Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

The girl muttered to herself, then put away the sheets, planning to wash them later when she had the chance.

Actually, Ghost Shark didn't feel there was anything wrong with his current state... Come to think of it, as a deep-sea hunter before, he only knew how to fight, and in doing so, he lost his humanity. Now, has he rediscovered it on land?

-------------------------------------

Seeing that Specter was unharmed, Bai Ye breathed a sigh of relief. It just goes to show how well Specter had hidden himself; Bai Ye hadn't even considered that possibility, and he didn't even know that Specter knew about his relationship with Skadi.

He believed everything Ghost Shark said to deceive Tsurugi and Blackhorn.

Although many things happened in between, from the start of the vacation to returning to the core city and meeting Luna, Bai Ye had experienced so much that he felt as if he had been through a lifetime.

It's quite funny, really. As the main person in charge of Rhodes Island's branch in the core city, Bai Ye actually spent less than a week in the core city in total. That's really going too far.

"It's time to get down to business..."

The third-party commission platform that Bai Ye had been working on to build—the Adventurers' Guild—is finally showing some promise.

Previously, the quest relationship between players and natives was very direct: natives of Terra would issue quests, which players would then execute, with a game system in between.

Initially, trusting that the game system wouldn't malfunction, the player responsibly completed all the assigned tasks.

It wasn't until some native inhabitants started cheating that the game system actually modified the mission rewards according to their explanations, making players realize that the NPCs in this world seemed to be quite intelligent.

Yes, this matter has been mentioned before, such as double-crossing, which initially caused some minor commotion.

Each NPC has their own personality and treats players differently, sometimes even teaming up to bully them. Players will respond in kind, such as deliberately withholding quest items or engaging in underhanded tactics during quests.

In the second version, after players are strengthened, they become more proactive in their responses, and sometimes they even take the initiative to show the Terra natives some chaotic and evil aspects of themselves.

Bai Ye has already seen on the forums that some players, after accepting the bodyguard escort mission, will deliberately provoke NPCs in the wilderness, causing the two sides to enter a hostile state, and then kill the NPC employer, rob the property, and find the nearest teleportation crystal to leave the scene.

The wilderness is inherently dangerous, and too many people have already lost their lives there. This little thing is nothing.

For example, players might secretly collude with other players to rob caravans and then split the spoils.

Although these may seem like minor issues now, they do nothing to promote the integration of the two worlds in the long run. They will only exacerbate the conflict between the two groups.

When Luna arrives in the new world, she'll have plenty of headaches to deal with.

The most crucial issue, however, is that players currently don't believe they've done anything wrong. Before the game system imposes restrictions, they simply see it as a game mechanics problem, that they've discovered a new way to play, and they don't think they've done anything wrong.

All of these issues will be patched in future game updates. As players become stronger, Luna will increase the restrictions on them. The greater the destructive power, the more constraints are needed.

Don't let the two worlds fall into chaos before they've even merged, before the dimensional resonance phenomenon is even in progress...

In reality, the game is just a facade. What Luna really wants to do is increase the attraction between the two worlds by increasing the number of soul channels and player consciousness entities, in order to achieve the effect of dimensional fusion.

In gaming terms, Luna doesn't care whether the game is fun or not, nor does she care about the players' gaming experience; what she needs to do is increase the game's daily active users and traffic, and she needs more players online.

This is quite counterintuitive.

If games aren't fun, why do players still play them?

However, the explanation for this problem is quite simple.

Luna's games have two advantages that make players extremely tolerant of their attitudes towards them.

Firstly, it offers an incredibly realistic gaming experience and rich game content.

Nonsense! How could a game that abandons the impossible triangle of games while simultaneously satisfying the three contradictory conditions of a massive system, logical consistency, and detailed specifications, a game that directly throws an entire other world in your face, not be fun?

Secondly, this game is actually quite pure in its message. As we all know, most games are made with the sole purpose of making money. What the producers, planners, and operators are really doing is figuring out how to extract money from the players' pockets.

However, Luna's repackaged version of *Arknights Online* didn't care about profits at all, since it required almost no operating costs besides real-world promotion. As for calculating currency systems, financial values, and virtual reality asset conversions, that was far too easy for Luna, a supreme AI. She could effortlessly maintain the game's real-world trading system.

Overall, for her, the most crucial thing is to continue human civilization, maintain human order and prosperity, and lead humanity out of the final moment; nothing else matters. Sometimes, things that exist on Earth can be abandoned. They can simply be rebuilt when the new world arrives.

