Zhou Ning suddenly had a very unsettling feeling.
The members of the Council of the Alchemy of Life mentioned in the serial drama never appeared. Now it was clear that the school teacher, Elvis, was one of them, and there was no reason for him not to know that Holwig was dead, and it was even possible he knew Holwig had a habit of keeping a diary.
Considering this was a real world, one must never underestimate the enemy's intelligence. So, was it possible that even Holwig's death was part of their plan, and this diary was intentionally left for them?
...This is truly ridiculous. Even playing a game requires scheming against others.
If things were as he suspected, this matter would be huge.
Zhou Ning scanned the area but didn't see Sherlock. Instead, he met Ian's fervent and reverent gaze, and even John, not far away, looked at him with a glimmer in his eyes, as if he had awakened some extraordinary talent.
Zhou Ning felt a shiver down his spine; he seemed to have overdone it a bit... Seeing Zhou Ning's gaze fall on him, Ian hurried forward, even using honorifics, cautiously asking, "Mr. Wayne, are you alright?"
Zhou Ning felt a chill, waved his hand, indicating he was fine, and asked, "Where is Sherlock? I have something very important to discuss with him."
"Mr. Sherlock is currently communicating with the school. Please wait a moment."
Ian immediately walked into the school without a word. He hadn't expected that at the most crucial moment, it was this young man, whom he had previously looked down upon, who proved to be the most reliable.
He almost single-handedly repelled Elvis, killed the mutated coachman, and defused the bomb. It was no exaggeration to say he saved the day. In this era where extraordinary powers were just emerging, calling him a 'golden thigh' was not an overstatement. What was wrong with him running an errand for him?
Zhou Ning, of course, didn't know Ian's thoughts and stood still, waiting for Sherlock.
About 2 minutes later, Sherlock walked over in a hurry, "Ian said you had an urgent matter? Thanks to you this time, otherwise many people would have died."
Zhou Ning didn't respond to him but directly told Sherlock his doubts, asking gravely, "I want to know, which country was involved in the state visit at Witsel Church Square today?"
Sherlock pondered for a moment, his face changing, and exclaimed, "Ruins... This is bad!"
He gathered several Sun Keepers members and hurried towards two carriages parked at the street corner, "Wayne, come with me, we need your help!"
A prompt appeared on the panel:
[You have triggered the follow-up plot for B-rank mission [Conspiracy]. Mission [Conspiracy] has been upgraded from B-rank to A-rank.]
It finally matched up. Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief, nodded in agreement, and before getting into the carriage, he turned back to look at XB, "You come along too."
"He might be able to help," Zhou Ning explained to Sherlock.
"Can I go too?" XB also heard Zhou Ning's words and felt flattered. After getting Sherlock's approval, he quickly followed Zhou Ning into the carriage.
Zhou Ning smiled as he looked out the window. Bringing XB along was certainly not because he was useful; he wasn't useful at all. XB did have talent in the arena in the future, but that was after he had grown. Bringing him along was because he brought a lot of popularity, and it was likely to be quite dangerous later, so bringing a little guinea pig who was also a part-time streamer and commentator was well worth it.
He settled the mission casually, and on the other side, XB immediately received a prompt:
"D-rank [Terrorist Attack] completed. You gained 2000 experience points."
[Wayne Strowell's favorability towards you has increased by 5 points. Current: Indifferent.]
[Do you want to open a private shop for [XB]?]
Zhou Ning chose "Yes" without hesitation.
A trading panel similar to those in ordinary online games from his previous life appeared before him. It had two tabs, left and right, which could be freely switched. The left tab read "Item Shop." After clicking the '+' sign, Zhou Ning could place items from his person, including those obtained from the simulator. The right tab was the "Skill Shop," where he could selectively place skills he had mastered.
Zhou Ning tried to put a few items up, and the panel immediately prompted:
[Please fill in the product description and set a price for the product.]
[You can also set purchase conditions, including but not limited to favorability, level, faction, nationality...]
He could even set favorability limits? Zhou Ning was delighted; this gave him even more room to maneuver. One had to know that the most time-consuming part of this game was grinding favorability and reputation. Back then, he was a mage, and to grind the favorability of the court mage Eran, he painstakingly completed over seventy Ring Run tasks, spending countless gold, just to learn Fire Dragon Spell from him.
Now it was his turn to set favorability for players... It truly was a turn of the tables... Zhou Ning quickly set up the items and confirmed the release.
[Ding! NPC Wayne Strowell has opened a private shop function for you]
XB received the notification instantly.
The protagonist's private shop? I'll spend all my money!
