novelraw Chapter 168 : Top Donor Strikes, Completes S-rank Advancement Quest!
Chapter 168 : Top Donor Strikes, Completes S-rank Advancement Quest!
Chapter 168: Top Donor Strikes, Completes S-rank Advancement Quest!
The truly dangerous moment had arrived.
After days of buildup, the second wave of attacks launched by the Insect Swarm of the Dark Zone erupted with the force of a mountain collapsing.
Even with a number of powerful mercenaries and Players aiding in the defense, faced with the elusive and fearless Adult Burrowers, the already shaky Mechanical Wall was corroded into multiple breaches after some tug-of-war.
The instant those breaches appeared, the bugs crowding outside the wall surged in like a flood finally finding a spillway, flooding madly through the gaps toward the rear of the Mechanical Wall.
Dozens of Star Web soldiers clad in mechanical battle armor swung their thermal swords frantically, their shoulder-mounted cannons firing nonstop. But no matter how much they pushed their limits, in the face of the seemingly endless insect tide, they were still far too insignificant.
A giant, barbed hook-blade suddenly emerged from the swarm, swinging ruthlessly like a black lightning bolt, slicing horizontally through the waists of dozens of soldiers in its path.
Without any resistance—light as slicing tofu—metal and flesh were severed alike, blood gushing like a spring.
In the next second, countless bugs pounced on the corpses of the soldiers, baring fangs and claws, gnawing the bodies until not even bones were left.
This same scene played out simultaneously at multiple breached points.
Bloody. Brutal.
But no one was angry now, for they had no time to be angry. Just resisting this torrential disaster demanded every ounce of strength.
“The number of small bugs is just too overwhelming. Even with area-of-effect attacks, many Burrowers still manage to survive. Unless I use that one move that can tear open the earth... but the cost of that move is too great... and these Adult Burrowers are getting stronger and stronger!”
Even Fei Ye, charging through the wilderness, began to feel the pressure.
In the first wave of the disaster, the strongest of the Adult Burrowers were only just reaching A-rank. But now, some of them were clearly at the peak of A-rank.
She could easily crush a peak A-rank bug, but if a swarm of such bugs came at her—especially if some S-rank ones were mixed in—even she would be in danger.
These bugs had too many strange attack methods: corrosion, poisonous gas... a rare few had even mastered psychic-type Esper Powers.
After watching the insect tide for a while, Manu had to admit—there was no longer any value in holding the first defensive line.
“Retreat to the second defensive line in an orderly fashion, lure those bugs into the pre-laid traps!”
Under his command, everyone began to fall back to the second line of defense.
The laser cannons and railguns at the rear fired with full force, firelight and electric arcs lit up the sky, the deafening roars coordinated with the layers of traps on the ground to buy precious time for the defenders’ retreat.
“Damn it, finally some relief.”
Holt cursed under his breath.
To him, the past hour fighting the insect tide felt like being deep-fried in oil.
He, the grand Idea King of the Secret Tower, sworn enemy of the Star Web Commonwealth, had somehow been “captured” to help the Star Web Commonwealth resist the insect tide.
Ridiculous!
Even more absurdly, during the battle with those disgusting bugs, the Undying Ones under Bai Fu stuck to him like glue, not giving him a single chance to slip away unnoticed.
Fine, stick to me if you must—but that Undying One called Believer of Fu wouldn’t stop running his mouth, endlessly promoting Bai Fu even with bugs charging right at them. The incessant babble was giving Holt a splitting headache.
Promoting your mom, huh? What did Bai Fu give you to earn your boot-licking devotion? If she threw you a stinky sock, would you treat it like a royal banquet and savor it?
Holt was furious, nearly wanting to strangle Believer of Fu on the spot, but with people everywhere, he had to suppress that murderous urge.
When had he ever suffered such humiliation?
Originally, his plan was to kill Bai Fu after torturing out the whereabouts of the Base Sample. But now, he had decided to spice things up.
You like bragging, huh?
He immediately contacted his hired internet trolls and media connections to spread every piece of dirt on Bai Fu. Let them slam her hard—she’d be dead soon anyway, and dead people can’t defend themselves.
As for those Undying Ones...
“Once I find a way to crack your resurrection ability, I’ll wipe every last one of you off the map!”
If Believer of Fu knew what Holt was really thinking, he’d definitely feel wronged.
Blame me?
Wasn’t it you who said you were a hardcore Fu-fan? I only kept praising Fu-fu because you were laughing along with me!
After returning to the second defensive line, Holt immediately ditched the Players and headed straight to Bai Fu’s workshop.
As he expected, the Void Valkyrie was already seated inside.
Manu was also standing beside her.
