Gathering / The Right Way to Use Players ...

Gathering

Bai Ye was no stranger to Blacksteel International.

In his previous life, he had taken on Blacksteel International contracts as a mercenary. It was a private security consulting company and one of the best-known security contractors, with core businesses in private security consulting and defense contracting.

Compared with Rhodes Island, the company was better known and larger in scale, though its headquarters were based in Columbia.

Bai Ye had learned marksmanship at Blacksteel International in his previous life.

Contrary to the preconceptions of most Players, firearms were not easy weapons to master in Terra. Compared to the kinetic weapons on Earth that only required pulling a trigger, the guns in Arknights Online seemed more like staves.

Using firearms required mastery of Originium Arts, while sustained firing demanded precise, continuous activation of Originium Arts. Once one's concentration faltered, it could cause missed shots or even damage to the firearm.

Compared with bows, crossbows, and ballistae, the barrier to entry for this weapon was considerably higher.

Bai Ye had studied the shooting theory offered by Blacksteel International in his previous life. Though he could never compare to a Laterano native, it was efficient and practical enough.

Of course, compared with Blacksteel International, Bai Ye preferred to call them Blackstockings International, because all their female employees' uniforms included black stockings.

Take Scythe and Flanka before him, for example. Their fair, full legs were wrapped in stockings, the dark sheen of the fabric forming a sharp contrast with their skin and creating an indescribable visual impact.

After admiring them for a while, Bai Ye calmly looked away. Compared with the black stockings, he was more curious why Blacksteel International employees were serving as Operators at Rhodes Island.

I really know too little about this world... Bai Ye had not been an immersion-focused player in his previous life, nor had he been invested in the story. He simply liked fighting, shooting, and grinding. He knew more about enemies' traits and weaknesses than their backgrounds.

For instance, some Players could talk at length about the origins, traits, and even ecology of Originium Slugs. Bai Ye, however, focused on how to kill Originium Slugs efficiently and how to completely clear out an Originium Slug nest.

As he thought, Bai Ye asked, "By the way, are either of you Infected?"

"I am." "She is."

The two spoke almost at the same time.

The one infected with Oripathy was Flanka. Bai Ye could not help looking her over again. He had to admit that, as an Infected, this smiling fox lady was far more cheerful than most people.

"Then we'll need to register you and record your identification code..." Bai Ye took out his terminal and began contacting Officer Chen.

"Aren't you afraid? I'm an Infected, you know." Flanka suddenly asked.

Bai Ye operated his terminal as he casually replied, "Of course not. Why would I be afraid? According to medical theory on Oripathy, it can't be transmitted from person to person."

As he spoke, Bai Ye raised his head and glanced at the longsword resting across Flanka's legs. The sword was sheathed in a Sword Sheath. Perhaps because it was too long, the pommel extended beside Scythe's seat and occasionally poked her leg.

"If there's anything I should fear, it might be this longsword."

"There's no need for that. It's just an ordinary decoration. I'm not actually good with weapons like this." Flanka lied through her teeth.

Bai Ye did not buy it.

As a veteran player who had fought in the game for six years in his previous life, Bai Ye had seen far too much. He also primarily used swords himself. If he could not tell that this girl was a sword master, then all those years would have been for nothing.

As for how he had figured it out?

Bai Ye was not a theory-oriented person. He relied on instinct.

Sure enough, Flanka's good partner quickly exposed her lie. "If we need to cooperate in combat later, hiding your abilities would not be a wise choice."

"Let me introduce her. Flanka, Blacksteel's Sword Master, first place in the year-end swordsmanship competition, known as the Blacksteel Sword Saint."

"If you keep this up, you'll lose my friendship, Scythe." Flanka blinked, showing not the slightest embarrassment at having her lie exposed.

Scythe refused to be outdone. "We had a friendship? How surprising, Flanka."

Bai Ye could not help laughing as he listened. These two seemed to have a talent for comedy as well. Why had he never met them in his previous life? He had missed out on quite a bit of fun.

"By the way, why are Blacksteel International employees at Rhodes Island?" Bai Ye finally asked his question.

"I became Infected, so the company arranged for me to receive treatment at Rhodes Island. That also established a partnership, and afterward I became a temporary Operator for Rhodes Island," Flanka explained.

So that was it.

Bai Ye understood. In his previous life, Rhodes Island had been said to have eaten the Face-Face Fruit. No matter where they went or whom they met, they always seemed able to strike up a connection and exchange a few words. They had quite the reputation. Now that there were a few more Blacksteel International employees among them, it did not seem hard to understand.

