The End, and Also the Beginning / Game Forum

"Damn it, I just saved up some experience, and it dropped again."

"I died a few hours ago testing fall damage..."

"The death penalty system is pretty harsh. Not only does reviving take time, there's even a debuff."

"You drop a piece of equipment when you die. So annoying..."

In short, this bunch treasured their lives, yet also treated their own lives like they were nothing. It was absurd.

What puzzled the people of Lungmen most, however, was that whenever these people died, they left no corpse behind. After remaining for a while, their bodies directly turned into scattered motes of light and vanished into the air, leaving behind not the slightest trace, as if they had never existed.

Some observant officers even noticed that the wounds Players left behind after being injured, as well as the blood they spilled, also disappeared after a while.

All these strange phenomena shrouded the Players in mystery.

But Bai Ye knew this was only the beginning.

Only after the official launch would the nations of Terra gradually discover the Players' many strange and special traits. The various political entities would only begin taking the Player population seriously after a series of events, followed by testing, observation, and communication.

Bai Ye knew very well that this was merely the beginning.

Through a series of coincidences, his accidental actions and various strokes of luck had actually led the Players to participate in a group event during the open beta. Although the number of participants was small compared with the total open beta population, it still left a vivid mark.

When Officer Chen returned to the entrance with the arrested gang leader, she was surprised to find that every low-ranking gang member who had not been dealt with first due to a shortage of manpower had also been brought to justice.

Except for a few unlucky ones the Players had accidentally killed.

The Players' numbers had also dwindled greatly. Some sat on the ground, while others cheered in small groups. More stood away from Bai Ye, repeatedly squatting and standing or shaking the weapons in their hands.

Some had even gotten into a dispute over dividing the loot and were now conducting a sacred dark duel under I Will Always Like Mikoto Misaka's supervision!

Most absurd of all, a group of Players had tried to strip the gang thugs' clothes off them, only to be chased away by Guards Bureau officers...

"Did it work?"

Seeing Chen approach, Bai Ye went up to meet her.

"This guy can really run. Good thing you Rhodes Island people were guarding the exit." As Chen spoke, she tossed the handcuffed gang leader onto the ground.

Come to think of it, this guy really was unlucky. A whole pile of things that had nothing to do with him had been pinned on his head, so Chen and the other officers hadn't held back during the operation.

But the leader had run the factory for years and had made many preparations inside. The Guards Bureau had suffered quite a bit as well.

In the end, he tried to escape through a secret passage, only for Scythe to stop him with a Flash Arc.

"Sis Hoshiguma, how did you get hurt?"

Bai Ye then spotted Hoshiguma being helped out by two officers. One of her legs was injured, and she could not put any force into it.

"It's nothing. I got caught off guard by an Originium explosive while going through the secret passage." Hoshiguma smiled indifferently. For an exceptionally gifted Oni like her, such an injury truly did count as a "minor wound."

Most of the other Guards Bureau officers were wounded too, and a few were even carried out.

The atmosphere was somewhat solemn. The Guards Bureau officers did not show much joy over their victory. Instead, they silently tended to their wounds.

Perhaps because the mood had grown subdued, the Players gradually stopped making a fuss. People could empathize to some extent, and they could understand the NPCs' disappointment and sorrow.

The culprit had been arrested and the factory sealed off, marking a phased success in the case. Next, Officer Chen still needed to organize interrogations, track down the remaining illegal drugs, take in the Infected, and more.

"There's plenty to do." Chen shrugged. It seemed her planned vacation had gone down the drain.

"Rhodes Island can take over the matter of treating the Infected afterward."

Scythe, supported by Flanka, walked over to Bai Ye.

Her whole body was slumped against that fox, and her face was flushed with a suspicious blush.

Yet while handing over the work, she still tried hard to maintain a serious expression. Combined with her current bedraggled state, it was rather comical.

Chen looked doubtfully at the smiling, satisfied Flanka and the inexplicably aggrieved Scythe, but she said nothing. She merely told Rhodes Island to take over affairs concerning the Infected afterward.

A large portion of the Infected needed treatment because of the illegal drugs, and all of that could be handed over to Rhodes Island. It had been agreed upon before the operation began.

Bai Ye looked around, then suddenly walked outside the factory.

Seeing this, the Players exchanged glances and actually followed after him.

"He's pretty popular..." Swire noticed the scene and found it rather strange. It seemed these weirdos had an especially good relationship with Bai Ye.

Bai Ye had naturally gone out alone to make contact with the Players.

After all, these people were exceptionally useful tools to him.

