Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 465 - 448: Lying

Chapter 465: Chapter 448: Lying

Seeing this, Zhuge Jun was stunned.

There was such a thing?

Where was this NPC?

He rewound the video to watch it again, discovering that it was a minor detour leading to the bridge.

This detour was blocked by boxes and miscellaneous items, after passing which one had to jump down into an alley, walk to its end, and then climb a staircase to reach this special platform.

All in all, it was well hidden.

If a player was obsessive about exploring, they could find it, but most players in the early stages would not deliberately explore these places; they generally headed straight for the boss after seeing the bridge, so not many discovered this detour.

"Hello!

"You’re still wandering the streets at this hour, haven’t you heard the broadcast?"

"Oh, seeing you covered in blood, having walked all this way, must have been tough, huh? Hehe, pretty impressive...

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am a kind doctor who came over to treat people, but I got delayed due to the earthquake outbreak.

"Now, I want to go home, but the bridge that is the only way there is blocked by this puppet, and having observed from a high place for a long time, I am still at a loss...

"Oh right, seeing how you can fight, may I ask if you are a Combat Doll or a skilled Hunter?"

At this moment, two different options appeared on the screen, one for "Puppet" and the other for "Human."

There was also a countdown, about ten seconds long—neither too long nor too short.

It gave players ample time to react and think, but not enough to quickly look up a strategy guide.

"Alright, we’re short on time, let’s choose one and then I’ll explain in detail to everyone.

"Everyone, please pay attention, don’t just copy my answer, because this choice depends on your crafted identity.

"Overall, if your crafted face is a standard one, then your initial identity tag is ’Human-tendency,’ so in this case, we should choose Puppet.

"Conversely, if your crafted face is that of an Ancient God, then your initial identity tag is ’Puppet-tendency,’ and in this case, we should choose Human.

"Why do we choose like this? Everyone can think about it for themselves, let’s continue watching the dialogues, and after the boss fight, I’ll explain the reasons in detail."

As Zhuge Jun watched the video, he pondered.

If he had to choose by himself right from the start, he would definitely be baffled, most likely opting to simply tell the truth.

But in the video, Heilong had already provided the standard answer, making the task of deducing from that answer much more manageable, and the reasoning process was easy to guess.

At this point, Zhuge Jun noticed some details—this NPC’s dialogue, tone, and even his clothing were a bit off.

His tone always seemed somewhat sinister and untrustworthy, often interspersed with a "hehe" chuckle, and moreover, he referred to himself as a "kind doctor," which was strange—who adds "kind" as an adjective when introducing themselves as a doctor?

A closer look at the NPC’s attire revealed that he was actually dressed as a Puppet Craftsman, and his clothes were stained with a lot of blood, with an ambiguous bag next to him, subtly revealing some jewelry.

Even if players couldn’t guess his true motives and identity, these questionable details could approximately confirm: this person was up to no good, not to be trusted.

"Could it be... this NPC was actually using the giant beastification puppet to kill people passing by?

"On that bridge, there were many human and puppet corpses, some puppets with incomplete limbs. And it seemed there was a door on this platform which currently couldn’t be opened, but from its position, it seemed to lead to a shortcut to the bridge.

"Although it’s unclear what exactly is in the bag next to the NPC, it was most likely gold and silver jewelry or precious prosthetics taken from the victims on the bridge.

"But why would he ask for their identity? Could it be..."

Zhuge Jun vaguely guessed that this NPC seemed to be an evil craftsman, who could control the form of the giant beastification puppet by some special means.

Sure enough, when Heilong returned to the bridge in the video, the giant beastification puppet transformed.

Initially, only its chest and groin areas showed the black fur of beastified humans, but now, its entire body was covered with swollen tentacles, as if it had been parasitized by a giant living corpse.

Even its original attack movements had changed, now evidently faster and more agile.

Zhuge Jun couldn’t help but be surprised: "This NPC can actually change the boss’s form? So, when a player leaves that platform, does the NPC sneakily open the shortcut first and get to the bridge ahead of them, changing the boss’s condition?

"But how did he do it? Why doesn’t the boss attack him? Hmm, it seems this too is a plot hole dug by the storyline."

Meanwhile, as Heilong fought the boss, he explained the impact of choosing the identity.

"You all should roughly understand by now, our previous choices change the state of the boss.

