The journey back to the Abandoned Cooling Plant was easier than Lily had imagined.
Her Spirit of 14 and Inspiration of 16 greatly enhanced her five senses, allowing her to detect the movements of the shapeshifters from a great distance.
Relying on this ability, she intentionally avoided the larger shapeshifter swarms, and by the time she saw the fence at the edge of the Abandoned Cooling Plant, she had only experienced four battles.
For her current self, these four battles were like a warm-up; she didn't even need to use [Strength Surge (Inferior)] to temporarily increase her strength, effortlessly turning those shapeshifters into experience.
Counting the shapeshifters she had killed while driving earlier, Lily earned another 13,038 experience points on this trip, successfully bringing her experience reserve to 14,007. Once the [Insectoid Invasion] quest was completed, she would almost have enough experience for a class advancement.
The only problem was that she hadn't yet found a class advancement knowledge book.
"There might be some good stuff in the Wildfire Gang's library, which only the Wildfire Gang Leader can enter. Even if there isn't, the Lynn Settlement should have some."
Lily was in a rather good mood.
After browsing through the live streams opened by players at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, her mood improved even further.
First, by bravely stepping forward at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, she stirred the players' emotions, making them believe she was doomed. Then, by her performance on the road, she instilled a glimmer of hope in the players amidst their despair, making them think she might still have a chance to survive. Finally, at the brink of success, she resolutely sacrificed herself to clear the path to tomorrow for the players.
Through these three waves of emotional manipulation, she pushed the players' emotions to their limit, creating a strong need for an outlet.
Sadness, pain, unforgettable memories…
In every live stream she watched, players were venting these three emotions, with Excavation Princess being the most agitated.
Throughout the emotional rollercoaster, Excavation Princess vividly performed the mental changes of players supporting Lily through facial expressions for all the live stream viewers.
From sitting down and giving up, to regaining her spirits, to fainting on the spot, and then getting back up upon hearing that Lily might still be alive, the show's effect was comparable to the classic "grand pronouncements at the start, nonsensical babbling in the middle, and silence at the end." She was jokingly called the "Sit-Up Master" by trolls and even turned into an emoji, clearly showing a trend of becoming a meme.
Lily burst out laughing.
Becoming a meme makes it easier to spread, just like "Krillin's Sacrifice, Infinite Power" from Dragon Ball. Although a bit dark, whenever it's mentioned, people will involuntarily recall the classic scene associated with the meme.
This was very beneficial for her to solidify her popularity and expand her recognition among the player base.
"The atmosphere has been set. Now, let's wait for the emotions to ferment for a while longer."
Her plan was to wait half a day before reappearing in front of the players.
If she appeared too early, the emotions wouldn't have built up enough, and the eruption wouldn't be as impactful. Of course, appearing too late wasn't good either; who knew what unexpected events might occur then.
A dozen minutes later, Lily successfully arrived at the Wildfire Gang.
Since only three hours had passed since she discovered the enhancement potion, her first stop wasn't the laboratory, but the library that only the Wildfire Gang Leader could freely enter.
With no one around, she shot the lock off the door and pushed it open.
The library wasn't large, and she searched it thoroughly in just over ten minutes.
To Lily's regret, there was no knowledge of the Spirit ability progression in the library, but she wasn't entirely without Gains; she found three other class advancement knowledge books on the shelves—
"Gunner Training Manual 2.0," "Advanced Studies of Muscle and Force Application," "Introduction to Qi."
She didn't need these three advancement knowledge books for now, but they could definitely be used as rewards for players, further boosting their favorability.
Leaving the library, Lily then set her sights on the Wildfire Gang's vault and logistics warehouse.
It took her a full hour and a half to dig out everything useful to her from the vault and logistics warehouse.
It must be said, she really enjoyed this explosion of wealth. She acquired over 170,000 credit points alone, and with what she had saved before, her current deposits exceeded 200,000, definitely making her a small rich woman.
Besides credit points, she also acquired over twenty guns, a grenade launcher, a bag of field rations that could quickly restore stamina, three sets of brand-new protective inner armor, a dozen military binoculars, and some miscellaneous small items, such as bullets.
If it weren't too conspicuous, she would have driven away the Wildfire Gang Leader's exclusive vehicle.
Lily packed all these items into boxes before entering the laboratory.
By then, the progress bar behind the enhancement potion was full. She carefully opened the cultivation pod, which contained two vials of the potion. She only took one.
The reason she didn't take them all was partly because one vial was enough for her, and partly because she keenly realized that the enhancement potion Yulia made was very likely related to Origin Star's main quest.
She felt it was necessary for the Gene Primordial to take the potion back for analysis to see what the Truth Society was truly up to.
After re-closing the cultivation pod, Lily quickly ran home, dragging her spoils of war.
Through the players' live streams, she discovered that most of the shapeshifters invading the Abandoned Cooling Plant had been eliminated. She estimated that the insectoid invasion would be completely suppressed soon, and people would definitely come to the Wildfire Gang. She didn't want to run into them.
Just as she thought, as she dragged the boxes back to the empty lot filled with construction debris outside her home, she received a game notification.
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I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"