Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 396 - 404: Delete Elios’s File

Chapter 396: Chapter 404: Delete Elios’s File

"Deleting or copying character files doesn’t seem to trigger any critical consequences, and the impact on the game is very minimal."

"Could the problem not lie here?"

"Huh, wait, why are there files for Elios here too?"

Zhang Qifeng suddenly furrowed his brows, realizing that he might have discovered a blind spot.

Up to this point, he had already tested various operations.

Directly deleting the file of a character that should exist in the game would cause the save to report an error, making it unreadable.

But if files from another save were pasted over, everything would run normally.

In general, even if these files were pasted onto each other in any which way, it wouldn’t fundamentally affect the game content.

If it was a female character the player had not yet activated, deleting her file wouldn’t matter because when the save reached the point where that character arrives on the island, the folder would automatically create a new file for her.

But there was one particular character who was different.

That was Elios!

Because Elios existed as a guide, she was a character in the game that was fundamentally unromanceable.

There were no storylines with the players, no intimate interactions, and no data like affection points.

Even if the player interacted with Elios at the front desk, they could only assign her to perform some basic functional operations, such as changing the appearance of some scenarios in the game (decorating), selecting new items from the merchant shop, and so on.

Of course, there were also options for small talk, and there was not a lack of dialogue, but players generally wouldn’t click through them repeatedly.

Because everyone knew that the game’s character dialogues were mostly generated by fake-AI, and were inherently voluminous with a lot of meaningless conversation mixed with a few brilliant lines.

Chatting with other female characters could increase affection points and might unlock some special plots or mechanics.

But since Elios was not an romanceable character, chatting with her yielded no benefits.

Under such circumstances, players wouldn’t spend much time on her, considering all the girls in the game had their unique appeal, and they were all attractive, while Elios did not stand out from the crowd.

Even as a guide, her personality seemed somewhat thin, not having the distinct characteristics like the other girls.

But there was a file for Elios in the root directory nonetheless.

Zhang Qifeng couldn’t help but stroke his chin, slipping into deep thought.

"Logically speaking, there was no need for the official to have her file here.

"Because the character files here are not really game data for the most part but part of the game mechanics?"

"So, what happens if I delete Elios’s file?"

With that thought, Zhang Qifeng made his decision on the spot, delete!

Without the slightest hesitation.

After all, he had performed similar operations many times, and even if the deletion resulted in a corrupted save, it was no big deal—he could just copy a new one from another save.

After the deletion was complete, Zhang Qifeng entered the game again.

The events unfolding before his eyes left him somewhat shocked: the game loaded normally, and Elios really had disappeared!

This was pretty outrageous. According to Zhang Qifeng’s guess, the game would likely crash and corrupt the Save. There was a small chance that nothing would happen, after all Elios’s data should’ve been stored somewhere else.

However, Elios truly no longer existed in the game.

Yarvette had taken over the role of greeting players and handling related affairs at the reception area.

"Ah? That’s possible?"

Zhang Qifeng was a bit baffled. He observed closely and realized that this change had absolutely no manifestation in the game, as if Elios never existed from the start.

Yarvette’s name started with an ’A’, so she was also defaulted to the first position in the file folder. Zhang Qifeng was different from Instructor Ding; he hadn’t chosen Yarvette but Sakura, so Yarvette should still technically be in a state of not having arrived on the island.

All the duties originally held by Elios were now replaced, fully taken over by Yarvette.

Zhang Qifeng wanted to distinguish between the two, but eventually realized that aside from a slight difference in dialogue, other functionalities were exactly the same.

"Different dialogue, could this be due to the use of a fake-AI?

"There are differences in interjections and speaking habits. Elios is a bit gentler, while Yarvette seems to be colder.

"But overall, the differences are minor, almost negligible.

"The dialogue must be the work of the fake-AI, but changing the receptionist to a different character, that must be part of the game’s content, right? After all, that kind of thing requires specific development!"

Zhang Qifeng couldn’t help but feel invigorated. Although he still hadn’t found the real hidden mechanics, by modifying the game’s playthrough through deleting files, he confirmed he was on the right path.

As he continued to progress through the game, Zhang Qifeng soon discovered that the horror content in the game seemed to have disappeared completely!

Initially, he thought he was just lucky since the triggering of horror elements in the game was random, but after playing intently for over an hour, he realized that they must have truly vanished.

Previously, the triggers for the horror content occurred generally between 5 and 30 minutes.

In the initial stages of the game, the intervals would be longer as the game patiently waited for the player to fall into the trap. However, once the horror content appeared for the first time, subsequent occurrences would dramatically shorten, with a trigger happening within 30 minutes.

But now, Zhang Qifeng played anxiously for over an hour and still, nothing happened.

The romance with the girls could still carry on normally, unlocking various activities, except that Yarvette was no longer an option to invite.

After all, she was already fulfilling the role of a guide on the island and couldn’t appear as a romanceable character.

"This has huge implications, could it be that the horror game content was actually concocted by Elios?

"Otherwise, why would it disappear after I deleted her?

"Yarvette can also serve as a guide, so what if I delete Yarvette too? Would it just keep passing down the line according to the order in the folder?

"What if, in the end, I delete all the files, would Eden then be left with only me?

"Or what if I now copy Elios’s file back in? Who would be the receptionist on the island then, Elios or Yarvette?

"Could it be possible, through this kind of manipulation, to turn Elios into a romanceable character??"

A multitude of ideas flashed through Zhang Qifeng’s mind because once a "loophole" is discovered, the player’s potential shenanigans markedly increase.

Although the connection between these shenanigans and the game’s mechanics isn’t clear yet, Zhang Qifeng had a vague feeling that there were still many mysteries in the game waiting for him to unravel.