Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 472 - 455: Encounter with the Lie Hunter Again

Chapter 472: Chapter 455: Encounter with the Lie Hunter Again

Evening.

Zhuge Jun stretched and prepared to head back to the dorm to rest.

Today’s achievements were remarkable!

After enduring that painful period, Zhuge Jun felt his gaming experience seemed to have improved.

Having defeated the Melter Craftsman and equipped with Nitiandang’s new controller, he felt he had taken his mastery of Transformation Slash to the next level.

Next, he began his first assault on the cathedral.

The reason it was the first time was that, according to the game’s process, he would have to enter the cathedral again from another entrance later on and take it down once more.

According to the plot, after clearing the workshop area, the protagonist had almost unlocked all the basic functions; he had the prosthetic hand, and body modifications were also available.

The workshop area failed to reveal the cause of the disaster, so the next step was to enter the cathedral to find the Archbishop and any survivors.

Looking at the extent of the disaster, the cathedral was a hard-hit area of the Beastification Disease, teeming with a multitude of monsters, mutants, and madmen, as well as a few Corrupted Puppets.

And it wasn’t until after the players completed their first exploration of the cathedral that they would go to other areas to continue exploring, and after a certain process, they would return to the cathedral.

Zhuge Jun had thought the difficulty level of the cathedral would suddenly increase, but it didn’t.

It even felt like it had decreased!

In terms of numbers, the cathedral’s monsters indeed had more health and a stronger urge to attack, causing Zhuge Jun quite a bit of trouble.

But those Beastification Monsters were actually quite weak; after Zhuge Jun used his prosthetic hand to apply Flame Enchantment to his weapon, chopping through these fire-weak creatures was a breeze.

Additionally, in the cathedral area, Zhuge Jun found several rituals.

As long as he allocated the corresponding attribute points in knowledge, faith, and mystery to meet the threshold, he could use these rituals.

Since Zhuge Jun was always lying, his Spiritual Vision was quite high, so by merely allocating a few points to the respective attributes, he could meet the requirements for using the rituals.

His mana wasn’t plentiful, so he generally didn’t use those high-powered offensive rituals, but some of the support rituals were indeed quite attractive.

For example, enchanting his weapon with blue Divine Flames, or adding psychic attacks to his weapon, was quite appealing.

After some twists and turns, he arrived at the first boss door of the cathedral area.

"Is the Archbishop behind this door?"

"It shouldn’t be. Judging from the cathedral area’s overall size, there should be at least two bosses on the first visit. I still have more than half unexplored, so this should be the first gatekeeper boss, with the Archbishop to be encountered later.

"Let’s go see. The demo store will close in one hour, striving to take it down within one hour!"

Zhuge Jun confidently pushed open the huge door in front of him.

"Huh, isn’t this an old acquaintance?"

Seeing the cutscene CG, Zhuge Jun almost laughed because he recognized the man. It was the Lie Hunter he had fought in the prologue, the one bristling with weapons like a hedgehog.

Back then, Zhuge Jun had fought with him many times, but he didn’t get stuck, as the boss wasn’t too hard to handle in his memory.

Mainly because although the Lie Hunter had many weapons and a variety of moves, his attacks were very predictable, and those attack motions matched perfectly with Transformation Slash GP, making it very easy to perform GP.

"Even though the GP in the main Chapters is stricter than in the prologue, no worries, I have grown too!"

Zhuge Jun charged forward confidently. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to kill the Lie Hunter in this fight. After all, he would have to come back to the cathedral and fight again later, but quickly advancing the plot shouldn’t be a problem.

Soon, the battle began!

The fight started off normally, though the judgment for GP was indeed stricter than in the prologue. But overall, it was the same moves and weapons, even slightly fewer types than during the prologue.

Zhuge Jun had practiced with the trigger back keys, and he had gotten a basic grasp on GP, each time successfully seizing the moment to take away a large chunk of the opponent’s health.

At this rate, he would soon defeat the boss.

However, after a quarter of the health was gone, a real-time cutscene suddenly began.

The Lie Hunter, holding a large scythe, charged forward and linked seamlessly into a grappling move, intending to lock down Zhuge Jun; while the character controlled by Zhuge Jun quickly used his weapon to fend off the attack, with both sides temporarily caught in a "weapon clashing" stalemate.

"I smell the scent of ’lies’ on you...

"Tell me, in front of that great bridge, did you say you were a puppet, or a human?"

At this moment, the screen temporarily entered a Time Stop State, and a countdown similar to when he lied before appeared on the screen, along with the two different options: "Puppet" and "Human".

"Damn, what the heck is this!"

Zhuge Jun was stunned; it was his first time encountering a boss battle that suddenly asked for an answer in the middle of it.

What should he answer?

Zhuge Jun’s brain raced. If he followed his usual habit, he would definitely keep lying, but this boss was named "Lie Hunter," and the line even mentioned "smelling the scent of lies," so maybe lying wasn’t such a good idea now?

But what if the other party was bluffing?

Playing mind games? Intentionally leading him to tell the truth?