XB wasn't foolish enough to miss this opportunity and quickly opened the private shop.
The purchasable items in the shop were categorized by rarity and price. XB took a look, and his gaze was instantly fixed, feeling a bit dizzy, and a thousand words condensed into one sentence.
"Holy crap..."
At this moment, his live stream's popularity had reached a terrifying 12 million, and it was still rising. The bullet comments were also frantically flooding the screen, with the most frequent two words being:
"Holy crap..."
"stone mask, oh my god, although it's only a qualification for use, it can transform people into the hidden race Vampire, greatly increasing combat power. If it were me, I'd choose not to be human; being a Vampire is so much better."
"Vampires are strong, but they also have drawbacks. They can't be exposed to the sun, or they'll be burned to ashes. Isn't that like looking for trouble?"
"We're players, who cares? Just wear a hat and wrap up well, and we can revive anyway. We'll be invincible at night, what a huge advantage we can build in the early game!"
"Didn't you all notice these guns? They seem to be the same model as the one Wayne has!"
"I'd choose the Devil Fruit! Although it says 'temporarily out of stock,' it doesn't mean it won't be available. Imagine having various different abilities, it's so interesting."
"What exactly is my husband's background, to have all these things?"
"The protagonist, do you understand? Is it strange for the protagonist to have some treasures?"
XB was drooling. The stone mask, the Devil Fruit marked "temporarily out of stock," Mini Mechanical Warrior cards, Browning M11 Garand Rifle... To him, they were all divine artifacts!
If he could just get some of these, he would be the coolest kid in the game, absolutely crushing the progress of countless other professional players.
Then he looked at the prices.
XB:... He couldn't afford any of it at his current level. Those incredibly powerful-looking firearms all started at 15 vikta. The Mini Mechanical Warrior card was 50 vikta and required 10 favorability. The Devil Fruit was an astronomical 500 vikta.
Are you trying to make things difficult for me, Pudge? XB couldn't help but shed tears of poverty.
The item shop made XB realize the disparities in life. When he clicked into the skill shop, he was even more on the verge of tears.
Why was everything out of stock?
Just in the general skills, there were Shooting Mastery, Mysticism, Mechanical Mastery, and other skills that looked incredibly powerful.
Looking further down, he was even more stunned.
What were these?
Flying Gun! Armament Haki! Ripple Breathing Technique! Mozambique Drill! Rapid Pursuit!
Especially the Ripple Breathing Technique, it could passively increase strength and agility with just one skill, and daily practice could continuously increase strength and agility!
"This must be a protagonist-exclusive skill, it must be a protagonist-exclusive skill!" XB roared inwardly, gritting his teeth.
What tempted him even more was a knowledge book for the hidden profession [Wandering Gunner], priced at 30 vikta. It wasn't expensive, but it required 30 points of protagonist favorability!
Hidden profession! XB looked at Zhou Ning in shock.
Zhou Ning guessed his thoughts and returned a profound, enigmatic smile. This knowledge book was just a random miscellaneous book he put in and changed the description; the favorability was set by him. How much it was, was up to him. He put it out now to give players something to look forward to. Although it was a bit of a scam now, there would always be a payoff later.
"So the protagonist's profession is Wandering Gunner!"
Upon learning this news, not only XB but also the viewers in the live stream became excited. As expected of the protagonist's profession, it looked mysterious and cool, didn't it?
Although he couldn't meet the requirements temporarily, XB wasn't discouraged. Instead, he was ambitious because he saw the direction for the future!
Looking at his money and experience, he had just enough to learn Shooting Mastery. He didn't hesitate, immediately bought it, and chose to learn it.
Wandering Gunner, I, XB, am determined to be one!
...[Your skill [Shooting Mastery] has been learned. You gained 2000 experience, 10 currency]
The cost of players learning skills would be fully refunded to Zhou Ning as tuition.
According to the setting of Apocalypse, teaching skills was equivalent to instruction, and his own skills would not change.
So, no matter what skills XB learned from him, he only benefited and suffered no harm. This was much faster than him toiling away at Alchemy.
After harvesting his first little leek, Zhou Ning stretched, then opened the simulation panel.
Vik University was on the east side of Daklan City. It would take about 20 minutes to rush to Witsel Church Square in the city center, enough time for one simulation to improve his strength.
Zhou Ning was determined to get the reward for the A-rank mission.
Looking at his Crossing Coin balance, the Hall of Curiosities had given him 19 Crossing Coin, and an overnight stay had replenished 1 basic minimum. So Zhou Ning chose to spend 50 vikta to recharge 5 Crossing Coin and once again chose to travel across.