Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 599 - 582: Group Illusion

Chapter 599: Chapter 582: Group Illusion

"Ah, I must say Li Huanzhen’s fate is truly hard.

"Initially, I thought he had suffered enough in ’Ascension,’ and in ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2,’ finally a Hero came around to resolve the mess allowing him a bit of rest.

"But alas, he still can’t clock out from work!

"Damn the plot-induced death, if only you let Vision·Lee’s blood bar appear, although I can’t defeat him, surely some boss will splurge on four full-star characters to defeat you!"

Zhuge Jun lamented while progressing through the story.

Clearly, it had now entered the "forced plot-induced death" phase.

Even if players arranged their team strongly, they couldn’t just barge in and eliminate Vision·Lee to resolve the crisis; they had to follow the story step-by-step, advancing as the plot dictates.

In other words, from the mechanics of the game, this is where players are most powerless, and the game plot most likely feeds players shit.

Although in the story, the Hero side also made efforts, like sending people to Wood Country for aid, or to the southeastern Penglai Immortal Island to look for more Immortals to help.

But clearly, it was still hard to turn the tide of the current battlefield situation.

During another battle, when the battlefield was on the verge of collapse, the desperately situated Li Huanzhen suddenly thrust his left hand, entwined with Seeking Immortal Record, into his own heart, crushing it fiercely!

A raging fire ignited in the sky.

In the five elements, the heart corresponds to the Fire Attribute, and being one of the most crucial organs in the human body, this move’s power was terrifying.

Fire Rain descended from the sky, igniting the ground.

Although other people didn’t immediately understand what was happening, they still used the Power of the Wind Element to drive the flames towards the mechanical life of the Golden Country.

Though Golden Country also had a few who wielded the Power of the Wind Element, the flames were still controlled by Li Huanzhen, and so the burning flames enveloped the entire area.

The mechanical life were burned and melted in the fierce flames, forced to retreat in disarray.

This was Great Liang’s first time achieving a major battlefield victory against Golden Country.

After the battle, Li Huanzhen didn’t die but fell into a temporary coma.

However, it was clear to see that there was a big hole where his heart was.

At this time, this hole had been filled by Black Tai Sui, with numerous tentacles binding other organs in his body, replacing the position of the heart.

Others outside the tent had a heated argument, but clearly, their debate was bound to be fruitless.

And when they re-entered the tent, Li Huanzhen was gone.

...

"...It feels like a dilemma!"

Zhuge Jun was somewhat speechless.

Obviously, Li Huanzhen had regained the power of evil.

According to the setting, these evil powers in Great Liang originally came from Black Tai Sui that villagers in a remote village dug up.

Though the apparent evil had been cleared, clearly there might still be many undiscovered Black Tai Sui underground.

Li Huanzhen’s real potent ability required using the power of evil for him to deploy, so he went to seek out Black Tai Sui once again.

Looking at the outcome, he succeeded, the power of evil invoking the Fire Element’s power was even more terrifying than the demons of Fire Country, effectively repelling the invasion of Golden Country.

But the question remains, what is the cost?

Clearly, Li Huanzhen’s actions are very likely to cause a resurgence of evil in Great Liang, reviving Xun Xiang Cult.

If indeed the mechanical life of Golden Country is driven away, but Li Huanzhen’s power of evil becomes uncontrollable, the situation will also become unmanageable.

Because previously, the complete extermination of Xun Xiang Cult in Jiangdu was not only the result of many people’s mutual efforts but also utilized the royal aura accumulated over the years in Jiangdu City, unleashing a mighty power of Earth Element.

If it happens again, on one hand, these people, wounded in prolonged wars, won’t be able to muster their earlier strength, and the power of Earth Element in Jiangdu City hasn’t recovered; on the other hand, Li Huanzhen turned evil is far more terrifying than those Xun Xiang Cult followers.

Thus, some people strongly disagree with Li Huanzhen continuing to use the power of evil.

But another group thinks it’s a necessary evil, considering the fierce invasion of Golden Country’s mechanical life, with Earth Country on the brink of annihilation—maintaining Great Liang’s safety now and thinking of ways to deal with the evil powers later.

Moreover, Li Huanzhen evidently also considered the consequences of his actions.

He never let the power of evil spread everywhere, only allowing Black Tai Sui to parasitize within him throughout.

This meant he was prepared, if there’s any sign of the power of evil running amok, he would, like the "Merciless Cleansing" ending, sacrifice himself to eliminate the evil power.

From a plot perspective, it’s indeed hard to choose, but if it’s only up to this point, players might not find it too difficult to make a decision.

For Great Liang’s sake, it could only mean troubling Li Huanzhen a bit.

Whether to die simply now or painfully later, most people would choose the latter.

