Zhou Ning was feeling quite down at the moment.
As a staunch atheist, he had never imagined that he would become a transmigration professional.
In just over two short years, he had actually transmigrated twice!
Just over two years ago, an ordinary hangover led him to transmigrate to Bluestar, a world somewhat similar to Earth, but with an extremely backward entertainment industry and an extremely prosperous gaming industry.
Here, movies and comics were not well-developed; there was no Death Note, Bleach, One Piece, no Jin Yong, no Harry Potter, and no Marvel... everything was different from his previous life.
This was originally a perfect start for a plagiarist to dominate, but the extremely high-spec and cheap optical brain, along with a virtual reality game called Apocalypse Game, made him immediately forget his original intention of becoming a plagiarist.
At first, he just wanted to experience the new technology of another world, but he quickly became addicted. Although he started playing the game relatively late, with his superior gaming talent, he quickly caught up in Apocalypse Game and began to make a name for himself. The guild he established also became a major force among players.
However, good times don't last. Just a second ago, he had gathered a large group of people, ready to tackle the level 70 Heroic-level dungeon, Jason Nats Haunted House, in Apocalypse Game. While waiting for teammates, he opened a newly downloaded mini-game on his optical brain to kill some time. The next second, he was swallowed by a beam of light and then arrived here.
Dilapidated window frames, a dim environment, shadowy figures, flickering candlelight, a visible distance of less than half a meter, but it was still discernible that this was an old, rundown room.
Cold sweat broke out on Zhou Ning's back.
He found his hands bound behind his back, seemingly tied with ropes, making it difficult to break free. From nearby, intermittent low sobs could be heard, suggesting there were quite a few people.
Witnessing this scene, which was comparable to a horror movie, Zhou Ning couldn't help but feel a little panicked. He shuffled sideways, wanting to get closer to the candelabra for a sense of security, but was startled by a distorted, chubby face next to him.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Little Fatty, whose face was covered in tears and snot from crying. As he cried, he mumbled:
"It's over, it's over, it's really over this time..."
"I don't want to die, I want to go home!"
Little Fatty's mumbling had extreme penetrative power, and he kept repeating the same two sentences like a broken record, making even a calm person like Zhou Ning unable to resist rolling his eyes.
Two minutes later, a door not far away creaked open, letting in a beam of light. Three men wearing hoods and black robes pushed the door open and entered. Zhou Ning could feel Little Fatty next to him suddenly shiver, quickly shutting his mouth, only letting out intermittent sobs.
Using the light streaming in from the doorway, Zhou Ning recognized the black flame emblem on the left chest of the three black-robed figures and couldn't help but be slightly stunned, "This mark looks like... the Curse God Cult?"
The leading black-robed man pointed to a young man not far away and said coldly, "You, come here."
"No, no, I don't want to die... Save me..." The young man's face showed a desperate expression, but before he could struggle, he was dragged out by the other two black-robed men, leaving a long, trailing cry.
With a bang, the door slammed shut, once again isolating the light and the cries for help outside.
Zhou Ning shivered. Indeed, those three black-robed men were definitely members of the Curse God Cult from the Apocalypse Game.
This group of people proclaimed the end of the world was coming, spread plagues everywhere, and were extremely keen on using living sacrifices for various elaborate rituals, attempting to summon evil gods—though most of them never succeeded.
In that case, he must have transmigrated into the game and, unfortunately, become their sacrifice.
Damn it, no wonder it looked familiar. Isn't this the Jason Nats Haunted House he was preparing to clear just a few minutes ago? The first promotional video for Apocalypse Game in his previous life was set against the backdrop of this dungeon.
The background of the normal difficulty Jason Nats Haunted House dungeon was very simple:
Several Curse God Cult members captured a group of living people and brought them to Jason Nats Haunted House, where they were entrenched, attempting to sacrifice them using spells from the Book of Ethanwe to appease an evil god. The player's goal was to stop this sacrifice.
As an entry-level dungeon, Jason Nats Haunted House was not difficult. Most of the Curse God Cult members were ordinary people; only Priest Niam possessed extraordinary power.
But here's the problem: that was a game. In reality, no one might come to save him. What should he do now?
"This is ridiculous!" Zhou Ning could only sigh towards the sky.
As mentioned before, Apocalypse Game was a globally popular holographic online game. When Zhou Ning first transmigrated, Apocalypse Game had already held the top spot among holographic online games for three consecutive years.
This game integrated the backgrounds of countless fantasy games and novels, calculated and evolved by a new generation of super optical brains, beyond human intervention. More importantly, the scenes, characters, and plot were incredibly realistic, almost like another virtual world.
