Along the way, Bai Ye encountered all sorts of bizarre Operators and behavior, while the Sarkaz girl beside him stopped them one by one. Her tone remained calm throughout, without impatience or any hint of reprimand in her words.
"Are you a Disciplinary Committee Member?" Bai Ye found this receptionist rather interesting and could not help striking up a conversation.
Yes, aside from stopping Operators from behaving out of line along the way, the receptionist beside Bai Ye had shown no intention of taking the initiative to speak with him.
"A Disciplinary Committee Member?" The girl tilted her head, her short white hair falling past her ears. "That is a good idea. It might reduce the workload of the logistics Operators. However, the authority of Disciplinary Committee Members would need to be regulated, and it would be best to recruit some justice-obsessed fools for the job."
Bai Ye blinked. "You seem quite suited for it."
"No, you are joking. I am not suited to such a position. It would be too troublesome."
Only through their conversation did Bai Ye learn that the reason this girl had not gotten angry was because she found losing her temper troublesome... As expected of a Rhodes Island Operator. She really had character.
But Bai Ye soon realized that having her beside him was not a bad thing either, because the reason not a single Operator had come up to flirt with him along the way was entirely thanks to the girl.
The whispers of the wind told Bai Ye that some Operators had been drawn in by his appearance and wanted to approach him, only to be persuaded away by this little receptionist.
They all seemed somewhat afraid of the angel lady beside Bai Ye.
"You really are not like ordinary Laterano people," Bai Ye could not help commenting.
"That is right. I simply feel that my kin are far too noisy," the girl said dryly.
Bai Ye could not help but smile. A Laterano person actually finding other Laterano people noisy was absolutely rare enough to count as an amusing anecdote.
After all, "explosions" were considered a form of "culture" in the hearts of Laterano people, used to express joy and celebration. Players in his previous life had loved settling in Laterano cities. As long as they obtained honorary citizenship, they could enjoy rights similar to those of Laterano people to a certain extent.
For example, as long as they obtained permits and approval, they could play with explosives and art in the city districts. It was quite free.
Certain Players with chaotic tendencies especially loved that.
"Meaningless chaos and explosions are not conducive to the development of our race. I even believe that our kin have lived in comfort for far too long, become too entangled in pleasure and indulgence, and forgotten the true nature of suffering on this land."
"And they are troublesome..."
The girl's expression became unusually serious. Looking at Bai Ye, she spoke with complete solemnity.
Then she stepped forward, moved close to Bai Ye, raised her head, and fixed her azure eyes on him.
Bai Ye saw his own reflection in those clear eyes.
"If you formally join Rhodes Island, you will definitely follow the Operator Handbook, avoid causing unnecessary trouble for the logistics department, right?"
"You certainly would not have the heart to leave me caught up in trouble, right?"
"Miss Laterano, please tell me your name." Bai Ye was not overwhelmed by the girl's presence. In fact, he rather wanted to tease her.
"At Rhodes Island, we rarely reveal our real names. My codename is 'Typing Girl.' If you intend to join Rhodes Island, please choose a codename for yourself."
Chapter 3: Physical Examination
Bai Ye did not really want to choose a codename.
He had difficulty naming things, and he also felt that his own name was already quite similar to a codename.
Few proper parents would give their children such a strange name.
His name had come from an astronomy book owned by the director of his orphanage. It was an ordinary natural phenomenon found in high-latitude regions.
Compared with his fellow orphans, his name could be considered normal.
Names like "Liu-Betelgeuse," "Eridanus-Smith," and "Osiris" were less like names and more like codenames—far too casually chosen.
"What is wrong? Do you need to rest for a while?"
Seeing Bai Ye lost in thought, Typing Girl spoke up beside him to remind him.
Bai Ye was jolted out of his memories. He was somewhat surprised, because he rarely lost focus in formal settings. That was unsafe. Perhaps this exception was due to the girl beside him being somehow special?
In any case, Bai Ye had indeed become interested in the angel lady.
But his most urgent task seemed to be undergoing the physical examination.
At first, Bai Ye had not thought much of it, but when he truly entered the medical department and saw the equipment used for the examination, he realized things had begun to deviate from what he expected.
The so-called physical examination was naturally not the fitness test Bai Ye had imagined. The medical department was not a combat department; its primary purpose was to test for Oripathy.
Bai Ye considered himself a non-Infected person—but what if?
It was not as though he had never come into contact with Originium products...
