Chapter 400: Win Back Our Future |
Bai Fu and Stars‑chan had officially formed a partnership.
After a simple handshake, Stars‑chan began explaining her plan.
Just as she had mentioned before, she intended to use the Super Gene to trick the Reapers' Civilization.
Inside Bai Fu’s body was the fusion of the essence genes from this era, the Ethereal Realm Civilization Era, and the Void Civilization Era.
She was now not only the strongest being in this universe, but also the one who had progressed furthest along the path of evolution among all life in this universe.
Clearly, having Bai Fu play the role of the Super Gene Host was the most suitable choice.
But, how exactly was she supposed to play that role?
It wouldn’t work to just throw together genes from this era, the Ethereal Realm Civilization Era, and the Void Civilization Era and try to fool the Reapers’ Civilization.
Because the Reapers’ Civilization already had records of those genes in their database, a comparison would easily expose the deception.
“With my support on the side, and the help of those lifeform-type universal treasures from your past universe, we’ll have at least a fifty percent chance of fooling the Reapers’ Civilization!” Stars‑chan proudly announced.
Bai Fu nodded. “That high? How did you calculate that?”
Stars‑chan waved her hand. “Oh, that kind of thing isn’t important. Just let me finish explaining the plan.”
Bai Fu: “…”
So it’s just a fifty-fifty chance because the result is either success or failure?
Stars‑chan ignored Bai Fu’s bitter expression and continued her explanation.
She explained in detail how to forge the gene, the key points during the process, and the associated risks.
Forging the gene itself wasn’t difficult, but maintaining the disguise came with risks.
The “risks” didn’t mean adverse reactions from merging abnormal genes—rather, the problem would be if those reactions happened at the wrong time, like during an inspection by the Reapers’ Civilization. That would render all previous efforts useless.
“But I have faith in you. Your endurance is top-tier!”
Stars‑chan gave a thumbs-up.
Bai Fu: “…”
True enough, Anya and Yulia had both praised her for her strong endurance and ability to hold back under any circumstances, but…
Forget it. Let’s focus on business. We can deal with nonsense later when it’s time to celebrate.
Once the plan was discussed, Bai Fu carefully reviewed the information Stars‑chan had given her.
The data was extensive.
It covered the overall state of the universe where Bai Fu had lived before, a detailed description of the lifeform-type universal treasures found there, the specifics of the forged Super Gene, individual and collective profiles of the Reapers’ Civilization.
From the depth of detail, it was clear that Stars‑chan had been preparing for a long time.
“The Super Gene's function is to suppress the Reapers’ bloodline suppression ability. This way, when Psionicists born in the Plantation Universe fight the Reapers, they won’t have to fear being outmatched in terms of bloodline manipulation.”
Bai Fu pondered for a moment.
“So you didn’t use the type of Super Gene that directly causes the Reapers’ bodies to collapse because you thought that kind wouldn’t fool them?”
Stars‑chan: “Exactly! You nailed it. No matter how well I tried to disguise it, there’s no way I could make a gene that’s harmful to the Reapers look like it’s beneficial. The Reapers aren’t idiots. If I could fool them that easily, I would’ve already overthrown them and made them my labor slaves. Why would I need to come to you for help?”
Makes sense.
Bai Fu: “So once you’ve successfully implanted the Super Gene into the Reapers, your next step is to rally all Psionicists in the Plantation Universe to gang up on them, right?”
Stars‑chan immediately applauded. “Exactly!”
Bai Fu: “Alright, I’ve got the general idea. When do you plan to start?”
Stars‑chan: “When the game gets its next version update.”
Next version update?
That would be in a month.
Version 4.0—a massive update where they would launch a direct challenge against the Reapers’ Civilization. Just hearing it made the blood boil.
Bai Fu: “I only have one final question.”
Stars‑chan: “Ask away.”
Bai Fu pointed outside. “Once we start the operation, the Reapers will descend. Everyone out there could die. I know, if we want to challenge the Reapers, sacrifices are inevitable. But if everyone out there dies, even if I defeat the Reapers, what’s the point?”
Stars‑chan chuckled. “You should actually thank the Ethereal Realm Civilization and the Reapers for that.”
“?”
Bai Fu looked confused.
“The Ethereal Realm!” Stars‑chan declared. “The Ethereal Realm created by the Ethereal Realm Civilization can record the information of all life in this universe. So long as we win, you can use the Ethereal Realm to resurrect everyone who died. Sure, it takes a huge amount of energy—but after defeating the Reapers, energy will be the least of our problems.”
Bai Fu couldn’t help but smile.
Stars‑chan was right—she really should thank the Ethereal Realm Civilization for building the Ethereal Realm and the Reapers for not destroying it after reaping.
Everything now in place, Stars‑chan left Anya’s body.
Bai Fu called in Ailijie and the others waiting outside and explained what had just happened.
“To ensure the Ethereal Realm continues functioning normally after I leave, I need to return the Double Helix Tree to you.”
“Huh?” Ailijie was shocked. “But won’t that weaken you? How will you fight the Reapers?”
Bai Fu shook her head. “Don’t worry. It’ll only weaken me a little, and I’ll recover quickly. Besides, even if I kept the Double Helix Tree, it wouldn’t be useful in combat against the Reapers anyway. Most of its powers are tied to the Ethereal Realm, and once I enter the Reapers’ world, I won’t be able to connect to the Ethereal Realm properly.”
Ailijie was convinced.
Bai Fu spent a bit of time returning the Double Helix Tree to Ailijie.
This caused her level to drop by six immediately, but with Stars‑chan’s help, she regained it in less than a second. In the process, she dumped tons of experience points into her Martial Arts Class, significantly boosting its level.
The result? Her overall stats didn’t fall—they rose significantly, making her even stronger than before.
