The next period of time passed quite uneventfully; the anticipated attack never arrived. XB, however, remained highly focused, patrolling back and forth. This spirit was truly admirable.
At the school gate's registration area, new students had formed a long queue, registering in an orderly fashion.
It wasn't until 9:20 AM, Sir Archibald's birthday, that the scene truly began to liven up.
A stage had already been set up at the main entrance of Vik University, surrounding the registration point. Both registered and unregistered new students, and even passersby, could clearly see the performances on stage.
Zhou Ning was now on high alert. If he were in charge of throwing alchemical bombs, he would most likely choose this time.
The first act on stage was the Warrior Department's "Hot-Blooded Dodgeball," which Zhou Ning suspected was the most likely segment for problems to occur.
The rules were simple: both sides took turns throwing balls using warrior skills. Hitting an opponent's body scored a point. Though the rules were simple, the competitors used martial arts and fighting aura, engaging in close-quarters combat, which was quite cool.
Moreover, Zhou Ning actually saw Sherlock and Polly in short-sleeved jerseys in the team. He didn't know how they had sneaked in. Dressed in their jerseys, they looked exactly like Li Tie. Zhou Ning only regretted not having a camera to capture Sherlock's heroic pose in the jersey.
Although the process was intense, it was generally uneventful, with no accidents occurring. After a while, Sherlock changed his clothes with a grim expression, exchanged a few words with Ian and the others, and then walked over to Zhou Ning.
"How is it?" Zhou Ning asked.
"No discoveries yet, but we've set up many detectors on site. They will buzz if a large alchemical reaction occurs."
Zhou Ning nodded in understanding. The technological level of this world was not too low. Zhou Ning guessed it was similar to the thermal sensors and overheat switches in gas lamps.
After a few words, Sherlock hurried away.
The next two acts were uninteresting. It wasn't until the fourth act that things started to get exciting, even captivating Zhou Ning.
The performer was the Mage Department lecturer, Elvis Bart. He had brown hair and looked very young and handsome, reportedly quite popular with female students.
He performed a magic trick called "Retrieving Objects from a Mirror."
"There are a total of ten items in the mirror," Elvis Bart said with a charming smile.
Zhou Ning had seen a magic trick with the same name in his previous life. The principle involved placing identical objects in front of and behind a mirror, using the visual distortion caused by the mirror's reflection to mislead the audience.
Zhou Ning initially thought Elvis Bart was employing the same trick, but he soon realized it wasn't the case.
Elvis's hand speed was incredibly fast. He continuously pulled things from the mirror: a monocle, a matchbox, a hat, a pipe, a cane, a bow tie, a shirt, a staff, and a black tailcoat. The audience gasped in surprise from time to time.
"Next is the tenth item." Elvis rummaged in the mirror for a while and pulled out half of a worm with a huge maw, flailing its claws, about 10 meters long. The other half was still in the mirror.
"Blood Sucker!"
A commotion immediately broke out. This was a giant blood-sucking beast native to the Northern Wilds. Adult Blood Suckers were eighteen to twenty meters long, fed on human blood, and were terrifyingly destructive.
"My apologies, wrong item." Elvis shrugged and smiled, throwing the Blood Sucker back. He then reached into the mirror again. Everyone noticed that as he was about to pull his hand out of the mirror, a black shadow inside the mirror was struggling with him.
Another round of loud applause erupted from the audience. They all believed it was part of the magic trick. A moment later, Elvis won the struggle and pulled a flaming black sphere from the mirror. He weighed it in his hand and then threw it towards the crowd below the stage.
A loud buzzing sound suddenly rang out in the venue.
The sudden buzzing caused a commotion. This turn of events was too abrupt. Elvis had only retrieved the black sphere from the mirror when it was about to detonate. Even Ian, who was closest, didn't have time to react, only managing to pull out his gun. Those in the audience who sensed something was wrong retreated in a panic, shouting and screaming in a cacophony.
With a "bang" of a gunshot, a bullet accurately struck the black sphere just as it was about to hit the ground, instantly exploding into a huge fireball with a radius of three to four meters in mid-air.
Ian breathed a sigh of relief and quickly looked at the shooter, finding Zhou Ning's gun still smoking. He calmly raised his gun towards Elvis and repeatedly pulled the trigger.
Click!
Elvis's figure shattered into pieces, then reformed ten meters away a moment later.
By this time, Ian had also reacted, quickly drawing his gun and firing steady bursts at Elvis.
However, Elvis didn't even look at him. A shimmering blue ice armor quietly formed on his body. The bullets hit the ice armor without even cracking it. Transparent spiritual flames silently rose from his arm, burning into a black fireball, which he threw towards Zhou Ning.
In the skill bar, [Gunfight Technique: Fatal Rhythm] had already lit up.
Zhou Ning keenly sensed the danger, having already skillfully leaped to the side, bending and tucking his body, preparing for a ground roll.
Boom!
The black fireball struck the ground, creating a deep crater that continued to burn fiercely.
Just as Zhou Ning was about to land, the sense of danger in his mind was frantically warning him. The Extreme Calm talent made his mind incredibly clear. A shotgun quietly appeared in his hand, and he pulled the trigger, aiming at the ground.
Amidst the splashing dirt, Zhou Ning used the massive recoil to leap into the air again.
A prompt appeared on the panel:
[Due to intense combat, you have comprehended a new combat skill: Flying Gun.]
[Flying Gun: A technique of shooting the ground to propel oneself backward, requiring gun control to manage one's flight distance and height.]
