Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

Some rare medicines are prepared here.

At the same time, Bai Ye also placed many rare books and documents here.

Bai Ye himself lived in the basement.

He arranged his residence to be as safe as possible, and even built at least three escape routes and two secret exits.

Underground industrial city, pipelines, surface...

White Night can use these safety exits at any time to enter the intricate network of underground tunnels in the heart of Chernobog.

Solo players like Bai Ye, who lack the protection of a guild's headquarters, desperately need such a safe house.

This aesthetic is something that Ghost Shark cannot tolerate.

She looked at Bai Ye as if he were a caveman.

Because Baiye only kept the bare minimum of furniture, the room was simple and clean with no decorations.

In emotionally intelligent terms, it's minimalism.

As for low emotional intelligence... Specter doesn't want to say anything more.

"How can you sleep in a room like this?"

Specter clutched her forehead, realizing that in some ways, White Night was more troublesome than Skadi.

"Perhaps you could stay in a hotel? The core city should have preserved some Ursus-style hotels; they weren't all demolished and rebuilt."

Bai Ye himself didn't care.

Only in such an environment can he feel at ease.

“No need, I’ll stay here.” Ghost Shark shook his head.

Then she saw Bai Ye take modular furniture parts from a box built into the wall and assemble them into a bed in the empty room next door.

"This is... a guest room. Hmm." Bai Ye herself was a little embarrassed.

Water is becoming increasingly abstract.jpg

Chapter Seventeen: Dameyo

(My liver is sore from exhaustion, I'm adding an extra chapter. This chapter is 20,000 words, and I still owe 7 more chapters.)

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The so-called guest rooms, of course, do not exist.

After all, Bai Ye hadn't considered this kind of issue when preparing his residence in the core city.

Or rather, Bai Ye doesn't have a place on this land that he can truly call home; any dwelling is just a temporary stop and a safe haven for him.

As for Skadi, she naturally shares a room with Byakuya and doesn't need to go to a second room.

So when Bai Ye accompanied Ghost Shark to the "guest room" he had mentioned, he himself felt a little embarrassed—the room was empty, with nothing in it. There were some odds and ends piled up in the corner, along with some strange equipment.

These are items that are too big for my inventory or are useless, so they're just piled up in the room.

"Let's just stay in a hotel... I'll come with you," Bai Ye said again.

Leaving Ghost Shark alone is definitely not an option; the nun can't stray too far from him now. When she's near him, Ghost Shark's healing abilities are enhanced, much like how returning to the beach restores his sanity—the effect is similar.

However, the underlying principles are different. Being near the sea increases air humidity, alleviating the Agor people's dehydration symptoms and thus enhancing their self-healing abilities; but for Bai Ye, it's completely different. What works isn't water, but rather the primordial energy within Bai Ye's body.

In any case, Ghost Shark cannot leave White Night for too long, otherwise she will have to experience the feeling of madness and chaos again.

……

“No, I’ll stay here.” Ghost Shark shook his head.

The girl was even more stubborn than Bai Ye had imagined.

A flame ignited in her eyes: "I need to correct your aesthetic sense. As our companion, it's unbearable that you have absolutely no artistic talent!"

"Um... well... good luck then?" Bai Ye didn't know where the girl in front of him got her enthusiasm and energy from, but looking into her determined eyes, Bai Ye was subconsciously intimidated by her aura...

"Don't act like it has nothing to do with you!" Bai Ye's attitude unexpectedly angered Ghost Shark, as if something he cherished had been ignored.

"But it is indeed quite strange."

Ghost Shark circled around White Night, staring at him for a long time.

"Is something wrong?" Bai Ye asked, somewhat suspiciously. He hadn't yet recovered from what happened with Luna.

Ghost Shark said thoughtfully, "I always feel that you are actually a little different from other land people. Although you hide it very well, I can still feel that sense of incongruity."

"Hmm, and... I always feel like you're more harmonious when you're with the undead, it's really strange..."

Bai Ye wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Miss Ghost Shark seemed to be the first person to say that to him.

