Chapter 336: Traversal Simulator Version 3.0
After a brief chat, Zhou Ning learned that Ian had been working with Sherlock these past two days investigating the giant incident—but they hadn't made any progress. Even Ian himself had been scolded by Sherlock.
Zhou Ning hadn't expected Ian to be so straightforward. As they talked, Ian even began complaining about Sherlock, saying he never gave him a day off—he hadn't had a vacation in eight months! He called Sherlock unreasonable, stingy, and miserly, grumbling on and on.
Zhou Ning wasn't sure about the "unreasonable" part, but stingy and miserly? That, he had experienced firsthand. Every time he came to the West Lin General Store, the tea served was always the cheapest kind, there were never any pastries, and even the standard carriage was terribly plain. Allegedly, this was directly tied to the Sunkeeper budget shortage—after cutting costs everywhere, this was the result.
They really were unlucky, though. Just looking at the mission progress said it all—after several months, the task was still stuck at 27%, with zero progress. The entire Sunkeeper group was dispirited and embarrassed, unable to lift their heads.
The Bryston authorities had used that as justification to pressure Kien West into giving up his investigation of the "Jeremy Aiden Ghost Incident," transferring the case to the Darkley Field Division instead.
If Zhou Ning hadn't accidentally learned from Richie Burke that the original informant—Adam Aiden, bearer of the "Honesty" family motto—actually knew Count Robbins and was highly suspicious, the task progress would never have jumped from 27% to 55%.
So, was it possible that the Sunkeepers still didn't know Adam Aiden was problematic? If their investigation started off in the wrong direction, how could they ever reach the truth?
At that moment, Sherlock—who bore a striking resemblance to Li Tie—walked out from the inner corridor of the West Lin General Store. Seeing Zhou Ning, he smiled in greeting, sat down beside him, poured himself a cup of cheap tea, and asked with a smile,
"Nice weather today. What are you two talking about?"
Seeing Sherlock, Ian immediately stood up straight and saluted loudly.
"Captain! We were just discussing the giant case!"
This guy looked exactly like Jason Statham—rugged, chiseled, radiating righteousness. You'd never guess that just two minutes ago, he'd been cursing his superior in front of Zhou Ning. Zhou Ning couldn't help but give him a disdainful look.
"Oh?" Sherlock looked intrigued and turned to Zhou Ning. "Wayne, do you have some kind of lead?"
After a moment's thought, Zhou Ning decided to tell Sherlock about Adam Aiden. After all, it was part of his own mission—and sometimes, leveraging official power was necessary.
Choosing his words carefully, he said, "Sherlock, haven't you ever suspected that the informant, Adam Aiden, might be hiding something?"
"Adam Aiden?" Sherlock repeated thoughtfully, then shook his head. "That's unlikely. I remember telling you—his family's creed is honesty. If he ever lies, he loses that ability."
"How could it be impossible?"
Though still a bit hesitant, Zhou Ning concealed the main character's name and recounted what he'd seen and heard over the past two days—especially the connection between Adam Aiden and Count Robbins.
"That explains it! No wonder parts of his testimony didn't add up!" Sherlock's eyes lit up as he listened. He thanked Zhou Ning, then suddenly stood and clapped Ian on the shoulder. "Let's move!"
The Sunkeeper profession was truly overworked—no rest days, and they could be called into action at any hour of the night. Thankfully, Zhou Ning was only a part-timer...
At that moment, two system prompts appeared on his interface:
[Your reputation with the Sunkeepers has increased by 2500 points. Current relationship: Intimate.]
[B-Rank mission "Tracking the Giant's Whereabouts" progress updated: 79%.]
The task progress had jumped by 24% in one go. So this was the correct way to handle the quest! It really did feel like playing a detective game—basically teaming up with Sherlock Holmes for fun, Zhou Ning thought wryly.
"Wait a second…" Zhou Ning stopped Sherlock, who was about to leave. "Do you still have any standard-issue revolvers? I'd like to buy a batch—the price is negotiable."
The players had been overly enthusiastic today; business was booming. His stockpile of several thousand revolvers—saved up over months—was nearly sold out. Perfect time to replenish.
"They're stacked in the right-side room of the underground passage," Sherlock said. "Cherry's guarding the place. Take what you need, but don't grab too much—I'll be watching you." He pointed at his eyes with two fingers before rushing off with Ian.
Zhou Ning was stunned. Did that mean he could just take them for free? And people said Sherlock was stingy? How dare they!
In the basement of the West Lin General Store, Zhou Ning found Cherry. They had worked together before during the Alchemy Bomb Incident at Vick University—he hadn't expected her to be the Sunkeeper's quartermaster. She was independent from the Church of Ascetic's quartermaster, Lucius.
Her exchange stock was extensive but eclectic—finished goods like firearms, ammunition, and alchemical potions. Nothing top-tier, but cheap and abundant.
What stood out the most was a flintlock similar to Richie Burke's—a mysterious item of unknown properties. But its exchange cost was a staggering 9,000 reputation points, enough to wipe Zhou Ning's accumulated Sunkeeper reputation back down to "Indifferent."
He didn't have much use for flintlocks anyway, or he might have traded for it on the spot.
There were also several Dungeon Summoning Stones available for exchange: "Shadow Maze," "Cultist Sacrifice Ritual," and "Eerie Gallery." To his surprise, there were two related directly to him—"Alchemy Phantom" and "Vick University Alchemy Bomb Incident."
Each cost 2,500 reputation points, same as Lucius's prices.
Not wanting to take excessive advantage, Zhou Ning exchanged for a single batch of revolvers. After returning to the surface, he waited for a while before Leandro finally walked through the door.
"Any discoveries?" Zhou Ning asked eagerly.
"No." Leandro shook his head, a bit frustrated. "The poorhouses are too far apart. I visited three today but found no sign of Chris Fisher. The only odd thing is that all three poorhouses share the exact same layout."
Zhou Ning nodded in understanding. It seemed Leandro hadn't discovered the alchemy circle hidden in the secret rooms—but that wasn't surprising. Not everyone had Observation Haki like he did.
...
Over the next two days, Zhou Ning continued his routine—running his alchemy shop by day and investigating the remaining poorhouses at night. Unfortunately, neither he nor Leandro found any useful clues.
The only thing confirmed was that all the poorhouses were likely used as Ascender ritual altars—he'd already identified nine on his end alone...
Meanwhile, Sherlock's progress had skyrocketed. Zhou Ning didn't know what they'd done, but the mission percentage had jumped to 91%—almost complete.
In addition, after three days of continuous sales, Zhou Ning's experience had surpassed 130 million, and his accumulated Vecktas exceeded 160,000—just one step away from evolving "Mediocre" into "Powerful." Jinse was already level 38; by tomorrow night or the following morning, she'd reach level 40 and unlock the Professional League. That meant Zhou Ning had one last day to harvest resources.
But he'd also promised John to meet at Vick University the next morning—to introduce him to a new business partner. Zhou Ning wasn't one to break his word.
Time was running dangerously short!
"Traversal Simulator update complete. Welcome to the era of Traversal Simulator 3.0!"
Just as he returned home, a synthetic voice suddenly rang in his ears. Zhou Ning immediately perked up.
After several days of downtime, the update was finally done! He shut the door, pulled up a chair, and sat down eagerly—then clicked in without hesitation!