Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 172: Monastery of True Words (Three more updates, asking for monthly votes!)

Chapter 172: Chapter 172: Monastery of True Words (Three more updates, asking for monthly votes!)

Teaming up with Wang Dawei was the same platform anchor "Heilong," which was the anchor who had previously done a speedrun of Sisyphus.

Throughout the game, Wang Dawei was mainly responsible for staying alive, then using various items to heal himself and Heilong as Heilong fought his way through tough opponents.

Actually, Wang Dawei himself was not really into the game; he was somewhat ’kidnapped’ by his audience and felt it would be rude to abandon Heilong midway, so he kept playing persistently.

Lilith enjoyed watching those whose gaming skills were similar to her own lackluster abilities, and since there were no other anchors to watch at the time, she temporarily locked onto Wang Dawei’s live broadcast.

"Brother David, where shall we go next? It seems there are three options: Monastery of True Words, Crane Valley, or Immortal Village," Heilong asked.

After some thought, Wang Dawei said, "Brother Long, I think we should head to the Monastery of True Words first. According to the dialogue in the plot, there’s a Relic Sword in the monastery that seems to be a very important key item."

Clearly, even in two-player mode, players can produce different outcomes.

The combination of Instructor Ding and Li Wenhao, for example, was rather unsuccessful.

Both were similarly skilled and had their own ideas, resulting in conflicts easily arising under the mechanics of "Ascension".

However, the combination of Wang Dawei and Heilong was much more harmonious.

Wang Dawei was not particularly good at playing games. He was smart and had a good memory, but his gameplay was average; Heilong, on the other hand, was a standard mindless action player, great at operating, but never paying attention to the story.

Heilong had made a joke in another action game live broadcast, where he had killed the final boss without knowing it, and upon seeing the NPC mention the final boss’s name in the final cutscene CG, he asked, "Who is this?"

He belonged to that kind of player who didn’t want to read a single word of the story.

So when the two of them played in co-op mode, they actually coordinated perfectly, with Heilong slashing at anyone he met up front and Wang Dawei lingering in the back to support by using items.

Of course, due to the random aggro switch mechanism of the boss, Wang Dawei also took his fair share of beatings; fortunately, Heilong’s skills were solid, especially after grasping the secret of "Chop Three Frameworks in One," which allowed the game progress to continue.

Furthermore, in their division of labor, Wang Dawei also bore the important task of following the story. The choice of side quests and the progression of the game were all up to him.

Although Wang Dawei would definitely make choices that benefited himself, Heilong didn’t care about the story anyway, so it didn’t matter to him.

The audience in the live broadcast room jokingly called their team "the blind man carrying the lame"; Wang Dawei was the lame directing the way, and Heilong was the blind charging ahead.

The two left Jiangdu City and, following the directions in the story, headed for the Monastery of True Words.

"Ascension" did not have a large map or clear quest guidance, only a few simple lines of text in NPC dialogues. For players who skip the story, it is as if there is no guidance.

Soon, the two of them jumped down from a cliff, stepping on robust branches protruding from the cliffside as they looked ahead.

In the distance, between the sheer mountain walls, there was a continuous plank walkway, and above the walkway, amongst the blood-red maple leaves of the mountain peak, stood an ancient-looking temple.

The largest hall of this monastery was at the very top of the mountain, with various corridors and walkways connecting other halls distributed along the mid-mountain and valleys.

"Brother David, I’m going in!"

Heilong, taking the lead, charged forward and started fighting with the patrolling monks nearby.

The minions in "Ascension" were not particularly strong, and considering Li Huanzhen’s excellent mobility, players could completely ignore these minions and run straight to the boss. Moreover, players could also use assassination or tools in various other ways.

Heilong and Wang Dawei steadily advanced forward.

However, while playing, Wang Dawei felt something was off.

"Brother Long, it seems like I’ve hit a bug; there’s a stone bench stuck in the wall here, do you see it?"

Heilong came over to look, "Oh, I see an abandoned metal tire here, but it looks normal to me.

"Hey, there’s a pillar here with a weird texture; all the surrounding pillars are made of metal, but this one turned red, and it’s peeling a bit."

Wang Dawei looked, "All the pillars I see here are somewhat peeling red pillars. I’m not sure which one you’re talking about specifically.

"Isn’t this game a bit too buggy?

"The beginning was fine, with only one or two occasional bugs, but there seem to be more as we go on.

"Didn’t they test this game before it was released?"

Heilong didn’t know what to say, "This... I’m not so sure either. Normally, this company’s games have very few bugs.

