Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 123 I Am Redundant (Part 1)

Chapter 123: Chapter 123 I Am Redundant (Part 1)

Seeing this, Lilith couldn’t contain her laughter.

"Hahaha, how could I stumble in the same place twice?

This time, since I dare to continue using fake-AI, I have naturally made thorough preparations!"

Lilith, munching on chips, was self-assured.

Clearly, the skill she set up in the game "Hell’s Bounties," as well as her continued use of fake-AI technology, wasn’t due to stubbornness, but a deliberate flaw she sold!

Although she didn’t anticipate that players would use a move like "Reversed Celestial Firmament," she had long guessed they would exert pressure on NPCs through conversation.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have specifically mentioned the presence of a chat box in the design document.

But what if there was a chat box? Even if players really did converse with the fake-AI and influence the actions of NPCs, what then?

With adequate limitations in place, there would be no problem!

According to Lilith’s design, when Xia Mi encountered difficulties she couldn’t solve, her Angel Attribute would awaken continuously.

Her Good-Evil Value kept decreasing, she was losing her humanity more and more, while retaining her divinity, and she would even activate special abilities like "Cure Plague with Holy Blood."

Instructor Ding’s "Reversed Celestial Firmament" maneuver did indeed generate a lot of positive emotions, which put Lilith at a slight disadvantage.

But soon, all the negative emotions that were deducted would be fully returned!

...

Instructor Ding watched everything that was happening before him, powerless to stop it.

He had been utterly sidelined by Xia Mi!

Although supplies were limited and the people in the city were still starving and cold, as Xia Mi was transforming into an Archangel, her Good-Evil Value kept dropping, while her Faith Value and Charisma were steadily increasing.

Since Instructor Ding didn’t activate the Demon Ruins this round, he was unable to use demonic faith to counteract.

The people of the City Forsaken by Gods were naturally led astray!

Instructor Ding found he had nothing to do and no means to do anything, so he could only press the fast-forward button, accelerating the passage of time within the game.

Soon, the first Crusade siege event arrived.

"Well, at least I can still look forward to a spectacular battle!"

Instructor Ding prepared for battle.

The state of the City Forsaken by Gods was actually not bad at this point, though food was scarce, but at least due to taking in a large number of refugees and just barely ensuring food supply, there were also quite a few people.

After the deaths of the Garrison Soldiers, they were mostly quickly replenished.

Instructor Ding gave a rough check of the current military strength and felt confident that repelling the first Crusade siege wouldn’t be a big problem.

However, just then, he saw an exclamation mark reappear above Xia Mi’s head.

"Hmm? What’s going on?"

Instructor Ding was curious, casually clicked on the exclamation mark, and found that a new event had been triggered.

[Between the Crusaders and the City Forsaken by Gods, how should I choose...]

[The Crusaders are the righteous side, the holy messengers, while the City Forsaken by Gods is the land of sin abandoned by God...]

[But father, no, the City Lord...]

[For the sake of righteousness, this is a necessary sacrifice!]

The next second, Instructor Ding watched helplessly as Xia Mi left the city and said something to the approaching Crusade leader near the city gates.

Then, to his astonishment, the Crusade leader dismounted and bowed to her!

Following that, Xia Mi’s health bar turned red, leading the Crusaders straight into the fray!

Along the way, the subjects of the City Forsaken by Gods knelt before Lilith en masse; it was almost a "Setting out the wine and the meal to welcome the king’s troops" sort of feeling.

Instructor Ding was stunned: "What’s happening? Have I become an outsider??"

Watching the previously green-named NPC’s one by one turn red and gain health bars, Instructor Ding guessed that this game was a bust again.

Sure enough, amidst the throng’s assault, the City Lord died once more!

Only, just like before, the game still didn’t disappear immediately after the City Lord’s death.

The Crusaders occupied the city, and afterwards, Xia Mi remained dealing with various city affairs, the Demon Ruins were sealed and purified, and the Crusaders even brought food...

Instructor Ding pressed the "Fast Forward" button.

After fast-forwarding some time, the ending CG finally arrived.

Similar to the previous ending CG, it still depicted Xia Mi and the Crusaders leaving with the people of the City Forsaken by Gods, only this time there were noticeably more people.

Clearly, this time the City Forsaken by Gods hadn’t gone through much infighting, there was no battle with the Crusaders, and no conflicts between angels and demons.

Only the City Lord was obliterated by righteousness!

[Round 4 of the game over!]