He had not deliberately paid attention to protection in Lungmen either. That was a habit he had developed as a Player in his previous life.
Players could never contract Oripathy.
As mentioned before, Players' bodies were not physical entities, but highly advanced realistic projections. Any part that left a Player's body would swiftly turn into particles of light and dissipate into the air.
Therefore, the external environment had only limited interaction with Players, simulating only certain special effects needed to fulfill game functions, such as "suffocation," "poisoning," "organ failure," and "biological traces left behind for tracking."
Being cut by Originium, exposed to a high-concentration Originium energy field, or inhaling concentrated Originium gas would not turn Players into the Infected.
At most, triggering the relevant condition would cause the system to apply a debuff and continuously drain their health.
But now, Bai Ye was no longer the Player he had been in his previous life. He possessed a real body. He had tested it: the blood he shed would not turn into light particles and disappear, but clotted normally and darkened in color...
"Do not be nervous. There are many Infected aboard the Rhodes Island Ship. The Infected do not suffer discrimination here, and they can receive effective suppressive treatment." Mistaking Bai Ye's thoughts for fear, the angel lady comforted him.
Though the direction of her reassurance seemed a little strange, as if Bai Ye were already Infected.
"I probably... will be fine?" Bai Ye instinctively felt as though he had raised a flag.
The physical examination was divided into imaging tests, blood tests, and cellular Originium assimilation tests.
The fundamental principle of Oripathy was the erosion of the body by Originium energy. Originium crystals appeared inside the bodies of the Infected, while tiny Originium particles entered the circulatory system and spread through the body.
Originium eroded the body's somatic cells, replacing living flesh, organs, and tissue as it slowly devoured the body's vitality in crystalline form.
Most Infected who died naturally ultimately died of organ failure.
Of course, natural death seemed to have become a luxury for the Infected. Unnatural death was the norm for the Infected on this land.
Bai Ye was first brought by a medical Operator to a machine resembling an X-ray scanner. He took a contrast agent, then underwent imaging.
The result allowed Bai Ye to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Imaging results indicate that the subject's internal organ outlines are clear, with no abnormal shadows observed. No abnormalities were detected in Originium particle levels within the circulatory system. There are no signs of Oripathy infection. The subject may currently be confirmed as non-Infected."
After waiting for some time, the medical Operator handed the results to Bai Ye.
The following somatic cell and Originium assimilation test was normal as well, with a healthy reading of 0%.
However, during the final test—the blood Originium crystal density test—Bai Ye encountered an unusual situation.
The medical Operator responsible for drawing Bai Ye's blood and conducting the analysis looked at the report in her hands, clearly wanting to speak but hesitating, as if she had seen something strange.
After a moment of silence, the Operator walked up to Bai Ye and apologized. "I am sorry. There was an abnormality in the previous test. I suspect there may have been a problem with the equipment. May we conduct another test?"
Bai Ye did not get angry. Smiling, he nodded. "No problem. Abnormalities happen occasionally, and I understand—but could you tell me the specific result of the previous test?"
Perhaps because Bai Ye's attitude was unexpectedly gentle, coupled with the considerable affinity granted by his own charisma attribute, the repeatedly apologizing medical Operator quietly showed him the result.
Bai Ye glanced at the data: Blood Originium crystal density: 0u/L.
Ding ding dong! (A traditional skill.)
No wonder that medical Operator had thought there was a problem with the equipment.
The air of Terra itself contained trace amounts of Originium. That was unavoidable, because Originium had long become intertwined with this land, integrated into its cycles and impossible to separate.
Thus, even healthy individuals would inevitably inhale tiny amounts of Originium over time.
Even Sargos people from the deep sea, isolated from Originium, would develop trace amounts of Originium in their blood after spending some time on land. However, because their exposure was so brief, the concentration would be unbelievably low.
But no matter how absurd it was, it could not compare to Bai Ye.
He had lived on Terra for over a week, frequently used casting units, and even entered the underground industrial levels, yet his body contained not even the slightest trace of Originium.
From the medical Operator's perspective, equipment malfunction was probably the only possible explanation.
Bai Ye would not naively agree with that view.
He was an abnormal existence to begin with. Any abnormal phenomenon appearing on him could not simply be coincidence or accident.
At that moment, the terminals in the pockets of the medical Operator and the Laterano Operator responsible for receiving Bai Ye suddenly sounded.
