Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 165 We Are Different

Chapter 165: Chapter 165 We Are Different

After being blown to pieces by the old crone, Instructor Ding finally started to realize a crucial issue.

He and Li Wenhao were not seeing the same world!

As outlandish as it sounded, a careful reflection on their previous gaming experiences revealed that there had been clues right from the start.

For instance, Li Wenhao casually picked up chunks of flesh from the ground without any emotional burden and found nothing abnormal about bandits exploding into flesh chunks; he even stuffed the chunks onto animal corpses to revive them...

Now that he thought about it, Li Wenhao was actually repairing those machines with parts!

No wonder Li Wenhao found this behavior quite normal.

There was also the time when both Instructor Ding and Li Wenhao criticized the "Seeking Immortality Record" item.

But their points of criticism were completely different!

Instructor Ding had focused on the fact that the Seeking Immortality Record looked pitch black and was surrounded by dark auras, resembling an evil sect’s tool and not matching its name.

However, having such a name within an Immortal Cultivation World was not an issue.

Li Wenhao, on the other hand, mentioned "it’s completely out of place in the world," clearly indicating that his issue was not with its appearance, but with the name itself.

Indeed, it was somewhat discordant for a sci-fi world to feature an item with a name like "Seeking Immortality Record."

Instructor Ding exclaimed in shock, "You mean to tell me you’re not seeing an Immortal Cultivation World?"

Li Wenhao was equally puzzled, "What Immortal Cultivation World? Hasn’t it been a Mechanical World right from the beginning?"

Instructor Ding was even more shocked, "What? Didn’t you notice that the game is different from the promotional videos after you entered? Didn’t you find it strange?"

Li Wenhao nodded, "I did find it a bit strange, didn’t I ask why there were so many parts on the side of the road? But you didn’t respond, so I thought that’s just how the game was and that I was making a fuss over nothing, so I didn’t keep asking.

"Could it be that you’re not seeing parts? Then what are you seeing?"

The bullet screen comments went crazy.

"Hahaha, talking on completely different channels the whole time!"

"Despite seeing completely different things, the fact that they could somehow still converse is just absurd."

"What exactly is the other person seeing? I’m so curious!"

"You two should add each other as friends after you’re done fighting, you guys have zero tacit understanding!"

In fact, the show effect that Instructor Ding and Li Wenhao produced was somewhat due to a series of fortunate mishaps.

Strictly speaking, although "Ascension" game’s two-player mode is somewhat misleading, it certainly shouldn’t be able to deceive players continuously.

The previous promotional video only showcased the Immortal Cultivation World and did not display the Mechanical World. Thus, if a player who was allocated the perspective of the Mechanical World entered the game, they would most likely raise questions very quickly.

Even if they hadn’t seen the promotional videos, should the players happen to use keywords such as "screws," "flesh monsters," or "Cthulhu," it could very likely arouse the other player’s suspicions. If the two players simply compared the scenes they were seeing, they would quickly realize the truth.

Such deceit could not possibly continue indefinitely.

The fact that Instructor Ding and Li Wenhao were so late in realizing what was happening could only be chalked up to sheer coincidence.

The game was already quite difficult, and dying would also cause the other player to bear joint responsibility, so they were both concentrating on their gameplay. Their communication was somewhat distracted, and they had not noticed many suspicious details.

Moreover, the game’s creatures had no names, and the terrain and positions were all the same, which was why the two of them had such a big misunderstanding.

Instructor Ding grew even more curious, "So what exactly are you seeing?"

It was only after a brief exchange that they realized how ridiculous the situation was.

In the world Instructor Ding saw, Li Huanzhen was wearing a bamboo hat, dressed in a tattered Daoist robe, wielding a rusty iron sword; whereas, in Li Wenhao’s view, Li Huanzhen similarly wore a tattered robe, but underneath was an artificially modified mechanical body, and the long sword in hand was made of a special alloy material.

Li Huanzhen even had an English name, Vision Lee.

What Instructor Ding saw as the Seeking Immortality Record was a series of black bamboo slips bound together with red cords, while what Li Wenhao saw was composed of special alloys and retractable metal wires, capable of activating special holographic projections.

What was the Locust Stone to Instructor Ding, was a launcher to Li Wenhao;

What were Flesh Monsters to Instructor Ding, were large robots to Li Wenhao;

What were Followers of the Xunxiang Sect to Instructor Ding, were an organization called the Xunxiang Cult to Li Wenhao, but they seemed more like a cult from a cyber-worldview, worshipping mechanical deities.

Apart from that, the main geographical and personal names in the game remained unchanged, just wrapped in some special packaging.