Not long ago, Manu had received a new message from the Joint Council: he was required to hold the line on Tianhu Star for at least seven more days. During these seven days, he would receive no military supplies from the Star Web Commonwealth.
Could they win?
The terrifying scale of this insect tide left him uncertain.
But his duty as a soldier and his resolve as a Sea Lion native kept him firm, even under immense pressure.
For a tomorrow free of such disasters, he was willing to give everything!
This time, he came to Bai Fu hoping she could produce more Psionic Shield Cards. Simply holding the line wasn’t enough to survive seven days—he needed alternatives.
Bai Fu shook her head: “This is already the limit. The warehouse only has enough resources for me to run three Assembly Lines. We can only pray that the lines don’t malfunction under high intensity, or there won’t even be anything left to repair.”
If she had more materials, she would’ve built an entire Prayer Card factory already.
Manu frowned tightly: “No other way?”
Bai Fu replied: “It’s difficult... unless I can achieve a breakthrough now.”
“How?”
“I need knowledge—advanced knowledge, or anything related to Prayer Card creation.”
“I’ll try to think of something.”
With that, Manu hurried off.
Watching from nearby, Holt sneered.
Just a pointless struggle!
No matter how hard Manu tried, every life, every trace of civilization on Tianhu Star would be devoured by the disaster, turning the planet into a paradise for the Insect Swarm of the Dark Zone.
He was so certain because the attack on Tianhu Star by the Insect Swarm of the Dark Zone was deeply connected to the Secret Tower.
To the public, the Insect Swarm of the Dark Zone was uncommunicable. But the Master of the Secret Tower had accidentally obtained the ability to communicate with the sentient entities within the swarm. The two sides had reached a tacit understanding regarding their shared enemy—the Star Web Commonwealth.
The Star Web Commonwealth wanted to use the war on Tianhu Star to wipe out the Insect Swarm of the Sea Lion System in one stroke, and then focus fully on dealing with the Secret Tower. But what they could never have expected was that the Secret Tower had already entered the fray. Their plan, due to the Secret Tower’s involvement, had also been observed by the Dark Zone Insect Swarm.
“Eh, isn’t this Mr. Titan Warhammer? No wonder you couldn’t be found earlier, turns out you came to Fu-fu.”
At this moment, a voice sounded behind Holt.
Titan Warhammer was the alias Holt had given to this fake identity of his.
Even without turning around, he knew who was calling him. Over the past hour, he had already heard this voice far too many times.
It was him, Believer of Fu!
The desire to kill surged wildly, but it was still forcefully suppressed.
Holt turned around with a beaming smile. “I came to see the Saint.”
Beneath the smile lurked shadows. If he could, Holt would’ve liked to skin Bai Fu alive right in front of Believer of Fu, letting him experience the sensation of an oil cauldron firsthand.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t.
If he dragged things out even a little longer, it would be the enraged Void Valkyrie peeling his skin off instead.
Holt chatted casually with Believer of Fu for a few lines, and their exchange caught the attention of Bai Fu, who had just seen off Manu.
Believer of Fu introduced, “Fu-fu, this is the A-rank Psionicist Titan Warhammer. He’s your fan, specially inspired by you to come support on Tianhu Star.”
Bai Fu nodded.
She had already learned from Manu that some of the Psionicists who came to assist this time were her fans. This discovery stirred a thought in her — perhaps she could take this opportunity to recruit a few NPCs to bolster her faction. Having just Vic wasn’t enough.
With that thought, she subconsciously cast a Psionic Vision skill at Holt, and the feedback data stunned her.
Most of the panel was filled with question marks. His main class was the mental-type Esper class [Dreamweaver], and his power level was rated S-rank.
Ah? Didn’t you say you were an A-rank Psionicist?
And what’s with your Favorability?
[Favorability]: Desires nothing more than to eliminate her (-68)
Desires nothing more than to eliminate her?
Come on, bro, what kind of fan are you? Do you eat or not eat pancakes? Even trolls aren’t this outrageous. Could it be you’re one of those yandere psycho fans who want to kill their idol to possess them? Or are you trying to say haters are fans too?
Bai Fu instantly became alert, but her expression didn’t show a single flaw. When it came to acting, she was fully confident she wouldn’t lose to Holt.
“Hello. Sorry, I’m extremely busy right now, so I don’t have time to entertain you.”
“I understand, I understand.”
Holt didn’t pester her. He hadn’t come to interrogate Bai Fu this time anyway. What he really wanted was to see how to lure the Digging‑Princess away. If Digging‑Princess remained glued to Bai Fu’s side, he wouldn’t be able to make a move.
After observing Digging‑Princess for a while, Holt discovered that she only left Bai Fu when interviewing others. The rest of the time, she kept staring at Bai Fu left and right like a lovesick fool.