……

However, Bai Ye had a different opinion.

Since the two worlds are destined to merge, at the very least, the relationship shouldn't become too strained. Some might ask Bai Ye, are you from Earth or Terra?

Bai Ye himself had also considered this issue.

His answer was both.

Because he was standing in the middle, he could see things more clearly. Bai Ye still hoped that the relationship between the two different civilizations could be more harmonious. He had been working towards this goal for a long time. Just as Luna said, Bai Ye could act as a bridge between the two civilizations, trying to find ways to facilitate integration.

Bai Ye's first priority was naturally to help the natives understand the player community. He conducted "academic research" and published related works with this in mind. Unexpectedly, this inadvertently brought him considerable fame and a genuine scholar status...

The second step is for Baiye to launch a new task delegation mechanism.

Players will no longer need to run around the streets trying to trigger quests. The Adventurers' Guild will collect various quests and post them on the platform.

Through the intermediary platform, players can directly register as adventurers and then accept quests.

The immersive experience of triggering tasks as usual can continue, but if problems arise, neither the local government nor the game system will take responsibility.

Moreover, the conflict will be limited to a single player and a single NPC. If the scale expands, or if someone intentionally incites emotions and creates conflict, both the NPC faction and Luna's side will take action to stop it.

While the native inhabitants of Terra might be helpless against the seemingly immortal players, dealing with players in Luna is far too easy.

If your account is blocked, you can't do anything.

If you want to cause trouble in real life, just use your iron fist to punish them. The federal government has nothing better to do, so you're welcome to come and chat with them and have some tea.

Similarly, it might be inconvenient for players to take action against native inhabitants, since there is a "green game supervision system" in place, preventing them from going too far.

However, it's all too easy for political entities on Terra to turn against their own people.

Furthermore, with the platform, Bai Ye can better grasp player information and data. Backed by Luna, he essentially has the authority of a GM, much like Kayaba Akihiko in Sword Art Online, who can not only experience the game but also set rules outside of it.

Although it's shameless, Bai Ye says, "I like it very much."

In Bai Ye's vision, he could later issue recruitment missions to players directly through the association platform, and quickly gather a large player army through his influence.

This army will become even more powerful with each game version update, and it is immortal and has the ability to teleport across the entire map, which is simply a game-changing blow.

Furthermore, players possess remarkable initiative and are adept at leveraging their strong agency. While this isn't immediately apparent due to insufficient player levels and strength, as updates progress and players become increasingly powerful, even with increased restrictions, they will be able to pull off a variety of impressive maneuvers.

Bai Ye is very much looking forward to the role that players will play in the future.

……

Although the idea sounds wonderful, we still have to take it one step at a time.

White Night led Specter to the Rhodes Island branch building.

It's quite rare to see Bai Ye with a group like the nun in the core city or even in the newly built Rhodes Island branch building. Apart from a few old friends transferred from Rhodes Island who exchanged pleasantries with Bai Ye.

Most of the newly recruited operators didn't even know Bai Ye's identity and curiously looked at Bai Ye and Specter on the road.

They had no idea that the young man who brushed past them was actually the highest-ranking leader with real power in this branch.

All I can say is that Bai Ye's "Monarch Offline System" works so well that his presence is extremely low, even less useful than the halo above the Typing Girl's head.

Fortunately, Bai Ye didn't care about these things. He only wanted to achieve his own goals. Originally, he joined Rhodes Island for its existing resources and potential. However, by a twist of fate, he developed his trust and identification with the organization, which led him to do some good things that were beneficial to Rhodes Island.

Perhaps it's just an overabundance of sympathy...

Bai Ye, who never wanted to admit that he was a good person, walked into the office.

For the first time, he sat down at his desk, turned on his terminal, and began preparing to send invitations to leaders of various political entities he knew.

"Ouch—this chair is so awkward...it's really uncomfortable."

Bai Ye shifted his body restlessly, finding himself somewhat unaccustomed to the office environment.

Ghost Shark found it somewhat amusing: "This is your own office, and you're not used to it?"

"Um... I'm ashamed to say, but since it was built, I've only been to this room three or four times, and I've never sat in this chair."

Bai Ye scratched his head and started typing on the keyboard.

The key layout seems to have been manually configured, and because of different input methods, the key layout is also different, making it very awkward to use. In short, it's very inconvenient.

After working for a while, Bai Ye gave up. He pushed the keyboard directly in front of him and started playing!

Miss Ghost Shark looked at the office layout with great interest, and nodded thoughtfully: "It seems you are right, this really can't be considered your office."