[After 5 years, 6 months, and 14 days of steadfast defense, the City Forsaken by Gods was destroyed, and the cause of its demise was "Faith Collapse".]

[As the City Lord, you entrusted all affairs to Xia Mi, allowing her to shine with the Holy Mother’s brilliance upon every subject of the City Forsaken by Gods, not only awakening her divinity step by step but also ensuring her reputation among the people far surpassed yours.]

[You insisted on not using any Demonic Power, but it was clear that as the City Lord of the City Forsaken by Gods, the Crusaders would show you no pity or forgiveness.]

[You let Xia Mi handle all the affairs of the city, but unbeknownst to you, she was gradually drifting away from you. Between her foster father and faith, she ultimately chose faith.]

[If you could do it all over again, would things be any different?]

[Click to enter the 5th cycle of the world.]

...

Instructor Ding’s face was visibly flushed with fury.

"Damn it!

"Why does it feel like this game is targeting me!!"

He had thought he’d created quite an impressive show, but now it seemed, could this level of entertainment have been within the designer’s calculations as well?

He indeed could pressurize Xia Mi, and controlling Xia Mi’s fake-AI would indeed change its decision-making logic, but the catch is, the designer also set a trap here!

Obviously, as Xia Mi forced herself to treat more and more injured, the stress she bore increased, the Holy Blood she used became more abundant, and her Attribute values would change accordingly!

The Good-Evil Value was decreasing continuously.

It could even drop to a state of "Angel’s Descent".

During this process, the divine part of Xia Mi’s personality grew stronger, while her humanity weakened.

At first, she still addressed the City Lord as "Father," but later on, she just called him "City Lord".

In the end, she even staged a drama of severing ties with her foster father, choosing righteousness over kinship.

This way, didn’t it become a world where only the player got hurt?

If viewed in a conventional sense, this ending would indeed be considered not too bad.

The City Forsaken by Gods was saved, the Crusaders did not trigger a large-scale war, and the residents of the city were led away by Xia Mi.

However, the player had no sense of involvement throughout the process, merely watching Xia Mi’s performance! This wasn’t fun at all!

Instructor Ding wanted to see Xia Mi’s embarrassment by putting pressure on her, but in the end, it didn’t succeed, and it only led to Xia Mi transforming into the embodiment of an Archangel even faster.

That would be worse than directly using Hell’s Bounties! At least death would be more straightforward then.

Instructor Ding quietly stood up and washed his face.

He glanced at the time; it was already past 11 o’clock, and there wasn’t much time left until today’s stream would end.

"Brothers, let’s try one last time.

"Let me check if the good folks on the forum have discovered anything new."

Instructor Ding opened the forum once again, seeking inspiration.

The chat was also busily suggesting strategies.

"It feels like Nitiandang wouldn’t create meaningless designs, think about it, is there any feature we haven’t tried yet?"

"It seems that we haven’t tried the function to increase favorability in Xia Mi’s control interface, right?"

"Since both pressuring her or using Hell’s Bounties make her transform, what if both were used together?"

"It probably still won’t work, she’s already turned into an Archangel, would using Hell’s Bounties still be effective?"

"But the system also didn’t say that whenever Good-Evil Value turns to 10 points, she will definitely transform into an Archangel, right?"

"Yeah, currently there are only two known triggers for turning into an Archangel: one is giving Hell’s Bounties, which seems to be minus 10 points of Good-Evil Value + turn into an Archangel; the other is to continuously pressure her, causing her AI to go haywire and continuously sell blood until death for transformation. It didn’t say that low Good-Evil Value definitely results in becoming an Archangel, did it?"

"It feels like those demonic abilities have to be taken, otherwise, without Hell’s Vision, you can’t see the changes in various attributes, which is very negative for exploring game mechanics!"

"But how to take it? Taking it would mean breaking with Xia Mi."

Instructor Ding continued to read the discussions on the chat and the forum intently.

Then, quietly off-screen, he opened a new text document and began typing quickly!

From his frequent screen switching and looking at forum posts and chat messages, it seemed he was recording various known conditions.

Finally, he stopped and pressed save several times.

"Brothers, I suddenly feel like I’ve deciphered the runes!

"Many people on the web have already tried different methods, although none have been effective, but I suddenly think that there might be a way to combine all these methods!

"Perhaps it could lead to unexpected results!

"Let me try again!

"Brothers, I suddenly have a hunch that I’ve grasped the thought process of Nitiandang’s designers!"