reincarnation npc, but tomorrow's ark

After removing the physical barriers, Bai Ye found the server room and reconnected the research and office areas to the laboratory's network system.

In this way, Luna was able to take over the area smoothly, and as the lights came on, the air purification module started up again.

Tens of millions of years ago, the working area of ​​a pre-civilization was revealed before Bai Ye. Its style was indeed similar to the "sarcophagi" on land, indicating that this thing was made by the same civilization.

Guided by Luna, Bai Ye found a working terminal.

After clicking, a series of experimental logs appeared.

The characters on the screen kept flashing, and the data stream flowed down from the top of the terminal screen like a waterfall, clearly Luna was reading the content.

Bai Ye waited patiently, as there was nothing else he could do at the moment.

It didn't take long for Luna to show one of the documents to Baiye.

"I think you'll be interested in the parts related to large groups."

"This is...?" Bai Ye realized that the text on it was the type that he could understand and read.

"This is the part I extracted from it, which I have categorized and organized for you, and presented in a way that you can understand."

Chapter 189 Origin

(Current situation at the second stop – Sir, I sincerely apologize for the problem you just encountered. Although the fries were cold, we have prepared a hot Coke for you.)

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"Those guild members actually managed to build the bridge, even if it's temporary, it's big enough to support heavy engineering vehicles." Behind the Iberian Coastal Defense Line 2, a few solo players were chatting idly.

They are all casual gamers who play games purely for fun and relaxation, so they usually prefer to play at their own pace. Simply put, they don't rigidly follow the version's schedule and participate in events non-stop, but rather slowly interact with various "NPCs," or native inhabitants, completing tasks while enjoying the scenery of the other world.

However, these casual players who never participated in the so-called "main storyline" or joined in the fun in the past have now all come to the beach and participated in this major player event.

The reason is actually quite simple: the chance to wipe out enemies in large numbers is actually quite rare, especially since the trolls that come ashore are not very strong yet, and players can easily cause a massacre. Even novice players can get firearms and have some fun.

These casual veterans are certainly much better than the newbies, but they're still essentially casual players, so they're still quite a bit weaker than the top two tiers of players. Even so, they can easily wipe out hordes of Terrorfish, which is incredibly stress-relieving, like playing a hack-and-slash survival game like "Potato Bros." Therefore, they come here to play a couple of rounds every day.

"I heard that the guild leader is negotiating with the NPCs, trying to get some benefits for the players by using this temporary bridge." A player nicknamed [null] glanced at the forum.

Clearly, the Iberian Inquisition also intended to use the bridge; however, strictly speaking, the bridge was built by the players themselves and had almost nothing to do with the Inquisition. After the temporary bridge was completed, the players who participated in the entire project would naturally instinctively want to claim some benefits.

Players are never selfless people. In fact, putting aside grand principles, they pay more attention to details and are quite meticulous.

Some judges in the Inquisition have complained about this issue to Dalio or Carmen more than once. However, the Inquisition clearly needs to acknowledge the miracles created by the players and cannot deny their contributions. Freeloading is unavoidable; players do have to pay a price. As for how to satisfy the players, that's a matter for the Inquisition to discuss itself.

……

【null】After the words were spoken, a player nicknamed 【Swift Analyst】suddenly asked a tricky question from another angle:

"If they actually give us compensation or rewards in the end, would that be considered an official reward for us?"

"Of course it counts. After all, this is a player-initiated action, so it's considered officially recognized," [null] replied without hesitation.

However, [Little Ice Cat] shook her head:

"We're referring to the official entities that operate the game, but within the game, the rewards we receive are paid by these NPCs and fictional nations and organizations. Their actions are likely beyond the control of the official entities. Should we separate the two?"

This is actually a question many players have. After the game reached its third version, many noticed something amiss: the game's freedom was simply too high. This level of freedom meant the game couldn't be run using a simple pre-set program. After all, it incorporated in-game character customization.

This is a technique similar to "artificial shaking light".

However, this part of the content is something that evolves within the game world itself and cannot be directly interfered with by the game operators. So, can these actions represent official behavior?

……

Although these idle players wanted to continue their discussion, the game clearly didn't give them that chance again, as the alarm sounded once more.