"Why is this game getting a bug every three steps, and they are all basic model misplacements and texture errors that should be easy to detect with more testing, right?

"Oh, right, this game seems to use the Myriad Editor!"

"This darn editor is notorious for its bugs; it seems that even with Nitiandang’s technical prowess, they can’t possibly fix them all. They just have to make do and play..."

Wang Dawei felt quite helpless, "Playing like this is a bit torturous!"

At this moment, he felt as if he had returned to the days of playing pirated games in internet cafes over a decade ago, which was incredibly frustrating.

He hadn’t been having much fun with this game to begin with, and just as he was finally getting interested in the plot, he started to be tormented by bugs.

Even more absurdly, as he played, he would often experience hallucinations and auditory illusions: the screen in front of him would morph into another science fiction world, and he would occasionally hear science fiction sound effects. These visual and audio effects appeared separately, adding to the torment.

Wang Dawei couldn’t tell if this was a bug or an intentional game mechanic anymore.

[Wang Dawei’s negative emotions +1!]

[Wang Dawei’s negative emotions +1!]

[Wang Dawei’s negative emotions +1!]

The negative emotions weren’t many, but they were frequent.

Finally, after tortuously defeating two minor bosses, the two of them managed to reach the grand hall of the Monastery of True Words.

In Wang Dawei’s view, it was a resplendent Buddhist temple with many old monks meditating and chanting scriptures. However, they had been completely parasitized by Flesh Monsters. They possessed an almost immortal life, but could only suppress the Flesh Monsters by continually chanting. The moment they stopped, they would mutate instantly.

In the Immortal Cultivation storyline, the Monastery of True Words was ancient, and the secrets of Buddhism, the Relic Sword, and the protection of the Great Liang had been passed down from generation to generation.

In Heilong’s view, this temple was a unique place composed of Mechanical Monks. All the monks were robots, with soldering scars as their prayer spots on their heads and metal beads as prayer beads hanging in front of their necks. Sitting cross-legged with the fingers of their mechanical hands pinched together and naturally placed on their knees, they looked quite Zen.

In the science fiction storyline, after a small part of the smart machinery awoke through a special AI virus, some intelligent robots developed concepts such as philosophy, Zen meditation, and cultivation. They searched human databases and believed they should act as devout monks, pondering the meaning of existence for humans and AI, purifying their own souls, and finding a way to coexist in harmony with humans.

They took over the Monastery of True Words, originally built on a mountain, donned the robes left behind by the fleeing monks, and nestled in as true monks.

But no matter under which worldview, the old monks of the Monastery of True Words would always be key figures in advancing the plot.

"Be careful, Brother David, the final boss fight of this scene should be just ahead. Stand behind me and be careful to stay alive," Heilong said as he stepped into the grand hall first, looking at the Mechanical Monk beneath the giant electronic screen scrolling Buddhist scriptures.

Wang Dawei followed timidly behind him, likewise staring at the withered-looking old monk beneath the statue.

However, the expected attack didn’t come.

The old monk who had been motionless spoke slowly, "Patrons, I am already aware of your purpose. But to obtain the Relic Sword, you must first ask yourselves:

"Do you want to see the reality of this world, or the illusion?

"Or perhaps... is reality also an illusion?"

Before his words had finished, the old monk gently turned his prayer beads, and everything went dark for both of them!

The next second, they were in a different setting!

To the surprise of Wang Dawei and Heilong, not only could they not see each other, but their scenarios had been switched!

Heilong, who had originally seen a science fiction world, was now in the Immortal Cultivation World.

This wasn’t the grand hall of a temple but an independent space with an abyss below. The temple was built on a towering tree that pierced the heavens, and it seemed that many NPCs dressed in traditional attire were coming and going. The half-machine-modified Li Huanzhen looked out of place in this setting.

Wang Dawei, who had initially seen the Immortal Cultivation World, was now in a science fiction world.

This seemed to be the rooftop of a skyscraper complex, surrounded by cold steel pipes and reinforced concrete. He could also see robots walking around. Li Huanzhen, in his Immortal Cultivation attire, looked like he had crossed over.

"Brother Long, where are you?"

"I don’t know, I can’t see you either, Brother David!"

Both were a bit confused; clearly, in two-player mode, they were separated for this boss fight.

However, they quickly realized that this wasn’t a head-on fight but more like a special mechanic boss, where passing certain objectives would allow them to clear the level.

Wang Dawei felt tensely frustrated, "Ah! This is making me kind of anxious!"