The Romance of Scavengers / Little Deer

Skadi leaned closer, the point of her hat poking Bai Ye on the head while her conspicuous chest blocked his view.

Slightly put off, Bai Ye instinctively reached out and pushed her.

The orca did not budge...

It was rather awkward.

However, Skadi quickly realized the problem herself and stepped slightly to the side.

"Next, we need to find someone."

Bai Ye's finger traced across the finely made waterproof map, passing villages, plains, hills, and mines... Though his fingertip moved only a short distance, it actually spanned an unimaginably vast stretch of bitter frozen tundra.

One objective of this trip had already been achieved, but the next few would be more difficult.

First, he needed to find someone named Talulah. She was not only Chen's older sister, but also the final boss of Versions 1 and 2. Although Talulah became a green-name NPC in later versions, many questions still remained.

Bai Ye knew that, in his previous life, a group of Players had formed a gaming organization called the Valletta Society. They were not skilled at combat, but they were passionate about theorizing, researching, and organizing the plot, characters, worldbuilding, and deeper settings of Arknights Online.

Although their work had been highly successful, they had run into difficulties when analyzing the stories of Versions 1 and 2.

First of all, the Valletta Society had not yet been founded during the game's early days. Plot enthusiasts had worked without any plan, each researching according to their own interests and instincts. Moreover, these Players had been weak in combat at the start and had received no support from other Players, making it difficult for them to obtain decisive information.

As a result, due to missing records, the stories from the game's early versions had become an impossible-to-investigate piece of dark history. Some Valletta Society Players dedicated to uncovering those early plots jokingly called themselves archaeologists...

In order to dig up the early storylines, plot enthusiasts had even joined Reunion. Yet the Infected from that time had long suffered devastating casualties, and it was difficult to find NPCs who had personally experienced all those events.

As for the "scripted death" boss battle atop the tower, which only a handful of elite Players had been qualified to participate in, the plot enthusiasts studied it over and over. Whether it was the NPCs' dialogue or Talulah's performance during the battle, everything was interpreted frame by frame.

Even "Talulah's" lines and actions in the instance were used as references and compared against one another.

And they really did uncover something. The Valletta Society became famous in one stroke, and their "body-snatching" theory became the most convincing and widely accepted plot hypothesis.

However, the Society was not satisfied with that. They established a permanent archaeology department, and even by Version 6, they were still diligently excavating the past.

Bai Ye believed that if they could meet Chen, Talulah, Amiya, or even Doctor Kal'tsit, that group would dare to interview and question them.

Honestly, in his previous life, Bai Ye had not cared about the plot at all in the beginning. Those things could not raise his progression level or help him kill bosses quickly, so they seemed completely meaningless to him.

He had only wanted to slaughter enemies, level up, then continue slaughtering enemies.

But later, he discovered that some bosses could be weakened through clues provided by the story. Only then did he learn that clearing a game was not just about knowing monsters' moves, weaknesses, and combat styles; there were also many hidden settings.

As a gaming newbie who had risen solely through talent, he had needed to learn all those things in the game. Through those experiences, he gradually became a veteran elite Player.

After he transmigrated, the plot became even more important, because it represented foresight and the ability to predict events. Even if things might change due to unforeseen circumstances, he could still sense the overall trend.

"This is an opportunity... We have a chance to truly meet Talulah. It's time to verify the Valletta Society's hypothesis."

Of course, Bai Ye intended to do far more than that. Meeting the story's final boss ahead of time was also an opportunity to find a way to gather Players. After all, his primary class was NPC. If he wanted to grow, he naturally had to rely on Players, and his plans could not do without them.

He needed to complete his arrangements before the Players officially logged in, so that he could gather enough Players once they arrived in large numbers.

"Finding someone on this endless frozen tundra is difficult, especially a group of Infected deliberately hiding from guerrillas and evading the regular army."

"But we know their goal, and we know how they obtain supplies..."

Bai Ye located Chernobog on the terminal. Since that Mobile City had its own fixed route, its real-time location would not be marked on a paper map.

