reincarnation npc, but tomorrow's ark

Hillshire is a medium-sized mobile city, not very large—at least compared to Lungmen and Old Chernobog.

Even so, the urban area of ​​Little Hill County is still quite large, but the condition of each plot of land is not very good at present.

Districts 11 through 17 have completely fallen. If we take the time of the conflict reported in the distress calls received by Rhodes Island's field agents as the starting point of the "special military operation," this speed of marching and territorial conquest is absolutely abnormal. In other words, this is not an attack from the outside in, but similar to the "Chernoberg Incident" before the crossing, the enemy had already infiltrated the city, bypassing the garrison.

The area south of District 10 has now become a battlefield. It appears that the armed forces of the Little Hill County garrison are currently engaged in combat with an unknown enemy. However, from Bai Ye's perspective, the garrison's resistance is almost non-existent, consisting of sporadic fighting that is quickly suppressed.

Because the enemy had cut off the garrison's five units, turning them into isolated forces cut off from each other, and then surrounded and annihilated them separately.

This was a remarkably successful tactic; it seems that from the outset, the enemy had found a way to cripple the garrison's command and communication systems. Without command, even highly skilled troops cannot contend with an enemy that far outnumbers them—in fact, if the enemy were no less skilled, it would be a massacre.

At this point, if the garrison has lost the initiative, to salvage the situation, it must restore communication systems, regroup its troops, withdraw from the battlefield, and regroup before making further plans. Perhaps waiting for reinforcements from other garrisons is a good option—provided they can establish contact with the outside world.

"Rhodes Island...tsk, whether it's District 11 to District 17, or even south of District 10, it's not exactly a good thing."

On one side was enemy-occupied territory that had already fallen, and on the other side was a battlefield where fighting was raging. Based on Bai Ye's understanding of his former subordinates, it would be fine if these guys stayed quietly in the safe house, but if they ran out...

"Let's go check out the overseas offices first..."

Under the cover of darkness, Bai Ye swooped down and disappeared over Little Hill County.

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

The war had completely transformed the city, but Bai Ye was already used to it. Before transmigrating, as a player, he had witnessed countless bizarre and wonderful sights, and there were many situations even more devastating than the current one.

"At least the city is relatively well-preserved, and with repairs once the situation stabilizes, it can be restored to use soon," Bai Ye commented.

At this moment, he moved through the city streets like a ghost. This long-lost experience made Bai Ye feel somewhat novel.

However, this experience was fleeting, as Bai Ye landed directly near the office and didn't need to walk much at all.

……

"It turned out like this? As expected..."

Bai Ye stood at the entrance of Rhodes Island's Hills County office. However, the place appeared to have been destroyed. The outer walls were smashed, and the doors were thrown to the ground, suggesting a forced entry.

Glass shards were scattered all over the ground, and the light bulbs outside were flickering on and off, occasionally bursting into sparks.

Chapter 43 Safe House

"It's starting to look a bit like a horror movie..."

Bai Ye raised an eyebrow, snapped his fingers, shattering the crackling streetlight, and then commented.

Before his transmigration, he played a game that had never been released on PC called "Blood Curse." The city of Yharnam in the game was quite similar to his current state. Everywhere there were soldiers plundering and residents hiding in fear.

It's a bit quieter here now. Judging from the state of Rhodes Island's overseas offices, this place has probably already been ransacked once.

This is also normal.

Bai Ye quickly determined that this enemy force was not a regular army of any country, but rather a group that could be defined as rioters. A major difference between rioters and regular troops lies in their logistical support.

Combat unit resupply, logistical supplies, weapon repair, arrows and ammunition, and even wounded treatment... modern warfare logistics is a complete and systematic system. Rioters, however, have almost none of these. Capturing a city requires them to gamble with all their resources and personnel; logistics and reserves are simply out of the question.

The rioters only have one chance; if they fail, they will face utter ruin. Therefore, even though the commander has prepared to divide his forces, he will not choose this option but will instead concentrate all his strength into one powerful punch.

And an even more important factor is that, once successful, they wouldn't need to worry about the obvious question of where their logistics would come from. The entire city was theirs; if they were to ask how to obtain supplies, wouldn't everything right in front of them be their supplies?

