Reincarnated NPC, But Arknights Chapter 44

Skadi leaned closer, her pointed hat poking Bai Ye's head, her dazzling chest obscuring his vision.

Bai Ye instinctively pushed her away with a hint of distaste.

The orca didn't budge...

It was awkward.

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

"Next, we need to find someone."

Bai Ye's finger traced across the intricately crafted waterproof map, his fingertip gliding over villages, lands, hills, and mines... The short distance his finger traveled actually spanned the incredibly vast, desolate Frozen Land.

One of the objectives for this trip had been achieved, but the next few would be somewhat difficult.

First, he needed to find someone named Talulah, who was not only Chen's sister but also the final boss of the first and second versions of the game. Although Talulah later became a friendly NPC in subsequent versions, there were still many unresolved questions.

Bai Ye knew that in his previous life, a group of players had formed a gaming community called the Valletta Society. They weren't skilled in combat but were passionate about speculating, researching, and organizing the plot, characters, world-building, and deep lore of Arknights Online.

While their work was quite successful, they encountered difficulties when delving into the story of the first and second versions.

Firstly, in the early stages of the game, the Valletta Society hadn't been established yet, and the lore enthusiasts worked without a plan, driven solely by their personal interests and intuition. Moreover, these players were initially weak in combat and had no player support for their actions, making it difficult to obtain decisive information.

As a result, the plot of the early game versions, due to missing data, had become a sort of inscrutable black history. Some Valletta Society players dedicated to uncovering the early plot jokingly called themselves archaeologists...

To unearth the early plot, the lore enthusiasts even joined Reunion. However, the Infected from that period had already suffered heavy casualties, making it difficult to find any NPCs who had experienced all the events.

As for the "plot kill" boss battles, which only a few high-level players on the towers were qualified to participate in, they were also meticulously studied by the lore enthusiasts. Every detail, from the NPCs' dialogue to Talulah's performance during the battles, was analyzed frame by frame.

They even used Talulah's lines and actions within the instances as references and comparisons.

They truly managed to uncover something significant. The Valletta Society thus became famous, and their "possession" theory became the most widely accepted plot hypothesis.

However, the society was not satisfied with this. They established a permanent department for archaeology, and even in the sixth version, they were still working on their archaeological research.

Bai Ye believed that if they could have access to Chen, Talulah, Amiya, or even Doctor Kal'tsit, this group wouldn't hesitate to interview and question them.

Actually, in his previous life, Bai Ye wasn't interested in the plot at all. That stuff couldn't increase his combat power or help him defeat bosses quickly; it seemed meaningless to him.

He just wanted to slaughter enemies, level up, and continue slaughtering.

But later, he discovered that some bosses could be weakened through clues provided by the plot. It was then he realized that conquering a game wasn't just about knowing monsters' attack patterns, weaknesses, and combat styles; there were also many hidden settings.

As a gaming novice who rose to prominence solely through talent, he had to learn these things in the game. Through these experiences, he gradually grew into a hardcore veteran player.

And after his transmigration, the plot became even more crucial because the plot represented foresight and predictability. Even if events might change due to unforeseen circumstances, he could still perceive the trends.

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

Of course, Bai Ye had more than just that in mind. Meeting the final boss of the plot ahead of time was also an opportunity for him to gather players. After all, his main role was an NPC, and to grow, he naturally needed to rely on players. His plan also couldn't do without them.

He intended to complete his arrangements before the players officially logged in, so that he could gather enough players once a large number of them arrived.

"Finding someone in the vast Frozen Land is difficult, especially a group of Infected who deliberately play hide-and-seek with the guerrillas and evade the regular army."

"But we know their target, and we know how they get supplies..."

Bai Ye found Chernobog on the terminal because this Mobile City had its own fixed flight path, and the paper map wouldn't display its real-time location.

"Let's go."

Bai Ye drew a circle on the map.

He had the fuel needed to equip the vehicle in his inventory. The snowstorm would cover their tracks, and Bai Ye believed he could find the person he was looking for.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Scavenger's Romance

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

You couldn't expect a young orca from the deep sea to drive a land vehicle. She wasn't skilled at such tasks.

Therefore, Bai Ye was the one driving.

Bai Ye was grateful that he had learned to drive ground vehicles in the game in his previous life—honestly, this skill wasn't very useful in reality. After all, self-driving technology had become quite mature, and very few people drove themselves anymore.

He never expected this skill to come in handy after his transmigration.

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

The girl watched with great interest as Bai Ye skillfully navigated the vehicle across the Frozen Land, bypassing the checkpoints set up by the Provost and weaving through the gaps between villages, unnoticed by anyone.

He easily evaded the Fourth Army's surveillance.

To Skadi, such maneuvers were like magic. The roaring Originium Engine of the off-road vehicle left no trace in the snowfield, yet no one seemed to notice.

"I'm reasonably familiar with it." Bai Ye had indeed been here in his previous life, but only to a few places. It was too desolate. By the time he arrived, other players had already found most of the treasures. Besides the mines, there were no other resources, and almost nothing worth players rummaging through.

Except for the remains of Mobile Cities.

Players, in order to build their own Mobile Cities, would travel to the northwestern Frozen Land to search for the ruins of Mobile City-states left behind by the Ursus Empire's demolition plans years ago.

Most cities had become empty shells, with all usable parts removed. However, some cities still maintained basic functions, and there were even intact city-level Originium Engine systems.

These were the hearts that could support an entire sector to move across the land.

No matter what it was, the players took it all—empty shells, engines, anything they could see. They didn't even spare the abandoned junk that was reduced to mere frames.

