Chapter 475 - 304: Are We Playing the Same Game?

Chapter 475: Chapter 304: Are We Playing the Same Game?

The tragedy at the quiet cabin had significant repercussions.

The most immediate was the impact on the characters’ mood levels.

The shelter Uffie had worked so hard to build up was now shrouded in gloom.

All four characters were now in low spirits.

The deserter, Romance, and the chef, Bruno, were in slightly better shape. They weren’t too down, their moods just dropping from "Content" to "Normal."

They were exceptionally resilient.

However, it was clear they didn’t like what had happened either. Romance had likely become a deserter because of the army’s methods in the first place.

If it were just about survival, staying in the army would have certainly been safer than being in a besieged city.

The athlete, Pavle, wasn’t doing well; he had fallen into a state of "Sad."

And the journalist, Kadia, was in even worse shape. Her current status was "Dejected."

She was just one step away from breaking down.

If a character broke down, they would most likely leave the shelter on their own, or even commit suicide.

All bad endings.

Uffie wasn’t expecting to get a good ending on her first playthrough; she’d be satisfied with an Ordinary one.

The soldier and the chef liked to smoke, the journalist liked coffee, and the athlete, even under these circumstances, maintained a lifestyle free of tobacco and alcohol. However, he could lift his spirits by playing the guitar in the shelter.

’Where can I get some resources to raise the other three’s mood levels?’

It was the first time Uffie had ever been so anxious playing a game that she started biting her nails.

One negative character status after another, plus the steadily dropping temperature, was putting her under immense pressure.

Because the resources she’d given the old couple couldn’t be retrieved, she had only enjoyed two good days before they were back to scraping by.

’Zog’s little tricks.’

To maintain the gameplay throughout the experience, he would definitely use various methods to keep the player short on resources.

That way, players would experience the joy of a good find every time they scavenged supplies.

If he let players live a life of plenty, with no worries about food or drink, they’d feel good for a moment but then gradually lose the motivation to keep playing.

After all, this was a survival game.

It was like the junk food your parents wouldn’t let you eat as a kid; you only thought it was incredibly delicious when you couldn’t have it.

Once you grew up and could buy it whenever you wanted, it never tasted the same as it did in your childhood.

As a game developer herself, Uffie understood the logic perfectly well. But that didn’t stop her from feeling miserable as a player right now.

Currently, the place with the most abundant supplies was the military camp. There was always a trader there, and you could buy almost any kind of resource.

But it wasn’t cheap.

’If only I could take over the army camp.’

’It has way more stuff than the places where bandits hang out.’

The problem was, Uffie didn’t have the ability. Even though she had the strongest combat character, the deserter Romance, she still couldn’t fight her way through the well-equipped military camp.

She had tried.

And died a horrible death.

She had reloaded her save several times.

In this game, every time you reloaded a save, the day would start over.

While this tactic didn’t affect the in-game progress, Zog had cheekily added an extra feature.

Every time you reloaded, a load counter would pop up, as if to remind the player: You "cheated." Real survivors of war don’t get the chance to start the day over.

Unable to beat the army, Uffie had no choice but to go scavenging in the poorer maps.

The four characters went back to not having enough to eat each day, and they were constantly a little fatigued.

As the weather grew colder, the amount of wood needed for heating increased daily. This meant that when scavenging, a lot of backpack space had to be cleared for wood.

Under these circumstances, someone knocked on the shelter’s door again.

It was someone seeking help.

His child was sick and needed a lot of supplies.

Uffie stared at the "Accept" button, but she just couldn’t bring herself to click it.

She simply didn’t have that much to give.

"Just refuse. You can’t save everyone in a war."

"We barely have enough to eat ourselves. How can we afford to save anyone else?"

They made a lot of sense.

Uffie really wanted to help, but she was truly powerless.

She could only click "Decline."

Failing to help someone in need caused the journalist’s mood to drop once again.

She hadn’t recovered since the last time she became "Dejected."

At that moment, Uffie even started to resent the journalist. ’How can she be sad about not being able to help others at a time like this?’

The moment that thought popped into her head, Uffie startled herself.

’Why would I think something like that?’

’Just because it’s affecting my chances of finishing the game, I’m starting to resent a character who’s held onto her kindness even in war.’

She suddenly understood another anti-war message of the game.

It made the player personally experience the process of gradually becoming cold-blooded in a war.

Uffie had gone from helping whenever she could at the beginning to now prioritizing cost-effectiveness above all else.

This was, of course, the smarter way to play.

But how much of that cleverness was born out of desperation?

After the incident with the person seeking help, they barely managed to survive for a few more days.

While scavenging these past few days, she also found quite a few letters and notes left behind by others.

Their contents all told one tragic story after another caused by this war.

"Heard you wanted to join the army? Don’t come here. We caught a resistance fighter earlier. Word is she got a lot of our brothers killed, so we tied her to a tree and aimed a Delayed Magic Energy Blast at her. The delay was long enough for her to reflect on her entire life..."

"Surgery—3 dead, 12 wounded; Neurology—1 dead, 3 wounded; Pediatrics—32 dead, 2 wounded... It looks like the Pediatrics department suffered the most severe casualties."

"There’s only some junk in the stroller. A rattle, a red toy crab that looks like it’s been chewed to bits by a child, and a baby bottle. I can’t tell if that congealed lump inside is milk. They must have fled in a hurry. But they don’t need any of these things anymore."