"Let's talk about this later. I feel like I've seen this topic on the forum countless times already... Time to grind monsters!"

A new batch of monsters appeared on the beach. These casual players weren't interested in finding out whether these monsters were called "Sea Monsters" or "Terror Fish." They just referred to them as sea monsters or monster spawners.

The sheer number of enemies, their ease of killing, the high experience rewards, and the additional rewards for defeating them are all reasons why casual players are drawn to this area to participate in the event. In fact, this is the case for most players; very few actually bother to understand the relationship between the "Deep Sea Church," "Iberia," and the Sea Heirs.

Most players are possessed by the Great Western King when they arrive at the location. What to do? Just kill them! As long as they're strangely shaped, kill them all, right? Who cares how weird they look, whether they can talk, or what their names are? Just kill them all. After killing them, you can't just leave. These monster corpses won't respawn. You have to burn them all to charcoal and turn them into inorganic matter to complete the quest.

It's just like the extermination of the Greenskins in a certain Warhammer game.

Today, like before, there's probably nothing unusual, so the players took out their weapons from their inventory and waited idly for the monsters to climb up to the defensive line before killing them.

……

However, as expected, something unexpected still happened. Just when players thought the monsters would remain as weak as before, a change occurred. The newly arrived monsters were significantly higher level, and their exteriors were covered in a sturdy chitinous carapace. This carapace offered high resistance to physical damage, causing small-caliber bullets to ricochet off. While this wasn't too troublesome for most ordinary players, it was somewhat fatal for newbies and casual players.

New players' small-caliber weapons became useless, while casual players had no way to mow down enemies and relieve stress. Moreover, the monsters' strengthening was too sudden, without any warning, causing many players' defenses to collapse due to negligence.

Even the temporary bridge was attacked by the terror fish, forcing players to resort to their traditional tactic of calling for reinforcements.

More players arrived in Iberia, recaptured the defenses, patched the gaps, and once again annihilated all the monsters.

……

Players from the same defensive line, including [null], [Swift Analyst], and [Little Ice Cat], appeared at the respawn point looking utterly dejected. They were completely caught off guard by the suddenly stronger monsters; their original plan to mow down enemies had backfired, resulting in them losing a significant amount of experience.

Only now did they realize that this event was indeed extraordinary, not only because the enemy was unprecedented, but also because they would suddenly become stronger.

In fact, these players were unaware of the characteristics of the Sealings; they would evolve and become more powerful according to their needs. Players couldn't always so easily crush these creatures. Under the influence of the Deep Sea Church, the Sealings, after their attacks on land were thwarted, would issue evolution commands in large groups.

However, the swarm seemed somewhat helpless in the face of the players' obstruction. After all, the players were merely projections, without any physical form; they left no corpses after death, preventing the Seafowl from obtaining any useful genes or information, nor from consuming nutrients. Each death of a Terrorfish meant a permanent loss of a small portion of the swarm's nutrients. Although the swarm possessed virtually inexhaustible biomass, the continuous loss without replenishment was unacceptable.

This is a war, a war between the Deep Sea Church and the massive horde they have manipulated, and the land. The players drawn into this conflict by White Night are more like the land version of the massive horde; they too can evolve (level up), killing enemies makes them stronger (increases experience points), and they can also respawn indefinitely, with an almost endless number of them.

They are truly a formidable pair of rivals.

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"Huh? So this is what Hai Si Shi is?"

……

While players on land were enjoying the battle against the sea creatures on the shore, Bai Ye finally discovered the origin of the horde in a laboratory called "Deep Blue" on the seabed.

On the terminal screen in front of him appeared a series of documents left over from a previous civilization.

……

[Existence] [Migration] [Reproduction] [Growth]

Four projects suddenly appeared before Bai Ye; these were the materials Luna had found in the laboratory.

Bai Ye opened and checked it out one by one.

[Ongoing]: "Project: Ongoing. Objective: To collect nutrients and allocate resources. Access to the model has been granted to relevant personnel."

[Migration]: "Project: Migration. Objective: To expand territory and plunder resources. Access to the model has been granted to relevant personnel."

[Reproduction]: "Project: Reproduction. Objective: Efficient reproduction, resource consumption. Model usage access has been granted to relevant personnel."

