Games and Reality

Anyway, he had too many reasons to go. Chen had asked him to track down information, the main world storylines of the game's first and second versions mostly unfolded in Ursus, and what was more, he still needed to make money.

...The logistics supervisor was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. This time it was her turn to make the facepalm expression...

An outfield supervisor of Rhodes Island going out personally was probably a first.

"Me being a supervisor of outfield and personally executing outfield tasks is also a very normal thing," Bai Ye explained.

"...Afterwards, let the outfield operators collect supplies through vouchers beforehand. Well, your share will be prepared for you as well."

"Thank you."

The logistics supervisor speechlessly watched her colleague's retreating figure. She felt she probably needed a good moment to calm down; the style of Rhodes Island was becoming somewhat abnormal.

Were supervisors starting to involution too?

Bai Ye's next destination was the Engineering Department.

He needed to apply for some additional support for his dispatched operators, and furthermore, he himself also needed some new equipment as replenishment.

Pure standard-issue weapons were only of blue quality. Although for players, they were sufficient to use until the early-to-mid stages of the game, his attributes were far higher than players of the same level, and factoring in comprehensive skill levels, techniques, combat experience, and other aspects, blue weapons could no longer keep up with his strength.

Acquiring new equipment was imminent.

At the Engineering Department, Bai Ye met Closure.

She was also a Sanguinarius, though compared to Warfarin, she was much younger.

Of course, she was just as eccentric and unserious.

When Bai Ye saw her, this fellow was heavily modifying the propulsion engine of an assault boat.

"Miss Closure," Bai Ye called out to the young girl.

Closure crawled out from under the vehicle. "Just call me Closure. I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly?"

"Things went relatively smoothly earlier." Bai Ye had submitted an appointment request in advance through PRTS, which could improve efficiency.

"Let me see... a batch of Silent Squads, an aircraft, various equipment and vehicles..."

Closure wore a heartbroken expression on her face. "Engineering doesn't have many treasures either, and this time you're taking away more than half of them all at once..."

"Hehe." Bai Ye was also a bit embarrassed; the things he wanted really were quite numerous.

"If the other departments make a fuss over it, it won't be easy to wrap things up either."

Bai Ye shook his head. "Actually, the ones with a demand for these equipment are only the combat operators and externally hired operators. Currently, frontline missions are relatively few, mostly small-scale localized conflicts or security tasks, so there's no need to use these equipment."

"Tsk tsk, wanting equipment isn't entirely out of the question, but you still have to pay a maintenance fee." Closure touched the sweat dripping from her forehead. There was still machine oil on her hands, making her look quite flustered and messy, yet the Sanguinarius girl didn't care in the least.

Bai Ye agreed on the spot. Although the person before him was a notoriously cunning merchant of Rhodes Island, the fees right now were still being processed according to regular procedures and would end up in the department's budget in the end, so it couldn't be considered swindling money.

"You have to use the drones carefully. These are the latest models—exploration drones, more efficient and safer, providing all-around support and security for the outfield operators."

As she spoke, Closure started pitching her advertisements.

"Sorry, sorry. I usually blurt out advertising slogans too much, I just couldn't help it..." The girl explained with an expressionless face.

Bai Ye ignored Closure's clowning around and subsequently brought up his personal request: "I need the Engineering Department to help me forge a set of equipment."

"Hmm... the craftsmen in the workshop all have great skills and should be happy to help, but it requires making an appointment and waiting in line."

"I need it expedited, preferably cutting the line, because the mission is truly urgent." Bai Ye was somewhat troubled.

"Hmm... it's not entirely impossible, but if we do that, the full set of equipment probably won't be ready in time." Closure flipped through the work logs of the workshops under the Engineering Department's jurisdiction.

Bai Ye nodded. "Then just make the weapon and the staff."

"No problem, but it requires you to undergo a series of tests to collect data. The staff part will also require Caster operators to provide relevant parameters for Originium Arts."

As expected of a supervisor, even these minor, trivial details were explained thoughtfully by the head of the Engineering Department.

"No problem." Bai Ye nodded.

To him, these were all trivial matters.