"As for the specific reason, I still can’t provide a very accurate explanation. However, everyone can judge that this NPC has ill intentions, and can change the boss form, so we have to deliberately deceive him."

"We answered ’puppet,’ so the NPC transformed the boss into a form that particularly counters puppets."

"In this game, there are many different types of counter relationships apart from the well-known ’furry weak against fire,’ ’puppet weak against lightning,’ and other common counters, there also exists a cyclical counter relationship among humans, zombies, and puppets."

"Simply put, zombies counter puppets, puppets counter humans, humans counter zombies."

"Why is that?"

"Firstly, zombies, or these creatures transformed by beastification, spray blood when attacked, and this unclean blood itself has a certain corrosiveness, which cannot be used as an internal energy source for puppets until it crystallizes."

"Even if it could be considered as energy, puppets can only convert and absorb it through specific means, not by the blood simply splashing on them. This would only cause corrosion and damage to the puppet’s parts."

"Simply put, cars burn oil, but you can’t just splash oil on the car or pour it on the engine; that would cause mechanical damage."

"So, zombies counter puppets."

"When puppets fight humans, they aren’t corroded, plus puppets have strong defensive power and move unpredictably. Since they are powered by springs, they employ fast and slow blade techniques. Human bodies are fragile, and can easily be caught off guard by the fast and slow blade, being at a complete disadvantage when fighting with the same weapons."

"So, puppets counter humans."

"What about when humans fight zombies? We all know that humans can also absorb the blood of zombies to heal themselves, so they aren’t corroded like puppets."

"At the same time, zombies’ movements are mostly not fast and slow blade, their actions are more intuitive, and humans can fully adapt their conventional combat strategies to deal with them."

"Not only that but human weapons often have a clear destructive effect on zombies’ parts, especially after being imbued with enchantments like the Fire Talisman."

"So, humans counter zombies."

"We lied to the NPC saying we are puppets, then the NPC would transform the boss into a zombie state, which would be great against puppets, but since we are humans, the boss is effectively countered by us."

"The converse is also true; if everyone had chosen a puppet-oriented protagonist, then they should choose human. I tested this before, and it indeed works."

"But I want to remind everyone, when talking to the NPC, be sure to manually save. Because lying as a puppet has a certain chance of failure, and if it fails, it means the NPC sees through our lie, transforms the boss into a zombie, and our fight becomes much harder."

Zhuge Jun suddenly realized, so that’s how it is!

There’s such a counter relationship?

From the video, it seemed that after lying, the boss fight indeed became much easier.

Originally, this boss was in a state half puppet, half zombie; its chest and groin were zombie, but limbs were puppet.

When players attacked its limbs, the effect was minimal, because the puppet’s mechanical structure had a decent damage reduction effect, making it hard to cause part damage.

But after lying, the boss would either spread or retract its beastified zombie state, leaning more towards either a full puppet or a full zombie state."

"If it’s fully a zombie, then its fast and slow blade movements would significantly reduce, the moves become more intuitive, and it would be easier to GP."

Moreover, its limbs also became easier to damage."

Combined with the two strategies Heilong mentioned earlier, the difficulty decreased further."

Heilong hadn’t demonstrated the puppet protagonist situation, but based on the game’s mechanics, Zhuge Jun could roughly guess it."

"If the protagonist lied about being human, then the NPC would transform the boss into pure puppet. At this time, the puppet’s fast and slow blade actions increase, but the movements become sluggish."

The puppet protagonist is originally slow, easy to be hit by zombies, and could even be corroded by the blood sprayed by zombies. But now that the boss’s movements slowed down, the puppet protagonist could confidently and boldly choose a good position to charge up and deliver powerful outputs, which also decreased the difficulty."

"According to the settings, the puppet protagonist inherently has higher damage and hardening rate in head-to-head confrontations, giving it a significant advantage."

"This strategy is really like sending charcoal in snowy weather!"

Zhuge Jun studied the opportunities to GP specific movements and went to the NPC to make the corresponding answers, enhancing the boss’s beastification state."

When challenging the boss again, it went much smoother than before, achieving victory after just four attempts."

"Got it!

"Ah, maybe I misjudged this game before, it seems to be not so bad now, not as difficult as I thought."

Zhuge Jun stretched lazily, after defeating the boss, his previous frustrations had completely dissipated."

The wind stopped, the rain stopped, he felt capable again."

Re-energized, he continued to push through the process!