Bai Ye's Righteous Speech
Bai Ye saw at a glance what the tool was so happy about.
Nothing more than experience, equipment, and favorability.
Still too young. To Bai Ye, whether it was favorability or anything else, it was all fake. Back then, he himself had been lured forward by those things.
Sure enough, people eventually became the sort of person they hated most.
But Bai Ye liked it!
The open beta was very short, only twenty-four hours. It was mainly for later balancing, to prevent open beta Players from pulling too far ahead of those who joined after launch. After all, progress would not be wiped after the open beta.
Although Bai Ye had kicked Zhai Mao away, she was quite happy about it. She still wanted to use the remaining time to experience other things.
But Bai Ye clearly had no intention of letting her off that easily.
"What do you think about the Infected?"
Bai Ye asked Zhai Mao.
Zhai Mao: ??
How would she know? The Infected... she saw them for what they were. From what she could tell, they were probably patients suffering from some terminal illness.
Naturally, Bai Ye would not wait for a Player to give him an answer, so he continued. "This land is not kind to the Infected. They cannot be cured. The ore gradually spreads and crystallizes within their bodies, then undergoes secondary spread after killing the patient. Because of this, the Infected have become targets of social exclusion."
"Lungmen is already considered tolerant toward the Infected. They are allowed to live in the city, but in some countries, the Infected are only dragged into the wilderness to mine, or imprisoned together like criminals."
Of course, none of that really had anything to do with Players. If they had not seen it with their own eyes or lived through it themselves, they would not feel any empathy. Separated by a screen, their stories were merely stories in the Players' eyes.
Bai Ye was not in a hurry. He only needed to draw the Players in with benefits.
"I, along with others like me, have been searching for a future for the Infected, searching for a future for this land. But we are few and weak."
"I can see that you, along with your companions, are all people with potential. I hope to receive your help."
"This land needs more heroes. Will you join us?"
Bai Ye's righteous speech.
It had every necessary element. As long as the words "this land" were included, people would be filled with hope. Then, combined with "the Infected" and "the future," just three sentences were enough to put someone on the moral high ground of Terra.
Then Bai Ye handed Zhai Mao a business card.
"Can we really help? I mean, we're still too weak. We have no strength."
If Players felt no sense of belonging, then no matter how much he said, it would be pointless.
Bai Ye naturally understood that. Since he had already seized the high ground, it was time to offer tangible benefits.
"It doesn't matter if you're weak for now. I believe in your potential."
"Oh, right. I'm something of a merchant too. Perhaps these things can help you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhai Mao saw a shop interface appear on her game panel.
Before she could even make it out clearly, another wave of explosions erupted in the livestream chat.
Suiyue: So he's a faction NPC. From what he's saying, he's definitely related to the main storyline.
White Foam: Am I the only one who noticed the skills in the shop? Can newbies really learn these?
Combustible Immortal: Shut up and take my money!
Zhai Mao's mouth fell open as she stared at the shop interface before her.
Weapons—swords, crossbows, firearms, and even staves—were small fry. Bai Ye's list even included land aircraft carriers and Powered Armor.
The skills were even more varied. All kinds of Originium Arts and techniques dazzled the eye.
With only one look, no Player could bear to look away.
Bai Ye waved his hand, and ninety-nine percent of the entries on the list instantly vanished.
Only a few skills remained, sitting lonely in the shop interface.
"Uh..." Zhai Mao looked at Bai Ye eagerly.
She had not finished looking yet!
However, this tool had no idea that many things in the shop list were there to fool people. For instance, the land aircraft carrier was actually the Rhodes Island Ship, and it was not for sale. As long as no price was listed, anything could be placed in the shop!
This system was actually pretty stupid. Bai Ye had long thought of countless ways to mess with it. He could arrange things however he wanted.
"Although I can't give you those for now, as an additional reward for completing the mission, I'll teach you a technique."
"Mm, and I'll waive the tuition."