"How do you know?" Bai Ye asked, somewhat puzzled.

Ghost Shark chuckled and pointed to the oil painting on the wall: "You rascal, if it were your own office, you would never hang an oil painting on the wall. The arrangement of these pieces of furniture is meticulously designed, which shows that the owner of this office cherishes this place very much. You would never put so much thought into it."

Bai Ye was speechless upon hearing this. Although Ghost Shark's words were sharp, he really had nothing to refute them...

"Oil paintings are basically useless anyway..." Bai Ye could only mutter some random things, not knowing what he was saying.

Instantly, the room was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Ghost Shark shook her head helplessly. She actually admired Bai Ye's subordinates quite a bit. They still persisted despite having such an outrageous boss.

……

"...Okay, I understand. Send the file to my email address in a bit...!"

"!!"

As she worked on her personal terminal, Miss Typing walked to her office door.

Oh wait, this should be considered Baiye's office?

Actually, there's not much difference at all!

However, that guy had already given the typist access, so the girl simply used this room as her office.

She had long been accustomed to Bai Ye's "offline monarch system," and the fact that Bai Ye wasn't home today was already a regular occurrence in her eyes. A year ago, the typist might have complained, but now... well, she was numb to it all, and there was nothing to complain about at all.

Because we've already sampled far too many!

However, the typing lady was stunned the moment she pushed open the door.

Good heavens, what did she see?!

Bai Ye, that guy, was actually sitting at his desk with a terminal open in front of him!

Did the sun rise in the west, or did one of the two moons fall to the ground?

The typist was taken aback, dropping her breakfast donuts to the ground. She stared at Bai Ye in shock, completely ignoring the fact that there was another woman in the room.

Wait, is the second one the important one?

……

"Oh, Miss Raphne, it's been a long time."

Bai Ye stood up from his desk, then looked at the typist with a relieved expression: "Help me, I don't want to work!"

"It's like you're always at the office..." Miss Typing rolled her eyes, then puffed out her cheeks and complained, "And don't call me by my name, my code name! Calling me by my name is so embarrassing!"

Bai Ye didn't quite understand Lephne's, or Typing Girl's, strange sense of shame, but he still readily agreed: "Typing Girl, please help me!"

"Sigh, I just can't do anything with you... Tell me, what are you planning to do this time?"

Typing Girl was prepared and mentally prepared. It was kind of funny, really, because usually when Bai Ye entrusted her with something so seriously, it was definitely something very important. The last time Bai Ye acted this way was when he wanted Typing Girl to handle some messy matters concerning his own company.

Yes, those are the names of those companies with strange and unusual names.

I don't know why a big boss who owns a bunch of companies, factories, enterprises and research institutes would be willing to serve as the head of a department in a small place like Rhode Island.

As Typing Girl gained a deeper understanding of Bai Ye, she even suspected that Bai Ye might have grand ambitions, such as wanting to annex Rhodes Island.

Then she realized she was overthinking things… How could Bai Ye possibly have such thoughts? She had really overestimated him. He was the type of person who built up his power to achieve a certain goal, but he never personally got involved in the specifics.

He only remembers that he seems to have a company when he wants to do something, which is perfect for him to use.

He usually delegates a great deal of authority, and it's fortunate that the employees he recruits are all conscientious. In addition, the recent installation of a strange artificial intelligence to assist in management has prevented any major problems.

Otherwise, our isekai (otherworld) story would immediately jump into a bizarre business war arc.

Sure enough, Bai Ye said something quite remarkable: "I'm going to write invitations to my old friends and invite them to come to the core city for a chat."

"Um, old friend, who is it?"

The typist blinked.

"Hmm, let me count—Old Wei, the governor of Lungmen; the emperor of Penguin Logistics; Duke Duck of Columbia; the council speaker of the Ursus Empire; Yeragand of Helag in the Snowy Realm; Herman of Siesta City; Sister Talulah of the Talulah Marquisate; and Rhodes Island..."

"Oh, Rhodes Island doesn't need that. I represent Rhodes Island. Dr. Kal'tsit has already given me the highest authority in the branch. I just need to report when necessary."

Bai Ye waved his fingers, listing the names of some of the most famous figures in this land.

Although there were some people just there to make up the numbers, such as a mere god from a small, isolated snowy country, and the mayor of a certain tourist city.

But they were considered big shots in their own right, yet Bai Ye was listing them out like a menu.

"Do you really know them all?" the typist asked, somewhat uncertainly.