Maybe the Lie Hunter couldn’t accurately determine if he was lying? After all, he had lied so many times, and his Spiritual Vision attribute was not low; it wasn’t guaranteed he’d be exposed, right?

If he kept second-guessing like this, there’d be no end to it.

Pressed for time, with only about 10 seconds to think, Zhuge Jun couldn’t afford to ponder much longer and decided to lie first.

Even if the choice was wrong, it shouldn’t matter, right? After all, it happened during a boss battle, and he should be able to choose again next time.

His answer on the great bridge was "Puppet," so if he was to continue lying, he should choose "Human" now, right?

"Humans."

"Lies!!"

The Lie Hunter suddenly got energized, and the power on his scythe drastically increased. In the cutscene, he broke through Zhuge Jun’s defense and inflicted a huge wound on him.

At this moment, the game returned to the normal fighting state. Upon careful inspection, Zhuge Jun noticed that a large portion of his health had dropped, and his torso had also sustained slight damage.

And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

The Lie Hunter’s scythe seemed to have gained some sort of special enchantment, faintly emanating a blood-red glow different from before.

Not only that, but the Lie Hunter’s attack patterns had actually changed.

The speed of the moves had altered, mixed with some Fast and Slow Blades, and even his previously fixed moves had new variations.

"Damn it, why didn’t you show off like this during the prologue?"

Zhuge Jun was speechless, quickly starting to retreat in the battle and soon experiencing a total collapse, beyond the point of no return.

Back at the gas lamp, Zhuge Jun summed up the reasons for his defeat.

"As I thought, my initial idea was right. I shouldn’t lie!

"If I lie, the boss will get buffed, clearly stronger than before.

"What if I tell the truth this time?

"Just don’t know if the game will give me another chance to choose."

With a somewhat uneasy heart, Zhuge Jun stepped into the boss battlefield once more.

Sure enough, Nitiandang still had a sliver of mercy. Again, after his health dropped by a quarter, the Lie Hunter charged at him to initiate a grapple, leading to a blade clash.

It was the same question, with ten seconds to choose.

This time Zhuge Jun understood and directly chose "Puppet."

It was truly the truth; he had indeed answered "Puppet" on the bridge.

However, the Lie Hunter still suddenly got energized, his scythe repelling Zhuge Jun once more and leaving a bloody wound.

"Lies!!"

Zhuge Jun was shocked, "Hey, damn it! That’s not fair! I told the truth this time!

"You’re not playing fair, if you want to cheat then just do it, why even bother to ask me first?"

The following battle lost its suspense once again. The Lie Hunter, like last time, had new variations and buffed strength. Zhuge Jun was defeated once more.

Back at the gas lamp, Zhuge Jun was indignant.

"Does this game have a bug? Why does he shout ’lies’ even when I’m telling the truth? That’s not fair... wait, hold on, something’s not right..."

Zhuge Jun was about to shout "That’s not fair," but he suddenly realized something.

He had fallen into a paradox!

If he answered "Humans," that would mean he had answered "Puppet" on the bridge, which would be a lie;

but if he answered "Puppet," even though he was telling the truth now, since he had said he was a puppet on the bridge, while he was actually human, that statement would still be a lie.

So, in reality, no matter what Zhuge Jun chose, it wouldn’t change the fact that he had lied on the bridge.

In both cases, the Lie Hunter’s special skill would capture it and reveal the lie on the spot, buffing himself.

"Damn it, this is unplayable!!"

Zhuge Jun was at a loss for words. He thought for a moment; it seemed there was only one way to stop the Lie Hunter from going nuts.

That was to go back in time, not lie on the bridge, and directly admit he was human.

The cost was that the giant beastification puppet would take a form that was particularly effective against humans, making that boss battle even harder. But when it came time to fight the Lie Hunter, the player could simply choose "Humans," and the double truth would leave the Lie Hunter with nothing to say, no lies to hunt.

As for what happened when he told the truth, would the Lie Hunter simply not be buffed, or would he be weakened or suffer backlash?

That was anybody’s guess. After all, Zhuge Jun hadn’t saved a manual save from that moment, and even if he had, he certainly wouldn’t go through the entire process of playing through the workshop again.

It was so frustrating!

All that was left for Zhuge Jun now was one option: fight it out!

"One hour left, hope I can make it."

He calmed down and continued the battle.

Fortunately, although the boss got stronger after the enhancement, with more variations, it was still within a manageable range. After trying three or four times, Zhuge Jun finally managed to reduce the Lie Hunter’s health further, forcing him to switch weapons.

However, not long after the weapon switch, the Lie Hunter, with health down to half, charged at him again, forcibly dragging Zhuge Jun into another cutscene.

"I sense an even stronger ’lie’ on you...

"Tell me, at the entrance to the workshop district, did you say you were human, or a puppet?"

Zhuge Jun nearly spat blood on the spot: "Damn it, again??

"This is just wrong!"

Clearly, the question about the answer was the same as before; no matter what choice he made, it could only be a lie.

This was pure malice from the designer!

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