"Let's go."

Bai Ye drew a circle on the map.

The fuel required to equip a vehicle was in his inventory. The wind and snow would conceal their trail, and Bai Ye believed he could find the people he sought.

The Romance of Scavengers

Skadi sat in the passenger seat, watching Bai Ye drive beside her.

You could not expect an orca lady from the deep sea to drive a land vehicle. She was not good at that sort of work.

Therefore, Bai Ye handled all the driving.

Bai Ye was grateful that he had learned how to operate ground vehicles in the game in his previous life—honestly, that skill had not been particularly useful in reality. After all, self-driving technology had become quite mature, and few people drove themselves anymore.

He had not expected that, after transmigrating, the skill would actually come in handy.

"Are you familiar with the snowfields, Bai Ye?"

The girl watched with great interest as Bai Ye drove the vehicle across the tundra, bypassing Provost outposts, slipping through gaps between villages, and avoiding everyone's notice.

He easily evaded the Fourth Army's watchful eyes.

To Skadi, such maneuvering was practically magic. The roaring Originium Engine-powered off-road vehicle left tracks in the snowfields, yet no one discovered them.

"I know it well enough." Bai Ye had indeed been here in his previous life, but he had only visited a few places. This region was too desolate. By the time he arrived, most of the treasures had already been found by other Players. Apart from the mines, there were no other resources, and almost nothing worth searching for.

Except the remains of Mobile Cities.

In order to build their own Mobile City, Players had gone to the northwestern tundra to search for the remnants of mobile city-states left behind by the Ursus Empire's demolition project several years earlier.

Most cities had become empty shells, with everything usable already dismantled. Yet some still retained their basic functions, and even possessed intact city-scale Originium Engine systems.

They were hearts capable of supporting an entire city block as it moved across the land.

No matter what it was, the Players took it all away—empty shells, engines, anything they saw. Even discarded junk that had been reduced to nothing but frames was not spared.

After all, every Player was born a scavenger. They loved and excelled at looting supplies from all sorts of strange places.

There were also hoarders. Even if materials were low-grade and completely useless, they would stockpile them. They could not bear to use consumables, leaving them in their warehouses forever. Naturally, they could not bear to abandon those useless city frames considered "junk."

Wherever they went, they left behind not even a single hair. The Ursus Empire was also happy to see those useless resources properly dealt with by the Players, and it could even exchange them for a considerable sum to replenish its increasingly depleted treasury.

In the end, all that "junk" became part of Arcadia, the Players' main city. It was a Mobile City made of four linked city blocks, a main city belonging entirely to the Players.

"Arcadia" meant "utopia," while also paying tribute to and commemorating the legendary first-generation game Arcadia Gate.

Bai Ye had also come to the tundra to pick up junk back then. This mission had been jointly issued by all the major Player guilds, and the rewards were extraordinarily generous. It was also the first time all ordinary game Players had truly stood together and built their own home. Any existence attempting to obstruct or sabotage that plan would face the united pursuit of all Players, who would not rest until death.

Even Smiling Coffin, the infamous red-name Player guild that committed every evil imaginable, had not caused trouble. It was said that their leader had tried to organize a "guild operation," only to be hunted down by his own subordinates until he quit the game. Even his real-world home address had been dug up.

It was utterly ridiculous.

Remembering that pride shared by every Player, Bai Ye could not help smiling.

Yes, even though he was no longer one of the Players.

Skadi could not understand the smile on Bai Ye's face. Nor could she understand how he moved so freely across the frozen snowfields. She understood even less how he had traded food for five people in exchange for enough fuel to fill the tank.

Still, not having to think about such things was truly nice. Bai Ye told her what to cut down, and she cut it down. She did not need to think for herself—Skadi was quite good at that.

"Do you find it boring?"

As Bai Ye spoke, he turned the steering wheel to avoid a treacherous snow-covered pit. If they fell into it, the vehicle might not be able to get back out.

They would have to rely on the orca to pull it free.

