Players are coming, fortunately I have a time travel simulator

According to Gino McCauley, Taylor Sr.'s office was the second-to-last room.

Zhou Ning put on a white hard-shell mask, knocked on the door, and found that the reception room inside was similar to that of a dentist, divided into two compartments, inside and outside. Including him, there were five people sitting in the outer room waiting, each wearing a mask of different sizes to cover their appearance.

Their thoughts are understandable. The vast majority of ordinary extraordinary people do not want their identities to be known.

Zhou Ning sat down behind those people calmly. He was feeling a little bored when several prompt messages suddenly popped up.

[Note: Due to the players' enthusiasm and interest in this game, Apocalypse will be launching its public beta test ahead of schedule. Helmets and submersible pods will be available for purchase at various locations in major cities, and links can be found on the Apocalypse forum homepage. New players will receive a 9.5% discount.]

Zhou Ning: ???

I hurriedly opened the forum. Less than a week had passed since the closed beta test, but the forum's popularity had increased again. The number of followers for my own section of the same name alone had reached 500 million.

Looking at the pinned posts again, there was indeed a pinned post with the same content. The number of replies was increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and tens of thousands of people replied in a short period of time.

Come to think of it, this might have something to do with him. He could feel that the game company was caught off guard by the changes in the situation in Dockland.

Their thoughts are actually easy to guess.

In the previous life, there wasn't much plot before the game started. It progressed smoothly until the second version, the Elemental Rebellion, and Charles VI was still alive and well. When the game's closed beta began, the Cult of the Cursed was still capturing people for sacrifice, but never succeeded. The Life Alchemy Society hadn't officially debuted yet, making it a perfect place for beginner players to develop.

But now compared with the previous life, the popularity of "Apocalypse" is much higher than the previous life, and the plot has gone out of control. The faction leader Charles VI died before the players even came in. The game company probably felt that if it was delayed any longer, the players might not even come in, and evil gods and elemental kingdoms would suddenly break in. It would be almost impossible for players to smoothly get through the novice stage.

Therefore, from the perspective of the game developer, it may not be a bad idea to skip the internal phase and start the public beta in advance.

"What a troubled time!" Zhou Ning couldn't help but sigh. This meant he had to speed up his preparations.

In addition to the public beta posts, Zhou Ning also saw some posts from film and television companies in the section: a film and television drama with himself as the protagonist is about to be broadcast, and the actor who plays him is a popular young actor named Cai.

The popular young actor also posted a message below, saying that he would definitely take this role seriously.

Zhou Ning was shocked, then furious. "Are you serious? Huh?"

After waiting for twenty minutes, it was finally my turn.

Zhou Ning pushed open the middle door and walked into the room with a gas lamp hanging above his head.

After closing the door, he sat down on the chair reserved for customers and said to the old man opposite him, "I want to attend the Extraordinary People's Gathering. Kino Macaulay introduced me to it."

Hearing this, Old Taylor looked him up and down for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Come with me."

He was probably in his sixties, with thinning hair, a big nose, and a pirate hat. He looked a bit like Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Zhou Ning followed him, pushed open the side door, and walked into another room. Old Taylor walked to the corner where there was a coin-operated gas lamp hanging on the wall. He took out a 5-roshen coin from his pocket and put it into the coin slot of the gas lamp. As the gas lamp lit up, Zhou Ning saw a secret door on the wall that was difficult to distinguish.

"Come in, and be careful to protect your identity. No one here is a good person." Old Taylor said coldly.

Inside was a dark room. After Zhou Ning followed Old Taylor through the room, he could see a dimly lit living room with a circle of sofas. Ning almost dressed up.

Zhou Ning found a place to sit in the corner and quickly glanced around. Among the more than 20 people present, at least every one was above level 40, and there were even a few high-level professionals over level .

If nothing else, apart from the professionals in the field, there are probably Sun Watchers, the Ring of the Earth, and even people from the church mixed in here.

On the center table, there was a scale-like object. When Zhou Ning looked at it, he immediately received a warning.

Unknown Artifact [Balance of Doom]: This item can fairly measure the value of two items, but it can also bring non-fatal misfortune to its owner, perhaps a form of justice. An unknown alchemist created and used it, but was murdered shortly thereafter.

Effect 1: Basically fair measurement of the value of items on both sides, including items, currency, and even information.

Effect 2: ????

Zhou Ning understood clearly that this unknown strange object called the Scales of Doom should be the basis for maintaining this gathering of extraordinary people. It can accurately identify the authenticity and roughly judge the value of items.

Of course, everyone has their own needs, and the evaluation criteria may not be the same as Tianping's.

After everyone was seated, a middle-aged man wearing a silver mask came to the center and began to speak: "Today's Extraordinary Gathering has begun. According to convention, the guest at the 12 o'clock position will speak first, and the order will go clockwise. Is that okay?"

The middle-aged man glanced around, nodded, and returned to his seat. Zhou Ning was at 9 o'clock. Four places to his right, a hooded figure in a black robe stood up, walked over to the scales, and pulled out a recipe from his robe. "This is an enchantment recipe called Frost Bite. It inflicts a large amount of frost damage on weapons, with a chance to freeze the opponent. Exchange it for an equivalent alchemical formula, or sell it to Viktar."

"Bite of Frost?"

Zhou Ning's eyes lit up. This Frost Bite had a similar effect to his own Flame Oil. If it wasn't too expensive, he could definitely get it. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get an additional Enchanter secondary class.

"180 Victa!" Soon someone nearby made an offer, and it was a high price right from the start.

"190 Vectra!"

"Blueprints for a small guard puppet!" A hooded man next to Zhou Ning also made an offer.

It was obvious that the trader was quite interested in the blueprint for the small guard puppet. He ignored the other bidders and looked at the hooded man, "Deal!"

When trading, they put their respective things on both ends of the scale of misfortune.

Zhou Ning saw clearly that during the transaction, the Frost Bite blueprint clearly outperformed the Small Guardian Golem. However, money can't buy my willingness, and the two sides quickly reached a deal.

After the first transaction was completed, subsequent transactions became significantly more active.

Some of the following transactions were successful, while others failed. What surprised Zhou Ning the most was that this Scale of Doom could actually measure the value of information. He saw one transaction where someone used 200 Vekta to buy a mid-level ice spell, which was copied on the spot.

Not long after, something on Zhou Ning's left, belonging to a middle-aged man wearing a blue mask, caught Zhou Ning's attention.

"I want to sell a flintlock rifle."

"Flintlock?" Zhou Ning immediately concentrated.

The lethality of his current weapon is a bit insufficient. Although the level of firearms in this world is not high, it may not be the case if it is an extraordinary item.

"A flintlock pistol from Pirate General Victor. After its original owner was hanged, it became cursed. Hitting a target has a chance to curse them, and it may also curse yourself. The advantage of this pistol is that as long as the curse remains, the ammunition is unlimited, allowing you to test your luck against your opponent. You can take it for just 60 Victar."

The effect of this gun was so poor that no one was interested in it. Finally, Zhou Ning offered a minimum price to buy it. As expected, the progress of the famous gun collector also reached 4/5.