Zhou Ning was already a popular figure at Vik University; after all, with 99 Charm, he stood out at the school gate, constantly approached by younger female students.
He himself didn't care much, having long grown accustomed to it as a handsome guy, but his three companions seemed to be getting a bit too much attention.
Although their expressions remained unchanged, their micro-expressions betrayed their unease. Zhou Ning had already thought of a title for them: "What to do when your spy identity is revealed at the start?"
At this point, when Zhou Ning suggested they enter the school first, they were clearly more than willing, nodding before following Zhou Ning through the main entrance.
Not far inside was the Alchemy Department's welcome area. By now, several junior students were busy, and the basic framework of the area had already been set up.
At the very least, tables and chairs were neatly arranged, and some materials needed for the welcoming event were piled on the tables.
Standing by the area, Zhou Ning asked, "Tell me, how do you need me to cooperate?"
The three exchanged glances, and finally, the beautiful Cherry stepped forward, smiling as she said, "We need to get the freshman roster, the performance schedule for each department, and permission to set up the venue."
"No problem."
Zhou Ning readily agreed.
According to his past memories, the welcoming event in the game world was slightly different from those in domestic universities.
Vik University's Welcome Day wasn't purely for welcoming new students but was more like a festival, traditionally held on the birthday of Vik University's founder, Archibald, one of the Four Heroes known as the Flame of Justice.
On this day, in addition to receiving new students, each department was also responsible for putting on its own performance to help new students quickly integrate into school life. For example, the Weather Department always had the unchanging "Who is the weather child," the Warrior Department had "Bloody Dodgeball," and the Alchemy Department had the long-prepared "Alchemy Fireworks Show," and so on.
This was also the most headache-inducing point for Zhou Ning and the Sun Keepers, because the scene was bound to be very chaotic, and chaos could lead to accidents.
Zhou Ning walked to the center of the area, found a girl, and whispered a few words to her. Immediately, a cheer erupted in the center of the area: "Long live our senior!" A pretty junior even ran over and kissed him, and then everyone quickly packed up and left.
Polly:... Gritting his teeth, that hateful winner in life.
Even when Zhou Ning walked over with the materials, Cherry was still a bit puzzled: "How did you do it?" She had thought it would be difficult to get rid of these students, requiring at least a lot of persuasion, but he had managed it so quickly, like magic.
"It's simple, I gave them money and told them to find a place to have a lavish dinner." Zhou Ning handed the materials to Cherry, adding seriously, "5 vikta, you guys need to reimburse me for this."
"Of course." Cherry smiled sweetly, took out a banknote from her ladies' purse, and handed it to Zhou Ning.
Next, Zhou Ning became a complete outsider. He didn't know about the Sun Keepers' operational capabilities, but their decorating skills were top-notch.
Polly moved boxes and bags inside, while the other two busied themselves with setting up. Soon, a sign with "Alchemy Department" on it was erected, large tents were put up, and the tables were replaced with new ones, clearly indicating some sort of manipulation.
Zhou Ning pouted. The world was never short of unprofessional people guiding professionals to do professional things, and he had no interest in pointing fingers. After watching for a while, he lost interest and simply stood aside, slacking off and clicking into the forum.
He had been busy with orders these past two days and hadn't had time to lurk on the game forum. Now, he found that the forum's popularity had risen significantly, with hundreds of thousands of new posts daily in the discussion area alone.
Thinking this, Zhou Ning clicked into the discussion area, glanced at the content of the sticky post, and was immediately stunned.
"To reward players' enthusiasm and give them the opportunity to personally experience the first major event in the Apocalypse World, the first closed beta test is now open. The closed beta will last 5 days, with only 200 slots. Seize this opportunity; perhaps you too can appear in the 'Apocalypse' series and become a protagonist in the story."
"Closed beta?"
Zhou Ning couldn't help but gape.
In his previous life, he had joined the game very late and had no idea there had been a closed beta.
He had originally planned how to fleece players during the open beta, but now that it was upon him, he felt a bit nervous. Wasn't this too sudden?
The current situation was already chaotic enough; if players were to get involved, wouldn't it just add to the disorder?
Zhou Ning clicked on the sticky post and found that the closed beta lottery results were already out. The closed beta slots were randomly drawn from high-level players in multiple countries. With such a massive base, only 200 people were selected in total, showing that those who got closed beta qualifications were not only high-level players but also the luckiest among them.
"[Detection: Closed beta has started. NPC function unlocked. Players, please check your game panel.]"
Zhou Ning:... He reopened his game panel, and sure enough, there was a new "NPC Function" option. After checking it, Zhou Ning found that he could freely edit quests for players and issue rewards.
In other words, both quests and rewards could be freely edited. With this quest system, he could easily use rewards to direct players to run errands for him.
The selectable rewards in the quest reward section included money, special items, equipment, experience points for leveling up, and even the ability to open up learning functions to players.
Experience points could not be deducted from him; the system would pay the experience point rewards on Zhou Ning's behalf. However, as an NPC, there was an upper limit to the experience points he could issue daily. This limit should be related to his own level. Zhou Ning could currently issue quests with a daily experience cap of 20,000.
In fact, such a setting seemed quite reasonable. Otherwise, if giving players experience also caused him to de-level, Zhou Ning could infinitely level up and de-level, and his attribute points would skyrocket.
Thinking back, this closed beta wasn't so bad after all. The Apocalypse World was extremely vast, with six countries and a dozen factions in the first version. These 200 people, scattered across the entire Apocalypse World, probably wouldn't even make a ripple and shouldn't affect the current situation.
In the near future, the open beta, when players arrive in large numbers, will be the main event, capable of influencing the entire game's landscape.
For Zhou Ning, on the contrary, the closed beta was an opportunity to consolidate his standing among players and explore the specific mechanics of this NPC function, preparing for the upcoming open beta.
Footsteps approached from nearby. The three had finished setting up the area and, led by the strong man who resembled Jason Statham, walked towards Zhou Ning.
"Thank you for your cooperation." The strong man, who hadn't spoken until now, shook hands with Zhou Ning. "I'm Ian, a member of the third squad of the Sun Keepers."
"Hello." Zhou Ning shook his hand and naturally asked, "Sherlock told me to assist you as much as possible tomorrow. Can you tell me your plans?"
"We've placed special detection instruments inside the tables that will react to Alchemy bombs," Ian said calmly. "As for tomorrow, your priority is to ensure your own safety. The Sun Keepers have been established for nine years; we never let ordinary people go first."
Zhou Ning smiled, nodded, and didn't bother to say more. It seemed he was being underestimated.
Just then, everyone suddenly looked up at the sky.
Hundreds of fiery meteors streaked across the sky, descending and scattering across various parts of the continent.
Keen West, who was talking with Sherlock, also saw this scene and was momentarily speechless.
Somehow, he recalled Elan's prophecy:
The gods are about to awaken, the extraordinary is about to fully revive, and the entire world will welcome countless Chosen Ones who fear neither life nor Death, and will not die. Their arrival is both a disaster and an opportunity... In a certain part of Daklan City, a scream suddenly erupted.
XB stared blankly at the incredibly realistic surroundings.
He found himself on a city street. A light drizzle was falling from the sky.
The raindrops on his face were icy cold, no different from real rain.
He touched his body and could still feel its temperature and sensation.
"Holy crap? The immersion is actually this high?"
XB couldn't help but gape in astonishment.