“She likes interviews? Could her real job be a journalist?”
Holt mused for a moment.
He had brought quite a few subordinates for this operation. He could easily have one of them lure Digging‑Princess away under the pretext of giving an interview — but only if the Void Valkyrie was already distracted fighting bugs would that actually help.
However, when the Void Valkyrie was engaged in combat with bugs, he and his men would also normally be on the battlefield. If one of his men suddenly approached Digging‑Princess then and said they could be interviewed, it would absolutely look suspicious.
“This method won’t work.”
Holt racked his brain and actually came up with a great idea to lure Digging‑Princess away!
After observing her, he noticed that just like Believer of Fu, Digging‑Princess was another Bai Fu bootlicker. Anything that benefited Bai Fu immediately caught her interest. He could fully exploit that to draw her off.
So, what did Bai Fu lack the most right now?
S-rank advanced knowledge of the Psionic stream — she had just mentioned it to Manu earlier.
When the next wave of the Insect Swarm came, he could have one of his men approach Digging‑Princess, saying he had advanced S-rank Psionic knowledge to pass on to Bai Fu.
At first, Digging‑Princess probably wouldn’t believe it — but that was fine. He had no intention of faking it on this point.
Wasn’t it just advanced S-rank Psionic knowledge?
Even the Star Web Commonwealth had two — how could the Secret Tower, far superior to the Star Web Commonwealth, not have any?
He planned to apply for one from headquarters the moment the network came back online. For the sake of retrieving the Base Sample of the Dissociative Agent, headquarters would never refuse.
Knowledge kept on hand was always meant to be exchanged for something of greater value.
Once headquarters sent over the knowledge, and once the Void Valkyrie and others were drawn away by the Insect Swarm, his man could then approach Digging‑Princess, say he had two sets of advanced Psionic knowledge, first hand her one to verify, then say the other was on his ship and he wasn’t sure if it would help Bai Fu, so he hoped Digging‑Princess could come with him to check.
With the first set as leverage, Digging‑Princess would absolutely take the bait.
Once she left, it would be time for him to strike.
As long as no Undying Ones were watching nearby — even if that woman Yulia was in the workspace — he was absolutely confident he could subdue both Bai Fu and Yulia within a few seconds, and complete the interrogation before Digging‑Princess returned.
“A perfect plan!”
Holt couldn’t help but applaud himself.
This was the power of the Secret Tower’s King of Ideas!
If their superiors had sent anyone else, by now they’d either be tearing their hair out in frustration or already dead at the hands of the Void Valkyrie for rushing in recklessly.
Only he could calmly sip tea.
Holt didn’t really want to be popping champagne at halftime, but he genuinely couldn’t find any obvious flaws in the plan he had just come up with — he was even delivering two actual pieces of advanced knowledge.
Even if the Void Valkyrie suspected his subordinate afterward, there was no need to worry. Just say the knowledge was acquired accidentally while doing a commission. The Void Valkyrie wouldn’t have time to verify it.
If the Void Valkyrie asked why they handed it over — well, that was easy to explain too.
Obviously for survival — the Insect Swarm outside was terrifying. Giving the knowledge to Bai Fu in hopes she could craft better Prayer Cards made perfect sense.
Once the Void Valkyrie’s investigation was over, he just needed to lie low a while longer. When the Dark Zone Insect Swarm launched their final assault, he could seize the moment to slip away and escape this mess.
Thus, Holt waited until dusk.
The moment the damaged network was repaired, he used a coded message to send his request for S-rank Psionic knowledge to headquarters via the interstellar network. The Secret Tower headquarters wasted no time — upon reading the request, they immediately sent the specially encrypted knowledge to his communicator.
Everything was ready. All that was left was the east wind!
And that east wind arrived faster than Holt had expected.
At 1:30 AM, perhaps enraged by the traps set before the second defensive line, the Dark Zone Insect Swarm launched another massive assault.
Manu couldn’t wait for a decision from the Joint Council and immediately ordered everyone to push forward. If the second defensive line was broken in this wave, then relying solely on the final line of defense would never last six and a half days.
Holt was summoned. He pretended to fight the bugs, then deliberately plunged deeper into the swarm to shake off those Players who had been leeching XP from his rear. After circling around, he crossed the second defensive line at a less crowded location and swiftly rushed toward Bai Fu’s workspace.
One of the special abilities of the Dreamweaver class was the creation of illusionary images. With the help of these illusions, no one noticed his presence along the way.
He hid in the shadows, waiting quietly.
Before long, his subordinate appeared. He had specifically chosen someone who had been injured in a previous battle, so no one found his presence unusual.
“You’re called Digging‑Princess, right?”
