Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 489 - 472: Is this matter just over like that?

Chapter 489: Chapter 472: Is this matter just over like that?

Gu Fan glanced at the time, "President Li, it’s already after hours."

Lilith was furious, "Then get him over here! I don’t pay out big bonuses to raise a bunch of lazybones!"

Gu Fan couldn’t help but sneer internally, where the hell did you pay out any bonuses!

With your original approach, which game of Heavenly Games hasn’t lost money? Where’s the bonus money coming from?

It was only through my incredible effort that we’ve managed to make any money at all.

However, as frustrated as he felt, Gu Fan definitely didn’t dare to say that out loud. He could only repeatedly agree, "Of course, who would dare not to follow President Li’s orders? I’ll call him right away."

After about fifteen minutes, Feng Hui rushed over in a hurry.

After all, everyone lived close to the company and could arrive promptly in emergencies.

"President Li, you were looking for me?"

Feng Hui’s face read "No traitor".

Lilith sized him up, suspicion brewing in her heart.

He looked like a genuine and reliable programmer, didn’t he?

Compared to Gu Fan who always seemed crafty, Feng Hui was honest and straightforward, endearingly referred to as "Big Brother Da Hui" by the staff.

Since joining Nitiandang, Feng Hui had been diligent and reliable, so Lilith had hardly ever doubted him.

After Gu Fan had been transferred to the physical department, Feng Hui practically became the main programmer of the project, which showed how much Lilith trusted him.

But could it be that problems still kept occurring?

This forced Lilith to doubt him.

It was a good opportunity to conduct a thorough check.

"Have a look at these two videos! And hurry up, if you don’t come up with a reasonable explanation, I’m really going to lose it!"

Lilith handed over the laptop with a dark expression.

Feng Hui accepted it with trepidation and quickly went through the two videos.

At that moment, the two biggest bugs in "Blood of Lies" were plainly visible for all to see: one resulting from floating-point arithmetic causing the dynamic difficulty assessment bug, and another due to the Myriad Editor’s cache issue that placed the Lie Hunter Weapon in the official Chapter, thus altering the GP decision frame.

Though Lilith was angry, she had roughly grasped the nature of the bugs, she still wanted a more convincing explanation, or someone more clearly to blame.

She even had her excuses ready.

The mechanics of the bugs were clear enough, but no matter what, they were programming oversights. Lilith almost foresaw that Feng Hui would make the same excuses as Gu Fan, perhaps even using the classic "programmers are human, not gods" defense to absolve himself.

But Lilith wouldn’t give him the chance.

First, she would silence the smooth-talking Gu Fan, not letting him get a word in; then she would launch a full-on attack on the details of these two bugs, leaving Feng Hui speechless.

Gu Fan was an anomaly among programmers, his smooth-talking seemed to suggest a genetic mutation.

But Feng Hui was the stereotypical programmer, surely he couldn’t also have a silver tongue like Gu Fan, could he?

If that were the case, Lilith might start questioning her own existence.

Come on, if I can’t out-argue Gu Fan, can I out-argue you?

Lilith was fully prepared.

However, the next second, she saw Feng Hui bowing his head in grief, apologizing, "I’m sorry, President Li, it’s my fault! This is all on me, I’m willing to resign to take responsibility!"

Lilith was stunned, "Huh?"

Feng Hui continued, "The company has been incredibly generous to me, President Li and President Gu, you are the best bosses I have ever seen, giving out such high bonuses is unheard of at other companies!

"But although I’ve also worked hard, I haven’t met the expectations of President Li and President Gu. Even though the programming and testing teams have worked their hardest to fix thousands of bugs, there’s always one that slips through, and it ends up causing serious issues...

"I am ashamed of the trust and opportunity you’ve given me, and of the bonuses I received!

"If this were any other company, I would definitely be working overtime to fix the bugs right now, but at Heavenly Games, we can’t make changes after release, I am powerless to do anything but resign in hopes of mitigating the losses and hoping that you and President Gu can find a more suitable candidate..."

Lilith felt a bit dizzy, "Wait a minute, just hold on..."

The situation was clearly not going according to the script she had anticipated, and she couldn’t adapt on the fly.

But seeing Feng Hui speaking so earnestly and with a sincere expression, as if he was ready to submit his resignation right then and there, Lilith was also starting to crack.

Don’t! If you leave, who’s going to be the main programmer!

Of course, three-legged toads are hard to find, but there are plenty of two-legged people. Although programmers aren’t numerous, they definitely aren’t few, and given Heavenly Games’ current bonus levels, a simple job posting would immediately be swamped with resumes.

The issue was, if Feng Hui wasn’t reliable, could someone from outside be trusted?

Lilith, not understanding programming herself, would still need Gu Fan to interview any new programmer she brought in, wouldn’t she?

Feng Hui had, after all, weathered storms with Nitiandang; he was somewhat reliable. But if they were to recruit another lead programmer now, he’d certainly be after the high bonus and she couldn’t be entirely sure he wouldn’t tamper with something...

Besides, there was the issue of development efficiency to consider.

