Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

Interestingly, people infected with Oripathy are not discriminated against here.

Bai Ye knew this for a simple reason, after all—

"Chief Zuma, you yourself have Oripathy, haven't you?"

“That’s right. I’ve been going into mines a lot since I was a kid, so I know best which places there might make people sick.” Zuma nodded, not hiding anything, and even showed Bai Ye the Originium crystals on her body.

“Perhaps you may also need some medical assistance. I see there are other infected people in your tribe.” Bai Ye himself was from Rhodes Island, and as the head of the field operations department, he still had some professional qualities—though not many.

"Although you are physically strong and these diseases will not kill you all at once, they are still very dangerous if left uncontrolled."

After thinking for a moment, Bai Ye continued, "The mobile cities of the past came here to survey the area, probably because they felt that there were no conditions for large-scale mechanized mining. However, mining is not a problem for me... it will just make the area around your tribe a little more lively."

That's right, Bai Ye has set his sights on the players again.

Mining is also a very important part of traditional RPG games and online games.

In particular, so-called open worlds will not abandon the traditional element of mining.

It's time to find some players to help White Night mine Originium, especially newbies, who are free laborers.

Anyway, Baiye is much more conscientious than those bosses who cheat fresh graduates; at least they will give appropriate compensation and goodwill points.

“Quite an interesting little trick.” After Bai Ye and Zuma Ma reached an agreement, and even established a covenant using ancient tribal rituals, the high priest jumped out.

"Ah, High Priest, where did you go just now... Wait, you two know each other? You actually showed yourself?" Zumama was somewhat surprised.

"Show yourself willingly?"

“The High Priest has the ability to become invisible, making him unseen by others. I didn’t expect him to show himself in front of you. It seems he values ​​you highly,” Zuma explained.

Bai Ye understood after listening.

Sure enough, like the Great Emperor, this old man also has his own special abilities.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Terra Short People

"As expected, I was right about you. You are not as arrogant as other outsiders, and you are also good at grasping our clan leader's hobbies and pursuits."

The high priest flew up and patted Bai Ye on the shoulder with a smile.

Clearly, he knew that Bai Ye had deliberately let Zumama see the mechanical construct. This thing greatly distracted the girl.

"Hehe, but the people here seem to be very straightforward, and they do business very quickly." Bai Ye was quite pleased. The two sides reached an agreement quickly and directly, and the price he had to pay was not high.

Elsewhere, such a price would be unimaginable. If Colombians knew, they would be frantic and would probably want to attack immediately.

Just then, Hanai 2 reappeared beside Bai Ye, projecting a map of the surrounding terrain. It then said to Bai Ye, "Bai Ye, this is the topographical map after exploration. There are huge cavities in some parts underground—"

Bai Ye connected his personal terminal to Hanai 2 and then viewed the report submitted to him by the artificial intelligence.

After Bai Ye activated Hanai 2's optical cloaking, he didn't leave it in place. Instead, he sent it out to use the oracles and geological exploration equipment to find the secret the high priest had mentioned.

"High Priest, the secret you speak of probably lies underground..."

“Let me think… what could be underground… a mine probably isn’t it. It could be the ruins of a pre-existing civilization, or perhaps the tomb of an ancient Sargon chieftain… hmm, a treasure room?”

Bai Ye guessed.

Terra's underground is even more fascinating than its surface, especially the part about the pre-civilization era.

However, even players didn't explore much of the underground area in their previous lives.

Unlike the Abyss of Laminaria, while Arknights Online doesn't have areas that can be locked, players also lack the means to properly explore the underground. This is especially true as it's difficult to find the entrances to the underground world, and most mining areas are under the control of various political entities.

There is no such thing as a hole you can just go down into.

"Hmm, I didn't expect you to guess in these directions..." Clearly, the High Priest hadn't expected Bai Ye to know so many secrets about this land.

"It's actually just a city called Durin."

The high priest did not keep it a secret, but instead revealed the answer directly.

"I see... wait, Dulin City?!"

Bai Ye didn't react for a moment, then her eyes widened.

Who would have thought that there would be a city called Dulin underground?

"That's right, I almost forgot about the main character of the underworld... Dulin City, that makes sense."

The Dulin are a unique and peculiar race on the continent of Terra.

Unlike other races, they live underground and are characterized by their small stature, like dwarfs.

These little guys are not robust, but rather very weak, almost like the infants of surface races. However, their technology seems to be different from that of surface races. They are highly advanced in architectural design and mechanical manufacturing, capable of creating extremely sophisticated mechanical devices and using extremely efficient construction and mining equipment.

The Dulin are composed of several relatively independent underground city-states and are not commonly found on the surface. Their limited interaction with the surface is not due to xenophobia, but simply a lack of interest in surface civilizations.

However, with the appearance of the players, a large group of Durinians suddenly appeared on the surface.

Yes, among the several racial appearances players can choose when creating a character, the Durin is one of them.

Dulin is the only race among the several race origin options that has attribute bonuses.

Other options only change appearance, with the same attribute bonuses, but Dulin's strength and constitution attributes are weakened, while he receives a very high bonus to agility and stealth. He also receives bonuses to learning technologies like engineering.

They can even possess dodging skills that are almost like a bug.

With their petite and adorable appearance and agile skills, and even for the sake of show effects and novelty, the number of players who choose the Durin race is quite substantial.

The strongest rogue in the player organization "The Tea Party of the Libertines," which Bai Ye used to belong to, was a Durin.

If White Night is the strongest melee DPS in the Tea Party, then that thief is the fastest and has an extremely high level of stealth, able to come and go without a trace in Columbia's most heavily guarded secret laboratory.

