Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 474 - 457 Self-Proving

Chapter 474: Chapter 457 Self-Proving

Arriving at the experience store, Zhuge Jun ordered a cup of coffee and continued his grind.

It had to be said that Lie Hunter was indeed very challenging, and it wasn’t until lunchtime, from just past 10 am, that he finally began to see the light of victory.

After several variations in his attacks, he managed to find a relatively successful GP spot.

While eating takeout, he opened the live streaming platform.

What surprised him was that Ning Meng had started her broadcast earlier than usual today.

Moreover, the title of the live stream had been changed to: Today’s live demonstration!

"Hey? Is this to prove herself?"

Zhuge Jun was somewhat surprised, as he had seen this kind of scene more than once before, when many FPS game streamers were accused of cheating and responded in this manner.

The specifics were quite simple:

First, verify the integrity of the game client while clearing the local folder to ensure the game files are complete and devoid of any special mod files or cheats;

Second, open the task manager and use multiple cameras to record the streaming environment, ensuring there are no background programs like "automatic GP";

Third, use software to display joystick or keyboard operations in real-time and use a camera to record hand movements to facilitate audience comparison of the three.

After live streaming for some time and successfully replicating the operations in question, one could basically claim to have proven themselves.

Of course, for a 100% self-vindication, it would be best to find a relatively credible third party offline and use brand new, clean equipment for the proof. However, since "Blood of Lies" was not any particularly complicated FPS game, the above-mentioned methods were generally enough to prove innocence.

Zhuge Jun was surprised to see Ning Meng attempting to vindicate herself.

"She’s really daring to do this, and she came prepared?

"I have to check this out."

The criticism came out last night, and she was ready to vindicate herself by noon today; this clearly wasn’t prepared on a whim.

If there really was something fishy, she would likely lay low for a day or two, come up with a foolproof strategy to prove herself, and only then dare to do a live broadcast.

Does this mean Ning Meng has no issues? That’s hardly possible, right?

Zhuge Jun took a closer look at the live stream’s bullet comments and noticed that most people were speculating about "software."

That is, Ning Meng was suspected of using something akin to "automatic GP" or software/scripts that "increase GP invincibility frames."

But soon, Ning Meng fully debunked these unfounded conjectures.

In addition to the previously mentioned methods, she also downloaded a special mod from the N network. This mod had no other effects; its only function was to display invincibility frames.

When the game character is in invincibility frame status, the character model would become semi-transparent to signal this.

This kind of mod was initially designed to facilitate those who like to study games and pursue a damage-free play, it was available on the N network, and many players had used it, confirming its reliable function.

In front of all the viewers in the live stream, Ning Meng ran through a series of operations, eliminating the possibility of any background programs or software cheats, before entering the game.

She even created a new account, used this mod to initially show the invincibility frames of the prologue’s GP, and then demonstrated the invincibility frames in the formal Chapters.

Just as in the analysis video from before, it was the same Transform Slash, but the number of invincibility frames was visibly different!

This proved that Ning Meng’s client did not have any programs that would extend invincibility frames in the formal Chapters.

Afterward, she continued the live stream as usual, taking on the subsequent bosses.

Zhuge Jun watched while eating his takeout, his confusion growing.

This seems to be no different from her previous gameplay, right?

Could it be so flawless if it was software or an act? That’s highly improbable.

Having seen many such self-vindication videos of other streamers, whether they were script-using MOBA games or FPS games with blatant aimbots and wallhacks, there were almost always slips that indicated trouble.

While there was no way to conclusively prove anything, every player who watched had their own set of scales in their mind.

Ning Meng’s performance was almost indistinguishable from before, which proved that her skill was genuinely solid. Her mastery of Transformation Slash GP was indeed stronger than that of Zhuge Jun!

This was challenging to accept.

Looking at the live stream’s bullet comments again, there was a change in sentiment, and many were now praising her as an "Innate GP Holy Body."

This swayed the previously undecided viewers back in her favor.

Is this game really that difficult?

It seemed manageable, and since Ning Meng wasn’t cheating, it meant the game’s difficulty varied from person to person—and this variation was quite significant. Why don’t I give it a try? What if I’m also a GP genius like Ning Meng?

It must be said that games still have a way of baffling cloud gamers.

As a type of special entertainment medium, the experience of playing a game oneself versus watching someone else play is entirely different.

Lilith’s maneuver directly hit the Achilles’ heel of those who were on the fence, a masterstroke in plain sight.

Cloud gamers always felt that this game didn’t seem difficult, even when many netizens were saying it was tough, but after all, there were cases like Ning Meng who was "poor at other games but found playing ’Blood of Lies’ thrilling."

At this point, Cloud gamers entered a Schrödinger-like state: If you don’t try playing yourself, you’d never know if the game was indeed hard or easy for you.

