Reincarnated NPC, But It's Arknights

What was the point of seeing the player? The so-called sense of familiarity was because he saw his former kind. But now, he and the player were no longer people of the same world.

He ultimately no longer belonged to Earth... he could never go back.

"What's wrong? You're just standing there?" Chen Hui Jie, who was beside him, reached out and nudged Bai Ye.

Bai Ye snapped out of his daze. He steadied himself, looked at Sir Chen beside him, and suddenly asked casually, "Sir Chen, do you know about the panel?"

"Panel? What's that? The lift doesn't need an operating panel; we have a more advanced processing system."

So you don't know.

Bai Ye could now confirm that he was indeed the only one who possessed this so-called NPC panel.

Perhaps he was the only Terra person who could interact with the player's game panel through his own panel.

A person caught in the middle, not belonging to this side, nor to that side.

He was also the only NPC who could independently edit and issue tasks to players.

The other tasks that players accepted were probably automatically generated by the system.

If I can make good use of this...

Bai Ye calmed his emotions. His ability to accept reality was incredibly strong because he truly had a big heart. Even if an arrow grazed his face, he wouldn't even blink.

'As long as you don't stop walking, the road will keep extending.'

Sir Chen's arrival finally resolved the "Carmen" incident.

Along with the Guards Bureau officers came a large number of medical personnel. They set up a temporary quarantine checkpoint outside District 5 to handle the "refugees" piled up outside the city entrance.

A broadcast sounded outside the checkpoint: "Attention, please—"

"Please actively cooperate with the staff for Oripathy screening and pass through the quarantine checkpoint in batches and in an orderly manner according to the staff's instructions."

"Any unregistered Infected will be arrested by the Guards Bureau in accordance with the 'Emergency Measures Act'."

"Attention, please—"

In short, everything was back on track.

The players' originally restless and anxious moods also began to ease. They started looking around, curiously observing the Guards Bureau officers standing by with weapons in hand.

"Finally into the plot... is this considered a real-time rendered cutscene now?"

"Awesome, seamless connection, but the latency is a bit high."

"Are there any big shots who know what Infected are? Mutants?"

"There should be plot analysis later..."

The players were discussing animatedly amongst themselves. Although Carmen was frustrating, the problem had finally been solved.

Then, they saw Bai Ye.

It couldn't be helped. The nearby officers were all wearing standard armor and full-coverage helmets, their faces completely hidden, making them look like mass-produced NPCs.

In this situation, Bai Ye directly stood out.

Moreover, he was so handsome; it was difficult to be inconspicuous even if he wanted to be.

A long, elegant black coat (bought casually), a handsome appearance that appealed to both men and women (Charm attribute of 96), and a cool expression (actually spacing out)...

"Holy crap, that NPC is amazing. Who's the face model anyway!"

"Devs and programmers, apologize to the art team. They gave us this mess at launch."

"Such a good-looking young man, Mom, I'm in love."

"Quick, duel me!"

"Excellent, I'm even more excited for the rest of the game. Hurry up and serve it, I can't wait."

"This guy must be the protagonist?"

Bai Ye himself didn't know he had already become popular.

The game's open beta had already garnered countless attention.

Through screenshots from streamers' broadcasts, his photo immediately appeared on the forums and then spread across the internet.

Marketing accounts, self-media, and sensationalist reporters lurking in the live streams suddenly had their eyes light up.

Here comes the explosive point! A picture at the start, and everything else is made up.

What do they call it? Building someone up by first putting them down.

They kept the players outside the gate at first, and then suddenly released such a handsome NPC. It was hard for Bai Ye not to become popular!

It's a shame the game's official developers don't pander to otaku.

If it were a pretty girl instead, wouldn't that be even better?

Oh, you mean that police officer... She is indeed good-looking, but still not as good-looking as the handsome young man.

If Bai Ye could gain notoriety on Earth, his head would surely be going crazy with +1s.

In a sense, Bai Ye's goal has already been achieved. He has indeed left a deep impression on the players—this collaboration with Carmen was too perfect.

Chapter 23: Players and Bai Ye in Officer Chen Hui Jie's Eyes

"Where did these... people come from?"

Officer Chen Hui Jie looked at the chaotic players in front of her, unsure of what to say. Even as a top student who graduated from Victoria Royal Guard Academy and had been a police officer in Lungmen for so many years, she had never seen so many weirdos.

It was hard to put into words.

Chen Hui Jie's expression was rather strange. She felt that the shock she had experienced in the past year combined did not amount to as much as what she had experienced today.

"I think it's fine?"

Bai Ye raised an eyebrow. He stood beside Chen Hui Jie, looking somewhat dismissive.

Is that all?

It seems this batch of players is indeed not that good. They aren't too outrageous yet. The degree to which they've let loose is far from the pioneers in the early stages of full-dive games.

As expected, they are too young, too simple.

They still have a lot to learn.

"Why... do they look so strange?" Chen Hui Jie felt her eyes burning, but she also felt that these guys were quite pitiful. She couldn't mock them just because of their bizarre appearances.

"Oh, it's because they have unique aesthetics. No need to worry about it," Bai Ye said, waving his hand after hearing Officer Chen Hui Jie's words. Speaking of which, upon seeing the appearance of the Elder Gods, he only felt a sense of familiarity. He had seen too many in his previous life and was already used to it. Speaking of which, it would be strange if the random teams were all normal people.

You think they are pitiful?

Actually, these guys are all enjoying themselves.

