"Zazas, Zazas... resurrect, my boss!"
Bai Fu was somewhat irritable.
For some reason, since just now, a Little Bizai had been incessantly whispering in her ear.
I came here to sleep, what do you want?
In extreme anger, she broke through the quilt barrier in less than a second and then widened her eyes to survey her surroundings.
What caught her eye were the mottled stone walls, the flickering electric lights, and an unfamiliar face crying tears of joy.
"Boss, you finally woke up, that's great!"
Bai Fu inadvertently saw a mirror next to her, and reflected in the mirror was clearly a black-haired girl who looked so pitiable.
It was just a sleep, yet how had her advantages been replaced by flaws although her strong points were more prominent, but that was hardly compensation!
At that moment, countless memories flooded in.
Bai Fu remembered that two days ago, a game called "Above the Stars" launched its open beta. On her way to buy game accessories, she got distracted watching other players in the community team up to attack the developers' mom, and she accidentally stumbled upon fortune.
At that time, she experienced sleep like a baby.
When she woke up from her sleep, she had crossed into the game.
She had not transgressed as the game's main character, nor as a vicious villain or the villain's best friend; now she was just a minor character so insignificant that she didn't even deserve her own introductory page.
Actually, she wasn't particularly minor; compared to ordinary minor characters, her status was still slightly higher.
After all, she had her own exclusive subordinate.
Bai Fu turned her head to glance at the nervous girl staring at her.
Yes, this was her only subordinate.
An Ya, 1.3 meters tall, good at eating and sleeping, whom she had picked up from a trash heap and now joined her in the largest Evil Force in the vicinity: the Wildfire Gang.
Especially after she reviewed her own combat ability, Bai Fu felt a wave of despair.
In this game world, it couldn't be said that she was extraordinarily strong; she was hardly worth mentioning, at least.
The day before yesterday, she went to collect debts for the Wildfire Gang and was punched in the forehead by an indebted geezer, knocking her out for a full two days before she woke up.
With such pathetic performance, Bai Fu couldn't even imagine a scenario where she excelled in this world.
In fact, let alone excelling, it was difficult even to survive.
You're right, but "Above the Stars" is a brand-new open-world adventure game, set in a dangerous universe-themed world.
I forgot the middle part.
Anyway, players will play as a traveler from an alien planet, starting from a remote initial planet, gradually uncovering the truth of "Above the Stars."
Here, there are ferocious Starry Sky Giant Beasts, crazed Spiritual Energy Mages, and ambitious evil organizations...
When they make a move, even a slight residual from their fights is enough to tear apart stars.
Bai Fu didn't want to get caught in the residual waves of the fight and then die confusedly.
After much consideration, she felt she could only use that one move.
"Come out, my Golden Finger!"
No, wait…it's coming!
Suddenly, a pale blue light screen unfolded in front of Bai Fu.
[Main Profession]: Unemployed Lv2 (421/500)
[Secondary Profession]: None
[Attributes]: Power 4, Agility 3, Constitution 5, Intelligence 3, Spirit 4, Inspiration 3
[Attribute Points]: 0
It actually is a point system?
Strong indeed strong!
From minor weakling to major overlord, this was her invincible path!
But soon, she found something amiss—why did this interface look exactly like a player's attribute panel?
She quickly flipped through and indeed found various buttons like "Task," "Map," "Community," among others.
She had become an NPC with a player panel, the biggest difference being that her panel had an NPC-exclusive "Template."
A template was a great thing, as the bonuses from advanced templates could let NPCs easily defeat opponents with ordinary templates of the same attributes.
But this was nothing worth being happy about, as apart from that, she lacked any functions an NPC should have.
She couldn't issue tasks, serve as a mentor, or have an affinity system, which meant she couldn't exploit these features to drain players' gold coins like the famous Leak Master Han Daji.
She would rather say she was an NPC with a player panel, more like a special player who couldn't resurrect!