Skadi shook her head. "It's too easy. There are no enormous tentacles that drag away your companions, nor are there crazed enemies crouching in corners with blood all over their hands... Just sitting in the car like this, there's nothing simpler."

Skadi was traumatized by the past few days.

"It's fine. It doesn't matter if you get bored."

As he spoke, Bai Ye activated the Ursus communications terminal receiver. When the weather was clear, it could receive all kinds of channels across the snowfields.

Channels for Catastrophe Messengers, trade routes, the Fourth Army, the Infected Provost, and even secretly contacting Infected.

"Let me think... Mm, it's this channel."

Bai Ye casually adjusted the terminal receiver and brought up a public channel.

Faint radio signals spread across the tundra, relayed through base stations in mines and villages.

"The Provost has moved again. Looks like we're getting closer."

Bai Ye switched to a caravan channel, then confirmed his guess.

The Infected Provost were the eyes and claws of Ursus's machine of violence. They searched the endless frozen tundra for the Infected, as well as the recently intensifying Infected guerrilla forces.

The guerrillas, once few in number, seemed to have grown stronger, and their scale was steadily increasing.

But that also meant the Fourth Army could find them more and more easily.

Yet Squad Five had never been wiped out. During the game's progression in Bai Ye's previous life, they even reached Chernobog and, with an almost one-sided advantage, crushed the defending military police forces and occupied that important Ursus city.

"Interesting."

Bai Ye checked the remaining fuel and stepped on the accelerator.

He had a feeling that it would not be long before he found the answer he sought.

Two more days passed.

Bai Ye filled the vehicle's fuel tank once again.

After resting once, they packed up the camp tents at dawn and continued onward.

While driving, Bai Ye suddenly opened the window.

Bitter cold wind mixed with snow poured into the cabin.

Skadi merely turned to look at Bai Ye curiously, without questioning his actions.

After all, with the orca lady's constitution, such low temperatures were like air-conditioning blowing across skin covered in medicated oil. It was somewhat stimulating, and even quite exhilarating on sensitive areas, but that was all. It would not cause any serious harm.

As for Bai Ye?

Although his physical attributes and strength could not compare to Skadi's, he was no longer an ordinary person either. Furthermore, his Originium Arts could create an insulating vacuum layer and generate heat through friction, so the wind and snow posed no issue.

Through the wind brushing past his ears, he faintly learned what was happening nearby.

"We're here." In a sense, Bai Ye, who had mastered the Wind Authority, could also be called a god.

The weakest god.

Little Deer

Year 1095 of the Terra calendar.

One year before the Chernobog incident.

On the eve of the Players' arrival.

Perhaps, for the entire continent of Terra, an insignificant act of violence occurring on Ursus's northwestern frozen tundra would not affect the situation of this land.

Yet in a certain sense, it did advance an evil god's plans.

It also marked the beginning of a series of tragedies and suffering.

Of course, it would not be correct to attribute everything to a single act of violence. But objectively speaking, its occurrence did indeed play right into the evil god's hands.

However... a strange wind seemed to have blown everything toward an unpredictable future.

At that moment, the world's course also slid in an indescribably bizarre direction.

"Damn it, they didn't even leave us a scrap of food. They're deliberately trying to make us die..."

"Heh, Talulah only knows how to put on an act. 'Give them a week's rations.' She knew those big guys would never agree."

"What do we do now? We have nowhere left to go."

"Ursus profanity, don't we already know what to do? We've learned how to use violence. I don't understand Talulah's theories, but at least she taught us how to wield power."

This was a group of Infected expelled by Reunion. They had betrayed their companions and attempted to seize the grain stores before fleeing Squad Five.

After they were caught, Talulah opposed the Shield Guards' decision to execute the rebels. She chose to exile the thugs instead.

On the road, they encountered a girl traveling alone with vegetables, fruit, and food. Using survival as an excuse, they chose to target the girl, who had no power to resist.

They did not even ask for anything.

They did not know that if they had asked, the girl would certainly have given them food.

But their natures had already crumbled and turned evil. They believed everyone else carried the same malice as themselves.

They were unwilling to believe in kindness and virtue.