The Players, meanwhile, had decided Bai Ye was an important NPC, so they all followed him.

After all, under the usual setup, an NPC definitely would not leave immediately after a quest ended. There had to be follow-up dialogue and such.

Sure enough, Bai Ye began speaking. "Dear enthusiastic citizens, you've worked hard... blah blah blah..."

As he spoke, he blinked and quietly raised their favorability a little.

Ding, Bai Ye's favorability toward you has increased by 1 point

The Players were instantly moved to tears!

This NPC's favorability was way too hard to increase. After working so long and putting so much effort into attacking the city, they had finally raised it by a little.

Bai Ye did not continue saying much. Aside from a few Players who cared about the story, most Players would not pay attention to dialogue at all.

That was right. The Players' mindset was still stuck in the standard formula of old-school online games. They were even somewhat unaccustomed to the fact that there was no option to skip dialogue. Only a small number of perceptive Players treated this world as a real one. They carefully learned about its background, spoke with all kinds of NPCs, and found joy through an immersive gaming experience.

The End, and Also the Beginning

Bai Ye took one look at the Players' absent-minded expressions and knew it was time to offer something substantial.

Much like when dealing with Zhai Mao before, he first spouted a bunch of nonsense, then directly opened his personal shop. For now, he could only sell skills. The reason was simple: he only had a few pieces of equipment himself, so how could there be enough for all these people? But he truly had many skills. The accumulation of six years from his previous life was more than enough to deal with these rookie Players who had only been in open beta for a single day.

Just as he expected, when the Players saw the packed skill list, their eyes lit up. Bai Ye's own character sheet only listed the skills he used and focused on upgrading.

Immediately, there came another wave of wailing and cries of "holy shit." Aside from the few Players who cared about their image, most of them stared at Bai Ye as if they wanted to pounce on him.

Skills were just too hard to find.

Especially for open beta Players who had only been playing for one day.

Oh, and if they accidentally got themselves killed, they would have to stare at a gray screen for a long time while reviving. What a waste of time...

Time was precious, yet the ways to learn skills were so few and difficult!

You could not just find some random person on the street and expect them to teach you skills. There were martial arts schools, and they taught real techniques, but they charged money. Where were Players on their first day of open beta supposed to get Lungmen Dollars?

Some gangs you could join at random did have martial artists, but newly joined Players did not even count as low-level grunts. Why would anyone bother teaching them?

Not to mention the even rarer Originium Arts. There were indeed systematic training plans and paths for them, but whether it was courses or books, everything cost money.

As for mysterious NPCs or hidden NPCs like in novels? Those were even harder to find. Some Players had indeed searched the streets everywhere, but aside from plenty of actual beggars, they found nothing else...

Now, a living NPC who could teach skills stood before them. Having already tasted the hardships of the game and the difficulty of leveling up and learning skills, how could the Players possibly let Bai Ye go?

Once Players had money, there were actually quite a few ways to learn. Unfortunately, one day was simply too short. No matter what they wanted to do, there was not enough time.

As he harvested the Players' wallets, which had just grown fat, Bai Ye could not help feeling emotional. The Players before him were all so green!

And yet some people were actually showing off in front of him, bragging about how quickly they learned skills and how talented they were, trying to use that to attract the attention of Bai Ye, this special NPC.

Well, an ordinary Terra native might truly have been surprised. But who was Bai Ye? He had been a Player in his previous life. This life, he was merely wearing an NPC's skin. He was not some ignorant child.

Everyone knew Players could quickly master skills through experience and Lungmen Dollars, then directly use experience and Lungmen Dollars to level them up. Did they think such petty cleverness could fool Master Bai? Dream on.

Bai Ye casually lowered the show-off's favorability. On the surface, however, he remained pleasant and kind, ignoring the unlucky fellow's wails.

This time, Bai Ye had made a killing. Every surviving Player had come to give him experience and Lungmen Dollars. It was far easier than painstakingly grinding monsters in his previous life.

For a moment, Bai Ye had the urge to go find all four thousand open beta Players one by one.

But that was only a thought. He was now Bai Ye, "an important NPC in Arknights OL." Players were supposed to come fawn over him; chasing after Players to fawn over them would be far too degrading, and it would not benefit his long-term plans.

Only by establishing an image, maintaining his persona, and making Players come to him on their own—becoming useful tools and leeks with good self-management awareness—could he form a healthy cycle. Greedily pursuing tiny immediate gains was nothing more than draining the pond to catch the fish.

