Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 388 - 397: Pity of Nitiandang?

Chapter 388: Chapter 397: Pity of Nitiandang?

The game had completely spiraled out of control by this point.

Even Instructor Ding’s brain had short-circuited.

Logically, he should have pressed alt+F4 to exit the game right away, but the issue was that the game transitioned so smoothly because it was already part of a mini-game challenge. Instructor Ding had been pressing the W key, navigating obstacles with the mouse, and was still immersed in this muscle memory.

The surrounding environment changed almost instantaneously. At first, he thought it was just another outrageous bug and didn’t react right away. By the time Yarvette and countless monsters appeared, the game had seamlessly switched back to the previous escape challenges.

Only this time, the cute girl who had been chasing him turned into terrifying monsters, and more Ghosts kept emerging from below, rising from the already frozen pool, emitting deep growls as they clambered up.

Instructor Ding was mentally overwhelmed for a moment, as the monsters were hot on his heels. If he let go of the W key to press alt+F4, his character would stop, and then be devoured by the monsters.

So he kept running for a while before finally managing to free a hand to shut down the game.

"Saved!"

Only when he saw the computer screen’s soothing background did Instructor Ding finally take a deep breath.

But the terrifying face of Yarvette had caused him severe psychological damage, leaving him unable to calm down for a long time.

"No more, no more, I won’t play it again for anything!

"Nitiandang is scary to death without penalty!"

If Instructor Ding were to summarize his experience, this scare would rank in the top three of his gaming career, even possibly contending for first or second.

Why?

Instructor Ding had played his fair share of horror games, though many were at the insistence of his viewers, forcing him to perform. But when it comes to sheer horror, they were much less terrifying than Heartbeat Dream.

But why could Heartbeat Dream rank so high then?

The reason was simple: psychological expectation!

Before playing other horror games, Instructor Ding had already prepared himself mentally, fully aware that they were horror games. So even when some scary images appeared, he was mostly ready.

Heartbeat Dream was different. Nitiandang never said it was a horror game, and everyone played it as a dating simulation.

Although there were some bizarre images before that had given players a little surprise, those images were so bug-like that after calming down, players still didn’t grasp the severity of the situation, let alone prepare for it.

That’s why they were so shocked when it came to the final reveal.

It was like in real life, if players went to a Haunted House and saw some scary scenes, they would be frightened, but not to such an extreme degree. But if a player was on a roller coaster going through a tunnel and suddenly a passenger behind became a ghost that tapped them on the shoulder, that would be terrifying!

The live chat had become a chaotic mess at this point, with some yelling in shock, some cursing, and others wanting to close the stream and run away then and there.

Even though these viewers weren’t playing themselves, having a ghostly face suddenly pop up during the livestream was enough to scare them too.

Some players were playing the game while watching the live stream, getting scared even earlier than Instructor Ding.

After all, Instructor Ding was playing cautiously, considering the viewers’ feelings, and taking his time. Other players, playing by themselves, progressed faster in chasing the girl, thus getting scared sooner as well.

In the chat, players were indignant, condemning Nitiandang’s unethical behavior.

"Damn! It’s actually a horror game! No wonder there was no official tag!"

"Looking at it this way, Nitiandang must have done it on purpose, right? Just to scare people? That’s not fun at all!"

"Damn, that was close. I almost punched my monitor to pieces."

"Uninstall! Refund! Give it a scathing review!"

"Change to another game, Instructor, this one’s too scary!"

"Hey! You’re logging in again, Instructor? I found a little glitch in this game—you can alt+F4 to exit anytime, and when you log back in, you can skip the horror parts and even get a hefty reward!"

"...Damn, don’t try to fool me!"

"I’m not lying, it’s true! That’s exactly what I did, and now I’ve already farmed two sets of Treasure-Level swimsuits!"

Amidst the outcry in the bullet comments, there were also other voices.

It’s true that most players’ first reaction to being scared was to ask for a refund or leave a negative review, but there were always some players who chose different ways to play.

For instance, some didn’t quit the game when chased by the ghosts but treated it as a horror game and ran through the entire level.

Others would quit instantly and then log back in to see what’s happening.

And this attempt really did uncover something new!

Instructor Ding logged into the game again with a mix of skepticism and curiosity, and surprisingly, as the bullet comments said, the horror content was gone, and rewards were given!

Why was Instructor Ding so sure the horror content was gone?

Because this time his auto-save wasn’t damaged, but rather saved right after he and Yarvette finished the pool mini-game.

In other words, the system defaulted to skipping that part of the game for him.

Also, everything around him returned to normal!

Yarvette turned back into a beautiful girl in a swimsuit, the pool was no longer frozen, there were no ghosts crawling out, and Instructor Ding could once again explore with Yarvette.

Not only that, but the game also issued rewards. Although not as substantial as before without the invitation, Gold Coins, training points, and the Treasure-Level swimsuit were still given out as usual.

Instructor Ding fell silent once again.

Goodness, I was just about to quit the game!

"Is this a bug?"

"Or... Nitiandang’s mercy?"

This soul-searching question arose once again.

If we go by the normal game processes, when a player forcefully exits the game, the system’s save point should be right before they left, at the start of the mini-game. So, when the player logs in again, they should continue playing from the point where Yarvette starts chasing the player.

But "Heartbeat Dream" was different—the system’s save point was set after the player quit?

Of course, this is unlikely to be a bug but rather something intentional by the game designers. But why would they want to do that?

Regardless of the reason, from the outcome, this provided players with a huge, exploitable loophole.

Players don’t even need to properly experience the content of the horror game. Whenever something seemed off, they could just force-quit and log back in.

Upon returning, they would find clear skies, fresh air, as if nothing ever happened, and they could skip the horror level’s challenges altogether, happily freeloading on outfits and various other rewards.

Of course, some players would choose to quit the game, but there definitely would be players who’d continue playing because the romantic aspects of the game were very well done.

Many players were thinking about inviting new characters, getting them more swimsuits, or having various other content they wanted to play.

Isn’t it said that curiosity killed the cat!

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