Chapter 44: Closed Beta
Zhou Ning had always been a prominent figure at Vick University. With a Charm stat of 99, just standing at the school gate made him an eye-catching presence. Junior girls would occasionally approach him to strike up a conversation.
He didn't really mind. As someone used to being a heartthrob, it was nothing new. What did bother him, however, was that his three companions seemed to be getting more attention than they were comfortable with.
Even though their expressions remained unchanged, their micro-expressions betrayed their unease. Zhou Ning even imagined a headline for them: "What to Do When Your Secret Agent Cover is Blown at the Start?"
At that moment, Zhou Ning suggested heading into the school, which the three men were only too happy to agree to. After nodding, they followed Zhou Ning through the front gate.
Not far inside was the Alchemy Department's welcome area. Several underclassmen and women were already working there, and the basic framework of the setup was in place.
At the very least, tables and chairs had been neatly arranged, and there were stacks of documents on the tables prepared for the orientation event.
Standing to the side of the setup, Zhou Ning asked, "So, what do you need me to do?"
The three exchanged glances. Finally, the beautiful Cherry stepped forward and said with a smile, "We need the new student roster, the performance list from each department, and authorization to modify the event setup."
"No problem."
Zhou Ning agreed without hesitation.
According to the memories of his previous self, the welcome event in the game world differed slightly from those at real-world universities.
Vick University's orientation day wasn't just for welcoming new students—it was more like a festival. As per tradition, it was held on the birthday of Archibald the Flame of Justice, one of the Four Heroes and the university's founder.
On this day, aside from receiving freshmen, each department had to put on a performance to help students quickly integrate into school life. For example, the Meteorology Department had its ever-recycled "Who is the Child of Weather" event, the Warrior Department hosted a "Hot-Blooded Dodgeball" tournament, and the Alchemy Department was known for its prepped "Alchemy Fireworks Show," among others.
This was also what gave Zhou Ning and the Watchers the biggest headache—because such events inevitably led to chaos, and chaos often led to accidents.
Zhou Ning walked to the center of the grounds and whispered a few words to a female student. Instantly, a cheer erupted: "Long live the senior!" A pretty junior even ran over and kissed him on the cheek before everyone began packing up and leaving.
Bobby: …
Grinding his teeth. Damn it, what a lucky bastard.
Even when Zhou Ning returned with the documents, Cherry was still puzzled. "How did you do that?" She had thought it would be difficult to get those students to leave—at the very least, it should have taken a long discussion. But somehow, Zhou Ning had resolved it like magic.
"Simple—I paid them. Told them to go grab a nice dinner elsewhere." Zhou Ning handed the papers to Cherry and seriously added, "5 Vecktas. You'll need to reimburse me."
"Of course." Cherry gave a charming smile, pulled a banknote from her wallet, and handed it to Zhou Ning.
From then on, Zhou Ning was effectively sidelined. Whatever their actual qualifications were, these three Watchers certainly had top-tier setup skills.
Bobby carried in boxes upon boxes, while the other two got to work on decorations. Before long, a sign reading "Alchemy Department" had been set up, tents were erected, and the tables had been replaced with brand-new ones—clearly they'd done more than just surface-level work.
Zhou Ning curled his lips. The world was full of amateurs trying to tell professionals how to do their jobs—he had no interest in micromanaging. After watching for a bit, he got bored, so he idled off to the side and casually opened the game forum.
He had been too busy fulfilling orders the past couple of days and hadn't had time to check in. Now he saw that the forum's activity had surged again—with tens of thousands of new posts in the discussion section alone.
Curious, Zhou Ning clicked into the discussion section and glanced at the pinned post. What he saw left him stunned.
[To reward player enthusiasm and allow players to personally experience the first major event of the Apocalypse world, we are launching the first closed beta. The beta will last 5 days and only 200 slots are available. Don't miss this opportunity—you might even appear in the Apocalypse series as one of the story's protagonists!]
"Closed beta?"
Zhou Ning stared, dumbfounded.
In his past life, he had entered the game quite late and never knew there had even been a closed beta.
He had originally been planning to milk the early internal test for player profits, but now that the moment had actually arrived, he was starting to feel anxious. This was all happening too fast.
Things were already chaotic enough as they were—if players joined in now, wouldn't that just make things worse?
Zhou Ning opened the pinned post and saw that the closed beta draw results had already been published. The slots were selected at random from top players in multiple countries. Given the massive pool, only 200 were chosen. This meant that not only were these people elite players—they were elite players with ridiculous luck.
[Closed beta detected. NPC functions now unlocked. Please check your game interface.]
Zhou Ning: …
He opened his game interface again—and sure enough, there was a new NPC function available. After examining it, Zhou Ning found that he could freely create and assign tasks to players and offer rewards.
In other words, both tasks and rewards were fully customizable. Using this task system, he could easily manipulate players into running errands and doing his bidding with the right incentives.
Available rewards included money, special items, gear, experience points for leveling, and even access to learning functions.
Experience rewards wouldn't be deducted from Zhou Ning himself—those were provided by the system. However, there was a daily cap on how much experience he could reward players with, and this cap seemed to be tied to his own level. Currently, Zhou Ning could issue tasks worth up to 20,000 experience per day.
Honestly, it made sense. Otherwise, if giving out experience drained his own, he could just level up and down infinitely to farm stats, which would be totally broken.
Looking back, the closed beta might not be such a bad thing after all. Apocalypse was a massive world. Even in the first version, it already had six nations and a dozen factions. With only 200 players scattered across it, they wouldn't even make a splash. The current situation likely wouldn't be affected much.
The real game-changer would come during the large-scale internal testing in the near future, when the influx of players would significantly impact the game's power dynamics.
For Zhou Ning, this was a chance to cement his presence among players during the closed beta—and to explore the full potential of this new NPC function. It would be valuable preparation for what was to come.
Just then, footsteps approached from the distance. The three had finished setting up the area. Led by the one who looked like Jason Statham, they walked over to Zhou Ning.
"Thanks for your help." The strong, silent type finally spoke and shook Zhou Ning's hand. "I'm Ian, member of the Watchers' Third Squad."
"Nice to meet you." Zhou Ning shook his hand and naturally asked, "Sherlock told me to assist you tomorrow however I can. Mind sharing your plan?"
"We've installed special detection devices in the tables. They'll respond to alchemy bombs," Ian replied coolly. "As for tomorrow—just make sure you stay safe. The Watchers have been around for nine years. We've never let civilians take the front line."
Zhou Ning smiled, nodded, and didn't argue. Looks like they were underestimating him.
At that moment, everyone suddenly looked up at the sky.
Hundreds of blazing red meteors streaked across the heavens, descending toward various parts of the continent.
Kien West, who had been talking with Sherlock, fell silent as he witnessed the scene.
For some reason, it reminded him of Elan's prophecy:
The gods will soon awaken. The supernatural shall fully return. And the world shall welcome countless undying, fearless chosen ones. Their arrival will bring both disaster—and opportunity.
…
In a certain part of Darkland City, a sudden cry rang out.
XB stood frozen, staring at the startlingly realistic environment around him.
He was on a city street. A fine rain was falling from the sky.
Raindrops landed on his face—cold and wet, indistinguishable from the real thing.
When he touched his body, he could even feel temperature and sensation.
"What the hell? The realism is this high?"
XB couldn't help but gape in awe.