Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

"They are not simply a pharmaceutical company; they possess complete technology for treating and suppressing Oripathy, but their registration date is less than three years old. Moreover, they have their own armed forces and have intervened in various infected incidents multiple times in the past two years."

"It doesn't matter, let's go in and investigate first." Hoshiguma shrugged. "But this place is not bad. I didn't expect them to be neighbors with the Koi Detective Agency."

Upon hearing the name "Carp Detective Agency," the first image that came to Chen Huijie's mind was a somewhat carefree middle-aged dragon. His image was so distinctive that it was hard for anyone not to remember him.

She had heard her elders mention the family behind that surname before, but she hadn't been back for a long time and the relationship was basically severed.

Hoshiguma's voice interrupted Chen Huijie's slightly off-tracking thoughts.

"By the way, are we just going straight in to investigate?" Hoshiguma quietly touched the baton stuck to the side. They weren't wearing uniforms this time, and Hoshiguma herself didn't bring the shield called "Hannya." To be honest, she wasn't used to it.

Chen Huijie disagreed: "Of course we'll go straight in. Since they are a 'properly registered' pharmaceutical company, we'll conduct a 'proper' investigation and questioning first."

"Aren't you afraid of alerting the enemy?"

“As long as we keep an eye on them, where can a snake escape to?” Chen Huijie said softly. “Or rather, they usually hide it so well that we need to expose them like this.”

As she spoke, Chen Huijie stepped forward and pushed open the door to the office.

……

Bai Ye looked towards the doorway in surprise.

Chen Huijie, who had fought him once before, was standing at the door, and behind her stood a tall ghost police officer.

Hoshiguma, an elite member of the Special Inspectorate of the Guard Bureau, is surprisingly generous and gentle despite her tall stature, and enjoys immense popularity among players.

In the past, it is said that some people even formed a support group called "Hoshiguma Sister, Please Hug Me". In order to "spread the word" and "preach", this group even ranked high in the team comprehensive competition, standing out from many guilds and clubs. It can be said that they have pushed their fandom to the extreme.

Even when the official team was promoting Hoshiguma's "retro electric fan" merchandise, they hired them for promotion and publicity.

Ahem, that’s too far off topic.

Bai Ye stared at the two Imperial Guard officers in front of him with a somewhat serious expression.

He had every reason to suspect that the two men were likely after him.

After all, he did make quite a fuss yesterday.

Interestingly, neither of them was wearing a uniform, and it seemed to be just the two of them, with no cordon around them.

This left Bai Ye somewhat puzzled.

Moreover, in theory, he didn't reveal anything yesterday; even the traces remaining in the database were erased by Is.

I don't know how they found this place.

'Could it be a coincidence?' Bai Ye remained calm. As a seasoned player, his mental fortitude was clearly excellent. At this moment, he needed to first understand the intentions of the two people. If he panicked first, he would be exposing himself.

In his previous life, he had caused a five-star police presence in Colombia, so this was considered a "small matter."

Of course, he has no chance of winning against these two in a head-on confrontation for the time being—he can still maneuver or fight back with skill when it's just Officer Chen alone, but if Hoshiguma is added, then it's like Barbie Q.

The Oni race has terrifying basic attributes, excelling in physical strength. Hoshiguma is one of the best among them. Her strength is said to be measured in tons, making her a veritable humanoid Gundam.

Bai Ye's base attributes are only 16 points. No matter how high her skills are, she cannot make up for the gap in hard power.

Fortunately, Bai Ye quickly relaxed because he realized that the two police officers were not after him.

Their target was Rhodes Island.

Chen Sir walked up to him, took out his badge, and said to the receptionist, "We are from the Lungmen Guard Bureau. Recently, there have been multiple cases of illegal drug trafficking in Lungmen's Lower City Districts 22 to 29. We saw the name Rhodes Island on the drug packaging. We have every reason to suspect that your company is involved."

Numbers 22-29 in the Lower District are actually slums.

Bai Ye blinked. It was truly difficult for Inspector Chen to speak such a long sentence in one breath. No wonder his tone was so cold; he was just reciting it in a monotone voice…

Since they weren't there to settle scores with him, Bai Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the sale of prohibited drugs...

Bai Ye remembered that someone had shared a walkthrough for this quest on a forum in his previous life. It seemed to be very suitable for beginners. If handled properly, you wouldn't even need to fight yourself; you could just find the head of the Lungmen slums to intervene, and the skilled men he sent could easily solve all the problems.

