Chapter 5: The Sacrifice
The sudden appearance of a vampire completely threw Zhou Ning off.
If words could float above his head, they'd all be question marks right now.
Half a second ago, he was living the high life, looking like he was about to take off—and the next moment, he was getting his blood sucked by a vampire? Just like that?
Hold on... late 19th century, London, vampires... Zhou Ning's expression turned a bit strange as he speculated: could he have transmigrated into the world of Underworld or Bram Stoker's Dracula? Highly likely!!!
[Simulation complete. Please make your selection promptly.]
[Option 1: Randomly receive three skills or proficiencies obtained during your transmigration.]
[Option 2: Randomly receive three items acquired during your transmigration.]
Honestly, it wasn't much of a choice. Although he had acquired an Advanced Writing Proficiency during the simulation, his current priority was survival. Writing skills were completely useless in his current predicament. What was he going to do—summon a pen to kill people like in Scholar's Path to Sagehood?
That would be dreaming.
Items, on the other hand, could reliably include a gun and a knife.
"Wait—if I draw items, where will they be stored?"
A deadly question suddenly occurred to Zhou Ning: his hands were currently tied behind his back. If the items appeared on his person or just dropped to the ground, he'd be screwed.
He didn't expect the simulator to respond, but surprisingly, this dumb thing actually answered: "Upon receiving the items, they will be stored in your inventory and can be accessed at any time."
"Where's the inventory? How do I take things out of it?"
This time, the simulator didn't answer directly. Instead, a white glove appeared on the interface, with an arrow pointing to the right of the Achievements tab.
Zhou Ning: ??????
Only then did he notice a red dot on the Achievements tab. To its right, there was a small, unobtrusive triangle pointing right. When he tapped it, the interface flipped to a second page, revealing two new tabs: [Inventory] and [Quests]. There were two more greyed-out tabs—obviously not yet unlocked.
Holy crap—what genius designed this UI?
Naturally, he chose the second option.
[You have chosen Option 2.]
[You have received a Rare Item: Ivory-Handled Colt M1873 Revolver.]
[You have received a Rare Weapon: Swedish Sjögren Semi-Automatic Shotgun.]
Only two items. No third one.
Zhou Ning was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized—In Apocalypse, item rarity was ranked as follows: Poor (gray) < Common (white) < Uncommon (green) < Rare (blue) < Exotic (purple) < Epic (pink) < Legendary (orange) < Divine Artifact (red).
It seemed that the system only recognized items that were at least Rare or above. Anything lower wasn't considered worth counting.
No wonder the version of him in the simulation went out of his way to collect expensive guns and knives. Turns out the knives weren't rare enough to qualify.
A bit of a shame.
But at least now he could confirm one thing: he could influence the outcome of the simulations to a certain extent!
He opened the inventory to take a look. Sure enough, the two weapons were in there—a revolver with an ivory handle, and a shotgun that looked absolutely badass.
As he focused on the two weapons, details popped up:
[Ivory-Handled Colt M1873 Revolver]: God created man, but Colt made them equal.
[Swedish Sjögren Semi-Automatic Shotgun]: 12-gauge, a hive-maker—a true killing machine.
Only after seeing these two weapons did Zhou Ning feel a bit more at ease. There wasn't enough time left to run another simulation, but while he hadn't gained any supernatural powers, having firearms gave him a real shot at fighting back.
The moment for retaliation had finally arrived. His plan was to use his Basic Pickpocketing Skill in combination with his Dexterous Hands proficiency to free his wrists, then untie the others. With four people working together, they could ambush the cultists from the Curse God Cult—like a four-player co-op dungeon raid. It wouldn't be easy, but not impossible either.
But while that sounded good in theory, reality was another story. He got stuck on the very first step. Ever since acquiring the Pickpocketing skill, Zhou Ning had been trying to undo the ropes, but not only had he failed, they even seemed to be getting tighter.
What the hell? So much for "dexterous hands"! Might as well be feet!
Zhou Ning took a deep breath, continuing his struggle while checking his status panel.
On the Achievements tab, a red dot was blinking. Any gamer would recognize that meant something could be claimed.
