Fufu rush in!"

"Counter, counter!"

Laughter echoed in the outpost, painting a picture of peaceful times. But just then, the screen of the surveillance computer suddenly flashed with a glaring red alert.

"Unknown fluctuation detected, unknown fluctuation detected. Coordinates are..."

What?

The card-playing players quickly stood up and crowded around the computer screen.

"Quick, pull up the nearby surveillance feed!"

Some urged while others frantically typed on the control panel. Soon, the live surveillance footage appeared on the screen.

The first thing that entered their sight was a piece of fast-moving space debris. Then, they saw a patch of space suddenly ripple with black twisted waves. Amidst rapidly bursting bubbles, a giant beast wrapped entirely in flowing black slime emerged from the distortion.

Moo!

The beast roared silently in the depths of space. Once it completely broke free from the spatial distortion, it whipped its massive tail and swam straight toward Onandi Star.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"A starry beast—Fufu encountered one on Tianshu Star!"

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

"Stop yelling, hurry and contact Fufu!"

Distress signals flew toward Bai Fu and the Starweb like snowflakes.

"Have we already been discovered?"

Inside the insect chamber engineered within the beast’s body, the Secret Tower’s external action unit had gathered. The person leading them was named Morrison, an S+-rank Psionicist and one of the Secret Tower’s aces.

Like Cecia, he was a child taken in by the Secret Tower. And like her, he possessed talent far beyond ordinary people. But unlike the widely disliked Cecia, Morrison had always been favored by most in the Secret Tower. Many even believed he was destined to advance to the Calamity rank in the future.

Morrison felt immense pride because of this. The envious stares he received growing up made him see himself as a protagonist.

Yet during his growth, one trivial matter had stirred his heart—

He noticed that the butler was more affectionate toward Cecia!

Whenever both he and Cecia were injured after training, the butler always checked on Cecia first. When commenting on their performances, the butler always gave Cecia more suggestions.

This discovery filled him with hostility toward Cecia.

Why? Was there anything Cecia had that could compare to him?

In terms of strength, Cecia had never beaten him—though he had never beaten Cecia either.

In terms of potential, Cecia’s strength mostly came from that spider, which always risked going out of control. His strength, however, came entirely from his own hard training and was completely controllable.

In terms of loyalty to the Secret Tower, he had long suspected Cecia was a traitor. The current situation only proved he was right from the start.

"The butler really misjudged this time."

Morrison shook his head and sighed internally. After sighing, a surge of energy filled his body.

Originally, the butler hadn’t planned to send him on this mission. He had volunteered to come—naturally, to deal with Bai Fu.

Cecia had betrayed the Secret Tower for Bai Fu. He wanted to crush Bai Fu completely, to show everyone that Cecia had made the wrong choice. To prove to everyone that in the rivalry with Cecia, he, Morrison, was the final victor!

"Blow up that surveillance device!"

At Morrison’s command, a massive beam shot out from the head of the Abyss Stalker, instantly reducing the nearby surveillance station to rubble.

Seeing the suddenly blacked-out screen, the players in the outpost rushed outside. When they looked up, they were horrified to see the same starry beast they had just seen on the monitor now looming above in the sky.

"How did it get here so fast?"

Their expressions changed drastically.

The speed was terrifying. Even though they had detected the beast at the earliest moment, it was already too late to organize a defense formation.

They were done for.

The base on Onandi Star was still under construction. The protective shields and ground turrets hadn’t even been installed. There was currently no effective means to stop this starry beast that had suddenly appeared. Was the player capital, finally under construction, going to be reduced to ruins just like this?

While the players on the ground were numb with fear, Morrison and the others on the starry beast were tingling with excitement.

As they arrived aboard the Abyss Stalker at Onandi Star’s surface—whether or not this was a trap set by Bai Fu and the Starweb together—their plan had already succeeded halfway.

Now, they only needed to do two things—

Fire at the ground, flatten all man-made structures on Onandi Star!

After the bombardment ends, dispatch ground forces to capture the Undead!

“There seem to be far more Undead here than we imagined. This time, we're going to make a huge profit!”

Morrison clenched his fist tightly, skipped all unnecessary nonsense, and directly issued the attack order.

“Fire!”

The battle officially erupted.

In an instant, countless small aircraft flew out from the body of the modified Abyss Stalker, pouring various types of artillery fire toward the ground.

The firepower woven by these aircraft was as dense as a net. At the same time, the Abyss Stalker began spewing highly corrosive black mist toward the surface.

Faced with this storm-like assault, the players on the ground hastily used their limited weapons to counterattack. However, being unprepared, how could they possibly be a match for the meticulously equipped Esper Faction Secret Tower?

“Wasted effort!”

Morrison sneered.

To increase the success rate of this operation, Secret Tower had truly gone all in—not only deploying the Abyss Stalker as a trump card, but also equipping it with high-grade small aircraft purchased via special channels from a Supergalactic Battle Regiment. These aircraft were extremely fast, came with dual-layered shields, and could maneuver with ease even under orbital bombardment.

Just as the players on the ground were being bombarded into chaos, an intelligence officer ran to Morrison's side.

“Sir, we intercepted a signal just sent from Onandi Star—they're calling for help from Bai Fu and the Starweb Commonwealth!”

Morrison remained remarkably calm: “Let them call for help. Once we've flattened all surface structures, begin the capture plan immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

As time passed, the players on the ground could no longer hold out. They had lost all cover, and every weapon they could use to counterattack had been precisely destroyed. All they had left were some individual combat gear—too feeble against the Secret Tower’s aircraft.