Ahem. How could an NPC's business be called harvesting leeks? Clearly, he was providing Players with high-quality services, improving their game experience, and reducing difficulty. The Players should be thanking him.

All he could say was that people often became what they had hated most in the past.

As his thoughts wandered, Bai Ye suddenly saw a female Player with the ID Xia above her head come to learn skills from him.

Unlike the other Players, she chose to learn Bow and Arrow Shooting skills rather than Crossbow Shooting.

Bai Ye recognized her at once. This Player was an old friend from his previous life...

Xia, the top sniper of the Chocolate & Vanilla guild, was a natural sharpshooter. Rumor had it that she was a fan of traditional archery in real life.

But Bai Ye had known her because of TeaParty.

In his previous life, Bai Ye had been a launch Player. Beginning with the third version, he had entered the first tier, gradually becoming one of the top Players afterward. There were not many Players at that level, and most were star Players cultivated by guilds, shining brilliantly in the Kazimierz Player arenas. Lone wolves like him were rare.

During the third version, he had been invited to join the legendary non-guild small Player group, TeaParty. He was also the only solo Player among those invited. Unfortunately, it had not worked out. His teamwork ability was too poor, while his individual breakthrough ability was too outstanding. He was severely unbalanced and easily became disconnected from the team. That made him incapable of participating in TeaParty's group activities.

TeaParty was an organization modeled after one from a real-world novel. It had been founded purely for fun and challenge, had no fixed base, and only held "tea parties" regularly.

Bai Ye had been an orphan in his previous life, so he had a rather withdrawn personality and some social anxiety. Even when playing games, he only liked being alone.

Even though he had not joined TeaParty, its president had not given up on him. She encouraged him to build good relationships with the Players in TeaParty, so that even as a lone wolf solo Player, he would not be left isolated and unsupported.

That was how Bai Ye came to know a group of top Players through TeaParty, including many large guild presidents and star Players. His Powered Armor in the past had been acquired by asking friends from TeaParty for help.

But all that was in the past. Now, he was practically a native of Terra, with nothing to do with TeaParty or the Players...

Still, that did not stop Bai Ye from picking out a few good ones among the leeks and tools to focus on.

Zhai Mao had been one of them before. She would become a streamer later, making her exceptionally useful.

Those TeaParty people were the same. They really were quite good, and many were guild presidents or think-tank commanders. Through them, he could make use of an entire field of Player leeks.

As he pondered, Bai Ye slightly adjusted Xia's favorability value. Then he said a pile of nonsense like, "I think highly of you," and "You have great talent," while also giving her the address of the Rhodes Island office.

That could be considered a compromise and reconciliation with his past...

The Game Forum

On the second day, the open beta, which had lasted an entire Terra day, finally came to an end.

Bai Ye opened the game forum. Even though no one could log into the game, the forum was still incredibly lively.

Open beta Players, viewers who had come after hearing about it, onlookers seeking entertainment... The online world was vibrant and all-encompassing.

Bai Ye had thought the great battle Players participated in yesterday would become the hottest topic, but after entering the forum, he discovered that the most popular post was actually a promotional video.

NPC Bai Ye: I Have a Dream

Damn, that title had something to it...

Even Bai Ye himself was dumbfounded. He clicked on it instinctively and found that a Player had edited a video.

"This is pretty good..."

The video's editor was a Bilibili content creator. They used game footage recorded by many Players, clips from Zhai Mao's stream recordings, and promotional PVs the game's official account had released. Together with Bai Ye's original speech audio and background music, it somehow created a grand, epic feeling.

At the end of the video, Bai Ye handed out a business card bearing the address of the Rhodes Island office, followed by the line Bai Ye had spoken: "This world needs more heroes. Are you coming?"

I'm fired up!

Bai Ye used just three sentences to make me spend all my experience and Lungmen Dollars

Why didn't I find this NPC?

I have to join Bai Ye's faction immediately

Can any experts explain basic settings like Rhodes Island, the Infected, and Originium?

Bai Ye rubbed his chin, highly satisfied with the video. "Players really are talented... There are even tools this self-aware. Well done."

Of course, Bai Ye would not completely trust the people in the comments. They were all loudly claiming they wanted to spread his gospel and join him now, but it would already be impressive if even one-tenth of them came looking for him once they entered the game.

Besides the video, the Players naturally discussed yesterday's battle as well. They had not expected to encounter such a major quest, one that a large number of Players could participate in simultaneously, during an open beta that had lasted only a single day.

Especially after someone posted about NPC Bai Ye teaching Players skills after the quest ended, a huge number of Players who had not participated were instantly green with envy.