Players Descend, Good Thing I Have a Traversal Simulator

Chapter 57: Episode 3 of the Series (2)

The perspective immediately shifts to the Alchemy Department registration point. After a brief exchange between a man and a woman, the audience learns that both are members of the Sunwatchers, and their purpose is to assist Zhou Ning in uncovering the Life Alchemy Association's conspiracy.

A moment later, the camera settles on a sneaky-looking man, prompting a flood of bullet comments across the screen.

"Yo, isn't that XB?"

"X-Baby, sob sob… you're on TV! Mommy's so proud!"

"Stop calling yourself his mommy!"

"XB fans, stand tall!"

...

At that very moment, XB himself was watching the video. Seeing the wave of comments, he couldn't help but feel speechless.

He'd guessed the AI might edit him into the footage, but he didn't expect it to include his first-person perspective. Now all he could do was pray that the AI didn't keep the part with his self-introduction.

If it did, he'd be publicly executed—utterly socially dead.

But fate was unkind. As soon as the perspective cut to him, the video flashed back.

On screen, the moment he'd just arrived in-game was shown: he reached into an animal's fur, gave it a squeeze, and even sniffed it.

Above his head appeared a caption:

Engineer Apprentice / Player: XB

"Dammit!" XB groaned, vision going dark.

He hurriedly tried to explain on his livestream:

"Let me explain—no wait, let me defend myself! I was just trying to check if it was still there! This game's way too realistic!"

He didn't dare look at the video's comments; just the flood in his own stream was already humiliating enough. Even a dog would want to hang itself out of secondhand shame.

The public execution continued. When the view stayed on him as he walked up to the protagonist, spoiler bullet comments all began spamming the same line:

"Hi hubby, my name is XB. I'm your idol—wait, no, you're my idol."

And when XB actually said that iconic line, the comments hit their first peak. Everyone saw the fleeting look of disgust flash across Zhou Ning's face.

"LMAO, XB got dissed."

"XB fans, heads hanging low."

"XB looks so dumb it's adorable. I'd take him."

"Is this the so-called 'lucky player allowed to join the main story'? He just looks like a complete idiot."

XB: …

So embarrassed his toes were curling, XB turned off comments for a full minute.

Thankfully, the execution soon ended, and the players were quickly distracted by a wave of plot developments.

On screen, XB received a task from the protagonist. Like a cartoon cop, he began patrolling around. The camera then shifted back to Zhou Ning.

The footage clearly fast-forwarded a bit, and soon the bell struck nine times. Elvis appeared. When he did, two captions appeared above his head and the mirror he held:

Lecturer, Vick University School of Magic / Priest of the Curse God Cult: Elvis Bart.

Unknown Artifact [Damian's Ordinary Mirror]: Grants access to a mirror world that can be freely entered and explored—but may result in being replaced by a ghost from within the mirror, becoming forever lost. Created by Archmage Damian during the era of the Four Heroes, he vanished into the mirror after crafting it.

Zhou Ning: …

Strange. How did he not notice that thing at the time?

The appearance of an unknown artifact immediately excited viewers. After all, what do players want most in a game? Gear!

"Mom, I need that!"

"What happens if a player gets lost in the mirror? Do they die?"

"They'll just respawn, duh. What else?"

Zhou Ning smirked. Keep dreaming. While the game does feature quite a few unknown artifacts, they're basically loot boxes—most are absolute traps. The rare few that aren't are all in the hands of major NPC factions.

That said… come to think of it, there was one relatively safe artifact in Darkland City. He should go find it when he has time.

Playback continued.

After Elvis performed a flashy mirror trick, he suddenly pulled out an alchemy bomb and hurled it into the crowd. The AI instantly locked back onto Zhou Ning's POV, and the audience noticed that Zhou Ning had clearly sensed something was wrong. In a split second, a revolver materialized in his palm, and he fired at the bomb mid-air.

Boom! The alchemy bomb exploded into a fireball.

Elvis then revealed his true nature. Since the perspective remained on Zhou Ning, the audience saw a massive black fireball hurling toward him, which he dodged with a simple leap. As he was about to land, he seemingly predicted the future, drawing a shotgun and firing at the ground. Using the recoil to launch himself into the air, he narrowly evaded a hidden lightning spell. The fluidity and visual flair of his movements made viewers want to drop to their knees in awe.

After a fierce fight and with Sherlock's help, Elvis was forced to retreat. But before the audience could breathe easy, the scene descended into even greater chaos as more alchemy bombs suddenly appeared, their beeping noises filling the air.

The video split into four perspectives:

1. Zhou Ning.

2. Sherlock and his Sunwatchers squad.

3. Leandro de Pessa in a new student uniform.

4. XB, wide-eyed and ears twitching like antennae, playing the war correspondent.

First, Sherlock's group encountered trouble. Their attacker was a strong clown tossing hand grenades. But with Sherlock's meteorological abilities assisting, the Sunwatchers concentrated fire and quickly subdued the threat.

Then came Leandro de Pessa. Zhou Ning noted that this "Child of Plane" had finally started to shine. Already skilled in alchemy, Leandro immediately sensed the danger, drew his greatsword, and charged at the bomber—who was disguised as a student. The enemy hadn't even managed to activate the bomb before being stunned and then overwhelmed by a whirlwind of sword strikes, unable to fight back at all.

Then it was XB's turn.

With a crash, a public carriage burst through the school's wall. The coachman lost control and drove straight into the crowd—XB took the full brunt and was instantly killed, his head lolling to the side.

The bullet comments went quiet for a second—then exploded in a flurry.

"NOOOOO!!! X—B—!!"

"LOL, that was brutal, but why is it so funny?"

"You don't get it—XB's job in Darkland is traffic cop. He keeps order in-game. It's the NPCs who are uncivilized. XB died a hero."

"I'm new. Who's this XB guy? Did the devs hire a comedian?"

XB, once again mentally defeated by the barrage of stupid comments, muted them for another minute.

Back to the first screen: Zhou Ning was now running toward the fourth scene. The camera zoomed in again and locked on him.

Several Sunwatchers fired at the coachman, but after being shot, the man grotesquely transformed into a huge monster, completely ignoring bullets.

The footage then flashed back to the previous day, showing Zhou Ning riding the same public carriage. Players learned the coachman had once been a poor man working 16-hour shifts to support his family, only to be turned into a monster by a cultist's manipulation.

Then the perspective returned—Zhou Ning rushed forward and fired at the coachman's head.

The AI slowed the footage dramatically, even highlighting the health bar above the monster's head.

Everyone could see it clearly: three blazing, spiraling bullets shot from the revolver and pierced straight into the coachman's skull. Instantly, the entire health bar was wiped out.

"Holy crap…"

"One shot kill? Did I see that right?"

"You saw right. That's my man—so OP!"

After the coachman was down, the beeping of alchemy bombs inside the carriage grew frantic. Viewers held their breath—but Zhou Ning didn't let them down. He took down the rampaging wildebeest with a single blast, then climbed up the tilting wheelbase onto the roof. As he defused the bomb and the beeping finally ceased, everyone let out a breath, feeling like they'd just watched a thrilling action movie. The immersion was unreal.

But before anyone could even take a sip of water, Zhou Ning, now on screen again, seemed to have discovered a new clue. Through a conversation with Sherlock, it became clear: the bombing might have been a diversion. The cult's real target… was the state visit taking place at Withershire Cathedral Square.

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