Whoosh! A strong gust of wind dispersed the dust on the ground, and an extremely concealed lightning spell struck the original spot.
Seeing that his sure-fire attack had missed, Elvis shook his head regretfully.
"Hurricane!"
Sherlock also arrived from a distance at this moment, chanting a spell without hesitation, and a puff of powder drifted towards Elvis.
Whoosh! A Hurricane suddenly whipped up from flat ground. Elvis was affected by the wind, his steps faltering backward. Zhou Ning, in mid-air with Flying Gun, seized the opportunity, aimed at his landing spot, and pulled the trigger.
A black film wrapped around a flaming bullet shot from the muzzle!
[Your Ripple Shot has hit Elvis Bart. Armament Haki has weakened the opponent's defense. You dealt 329 points of true damage!]
As the panel prompted, Elvis's figure suddenly froze, a layer of ice armor instantly shattered, and blood flowed profusely from his body.
Elvis looked at Zhou Ning in astonishment, his figure suddenly vanishing and reappearing more than ten meters away.
He didn't linger after that, covering his wound and sprinting away.
The preceding series of combat descriptions might seem long, but in reality, it took less than half a minute.
Zhou Ning stretched his body in the air, landing steadily, and was quite surprised by the panel information.
It was his first time combining Armament Haki and Ripple Shot, and he hadn't expected the effect to be so good.
More than ten meters away, two more rapid buzzing sounds rang out consecutively.
Sherlock and Polly rushed to the other side, where intense gunfire then began. There were already many tables and chairs there, and tables were constantly being overturned, or entire ropes with ribbons fell down. Someone on the ground had been shot in the chest, groaning and clutching their wound. Zhou Ning saw Leandro appear there, drawing his sword and charging towards someone dressed as a student, holding an alchemical bomb. Zhou Ning only saw his greatsword move incredibly fast, drawing a blurred arc in an instant, followed by a severed arm flying into the air.
"As expected of a child of the plane," Zhou Ning couldn't help but exclaim.
Just as he let out a sigh of relief, less than three seconds later, an even more urgent buzzing sound rang out from behind him. Zhou Ning suddenly turned his head, only to hear a "rumble" as two red-eyed Gnus, driven by a coachman, smashed through the school wall, pulling a heavy public carriage at full speed towards the crowd.
Clearly, the alchemical bomb was hidden inside the carriage.
XB, being the closest, couldn't evade in time. He flew high into the air as if hit by a dump truck, landed on the ground, tilted his head, and died.
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
Several Sun Keepers, including Ian and Cherry, tried to stop the carriage, but its speed increased instead. They shot at the coachman, but as the bullets pierced his body, the coachman's scrawny body rapidly swelled, almost instantly transforming into a huge and distorted monster.
His body was dark green, his face swollen, and only faint traces of his previous appearance could be seen.
"For the True God Nyastora!" the coachman roared incoherently, his eyes unnaturally red.
Zhou Ning:...He recognized this coachman. And he had a rough idea of what had happened.
An undead puppet that appeared in the mid-game, a masterpiece of the Curse God Cult. Its weakness was its head, and it was slow-moving, not difficult to deal with.
Just yesterday, they had been chatting together. The coachman had complained to him about the hardship of his work and had also said that no matter how hard it was, it didn't matter for his family.
At that time, this coachman had also expressed with anticipation: in a few more months, he would be able to rent a slightly more spacious room, and both of his sons would have the opportunity to go to school.
Tsk! How annoying.
Zhou Ning's pupils flickered slightly. He ran forward quickly, suddenly raised his gun, and pulled the trigger at the coachman.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Mozambique Drill! Ripple Shot! Ripple Shot!
Under Zhou Ning's precise control, three consecutive flaming bullets, wrapped in Armament Haki, flew out in a line and pierced into the coachman's head. A bloody hole appeared on his forehead, his long health bar instantly evaporated, and his head drooped.
[You hit Jim's vital point. You dealt 469 + 532 + 623 points of damage. Target deceased!]
At this moment, XB, who had revived, just witnessed this scene, took a sharp breath, and immediately felt a tremendous shock. Such a large monster, actually instantly killed with just one shot?
How strong was this NPC?
The buzzing sound grew louder. Zhou Ning exhaled sharply, rushed forward, his revolver spinning, a shell clattering to the ground. He pulled the trigger again at the charging Gnu.
Blood splattered, the Gnu let out a mournful neigh and fell to its side. Due to the Gnu's massive weight, the public carriage's wheels were also lifted off the ground, and it began to tilt gradually.
Zhou Ning charged forward, quickly stepping on the tilting wheel to climb onto the carriage roof. After blasting open the roof, he fired two shots into the carriage.
With two "bangs" of gunfire, the buzzing sound in the field abruptly ceased.
Watching this series of swift and decisive actions, Ian, Cherry, including XB and the viewers in the live stream, were all stunned. Ian's eyes were filled with awe, and XB even felt his hands trembling, because it was simply too amazing.
Although they had watched two episodes of the series before, this was their first time seeing Zhou Ning fight up close. His Extreme Calm and effortless fighting style left them mesmerized; he was simply incredibly powerful.
At this point, some people had even uploaded the live stream recording to the forum.
Meanwhile, the battle on the other front had also concluded, and Zhou Ning's panel displayed a prompt:
[B-rank mission [Conspiracy] completed. Claim reward?]
Zhou Ning frowned and chose no. He had clearly completed the mission, so why was it still B-rank? Could it be...