Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 176 The Plot Begins to Make Sense!

Chapter 176: Chapter 176 The Plot Begins to Make Sense!

"These aren’t BUGs, but a part of the game content? And they’re directly related to the game’s plot?"

Heilong almost thought Wang Dawei was talking nonsense. The BUGs that existed in the game were clearly issues with the development program. How could they possibly be related to the game’s plot? Has the dimensional barrier disappeared or what?

However, after thinking seriously about it for a while, Wang Dawei became more and more convinced of his own speculation.

"Brother Long, have you figured out what the game’s plot is actually about up until now?"

This question stumped Heilong.

After hemming and hawing for a while, he finally said, "I don’t understand."

Wang Dawei explained, "The game ’Ascension’ indeed features two worlds at the same time: an Immortal Cultivation World and a Mechanical World. The protagonist, Li Huanzhen, exists in both of these worlds at the same time. In single-player mode, these two worlds switch at random, while in two-player mode, players each play one of Li Huanzhen’s personalities and see one of the worlds respectively."

"So the question is, Brother Long, which world do you think is real?"

Heilong was once again confused, "Huh? Why ask that?"

Wang Dawei explained, "Because for players, the game’s plot can only progress after determining which world is real!

"Li Huanzhen is a classic case of a person with split personality disorder. He experiences hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and even illusions of another world. So logically, one must be the real world, while the other exists only in Li Huanzhen’s delusions.

"If players believe the Immortal Cultivation World is the real one, then choices have to be made following the plot of that world; conversely, if the Mechanical World is deemed real, then choices are based on the plot of that world.

"If both worlds are considered real, then it leads to complete madness. After all, while saving someone in one world, you may be committing mass murder in the other; becoming a savior in one world, yet a Demon Lord intent on world destruction in the other.

"Such cognitive dissonance is definitely enough to drive a normal person completely mad.

"So, since not long after entering the game, I’ve been wondering which world is the real one."

Heilong nodded, "Hmm... so do you have an answer now, Brother David?"

Wang Dawei shook his head slightly, "No!"

"Pfft!" Heilong almost burst out laughing, "Then Brother David, what was all that you said..."

Wang Dawei explained, "Although I don’t have a definitive answer yet, by interpreting the plot, we can understand why there are so many BUGs in the game.

"The previous storyline at the Monastery of True Words already gave many hints.

"That old monk asked us whether we choose reality or illusion? Or is reality itself an illusion? This means it’s very possible that both worlds are real, and the protagonist travels between these two worlds because of his special identity.

"In the Immortal Cultivation World, he is the Life Navel that connects the two worlds, so he often sees the other world, but this is beyond what a normal person can handle, leading to split personality, hallucinations, and auditory hallucinations.

"In the Mechanical World, he is a part of the debugging program, a collection of massive error codes and illegal programs, and can also be considered some advanced form of ’cyber mental illness’. So as more and more error codes accumulate on him, the AI also becomes increasingly confused.

"So, all those BUGs we came across in the game suddenly have a reasonable explanation!

"If viewed from the perspective of the Immortal Cultivation World, the texture errors, model glitches, and such BUGs, are actually illusions experienced by Li Huanzhen as the Life Navel on the brink of mental collapse; while from the perspective of the Mechanical World, these are the BUGs of the world itself.

"Including as the game progresses, players begin to see illusions of the other world, hear auditory hallucinations, and encounter more and more BUGs—this all means that as Li Huanzhen’s power grows, the price he pays becomes increasingly greater, to the point of nearing collapse!

"Doesn’t this perfectly match the plot?

"These are not BUGs, they are a form of expression within the game’s storyline!"

Heilong, not fully understanding, nodded, "Is that so, Brother David? But what about the outrageous BUGs like Sky Swimming and the BUG Sharira Sword, can they also be linked to the plot?"

Wang Dawei nodded, "Of course!

"Think about it carefully, what did that old monk say when introducing the Life Navel or the debug program features?"

Heilong: "...What did he say?"

Wang Dawei was somewhat speechless, it seemed that Heilong really didn’t remember any of the plot.

At the time, he had specifically asked Heilong to repeat the words of the old monk he had seen, but in the blink of an eye, Heilong had forgotten it all again.

