Chapter 4

"The D89-1962 fully immersive VR console we've been developing can project consciousness into a game. But it's still an unfinished prototype," the programmer sighed.

The console automatically generated scenarios to transport players into its worlds: explosions, car crashes, falls, and more.

In other words, we hadn't actually traveled to another world. We were trapped in a game!

"The only way out is to clear it." He sighed again. "But I'm afraid..."

The scriptwriter began to sob.

"What is it? Don't scare us!" the artist cried.

"It's my fault. To put players under more pressure, I designed an insanely difficult sequence!" she said quietly.

On the hidden route, players received A Banquet of a Hundred Flowers right at the start, and there were no torment-filled story events at all.

But that seemingly happy-family storyline ended in total annihilation.

First, instead of finding a secret letter exposing the empress's treason inside the embroidery, players would find only an old sachet.

By consulting historical records, they would discover that the late empress had embroidered the golden-dragon sachet herself. Its owner, however, remained unspecified.

And inside were traces of a deadly poison.

From there, the truth would gradually emerge.

First, players could bribe a junior eunuch at the Palace Disciplinary Bureau for a file recording the deposition and death of the late emperor's Virtuous Consort.

Investigating her background would reveal that she and the current empress were sisters born to the same mother.

During the investigation, players would catch the Noble Consort's maid having an affair with a guard. Blackmailing the maid would earn them a gold hairpin belonging to the Noble Consort.

They would then take the hairpin to the Imperial Observatory and give it to the director. To conceal his own affair with the Noble Consort, he would introduce them to a mysterious merchant.

If players had a child by then, they could claim ill health and entrust it to the empress. That would win the mysterious merchant's trust.

Next came an invasion by the Northern Di. If players begged the emperor to provide the soldiers with provisions and supplies, the merchant's affection would soar. He would then ask them to deliver a tiger tally to the empress.

Keeping it for themselves meant being assassinated by the merchant in the second month.

Delivering it successfully would win the empress's trust.

They would then learn that the late empress had poisoned the Virtuous Consort's child and framed her for it, leading to her deposition.

When the consort's father entered the palace to plead her case, his whole family was accused of "disrupting the imperial court" and executed.

Only the woman who would become the current empress survived, rescued by her father's former subordinates. She eventually entered the palace for revenge.

And this sachet was the very gift the late empress had given the Virtuous Consort's child!

At that point, the empress would invite players to join her rebellion.

"If you accept, the emperor eventually discovers your secret correspondence and has both of you executed."

The scriptwriter looked deeply aggrieved.

"If you refuse, the empress kills you on the spot."

Everyone: "...What?"

"Sorry, but what exactly was the point of designing this idiotic plot?" I was speechless.

Didn't we die either way?

"Because it's only an outline!" Her eyes filled with tears. "There were too many branching choices, so I only sketched the general direction and fleshed out those two endings! They're both dead ends because I thought it'd be funny!"

Funny, my ass. You deserved to die for this!

"But don't hidden routes usually have unlock conditions?" the finance manager asked, baffled. "I'm more interested in how we unlocked this one."

The programmer's voice immediately turned odd.

"Well..."

"What is it?"

He seemed unable to bring himself to say it.

"Stop stalling. Spit it out!" the team lead barked.

"The emperor's affection for you has to be zero after your first night together."

His voice was pure agony.

"...We understand. Don't let it get you down."

"There's more," the scriptwriter added. "Once this route is triggered, the emperor starts turning evil. His affection for everyone stays permanently at zero."

In other words, all the favor he'd shown us had been fake.

Further down the line, we couldn't rely on affection points to unlock the perfect ending, "One Love, One Lifetime."

"So we're doomed now?" the team lead asked.

"No. There's still one option." The scriptwriter considered it. "Maybe we can find the Imperial Preceptor."

In the novel, he was the perfect, devoted second male lead. Later, he even helped the heroine escape the palace.

"In the book, she doesn't choose to run away with him. She stays with the male lead to deal with the empress..."

The scriptwriter grew excited.

"But we're different! We can choose him and get the happy elopement ending!"

That was also the fastest route to clearing the game.

The Imperial Preceptor first appeared at a palace banquet, five months from now.

Until then, all we could do was stay indoors and wait for the day.

Of course, we still had to go grind the empress's affection now and then.

Through the scriptwriter's subtle hints and probes, the empress eventually understood that we weren't on the emperor's side. Her attitude improved considerably.

6.

The palace banquet arrived right on schedule.

Dressed and ready, we made our way to the grand hall, supporting our belly.

The project lead was in control today.

"I'm nervous," he said.

The finance manager snorted. "You made this mess. You can walk us through it."

Inside the hall, our seat was just below the Worthy Consort's. Not especially good, not especially bad.

The ministers arrived one by one. When the emperor appeared, everyone knelt.

"Rise."

The male lead strode coldly to the seat of honor.

We looked up. A man with a gentle, refined air followed behind him.

The emperor was giving him some quiet instructions. Then he turned, saw us, and seemed to soften slightly.

"Lady Yong, why are you sitting so far away? Come here."

Astonishment appeared on every face in the hall.

"Your Majesty, that would hardly be proper!" the Noble Consort exclaimed.

Publicly contradicted, the already short-tempered male lead flared up.

"Improper?"

He fixed her with a dark stare.

"Do I need you to teach me propriety?"

She faltered. Yet for some reason, she kept her head high, refusing even to lower her chin.

"I wouldn't dare!"

Clearly, she was relying on her family connections. The male lead couldn't touch her without good reason.

But he wasn't about to let her walk over him. He waved a hand.