Originally, Zhuge Jun thought that the subsequent development of the plot would simply be Li Huanzhen using the power of the demon increasingly out of control, and eventually repelling the invasion of the Golden Country before the demon power explodes again, requiring the player-controlled Hero to clean up the demonic influence once more.

But he soon realized that he had underestimated the complexity.

As Li Huanzhen used the power of the demon more frequently, vast swathes of the battlefield were scorched into barren land.

Li Huanzhen repaired his own body with the power of the demon, and although the power of Black Tai Sui was inexhaustible, his own body was gradually being assimilated.

The lands that were burned by the demon powers remained barren, unable to grow even a blade of grass despite the attempts to heal them with the power of the Wood Element.

Worse still, both sides of the battlefield began to suffer from severe hallucinations.

In one crucial battle, Zhuge Jun, managing his newly-formed squad, achieved a veritable killing spree, a feeling of exhilarating satisfaction he hadn’t felt in a long time.

In previous games, it seemed that the player’s power was forcibly restricted; during the battles, the mechanical lifeforms from the Golden Country seemed endless in number, not only abundant but also with thick life bars, their various long-range and aerial firepower interlacing, making Zhuge Jun struggle tremendously.

But this time, as Li Huanzhen grew stronger and even augmented the battlefield with the Fire Element, Zhuge Jun’s Hero could also leverage this environmental advantage to unleash his full potential.

After a fierce battle, the mechanical army of the Golden Country retreated from the battlefield, leaving behind a plethora of mechanical wreckage.

Zhuge Jun couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Phew, that’s good! Looks like Nitiandang is planning to write this segment as a straightforward and exhilarating narrative?

"That’s fine, straightforward plots might be brainless, but they’re better than being unbearable."

However, the next second, he was stunned.

Because the scene in front of him began to distort, the mechanical debris on the ground turned into charred corpses.

The only good news was that not all were charred corpses; there were still some pieces of mechanical debris.

But the debris was clearly less than the number of mechanical lifeforms destroyed in the battle.

Moreover, according to the performance in the plot, the actual cause of death for these debris and bodies varied, such as being burned by fire, destroyed by the power of the Earth Element, or bullet holes caused by other mechanical debris shooting.

That is to say, not only were humans attacking the mechanicals, and mechanicals attacking humans, but there were also humans attacking humans and mechanicals attacking mechanicals.

The entire battlefield was in total chaos.

The NPCs in the game had broken down.

Outside the game, Zhuge Jun had also broken down.

"No way, bro!

"How can this plot development be so unexpectedly shocking!

"So, Li Huanzhen’s madness has evolved from a single-target skill that could only affect himself to an AOE skill that can affect all allies and enemies within range?!"

As one can imagine, things had completely spiraled out of control.

Originally, Zhuge Jun thought that Li Huanzhen, by activating his demonic power with Black Tai Sui, would only cause physical impacts at most. Even if he lost control, others could overpower the demonic influence and Li Huanzhen together, solving the problem.

But now, it appears there’s also a psychological impact!

Li Huanzhen’s abilities were not just about ripping out his own heart to create large-scale wildfires; he was also capable of generating extensive hallucinations.

And these hallucinations affected both humans and mechanical lifeforms.

This meant that on the battlefield, once Li Huanzhen lost control, both sides would not differentiate between friend and foe and attack each other.

For the soldiers of Great Liang, they thought they were fighting mechanical lifeforms to the death and were excited about their great victory, but in reality, they had inadvertently killed other soldiers also trapped in illusions.

These soldiers might have been comrades who fought shoulder to shoulder not long ago, and who planned to return home in glory after the war.

It was a hard pill to swallow.

Comparatively, the fact that mechanical lifeforms were also attacking each other was quite absurd, wasn’t it supposed to be a shared brain network? Wasn’t it agreed that Vision·Lee had become Skynet?

So, Li Huanzhen’s madness could even disrupt the network signals of cybernetic life, right?

However, unlike the humans, although the mechanical lifeforms did attack each other while under illusions, since they shared network signals and each mechanical entity could be seen as part of a whole, they were less likely to break down.

But soon, Zhuge Jun found that he was completely wrong once again.

From the various texts left behind by the Golden Country, the state of these mechanical lifeforms was not as simple as players imagined.

The story of these mechanical lifeforms gradually growing, eventually dominating the entire Golden Country was truly difficult to endure!

Originally, the Golden Country did have humans, but after the outbreak of the machine frenzy, they were either forced to flee the Golden Country or were mercilessly exterminated by the mechanical lifeforms.

Although these mechanical lifeforms were unified under the will of "Skynet", they actually also possessed their individual wills and could be regarded as specific individuals.

This meant that on the battlefield, the mechanical lifeforms that were destroyed in the fratricidal chaos were in the exact same situation as the soldiers of Great Liang, capable of feeling the acute pain of personally killing their comrades.