Chapter 8: Escape
In his previous life, Zhou Ning had joined the game rather late, perfectly missing the era when the Curse God Cult was at its most powerful. But that didn't stop him from hearing about the notorious reputation of this faction.
Spreading plagues, random human sacrifices—those were just the tip of the iceberg!
The leader of the Curse God Cult seemed especially obsessed with destroying the world and wiping out humanity. In pursuit of this lofty goal, they had successively colluded with the Cult of Death, the Plague Cult, the Goddess of War, and a variety of ancient gods.
They changed allegiances faster than Lü Bu switching banners—practically the isekai version of a turncoat servant.
And even after repeated failures, they still came back for more, never forgetting their grand ambition of world annihilation.
Eventually, even the players were moved by their determination.
Never before had there been such an inspirational villain.
But as a transmigrator, Zhou Ning wasn't impressed. Clearly, they'd never seen Bald Strong or Grey Wolf. When it came to inspiration, those two were in a league of their own.
Zhou Ning rifled through the bodies of several Curse God Cult members and found nearly 7 Vecktas and 50 Roshens. Other than that, just some addictive drugs and a few weather prediction rods.
The weather prediction rods were, unsurprisingly, used to predict the weather—though not always accurately.
According to the laws of the Kingdom of Bryston, every inn and dormitory was required to provide each guest with one weather prediction rod per day. It worked similarly to a pregnancy test: scratch the coating, and within 10 minutes, a single red line meant clear skies, two red lines meant rain, and one red line plus a faint one meant overcast or unusual weather.
Cheap bastards!
Zhou Ning pocketed the money and weather rods from the cultists, then opened his game panel.
Killing Marien and the Curse God Cult members had netted him a total of 9,500 XP, and combined with the 500 he had in reserve, his total finally crossed the 10,000 XP mark.
A massive fortune in the early game.
In Apocalypse, XP could be used either to level up your class or to upgrade ordinary skills. Life skills like alchemy and enchanting could only be improved by increasing proficiency.
Currently, Zhou Ning's main class was "Student" with a sub-class of "Linguist." Since neither was combat-oriented, there was no real need to level them up yet. In Apocalypse, XP was as precious as real-world cash—no matter how much you had, it was never enough. Zhou Ning had seen plenty of players in his past life who spent recklessly, only to find themselves broke when it really mattered.
After a moment's thought, Zhou Ning decided to spend just 5,000 XP to upgrade his Basic Marksmanship Mastery from beginner to advanced. It was a modest combat boost that could also be useful for skill fusion later.
The panel updated accordingly.
Name: Zhou Ning / Wayne Sturwell
Race: Human
Template: NPC [Closed Beta Countdown: 47 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes]
Level: 2
Class: Student / Teaching Assistant [1/10]
Subclass: Linguist [2/10]
Affinity – Natural Force: 0
Affinity – Arcane: 0
Talent: Hidden
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 10
Constitution: 8
Willpower: 9
Spirit: 9
Charisma: 98
HP: 46/80
Stamina: 36/96
Willpower: 7/9
Mana: 0
Life Skills: Basic Alchemy
General Skills: Advanced Marksmanship Mastery, Intermediate Pickpocketing, Advance English Proficiency
(Other info hidden)
"Bro, can you untie me?" the chubby Alan asked meekly.
He hadn't helped at all, but that didn't stop him from watching the entire ordeal unfold—and developing a deep admiration for the man in front of him.
Though being tied up like a pig for five straight minutes had dampened that admiration somewhat, Alan still teared up with gratitude the moment Zhou Ning freed him.
"You're a good man!"
"I totally get how you're feeling, but I don't accept physical compensation," Zhou Ning said with a wink, teasing, "especially not from other men."
"I wasn't planning on paying you that way anyway!" Alan recoiled as if shocked, but quickly realized Zhou Ning was just trying to lighten the mood. He couldn't help but feel grateful.
Before Zhou Ning could say more, Alan quickly added, "I'll definitely repay you properly! I promise! You have the friendship of the entire West family—especially mine!"
[New Faction Reputation Unlocked!]
[West Family favorability +1500]
[West Family: Friendly (1500/3000)]
"It's fine," Zhou Ning said with a smile, not overly concerned with the idea of repayment. Even if nothing came of it, gaining favor with the West family was already a worthwhile reward. As a transmigrator, he had a thousand ways to earn money—but chances to unlock new faction reputations were rare and precious.
In Apocalypse, the game emphasized three major powers: royal authority, divine authority, and familial influence.
Among these, divine authority was supreme, royal authority was forceful, but the emergence of extraordinary powers called [Blood Oaths] had elevated the importance of noble families to unprecedented heights. Over time, noble families that possessed these oaths became incredibly powerful, with influence in every aspect of governance, military, commerce, and more.
For players, maintaining good relations with such factions meant access to rare items and skills—and maybe, just maybe, even the chance to become a blood-oath noble yourself.
Take the West family, for instance—they controlled the Alchemy Association. Gaining their favor was like getting a powerful patron in the association, a major boon for any alchemy-related pursuits.
Zhou Ning's timely joke had eased the atmosphere between the two, but the D-rank quest [The West Family's Gratitude] still hadn't completed. He figured it would only finish once Alan was safely escorted out of the Jasonat Haunted Manor.
Might as well see it through.
He brought Alan back to the room where the prisoners had been held. Two other survivors were still huddled there, trembling in fear. When they saw Zhou Ning and Alan, they nearly burst into tears with gratitude.
After some conversation, the four of them made their way to the front of the mansion, by which point they had learned each other's backgrounds. Besides Zhou Ning and Alan, one was named Richard Pessa, whose family ran a fairly large herbal shop. The other, Luke, was the son of Daklan City's tax officer.
Zhou Ning pushed open the mansion's front door. It was around midnight. A chill in the air made him instinctively shrink into himself.
So this was the game world?
It looked exactly like in-game. The Jasonat Haunted Manor was located in the Dock District, near a tavern called The Ox and the Clover. Zhou Ning had even set a bind point there in his previous playthrough. Not far ahead lay a long street.
One end of the street was frequented by prostitutes, and sure enough, a few were still loitering, calling out to bar-goers.
As the four of them crossed the street and headed toward the nearest police station, a luxurious carriage pulled up in front of them.
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