That's right, Arknights Online is an incredibly free and realistic next-generation fully immersive game. If you find a way, you can get local NPCs to help you complete missions. Theoretically, if you find a powerful enough ally, you can carry the game from the beginning to the late game.

There's a PVE playstyle called the "soft rice playstyle," but unfortunately, these people have a lot of theoretical knowledge but rarely manage to latch onto a real powerhouse. It's quite a source of amusement on the forums.

As Bai Ye recalled the events, he began to ponder.

Although it's an early-stage mission, it's a very challenging task for complete newbies. It includes exploration, intelligence gathering, and clue tracking. In the end, you have to face an entire gang and catch them red-handed, finding all the evidence. It's definitely an extremely difficult mission.

For Bai Ye, this is an opportunity.

If it's just about completing tasks, that's too easy. Bai Ye felt that doing this task was a bit of a waste.

While the task rewards and experience are generous, this task clearly has a greater value.

For example, this mission involves not only the Guard Bureau, but also Rhodes Island and the slums.

For example, with the public beta about to begin, Bai Ye will definitely need to find a way to connect with players in order to fulfill the promises he and the Emperor made. This task seems to be a good starting point.

Bai Ye had a general plan in mind.

After thinking for a moment, he blurted out, "Sir, there may be some misunderstanding. Rhodes Island has never publicly sold any drugs."

Chapter Sixteen Win-Win

Bai Ye's words immediately caught the attention of Chen Huijie and Xing Xiong.

Actually, Inspector Chen noticed him as soon as he entered the room.

Or rather, ignoring this guy is quite difficult; Bai Ye's presence is simply too overwhelming. Perhaps only when he stands next to Exusiai can the fluorescent light above the girl's head obscure his brilliance.

Chen Huijie turned to look at the young man standing to the side.

She frowned slightly; her keen intuition told her that she seemed to have seen this very handsome young man somewhere before.

Especially that "Sir," it feels kind of familiar.

However, Chen Huijie quickly categorized this feeling as an illusion, or rather, a kind of déjà vu, because if she had seen someone so good-looking before, she would not forget it.

Moreover, the person in front of you gives off a very comfortable feeling, making you naturally like them. What bad intentions could such a person possibly have? They certainly wouldn't do anything wrong.

……

Bai Ye was unaware that his high charm attribute had allowed him to evade Chen Sir's suspicion. All that could be said was that his harmless appearance was so deceptive that it was even more terrifying than a succubus.

He spoke up only to attract the attention of the two officers and make contact.

"Who are you...?" Chen Huijie asked.

"I am Bai Ye, a passing traveler, part-time private investigator, and messenger."

Bai Ye had placed dozens of fake identities in the database, but 99% of them were smokescreens. Only the one he was currently using was the one he was officially preparing to use.

In fact, this role was almost a natural fit for him.

"You just said that Rhodes Island has never openly sold drugs?" Chen Huijie heard some rather interesting information.

A pharmaceutical company that doesn't sell drugs—what kind of company is this? What do they rely on for their main business revenue? Are all the departments making gold bars?

Bai Ye nodded and said, "That's right. Because the market for infected drugs is rife with undercurrents, Rhodes Island, as a 'small' company, doesn't want to get involved in this mess."

Here's a joke: a "small" company.

Bai Ye's tone was a little strange, but he really wasn't talking nonsense.

Rhodes Island does not sell drugs publicly. All of their drugs are used for internal medical care and are given free of charge to infected individuals when they are sent to provide aid during disasters.

Rhodes Island's signature inhibitor is the most effective of its kind, but they never sell it.

Bai Ye knew about this because in his previous life, some people wanted to wholesale special medicines from Rhodes Island to sell in other countries. This was a common occurrence, as players have inventory slots, naturally giving them excellent conditions to act as messengers.

However, they later learned that Rhodes Island's drugs were not for sale. Rhodes Island could give the drugs to infected people for free, but never sold them.

If the matter ended there, it would at most be posted on a forum for discussion, but it wouldn't be widely known. What happened next was the most interesting part: these players later had ulterior motives and went to steal and plunder the Oripathy suppression drugs from Rhodes Island's overseas camps.

They did make a fortune at first, but were later wiped out by an elite squad of operators sent by Rhodes Island.

