What meaning was there in seeing the Players? That sense of familiarity came from seeing his former kind. But now, he and the Players no longer belonged to the same world.
In the end, he no longer belonged to Earth... He could never go back.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you standing there in a daze?" Chen beside him reached out and gave Bai Ye a push.
Bai Ye snapped out of his trance. After steadying himself and glancing at Sir Chen beside him, he casually asked, "Sir Chen, do you know what a panel is?"
"A panel? What's that? Elevators don't need control panels. We have more advanced processing systems."
Looks like you don't know.
Bai Ye could now be certain that he was indeed the only one who possessed this so-called NPC panel.
Perhaps he was the only person in Terra who could interact with the Players' game panels through his own panel.
Someone caught in the middle, belonging neither here nor there.
He was also the only NPC capable of independently creating and issuing quests to Players.
The other quests Players received were probably all generated automatically by the system.
If he could make good use of this...
Bai Ye calmed himself. His ability to accept reality was exceptionally strong because he truly had a big heart. Even if an arrow flew past his face, he would not so much as blink.
As long as I keep moving, the road will keep extending.
Sir Chen's arrival finally resolved the "Carmen" incident.
A large number of medical personnel had arrived alongside the Guards Bureau officers. They set up a temporary quarantine checkpoint outside District 5 to deal with the "refugees" gathered outside the city entrance.
A broadcast rang out beyond the checkpoint: "Attention—"
"Please cooperate with the staff for Oripathy screening. Follow their instructions and pass through the quarantine checkpoint in an orderly manner by batch."
"Should any unregistered Infected be discovered, the Guards Bureau will lawfully arrest them in accordance with the Emergency Handling Act."
"Attention—"
In short, everything was finally getting back on track.
The Players' restless anxiety began to ease as well. They looked around curiously, studying the armed Guards Bureau officers standing nearby.
"The plot's finally kicking in... Is this supposed to be a real-time rendered cutscene?"
"This is insane. Seamless transition, though the latency's a little high."
"Any big shots know what Infected are? Zombies?"
"There should be a story breakdown after a while..."
The Players chatted among themselves. Carmen had been aggravating, but at least the problem had finally been resolved.
Then, they saw Bai Ye.
It could not be helped. The officers standing nearby all wore standard-issue armor and full-coverage helmets, showing none of their faces. They looked just like mass-produced NPC models.
Under such circumstances, Bai Ye stood out immediately.
Besides, he was so damn handsome that it was difficult for him to blend in even if he wanted to.
A long black trench coat (bought at random), a handsome face that appealed to both men and women (96 Charm), a cold expression (he was actually spacing out)...
"Holy shit, that NPC is incredible. By the way, whose face model is that?!"
"The planners and programmers need to apologize to the artists. They're already pulling this stuff on launch day."
"What a gorgeous little brother! Mom, I'm in love."
"Come fence with me, now!"
"Very good. Now I'm even more excited for what comes next. Hurry up and serve it already—I can't wait."
"This guy should be the protagonist, right?"
Bai Ye had no idea that he had already become famous.
The game's open beta had already drawn the attention of countless people.
Screenshots from streamers' broadcasts quickly put his image on the forums, and from there it spread across the internet.
The marketing accounts, self-media creators, and clickbait editors lurking in livestream chats immediately had their eyes light up.
A hot topic—wasn't this it? Start with one picture, make up everything else.
This was what it meant to build someone up by first tearing them down.
First, they locked the Players outside the gate, then suddenly unveiled such a handsome NPC. Bai Ye would have had a hard time staying unknown even if he wanted to.
Unfortunately, the game's developers did not know how to pander to otaku.
Wouldn't it have been even better if they had used a pretty girl instead?
Oh, that female officer... She was indeed pretty, but unfortunately, she still could not compare to that handsome young man.
If Bai Ye could have gained Legend on Earth, the number above his head would definitely have been skyrocketing with +1s.
In a sense, Bai Ye's goal had already succeeded. He had indeed left a deep impression on the Players—his coordination with Carmen had been perfect this time.
Players and Bai Ye Through Chen's Eyes
"Where did these... people come from?"
Officer Chen looked at the chaotic Players before her and did not even know what to say. Even as an outstanding graduate of Victoria's Royal Guard Academy who had worked as a police officer in Lungmen for years, she had never seen so many strange people.
It was hard to put into words.
Chen's expression was rather peculiar. She felt that the shock she had suffered today surpassed everything from the entire previous year combined.
"I think they're not too bad?"
Bai Ye raised an eyebrow. Standing beside Chen, he seemed rather unconcerned.
That was it?
It seemed this batch of Players really was not much. They had not done anything too outrageous yet; their level of letting themselves go was far below that of the pioneers from the early days of full-dive games.
Sure enough, they were still too young, too simple.
They still had much to learn.
"Why do they look... so strange?" Chen found it painful to look at them, yet she also felt these people were rather pitiful. She could not mock them simply because they looked so bizarre.
"Oh, they have their own unique sense of beauty. No need to mind it." Bai Ye waved a hand after hearing Officer Chen's words. Come to think of it, when he saw faces resembling ancient gods, he only felt a sense of familiarity. He had seen too many of them in his previous life and was long used to it. Besides, if everyone in a random party looked normal, that would be stranger.
You thought they were pitiful?
In truth, these people were probably enjoying themselves.