“Yes, what’s up?”
Digging‑Princess looked at the approaching NPC with a face full of confusion.
“Here’s the thing...”
The two began to talk.
Upon hearing that this NPC had advanced S-rank Psionic knowledge, Digging‑Princess’s first thought was that he was bluffing — but to her surprise, the NPC directly handed her a communicator.
【Psionic Insights of the Second Apostle (S-rank Advanced Knowledge)】
Seeing the information reflected by her Scout Skill, she was shocked.
No way, it was real!
Digging‑Princess was overwhelmed with joy.
An S-rank Advanced Knowledge — that was no small thing.
She could use it herself in the future, or send it to Fu-fu now and gain a big boost in Favorability. She might even get a Hidden Reward.
Thinking of this, Digging‑Princess quickly forwarded the data to Bai Fu. When she looked up, the NPC opposite her said, “Actually, I have another piece of Advanced Knowledge, but I didn’t bring it with me. It’s on the ship. Why don’t you come with me to see if it’s useful to the Saint?”
Go? Of course she would!
Digging‑Princess quickly followed.
Watching her receding figure, Holt narrowed his eyes.
The Undying Ones had already left. Once the people escorting the Prayer Cards were gone, it would be time for him to act.
...
At the same time, aboard the ship borrowed from Fei Ye, Bai Fu heard her communicator beep.
After discovering Holt’s suspicious Favorability, she had secretly swapped identities with Hei Fu, having Hei Fu change her hair color to white and impersonate her in the workspace, directing Tiny Hei Fu’s tasks.
Better safe than sorry.
Holt was an S-rank Psionicist. If he truly went berserk and tried to kill her, unless Fei Ye rushed back in time, she’d likely meet a grim end.
Bai Fu opened the communicator, and upon seeing what Digging‑Princess had sent, she was completely stunned.
“S-rank Advanced Knowledge, and it’s Prayer-type?”
She suspected she was dreaming and immediately tapped the “Learn” button.
【You begin reading "Psionic Insights of the Second Apostle"...】
The game prompt chimed.
This wasn’t a dream. She really had gotten an S-rank Advanced Knowledge!
Bai Fu shook her head vigorously.
“Could it be Manu gave it to Digging‑Princess? No way, wouldn’t it be easier to give it to me directly?”
“You okay?” Yulia asked curiously from the side.
Bai Fu shook her head. “I’m fine.”
Whoever gave it to Digging‑Princess didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was learning the Advanced Knowledge as soon as possible.
She had already raised her Inspiration to 700. As long as she learned this Advanced Knowledge, Branch 3 of the Class Transfer Quest【Mind Scroll】would be complete. She also had nearly two hundred million XP on hand. Once the quest was done, she could immediately unlock the next stage of her class and become a true S-rank Psionicist.
Come on, come on — from an unknown B-rank newbie to a true core force of the Edge Worlds, it all came down to this moment!
Bai Fu felt herself bursting with energy.
She had already opened her Attribute Panel early, ready to click the level-up button the moment the quest completion notice popped up.
At that moment, a sudden noise came from Hei Fu’s side.
Clang!
A light sound broke the silence in the workspace. Hei Fu looked up and saw Holt stepping in through the door.
“You—”
Before she could finish speaking, Holt suddenly turned into a flash of white and charged at Hei Fu. Fortunately, she had recently unlocked the new class Moonchasing Dancer. Upon unlocking the new class, her Agility had risen dramatically, so even though Holt’s strike came abruptly, Hei Fu still reacted in time.
With a blink of Streamlight, she forcefully widened the gap between them.
Holt was momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected Hei Fu to dodge his attack.
“How are you so fast?”
Could a Psionic Illustrator’s physical abilities really be this good?
Forget it.
Holt shook his head and smiled. “I already had someone lure away that Undying One called Digging‑Princess. You can’t escape my Mental Secret Realm! Be honest. Where did you hide the Base Sample of the Dissociative Agent? Tell me now, and I’ll let you suffer less.”
As he spoke, the walls of the workspace were enveloped in pale silver light. Centered on his body, countless silver threads extended outward, sealing off all escape routes for Hei Fu.
Though the silver threads hadn’t touched her yet, Hei Fu could already feel her body trembling uncontrollably. This was the power of an S-rank Mental Esper?
Normally, Hei Fu would have been doomed.
But today’s situation was unusual — she had just received an Advanced Knowledge from some mysterious benefactor.
S-rank?
【You have completed the Advanced Quest [Mind Scroll]】
The moment the prompt appeared, Bai Fu clenched her right fist.
She was an S-rank Psionicist now too — and not just any S-rank Psionicist!
Bai Fu’s will slammed the level-up button.
“Ready to die?”