Chapter 193: The Journey Home
On the other side, inside a building resembling a library, an elderly man with graying hair and a kind, gentle face sat at a desk, wearing reading glasses as he read the constantly emerging lines of text on a book in front of him.
Act III, Scene IX: The Death of Wayne Sturwell (Fourth Reenactment)
Main Characters: Wayne Sturwell, Edwin, Leandro, Archibald McLeish, Louisa, Wright, etc.
Plot Summary: Wayne Sturwell will accompany the expedition to the Meteorological Tide. After entering the temple, he will be killed by Archibald McLeish, becoming yet another wandering soul within its walls.
(Narration) Just as someone had planned, Edwin is a man who cannot stand mediocrity. He always seeks every opportunity for advancement—be it in his career or in the church. Naturally, he accepted the chance to explore the Meteorological Tide without hesitation. If the expedition succeeded, he could leave Vick University and might even be promoted to regional bishop of Darkland.
Wayne Sturwell will coincidentally head to West Lin Town, and—again coincidentally—it will snow continuously for two days there. The severe cold will even attract heightened ice-elemental activity, causing damage along the railway and forcing him to stay in West Lin Town, where he joins the expedition at Edwin's invitation.
Everything went according to plan—Wayne Sturwell joined the expedition as I had foreseen and entered the Meteorological Tide. They had no idea what awaited them…
(Narration) No one could have imagined that even the combined efforts of Katuwa, Kailin, Boudica, Victor, and Archibald would fail to defeat Wayne Sturwell. Because of the consequences of a failed performance, Katuwa and Kailin will fall by Wayne's hand, meeting a true end to their lives.
Ending: The reenactment fails. Wayne Sturwell's power was far beyond anticipated. Who would have thought he possessed such terrifying strength? Archibald McLeish was defeated by Wayne Sturwell, rendering Act III, Scene IX void. Yet, this failure also brings forth new possibilities.
The book remained silent for a full five minutes, clearly discouraged. Listlessly, it flipped to a new blank page.
This time, the elderly man stopped it. He closed the slightly faded book in his hands, smiled gently, and said, "It's not time yet."
...
Unaware of what was happening elsewhere, Zhou Ning had just finished watching the serialized drama. He then browsed the forum again, specifically hunting for praise-filled posts about himself, flipping through them one by one, grumbling only about not having an account so he couldn't like or upvote them.
Among the many posts, one immediately caught his eye—one newly posted by Qingbai Wild Sake.
Taking advantage of the protagonist's rising popularity, Qingbai Wild Sake had spent the entire morning editing his recorded footage and uploaded the final cut to the forum.
The video was titled:
"Apocalypse: From Zero Series – Wayne Sturwell Arc (Part 1)"
Unsurprisingly, the video immediately grabbed players' attention. Qingbai Wild Sake was already a well-known name in the gaming community. As soon as the video dropped, a flood of fans and curious viewers clicked in.
"The solo queue from scratch series? Brings back memories!"
"I just saw the Qingbai in the serial drama—that must be what this is about!"
The video consisted mainly of in-game footage recorded by Qingbai Wild Sake, beginning from the train scene where Zhou Ning defeats the Frost Lord, then showing him helping players fend off the ice-elemental invasion and leading them into the camp. Using first-person gameplay footage, he narrated and analyzed Wayne Sturwell's strength and the plot.
"Right now, Wayne is definitely the NPC who has fought the most in front of players. A lot of people used to question his strength, thinking he might just be a guide character—not really a protagonist. But after everything we've seen, I can now firmly confirm Wayne Sturwell is the main character. Let me explain why, step by step."
The scene then shifted to Vick University's expedition camp, showing the recorded duel between Leandro and Zhou Ning. After commenting on the fight, he continued:
"Leandro is easily one of the top-tier warrior-type NPCs in the game, yet he wasn't a match for Wayne Sturwell. And you all saw how Wayne fought the hooded man later—he's clearly not focused on firearms. His real strength lies in close combat."
"From Episode 1 to Episode 8 of the serial, Wayne's combat ability has shown a clear growth curve—a hallmark of a protagonist: scaling power. When it matters most, Wayne Sturwell is always dependable."
"And another thing—the hooded man's identity. After watching the serial, I've developed a bold theory: that hooded man might be the very same knight who took his own life at the start of the series—the 'Flame of Justice,' Sir Archibald, one of the Four Heroes. The serial even gave subtle hints. Here, take a look at the comparison."
Qingbai Wild Sake paused the video and pulled up a side-by-side comparison of the suicidal knight, the hooded figure, and the statue of Archibald. The resemblance was striking, and the comment section exploded:
"Holy crap, he's right! Qingbai's attention to detail is insane!"
"Saw him play Destiny a while back—dude's ridiculously meticulous."
"Okay, that last comment was sus!"
...
Was Archibald transformed into an undead due to the Reaper's resurrection? Why did he take his own life? And what level of power had Wayne Sturwell reached to be capable of defeating Archibald?
Qingbai Wild Sake didn't offer a definite answer.
He mentioned that he, along with players like Haicheng, Jinse, and XB, had all triggered hidden protagonist storylines and were now able to follow the main character around. He also shared the various perks he'd gained—access to high-level maps, elite tasks from expedition NPCs, entrance into a temple filled entirely with skull-level monsters, and even the completion of a highly rewarding hidden quest. He now had enough XP to hit level 13.
He showed clips of accepting various quests and the corresponding completion screens. Viewers were green with envy, commenting things like "pure luck god."
At the end of the video, Qingbai Wild Sake said:
"I'll keep sticking with the protagonist and continue producing this Apocalypse: From Zero series as we uncover Wayne Sturwell's story. That's it for today, folks—see you next episode!"
Compared to the serial edited by the AI brain, Qingbai Wild Sake's video wasn't particularly long, but it was rich in content. Shot entirely from his first-person perspective, it included behind-the-scenes details and exclusive insights not seen in the serialized drama—clearly a labor of love.
In addition to clever speculation, it featured battle footage that didn't make the final cut of the serial—like Zhou Ning's wandering gunman taking on warrior Leandro, a textbook-grade performance.
Naturally, the high quality of the video quickly drew attention. The forum mod pinned it to the top, and it became a massive hit.
After watching it, Zhou Ning could only nod in approval: this commentator was definitely worth keeping around.
His well-placed speculation and praise had taken Zhou Ning's fame to a new level.
What caught Zhou Ning's eye next were a number of posts from Darkland players, complaining that they had nowhere to learn skills or hadn't had time to change class yet.
The crops are ready for harvest. Zhou Ning couldn't help but feel pleased.
By midday, news came from the station: the steam train to Darkland was back in service.
After some thought, Zhou Ning decided to return to Darkland with the university expedition team. There was no need to go out of his way to stand out.
Around 2 p.m., a train from Temple Port pulled into West Lin's station. Zhou Ning boarded it along with the rest of the expedition team.
Fortunately, nothing else happened along the way. Only when he set foot once again on Darkland soil did Zhou Ning unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
Too many twists and turns on this trip—he was starting to wonder if he had the Conan protagonist curse.
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