Reincarnated NPC, But Arknights

Aside from the wilderness, the best leveling spot in Lungmen is the slums.

Here, you can pick up a large number of quests, and you can always encounter gang brawls.

As long as the fighting doesn't get too out of hand, the higher-ups won't intervene. After all, these small gang fights can't make much of a splash.

The king of Lungmen's underworld, "Rat King" Lin Gerui, cares about the bottom line and outside forces. He usually doesn't bother with small gang skirmishes.

Normally, players can join any gang they want and earn experience through the brawls. Some players have even formed their own gangs, striving to become underworld bosses.

Bai Ye had his own leveling strategy.

On the way, he casually bought a Columbia cowboy hat and put it on, the brim pulled low, obscuring half his face.

Then, he quietly slipped into the middle of a clash between the Lobster Gang and the Char Siu Gang. Today, these two groups were having a gang war over a spot at the docks.

Bai Ye walked directly into the center of the battlefield. The combatants here were already bloodthirsty and wouldn't notice if one more or one less person joined.

I'm back.

Bai Ye let out a soft breath.

The noisy chaos, the fierce fighting, and various Lungmen curses instantly pulled Bai Ye back to the game's opening days.

Back then, players were all green, undisciplined, and bolder than each other, but that was the fun of exploration. Even when they took losses, they still felt joyful.

The thugs and gang enforcers in front of him were just as green in Bai Ye's eyes. Many were even newcomers, wildly swinging their weapons with their eyes closed, panicking before they even hit anyone.

"Fighting isn't done like this."

Beneath the brim of his hat, Bai Ye's lips curved slightly as he began to strike from the shadows, hitting people from behind.

He didn't possess any Originium Arts related to stealth, nor did he have the innate camouflage abilities of the Safra race. However, he did have a rather advanced movement technique.

It was a supreme skill he learned in Higashi in his past life – Foot Pull.

Ordinary humans have limited information processing capabilities. To reduce the brain's load, they push low-priority information into their subconscious. Foot Pull uses a special breathing method and footwork to slide one's presence information into the opponent's subconscious, achieving the effect of "invisibility."

The reason top ninjas from Higashi can disappear in the blink of an eye is that they deceive your senses, making you subconsciously ignore them and perceive them as rocks or trees.

As Bai Ye employed this technique, a skill on his game interface began to slowly materialize.

He casually snatched a metal pipe from a gang enforcer and swung it, testing its feel.

He hadn't learned any staff techniques, so he just held it like a sword and swung.

"Bang!"

100 experience points gained.

Although they were just low-level thugs, they gave quite a bit of experience. Bai Ye seemed to have rediscovered the joy of being a newbie and began happily bludgeoning people in the crowd.

+100 exp

+100 exp

+200 exp

+500 exp

Oh, I accidentally knocked out the overseer.

Bai Ye projected the virtual screen onto his retina. Data streams flickered, and visibly, his experience pool began to grow rapidly. He was filled with a sense of harvest.

Bai Ye didn't focus on hitting just one gang; in fact, he hit anyone he saw, whether they were from the Char Siu Gang or the Lobster Gang.

This behavior quickly attracted some attention, as his Foot Pull technique could only affect a portion of people; it wasn't true invisibility.

In a gang war, of course, not everyone rushes into the fray. The ones at the very front are always the new recruits and certain powerful enforcers. Further back, supervising, are the gang leaders with some status. As for those standing at the very back, only shouting but not fighting, they are the old members with seniority but no status.

However, these seasoned veterans are experienced and have an excellent grasp of the brawl's rhythm, which is how they manage to slack off.

"This guy is so fierce, where did the boss find him?"

"How should I know! Wait, is this guy out of his mind? He's even hitting our own guys! Could he be a mole sent by the other side?"

"No way, look, he just took down the boss from the other side..."

Gradually, as more and more people fell, both sides began to sense something was wrong. In the battlefield, as the number of combatants decreased, Bai Ye could no longer maintain his stealth.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" The leaders on both sides consciously called their subordinates to a halt. As the thugs retreated, only Bai Ye, wearing his hat, stood in the center of the battlefield.

At his feet lay quite a few downed thugs, from both sides.

"Who are you?!"

Well, this fight couldn't continue.

Bai Ye reversed his wrist, twirling the iron pipe like a sword, then raised a finger and pointed at the surrounding thugs: "I'm from the Barbecue Gang. Our boss said your names are too pathetic, you bunch of scum!"

"What did you say?!"

"Say that again if you dare! Lungmen curse"

"＆*@＃＃@%%..."

Bai Ye's words fell, and the crowd immediately erupted.

While speaking, he quickly distributed his experience points and leveled up. He allocated the 6 attribute points to the first three stats, then flipped and leaped, using the air conditioning units of the adjacent buildings to jump to the rooftop.

With 18 Strength and Agility, it was easy for him to do so.

His experience from his previous life allowed him to quickly master his enhanced body without losing control.

That evening, the Barbecue Gang's base suffered an unprovoked disaster. The Lobster Gang and the Char Siu Gang joined forces and stormed in, engaging them in a fight.

The rumored reason for the conflict was that they found the Barbecue Gang's name to be unpleasant and lacking taste.

Chapter 18: Penguin Logistics' Daily Life

Bai Ye ignored the ensuing mess. In his opinion, he had only done a few trivial things.

Leveling up was indeed convenient in the early stages, but it would be difficult to get such benefits later on. To level up again, he would have to fight stronger, higher-level monsters.

In his previous life, Bai Ye would spend an entire day grinding Fiends outside the fortress in Saibei, Yan, without gaining a single level.

