Chapter 66 – Survival Mission
At the moment, Leandro looked rather bewildered. Standing nearby were two players with visible usernames. One of them had a shifty look and was clearly XB; the other was a petite female player named Jinse.
"Jinse? That name rings a bell." Zhou Ning raised an eyebrow as a memory surfaced in his mind.
"She's the star player of Deep Blue Club, an alchemy master, ranked among the top five warrior-class players in the country. In my past life, she was the one who maxed out Leandro's favorability and uncovered the secret of Flame Oil. I didn't expect her to be one of the closed beta players too."
Zhou Ning's lips curved into a faint smile as he walked over. Compared to XB, Jinse was clearly the more promising leek. He had read the forum logs from back then—Jinse had stubbornly completed 492 quests to raise Leandro's favorability. She was basically a god-tier simp. A top-grade leek like this was best harvested personally.
At the moment, Jinse was feeling a bit frustrated. She had spawned in Vis County near Darkland and immediately headed toward Darkland after unlocking her map. Unfortunately, she had perfectly missed the main storyline. This morning, she hurried to Vick University hoping for a lucky break, only to encounter a seemingly random NPC—Leandro—who wasn't very talkative.
Thinking back to the NPC Wayne from the previous episodes, who had been so friendly toward players, she couldn't help but sigh—why was the difference between NPCs so dramatic?
Huh, what's this?
Jinse's eyes, sharp as radar, scanned the area and locked onto an NPC walking toward her from a distance—he was ridiculously handsome.
Isn't that Wayne Sturwell?
He really is handsome. Her heart skipped a beat, and her face turned as red as if she'd had too much to drink.
…Snap out of it! Now's not the time to be lovestruck!
Jinse came back to her senses and noticed that a new task had suddenly popped up in her quest list.
[You've triggered an Instant Task: Give NPC Wayne Sturwell a cupcake. Who knows—you might get a surprise! Accept? Yes/No.]
Her eyes lit up. A quest!
She immediately selected "Yes," her eyes gleaming as she scanned the area. She quickly spotted a breakfast shop nearby and dashed toward it.
Meanwhile, XB had also spotted Zhou Ning and eagerly ran over, abandoning Leandro on the spot. "Hey boss, morning!"
Zhou Ning nodded at him and casually issued him a task to buy breakfast.
Before long, Jinse came running back with a steaming hot cupcake. "Boss, here!"
Zhou Ning pretended to be slightly surprised, smiling as he said, "Is this for me?"
"Mm-hmm!" Jinse could barely contain her urge to scream and nodded furiously. That smile is lethal. I'm getting dizzy…
"Thank you." Zhou Ning accepted the cupcake and asked casually, "Wait, do you happen to know alchemy?"
"I do, I do!" Jinse kept nodding, feeling more and more like this NPC was deep and mysterious. Her transmigrated identity was an alchemy apprentice, and she currently had a [Basic Alchemy] skill.
"I see. I have some simple work here. Would you be willing to take it on?" Zhou Ning asked.
"I would!" Jinse was overjoyed and responded immediately. Although the closed beta had less than two days left, forging a connection with the protagonist now would make things much smoother when the official release came.
Zhou Ning scribbled down the address of his alchemy lab on a slip of paper and handed it to Jinse. "Come by this afternoon and give it a try. If you're not up to the task, I won't go easy on you."
Just then, XB returned with breakfast and looked on eagerly. "Boss, what about me?"
"Thanks." Zhou Ning smiled as he took the food and instantly completed XB's task. Then he turned and walked toward Leandro.
XB: …
He felt awful. Absolutely miserable. His current mood was like watching the person he loved most get into another car—hand in hand with someone else—while he was still stuck under the first one.
I was here first!
Leandro, too, was a bit dazed. He had just wanted to ask for directions, but somehow two complete strangers had randomly come up and started chatting, only to walk away moments later and focus all their enthusiasm on someone else.
He didn't particularly care, but… why did he feel this inexplicable twinge of disappointment?
Zhou Ning handed the breakfast XB had bought to Leandro and smiled. "Good morning. Lovely weather today."
"Yes, it hasn't changed for two hours straight—very good weather indeed." Leandro accepted the breakfast, hesitated a moment, then asked, "Do you know where the Pig and Whistle breakfast shop on campus is, senior?"
"I do. Are you looking for Mr. or Mrs. Turing?"
"Mr. Turing. My father sent me to greet him," Leandro said.
Zhou Ning pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time—it was nearly 9:00. "Mr. Turing probably isn't at the breakfast shop at this hour. I know where he lives. If you don't mind waiting, I'll take you there shortly."
"That would be wonderful—thank you very much!" Leandro bowed deeply to Zhou Ning.
[Leandro de Pessa's favorability toward you has increased. Current status: Friendly.]
Walking along the cobblestone path, Zhou Ning made his way to the third-floor offices of the Alchemy Department and located Professor Wesley's office from memory.
Knock, knock! He rapped on the door.
"Come in," came Professor Wesley's voice from inside.
As Zhou Ning pushed open the door, Wesley looked up with a serious expression. "Hello, Sturwell. What brings you here?"
"Good morning, Professor Wesley."
Zhou Ning got straight to the point. "I'm almost at Advanced Alchemy now. I recently rented an alchemy lab off-campus, so starting next semester, I likely won't be able to continue as a teaching assistant."
"Oh? That's great news!" Wesley stood up, clearly pleased. "What's your current level? Can you brew Intelligence Potion?"
"I don't have the formula, but I should be able to," Zhou Ning answered honestly.
The Intelligence Potion was a mid-tier alchemy recipe—not at all difficult for Zhou Ning. But for some reason, seeing how happy Wesley was made him feel a bit… annoyed.
Wesley plucked a quill from its holder, tore off a sheet of paper, jotted down the formula, and handed it over. "Here's the recipe. The school is organizing an expedition related to weather tides soon and will need a large quantity of these. We can provide the herbs and pay you two Roshens per bottle as a crafting fee—or, if you provide your own ingredients, I'll authorize a purchase price of 15 Roshens per bottle. Interested?"
"I'm in." Zhou Ning's mouth twitched slightly. As expected of stingy old Wesley—there was profit to be made, but just barely. Still, the free experience was worth it, so he held his tongue.
With business concluded, Zhou Ning removed his hat and took his leave.
In the sunlight, he unfolded the piece of paper with the recipe. It read:
Intelligence Potion: Gastrodia leaf + Daisy root + Golden Agave root… Not too hard.
"Wait a sec… what's this?" Zhou Ning's sharp eyes noticed part of a header still visible on the torn-off sheet.
It looked like… Inyek University?
"Why would Professor Wesley be using paper from Inyek University?" Zhou Ning frowned. As far as he remembered, Wesley was from North Vis County. His family, relatives, and friends were all over there.
Back on the tree-lined avenue, Leandro was still waiting. Zhou Ning called him over, and the two of them walked side by side toward the campus gate.
Just as they stepped outside—
[You've triggered the Survival Mission: Survive!]
[Mission Hint: Cultists from the shadows have taken notice of you. Be on high alert.]
[Mission Objective: Survive the cultists' attack.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
Zhou Ning's heart sank.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, as if pierced by needles.