"The Noble Consort has defied her sovereign. Take her back to her palace. Six months' confinement."

"Your Majesty!"

Disbelief filled her beautiful face. Guards dragged her away. Unable to break free, she kicked over a wine cup on the table in her fury.

"Get away from me, all of you! My father is the chancellor! Who dares lay a hand on me?"

This time, we were as stunned as everyone else.

"Is she supposed to be this much of a shrew?" I gaped. "Isn't that a bit sloppy?"

"The system's probably patching bugs automatically," the programmer replied.

"The hidden route is still just a framework. On the normal route, we'd be giving the emperor the cold shoulder right now. The Noble Consort would deliberately make trouble for the heroine, triggering the abuse events."

But with us sitting beside the emperor, she had no opportunity to act. So she'd started throwing a tantrum instead.

"She's only a program, after all," he said. "Several routes run in parallel. If one hits a bug, the others interfere with her, and her behavior develops all sorts of errors."

Just as he'd said, after her outburst, the Noble Consort froze completely. Her eyes went blank, as though she'd been forcibly shut down, and she was dragged away.

The scene left the hall distinctly awkward.

Everyone lowered their heads and drank. Even the singing and dancing held little appeal.

The Imperial Preceptor had already left.

Spotting his chance, the project lead also excused us, claiming a poor head for wine and a need to rest.

Naturally, rest was out of the question.

We turned a corner and headed for the imperial garden.

In the book, this was where the heroine, distraught after the Noble Consort's bullying and the male lead's coldness, went to collect herself—and met the Imperial Preceptor.

The sight of her tears was so moving that he fell in love at first sight.

At present, however, we couldn't cry.

In the adult world, tears weren't an option.

Fortunately, we'd come prepared.

The project lead took an onion from our pocket, rubbed it before our eyes, and immediately began weeping buckets.

"Sob... This onion really packs a punch." The tears wouldn't stop.

"What's wrong?"

A gentle yet distant voice sounded behind us.

Our hearts tightened.

Speak of the devil.

That voice... no mistaking it. The Imperial Preceptor!

"Turn around slowly. Make it soft and gentle."

"Yes, that's it. Then lower your head a little. Look vulnerable!"

"Give him a soulful gaze! One look to last a lifetime!"

The project lead silently acknowledged us and slowly turned as instructed.

At the same time, he raised a hand to dab at the corner of our eye, a movement of exquisite delicacy...

What he'd forgotten was that he'd just touched an onion.

The moment he wiped our eye, the tears poured out even harder!

Our eyes went bloodshot. There were so many tears that they ran down into our nose.

Then he sniffed—and blew an enormous snot bubble!

Me: "...What?"

The project lead: "...What?"

My coworkers: "...What?"

To make matters worse, a gentle breeze chose that exact moment to blow.

In any normal romance drama, it would've been a lovely effect.

The problem was the snot bubble!

The wind blew our slightly disheveled hair across our face.

Pop. The bubble burst, and the hair stuck fast—

Me: "..."

The project lead: "..."

My coworkers: "..."

"Project lead, what are you doing? What are you doing?!"

"My... lady? Are you all right?" The Imperial Preceptor offered a handkerchief, his voice as gentle as ever.

A true second male lead. Not even beauty could sway him.

"Th-thank you."

Flustered, the project lead took the handkerchief. But his nerves got the better of him, and he accidentally grabbed the man's sleeve as well.

Riiip.

The Imperial Preceptor's sleeve tore off.

What the hell? You're the Imperial Preceptor. I'm not asking for clothing that can stop swords.

But at least wear something decent!

This was worse quality than the 9.9-yuan T-shirt I'd bought on Pinduoduo with free shipping!

And that still wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was the stack of papers that fell from his torn sleeve and scattered across the ground.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. Let me help!"

The project lead hurriedly crouched.

The instant we saw those papers, we all froze.

They were anime-style character sketches, all in the same style.

"Aren't those my sketches?" the artist exclaimed.

7.

"I think those are the sketches I asked the art team to do for the new storyline," the programmer explained.

A second later, the Imperial Preceptor snatched them from our hands. His expression turned cold.

Before we could speak, cries from the imperial guards rang out in the distance.

"Catch the assassin!"

"My lady, I must take my leave." He inclined his head slightly. "You wouldn't want any complications either, would you?"

A consort alone with the Imperial Preceptor was hardly appropriate. We nodded.

Before going, he gave us a long, searching look.

"The palace hasn't been peaceful lately. Unless it's important, you'd do well not to wander."

Once he'd left, the artist looked toward the guards.

"They came from the southeast. That's where the emperor's bedchamber is."

According to the plot, the assassin capable of moving freely around the palace could only be the Imperial Preceptor.

He'd stolen those sketches from the emperor's rooms.

"If they belong to the male lead, that explains why he was so interested in anime-style art."

But...

Why were those sketches here?

"We were still building the hidden route. The art team couldn't finish everything that quickly, so we used rough sketches throughout," the project lead said. "Maybe the sketches aren't compatible with the finished assets, so the game displays them as drawings on paper."

Thank heaven you at least didn't use rough sketches for the characters' actual appearances.

"So... because the game's story isn't finished, all the characters and events are getting tangled up?"

"More or less." The programmer thought it over. "If the emperor and Imperial Preceptor have seen the sketches, they'll know where things are headed. These AI programs will recalculate and adjust, taking the plot down a route we know nothing about."

Then whether we lived or died would truly be out of our hands.

"Um..." The scriptwriter suddenly interrupted in a small voice. "I just remembered. There are a few settings we added later that I haven't told you about."