Taking from the people is naturally the simplest strategy. They would meticulously search every block, entering residents' homes in groups of three or five, looting anything they could take. Burning, killing, and looting were also a useful means for commanders to motivate their subordinates, so leaders mostly tacitly approved of such behavior.

It's a win-win situation, as it allows you to both resupply and satisfy your men.

On the contrary, those who strictly discipline their subordinates are often ostracized and resented by the thugs. For example, in the "Chernobyl Incident" before White Night's journey, Talulah had already been possessed by the Black Serpent and tacitly allowed the Infected thugs of the Reunion Movement to burn, kill, loot, and retaliate indiscriminately in the city. Meanwhile, Big Daddy, who was known as "Patriot" at that time, was prohibiting and restraining these thugs, and even wanted to hang the rioters.

As a result, nobody liked him.

Fortunately, Big Daddy was incredibly strong, possessing top-tier combat power within the Reunion Movement, and his subordinates were former regular soldiers acting as guerrillas. Therefore, no one dared to attack him. Otherwise, someone less powerful might have been easily overthrown and killed by the thugs.

……

Bai Ye slowly walked into the Rhodes Island office.

It's clear that there were no warning signs before the incident, or rather, the undercurrents were not obvious. Therefore, even the professional Rhodes Island field agents didn't notice anything amiss. This was quite unexpected for Bai Ye.

Yes, Bai Ye had high hopes for his former subordinates, most of whom had been recalled for additional training during his time at Rhodes Island. Although Bai Ye was often out of sight and out of reach, he at least performed his duties quite well.

Bai Ye put in a lot of effort in dealing with various emergencies he experienced before his time travel. He even adapted the "Chernobyl Incident" that occurred before his time travel and used it as a case study in his teaching materials.

After all, that major event can be considered the first major main storyline event after the launch of Arknights Online, and it was also the beginning of a series of subsequent major events, making it particularly classic in many aspects.

Bai Ye hoped that his subordinates could study hard and learn useful lessons from the "Chernobyl incident".

Therefore, Bai Ye knew that this situation might be even more unusual than he had imagined.

Or, similar to the "Chernobyl incident," the rioters may very well have had the support of other nobles behind them.

……

It's clear that Rhodes Island's field agents and overseas liaisons were likely playing cards before the incident, with the cards scattered all over the floor and no time to clean them up.

"Hmm, let me think... Where should this office's safe house be located? Oh right, I think I copied some data before."

Although Bai Ye arranged for the construction of safe houses in each office, it was clear that he wouldn't oversee the engineering department's work in every office. He would only focus on the implementation of the project and wouldn't pay attention to the specific details.

However, when Bai Ye left Rhodes Island, he copied all the relevant data on Hillshire, including specific information about Rhodes Island's overseas offices.

"Let me see... so this is where it is."

Bai Ye took out the ID card that Rhodes Island had given him and scanned it in an inconspicuous spot on the wall. Instantly, a hole appeared in the wall, revealing a set of testing equipment.

"It even has both iris and fingerprint authentication? It's only missing mental wavelength detection... It's quite comprehensive." Bai Ye was very satisfied with this design.

Iris and fingerprint verification are relatively quick, but mental wavelength detection is more time-consuming and not suitable for situations requiring rapid evacuation to a safe house.

Bai Ye placed his palm on it.

Name: Bai Ye

[Position: Special Advisor]

[Permission Level: Level 10]

Lines of code swept across the screen, and then, accompanied by a dull thud, a door appeared on the wall behind Bai Ye.

Although it looks like it takes a long time, the entire verification process only takes a few seconds.

The door appeared very quickly.

Bai Ye went inside, then pressed a button on the wall behind the door. The door closed quickly, and the outer wall returned to its original state.

"The quality is not bad. It seems my words still have some effect."

Byakuya also took the opportunity to check the condition of the safe house, although it still felt quite strange under these circumstances.

……

After entering the access control system, Bai Ye did not directly enter the safe house, but instead entered a passageway, which served as a buffer zone. After passing through the passageway, Bai Ye went through several protective doors before finally arriving at the safe house.

He didn't just open the door and go in; instead, he knocked first...

"Knock, Knock"

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"Who?!"

The sudden knocking startled the operative shredder, who was guarding the safe house entrance.

