Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 49: The Han Dynasty cannot be redeemed at all

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: The Han Dynasty cannot be redeemed at all

Chen Tingquan clicked on Cao Cao’s character panel with a bewildered face, only to find that Liu Bei’s enmity value in the "Hated Generals" section had already surpassed Tao Qian’s.

Isn’t this nonsense!

At that time, Liu Bei was strictly speaking just a mercenary under Tao Qian, and many years later Cao Cao still had a scene discussing heroes over wine with him, which showed that there was no deep hatred at the moment, and Cao Cao had no reason to insist on killing him regardless.

And Tao Qian?

At that time, Cao Cao’s father, Cao Song, was hiding from the chaos in Langye, and Cao Cao wanted him to return to Yanzhou, but he was killed halfway. As for who exactly killed him, there are different accounts in historical records, some think it was Tao Qian who sent someone to do it, while others think it was Tao Qian’s subordinates who coveted Cao Song’s wealth and killed him, with Tao Qian taking the blame.

But no matter what, Cao Song’s death was inseparable from Tao Qian, and that was also a significant reason for Cao Cao’s massacre in Xuzhou.

How come Liu Bei’s enmity value is higher than that of Tao Qian, who was the enemy who killed his father?

Chen Tingquan really wanted to say, "Cao Mengde, wake up!"

Needless to say, this absurd situation must be because of that "Destiny’s Chosen" setting!

Because Destiny’s Chosen have an enmity value bonus, so Cao Cao’s enmity towards Liu Bei bizarrely skyrocketed, resulting in this outcome.

Chen Tingquan vaguely felt that his game seemed to be at a bit of a stalemate at the moment.

But after all, the game hasn’t been on for long, and he couldn’t be sure his deductions were entirely correct. So to verify, he started a few more games to try.

After trying, he found that, well...

He was indeed at a stalemate!

To verify his idea, at the start of the next game, Chen Tingquan controlled Zhuge Liang to meet up with Liu Bei, hoping to join forces with the two Destiny’s Chosen as much as possible.

In this way, he could borrow the military strength of the Liu, Guan, and Zhang brothers, while also using the Wolong Strategy to protect the two Destiny’s Chosen.

But the ideal is full, the reality is very skinny!

Although after joining forces with Liu Bei, he could indeed directly control the forces under Liu Bei, a new problem arose.

At that time, Liu Bei had no real power to speak of!

He could only rely on Gongsun Zan and Tao Qian, and Zhuge Liang was just a child of about ten years old.

When the two of them got together, to the demons, this enmity value just grew incessantly, turning them into enemies of the whole world!

Originally, Chen Tingquan was able to control Zhuge Liang to hide here and there, using the "Empty Fort" or "Verbal Combat" and other Wolong Strategy to barely survive, as long as he avoided those generals who had a high enmity value towards him.

But now, there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to seek refuge, unable to fight, and unable to flee.

Sometimes several forces would attack in succession, causing Chen Tingquan to be overwhelmed with anxiety.

It seemed the demons were also saying, "Thanks for the gift of nature!"

Originally, the Destiny’s Chosen were safer when they were apart; an eight-year-old Zhuge Liang could wander outside for seven or eight years without issues, but once the two Destiny’s Chosen got together, they never survived past three years.

They were wiped out in a single sweep!

After failing three times in a row, Chen Tingquan furrowed his brows and a look of confusion more profound than seeing an emerald-colored Ultraman appeared on his face, and he began to analyze the current situation with the audience in the live stream.

"Fellow treasures, here’s the situation.

"The goal of this game is "Aid the Han Dynasty," but the premise to aid the Han Dynasty is that both Destiny’s Chosen, Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, must survive.

"However, according to the game’s basic settings, demons have largely possessed the historical figures of this era, and at least seventy percent of the people in the game have been possessed by demons!

"You see, if I randomly click on a few historical figures, you can see that both Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are in their list of Hated Generals, it’s just the priority of dislike that differs.

"When Liu Bei or Zhuge Liang happen to be near these people, and the priority of dislike is the highest, they will lead troops to kill these two.

"But here’s the problem, the Zhuge Liang I play has no troops or people, and Liu Bei doesn’t have many soldiers under him either; just any somewhat powerful figure can defeat us!