As he spoke, Bai Ye revealed the prices of some skills. They only required experience, not Lungmen Dollars!
Obviously, where would a tool like Zhai Mao get any money? Having a little experience was already pretty good.
They were all the most basic skills.
Although Zhai Mao was a little airheaded, she could not withstand the urging of the chat. She hesitated over the list for a while, then gritted her teeth and invested all the experience she had gained into Bai Ye's shop.
Immediately, seven hundred experience was added to Bai Ye's experience pool.
"!"
Bai Ye confirmed that his guess had been correct.
The system did not take a single point from this experience. It all went to him!
Perhaps because he possessed a game panel, Bai Ye had formed some strange connection with the game system. The experience and free attribute points Players handed over to the system to learn skills would all be transferred into his hands.
Other NPCs definitely did not receive this treatment, because they had no connection with the game system at all.
Bai Ye was moved to tears.
What kind of charitable act was this? There was no middleman taking a cut—no, he himself was the middleman. He could profit from both ends.
He used the system's experience to reward Players, then collected that experience from the Players and stuffed it into his own pocket.
Bai Ye declared that if there were a hundred such transactions, he would profit from all one hundred!
No, actually, he was doing charity too. He was giving Players a channel to learn skills for free, not even charging money. They only needed to follow his plan.
What a magnificent golden spirit! Bai Ye felt that he had sacrificed far too much for the Infected of this land.
After Zhai Mao finished learning her skills, Bai Ye closed the shop interface.
Then he handed Zhai Mao a business card. "We welcome all companions willing to join us."
Zhai Mao accepted the card. It bore a symbol made up of a triangle and a tower. Of course, one could also see it as a chess rook.
"Rhodes Island—Rhodes Island."
Zhai Mao softly read the words on the symbol. With the translation system included in the game panel, she could understand the writing.
When she looked up, however, she found no one in front of her.
Not far away, Bai Ye had already followed Chen and the others into the distance.
His shadow stretched long beneath the dim yellow streetlights.
Bai Ye, Come Join the Guards Bureau
Zhai Mao's mission was complete, but the Guards Bureau's mission had clearly only just begun.
This Saffran cleaner had been directly dispatched by the mastermind behind the scenes, so they could interrogate him for intelligence about the matter. Just as Chen was preparing to take him back to the Lungmen Guard Department, the Saffran told everyone that he had to return to headquarters every day to report in. If he failed to return, it would surely mean that something had gone wrong.
This place was ultimately under the Rat King's shadow. They had to be cautious, but where in the world was there a wall that did not let the wind through?
Officer Chen looked up at the sky. They had acted at night in order to hunt down gang thugs secretly peddling prohibited drugs. It was definitely too late to take the Saffran back for interrogation now.
While taking out her communicator to contact Guards Bureau headquarters, Chen had her subordinates interrogate the cleaner whose leg had only just been bandaged to stop the bleeding.
Safra were essentially lizards in the broad sense, so it would not really be wrong for Bai Ye to call the fellow before him a lizardman...
Seemingly sensing the Guards Bureau's intentions, the cunning fellow deliberately began stalling. The Guards Bureau officers Chen had brought were not professional interrogators, so progress was extremely slow.
These officers were clearly more skilled in combat, but their interrogation knowledge from training could not compare to that of the people at the station. They watched the lizardman stammering in front of them, knowing he was doing it on purpose, yet they could not directly use force—after a certain Guards Bureau reform, torture had been banned.
"Let me try." Bai Ye sighed. He could not bear to watch any longer. These Guards Bureau officers were far too straightforward.
He walked over to the Saffran cleaner, grabbed his hair, and slammed him against the wall.
Bang—
The Saffran's fearless expression immediately changed.
"You..." He looked at Bai Ye in uncertainty.
The Guards Bureau personnel were also startled by Bai Ye's actions.
Bai Ye sneered. "The Lungmen Guard Department is civilized, so they can't just use force. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Oh, right, those two over there are from Blacksteel International. They're even more brutal, you know."
