To ascend, I had no choice but to create games-Chapter 617 - 353 Method to Solve the Puzzle (Part 2)_2

Chapter 617 -353: Method to Solve the Puzzle (Part 2)_2

Chapter 617 -353: Method to Solve the Puzzle (Part 2)_2

In this career line, players portrayed a detective falsely accused of a crime, navigating through a sprawling city of sin, negotiating with various factions, and visiting all kinds of people to uncover the truth behind their accusation.

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This career line was also known to be the most exhilarating, requiring players to constantly move between factions, a sensation of dancing on a tightrope that was addictive.

In normal mode, players could receive a lot of help, from the beautiful dancers, the frosty yet warm-hearted detectives, gangster punks, to the beggars on the street… These characters would become the player’s valuable allies, aiding them in achieving their revenge.

However, once they entered hard mode, these allies would one by one vanish, and enemies in the game became even more odious.

Even after defeating the boss in normal mode, more clues would suggest that the real perpetrator was someone else, and the player’s character would get trapped in a web of deception, lost in the vast city.

When Qian Xiaohao joined the group, he saw that the members had made some breakthroughs the night before, with the latest progress shared in the group, followed by even more puzzles.

Opening the group document, Qian Xiaohao found that an overwhelming number of unsolved puzzles had accumulated into the thousands, yet they hadn’t managed to solve even the initial ones.

After going through the document, Qian Xiaohao returned to the group and saw that another expert had announced their withdrawal.

[I can’t take it anymore; these puzzles are giving me a headache. I’m going to play Speed Mode for a while to clear my head.]

The individual didn’t leave the group, but they likely wouldn’t be back for a while.

Uncovering these truths was a rather unpleasant process, and many suspected that hard mode was actually an Infinite Mode, a mode that was never meant to have an ending.

Players would be stuck in an endless loop of encountering and solving puzzles but would never reach the actual truth.

Or perhaps, the game never had a truth at all.

If one returned to the original normal mode at this point, they’d find it unexpectedly fun, a tortured soul finally reaching its own oasis, making it hard to go back.

Qian Xiaohao: [Another one has left, it seems like everyone’s moving to Speed Mode lately, not many are playing hard mode anymore.]

Eric: [Same here, my viewers are telling me to stop playing hard mode, and they say it’s impossible for it to have an end, they’re tired of it. Qian Xiaohao, are you thinking of giving up too?]

Qian Xiaohao: [I’m not planning to quit just yet, it feels like solving this game’s secrets has become part of my daily routine; I’m going to keep at it until I can’t handle it any longer.]

Eric: [Same for me, it just doesn’t feel complete if these problems aren’t solved, though it’s really wearing me out.]

They were among the first to discover hard mode, and the idea that they couldn’t clear this mode left them feeling like the issue was perpetually unresolved, always weighing on their minds.

After exchanging experiences from the previous day, Qian Xiaohao summoned the maid, and together, they logged into the game via the gaming pod.

They had completed the single-player mode and could now join together in the multiplayer mode.

Basing on their previous discoveries, in multiplayer mode, when several players chose the same career, their main quests would merge into a single main quest line.

Having all selected the Avenger, they appeared within Ditam, the city of sin, and met up in a streetside café.

Ditam was also the place where it was easiest to trigger hard mode. By inscribing a mysterious symbol somewhere, the demeanor of the surrounding people towards the player would change, and a new game narrative would unfold.

Having completed this preliminary quest, the trio ordered coffee, but no one spoke a word.

The next steps in the process were familiar: converse with enigmatic NPCs, chat with a cryptic-speaking individual, complete a succession of tasks, proceed to the secret laboratory to confront their clone, and casually discuss life with someone who looked identical to themselves.

The process was now crystal clear, and they even knew exactly where they would meet their end; there was no longer any excitement in playing.

Pointing to a place not too far away, the maid commented, “In normal mode, there’d be a cute girl over there. Give her flowers more than ten times and you’d unlock an achievement, then you can start giving her clothes. There’s an item in the game called ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ and when you give it to her, she’ll call you a pervert. However, if you visit her house at night, you’d discover that the so-called ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ is actually a mosaic.”

Qian Xiaohao sprawled on the table and asked languidly, “Why are you bringing this up?”

“I’m saying, I feel that Normal Mode is more fun than Hard Mode. As long as you don’t trigger all that messy stuff, it might as well not exist. Don’t you think that’s a wonderful thing?”

Looking at the exhausted maid, Qian Xiaohao knew she had reached her limit too.

After all, sorting out puzzles is very troublesome, and although the enigmas seemed solvable, they actually led nowhere, making one doubt if there was any truth at the end.

Giving up was on the tip of his tongue, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He had rarely put so much heart into a game, yet to come away with such an ending, he just couldn’t accept it.

Eric twirled his coffee cup in front of him and said helplessly, “To tell you the truth, I didn’t play Hard Mode last night.”

“Huh?” Qian Xiaohao raised his head, looking at Eric with confusion.

“My father came back, and we played Fighter Mode online together. I have to say, after playing Hard Mode, Normal Mode is surprisingly fun. I used to think it was too monotonous, but now I see there’s something quite nice about that monotony.”

“No worries, it’s not your fault.” Qian Xiaohao sighed, “It seems this is as far as we go. Maybe we should just…wait a second!”

A flash of insight struck Qian Xiaohao, as if he had stumbled onto something.

Turning to the maid, he asked, “Do you remember the incident when the female university student went berserk when I was playing as a streamer?”

“I remember, what about it?”

“Why did she go berserk?”

“There weren’t any follow-up tasks, so she had to forcefully carry out an essential task. It’s part of the game mechanics… Oh crap!”

The maid abruptly sat up, looked at Qian Xiaohao, and said, “That’s it!”

Eric also caught on, looking at Qian Xiaohao and saying, “You’re a genius. Why didn’t we think of that!”

Qian Xiaohao’s method was actually quite simple; it was to chop.

If you eliminated all the side quests from an NPC, then in the end, they could only perform the most essential task.

Since the game’s mechanics compelled NPCs to carry out tasks, it was inevitable that NPCs would do everything in their power to complete their sole objective.

Spreading out the notes they had each taken, they discovered they had already figured out quite a few important NPCs from their past explorations.

However, these NPCs all had different tasks associated with them, and they wouldn’t carry out the main quest until the player completed some tasks. This led to an ever-increasing number of puzzles for the player to solve.

Understanding the plan of action, the maid asked, “So how do we chop off the side quests?”

“It’s simple. If the corresponding side quest NPCs are gone, wouldn’t the side quests vanish automatically?” Qian Xiaohao immediately replied.

“You mean, do away with those NPCs?” Eric asked.

“It seems that’s the only way. We need to calculate every side quest associated with each NPC, then streamline their tasks down to only the main quest. This process will be very troublesome, but I believe we can do it. Alright, let’s get going.”

They downed their coffees in one gulp, and the three of them stood up.

Dressed in black suits, donned with sunglasses, guns loaded and safeties off, they headed towards their target.