Although the plot framework was still roughly the same, it felt strangely off when interpreted.

In the original story of the Immortal Cultivation World, it was the villagers who unearthed Black Tai Sui, causing monsters and evil spirits to appear, while in the science fiction storyline, it has become an experimental lab’s new type of intelligent lifeform robot AI infected by a virus, undergoing a mutation and awakening its self-consciousness.

After being dismantled by the laboratory, the robot’s damaged parts were swallowed by recycling robots, but this unexpectedly caused the program virus to spread, awakening self-consciousness in more robots, which began to self-organize and self-upgrade, spreading the virus to even more machinery.

Priestess Xie was a mechanical engineer; she traveled around to investigate this virus and repair the affected machines.

In addition, since a large number of humans in this world used mechanical prosthetics, if infected by the virus, their minds could also suffer serious effects, even triggering cybernetic mental disorders.

And Priestess Xie was also seeking a way to solve this problem.

Zhao Siyuan was a soldier with a highly modified body; he would stop the large Xun Xiang Cult robots from collecting mechanical parts to evolve themselves, but that was just a different approach.

His views still differed from Priestess Xie’s, believing that the virus should be used to activate the AI of the machines and try to control their thoughts, making them more effective on the battlefield.

However, ludicrously, despite being two vastly different worlds, the distribution of monsters and terrain was completely identical, only their appearances were different!

Even the decorative arches on the Taoist temples had transformed into a Chinese science fiction style.

As for the monsters and NPCs in the game, most of them had the same attitude towards players.

For instance, minor monsters would default to attacking both people, while major NPCs within the Taoist temples like Priestess Xie and Zhao Siyuan could interact with and provide quests.

However, some side quest NPCs in the game had different initial attitudes towards the two!

Like the old granny, to Instructor Ding she appeared as a green-named NPC, who would even initiate conversation; but to Li Wenhao, she was a red-named elite monster with no dialogue or storyline, looking quite dangerous, prompting him to instinctively chop her with his weapon.

...

After a brief discussion, they realized just how preposterous the game "Ascension" was.

To think they had created two completely different sets of art assets!

Wouldn’t that double the development cost?

But this also kindled some excitement in Instructor Ding, after all, he had never before played a co-op game with such a mechanism.

"OK, fellas, misunderstanding cleared, Mouse is fine, he didn’t mean to hit the NPC on purpose for the sake of producing program effects!

"It seems like the game just wants to deliberately mess with the players. Although this old granny is a side quest NPC, she probably doesn’t have a big impact.

"Even though we’re in red-name status now, we should be fine as long as we avoid her.

"Mouse, next time we encounter a similar elite monster let’s not initiate combat, wait for the monster to make the first move then we move in, otherwise it’s no good if we accidentally hit the other’s NPC by mistake.

"And I don’t think it’s a big problem anyway, since there’s always one person who can receive quests, so as long as both of us do different quests, that should work right?!"

Li Wenhao also said, "Indeed, let’s continue, Brother Ding!"

After temporarily bypassing the old granny, the two continued to move forward, soon arriving at a Xun Xiang Cult stronghold.

The levels in "Ascension" seemed to sprawl in every direction, but they were actually linear, with relatively fixed routes.

Although you could choose any path within an area, you would always end up at a certain final checkpoint, and only after defeating the checkpoint’s boss or elite monster could you push on to the next area.

Here, as before, there were numerous Followers of the Xunxiang Sect, Flesh Monsters, and many of the lower-class soldiers of Great Liang patrolling nearby. And at the center of the base, a roar could be faintly heard, as if some experiment was being conducted.

"Is this supposed to be the first big boss in the game?"

Instructor Ding and Li Wenhao stood on the roof beams, overlooking the monsters below.

Through Instructor Ding’s eyes, this was a large humanoid monster that, while retaining the human form, seemed stuffed with flesh all over, possessing extreme strength.

Its large hands, with ten thick tendrils as fingers and two sharp bone spurs protruding from each forearm, resembled Wolverine’s claws, only these looked more like choppers.

Its eyes appeared to be sewn shut, and it was chained firmly to a pillar by several large iron chains, with a few Followers of the Xun Xiang Sect and Guards engrossed in study and surveillance around it.

Instructor Ding asked, "Mouse, what do you see this monster as?"

Li Wenhao described, "It’s just a large robot. The fingers seem to be retractable, and there are two alloy choppers on its arms."

Instructor Ding nodded slightly, "Hmm, it looks like we’re dealing with roughly the same monster. We’ll take a side each, take out these minor monsters stealthily, and then go for it together!"