His personal physical examination data had already developed a major issue and been classified as encrypted content, so having a bit more miscellaneous data didn't matter either.

Anyway, it would be fine even if someone intentionally targeted him. Bai Ye's personal attribute update speed was very fast. If someone really used that data to target him, they would be the ones in trouble; outdated intelligence could be very fatal.

"Right, Miss Closure, could you give me a list of the workshop reservations?" Bai Ye finally asked.

Closure felt somewhat helpless. "Hey, I already told you not to call me Miss. We're all colleagues, isn't it more casual that way... The equipment commissioned and forged by operators is considered classified and cannot be browsed casually, at least not without level 8 clearance."

"Hmm, I just need the codename list. I'm cutting the line after all, so I at least have to go and say something to them."

"So that's how it is." Closure suddenly understood, blinking her eyes as she said, "That's no problem. Right, let me tell you about some of their small hobbies as well. You can purchase some small gifts to give to them."

"No problem." Bai Ye readily agreed.

However, he subsequently discovered that he had been scammed.

Purchasing items naturally had to be done at the procurement center and shops... The procurement center was fine, but some special little trinkets were only sold in Closure's personal shop.

You have to know that her shop's pricing was 236% of the procurement department's suggested retail price!

As expected of the notorious cunning merchant of Rhodes Island!

This fellow used her identity as the head of the procurement department to acquire bizarre or scarce goods from all over the place, and then put them up for sale in her own shop. Truly hateful...

And Bai Ye could only hold his nose and buy them. Showing up empty-handed was quite discourteous after all.

Bai Ye still wanted to maintain a good relationship with his colleagues.

"I'm exhausted..."

When Bai Ye returned to his dormitory in the evening, he was already completely spent.

In the afternoon, he first went to complete the physical data testing and the Originium Arts testing.

His theoretical level in Originium Arts was very poor, but his adaptability was frighteningly high, and the awakened spell talent caused Caster operators to exclaim that it was absurd.

Even just the portion displayed right now was enough to shock people, and Originium Arts research experts stated that after further development of Bai Ye's talent, coupled with a sufficient number of Originium casting units, it could theoretically induce a Catastrophe.

As for his physical data, it was naturally quite good. Although it couldn't compare to some operators, his development was relatively balanced, combining physical strength and mobility, and his adaptability to extreme environments was also very high.

With this data, Bai Ye could let the Engineering Department forge and modify new equipment and staves for him.

Aside from that, Bai Ye also visited the operators whose spot he had cut in line one by one.

He got on the expedited list, which naturally would cause the equipment forging for some operators to be delayed.

Carrying the gifts purchased from the cunning merchant, Bai Ye ran through almost the majority of Rhodes Island, from the dormitories to the training grounds, and even went to the office quarters of the Elite Operators.

The results went quite smoothly. The operators of Rhodes Island were relatively friendly and naturally agreed readily to Bai Ye's request.

This legendary new supervisor was also known by even more people.

Chapter 13 Games and Reality

(Front-row reminder: this chapter involves basic settings; please read the content in full before having inter-comment discussions)

Bai Ye, who had been busy all afternoon, opened the door to his dormitory.

The electric door slid open, and Bai Ye walked inside, finding that the room had already finished renovation at this moment.

The efficiency of the Logistics Department was extremely high. In the morning, Bai Ye had arranged the dormitory design and decoration plan on PRTS, and by the afternoon, the work had already been completed.

A sweeping robot was strolling leisurely around the room.

The entire dormitory included an integrated desk, kitchen, bedroom, and a workshop.

The room's design was quite minimalist, but on the wall hung a fairly expansive holographic display screen capable of simulating floor-to-ceiling window scenery. PRTS automatically adjusted the window scenery to a starry sky.

This was one of Bai Ye's few hobbies.

Placed by the "window" was a refractive astronomical telescope. Although gazing at the stars was no longer possible across this land, Bai Ye still used his very first paycheck to purchase this rare piece of decoration for the dormitory.

Now that the starry sky had become completely irregular, an astronomical telescope might actually make a decent decoration.

