Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 670 - 653: Elaborately Crafted Deception

Chapter 670: Chapter 653: Elaborately Crafted Deception

Li Wenhao was speechless—this was simply unavoidable!

Now he figured out where the problem was.

Previously, Li Wenhao was also very cautious. After all, in an online game like "Reverse Heaven," scammers were prevalent, so you had to be careful when spending money.

But no matter how cautious you are, there’s always something you miss.

How did the Overstreet Rat’s scam work?

It still relied on information asymmetry.

Li Wenhao believed him because the game system allowed agreements to be signed in black and white. He indeed saw his Heavenly Tribulation survival rate drop from 87% to 72%, which matched the probability mentioned by Overstreet Rat earlier.

That’s why Li Wenhao felt comfortable signing the contract.

But he overlooked an extremely serious issue: Initially, when he checked the Heavenly Tribulation, the specific survival rate and intensity weren’t indicated by the system panel!

It was entirely up to the word of a Life Star Pavilion disciple.

Overstreet Rat said Li Wenhao’s 87% probability was for a Lower Grade Tribulation, and Li Wenhao believed him.

In reality, Li Wenhao did indeed have an 87% probability, but it was for a Middle Grade Tribulation.

To elevate it to an Upper Grade Tribulation, the 87% probability had to be reduced to around 50%, which meant not only would the cost of materials needed for activating the Secret Technique double but the probability would drop so drastically that the whole Tribulation process could become very uncontrollable, so it wasn’t worth it.

If it were an honest Life Star Pavilion disciple, they would suggest maintaining this probability and crossing the Tribulation as is, without taking any extra steps.

But Overstreet Rat, the scammer he was, tricked Li Wenhao by saying that the 87% probability was for a Lower Grade Tribulation, and upgrading to a Middle Grade Tribulation only required reducing it to 72%.

In reality, it was a Middle Grade Tribulation (high passing probability) turned into Middle Grade Tribulation (low passing probability).

But after Li Wenhao signed the agreement, what he faced was indeed a Middle Grade Tribulation, so he had no way to verify whether it was indeed lower or middle grade initially.

As a result, Overstreet Rat essentially created a need that Li Wenhao didn’t have and happily earned himself a commission.

He also made Li Wenhao spend money on extra materials, which went to waste.

As for whether Li Wenhao could successfully cross the Tribulation, it couldn’t be said that Overstreet Rat made him fail, but it was definitely related.

That’s because the Heavenly Tribulation mechanism in "Reverse Heaven" is quite special:

Heavenly Tribulation is divided into four levels: Lower Grade, Middle Grade, Upper Grade, and Top-grade Tribulation, corresponding to the base value strength of the Golden Core.

Even if two Heavenly Tribulations look the same in special effects and visuals, the damage is different. Otherwise, how would you differentiate between different Tribulation success rates?

For instance, an 87% success rate Middle Grade Tribulation, compared to a 72% success rate Middle Grade Tribulation, may look the same in effects and visuals, but the former’s damage is slightly lower.

All this damage accumulates over time, leading to different Tribulation success rates.

But for players, as long as the Tribulation level can’t be changed, adjusting the success rate should only be upwards, not downwards.

Reducing the success rate is just making things harder for oneself.

If Li Wenhao had not sought Overstreet Rat to change his survival rate and had continued with 87%, he would likely have succeeded. Even if he took some hits, he could have passed.

Because the basic damage values of these two Tribulations are different, the success rate is an estimate based on the system’s comprehensive analysis of the player’s character attributes and expected operations.

So, what did Overstreet Rat gain from this?

No joke, quite a lot!

At first glance, it seems like a lose-lose behavior, but combined with the Life Star Pavilion’s Cultivation Technique, it’s a different story.

Why didn’t other Life Star Pavilion disciples upgrade as fast as Overstreet Rat?

Obviously, they were bound by their conscience.

Take Li Wenhao and Liang Chun as standard free-to-play players; their Tribulation to Core Formation Realm probabilities range from 90%-50% being Middle Grade Tribulation, and below 50% being Upper Grade Tribulation.

Initially, the default probabilities fluctuate around 85%.

So, the optimal solution is not to change the probability.

But how would Life Star Pavilion disciples make money?

If they only earned the initial fee for reviewing the Tribulation probability, it wouldn’t be much.

By doing it this way, not only could Overstreet Rat collect an extra fee for adjusting the Tribulation survival rate, but he could also significantly raise the risk of the player’s body explosion during the Tribulation.

If the player doesn’t explode, nothing happens, and Overstreet Rat doesn’t lose anything.

The player might even thank him, believing that his operation helped them get a 1.0x Golden Core.

