Chapter 75: Strength Analysis Thread
"Should I go ahead and stick the arrow in while the Fortune Elixir is still active—strike while the iron's hot?"
The idea had just popped into Zhou Ning's head when he immediately dismissed it. He'd gotten that thing for self-preservation, not suicide. What if it really killed him?
He glanced at his Traversal Coins. He still had enough for one more ten-pull. Zhou Ning had no plans to save them. Decisively, he tapped the button for another ten-pull.
[You obtained a Rare Item: Einstein's Relativity Manuscript.]
[You obtained an Uncommon Item: The 1953 Premiere Issue of Playboy Magazine.]
[You obtained a Rare Item: Vampire Zhou Ning's Nobel Prize Trophy.]
…
Zhou Ning was speechless. This round had given him three rare items—a new record—but they were all as good as junk. Not a single one was actually useful.
This Fortune Elixir really couldn't be trusted.
Across five ten-pulls, he'd gotten 14 rifles and 17 pistols. As Zhou Ning piled the guns into his suitcase, he checked his recent haul.
During his third ten-pull, he had triggered a hidden quest. After accepting it, a prompt popped up on his interface:
Hidden Quest: (Triggered under special conditions)
[Collector of Famous Guns]:
As a connoisseur, you have a particular passion for collecting renowned firearms. Achieve the milestone of collecting 5 famous guns across both the simulation and real world.
(Progress: 2/5)
Quest Hint: True prestige in firearms lies not in firepower or range, but in historical value. Keep going, collector!
Reward: Random Firearm (x1)
Collector Zhou Ning: …
The quest was simple and the reward mediocre. Zhou Ning had no intention of actively pursuing it—it would complete itself naturally through the course of drawing.
He glanced at two other hidden quests. For Literary Life, his reading progress had reached 2,327; conservatively, it would take two more simulated worlds to complete. As for True Heroism, his simulation progress was now 2/3. If luck was on his side, he could finish it in the next simulation.
"A long road ahead," Zhou Ning couldn't help sighing.
After packing all the firearms into the suitcase, he hurried out the door, heading for the West Lin General Store.
…
A public carriage drawn by wildebeests trudged slowly along the muddy, grimy road.
This stretch leading to the West Lin General Store ran through the old city district. Recently, the number of vagrants here had visibly increased. Outside the window, groups of them could be seen wandering the streets.
"Probably the aftermath of Charles VI's assassination," Zhou Ning thought, feeling a bit heavy-hearted.
Currently, in Bryston, a poverty relief policy from the Falric Kingdom was still in effect: magistrates were empowered to manage relief efforts by parish, collect poor taxes, and disburse welfare payments. The elderly and those who had lost the ability to work received aid at home; poor children were placed in foster care until old enough to become apprentices; vagrants were jailed or sent to reform institutions.
It wasn't a bad system—on paper. But with the economy steadily declining and poverty worsening, the fiscal burden of aiding the poor had grown unsustainable. The relief policy had become a dead letter. The current situation was the inevitable result.
This was what made Apocalypse unique.
Unlike other games, Apocalypse's AI never interfered with historical developments. It operated the world with cold precision, relying solely on algorithms and data to simulate the world's evolution.
Sometimes, it blurred the line between game and reality.
Zhou Ning turned his gaze away from the window and shifted his focus to the game forum.
He'd been so busy lately that he hadn't had time to lurk. The forum's popularity had grown to a point that even Zhou Ning found difficult to comprehend—30 million registered users, and the game was still in closed beta.
He tapped into the discussion board. As expected, the fourth episode of the drama series had just been pinned, but instead of clicking it first, his curiosity was piqued by another pinned hot thread.
The title was eye-catching: Apocalypse NPC Power Analysis Thread
It had been posted a little over an hour ago by a beta player named Grantham.
He had randomly spawned in the fervently religious West Falric Kingdom and had witnessed a knight from the Temple of Earth punishing heretics on the very day he was born.
In the video he posted, an armored knight was engulfed in golden flames. He brandished a spear and lunged at a heretic, the spearhead flaring with golden light—an unmistakably flashy display.
"This knight is called Emlyn the Spear of Judgment, a Templar Knight—one of the game's main classes. There are dozens like him in the Church of the Earth Mother, and above them are even stronger figures: bishops, cardinal archbishops, and the pope. Sure, Wayne Sturwell might be the protagonist, but he's clearly a growth-type lead. Right now, he's definitely not strong. Compared to someone like Emlyn, he doesn't even have an edge.
"And haven't you noticed? All of Wayne's fights have been against weaklings. His win record is inflated—it's not convincing.
"The only two decent opponents he's faced—Holwig and Elvis—were only beaten thanks to Sherlock's help. Let's be honest: if he fought someone like Elvis head-on, I'd bet on Wayne losing 90% of the time."
Grantham went on to list a host of Zhou Ning's shortcomings, ultimately concluding that Apocalypse was full of powerful characters across all classes. He warned players to be careful in choosing their class and not to blindly idolize characters.
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes slightly. To be fair, the guy wasn't wrong. He was certainly more professional than the XB crowd. Zhou Ning himself knew he wasn't that strong yet.
But the dumbest move Grantham made was bringing up Elvis. Based on what Zhou Ning understood of the scheming AI behind the game, Episode 4 of the drama was almost certainly going to include his fight against Elvis.
He checked the replies. Some agreed, but far more were flaming him. Zhou Ning's fanbase consisted mostly of young women—experienced internet warriors. Grantham had tried to reply at first, but quickly lost his cool after being roasted alive.
It had turned into a full-on forum battle royale.
Zhou Ning twitched at the corners of his mouth and stopped browsing the thread. Instead, he opened the pinned drama episode and hit play.
As soon as the video started, a blizzard of bullet comments flew across the screen:
"Fourth rewatch."
"Full of hype, no dull moments."
"@Grantham, care to comment?"
"God knows how many times I've rewatched this!"
Zhou Ning didn't even need to look to know: this episode clearly starred him again.
Unlike the previous episodes, which each ran over an hour, this one was shorter—just over 40 minutes.
It opened on a dilapidated house with a garden. The camera cut inside, showing a blood-red altar around which several black-robed figures were plotting.
From their conversation, the audience learned that the Curse God Cult had formed an alliance with two other factions, working together on a major plan called Descent of the Divine Kingdom. The assassination of Charles VI was merely part of the operation.
To advance the plan, a few individuals had to be eliminated. Among them: Wayne Sturwell, who had repeatedly thwarted their efforts. He had to be either killed or recruited.
Zhou Ning: …
Seriously? Do they think I'm easy prey or what?
He paused the video and rewound to the beginning.
The house had a blue roof, a classic middle-class Bryston design, and there was a river not far off. It could be the Seton River, which flowed southeast through the city, or perhaps a canal in Darkland.
If he rode a carriage and followed the river, house by house, he could absolutely track it down.