As they spoke, the vehicle passed through the checkpoint. Thanks to Officer Chen's connections, Flanka was not given any trouble as an Infected. After registering her Infected identification code, she was free to move about Lungmen.

"You seem to be doing pretty well in Lungmen. What's your relationship with that fierce police lady?" Flanka asked, a little gossipy.

In truth, she had long been curious about Bai Ye. This remarkably handsome young man seemed to be covered in mysteries.

"Convenience comes at a price. We need to help the Lungmen Guard Department resolve the illegal drug case involving Infected people in the slums as soon as possible." Bai Ye ignored Flanka's question for now and shifted the topic elsewhere.

Scythe looked at Bai Ye with approval. When dealing with someone like Flanka, one could not follow her rhythm, or she would drown them in a barrage of questions, jokes, and teasing.

At last, Bai Ye and the Blacksteel duo arrived at the Rhodes Island office.

At the same time, Officer Chen of the Guards Bureau arrived to join them, bringing along the Player Zhai Mao, who had come looking for her earlier.

All the pieces were now in place.

Chen distributed the case files to Bai Ye and Rhodes Island.

"Recently, a gang has been transporting and selling illegal drugs in the slums. The drug is highly addictive. The gang has even packaged it as a 'miracle cure for Oripathy,' deceiving Infected people into taking it. They then exploit the Infected people's dependence on the drug for money. Those unable to afford it are forced to sign unequal agreements and become puppets of the gang."

Chen briefly described the situation before adding, "Apparently, someone saw Rhodes Island's emblem on the drug packaging."

The Proper Way to Use Players

Zhai Mao sat among all these big shots with a blank expression, like a husky in a pack of wolves. Her entire vibe was naturally different from everyone else's.

Meow meow meow?

Rhodes Island? Infected? Guards Bureau? What are you all talking about? I don't understand any of it.

She felt as though she had missed an episode.

When you skipped every story CG to finish the quest.JPG

However, this was a fully immersive game that was supposedly 100% realistic. It almost never used game CGs to convey plot, so Players had to explore everything related to the world setting, character introductions, and story themselves.

At this moment, aside from the comment barrage and people throwing around random memes, many were also beginning to analyze the game's world setting and plot.

Story-focused players and lore researchers existed in almost every game. Early games had been limited by storage capacity and required players to read extensive, novel-like story text. Even when it was obscure and difficult to understand, Players still devoured it eagerly.

Arknights Online was even more so. The developers had released almost no information about the world, but what they had given Players was the entire world. It was a carnival for story-focused players, while lore researchers tried to find intersections between reality and the game.

Later, things like "Arknights studies" would develop as well, though that was a story for another time.

In short, after playing the obedient child for quite some time, Officer Chen finally noticed Zhai Mao sitting nearby.

"Bai Ye, you had her come find me earlier and asked me to take her along. Did you have some sort of plan?"

At present—note, at present—Chen and the people of Lungmen regarded the Players as refugees from some disaster-stricken city or town. Such situations were all too common across Terra.

Not everyone could settle in a Mobile City. Countless small villages and towns were scattered across this land. Some had never encountered Catastrophes due to sheer luck, while most would be destroyed when a Catastrophe eventually descended.

One of a Catastrophe Messenger's duties was to warn such villages to evacuate their residents before a Catastrophe arrived. But this land was far too vast, and Catastrophe Messengers clearly could not—and had no way to—cover everything...

Naturally, attempts to compile statistics on the Players' origins had clearly failed.

"Bai Ye, come with me."

Officer Chen rose from her chair and, before the astonished eyes of the Blacksteel comedy duo and Zhai Mao, grabbed Bai Ye's hand and dragged him outside.

"..."

Driven by a Player's instinct, Bai Ye reflexively tried to resist. However, Chen was immensely formidable, and Bai Ye found himself unable to resist the strength of a Yan dragon. Failing to struggle free in an awkward fashion, he could only let the girl drag him outside.

How embarrassing.JPG

It had to be said that Terra had never been fair. It favored certain races far too much, such as the physically powerful Vayf, Dolak, Yan dragons... and the even more absurd, wildly varied Sarkaz.

These races, almost akin to fantasy species, were born with extraordinary bloodlines and talents. Some were even so powerful that they teetered on the brink of extinction.

