Players are coming, fortunately I have a time travel simulator

As black lightning covered most of Dockland, countless ordinary citizens looked up with a hint of fear, trying to see what was happening. But then, a burst of black smoke instantly rose above most of their heads and gathered on the roofs of various orphanages in the city, absorbing and condensing something.

One by one, the ordinary citizens were transformed into black evil spirits made of pure shadows, or into staggering undead, wandering aimlessly based only on their instincts in life.

Daklan, the capital of all cities in the world of Apocalypse, the place favored by the gods, a metropolis with a population of over eight million, instantly lost more than six million people.

……

Old Turin's house.

Mrs. Tulin was busy preparing dinner. Because Wayne was coming over for dinner, she had specially prepared a few more of her specialties, such as alfalfa veal and Braxton slow-cooked chicken. She chatted with old Tulin while she was cooking:

"I'll have to wait before I can push you out for a walk today. I have to prepare these two dishes first. Slow-cooked chicken requires the right amount of heat."

"I know, I know."

Old Turin sat in a wheelchair, fiddling with a man-sized alchemical armor with a rare smile on his face. This was the toy he had promised to give to Zhou Ning, a toy unique to men.

Although he didn't say much, his heart was filled with gratitude towards Zhou Ning. He knew very well that if it weren't for those undead cores and life cores that came to his rescue, his wife wouldn't have survived this winter.

After losing all his sons and daughters one after another due to war and disease, she continued to take care of him who was paralyzed, gently and attentively as always. More than forty years have passed in a flash, and he dare not imagine what it would feel like to lose her.

Suddenly, Old Turin felt a flash of black lightning descend from the sky overhead, as if it were pulling something from his body. Lyrella, far away, was in even worse condition. Her face quickly paled, and she gasped for air. Then, in just ten seconds, his wife's face had turned gray, with only the whites of her eyes remaining. She had become a ghost, a soulless being, operating solely on the instincts of life.

"No, Lyra..."

"No, Lyra..."

He stretched out his hand towards his wife, trembling, calling her name over and over again. Then he saw her raise her head and walk towards him step by step with stiff steps.

Old Turin closed his eyes in pain, and then he felt someone gently pushing him from behind.

She pushed the wheelchair and pushed old Turin out of the room.

At 5:50 in the evening, for the past forty years, it has always been this time, when his wife would push him out for a walk.

This is true even if you become a ghost that acts only on instinct.

…………

Not far from here, at the edge of the trading area, in front of a newly opened small restaurant, Marissa was squatting on the ground picking vegetables, while her daughter was running around happily, playing the Weathering with You game with the nearby children, and still wearing the hat that the young man had given her before.

"Who is the weatherman? Wind, rain, thunder, lightning! Who is the weatherman? Fog, dew, cloud, frost!"

She listened to her daughter running away laughing and playing, and couldn't help but shouting, "Sylvia, it's time to eat, don't run away!"

"I know, Mom!" the daughter replied in a clear voice.

Marissa couldn't help but smile. Although her husband died in an accident, she got some money thanks to the kind young man. She followed his advice and left the orphanage. With the money and her own savings, she opened a simple restaurant.

Although life is a bit hard, as long as we are alive, there is hope.

In just one day today, he had saved up a full 7 roshen. At this rate, his daughter Sylvia might have the opportunity to go to school and completely escape from her low-income life.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Marissa's face, and her hands moved more briskly.

Not long after, she finally finished the work in her hands. Just as she was about to get up, she felt something in her body floating away. She saw a puff of black smoke rising above her head, and the same was true above Sylvia's head.

In her blurred vision, she saw Sylvia's running figure freeze. A moment later, she and the children around her quickly turned into gray-faced undead, or black shadows made up purely of shadows.

No…Sylvia.

Marissa shed tears. Things were obviously getting better, so why did it turn out like this?

She lost consciousness, and a moment later, another undead began to wander aimlessly.

……

The same thing happened in every corner of Docklands, in every area within the workhouse's reach, in the trading district, the docks, the port, the canal...

A large number of people who had no extraordinary powers or were already physically weak turned into undead or shadows one by one and died one after another. Even many extraordinary people became weak.

The catastrophe of Darkland has officially begun.

At the same time, the forum of "Apocalypse" was filled with unprecedented discussion heat, with posts about the new version everywhere. Many players posted screenshots of the game: a large number of indigenous people on the roadside turned into undead.

Many preachers spreading the teachings of the Ashrama appeared along the way, many of them taking advantage of the chaos to burn, kill, and loot, creating more blood and chaos. Many players also died at their hands, and a large amount of blood gathered into a huge ball, hanging in the air.

Is this the Great Cataclysm of Darkland? Players who had never seen such a large-scale scene in the game were shocked.

In Darkland Fortress, Zhou Ning, who had just sorted out his thoughts, couldn't help but feel horrified. He naturally saw the post on the Apocalypse Forum. Through his observation Haki, he could also feel that in the instant just now, countless lives disappeared in an instant, transformed into extremely surging life energy and resentment, gathering above the various orphanages.

Is the Ascendant Ceremony beginning now?

The more such moments came, the calmer Zhou Ning's heart became. At this time, the auras inside gradually decreased. They must have left here one after another through extraordinary means and headed to various corners of the city.

My long-held ominous premonition had finally come true. If nothing unexpected happened, the situation outside would be even more dire than I had imagined. From their conversation, it appeared that this plan involved the Braxton Royal Family, the Cult of the Cursed, the Life Alchemy Association, and the Ascetic Order. The most obvious goal was to help Charles VII achieve deification and resurrect the evil god Nyastra, imprisoned underground.

Now he had two choices. One was to leave Darkland as soon as possible. With his abilities, even if Nyastra descended, he wouldn't be harmed. The other was to try to stop the ritual from continuing, saving everyone he could, or at least preventing the evil god Nyastra from successfully reviving.

After weighing the pros and cons, he took a deep breath and clenched his fists. He still wanted to save everyone possible.

Having lived in this world for so long, Zhou Ning is no longer able to just treat it as a game.