Bai Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, and the weapon in his inventory was nearly about to fall into his palm. In his previous life, he had heard rumors about Rhodes Island being a heartless corporation, and Players had talked about it with great conviction.
Bai Ye therefore instinctively became wary.
The two Operators did not notice Bai Ye's well-hidden killing intent. They opened their terminals to check the message, after which Typing Girl looked up at Bai Ye and said, "Please rest assured. The information here has already been sealed. The previous test result has been uploaded to the PRTS database and encrypted."
"PRTS has instructed me to take you to Doctor Kal'tsit's office."
Please rest assured. There is no need to be nervous. Your situation is not unprecedented.
Chapter 4: The Great Beast Was Actually Me 4k
"So it was not an equipment malfunction."
Bai Ye smiled at the two people in the room while pushing his dangerous thoughts out of his mind. He had nearly been prepared to fight his way out—he had already imagined himself being sliced apart as an experimental subject.
But it seemed the outcome was not as bad as he had imagined?
Rhodes Island's efficiency exceeded his expectations. Players in his previous life had still known too little about Rhodes Island. This company hid even more interesting things.
This oversight sounded an alarm for him. He had originally believed that, with six years of gaming experience as a veteran Player, he could confidently keep everything under his control.
Unfortunately, he had selectively ignored a fact he had discovered on his first day after crossing over—Terra was not as simple as a game. It was a complete, real world, and the Players' exploration of it in his previous life might have only been the tip of the iceberg.
He should have paid attention to these things long ago, yet he had overlooked them because of the inexplicable confidence brought by being a Player and having a "higher-dimensional perspective." From the very first day after crossing over, he had acted without restraint.
"First, Bai Ye committed the sin of arrogance."
Bai Ye remembered those words, then asked, "Who is Doctor Kal'tsit? Your superior?"
"Of course. Doctor Kal'tsit is not only the head of our medical department, but also one of Rhodes Island's highest-ranking administrators." The medical Operator responsible for drawing blood had eyes full of respect.
"Even Rhodes Island's noisiest and most mischievous Operators become well-behaved when they encounter Doctor Kal'tsit. If there were a Doctor Kal'tsit stationed in every corridor of Rhodes Island, perhaps the logistics department's work would become easier." Typing Girl could not help commenting.
Bai Ye blinked. That sounded rather interesting.
The medical Operator imagined the scene Typing Girl described and could not help shuddering. "Better not. One Doctor Kal'tsit is frightening enough. If there were a whole group of them..."
"Take me there first." Bai Ye took his own physical examination report from the medical Operator. The words Blood Originium crystal density: 0u/L seemed rather glaring to him.
"I will take you there."
Typing Girl opened the medical room door for Bai Ye.
"Thank you... Can I touch your halo and Light Wings?" Bai Ye looked at the glowing parts of the girl's body and could not help asking.
He had always been curious about what angels truly were. There had not even been an angel option in the Players' race selection list.
Typing Girl did not refuse. She merely explained calmly, "Perhaps the result will disappoint you. Sarkaz halos and Light Wings have no physical form."
"Otherwise, we would not be able to lie flat while sleeping."
Bai Ye reached out, and his hand indeed passed through her Light Wings.
"Mm... That feels a little strange..." The Laterano girl's expression began to grow unusual, and her usually calm tone changed in an inexplicable way.
Under the meaningful gaze of the medical Operator, Bai Ye withdrew his hand.
Typing Girl breathed a sigh of relief. Without saying anything more, she led Bai Ye toward Doctor Kal'tsit's office.
"Make way—"
Along the way, Bai Ye brushed past a red-eyed girl with long white hair. Her eyes glowed red as she charged recklessly through the medical department corridor.
"A Vampire?"
Even in an ordinary state, Bai Ye's ability to process information far exceeded that of normal people. With a single glance, he had already memorized the girl's features.
Sharp little fangs, pointed ears, red eyes, and skin far too pale—she matched the characteristics of a Vampire perfectly.
She was also a Vampire in an excited state. Her eyes were glowing.
Vampires in that state were extremely difficult to deal with, because their physical abilities and strength were greatly enhanced, especially their speed. Ordinary people could not even catch their movement trails.
Bai Ye felt somewhat dazed, wondering whether he had seen incorrectly. "You actually let a Vampire stay in Rhodes Island's medical department?"
Were they not afraid she would drink all the blood from the blood bank? That was basically an all-you-can-eat buffet...
Before you continue