Arknights Online supports character customization, allowing players to adjust facial features and body types within a certain range, but they must choose to transform into a specific race. The selectable races include Lupo (Chloe), Felin (Catgirl), Perro (Doggygirl), Vulpo (Foxgirl), Fervent Hoof (Minotaur), Caster (Bunny), and Dulin (Gnome).

However, with the exception of Dulin, the differences between these races are only in appearance and have no impact on initial stats.

The Dulin race slightly weakens Strength attributes and increases Agility attributes to match their small stature.

Actually, the players' strange appearances that Chen Hui Jie mentioned are not absolute. At least, as Bai Ye glanced over, a large portion of the players in the crowd had chosen female characters. Of course, this doesn't mean that all the players selected were female; it can only be said that perhaps any game that allows character customization will eventually turn into a dress-up game.

Terra's Nikki is truly living up to its name!

There are also quite a few players with the appearance of Elder Gods. Some people like to dress themselves up very beautifully, so another group of people will like to dress themselves up very strangely.

The stranger the outfit, the faster they can kill. Perhaps this is the unique preference of the big shots.

Bai Ye glanced at the IDs and found that the strangest-looking one seemed to be named [Wang Lao Ju].

This one is truly a heavyweight, a famous UP master on Bilibili who specializes in game commentary.

Speaking of which, his luck is really good. He actually managed to get a beta qualification. No wonder people in his previous life always called for inside information.

The proportion of the two phenomena mentioned above will continue to decrease after the server opens. As the versions are released and the number of players continues to rise, Arknights OL will have social attributes. At that time, speaking and communicating with classmates, teachers, or even superiors while having a strange face or a female avatar will truly lead to social death.

Unless you are a lone wolf like Bai Ye in his previous life, who doesn't care about anything.

Admittedly, Chen Hui Jie's work today was destined to be very hard. She initially thought she had enough manpower, but now it seemed that the number of Guards Bureau officers she brought was too small.

She had to personally step in to maintain order.

"You, line up properly, don't roll around randomly, and you, stop jumping."

She just couldn't understand why some people liked to roll on the ground, and some people seemed to think the floor was too hot for their feet, so they would hop every few steps.

This is actually an old tradition passed down from games of the old era. The input devices for games in the old era were usually keyboard and mouse or controllers, and players always liked to use rolling, dashing, and jumping as methods of movement instead of normal walking and running.

In short, don't expect normal walking.

Even though it has now become a full-dive game, this "glorious" old tradition has been preserved, similar to a sense of nostalgia.

Some people have even proposed the idea: if everything in the game had to be as realistic as in reality, with many more restrictions and regulations, then what would be the point of playing games? In reality, you can't walk while rolling around, so in the game, you can do such cool things.

This is the meaning brought about by full-dive games.

Of course, this "meaning" is definitely not something Officer Chen Hui Jie can understand. She just felt that these players were very noisy. And there were always some players who liked to surround her, as if she were some rare animal.

Terra people cannot understand players. There are no online games here. The harsh Originium environment has severed the connections between countries, and even between cities. On Terra, only inter-city local area networks exist. The types of games available are also not many, mostly carried by terminals or handheld consoles.

For example, the currently popular game is Monster Hunter, produced in Higashi. Its main content involves defeating monsters, collecting dropped materials to craft new weapons, and challenging stronger bosses. Because it supports face-to-face terminal online play, it is very popular.

Precisely because they have seen too little, Terra people initially treated players as strange oddballs upon encountering them. Later, as they learned more, they began to see players as a special phenomenon but never considered them from the perspective of "players."

"Phew, I'm exhausted..."

Chen Hui Jie had never felt so tired. Even fighting criminals in Lungmen before had not been as torturous as today. Looking at these chaotic "refugees," she felt like she had suffered a mental blow.

'Speaking of which, what exactly is this Bai Ye's background?'

Casually turning her head, Chen Hui Jie saw Bai Ye standing not far away.

Compared to himself, Bai Ye could practically be described as handling things with ease.

A large crowd of refugees (players) stood beside him, and many were even watching intently. Even so, Bai Ye remained unfazed.

Chen could only describe her feelings as admiration.

If it were an ordinary person, with so many "oddly shaped" refugees standing nearby, they would have already been unable to stand it. Yet, Bai Ye maintained a calm expression and demeanor, even mingling with the players.

'He's truly an incredible fellow. It seems I was too suspicious before.'

Officer Chen nodded. She had previously considered Bai Ye a suspicious person, but judging from the current situation, there was no longer a need for that. After all, what kind of ill intentions could a person have who could calmly and naturally converse with a being resembling an ancient god?

Chapter 24: It's All Free Labor!

If Bai Ye knew what Sir Chen was thinking, he could only say she was overthinking it.

The so-called "calmness" and "peace of mind" were merely because he had seen too much in his previous life and had become accustomed to it.

In reality, everyone has the potential to be foolish, but in real life, we wear masks. However, in virtual online games, we can take off those masks and be ourselves.

The reason Bai Ye didn't drive away the players beside him was that he was testing the NPC template's functions.

He could edit and issue tasks to players, but there was a limit to the number. Additionally, he could choose experience points, physical items, or skills as rewards.

The daily experience point allocation was also limited.

As for physical items and skills, they had to be items or skills that Bai Ye himself possessed.

For example, if Bai Ye were to give away the standard straight sword crafted by R.G. Industries that he held in his hand as a reward, it would mean he would lose that weapon.

If he wanted to offer a skill as a reward, it had to be a skill he knew, and the reward skill level could only be the lowest tier.

Furthermore, Bai Ye discovered that he could also freely adjust his displayed favorability towards players.

This seemed a bit fun, and Bai Ye suddenly wanted to find a player to test it out.