He quickly opened it, only to discover that he'd somehow completed a whole set of achievements without even realizing it.
Achievements:
[Orphan of the Mist] (No attribute bonus)
[Sense and Sensibility] (No attribute bonus)
[An Ordinary Life] (No attribute bonus)
[Pride and Prejudice] (No attribute bonus)
Achievement Set "Literary Quartet (Part I)" completed. You have gained 1 Skill Point. A hidden quest has been unlocked.
Hidden Quest Available: Literary Life [Yes / No]
Once selected, the "Literary Quartet" set disappeared from the Achievements tab, and a new hidden quest appeared in the Quest tab.
Hidden Quest (Triggerable under special conditions):
[Literary Life]: Deep down, you've always harbored a dream of becoming a writer. In the course of one future lifetime, pursue that dream. Read 1,000 books across the real and simulated worlds. (Progress: 0/1000)
Quest Hint: "Read ten thousand books, and your writing will flow like a god's." This task will be harder than you imagine. Good luck, future literary master.
Quest Reward: Unknown
Future literary master Zhou Ning: …
He never knew he had some hidden literary dream. And this simulator? What a liar! It said "in a future life"—so where's the "future" part supposed to start?
Heavy footsteps echoed again outside the door—clearly, another round of sacrifices was about to begin.
The room filled with weeping. Zhou Ning listened silently as three people sobbed.
And somehow, those three sounded like thirty!
If you had to ask who cried the hardest, it was the chubby kid Alan. He bawled out loud while the other two sobbed along as backup vocals. It sounded like a wailing brass band—rhythmic and tragic.
The crying harmonized perfectly with the eerie atmosphere. You could record it and play it at a funeral—it'd make anyone burst into tears.
Zhou Ning felt his nerves tighten. The sacrifice round was nearly over. There were only four people left in the room. That meant he had a fifty-fifty chance of being next.
The door opened. Three cultists from the Curse God Cult entered. The lead cultist pointed first at the sobbing Alan.
"You. Come with me."
"No, not me!" Alan scooted back in terror. Then the cultist pointed at Zhou Ning. "You too."
Of course. Statistics never lie. And Murphy's Law never fails.
If something can go wrong, no matter how small the chance, it will happen.
Now things were really bad…
Zhou Ning and Alan were dragged to their feet and half-dragged, half-stumbled toward the door, escorted by three cultists.
Just like in the game, a long hallway lay beyond the door. It was shaped like a "W", with six rooms in total. At the end of the hallway stood another door. If Zhou Ning remembered right, the ritual chamber was in the parlor to the right past that door.
The more desperate the situation, the calmer Zhou Ning became. That was the effect of his Extreme Calmness trait. The Jasonat Haunted Manor was a typical European-style mansion. The hallway was about 17 meters long. At his current slow pace, it would take around 25 seconds to walk through.
In those 25 seconds, there was no way he could undo the ropes.
The only way out was to spend the skill point he got from the "Literary Quartet (Part I)" to upgrade Pickpocketing to Intermediate! Then do all he could and leave the rest to fate.
With that thought, Zhou Ning didn't hesitate. He immediately opened the game panel and upgraded Basic Pickpocketing to Intermediate. In a situation like this, every second of hesitation was a crime. Skill points were precious, yes, but he could earn more later. A life, however—he only had one.
Moments later, Zhou Ning flexed his fingers and resumed his attempts. With the improved skill, things quickly started to make sense.
The rope used was a sailor's knot. It would take about 32 seconds to undo.
As they drew closer to the ritual chamber, the smell of sulfur and blood grew stronger. Zhou Ning could faintly hear heavy, bestial breathing—"Hhhhhh... hhhhhh..."—growing louder behind the door at the end of the corridor.
He glanced sideways at the others. He couldn't see the expression of the cultist in front, but the two beside him were wide-eyed with religious fervor. Alan looked dazed, like he was hearing some sinister whisper.
Probably due to his own low Perception stat, Zhou Ning figured. That's why he couldn't hear whatever evil whisper was going on.
He took a deep breath and sped up his hand movements. With a soft click, the largest loop of the sailor's knot loosened quietly.
Right at that moment, the lead cultist pushed open the door to the ritual chamber.