With everything handled, Bai Fu should have had some free time.
Should have—but Anya and the others gave her no chance to rest.
Since they were about to part ways and had no idea when they’d meet again, they had to make the most of this time.
“What are you all planning to do?”
What else could it be, if not experiments? And this time, they were going to try some new ones.
…
Several days later.
Having finished her cultivation, Bai Fu felt that her endurance had improved once again.
She said farewell one by one to Anya, Ailijie, and the others, instructing them to wait for her summons in the Ethereal Realm, and then went to meet with Stars‑chan.
“All done with the goodbyes? I thought you’d spend more time comforting those close to you.”
Bai Fu smiled. “No point in rambling on. As long as the important messages are clearly conveyed, that’s enough. I’ve also notified all the other civilizations in this universe. They’ve all mentally prepared themselves. Now, it’s up to us—can we ignite the spark that will burn down the Reapers’ Civilization?”
Stars‑chan nodded. “Since you’re all set, come with me. I’ve already completed all the preparations for forging the Super Divine Gene. Just waiting for you to come in for the ‘surgery’.”
Bai Fu said no more and followed Stars‑chan into a special space.
The space was filled with all kinds of instruments and equipment, as well as lifeform-type Universal Treasures that Stars‑chan had brought from the universe where she once lived.
“These are devices originally used by the Reapers’ Civilization to study the path of life evolution. All you need to do is lie down. Leave the rest to me.”
Following Stars‑chan’s instructions, Bai Fu lay down on the lab table.
The entire experimental process took less than half an hour.
Half an hour ago, Bai Fu stood there like an unfathomable black hole.
Half an hour later, she stood in the same place. Though her appearance and clothing hadn’t changed at all, her entire aura was now completely different—like heaven and earth apart.
Now, she resembled a newly born star—full of vitality and radiance, filled with all things beautiful and desirable.
Stars‑chan exclaimed with excitement, “The fusion was a great success! From here on, it’s all on you. Until the Reapers descend and copy all your genetic data, I won’t show myself again.”
“Go on. I can handle it alone.”
Stars‑chan turned and left.
Before leaving, she looked back at Bai Fu several times.
Once she disappeared from sight, Bai Fu first looked down at herself, then looked up to the endless starry sky.
Among the Stars—this time, she was truly going among the stars.
The endless stars emitted soft light. That starlight fell into her eyes, making her recall every footprint she had left behind over the past few decades.
She remembered the path she had taken, the people she had met along the way. In the end, her gaze returned to herself—to the road beneath her feet.
Where would this path ultimately lead?
Bai Fu rarely grew sentimental.
But today was different.
Now, she was about to go Among the Stars, to change the fate of all sentient life in this world—and perhaps even in many other worlds.
She didn’t pray to any god, nor to any abstract force.
She simply gripped everything she had sacrificed, and with all her might, shouted toward the sweat she had shed:
“Open!”
This time, what she opened was not a cheat—but the gate to the Fifth Evolution.
This gate had never before been touched by anyone of this era.
Once opened, Bai Fu’s strength would soar dramatically—and at the same time, the Reapers’ Civilization would be notified to descend.
This gate was the Gate to Hell.
But within that hell, a narrow path still led to the light of the human world.
Come!
Bai Fu’s gaze grew more resolute than ever.
She felt her body trembling—it was her body rejecting the sudden addition of a new genetic segment.
But she endured it all.
She maintained firm control over her body, not allowing any abnormalities to manifest.
In the next moment, infinite power surged into her. The radiance emanating from her body surpassed that of a supernova explosion by billions of times—like the Big Bang itself.
Even those far away in the Silent League felt a tremor from the very origin of life at that moment.
“What’s going on?”
Those unaware looked around in confusion.
But those who had been informed by Bai Fu all raised their heads.
Had the descent begun?
Above the firmament, a black curtain broke through dimensional limits and descended into this world.
“Let’s begin. When we wake up, we’ll definitely see Bai Fu again,” Ailijie said with a smile to those around her.
Anya nodded firmly. “I believe the boss will definitely come back for us.”
…
Just like what Bai Fu had seen in the mysterious code, the black curtain covered every place where sentient life existed.
Under the black curtain’s reaping, not a single intelligent lifeform could resist.
When the curtain finally lifted, the entire universe fell into a deathly silence. Every trace of sentient life had been completely wiped clean.
In stark contrast to this deathly stillness was the world inhabited by the Reapers.
A brand-new evolutionary gene had entered the view of the scholars within the Reapers’ Civilization.
【Super Gene】
They gave the gene a simple name.
The scholars immediately launched research. Within the gene fragment, they sensed astonishing vitality.
After referencing data from the Watchers, they discovered that the owner of this gene fragment had risen from a mere vagabond to the highest being of the Plantation Universe in just a few decades.
Was it because of this gene?
The scholars immediately began deeper research.
The results were outstanding—the gene fragment indeed benefited life’s evolution. They integrated the fragment into experimental subjects and achieved excellent results.
Even so, the Reapers did not rush to implement the gene across their civilization.
They conducted many rounds of experiments over a long period before eventually moving toward wide-scale promotion.
But even then, the scale wasn’t massive. After all, the Reapers’ Civilization was quite small, with a limited population.
“Has the moment finally arrived?”
As the Reapers’ Civilization was enveloped in joy, Stars‑chan, acting as the Watcher, awakened the slumbering Bai Fu from within the Ethereal Realm.
“The moment we've been waiting for has come.”
Bai Fu slowly opened her dazed eyes.
Even though Stars‑chan hadn’t yet explained the situation, from the moment her consciousness returned, she already knew—
She had succeeded.
“Let’s go. Let’s go win back the future that belongs to us!”