Taking off his supervisor uniform and hanging it on the coat rack, Bai Ye collapsed onto the sofa. The sweeping robot bypassed his legs, its operation almost completely devoid of noise.

Bai Ye let out a long sigh of relief.

"I didn't expect Exusiai's training to be so terrifying..."

Could you imagine an older sister holding a chainsaw, her whole body steaming with scorching heat, clinging tightly to her body with wet, breezy clothes, panting as she stood in front of you, bringing the sense of oppression from her plump chest?

Anyway, Bai Ye felt it was quite erotic, except that the chainsaw Sister Exusiai was wielding in her hand was a bit intimidating.

She was that Elite Operator ranked ahead of Bai Ye who needed her equipment modified, but Exusiai had a quite bold and forthright personality and was very easy to talk to, so Bai Ye didn't expend too much effort communicating either. This older sister readily agreed to Bai Ye's line-cutting request.

Setting aside the minute details, Bai Ye's plans had all proceeded quite smoothly.

Picking up a cup of tea, Bai Ye opened the books on basic medicine on his terminal and began learning new skills.

This content was given to him by the Sanguinarius Miss Warfarin.

Only after learning the basics would he be qualified to study more profound things and be able to understand Warfarin's own notebooks.

You have obtained partial information regarding Basic Medicine

You have obtained partial information regarding Basic Medicine

You have obtained partial information regarding Basic Medicine

Though he couldn't understand it, or only half-understood, Bai Ye still bit the bullet and read on.

As Bai Ye's reading deepened, on the game panel, relevant prompts flashed three times.

When the final message finished flashing, accompanied by a crisp and pleasant prompt tone sounding in his ear, Bai Ye finally obtained the skill-learning prompt regarding Basic Medicine.

Ding--

Detected skill - Basic Medicine (Theory)

Whether to spend 1,000 EXP to learn

The process was about the same as in the past game.

Bai Ye opened the game panel and naturally chose the confirmation option.

Instantly, Bai Ye fell into a trance as a massive stream of information poured into his hippocampus with the aid of experience points, then converted into permanent memory.

This process was not painful; on the contrary, Bai Ye felt exceptionally relaxed, and the knowledge that had been obscure and difficult to understand when reading books before was gradually being mastered by him.

After a long while, Bai Ye opened his eyes.

On the game panel, a skill named Basic Medicine (Theory) Lv0 lay impressively on Bai Ye's skill list.

Huh?

Mhm?!

Bai Ye blinked, always feeling as though something was not quite right somewhere.

Staring intently at the skill list for a long time, Bai Ye finally discovered the brilliant point--he had truly mastered medical knowledge!

Some people might ask, what is so strange about this, hadn't he already learned the skill?

Actually, there is a huge difference in this.

In his past life, Bai Ye, as a Player, had never truly mastered medical knowledge like this; those specific knowledge memories regarding Basic Medicine had never been so clearly engraved in Bai Ye's mind.

To put it commonly, when Players learned skills, it was only the virtual characters that learned the skills, not the Players themselves.

For example, a Player mastered Originium Arts theory, able to control the virtual character to cast Originium Arts, but he actually had no understanding of Originium Arts theory whatsoever, and could not accurately state specific points one, two, or three.

No matter how high the skill level was or how good the casting effect was, the Player still did not understand those obscure spell theories themselves.

Unless the Player really went and read the Laterano Originium Arts theory textbooks seriously--yet how many people would have the leisure to do that.

Even if you memorized the content and could recite it, how should you control this virtual body of yours to cast Originium Arts yourself? Even with claims of 100% realism, the difference between a virtual character's body and an actual physical body is still quite large.

The so-called transmission and flow of Originium Arts are things Players cannot experience.

Of course, certain theoretical knowledge in common with reality could still be mastered. For instance, if a Player had studied medicine or engineering machinery in reality, then this portion of knowledge could be used in the game; whereas if a Player read relevant books carefully in the game, he could even genuinely learn medical knowledge within the game!

However, Players who did this were few and far between, because learning was a very painful and time-consuming matter. Although reading theoretical knowledge could raise skill levels without spending experience, this also wasted a huge amount of time, resulting in losses that outweighed the gains.