Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 403 - 410: AI Brawl

Chapter 403: Chapter 410: AI Brawl

Zhang Qifeng, after a brief consideration, decided to start a new save.

Of course, he also carefully preserved the previous save file that only contained Yarvette.

Although the game had both auto-save and manual save functions, considering the capricious nature of the game, any save file could be potentially deleted or corrupted by an unknown force at any time, so Zhang Qifeng smartly created a new folder on the hard drive outside of the game’s root directory as a backup for the saves.

That way, whenever he wanted to play any save, he could directly copy it from there.

Actually, this method is quite common in regular games.

For example, most high-difficulty action games nowadays do not offer a save function to players anymore. "Ascension" is one such game, where players can resurrect infinitely after death, but the consumables used up can’t be obtained again.

Bosses that have been defeated can’t be fought again until a second playthrough.

To cope with this, many players, especially speedrunners, have come up with the method of save backup.

They copy the save files to another folder in advance, and after defeating a boss, copy them back to effectively emulate saving.

Some speedrunners, who need to practice a boss repeatedly to achieve no-damage runs, use this method even more frequently.

Of course, average players only resort to such tactics when faced with particularly challenging bosses.

And "Heartbeat Dream," through a series of manipulations targeting root directory files, naturally led players to adopt this method.

After backing up the saves, Zhang Qifeng restarted a new save.

But this time, he did not delete Elios’s file directly but instead tried a different method to alter Elios.

If Elios were deleted, Yarvette would take the lead, ending up in an "Eden with only Yarvette" conclusion.

Without deleting Elios, horror content associated with the female characters being pursued in the game would frequently appear, and while clearing all the horror content could trigger the third-tier full affection cutscene for that character, it would also result in their permanent disappearance.

On the surface, it seemed impossible to reach an "Eden with only Elios" ending.

However, after a series of attempts before, Zhang Qifeng had already envisioned a possible maneuver.

After the first horror content appeared, Zhang Qifeng quickly closed the game.

But this time, he did not delete Elios’s file, nor did he delete the file of Sakura, whom he was pursuing; instead, he copied Elios’s file, renamed it to Sakura’s character file, and replaced the original!

Upon reentering the game, as expected, Sakura’s character appeared corrupted.

The two characters’ models and voices seemed eerily overlapped, looking quite horrifying.

Yet even so, the game did not directly progress to the "Eden with only Elios" stage.

Apparently Elios, as the inherent guide, had a higher threshold in this aspect than Yarvette.

But Zhang Qifeng was not discouraged; he continued to repeat this operation.

One after another, the dateable girls in the game kept coming, and the game provided plenty of invitation tickets early on—every time a horror scene appeared and he force-quit, he would get one. Thus, Zhang Qifeng kept activating the other girls and repeatedly modifying the files.

It was only after modifying the fifth girl’s file and reopening the game that something finally changed.

"I really didn’t expect you would go to such lengths for me..."

"Looks like I can no longer ignore my own heart."

"Oh my, Eden has turned into this, please wait a moment, I will do my best to fix it..."

"Phew, it’s finally done... This is my limit..."

Finally, after loading the game again, he finally entered the "Eden with only Elios" status.

However, this state was significantly different from what Zhang Qifeng initially imagined, with vast differences from Yarvette’s state.

Even though only the guide character was left in the game, rendering almost all playable content unusable, the Eden with Elios preserved more of the game.

In Yarvette’s Eden, the entertainment and training scenes had practically lost all functionality and could only be used as backgrounds for dialogue.

But in Elios’s Eden, the entertainment and training scenes still retained the most basic functions, and it was even possible to play some simple games with Elios.

Of course, these mini-games were not fun; they were the simplest kind in the game and didn’t cause any change in Elios’s affection.

Most of the time, players could only chat with Elios.

But for Zhang Qifeng, this was already a significant breakthrough.

"Okay, then it’s time for the last step, let the two of you have a pinnacle showdown!"

Zhang Qifeng originally copied Elios’s file, intending to copy it over, but on second thought, he decided to copy Yarvette’s file instead.

After all... giving Elios the home-field advantage might be better, right?

Zhang Qifeng wasn’t sure if there was any difference between the two operations, but playing it safe was never wrong.

Upon entering the game again, Zhang Qifeng eagerly anticipated a new scene, but what appeared on the screen was the person he least wanted to see—Yarvette.