Perhaps others noticed this as well, but Laurentina said it outright.

It must be said that some Terrans have incredibly sharp intuition. But that's quite normal, considering they are excellent warriors like the Deepsea Hunters.

Laurentina continued, "I always felt you must have received an arts education, but... why doesn't it show at all?"

"Because it's no longer useful, so I've given up." Bai Ye sighed.

Ghost Shark's feeling was correct; Bai Ye had indeed received artistic training in the past, including a series of courses in music, painting, and dance.

However, the Federation Fleet does not spend money specifically to cultivate the artistic tastes and sentiments of its crew members; these courses are categorized under diplomatic programs.

Diplomacy, in this context, refers to the procedures a starship encountering an extraterrestrial civilization after leaving its star system. The things Bai Ye learns—music, painting, and dance—are all for the purpose of communication. Or rather, it allows him to understand the culture and racial characteristics of extraterrestrials through their artistic styles.

This is one of Bai Ye's most hated courses, second only to the occult.

To be honest, Bai Ye was already somewhat withdrawn and socially awkward in the past, and he had difficulty communicating with people. Expecting him to communicate with aliens? That's definitely wishful thinking.

It was only after playing more games and interacting with more people that things gradually improved, and by the time he transmigrated, he was basically the same as a normal person.

However, he had long since given up on art; he hadn't touched it for six years, so it's easy to imagine how little he had left.

Moreover, as the saying goes, "Practice makes perfect," meaning that if you don't practice for a day, you'll know it; if you don't practice for two days, your peers will know it; and if you don't practice for three days, the audience will know it. Bai Ye hasn't practiced for six years, so he probably only has the basics left.

"So you actually understand music, right!" Ghost Shark glared at White Night.

"Hmm... I know a little bit, I know a little bit." Bai Ye waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "I've only learned about three or four instruments, and my teacher said I was 'too crafty,' just like other people who practice and then take exams. I learn for the sake of learning, without any passion or emotion in it."

"No need to explain, did you do that on purpose last time?" Ghost Shark stared into White Night's eyes.

"Which time?"

"The first time I regained consciousness... not only did they break my arm, but they also deliberately played such awful music in my ear, like sawing wood, it was so torturous..." Ghost Shark was clearly still holding a grudge, and even after so much time had passed, he was still very vengeful.

Bai Ye blinked.

So, is it true that breaking an arm wasn't as bad as the subsequent torment of performing? It seems that physical torment is less severe than mental torment.

Being able to hold a grudge for so long shows that Miss Specter does have a petty side.

However, Ghost Shark did wrong Byakuya, because he really wasn't good at stringed instruments like the violin, and he was just messing around with something in order to punish the nun.

“Never mind…” Ghost Shark sighed. “Anyway, let’s start by setting up the room. I’ll have to live here from now on, and I can’t stand this situation.”

"Is your obsession really that deep..." Bai Ye scratched his head.

“After all, besides fighting, this is the only thing that… can prove my connection to my homeland,” Ghost Shark said softly.

"..."

Upon hearing this, Bai Ye fell silent.

For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

In that instant, he realized that the deep-sea hunters were no different from him. They were all hunters who had lost their homeland, and after coming ashore, they didn't know when they would be able to return.

In this respect, perhaps I am no different from them.

Meanwhile, Bai Ye and the Deep Sea Hunter are also striving to save their homeland.

It was precisely because of this understanding that he was unable to offer any words of comfort. Bai Ye didn't even know how to comfort himself, so how could he possibly comfort the deep-sea hunter who had left his homeland?

He simply looked at the nun in front of him with a softened gaze.

Indeed, there are differences among deep-sea hunters. When he was with Skadi, Byakuya would always unilaterally pour out his troubles and work-related frustrations. Skadi, on the other hand, silently accepted everything with an empathetic heart.

The silent hunter is not good with words, but he will give Bai Ye a warm hug.

Specter, on the other hand, was more talkative and expressed her emotions more vividly. Byakuya himself could understand how Skadi felt back then.