According to the game's setting, this was a world with a unique aesthetic similar to 19th-century Europe. Similar to reality, this world also developed firearms and steam engines, and it also developed an extremely brilliant transcendent civilization.
From the dungeon background, it could be inferred that this should be the initial stage of the game. Transcendent beings were not common, the Curse God Cult had not yet officially surfaced, and most of its members were acting as comedians, carrying a handwritten copy of a book called the Book of Ethanwe, capturing people for sacrifices. However, over two years, the success rate remained zero.
Yet, it was these individuals, regarded as comedians, who now posed a fatal threat to Zhou Ning.
Moreover, according to the dungeon plot, if they were not stopped, this sacrifice would actually succeed.
Just then, a line of text suddenly flashed across Zhou Ning's vision:
[Sacrifice deceased, current progress 26/36.]
"This is... a dungeon prompt?" Zhou Ning was startled. It seemed the sacrificial ritual was almost complete, and he wouldn't have much time left.
"Panel information!" What slightly comforted Zhou Ning was that when he thought about it and tried to call out the menu like in the game, the familiar game panel information actually popped up in front of him again.
Name: Zhou Ning / Wayne Strowell
Race: Human
Template: NPC [Internal Test Countdown: 48 days 3 hours 42 minutes]
Age: 23
Level: 2
Occupation: Assistant Teacher [1/10]
Natural Force Affinity: 0
Arcane Affinity: 0
Talent: Hidden
Personal Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 8, Stamina 8, Willpower 8, Spirit 9, Charisma 98
Life: 80
Willpower: 7/8
Mana: 0
Life Skills: Basic Alchemy
Normal Skills: None
Personal Specialties: Dexterous Hands (Novice) — Your hands are extremely agile, allowing you to perform tasks requiring precise manipulation.
Extensive Knowledge and Strong Memory: Your knowledge reserves far exceed most people, Spirit +1.
Extreme Calm: You can maintain calm thinking at all times, learning progress +10%.
Clan Training: None
Influence: None
Legendary Status: 0
[An ordinary person with no cultivation talent and unknown, good for nothing except his looks.]
Although having a panel was a good thing, this panel data... was truly hard to describe.
According to the attribute settings in Apocalypse Game, Natural Force Affinity was a prerequisite for becoming a warrior, so a zero rating naturally spoke for itself. Zero Arcane Affinity meant he had no connection with mages either.
As for attributes, 10 was considered the average for commoners, and his Strength, Agility, and Stamina were not high. A Spirit of 9 points was even more shocking. The phrase "no cultivation talent" in parentheses was absolutely not an exaggeration.
As for the highest attribute, Charisma, that should be a beautiful Error.
If he wasn't mistaken, his initial attribute points must have all been mistakenly allocated to this one.
In Apocalypse Game, a Charisma value of 100 was full marks. Over 70 was already considered the high-Beauty Zone (high-beauty zone), and 90 points belonged to super handsome men. A freak like him with an initial score of 98 was It can be said that (can be said to be) unique.
But what was the use of being handsome? In this world, being able to fight was the most crucial. Otherwise, if he wasn't careful, he might be captured and used as a plaything, with no time to even cry.
Also, judging from his NPC identity, he should be unlikely to have multiple revival opportunities like players. If he accidentally died, what awaited him might be true Death.
Damn it, Apocalypse Game had been running for three years, and he hadn't heard of anyone disappearing because of playing the game. Why was he so unlucky?
"Huh, what's this?"
Zhou Ning suddenly noticed an option labeled "transmigration simulator" in the bottom right corner of the attribute panel. Wasn't he just about to play this mini-game before he transmigrated?
Could it be that he was affected by sword art online because of this mini-game?
Trying to mentally touch this option, several prompts suddenly appeared one after another:
[Welcome to the transmigration simulator. Game resources are downloading... 95%... 96%... 99%... Loading complete.]
[transmigration simulator is starting... This game is also known as "Ten Thousand Me's." Have a pleasant game.]
[You currently have 2 transmigration coins. You can receive 1 transmigration coin as a daily minimum at 12:00 AM every day. Of course, you can also obtain more by topping up.]
[Dying in the simulator does not mean truly dying. He might just be a segment of your life in a parallel timeline.]
[After you complete certain special achievements or have an impact on the world, you will receive corresponding rewards.]
[The simulator will protect your mental health, but please remember that moderate gaming benefits the mind, while excessive gaming harms the body.]
"It looks very unreliable," Zhou Ning said after carefully reading the introduction word for word, then turned his gaze to the game interface.
As an experienced gamer, his assessment was: this interface is too simple, isn't it?