Afterward, Bai Ye ran through several more blocks, disrupting several skirmishes and defeating a few leaders in one-on-one combat, finally reaching level 7.

He raised his Constitution to 22, and then his Strength and Agility to 20. Finally, Bai Ye put the remaining four free attribute points into Spirit.

He hadn't planned to increase his Spirit for now, but after trying out his talent, [Thought Acceleration], he found the skill to be surprisingly useful, though it did consume a lot of Spirit. It seemed he couldn't be a pure strength build for the time being.

In Arknights OL, there were no fixed builds. Players typically allocated points based on their preferences and the skills they acquired. After transmigrating, Bai Ye didn't retrace the path he took in his previous life because it wasn't suitable for his current self.

After finishing his stat allocation, Bai Ye began his journey back. He had taken off his hat on the way back and circled around a few times. So, when he emerged from the lower city, no one knew that the handsome young man had caused such a commotion in the slums.

Although he had leveled up and allocated his stats, Bai Ye didn't feel overly exhausted after a busy day. His condition was good, he just felt very hungry.

By the time he returned to the Penguin Logistics dormitory, it was almost 7 PM.

"Bai Ye, want a slice of pizza?"

Exusiai, Texas, and Sora were sitting on the sofa, with several opened, flat pizza boxes on the coffee table in front of them.

Texas was playing a game with Exusiai. Texas had a Pocky stick in her mouth and was constantly pressing buttons on the controller, while Exusiai's controller was discarded to the side. It seemed she had been defeated and was waiting for Texas to revive her.

"I feel like I could eat a whole cow," Bai Ye said nonsensically as he walked over to the sofa and picked up a slice of pizza.

"Oh, my goodness, can you stop with that darn Columbia accent?" Exusiai chuckled.

As Bai Ye ate the pizza, he looked around but couldn't find Croissant.

As if sensing Bai Ye's confusion, Sora explained from the side, "Sister Croissant went out for a delivery."

"So you guys don't operate together..." Bai Ye blinked. He realized he wasn't very familiar with Penguin Logistics. His previous life's experience wasn't very useful here.

"The boss handles all the contracts. Whoever snags it gets it," Exusiai explained from the side. As she spoke, she picked up her controller; Texas had just revived her.

"Dada dada dada!"

Exusiai dominated the screen with her controller. The reason she had died earlier was due to being distracted by eating pizza.

"By the way, Bai Ye, I've always wanted to ask you, how did you know about the secret code between Sora and Texas?" Exusiai suddenly asked while playing.

She had wanted to ask this question for a long time. In her opinion, Bai Ye was a very interesting person, full of mysteries.

Compared to a monotonous life, Exusiai preferred to seek out various forms of entertainment.

After Exusiai finished speaking, Sora jumped up from the sofa with remarkable agility, like a Cater who had fire on its tail.

This was the first time she had heard about it. The girl stared at Bai Ye, dumbfounded. That code was something she and Texas had agreed upon, and she never expected Bai Ye to know it!

Texas remained composed, but she also subtly perked up her ears. Her slightly turned face indicated that she seemed to care about this question as well.

Bai Ye blinked.

He had already prepared his explanation: "So you guys had already agreed on a secret code like that? I simply used Morse code – it's a common cipher used by messengers."

"It's just a shame about that packet of Pocky."

"Don't worry, I ate it," Texas interjected from the side.

Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you somehow used hacking technology to eavesdrop on our conversation..."

"How could that be possible?" Bai Ye shook his head. "You have Lungmen's best hackers and network technicians. No one can hack into your equipment."

"I'm not a professional hacker either. I just learned a few tricks during my travels."

"Then, our amateur hacker, want to play a round?" Exusiai raised an eyebrow and handed him her game controller.

"Why would you think video games and hacking are the same thing?" Bai Ye asked with a hint of amusement.

Exusiai shrugged her shoulders. "You'll have to ask my mom about that. As long as I'm sitting in front of a terminal, she'll assume I'm playing games no matter what I'm doing."

Bai Ye was speechless.

It was too real.

Even though the world had changed, mothers remained the same...

Unfortunately, Bai Ye hadn't experienced that, because both in his past life and his current one, he had always been alone.

What do you mean "cat's nest orphanage"? (tactical head lean back)

After a brief moment of distraction, Bai Ye took the controller from Exusiai.

The grip was still warm, and even a little damp, seemingly from the girl gripping it too tightly and sweating a bit.

Bai Ye's face flushed slightly. What a carefree person she was, seemingly without any of the reserve expected of a young lady.

However, Bai Ye didn't dislike the atmosphere here. Even though he had only known them for less than two days, he could get along harmoniously with this group, sitting together, chatting, and playing games.

For Bai Ye, this feeling was entirely new.

Before, he only had his fourth-generation AI butler, Aier, by his side.

"Hahaha, Bai Ye, you suck!"

"Hey, dodge! There's an enemy over there..."

Bai Ye held the controller, with Exusiai and Sora watching beside him, seemingly more nervous than he was.

Texas didn't say anything, just repeatedly pulled him up from the ground after he died.

Bai Ye couldn't help but click his tongue.

Playing games with a controller was truly a retro way to have fun...

He finally discovered his weakness. When it came to old-school video games, he seemed to be truly terrible...

"Bai Ye, have you never played games before?" Exusiai couldn't help but ask after he died for the ninth time.

"I play, travel, fight, adventure. For me, it's both work and a game," Bai Ye replied casually, his mind completely focused on the game, after hearing Exusiai's question.

He wasn't lying; after all, he was practically a professional gamer, making his living entirely off of Arknights OL.