Currently, Nitiandang was using the official latest Myriad Editor, which wasn’t that widely used by other game companies.

Feng Hui had grown up with Nitiandang and had been involved in the development process of most games; he was already quite proficient in using the Myriad Editor.

If they switched to another lead programmer, he’d have to start learning the ins and outs of the Myriad Editor and get used to the development style of Nitiandang’s programming team. This would undoubtedly slow down the development progress of subsequent games significantly.

What if the new lead programmer couldn’t play a coordinating role? Then should they keep him or switch people again?

Although these issues seemed like they could be resolved over time, in reality, they needed to be resolved by people.

Training the new lead programmer to use the Myriad Editor, assessing his technical level, and so on... in the end, someone had to do it.

Who would do it?

Lilith herself definitely couldn’t, so in the end, it would have to be Gu Fan.

Would Gu Fan take this opportunity to further consolidate his power...

"Damn it!"

Lilith only felt her head swelling; the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like an unsolvable deadlock. If Feng Hui really threw in the towel and quit, then Lilith only had two choices:

The first option was to persist stubbornly, pick a resume that looked good at random, and let this parachuted-in lead programmer take charge of the development of subsequent games, but this situation was obviously very uncontrollable. It could drag on for months or even a year or two, something Lilith absolutely couldn’t afford;

The second option was to let Gu Fan handle everything. But this, too, was clearly unbearable for Lilith, although, in terms of results, it would definitely ensure the project’s development progress. But wouldn’t Gu Fan’s power seem to further increase?

After a brief overload of thought in her brain, Lilith hastily said, "Feng Hui, that’s too much of an outsider’s talk. How could our company fire a lead programmer just for a minor bug? It’s just not possible, right, Gu Fan?"

Gu Fan chuckled inwardly, but still nodded: "Of course."

Lilith continued, "You see, President Gu has caused so many bugs, but I still let him take charge of the physical industries without holding grudges. This shows that Nitiandang is tolerant. The occasional bug isn’t really a big deal. Programmers are human, they make mistakes, and I understand that."

Feng Hui’s face lit up with hope again, "Really, President Li? That’s great, I always said that President Li was magnanimous and the most understanding of employees!"

Lilith waved her hands somewhat embarrassedly, "Ah, ah, there’s no need to praise me like that, I’m just doing what a boss should do..."

Feng Hui nodded gratefully: "Okay, President Li, then I’ll take my leave, and I’ll definitely put in 120% effort for the next game, striving to eliminate all bugs..."

"Hey, wait, wait, wait!" Lilith felt like something was off, how come he was leaving just like that?

She hurriedly said, "But those two bugs, could you at least explain them to me?"

Feng Hui scratched his head: "President Li, actually, everything was already made clear in the video. Okay, let me explain it to you in detail.

"But how to explain? Let’s start with the conversion between binary and decimal...

In less than five minutes, Lilith was nearly dozing off.

"Alright, alright, there’s no need to explain these basic principles to me!

"Let’s do this, I’ll just ask you one last question, why did you add a new save check when there’s a memory overflow in ’Blood of Lies’?"

Feng Hui looked completely baffled, as if he couldn’t comprehend why Lilith would ask such a question: "Because ’Endless Fantasy Legend’ had that bug before! President Li, weren’t you angry back then? You demanded that we must not let that kind of Master Sword bug happen again, so we thought about it and fixed that bug in subsequent games.

"Now, no matter how players load or save, they can’t use the cached data to bring back to the old saves."

Lilith was furious: "I know that! What I meant to ask was, how come you knew to add a check when creating a new save but didn’t know to add one when players use the Meditation Basin?"

Feng Hui showed a troubled expression: "This... President Li, this isn’t the same bug as last time...

"Maybe what you mean is, why didn’t we fix the bug with the card overload?

"Well, that bug is complicated to fix because it involves the underlying logic of the Myriad Editor, and in 99.99% of the cases in the game, the mechanism works normally. With the limited capabilities of the players’ computers, it’s hard to find a perfect solution..."

Lilith was even angrier, "Don’t beat around the bush! What I mean is, couldn’t you just have added a check for the Lie Basin?"

Feng Hui’s face again showed extreme remorse: "President Li, that’s exactly what I said at the beginning, I overlooked it! I’m sorry! To assume responsibility, I am willing to resign... I’ll go to HR and finance to process it now..."

Lilith almost jumped up: "No need!

"Alright, alright, I get it, just go and rest!"

As she watched Feng Hui leave, Lilith felt something was amiss.

Did he explain the bug’s principles? He did, but he was really bad at articulating them and didn’t have Gu Fan’s ability to break things down logically. Lilith had to let him stop after barely five minutes because she was practically falling asleep, it was like listening to some celestial script.

Did he admit to his mistake?

Yes, and with a very sincere attitude, even to the point of wanting to resign on the spot.

But Lilith couldn’t possibly let him actually resign, after all, they’d still have to rely on him for the development of future games...

So that was it? It was all just going to be left alone?

Lilith scratched her head, momentarily lost and unsure.