Flanka, who was resting nearby, shot Bai Ye a glare.
What nonsense was he spouting?
How was she terrifying?
The "chubby" fox's eyes spun as she suddenly said, "That's right. See that Vayf beside me? She's an uncivilized brute who doesn't understand rules. You know Vayf, right?"
"Her brain is all muscle too. The horns on her head can skewer you to death."
"Flanka, get over here." Scythe's forehead was covered in black lines. This woman really dared to say anything.
Bai Ye laughed inwardly, but his face remained cold. He looked at the Saffran before him as if he were looking at a corpse, and that expression gave the cleaner another fright.
Bai Ye's usual demeanor made people feel close to him, but at this moment, all the man could feel was the biting chill of winter.
"Tell the Guards Bureau everything obediently, and you can still enter a prison cell and keep your life." Bai Ye leaned close to his face and said coldly, "If you refuse to cooperate, we won't personally lay a hand on you."
"After all, we aren't devils. But we'll hand you over to the Rat King."
"Speaking of which, something like this happened on his turf. He bears responsibility too."
Lungmen tacitly permitted the Rat King's existence. He suppressed Lungmen's gray areas and was Lungmen's shadow. Grey Lin was the one who called the shots in the entire Lungmen slums.
"I'm sure the Rat King will be very interested in prohibited drugs. I'll ask him to seal off the slums and dig three feet into the ground to find all of you."
"But as for his methods... I don't know what they'll be. And your ending... I can't guess either."
"Maybe you'll be sealed into concrete pillars and sunk into an artificial lake, or tied to the route a Mobile City must travel through. Do you think they'll see you and stop?"
The Rat King's methods were even more ruthless. That old man had cleansed Lungmen alongside Wei Yenwu since long ago. International criminals, violent organizations... anything harmful to Lungmen had been swept into the trash by them.
But this time, it was a case being handled by the Guards Bureau, so it would not be appropriate to directly hand it over to the Rat King. Where would that leave the Guards Bureau's dignity?
But Bai Ye was not from the Guards Bureau, so he spoke without restraint.
It was rather funny. The man was not afraid of the Guards Bureau people at all, yet when Bai Ye mentioned the Rat King, he could no longer keep it together.
The people of the slums had experienced the Rat King's methods. He was a terrifying old man.
Bai Ye narrowed his eyes, knowing his words had worked. Then he took the prohibited drugs from the unlucky duo's arms.
Holding the box, he patted the Saffran's face. "Now, tell me everything you know. Everything. All of it."
"I truly don't like making people submit through violence, but I'm not some stubborn fool either. I won't reject such methods."
"I'll talk. I'll tell you everything." Cleaners were smart people. He would rather be locked in a Lungmen prison than fall into the Rat King's hands.
"Go tell the cops." Bai Ye released him and stepped aside, the smiling expression returning to his face.
The change in his demeanor surprised everyone nearby. Bai Ye had been as gentle as a spring breeze ever since appearing before them, yet just now, he had displayed a fierce and icy side.
The contrast was simply too great.
Having finished contacting headquarters, Chen sensed killing intent from Bai Ye. She suddenly realized that this young man, who was almost excessively handsome, possessed such terrifying killing intent. Yet even that chilling murderous aura could not affect Bai Ye's natural affinity with all things. It was truly strange.
"If he still refused to talk, what would you have done?" The young police officer walked to Bai Ye's side and asked softly.
Bai Ye raised an eyebrow. "There are plenty of ways. Knives and blood, or simply stuffing the prohibited drugs into his mouth... I said it before. I don't like making people submit through violence, but I won't reject it either."
Chen frowned and seriously shook her head. "The Guards Bureau will only act openly and honorably. We won't use evil deeds to fight evil. That isn't justice."
"That's why you can't do anything about the slums. Several attempts by the Guards Bureau to establish a presence here have failed..." Bai Ye smiled. "Anyway, I'm not a cop. I'll only choose methods that benefit me—if it works, it's viable."
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