Wang Dawei could only patiently explain, "Whether it’s the Life Navel or the debug program, they both have a very powerful ability called ’Turning the Fictitious into Reality’!

"To put it in layman’s terms, it’s called ’Wishes Come True’.

"In the Immortal Cultivation World, as long as the Life Navel is convinced of something, there’s a great possibility that it will become reality; and in the Mechanical World, the debug program directly connects to the program’s backdoor of this world’s AI, which can directly invade other machines’ intelligence programs, causing these machines to short-circuit and fail, or even causing the AI to completely malfunction and attack one another.

"You could say, this actually surpasses the powers of the creator!"

Heilong was even more perplexed, "Huh? Am I really that strong? But if we could make wishes come true, why do we still get thrashed by just any BOSS...

"If it weren’t for the fact that the Crane-Riding Immortal relentlessly beat us up, we wouldn’t have had to return to Jiangdu City to continue grinding lesser monsters."

Wang Dawei shook his head, "I’ve said, this ’Turning the Fictitious into Reality’ has conditions, and that is you have to ’firmly believe’! Oh, to be precise, it’s not the player who has to firmly believe, but Li Huanzhen himself.

"Does Li Huanzhen firmly believe that he can instantly kill the Crane-Riding Immortal? He doesn’t!

"Because in Li Huanzhen’s view, the Crane-Riding Immortal and the BOSSes before were all incredibly strong, and even with all his might, he might not be able to defeat them. Therefore, his ability to ’Turn the Fictitious into Reality’ can’t directly affect the BOSS.

"However, Sky Swimming is different."

Wang Dawei continued, "Brother Long, think about how Sky Swimming happened?

"It was when Li Huanzhen accidentally fell into the Moat and remained in a swimming posture. At the same time, he inadvertently swam beyond the map’s boundary.

"In the game, it’s the map’s boundary, so what is it within the game world? It’s the world’s boundary!

"Or you could also say it’s the junction of two worlds, or the projection of one world within another!

"When Li Huanzhen believes he is swimming in one of the worlds, then he can move freely through any space in the other world, just like swimming."

Heilong felt there was some problem here, "Wait, but all the buildings and collisions in both worlds are the same, and the areas where the rivers exist should be the same too."

Wang Dawei nodded, "That’s correct, in fact, Li Huanzhen had long since left the water surface, to the underground and the air. But because he mistakenly believed that he was still swimming, he continued to swim, even observing both worlds from a god’s eye view.

"Until Li Huanzhen stepped back onto solid ground or into the water, making him no longer firmly believe, only then this state of ’Sky Swimming’ would be dispelled."

This explanation was somewhat mind-bending, short-circuiting Heilong’s CPU.

"So, the area where Li Huanzhen was Sky Swimming, was actually a boundary or projection area created by the overlap of two worlds? And the reason Li Huanzhen could move freely in this area is because of his Life Navel’s trait, because he firmly believed he could swim, so it ’Turned the Fictitious into Reality’?"

Wang Dawei nodded, "Exactly! Brother Long, you’re quite perceptive, you understood so quickly, that’s exactly what I mean!

"Therefore, the action ’Sky Swimming’ is completely explainable in terms of the storyline!"

Heilong nodded silently, "Hmm... that does seem to make some sense. But to say that this was all pre-planned by the production team, I still find it a bit unbelievable."

Wang Dawei stated matter-of-factly, "Of course it was pre-planned by the production team! The reason is very simple, the map model boundary I saw while in a state of Sky Swimming was very complete!"

Heilong didn’t quite understand, "What does that prove?"

Wang Dawei explained, "For game developers, to minimize resource usage, whatever the player can’t see is generally cut out where possible.

"For example, if I need to place a castle in the background of a certain scene. Would I really create a castle and put it there? Of course not, it’s too much effort to make, and it will significantly consume the player’s space and resources.

"So, even if this castle is part of the upcoming gameplay and its resources are already prepared, game developers usually wouldn’t place the castle model there, but would instead put a texture.

"Therefore, in other games, if a player accidentally glitches out of the map boundary, then when looking back to the original scene models, they mostly see some broken and fragmented texture scraps."

Heilong nodded, "Hmm... that seems to be the case!"

Wang Dawei continued, "But ’Ascension’ is clearly different!"