It was because of this incident that players realized just how strong Rhodes Island's armed forces really were—it was no joke—and that the most capable fighters among them were actually the doctors from the medical department. A player even filmed a video showing a medical operator drawing her sword on the spot; a flash of light, and the player's vehicle was cleaved in two from a distance.

However, only players can fight players, and in the end, this group was wanted by the players of the righteous faction, killed, and forced to publicly apologize and delete their accounts. At that time, Bai Ye also went to ambush them and even earned a bounty.

……

Chen Sir was obviously unaware of the intricacies of the situation, but she mistakenly believed that the person in front of her was from Rhodes Island, and thus asked Bai Ye many questions.

Bai Ye answered them one by one.

The real Rhodes Island receptionist stood to the side, looking completely bewildered.

Weren't we supposed to be here to investigate Rhodes Island?!

How come you two are chatting instead?

Oh, and that really handsome guy over there, who's he? You haven't even joined Rhodes Island yet, how come you know our company so well?!

……

Bai Ye, of course, had no idea what the poor receptionist was thinking; he was just trying to get acquainted with Chen Sir in front of him.

Finally, he revealed his true intentions: "Inspector Chen, if possible, I can help investigate this matter. After all, Rhodes Island's name is involved, and I also want to find out what's going on."

Chen Huijie nodded readily: "No problem, we also need the help of professionals like you."

Bai Ye blinked, seemingly having achieved his goal, but... there seemed to be something wrong with how he phrased it.

Chen Huijie's tone was serious.

Otherwise, Bai Ye would have thought that the police officer was mocking him.

A god-level professional... Bai Ye himself hasn't even joined Rhodes Island yet!

"Um... he can't represent Rhodes Island because he hasn't officially joined yet." The receptionist next to him also got anxious and quickly came out to correct the mistake.

Ah this...

Upon hearing this, Chen Huijie looked at Bai Ye with a strange expression.

This guy was talking so eloquently just now, but it turns out he's not from Rhodes Island?

"Well, I'm here today to apply for a job. I want to work at Rhodes Island, so I've 'slightly' gathered some information about Rhodes Island beforehand," Bai Ye explained.

He himself was a little embarrassed, as if he had forgotten about the people from Rhodes Island while he was talking—even though Chen Huijie and the others had come to find Rhodes Island.

"However, what he said just now was basically correct." The receptionist was actually a little embarrassed, as she had never even heard of some of the things Bai Ye mentioned.

In fact, Rhodes Island's overseas offices are mostly staffed locally; only the messengers and dispatched operators responsible for liaison are from Rhodes Island headquarters.

Some of the staff at the offices had never even been to the Rhodes Island ship itself.

"If I can help resolve this matter, my chances of joining Rhodes Island will be much greater."

Bai Ye expressed his longing for Rhodes Island, as if he really just wanted this kind of job.

"Hmm... how about this? An operator on assignment will be arriving in Lungmen in the next few days. I'll talk to her then, and you can work together, okay?" the receptionist suggested after thinking for a moment.

"As long as we hurry...we need to resolve this matter as soon as possible."

Chen Huijie naturally had no reason to refuse this assistance that came to her door.

"I don't have a problem either."

Bai Ye blinked. What a stroke of luck! This way, he could improve his relationship with both the Guard Bureau and Rhodes Island. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?

He's going to win twice!

Chapter Seventeen: Leveling Up

Because of Chen Huijie's sudden arrival, Bai Ye's original plan to apply to join Rhodes Island was postponed, but this did not delay his own arrangements.

According to the receptionist, Bai Ye can then conduct investigations with Rhodes Island's dispatched operators, which can be considered a preliminary assessment.

The selection process for entering Rhodes Island includes psychological and practical tests. In addition, there are professional skills tests and various other types of assessments.

Bai Ye prefers the positions of messenger and dispatched operator, which would make it easier for him to contact players all over the world, but he is not quite clear about what the onboarding assessment for Rhodes Island is like.

Players themselves have created some memes, such as the famous "Subject One" and "Subject Two." The former requires dealing with a swarm of Originium Bugs, while the latter requires consuming a Patriot.

Very mysterious.

……

After leaving the Rhodes Island office, Bai Ye found himself with nothing to do for the time being. Checking the time, he realized it was too early to head straight back to Penguin Logistics, so he headed towards the Lungmen slums. He figured he had enough time to gain some experience.