Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 400 - 408: Rename File

Chapter 400: Chapter 408: Rename File

The situation could definitely be described as quite dire, and the key issue was that Zhang Qifeng couldn’t think of a solution.

Although he could revert to the previous save and continue playing the game, Sakura’s favorability could no longer be advanced. Once he tried to push it further, the file would just be deleted, and an error would occur.

Even if he copied the files back, they would be mysteriously deleted immediately.

Clearly, this was different from the initial file deletions. The only question was what caused this difference.

Up to this point, Zhang Qifeng had collected quite a bit of data in the game.

If it were another player, by now, they would most likely be at their wit’s end, only able to choose to rant about Nitiandang online or continue from a previous save and pursue a different girl in the game.

But Zhang Qifeng guessed that this was merely treating the symptoms rather than the cause.

Once the favorability of the next girl reached the maximum threshold of the third level, the same issue would inevitably occur.

"Could it be... the issue with the guide?"

"Both are deletions, yet the details of the deletions are different."

"Could it be because the first guide was Elios, and the second was Yarvette?"

The text information he had collected previously further solidified this guess.

Clearly, Yarvette’s diary from before looked suspicious. She even felt that by gazing into the protagonist’s pupils, she could peer into something inside. She faintly sensed the player’s existence and realized she wasn’t looking inwards, but rather outwards.

On the contrary, it was the person on the other side who was actually peering inside at her.

With the progression of the game, this suspicion gradually solidified, and Yarvette’s texts began to show more doubts about this state.

The texts at this point conveyed to Zhang Qifeng the feeling reminiscent of a self-confession by a character living in Truman’s world.

They could sense that they were seemingly controlled by some force, and there seemed to be many illogical actions in their lives. They found it strange, yet the reactions of those around them appeared normal, even making them think it was just their own sanity at issue.

That was precisely how Yarvette felt. Based on subsequent texts, she clearly began to harbor more and more doubts about this world.

She doubted why she was chosen as the guide, wondered why she kept exhibiting strange behaviors, and questioned who was peeking at her through the main character’s eyes.

Although it was not apparent from the texts whether these doubts would propel her to take any perilous actions, piecing together these snippets of information allowed Zhang Qifeng to make some potent guesses.

"Could it be..."

Zhang Qifeng thought for a while, and eventually, he opened the game’s root directory and clicked on Yarvette’s file with the mouse.

Clearly, he had roughly guessed that all of this was very likely Yarvette’s doing.

It must have been the same case before, only that time, the guide had been Elios.

Clearly, although the role of the guide looked inconspicuous in the game, like a mere tool, in reality, it held incredibly outrageous permissions within the deep settings of the game.

After becoming a guide, according to the game’s settings, these AIs seemed to gain a lot of permissions, even the capability for self-thinking.

They would scrutinize all actions and phenomena around them, and could even faintly perceive the existence of players.

This was possibly because the other characters were all following a preset script, the only exception being the guide themselves, who had no opportunity to fall in love with the protagonist.

It could be because they had more time for computation, or maybe because the AI’s underlying logic was different. Regardless, once these characters became guides and obtained the corresponding permissions, they seemed to gradually become aware of the players’ existence and engage in some "overzealous actions" typical of someone with "permission."

For example, deleting other characters’ files.

Clearly, Yarvette, as a guide, though she too liked the protagonist or rather, the player behind the protagonist, was completely unable to have any real interaction or connection with the player due to system restrictions, relegated to forever play the role of a utility person silently.

She could only watch as the player and another female character grew closer, confessed their feelings, and accumulated all kinds of sweet moments.

And once the player successfully pursued this female character, he would invite another through an invitation, thus repeating the cycle over and over.

Although the guide had the highest permissions in the game, they were an existence that the player would never notice, since the game’s core rules restricted all this.

Zhang Qifeng had already guessed that if he deleted Yarvette’s file, he might be able to solve this problem temporarily.

Just like when he deleted Elios’s file, after deleting Yarvette, the system would arrange for a new female character to become the guide.

At that time, since the new guide hadn’t awakened yet, Zhang Qifeng would be able to freely and unrestrictedly advance the game’s plot for a while.

He could activate the third phase full-affection CG with Sakura, or invite another new female to the island and continue developing a close relationship.

But quite clearly, this was also just a temporary solution, because as time went by, this new guide would inevitably awaken and, like Elios and Yarvette, use her permissions to delete characters’ files from the game.

"Wouldn’t this just become a vicious cycle?"

Zhang Qifeng scratched his head, now somewhat perplexed about what the game ultimately wanted him to do.

Clearly, so far, the game’s content had already gone beyond the typical romantic or horror game scope, incorporating some meta game elements that connected characters in the game with real-world players; but clearly, its aim was not to let players delete all character files and end up playing in loneliness.

Seeing himself at a dead end, Zhang Qifeng felt a bit at a loss about what to do.

Re-copying Sakura’s file wasn’t working, deleting Yarvette’s file wasn’t the solution either, and copying Elios’s file had no effect...

Suddenly, Zhang Qifeng had a flash of inspiration, "Wait, maybe this could work?"

In the folder, he found Yarvette’s file.

Then, Zhang Qifeng copied and pasted this file, then clicked on rename, and pasted Sakura’s file name into it.

In other words, a file that had been renamed "Sakura", but was actually Yarvette’s file, had thus been created.

After all the fuss, Zhang Qifeng tried to open the game again.

He wasn’t very sure if this kind of operation would work, as it most likely wouldn’t have any effect in other games.

But "Heartbeat Dream" was not a traditional game, after all. Having copied, deleted, and renamed files so many times before, renaming should also fall within the ambit of the game, right?

Indeed, to Zhang Qifeng’s delight, the game’s latest save loaded and ran smoothly!