Realizing this, Bai Ye changed his mind. He looked into Ghost Shark's eyes and said, "Teach me. Teach me about the art you love, the beautiful things created by the Agor people beneath the deep sea."

"Hmm?" Laurentina was puzzled by Bai Ye's change. Before, Bai Ye was extremely resistant to things that were "of no benefit to the battle," but just now, his attitude had changed drastically.

"If you understand your culture, you'll be able to get along better when you encounter new deep-sea hunters or meet the Agor people from the deep sea. That's all. I'm just doing this for work; after all, I'm the head of the field operations department..."

Bai Ye turned his head slightly and explained somewhat incoherently.

Once he gets embarrassed, he'll behave like he is now.

"Yes, studying art is one of the best ways to understand a culture; that's what my mentor taught me. Don't overthink it..."

Ghost Shark looked at White Night, who was chattering incessantly, and couldn't help but chuckle.

Her mood also brightened from the previous emo.

"Let's leave it at that. Since you're willing, you should study hard."

Ghost Shark smiled and nodded.

She looked at Bai Ye and suddenly remembered a rumor circulating in a small circle: "Besides his right hand, the only thing Bai Ye has that's particularly stubborn is his mouth."

"It's actually quite funny when he becomes very unfrank."

At this moment, Ghost Shark witnessed firsthand a side of White Night that was not frank, which was indeed quite different from his usual self.

"Interesting."

Ghost Shark gradually began to look forward to his life on land.

However, Bai Ye's words still made her feel a little worried.

—Aside from her and Skadi, are there really any other living Deepsea Hunters?

Can they really return to their hometown?

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At night, Bai Ye was mentally exhausted from the great shock she had endured, so she went to bed early.

Speaking of which, once Bai Ye's mental and physical attributes broke through 50, his need for sleep began to decrease. He could go for several days without rest, and only needed a short period of meditation to restore his mental and physical strength.

He gradually began to reveal aspects beyond ordinary people, not only in terms of strength and agility, but also in many other unique aspects.

However, after meeting Luna, Bai Ye was still quite tired. He had been trying to suppress his fatigue when he was talking to Ghost Shark, but thanks to his strong spirit and willpower, he performed no differently than usual.

After returning to his room, he collapsed onto the bed, unwilling to move. The exhaustion wasn't physical, but rather a feeling of mental and spiritual exhaustion.

The reason Bai Ye's sanity level dropped wasn't because of what Luna told him, nor was it because he felt exhausted from the burden he carried. The real reason was actually quite simple: it was simply because Bai Ye directly confronted the primate's restraint for the first time in that space.

Looking directly at non-human beings lowers one's sanity level because the elements that constitute non-human beings are beyond human comprehension. Especially when facing beings of a higher status, even a single glance can cause an ordinary person to suffer a mental breakdown.

The elements that make up Luna's body contain an immense amount of information, and it is human instinct to understand and interpret what we see. An overwhelming flood of information could even burn through a human brain, so Luna disguises herself on Earth using the shell of supreme artificial intelligence.

It wasn't just a simple disguise; it was also to protect those who saw her, to prevent these mortals who directly witnessed her existence from collapsing due to the massive flow of information.

That's why Luna said it was a bit early, because Bai Ye wasn't strong enough yet, and she would lose sanity if she talked to her face-to-face. According to her plan, this meeting would have to wait until at least the third "major game update," also known as Arknights Online 3.0.

However, Bai Ye's actions brought forward the meeting time, and Luna was worried about her child in this world, so she came to see him ahead of time.

Yes, in Luna's mind, all humans are her parents who gave birth to her, and each human is also her child...

Fortunately, Bai Ye has strong mental attributes and the talent of accelerated thinking. His mental resilience has also been enhanced by the new NPC template, so he has been able to have face-to-face contact with Luna for so long.

Even so, his sanity was already at rock bottom, which was even faster than when he faced the newborn last time.

So newborn!

……

While Bai Ye was sleeping soundly, Ghost Shark was suffering from insomnia.

Is it because you're not used to the environment?

no.