After all, every player was a scavenger at heart, passionate and skilled at looting supplies from all sorts of peculiar places.

Then there were the hoarders, who would stockpile even the most useless low-level materials, unwilling to use consumables and keeping them in storage. These city frames, deemed "junk" and useless, were naturally something they couldn't bear to abandon.

Where they went, not a single hair was left behind. The Ursus Empire was also happy to see these useless resources meticulously handled by the players, even earning a considerable sum of funds to replenish their increasingly empty treasury.

In the end, all this "junk" became part of the players' main city, "Arcadia." It was a mobile city formed by the chaining of four city blocks, a main city that belonged entirely to the players.

"Arcadia" meant "Utopia," and it was also a tribute and commemoration to the legendary game masterpiece, "Arcadia Gate."

Bai Ye had also come to the Frozen Land to scavenge before. This mission was jointly issued by all major player guilds, with a colossal bounty reward. This was also the first time all normal players had stood together completely to build their own homeland. Anyone who attempted to stop or disrupt this plan would be relentlessly hunted by all players, to the death.

Even the notorious red-name player guild "Smiling Coffin" didn't cause trouble. It was said that their leader attempted to organize a "guild operation," but ended up being hunted by his subordinates to the point of quitting the game. Even his real-life residential address was dug up.

It was utterly absurd.

Recalling that pride of all players, Bai Ye couldn't help but smile.

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

Skadi couldn't understand the smile on Bai Ye's face, nor how he managed to traverse the snowy tundra freely. She couldn't understand how he exchanged food for five people for enough fuel to fill the tank.

However, it was really nice not having to think about these things. Bai Ye would just do whatever he said he would, without needing her to think—Skadi was quite adept at this.

"Don't you find it boring?"

Bai Ye said as he steered the wheel to avoid a treacherous snowdrift, which could trap the vehicle if they fell in.

They would have to rely on the orca to pull them out of the pit.

Skadi shook her head. "It's too easy. No giant tentacles that snatch teammates, no madmen with bloodied hands lurking in corners... Just sitting in the car like this, it doesn't get any simpler than this."

Skadi had trauma from the past few days.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter if it's boring."

As Bai Ye spoke, he turned on the Ursus communication terminal receiver. It could pick up various channels on the snowy plains when the weather was clear.

Channels from Catastrophe Messengers, trade routes, the Fourth Army, Infected Provost, and even secret infected contacts.

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

Bai Ye casually tapped the terminal receiver, bringing up a general channel.

Faint radio signals spread across the Frozen Land, transmitted through base stations in various mines and villages.

"The Provost is on the move again. It seems we're getting close."

Bai Ye switched to a trade channel and then confirmed his guess.

The Infected Provost were the eyes and claws of the Ursus military machine, searching the vast Frozen Land for the whereabouts of the Infected and the increasingly rampant Infected guerrilla forces.

The previously small guerrilla force seemed to have grown, and its scale was increasing.

But this also meant that it was becoming easier for the Fourth Army to find them.

Yet, this unit had never been annihilated. In the game's progression in his previous life, they had even reached Chernobog, crushing the defending military and police forces with an almost one-sided victory, occupying this important Ursus city.

"Quite interesting."

Bai Ye glanced at the remaining fuel and stepped on the accelerator.

He had a premonition that he would find the answers he sought soon.

Another two days passed.

Bai Ye refueled the vehicle once more.

After a brief rest, they packed up their camp tents in the morning and continued their journey.

While driving, Bai Ye suddenly opened the car window.

The biting cold wind mixed with snowflakes poured into the cabin.

Skadi merely turned her head to look at Bai Ye with curiosity, without questioning his actions.

After all, with the orca's physique, such low temperatures were like skin coated with cooling oil being blown by an air conditioner. While it might be a bit stimulating, especially for sensitive areas, it was nothing more than that, posing no significant harm.

As for Bai Ye?

Although his physical attributes and strength couldn't compare to Skadi's, he was no longer an ordinary person. Moreover, his Originium Arts could create a vacuum layer for insulation and generate heat through friction, so the wind and snow were harmless to him.

Through the wind by his ears, he vaguely learned about what was happening around them.

"We've arrived." With his mastery of the wind, Bai Ye could, in a sense, be called a god.

The weakest god.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Little Deer

Terra Calendar Year 1095.

One year before the Chernobog Incident.

The eve of the players' descent.

Perhaps for the entire continent of Terra, a trivial act of brutality that occurred on the Frozen Land of northwest Ursus would not affect the situation of this vast Earth.

However, in a sense, it did advance the plan of a malevolent god.

It also represented the beginning of a series of tragedies and hardships.

Of course, attributing all of this to an act of brutality is not quite right, but from the perspective of common reason, its occurrence played right into the malevolent god's hands.

But... it seems a strange wind blew all of this towards an unpredictable future.

The world's trajectory, at this moment, also slid into an unspeakable and strange direction.

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

"Heh, that Talulah, she's all fake sincerity. 'Give them a week's rations,' she said. She knows those brutes won't agree."

"What do we do now? We're out of options."

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

This group was a band of Infected who had been expelled by Reunion. They had betrayed their comrades and attempted to seize the granary before fleeing the main force.

After being apprehended, Talulah opposed the Shieldbearers' decision to execute the rebels, choosing instead to exile the thugs.

On their way, they encountered a young girl walking alone with fruits, vegetables, and grain. Using survival as an excuse, they decided to prey on the defenseless girl.

They didn't even bother to ask.

They didn't know that if they had asked, the girl would have gladly given them the food.

But their nature had already collapsed, turning evil. They only believed that others, like them, harbored malice.

They were unwilling to believe in kindness and virtue.