Chapter 8: Escape
In his past life, Zhou Ning had started playing the game relatively late, completely missing the Curse Cult during its peak power in the first version. But that didn't stop him from hearing about the cult's notoriety.
Spreading plagues and performing sacrifices everywhere were just the beginning!
The leader of the Curse Cult was apparently obsessed with destroying the world and wiping out humanity. To achieve this goal, he had colluded with the Death Cult, the Plague Cult, the War Goddess, and various ancient gods.
He switched allegiances so often he made the infamous turncoat Lu Bu look loyal, a true otherworld version of the "three-surnamed house slave."
He failed repeatedly but kept fighting, never forgetting his lofty ideal of world destruction.
In the end, his tenacity was such that even the players were moved. Who's ever seen such a dedicated villain?
However, Zhou Ning, the transmigrator, thought it was nothing special. That was only because they'd never seen Bald Qiang and Big Bad Wolf. When it came to dedication, those two were in a league of their own.
Zhou Ning searched the bodies of the Curse Cult members and found nearly 7 Victa and 50 Roshen. Aside from that, he only found some addictive drugs and a few weather forecast sticks.
The weather stick was used for predicting the weather, though it wasn't always very accurate.
According to the laws of the Kingdom of Bryston, all inns and dormitories were required to provide guests with a free weather forecast stick each day. It worked similarly to a pregnancy test strip; you scratched it, and within ten minutes, a single red line meant sunny weather, while two red lines meant rain. A solid red line next to a faint one indicated cloudy or otherwise unusual conditions.
What a bunch of poor bastards.
Zhou Ning pocketed the money and weather sticks he'd looted from the Curse Cultists and opened his game panel.
Killing Marion and the cultists had earned him a total of 9,500 experience points. Added to the 500 he already had, his total officially broke the 10,000 mark.
A huge sum for the early game.
In Apocalypse, experience points could be used to level up both professional classes and general skills. Life skills, such as alchemy and enchanting, could only be upgraded through accumulated proficiency.
Zhou Ning's current class was Student, with a subclass of Linguist. Neither was combat-oriented, so he didn't need to spend experience on leveling them up. In Apocalypse, experience points were like real-life money: you could never have enough. In his past life, Zhou Ning had seen countless players spend recklessly, only to find themselves short on EXP when it mattered most.
Therefore, after a moment of deliberation, Zhou Ning spent 5,000 experience points to upgrade his Basic Shooting Proficiency to Advanced. This finally gave him a decent boost to his combat effectiveness and would also be useful for skill fusion later on.
The panel changed again.
Name: Zhou Ning/Wayne Stewell
Race: Human
Template: NPC [Countdown to Internal Beta: 47 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes]
Level: 2
Occupation: Student/Teaching Assistant [1/10]
Secondary Occupation: Linguist [2/10]
Natural Force Affinity: 0
Arcane Affinity: 0
Talent: Hidden
Personal Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 10, Stamina 8, Will 9, Spirit 9, Charm 98
Health: 46/80
Stamina: 36/96
Willpower: 7/9
Mana: 0
Life Skills: Basic Alchemy
General Skills: Professional English Proficiency, Intermediate Pickpocketing, Advanced Shooting Proficiency
The rest is omitted for now.
"Can you help me with these ropes?" the pudgy boy, Alan, asked weakly.
Despite being utterly useless, Alan had watched the entire fight from his bonds, filled with admiration for the man before him.
That admiration had diminished somewhat after he'd been left tied up like a pig for slaughter for five minutes. Still, when Zhou Ning finally untied him, Alan grabbed his hand, tears in his eyes. "You're a good man!"
"While I appreciate the sentiment, I don't accept physical payment—especially from men." Zhou Ning winked, his tone light and teasing.
"I'm not trying to repay you with my body!" Alan snatched his hand back as if he'd been shocked. He immediately realized the man was just trying to lighten the mood, and a wave of gratitude washed over him.
Before Zhou Ning could speak, Alan quickly added, "I'll repay you properly, I promise! And you'll have the friendship of the West family—and me!"
[You have unlocked a new faction reputation!]
[Your favorability with the West Family has increased by 1500.]
[West Family: Friendly (1500/3000)]
"Don't worry about it." Zhou Ning smiled, not dwelling on the talk of repayment. Even without a reward, the reputation gained with the West family was worth the effort. As a transmigrator, he knew a thousand ways to make money, but the chance to build reputation with a major faction was a rare opportunity.
In the world of Apocalypse, divine power, royal authority, and family influence were paramount.
Divine authority was supreme, and royal authority was absolute. However, the emergence of the extraordinary power of [Family Precepts] made certain families incredibly influential. Over time, noble houses possessing these precepts grew ever more powerful, their influence spreading across the military, political, and commercial spheres of their nations.
For players, maintaining a good relationship with these factions not only granted access to rare items and skills but also offered a slim chance of being adopted into a noble clan.
The West family, for example, controlled the Alchemy Association. Befriending them was equivalent to securing a powerful backer within the organization—a massive boon for his future development.
The well-timed joke had made the atmosphere between them much more relaxed. However, the D-rank quest he had received, [The Gratitude of the West Family], still hadn't been marked as complete. He figured he probably needed to escort Alan safely out of Jason Nat's Haunted House.
Deciding to see it through, he led Alan back to the previous cell, where they found two other survivors huddled together and shivering. Seeing Zhou Ning and Alan return, the pair nearly cried with relief.
The four of them made their way to the entrance of Jason Nat's Haunted House, introducing themselves along the way. Besides Zhou Ning and Alan, there was Richard Pesa, whose family owned a large herbal medicine shop, and a boy named Luke, whose father was a tax collector in Darkland City.
Zhou Ning reached out and pushed the door open. It was nearly midnight, and a blast of cold air made him instinctively pull his head back. So this is the game world.
The terrain was exactly as he remembered from the game. Jason Nat's Haunted House was located in the dock district, near a tavern called the Cow and Clover. Zhou Ning had once set a respawn point there. A long street stretched out not far from the entrance.
One end of the street was a red-light district, where a few prostitutes were still trying to solicit customers leaving the tavern.
As the four of them crossed the street, intending to head for the nearest police station, a magnificent carriage pulled to a stop directly in front of them.