"Although there is the Wolong Strategy, it can at best only save Zhuge Liang, but it definitely can’t protect Liu Bei!"

"Has this game got a bug or something?"

Chen Tingquan was perplexed, as if the game had never intended to let players pass at all.

Could it be that I chose the wrong historical period?

Chen Tingquan thought it over and felt that it might be possible.

He naively believed that "the earlier the historical period, the easier it should be", which might have been a misconception. After all, starting a venture has always been the toughest, while maintaining status is relatively simpler.

Perhaps choosing a period with a stable territory to start from would be better?

"So the difficulty of these four periods is not from easy to hard, but from hard to easy!"

"Dear viewers, this time we’ll directly select the last historical period, the Regent Marshal!"

"Great! Now I have a power base of my own, at least I hold the entire Yi Province, and I won’t be bullied by those Tom, Dick, or Harry any longer!"

"Regent Marshal" is the last phase available in the game, spanning from 223 to 234 A.D., roughly from the entrustment at Baidi City to Autumn Wind at Wuzhang Plains.

This time, Zhuge Liang appears in Chengdu, and his character portrait has changed from that of a youth to a middle-aged man with slightly graying temples.

Chen Tingquan clicked on the cities controlled by Shu Kingdom and indeed, this time he could manage the civil and military officers within the city.

"Dear viewers, watch how I flex my skills this time!"

Chen Tingquan quickly began operating with full confidence.

First, he filtered out those military officers who were more politically savvy and the strategists to serve as prefects of the major cities, then went crazy with internal affairs: farming fields, collecting taxes!

As for the warriors, they were recruited to train troops.

As for Zhuge Liang, now he could deploy his Wolong Strategy to full effect, what a pity he could only use it three times per round.

Chen Tingquan regularly used Observing Stars once each spring to make sure he could always keep track of the attributes and movements of surrounding enemies.

As for the other Wolong Strategies, he had to choose among "Personal Farming", "Fire Attack", "Brocade Bag", and "Verbal Combat".

"Personal Farming" was essential every round since it could significantly increase the yield and food production of farming, as the saying goes, "Without provisions, the troops can’t be mobilized", and Chen Tingquan knew this well, naturally wanting to ensure logistics supplies as much as possible.

"Brocade Bag" was to remedy weaknesses; it’s a really powerful skill that can improve the internal affairs capabilities of a general, thereby increasing the farming or military training effects of a city; it can also give a general an extra use of an enhanced tactic during battle for a decisive victory.

"Fire Attack" and "Verbal Combat" were used for special situations, such as concentrating damage on enemy forces after luring them in, or for convincing stubborn defenders to surrender.

Of course, Destiny of the Sleeping Dragon is much smaller in scale compared to average strategy games, so the strategies that players could implement were not overly complex. Often, players just gave their generals a vague order, and what actually happened depended on the generals’ performance on the spot.

In the game, Chen Tingquan encountered extremely frustrating situations where, despite sending generals with decent attributes and more troops compared to the enemy, he just couldn’t win the battles!

Of course, he also encountered some pleasant surprises, like a seemingly mediocre general successfully defending a city despite being at a disadvantage in troop numbers.

Overall, Chen Tingquan was having a blast, continuously arranging troops, assigning tasks to his generals, and also had to carefully consider how to allocate the three uses of Wolong Strategy each round.

So it went, as Chen Tingquan expanded his domain with ups and downs, managing the Shu lands in an orderly fashion and achieving some successes in a few expeditions, capturing several cities.

However, Chen Tingquan soon ran into a problem.

The Wei Kingdom sent out Sima Yi!

Just like in history, this Sima Yi adopted a defensive strategy, simply refusing to come out and fight against Chen Tingquan!

Chen Tingquan was also embarrassed, now he found himself in the same dilemma as Zhuge Liang once did.

In the game, attacking cities was also a very costly endeavour, so either he had to concentrate superior forces to storm the cities, or just farm around the city and engage in a protracted war with the enemy.

And while he was dragging it out, Zhuge Liang’s life came to an end.

[Wuzhang Plains—Zhuge Liang has passed away!]

["Destiny’s Chosen" Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang have both died, failing to achieve the goal of "Aiding the Han Dynasty", game over!]