What's most annoying is that during the sparring match, Bai Ye was initially confused by this guy's cheat-like evasion bonus, especially after he drank alcohol and activated his skill.

Only area-of-effect attacks can be effective.

……

Bai Ye stared at the ground, lost in thought.

He was quite clear about what a complete city-state of Dulin truly represented.

The opening of the city of Dulin in the previous version was a later development, and the few players who were lucky enough to explore Dulin in the early version made a fortune.

Of course, this is for the players; for Bai Ye, it's another good opportunity to expand his allies.

Although the Durinians are jokingly referred to by players as "Terra Dwarfs" or "Underground Dwarfs," or "Terra Shortmen," these guys are indeed generally easygoing, carefree, and believe in a "live in the moment and look to the future" philosophy of life.

Simply put, as long as they don't harbor hostility or have ulterior motives, they are quite easy to get along with.

Oh, there's another simpler strategy that was discovered by players very early on.

These guys like to drink.

"It seems that now is not the time to make contact rashly..."

Bai Ye had no wine on him, and it seemed inappropriate to go empty-handed.

There are many fine wines that the Durin people like on the surface. Some players even compiled a guide in their previous lives, and if you follow the guide, you won't have any problems collecting them.

Although Bai Ye had no interest in the plot and world view as a player in the past, he was surprisingly interested in strategy guides, and he read and memorized all sorts of miscellaneous things.

So while this guy might not be familiar with many basic facts, he always seems to know some strange things that most people don't. In fact, some of these are secrets of Terra known only to a select few.

Coming to his senses, Bai Ye looked at Chief Zumama again.

Dulin City wasn't in a hurry. Anyway, these little guys wouldn't run away. Unless there was some natural disaster or mining accident, the city wouldn't relocate.

It seems that this place has been peaceful for so many years, and there shouldn't be any sudden natural disasters.

Bai Ye plans to collect all the wine before returning to properly woo these short guys.

We need to establish good relations with the Zuma Ma tribe on the surface first.

After all, to enter Dulin's city, one must go through her territory.

However, when Bai Ye came to his senses, he found that the girl's eyes were once again fixed on Bai Ye's robot, Hanai 2.

This time, her gaze was even more intense than before.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Almost Kidnapped the Clan Chief

"Therefore, based on the above points, I believe we can engage in deeper cooperation... Chief Zumama."

Bai Ye racked his brains to recall the few diplomatic phrases he had memorized from his past diplomacy courses, trying to weave together words that even he himself couldn't understand.

However, when Bai Ye came to her senses, she realized that the guy opposite her wasn't paying attention to her at all.

The tribe's chieftain, Zumama, stood there dumbfounded, staring intently at Baiye's Hanai 2.

Ghost Shark, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but laugh.

Even the high priest couldn't help but chuckle.

Don't ask me how a bird can make such a funny, suppressed smile.

Looking at the young clan leader, Bai Ye could almost guess the reason for the girl's expression.

Sure enough, just as he expected, Zumama pointed at Hanai 2 and exclaimed excitedly, "This machine can talk! How is this possible!"

"I am Hanai2, an intelligent artificial intelligence system, currently serving as Mr. Baiye's assistant and aircraft pilot." Hanai2 shook its head, looking quite comical.

"Wow!"

Zuma circled around Hanai 2, trying to find a way to open its shell. She seemed to want to see if there was a little person talking inside this round thing.

'It's like a caveman seeing a television...'

Bai Ye blinked. He hadn't expected Zuma to react this way. However, if he had known this would be his reaction, the negotiations might have been much simpler.

However, this reaction is really a bit excessive; it's just a rice cooker...

Watching Zumama interact with Hanai 2 and even hug the robot, Bai Ye felt like he was flirting with a girl using a cat.

Even the Specter Shark beside him looked at Bai Ye with a strange expression.

It's likely that Bai Ye could easily win Zuma's heart by using this rice cooker.

Oh my god, your clan leader ran away with the robot!

"She must have been stunned by this machine. Just like the shock she felt when she first saw the mobile city, the impact of a machine that can move and talk on its own was even greater!"

The high priest explained from the side.

"Hey! Chieftain, do you want us to help you get this back?"

Just then, a noisy group of Adaklis charged toward White Night and Ghost Shark.

"Hey, you idiot, don't mess around!"

Zuma was "controlled" by Hanai 2 and had no time to care about the reckless tribesmen, so the high priest had to fly up himself to stop these fools.

Unfortunately, this guy's presence was rather low; the primitive people above wouldn't consider a bird's opinion at all.

"..."

Bai Ye was somewhat speechless.

He couldn't understand a word the Adakles were saying.

However, upon reflection, it's clear that this is definitely not the scenario set up by the clan chief, where "300 axemen" would "swarm forward as a signal by throwing a cup."

"Don't kill him."

Bai Ye doesn't need to do it himself.

Although these "greenskins" can tinker with strange technology, they are still in a primitive hand-to-hand combat mode. Bai Ye doesn't even need to take action himself.

"I'll stretch my muscles a little—my legs are a little sore, but it's nothing serious."

Specter frowned and swung her legs. She didn't have Skadi's strong recovery ability, and she still had some aftereffects from being tormented by White Night.

Even so, dealing with a group of Adaklis was still quite an easy task.

After Zuma finally realized what was happening, she found that all the people in her tribe had collapsed on the ground.

Bai Ye stood there, looking completely innocent, while Ghost Shark grinned as he flung an Adakles man away.

"...Why do I feel like I'm the villain... I was clearly just trying to protect myself." Bai Ye stuck out his tongue.

"It's still a bit unsatisfying. Although these guys are good fighters, well... none of them are exactly strong." Ghost Shark licked her lips. These guys were indeed much better fighters than other land dwellers, which piqued her interest a little.