[Growth]: "Project: Growth. Objective: To provide nutrients and production resources. Model usage access has been granted to relevant personnel."

Along with these materials came some illustrated books. Bai Ye unfolded them and discovered they were guidebooks of marine plants and animals, none of which he had ever seen before. They were likely unique to Terra and existed tens of millions of years ago. They and the pre-existing civilization must have existed during the same period, before becoming extinct and disappearing from the land.

Bai Ye didn't look into the more detailed information, because it wasn't necessary; those theories weren't something that interested him.

"Indeed, the horde is something that was created, and the characteristics it exhibits are the projects that the previous civilization had edited for them. The Birth is the ultimate manifestation of these projects, a concrete display of all concepts."

For example, the nascent Isamara sealed within Bai Ye's body represents the project "Migration." Expanding territory and plundering resources—this is Isamara's power, and it is also the state that this project hopes to achieve.

The swarm is a super bioengineering product created through editing and manufacturing of these four projects.

Although he had a premonition, Bai Ye was still somewhat surprised when he learned the answer.

The technological level of the pre-civilization had indeed reached a very high level; at least, Earth could not compare to it.

"So, this is the origin of Hai Si..." Bai Ye sighed. It all comes back to something left behind by the previous civilization; in the end, it's still inextricably linked to the previous civilization. These people are practically like Terra Sun Xiaochuan; everything is their legacy.

“The swarms weren’t actually aggressive at first; they were projects created by the previous civilization of Terra to terraform the planet’s environment. Although they are life forms, they are essentially like programmed machines. Therefore, they possess the dual characteristics of both biological and robotic beings,” Luna explained in detail about the origins of the Hydra.

This makes the Deep Sea Church seem even more ridiculous.

After all, the so-called "sea gods" they worship are actually just creations of another civilization. The "perfection," "selflessness," and other beauty of life that they speak of are all predetermined and are not natural life.

"So, this thing... has gone out of control?" Bai Ye blinked. Right now, the non-aggressive Sea Si is attacking the land and Agor.

"Because the Agorians adopted a rather dangerous and aggressive approach after discovering these sea creatures, they thoroughly provoked the large group, causing them to misjudge the situation and believe they were under attack. As a result, they became aggressive and began to passively counterattack and defend," Luna explained.

"..."

Bai Ye was speechless after hearing this, not knowing what to say.

It turns out that these underwater inhabitants brought this upon themselves.

The case is now solved.

After thoroughly enraging the horde, it became natural for the Deep Sea Church to take control of these sea creatures.

"Suddenly, I feel so bored... I originally thought it would be some kind of origin story. I didn't expect it to be something that was just created." Bai Ye was somewhat speechless.

However, despite being filled with emotion, Bai Ye still had to complete his predetermined goal. After finally figuring out the origin of the large group, Bai Ye needed to start dealing with this matter.

"Can we just shut down the project?" Bai Ye asked Luna.

“The real core is in the lower part of the laboratory, which is completely out of control and disconnected from here. If we want to solve the problem, I think we have to start from the bottom.” Luna said, showing Bai Ye the complete structural diagram of the laboratory.

Below the current location of White Night, there is another building structure.

Chapter 190 Scars

(I'm so lucky! I watched the trailer for Golden Tree Shadow yesterday, and today I saw the 1.8 PV for Dust White. There's also Black Myth coming this year. It feels so awesome!)

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After leaving behind countless corpses of their compatriots once again, the waves formed by the sea slowly receded.

The players cheered, celebrating their successful defense against another large-scale attack. Many lights reappeared near the teleportation point, as players who had died in the previous battle were resurrected to collect their dropped equipment and newly acquired loot.

Behind the player, the "Eye of Iberia" still stood, and the Sea King's attacks were still futile against the player's defense. The Deep Sea Church's plan to destroy the lighthouse had failed once again.

After making a deal with the Iberian Inquisition, the players were highly motivated. As long as the money was right, they would even go to great lengths to destroy giant beasts. Under the relentless onslaught of the Sea Legion, the players not only deployed defenses around the "Eye of Iberia" but also had the resources to expand the island during the war. They reinforced the island's surface to prevent the Sea Legion from digging tunnels and launching surprise attacks from the rear, and later even built a fortress on it.