Seeing the situation was about ripe, Morrison issued the final total assault order. At the same time, he walked up to the camera and broadcasted to the entire Starsea.

“I’m sure you're all curious about who I am, where I am right now, and what I'm doing?”

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Morrison, from Secret Tower. As for where I am…”

The camera shifted, pointing at the ruins below and the players being driven into chaos.

“This is Onandi Star, the base recently built by the rising Holy Maiden, Bai Fu. Unfortunately, this magnificent base is about to become rubble, and these lovely Undead are soon to fall into our hands!”

Morrison’s speech was quickly intercepted by major interstellar television stations and broadcasted on their emergency channels, immediately stirring up a massive uproar.

Many believed that Secret Tower had truly gone insane. It hadn't been long since their last retaliation, and now they were at it again.

The Starweb responded immediately, dispatching a fleet to Onandi Star.

A natural wormhole connected Onandi Star and the Starweb. Since Secret Tower’s last retaliation, the Starweb had stationed several mobile defense fleets. The fleet closest to Onandi Star needed less than an hour to arrive.

“Morrison, if you’ve got guts, don’t run!”

The Starweb fleet commander cursed directly in the broadcast.

Morrison pretended not to hear, calmly livestreaming his troops capturing the players.

The players’ strength was far inferior to the Secret Tower’s deployed unit. Under Secret Tower's assault, a large number of players were soon captured alive.

The Starweb fleet commander was furious but helpless, continuously urging the pilots to go faster, faster, faster.

Forty minutes later, the Starweb fleet finally reached Onandi Star.

“Morrison, you’ll pay for your arrogance!”

The Starweb fleet commander immediately gave the order to attack. But to his surprise, the black slime covering the starry behemoth Morrison was controlling suddenly exploded. In an instant, all ship detection systems were disrupted and could no longer target properly.

As the pilots hastily switched to manual targeting mode, they saw a strange ripple appear before the starry behemoth.

“You think you can capture me?”

Morrison grinned brightly.

The only thing he regretted was that the Starweb fleet had arrived too quickly, causing them to miss out on capturing quite a few Undead—but it didn’t matter. Just now, he had received news from headquarters: the operation on the other front had already succeeded.

Amid screeching sounds, the Abyss Stalker plunged into the ripple and vanished before the Starweb fleet’s eyes in the blink of an eye.

The Starweb fleet commander stared, dumbfounded, at the now-empty display screen.

Dis… disappeared?

What kind of monster was that?

He hurriedly reported the situation back to the joint council.

At the same time, another major piece of news spread through the Gateway Cluster—

[All six field units of Dark Moon Tide have been annihilated. Over 2,000 Undead missing.]

A few minutes after this news broke, Morrison popped up again, claiming that Secret Tower was responsible.

That's right, those Undead were lured into a trap and captured by our Secret Tower!

[This is just the beginning. This time, we’re targeting the Undead. Next time, Bai Fu, it’s you. I will personally wring your neck!]

Bai Fu stared at the news with a strange expression.

With this move by Secret Tower, didn't she now have over 2,000 new spies inside their organization?

No, seeing Morrison so gleeful, she nearly burst into laughter—but she couldn't laugh. The major television stations of the Gateway Cluster were currently conducting a network interview with her. If she laughed now, her career might just be over.

Well, maybe not that dramatic—but still, she couldn’t laugh.

Fortunately, Bai Fu had professional training.

Her trembling as she held back laughter was mistaken for signs of anger and grief.

“So pitiful…”

“Secret Tower is truly inhumane.”

“Damn it, how can they bully the Holy Maiden like this?!”

“F*** you, Morrison!”

The viewers and journalists were all moved by Bai Fu’s “pitiful and tearful” appearance, silently cursing in their hearts.

“Holy Maiden, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

After a long pause, Bai Fu raised her head. Her eyes were slightly red, but her expression was as resolute as iron.

“Since coming to the Starsea, this is the first major loss I’ve experienced. But I won’t be defeated so easily!”

“Morrison said he’d wring my neck. I’ll return those words to him. One day, I will personally break the necks of those inhumane thugs!”

Bai Fu raised her right hand, biting her silver teeth.

“Lastly, to those Undead who were captured—I ask for a little time. I will definitely rescue you all!”

Her speech earned thunderous applause. Already a dazzling figure in the Gateway Cluster, she now shone even brighter, like a star.

Support Bai Fu! Oppose Secret Tower!

Secret Tower is evil. Bai Fu is good!

Learn from Bai Fu. Never bow to evil forces! Stand firm against Secret Tower to the very end!

For a time, the interstellar network was flooded with discussions about Bai Fu. Most people’s opinion of her skyrocketed. Some even called her the idol of the year, the most inspiring figure in the Gateway Cluster.

Seeing this, the members of Secret Tower all laughed.

What use are slogans? No matter how touching your words are, it won’t change the fact that your 20,000 Undead are now ours!

“These 20,000 Undead will become the blade that pierces your heart!”

Morrison radiated killing intent.

Meanwhile, his archenemy Cecia was urgently comforting Bai Fu.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What could be wrong? I’m doing great.”

Bai Fu truly was doing great.

Just now, she had been contacted by a prominent investment group from the Edge Worlds. Perhaps seeing her in a tight spot, they had come offering timely support—delivering the blueprints for the psychic constructs she had long dreamed of.

But Cecia didn’t believe her, thinking she was just putting on a brave face.

“Hang in there. I’ll come visit you soon!”

“I’m really fine.”

Bai Fu spread her hands helplessly.