Fine, fine, fine, so this is how it's played, huh? Others play a legitimate online game, and I play a single-life clearance.
Bai Fu almost fainted from frustration.
She was neither a gaming god nor a reborn who understood the game's plot, and her character template was quite ordinary.
Her, challenging a single-life clearance?
It only goes to show that some people might still be alive but are actually as good as dead.
"I'm done playing, this game isn't fun at all, let me out!"
Bai Fu rubbed her forehead vigorously.
The more this happens, the less one should panic.
She turned her head to look at An Ya and decided to first ask about the situation outside.
"Has anything happened out there recently?"
An Ya stared at Bai Fu for several moments, confirming Bai Fu was asking her before saying, "Boss, there hasn't been much these last couple of days, just that a group of people suddenly appeared from the west."
An Ya angrily said, "A very strange group of people, their clothes are all similar, all of them chatterboxes, asking questions whenever they meet someone. They even run into people's houses rummaging through things, and some even stab themselves with knives for fun."
Bai Fu's expression turned bizarre.
From that description, aren't these players?
An Ya continued, "Boss, this group is beyond bad and arrogant. They even dare to open Wildfire Gang's supply boxes. The leader of the Wildfire Gang said this is no longer ordinary drifters, we must take serious actions against them!"
Hearing An Ya, Bai Fu's face turned green instantly.
You take serious actions against players, but players will probably come at you with tanks.
"No, we absolutely can't mess with those people. Look, I'll go find the leader of Wildfire Gang right away and make sure he doesn't do anything rash."
An Ya looked puzzled, "Boss, why can't we mess with them? The leader of the Wildfire Gang already personally took down several of them and even called us to join against them, saying if we go, we can earn money. The more we contribute, the more money we get!"
At that, she excitedly punched the air with her fist.
Fight = Earn money = Exciting!
Bai Fu's heart skipped a beat.
They had already started fighting?
Oh boy, this is not funny!
Given how some players split even passing earthworms in half vertically, being a member of the Wildfire Gang, she feared there would be nothing left of her, not even ashes if she didn't run away soon.
But how should she escape?
Her dwelling place was called the Abandoned Cooling Factory, located on a novice starting planet called Ancestral Origin Star.
One hundred years ago, a war broke out on Ancestral Origin Star.
The war almost destroyed everything, plunging Ancestral Origin Star into a state resembling the "Fallout" series of games, with people living in settlements, surrounded by horrific pollution and monsters outside.
Bai Fu felt that with her strength, she might just die the moment she ran out of the settlement.
Even if she luckily lived a few more days, she wouldn't withstand successive disasters in the upcoming plot.
Calm down, I must think quickly!
"What does it take for an NPC to live long enough?"
An excellent question that sent Bai Fu's brain spinning.
Just having power might not be enough, what if she got picked up as a sacrifice by the designers, or got tagged as a BOSS?
Ultimately, the fate of an NPC still depends on the settings by the designers.
It's less about characters with high stats than about mechanics.
She recalled a post in the community, which mentioned that during the internal test, an NPC died shortly after appearing. But because her popularity exceeded expectations, the game was overwhelmingly pressured to change her death outcome.
In fact, such things also happened often in games she had played before.
In long-term operation games, once a character got popular, dying wasn't that simple anymore; even if they did die, there was a high chance of resurrection, and even a minor character might be elevated suddenly to become crucial, due to a lengthy plot addition.
Bai Fu's thought process opened up instantly.
Could she, starting as a nobody to becoming the darling of players, get a major boost like the NPC in the internal test?
Hard to say, but it was worth a try.
Perhaps, the path to redemption lay in this!
No NPC better understood how to become a character beloved by players than she did.
As she was originally a player, and could sneak into the community anytime to spy, she could transform into whatever the players liked, always being one for following advice.
Thinking of this, Bai Fu breathed a sigh of relief.
Kids, I'm diving into the fray!