To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 83: Mad Gamel

My instance is my instance, but my bug is our bug.

Taking this sentence as a footnote for “Nameless,” Wang felt it was quite fitting.

When you resolved a bug, it was likely that another player would benefit, this sense of satisfaction that also fulfilled others gave Wang a stronger sense of involvement.

Returning to “Breakfast Before Arrival,” Wang began to click incessantly, finally discovering the second bug in a hidden corner.

The mural on the wall vanished, replaced by a statue of a deep -sea diver emitting an ominous aura, but it really matched the surrounding atmosphere too well.

Contemplating the way he had just found the bug, Wang was pensive.

The game was supposed to be Cthulhu-themed, but it did not involve playing the traditional roles of investigator, folklorist, or detective; rather, it unfolded from a different perspective.

With the current scant information, Wang could not determine whether everything was a hallucination of the protagonist or if reality was indeed as such.

This confusion between reality and fantasy made the style of the game very peculiar.

With the cooperation of the audience in the live stream, Wang, drawing on his understanding of Cthulhu culture, started to identify and point out bugs, eventually cleaning up all the issues in the instance.

After all the bugs were resolved, the instance finally started to normalize.

Or rather, it became even stranger.

White fungal colonies covered the surroundings, strange whispers echoed in his ears, and his wife’s necklace turned into the peculiar unknown creature’s skull, which looked curiously good on her fair neck.

The room’s contents became indescribable, yet the magnificent artistry ensured that the visuals were not filthy but filled with an alternative beauty.

After finding all the bugs, a voice abruptly sounded.

“My wife is ill.”

“Her hair is gone, replaced by tender tentacles. Everything in the house has been swapped with marvelous fungal colonies, yet she doesn’t think there’s anything wrong.”

“I can’t make love to a wife who’s like an octopus, even with the lights off, lean feel the stickiness in the darkness.”

“I sense the problem may also lie with me, but I cannot distinguish what is real and what is fantasy. Everything I know is gradually being replaced, and I am powerless to stop it.”

“The snow outside keeps falling, the snowflakes as big as fists not cold, even slightly warm. Only when they hit the ground do they melt quickly, and the collapse of the world becomes more complete.”

“I have been afraidof snow since I was a child, so on the day of the first snowfall, I did not go outside. Perhaps it was my caution that prevented me from becoming like everyone else.”

“I hate my caution!”

“In the land of lunatics, the few sane ones are the real madmen. I don’t know how long I can hold on, but I need to keep going.”

The voice came to an abrupt end, answering some puzzles while creating more for the game.

Looking outside the window, Wang saw that it was indeed snowing outside.

But rather than snow, it looked more like fist-sized dandelions, each with a small lump of flesh underneath, which was exceptionally disgusting.

Not immediately moving on to the next instance, Wang Say Games started a discussion in the live broadcast room.

” I originally thought this was a game unfolding from the perspective of the Cthulhu evil god, but now it seems not.”

[Indeed, at first I thought this was just a normal bug-hunting game, but after listening to the protagonist’s narration, I found that finding bugs was not an isolated act, but one that dovetailed with the protagonist’s experiences.]

[Since the game is from a first-person viewpoint, there exists deceptive narration and plot trickery; after all, first-person games are a hotspot for playing with such narrative tricks.]

[Let’s sum it up, there seem to be two possibilities now. One, the protagonist is sick and sees everything around him as colonies of fungi and Evil Gods, just like in ‘The Song of Saya’. Another possibility is that the protagonist isn’t sick; it’s the entire world that’s gone mad.]

[How are others doing with the game?]

[Each person has a slightly different scene experience, but Old Man has revealed the most of the plot here. Deserving of the Old Man, his luck always seems to be in a state of Schrodinger’s cat.]

[Do you want to predict what happens next?]

[Yeah, I’d love to, I’m especially hooked on detective novels and have been wanting to discuss it with someone for so long.]

[Count me in.]

[+1.]

Wang was utterly dumbstruck as the style of the live broadcast suddenly changed.

He had thought everyone was just a goofy netizen who ran their mouth about anything and lewdly joked about nothing, but faced with this situation, everyone started to rival Sherlock Holmes.

I don’t even understand the plot yet, and you guys are analyzing it one-two- three-four-five, the feel of the game has changed completely.

He had thought these people were just posturing, but as they entered the next scene, the viewers in the live broadcast really started to zone out.

The next scene was an office. After breakfast, the protagonist went to the office through an underground passage and saw the situation there.

The vast office was covered with white colonies of fungus, and each colleague had turned into octopuses of varying shapes, giving the air a distinct smell of the sea.

Sitting down on his own office chair covered in fluff, Wang quickly found a cute little creature with numerous eyes jumping onto his lap and making a purring sound.

“Wow, it really likes you,” said a female colleague enviously. “I come to feed it every morning, and it’s never been this affectionate with me.”

“Uh, thanks.”

He replied shortly, and the game continued once more.

The work was simple – just assign different tasks to various colleagues.

Wangwas just about to start when his viewers said: [Wang, circle those tasks.]

Dubiously circling the tasks, Wang was astonished to find out that the tasks actually did undergo a change.

Originally, the tasks were mundane like “transport goods,” “allocate staff,” “purchase office supplies,” “repair equipment,” but after each was encircled, the content of the tasks was replaced, becoming bloody and spine-chilling.

“Clean up those guys,” “Find those who can spot the anomalies,” “New World,” “Dawn”…

After submitting all the bugs, the protagonist’s voiceover echoed once again.

“They don’t know I can see.”

“However, they know someone can see.”

“The colleague beside me used to be just like me, a person who could see the unusual things around. The only difference is, she revealed the fact that she could see, and after being taken away, she came back as she is now.”

“Fortunately, she didn’t betray me; I haven’t been exposed yet.”

“But how long can I hold on?”

“We’ve already been abandoned once, but a mysterious savior rescued us. Now, with another crisis upon us, who will save us this time?”

“Is it the world that’s gone insane, or is it me?”