He was almost asleep when he was suddenly jolted awake, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Chapter 44 The Visit of the Former Supervisor

"what happened?"

The commotion startled the operative Oliver, who quickly went to the door and stood next to the shredder.

“Someone’s knocking on the door.” The shredder pointed to the door of the safe house.

"Did you oversleep and start hallucinating?" Oliver frowned.

……

"Boom boom boom——"

At that moment, the knocking sounded again.

The two field agents exchanged a glance.

"Could it be Will?" Oliver reached behind him; his weapon was there.

“Impossible. We agreed on a code word. It couldn’t be this frequency of knocking—besides, he wouldn’t come in through this door.” The shredder shook its head.

He also picked up a weapon and then stood behind the door.

……

Bai Ye felt a little helpless.

With his powers, even if he cannot hear the sounds behind the door, he can still sense the frequency of air vibrations inside the safe room, and thus know the number of people inside and the content of their conversation.

He had just overheard the conversation between the two agents inside the room.

Clearly, the two were startled by the sudden knocking and didn't dare to make a sound or open the door. This vigilance was certainly good, but leaving Bai Ye locked out was indeed quite troublesome.

Shaking his head helplessly, Bai Ye reached out and knocked on the door at a specific frequency, following the operator's manual.

"Rhodes Island's universal identification code? Could it be that they're one of us?"

The two operators exchanged a glance. Oliver cautiously reached out and opened the door, while the other operator, Shredder, hid behind it.

Then they saw Bai Ye standing outside the door.

"...You've kept your former supervisor out for so long," Bai Ye said irritably.

"Eh?! You...you're Manager Baiye?!" The shredder looked at the young man in surprise.

Although he wasn't particularly tall or muscular, and looked quite young, he exuded a sense of security simply by standing there.

"Aren't you going to let me in? Besides, I'm no longer your supervisor. I'm just an ordinary messenger from Rhodes Island, nothing more." Bai Ye smiled and then went inside.

As he walked, Bai Ye reached behind the door and pulled the paper shredder out:

"Don't hide behind the door. Your breathing is too loud and you'll give yourself away."

"Forehead--"

The paper shredder looked dejected and put away its weapon.

"Why are there only the two of you?" Bai Ye frowned, looking around. "Oh? There are other people inside? Hmm? So many? Did you take in all the residents from the surrounding area?"

Bai Ye raised an eyebrow as he spoke.

The safe house wasn't too big or too small, but it was more than enough to accommodate some of the surrounding residents. However, they were housed in a separate room, which is why Bai Ye didn't see them at first glance. This was because the safe house was designed with compartments, allowing individual rooms to be sealed off if needed.

"I'm sorry... although the manual stipulates it, we can't bear to watch innocent citizens suffer outside..." the shredder said, bowing its head.

Oliver then reached out and locked the door.

“Countless people in the city are suffering. Can you save every single one of them?” Bai Ye asked rhetorically.

The paper shredder shook its head upon hearing this.

"Heh, well done." Bai Ye suddenly laughed.

"Huh?" The paper shredder was caught off guard.

Bai Ye smiled and said:

"The safety manual stipulates that you should not reveal the location and situation of the safe house to outsiders, or bring traitors and enemies into the safe house. However, we will not stop Rhodes Island operators from doing good. Remember the choice you made today. Although we cannot save everyone, even saving just one more person can save a life and a family."

"Of course, this is on the premise that you have carefully screened the people who will enter the safe house, and that you have prepared emergency plans for various unforeseen circumstances, as well as various issues related to the distribution of supplies."

"Yes, sir!" the shredder and Oliver replied, standing at attention.

"Alright, who else? I remember there should be... four people at your site?" Bai Ye mentally reviewed the information he had seen.

“Yes,” the shredder reported. “I’ll be on watch tonight. Oliver is resting in compartment 1, while Fredley is resting in compartment 3 with the surrounding residents.”

"And... I remember there was another operator named Will? By the way, you should have already reunited with Outcast? Where is that person now?" Bai Ye narrowed his eyes.

“Will…Will is outside, and Outcast should be outside too.” The shredder’s expression was not very good.

"What's going on? Didn't you say in the communications that you were going to take refuge together?" Bai Ye frowned.