"Arknights Online" supported character customization, allowing players to adjust their facial features and body types within certain limits. However, they had to choose a race to transform into. The available races were Lupo (Holo), Feline (catgirls), Perro (doggirls), Vulpo (foxgirls), Fervent Hoof (minotaurs), Cautus (bunnies), and Durin (dwarves).
However, aside from the Durin, the differences between these races were purely cosmetic and had no effect on starting attributes.
The Durin race reduced part of one's Strength attribute and increased Agility to account for their smaller bodies.
Of course, Chen's claim that the Players all looked strange was not entirely true. At least, at a glance, Bai Ye saw that a large portion of the crowd had chosen female characters. Naturally, this did not mean that all those selected were female Players. It only meant that perhaps every game with character customization eventually turned into a dress-up game.
Terra's Shining Nikki truly lived up to its name!
There were also quite a few Players with faces resembling ancient gods. Some people liked making themselves look beautiful, so naturally there would be another group that liked dressing themselves up as bizarrely as possible.
The stranger the outfit, the faster the kills. Perhaps that was the unique preference of top players.
Bai Ye glanced over the IDs and discovered that the strangest-looking one seemed to be called Wang Laoju.
This one was even more of a heavyweight—a well-known Bilibili content creator who specialized in gameplay videos.
Come to think of it, his luck was genuinely good. He had actually gotten an open beta slot. No wonder people in his previous life had always shouted about insider dealings.
The proportion of both groups would steadily decline after launch. As more versions opened and the Player population continued to grow, Arknights OL would gain social functions. At that point, trying to chat with classmates, teachers, or even superiors while wearing a strange face or using a female character would be truly socially disastrous.
Unless you were a lone wolf like Bai Ye had been in his previous life, someone who did not care about anything.
It had to be said that Chen's work today was destined to be exhausting. She had originally thought they had enough people, but now it seemed that the number of Guards Bureau officers she had brought was still far too small.
She had no choice but to step in personally to maintain order.
"You, line up properly. Stop rolling around at random. And you, stop jumping."
She simply could not understand why people liked rolling around on the ground, while others seemed to think the floor was too hot for their feet and hopped once every few steps.
This was actually an old tradition passed down from games of the old era. Old-era game input devices were usually keyboards and mice or controllers, and Players always preferred moving by rolling, dashing, and jumping instead of walking or running normally.
In short, do not expect anyone to walk normally.
Even after games became full-dive experiences, this "glorious" old tradition had remained, something akin to nostalgia.
Some had even raised the question: if everything in a game had to be as realistic as real life, with so many extra restrictions and rules, then what was the point of playing games? You could not possibly walk while rolling around in real life, but in a game, you could do something that coool.
That was the meaning brought by full-dive games.
Naturally, this "meaning" was absolutely beyond Officer Chen's understanding. She only found these Players noisy. And some Players kept circling around her as if she were some rare animal.
Terrans could not understand Players. There were no online games here. The harsh Originium environment cut off connections between nations, even between cities. In Terra, there were only local intercity networks. There were not many types of games either, with most played on terminals or handheld consoles.
For example, the currently popular game was Higashi-produced "Monster Hunter." Its main content involved defeating monsters, collecting dropped materials to craft new weapons, and challenging stronger bosses. Because it supported face-to-face terminal connections, it was extremely popular.
Because they had seen so little, Terrans only regarded Players as strange oddballs upon first encountering them. As they came to understand them more deeply, they saw Players as a special phenomenon, but never considered them on the level of "Players."
"Phew, I'm exhausted..."
Chen had never felt so tired before. Even cracking down on criminals in Lungmen had never been as torturous as today. Looking at these chaotic "refugees," she felt as though she had suffered a mental blow.
Come to think of it, just who is this Bai Ye?
When she casually turned her head, Chen saw Bai Ye standing not far away.
Compared to herself, Bai Ye could only be described as completely at ease.
A large group of refugees—Players—stood around him, with quite a few others staring at him intensely. Yet even so, Bai Ye's expression did not change.
Chen could only describe him with two words: admirable.
An ordinary person would have been unable to endure so many "bizarre-looking" refugees standing nearby, but Bai Ye had maintained a calm expression and mindset throughout, even mingling easily with the Players.
What an incredible person. It seems I was overly suspicious before.
Officer Chen nodded. She had previously regarded Bai Ye as suspicious, but judging from the current situation, that seemed unnecessary. After all, how could someone who spoke calmly and naturally with people bearing faces resembling ancient gods possibly harbor bad intentions?
They're All Free Labor!
If Bai Ye knew what Sir Chen was thinking, he could only say that she was overthinking it.
His so-called "composure" and "calmness" came only from having seen too much in his previous life. Nothing surprised him anymore.
In fact, everyone had the potential to become an idiot. It was simply that in reality, people wore masks. But in virtual online games, they could take off those masks and be the people they wanted to be.
The reason Bai Ye had not driven away the Players around him was because he was testing the NPC template's functions.
He could create and issue quests to Players, but there was a certain limit to the number. At the same time, he could choose experience, physical items, or skills as rewards.
The amount of experience he could distribute each day was also limited.
As for physical items and skills, Bai Ye had to possess them himself.
For example, if Bai Ye gave away the standard straight sword forged by R.G. Industries in his hand as a reward, that meant he would lose the weapon.
If he wanted to use a skill as a reward, it had to be one he knew, and the rewarded skill could only be at its lowest level.
Aside from that, Bai Ye discovered that he could freely adjust the favorability displayed to Players.
That seemed rather fun. Bai Ye suddenly wanted to find a Player to test it on.
Before you continue