Such efficiency, and the swarm-like mobilization and coordination, were astounding even to the Inquisition and the Punishment Army. Even the most demanding Inquisitors wore stiff smiles when facing the players.

……

Players don't die; for them, it's just a game, and death is merely a punishment mechanism to maintain balance. However, unlike the players, the indigenous people of Terra in Iberia are cleaning up the corpses of their fallen comrades.

Although it was a victory, the Inquisitors and Punishers stationed there paid a heavy price. Every time they repelled Haizi's attack, Terra natives would die here. To prevent the enemy from using the biomass in the corpses, the natives had no choice but to burn these bodies along with Haizi's.

The furnace built to dispose of the bodies was lit once more, and the indigenous people solemnly bid farewell once more.

Players were also infected by this atmosphere. Actually, NPCs guarding a location alongside players isn't a new concept; it's appeared in other games. However, these NPCs are either virtually invincible, practically unkillable, or they leave no trace after death. Furthermore, they almost all have the same generic enemy model, offering little practical use in combat and often causing obstacles due to their poor AI, hindering gameplay. Therefore, most players would intentionally let the NPCs assisting in combat be eliminated first.

However, past experiences no longer apply in Arknights Online. Players have discovered that almost no two NPCs have the same model (obviously), and each NPC even has a unique background and personality. Moreover, these NPCs are far from just going through the motions during gameplay; they fight even more fiercely than the players and die in a normal way.

This sense of realism makes it easy for players to develop an emotional connection with these natives after fighting alongside them, and they may even subconsciously forget that these guys are just "NPCs." When these "NPCs" are killed on the battlefield, players will also feel the same sadness.

Perhaps this is why so many players are addicted to Arknights Online. Although Luna is contributing to the hype, a realistic alternate world is obviously very attractive to Earthlings who already have a relatively affluent material life.

Players, together with the native inhabitants of Terra, once again held a funeral. This scene had clearly occurred more than once on this reef. Every day, Iberians died, and every day, new punitive soldiers and inquisitors crossed the makeshift bridge built by the players to come here and continue to guard the "Eye of Iberia."

Although the players tried to stop their "meaningless" suicides—after all, they could defend the area just as easily, without requiring further sacrifices and bloodshed from the Iberians—the stubborn Iberians clearly wouldn't agree. The Inquisitors and Punishers preferred to protect Iberia with their own corpses rather than hide behind these undead and live a life of ignominy.

In a sense, this country, like the Deep Sea Church, possesses a fanaticism shaped by its religious atmosphere and a profound belief. In their fight against the monsters, people have also been twisted into monsters themselves.

Only the silent lighthouse watches over everything that happens beneath its feet.

More Terrorfish and Seafowl arrived, and a new battle was about to begin, yet the large group retreated. It wasn't fear they felt, but rather the war losses here had far exceeded what the group had expected to gain.

They have already wasted too many resources here, yet have gained nothing.

Therefore, the swarm no longer extended its tentacles towards the lighthouse, and a scar etched into the race was formed. The sea creatures swam around the reef, as if an invisible wall had blocked these monsters. They could not comprehend beings like players, nor did they know what Iberia or the Inquisition were; they only knew that this place was off-limits, forever off-limits.

The Eye of Iberia will never fall.

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In the "Deep Blue" laboratory deep in the ocean, the deep-sea hunters, after being treated, slowly awaken.

The first to wake up was Gladys. Compared to Skadi and Laurentina, she was a complete novice in this area, with almost zero experience. Therefore, she was also the first to finish the battle, losing consciousness almost as soon as she finished healing.

Recalling the treatment process, Goredia couldn't help but blush. At first, she managed to remain calm and try to control her emotions, but as the treatment gradually took effect, she became increasingly unable to control herself, revealing a completely different side of herself for the first time. Goredia herself felt unfamiliar with that version of herself; it was an experience she had never had before.

"So this is what it feels like..." Last time, when Kingia started her treatment, she had almost lost consciousness, and the pain of the initial treatment meant she barely experienced anything. This time, however, Kingia experienced it completely, and she gradually began to understand why Skadi and Laurentina were so enthusiastic about this kind of treatment, even to the point of being addicted.

Even Goredia would find herself unable to resist indulging in such pleasure.