Soon, not just Ning Meng, but other streamers also began to provide proof in various ways!

Their means of proving themselves were basically the same old routine, although clichéd, they still effectively confirmed authenticity.

Even streamers who didn’t participate in Nitiandang’s event were forced to start proving themselves.

Although these streamers hadn’t practiced in advance, they quickly adapted to the game rhythm of ’Blood of Lies’ and played well. That was normal, as many streamers are naturally skilled gamers, a minority among players, and even if ’Blood of Lies’ was indeed tough, they could quickly get used to it.

They knew they were innocent, but the audience couldn’t tell.

So, they could only follow the trend and prove themselves. After all, doing such things now had no downsides and would even bring popularity.

Suddenly, an inexplicable trend of self-proofing emerged on the internet, and players began to feel that perhaps ’Blood of Lies’ wasn’t so difficult after all.

You might say its difficulty was polarizing, but to claim it was unplayable? That would be an embarrassingly baseless negation.

After all, the game had a Dynamic Difficulty Mechanism, which made the player experience more polarized. It was normal to feel it was unplayable at the start, but if you kept practising, the game would get simpler and simpler until at some moment, you’d suddenly discover, hey? I can play without taking any damage.

The truth that was expected to be clarified by the unpacking videos was again easily muddled.

Of course, the controversy still existed and was intensifying, but it was clear that players needed a long, long time to fully understand the truth of this game.

...

After watching a bit of the proof streams, Zhuge Jun listlessly turned off the stream and continued to struggle in the game.

The repetitive rhythm made him a bit numb, and he rather lost interest in following it.

Why care so much about the exact difficulty of the game? Instead of fretting over it, it was better to practice more in the game.

Finally, at 1 PM, Zhuge Jun triumphantly defeated the Lie Hunter!

He couldn’t help but exhale deeply; the fight was really tough and had been the boss that stalled him the longest so far.

It was obvious, however, that having passed this hurdle, he had taken his understanding of the ’Blood of Lies’ combat system to the next level, and the path ahead should be smoother.

After this battle, Zhuge Jun became more accustomed to the GP maneuvers of the Transform Slash. He left the Church area and continued towards the next zone.

From this point, he was getting increasingly closer to divinity in ’Blood of Lies’ and delving deeper into the game’s enigmatic story.

...

In the evening, Lilith stormed into the villa, her face clearly expressing "come to settle accounts."

"Gu Fan!!

"What’s the deal with the hardware you’ve been working on? I need an explanation!!"

At that moment, Lilith’s complexion looked displeased, obviously, she had gathered some rather unfavorable direct emotions from the new controller.

All day she had pent-up anger, and now she finally found the opportunity to vent it.

Gu Fan calmly responded, "President Li, what’s wrong with the controller? So far, hasn’t it matched our plans?"

Lilith was speechless: "Match what? This controller is actually generating positive emotions! Is that reasonable?"

Obviously, as the game progressed, many players started to discover the benefits of the controller just like Zhuge Jun.

Its adjustable trigger and back buttons were practically tailor-made for maneuvers like the Transform Slash, greatly reducing the practice cost when playing ’Blood of Lies.’

Hence, positive emotions naturally emerged.

This was the effect Gu Fan had in mind all along – he created the controller to be popular and to make money; he couldn’t possibly contribute to negative emotions for Lilith, could he?

However, now that Lilith came to confront him, he had already prepared his defense.

"President Li, please calm down a moment. Think about it, aren’t the overall positive emotions gained by the controller still less than the negative ones?"

Lilith paused, then after considering, she nodded: "Hmm... that is true."

She hadn’t lashed out over the controller before because the emotions it produced were minimal, compared to the emotions generated by the game, they were nearly negligible and mostly negative.

The reasons were simple: when the controller first came out, players generally felt it was a rip-off!

First of all, to make these two trigger back buttons, the cost of manufacturing the controller increased significantly, and this surely reflected in the price.

Moreover, the back buttons couldn’t simply be swapped with the detachable modules from the previous generation of controllers, primarily because those were on the front side.

Most players were naturally discouraged by the price that was almost on par with international elite controllers. They only chose to buy this joint model out of trust in the controller manufacturer and Nitiandang, feeling a bit like willingly surrendering to be fleeced.

This price itself was a key factor in generating negative player emotions.

Then, when players got their hands on it, they found the back buttons had no new functionality, being just a remapping of the LT and RT buttons, which made them feel even more like they’d wasted their money.

And if they already had a controller that they were very accustomed to using, then the negative emotions only continued to surge.

All these ensured that the initial negative emotions from the controller were still a net gain, though not much, but enough to give Lilith sufficient appreciation for Gu Fan’s work.

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