In any case, Bai Ye was very embarrassingly dragged outside by Chen.

I'm still too weak. I have no strength.

Chen and Bai Ye left the Rhodes Island office in Lungmen. She lowered her voice and said, "Are you sure you want to use these refugees?"

"It isn't prejudice. It's just that these refugees are all somewhat strange, and suspicious. For one thing, the birthplaces they reported are all over the place. I'm not even sure those places exist."

Chen shared part of the files with Bai Ye, her expression somewhat grave. "I suspect that there may be some escaped criminals mixed in among them..."

"And some of them aren't quite mentally sound."

"Their names are strange too. They're as bizarre as... usernames on an intercity network forum."

"Pfft—"

Bai Ye opened the files and immediately laughed.

He truly could not hold it in and burst out laughing.

"What is it?" Chen frowned, somewhat displeased. If not for Bai Ye's Charisma stat, this rather short-tempered superintendent would probably have torn into him already.

"Ahem, I just thought of something funny..."

Looking at the Players' reported birthplaces and personal information, Bai Ye really could not keep a straight face.

M78 Nebula, Shocker Organization, Saint Petersburg, the Holy Roman Empire, Lubyanka...

Every Player was a genius when it came to messing around. Their reported hometowns were wildly varied and utterly incomprehensible.

Thinking about it, it was rather amusing. They were having fun entertaining themselves, yet Bai Ye had become the only person in this world who understood them...

Bai Ye restrained his smile and looked at Chen. "Superintendent Chen, you can trust me. For now, most of these refugees are not dangerous."

Players were indeed an uncontrollable and complex group. Because they possessed immortality and came from another dimension, they naturally stood at a certain level above others. But they could not simply be described as absolutely dangerous.

At the very least, a large portion of Players were kind and positive.

Just consider a simple question.

In games from the old era, one could kill NPCs through a screen without changing expression... because they had nothing to do with you. You knew they were fake, and the game could not affect reality.

But in a fully immersive game, when a living, breathing "person" stood before you, when everything was nearly indistinguishable from reality, would you still attack without reason like a deranged madman?

The boundary between illusion and reality had long since blurred under the power of advanced technology.

What was more, the phrase "green games, healthy games" was not empty talk. The system constantly monitored Players' mental states. Once a Player displayed severe anti-human tendencies, their account would be banned and they would be kicked from the game.

What? You say games are supposed to be free, so why can't you massacre cities? Who could stop you from slaughtering civilians?

Please refer to the relevant laws and game terms. Experts and parents had argued about such matters countless times, along with animal rights activists, feminists, human rights advocates... You were welcome to fight them. The game company would be delighted to watch.

Getting back to the point, Bai Ye sighed inwardly as he told Chen his plan. "The gang selling illegal drugs is hiding very deeply. It'll be difficult to find them through ordinary investigation alone, so we can go fishing."

"Anyone well-informed likely already knows about the refugees. The city entrance was sealed off for so long; there's no way those people wouldn't know. That makes this group of refugees naturally credible. If we have that little girl pretend to be Infected and buy medicine, we should be able to lure the fish out."

Chen was somewhat tempted. The Guards Bureau did not reject such methods; even Chen herself had informants in the slums.

Still, she reminded him, "First, we must obtain her consent. Even if they are refugees, they passed the Infected examination, received temporary residence permits, and are protected by Lungmen law."

Bai Ye nodded. But how could a Player possibly refuse?

A Battle Between Dragon and Tiger

After Bai Ye and Chen finished their private conversation at the office entrance, they were about to go inside when Bai Ye suddenly caught sight of an angry Feline girl storming toward them.

"You damned dragon! I'm working myself to death over there, while you're slacking off here. I couldn't find you anywhere."

Like an enraged little tiger, the girl roared at Chen.

Her golden, long, fluffy curls shone brilliantly beneath the sunlight.

"Here, hurry up and stamp your approval. I went through so much trouble to find—"

The girl suddenly noticed Bai Ye standing beside Chen. She froze, and her roar came to an abrupt halt as her little face gradually turned red.

"Go on, then. Why did you stop?" Chen raised an eyebrow.

"When did you get a boyfriend? Seriously, how did he end up falling for you?" The Feline girl said something astonishing.

"Heh." Chen's expression immediately became vivid. Looking at the shorter girl before her, she snapped, "Chashao Mao, are you looking to die...?"

Bai Ye was nearly dumbfounded beside them...

What a fierce battle between dragon and tiger.