If the player’s body explodes, Overstreet Rat makes a huge profit.

According to the Life Star Pavilion’s Nine Revolutions Fortune Seizing Tribulation Cultivation Technique, he can directly gain cultivation and resources from the player’s loss due to the body explosion and death.

As long as he finds a few more unlucky victims, his cultivation speed will skyrocket.

And players like Li Wenhao are unlikely to realize it was Overstreet Rat’s trickery, since they signed the agreement voluntarily.

So why didn’t Overstreet Rat directly reduce the probability to below 50% and make it an Upper Grade Tribulation?

Because if he did, the deal might not go through.

The fees for this feature are based on the probability change—the greater the change, the higher the fee, which increases exponentially.

While the 1.2 times Golden Core of Upper Grade Tribulation is very tempting, these free-to-play players can’t suddenly come up with such a large sum, nor would they accept a 50% chance of being struck dead by Tribulation.

Changing the 87% Tribulation survival rate to 72%, this mere 15% reduction, is just within the free-to-play players’ acceptable range, and they can still scrape together the money.

And with this survival rate, the likelihood of body explosion is neither too high nor too low, ensuring that Overstreet Rat can maximize his gains from the Nine Revolutions Fortune Seizing Tribulation without exposing himself too much.

Once he figured out the details, Li Wenhao was furious.

"Scam! Pure scam!

"The cultivation world is too treacherous, one careless move and you’re scammed!

"No, I must expose this behavior; there must be many other victims!"

It was fortunate that Liang Chun was clever and specifically sought out another Life Star Pavilion disciple to check the probability.

If he had fallen back on the same habit and directly looked for Overstreet Rat, he would have been fooled again.

An important reason why Overstreet Rat’s scam could work was that there weren’t many Life Star Pavilion disciples.

As one of the Six Major Sects, it required at least 648 currency to randomly join, and not every disciple had the business savvy to engage in side hustles.

Most Life Star Pavilion disciples stayed in the Sect to cultivate, only going out when someone sought them out.

Those few who roamed around had their fixed areas, given the large game map, and each major sect had its Tribulation points.

Thus, these players tended to conduct their business at fixed Tribulation points.

Around the Tribulation points near Chen Tingquan’s sect, there was only Overstreet Rat as a Life Star Pavilion disciple.

If any other Life Star Pavilion disciples showed up, Overstreet Rat would notice first and either politely ask them to leave or secretly bribe them to go elsewhere.

As a result, Overstreet Rat was effectively milking one sheep without the sheep knowing other sheep’s situations.

Some Henggang Sect disciples might think of finding other Life Star Pavilion members, but since each person’s Tribulation probability differs and they don’t know each other, it’d be hard to expose this scam.

If not for Liang Chun and Li Wenhao’s acquaintance and their similar cultivation, who knows when this scam would have been uncovered?

It was even possible that as the first batch of players reached Core Formation, new players would decrease, reducing cross-references, and the secret might remain hidden forever.

While the probability wasn’t high, once it happened, Overstreet Rat would have truly profited enormously.

Li Wenhao initially planned to leverage his live-streamer status to promote this issue, but he didn’t have to. It exploded on its own.

The topic was so hot that netizens started discussing it right away.

Turns out, many others had been scammed too.

And it wasn’t just Overstreet Rat; many other Life Star Pavilion disciples were also engaging in scams!

Their tactics were similar, generally reducing the probability from around 80% to 70%.

Another commonality was that they mainly operated around Tribulation points near ordinary sects, where most players were free-to-play or small spenders.

Clearly, this was intentional.

Because the high-spending members of the Six Major Sects were powerful enough to hunt them down if discovered; and they could easily cross the Core Formation Tribulation, leaving little room for Life Star Pavilion disciples to trick them.

On the other hand, free-to-play players had limited resistance and were more susceptible to Tribulation anxiety, making them ideal targets for manipulation.

Many suspected that Overstreet Rat had privately recruited several Life Star Pavilion disciples to form a scam alliance.

His strategy was cunning; the more disciples involved, the harder the scam was to uncover.

More importantly, his rapid ascent to the Heavenly Pride List made the scheme particularly tempting.

The promise of rapid elevation without the hardship of the Nine Dragon Elixir or the risk of body explosion was very enticing to players.

Of course, if the scam were exposed, it would be a different story.

The only issue now was that Li Wenhao was just an ordinary Henggang Sect disciple, while his opponent was an elite of the Six Major Sects, and a Heavenly Pride List member.

He didn’t stand a chance in a fight!

After thinking it over, he sent a message to Instructor Ding: "Do me a favor, kill someone for me! I’ll treat you to a meal later!"