Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 184: I Just... Have to Go

Ayin was stunned!

The audience also found it ridiculous, laughing in the chat barrage—

'Old John may be old but his heart's still young, what a legend'

'Recomnd giving the patient Jelly Joy so he can beco an astronaut imdiately'

'Wtf Jelly Joy lol'

'What does this have to do with love?'

'Love? Love my ass! I wanna go to space!'

'HAHAHAHA this is too absurd'

'What kind of bizarre wish is this'

'The situation is developing in unexpected directions'

'Damn, they're not gonna modify the lighthouse into a rocket to send the old man up, are they?'

'Old John: Listen to yourself, does that sound human?'

'HAHAHA Cat Mario reference?'

'On this day, the boss rembered the fear of being launched by pipe rockets'

'What kind of weird plot is this HAHAHA...'

'......'

The chat barrage erupted with laughter!

Ayin also found it ridiculous.

Since dreams can't be created out of thin air and require cause and effect for smooth system operation,

They couldn't simply stuff the old man into a rocket and launch him.

To create the perfect dream, they first needed to understand why Old John [wanted to go to the moon].

So before entering Old John's mories, they needed to gather so clues.

However, according to Lily, Old John was "usually a man of few words." Despite working there for so ti, she still knew very little about him.

She only knew Old John used to be a carpenter, and his wife passed away two years ago.

"That's... all I know,"

Lily said these were all the clues she could provide:

"I don't know why he wants to go to the moon,"

"You might want to look around the house, maybe you'll find so useful clues. My two children can show you around."

With that!

Ayin noticed everyone in the room looking at him.

The female doctor, Lily, and the physician.

"...I get it, I'm just the damn laborer,"

Ayin facepald as he took the wireless heart rate monitor from the doctor, which could track Old John's health in real-ti:

"Fine, I'll go look around..."

......

Children were easier to handle.

After completing a few fetch quests, Xu Xiaolin successfully obtained the key to the villa's basent with the kids' guidance.

Had to admit, this ga had a special charm.

Despite its unrefined graphics, despite lacking epic battle scenes or grand background stories.

All it had was a sci-fi premise, a strange wish, perfectly tid background music, and clever dialogue writing.

Like when he first t the two kids and asked them to show him around—

[Hey there kiddos, your mom asked to find you, can you show around?]

[Ummm... maybe?]

[What do you an maybe?]

[Maybe if you show so sincerity! Like... a trillion dollars!]

[Huh?]

[Or mom's hidden candy jar would work too...]

Such lighthearted and fun dialogue was scattered throughout the ga, always bringing a smile.

Even the character Xu Xiaolin controlled, Dr. Neil, was a chatterbox whose constant rambling added flavor to the ga.

It was precisely these elents that made the ga engaging despite lacking dramatic twists (so far at least).

Thinking this,

Xu Xiaolin nodded subtly, growing more impressed with Gu Sheng's grasp of ga pacing.

This rising star was like an extraordinary chemist, always blending elents in perfect proportions to create captivating gas.

An inappropriate analogy—digital Walter White (Breaking Bad protagonist)

As he pondered, Xu Xiaolin arrived at the "creepy basent" door the kids ntioned.

Then,

The BGM suddenly changed, its eerie modulation sending chills down his spine.

"Damn..." Xu Xiaolin muttered: "They're not making this a horror ga too, are they?"

But as soone who'd faced Lisa countless tis, such trivial scares couldn't faze Xu Xiaolin.

As the door opened, he entered the pitch-black basent.

Groping for the light switch.

The next second, Xu Xiaolin gasped!

"WTF! Huh???"

There,

In the dim basent, piles upon piles of origami littered the floor!

Red, white, blue, green, a riot of colors—all in... rabbit shapes?

Xu Xiaolin felt uneasy.

Even though

This was just a pixel-art ga,

Gu Sheng's ability to create eerie atmosphere remained undiminished.

So many origami pieces inevitably conjured images of an obsessive figure, folding paper rabbits like a madman while muttering to himself.

The mystery of why Old John wanted to go to the moon remained unsolved.

Now a new question erged.

Who folded these paper rabbits? Why so many? What do they signify?

Suddenly, the ga beca even more perplexing.

By the dim light, Xu Xiaolin advanced further.

Because he spotted sothing on a display stand not far ahead.

The pixel art made it hard to identify.

[A plush platypus toy]

As Xu Xiaolin picked it up, an image appeared on screen.

The platypus in the picture looked worn, its mustard-yellow body and black beak making it appear ugly.

Following the "take all loot" principle, Xu Xiaolin stored the platypus in his inventory.

Then leaving the basent, he asked the kids:

"Do you know where all those paper rabbits in the room ca from?"

The kids exchanged glances and shook their heads: "We don't know, we're never allowed in there. But if it's paper rabbits... we've seen them elsewhere!"

Oh?!

Xu Xiaolin's eyes lit up: "Where?"

"In the abandoned lighthouse!" The kids said: "Down the cliff by the sea!"

Led by the children, Xu Xiaolin found the lighthouse—

Under the tranquil night sky dotted with stars.

The lighthouse stood on the coast like a silent giant with its back turned, watching the jade-white moon in the night sky.

Gentle moonlight spilled over the sea, illuminating the silent lighthouse.

At this mont, it seed the closest place to the moon.

So beautiful.

Xu Xiaolin marveled at the ga's exquisite composition.

Hard to imagine a pixel-art ga could create such breathtaking scenery.

Following the path, Xu Xiaolin reached the lighthouse base.

And at this moon-close spot, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the lighthouse, was a gravestone—

[Beloved Wife - Xiao Xi]

Old John's wife.

He buried her by the lighthouse, this place closest to the moon.

Playing this part left Xu Xiaolin silent.

Before this, he knew nothing about John and Xiao Xi's story.

But here, by the lighthouse,

He seed to sense the bond between them.

Undoubtedly, Xiao Xi was buried here for a reason.

And that reason likely lay in Old John's past mories.

Thinking this,

Xu Xiaolin entered the lighthouse.

Spiraling upwards, they reached the top.

Just as the kids said,

Like the basent, colorful paper rabbits were scattered everywhere.

Among them, one large paper rabbit on the central lamp post stood out.

With blue limbs and head, and a bright yellow belly, it was the only two-toned rabbit among them.

Veteran player Xu Xiaolin instinctively knew this was a key item, so he took it too.

Thus!

The exploration concluded!

Countless paper rabbits filling the basent and lighthouse, one worn, silly platypus plush, and one yellow-and-blue two-toned paper rabbit.

Xu Xiaolin scratched his head.

What kind of ss was this?

Can't say there were no clues, just utterly confusing ones.

Then suddenly!

A phone rang!

The female doctor inford him the equipnt was ready—they could enter Old John's consciousness now.

......

"Holy shit this is amazing! High-tech high-tech..."

Zhou Jie marveled as the ga screen blurred then stabilized.

As she and the female doctor entered, a progress bar appeared at the top.

Six segnts total, each representing a decade—spanning sixty years.

This was Old John's entire life.

Seeing this, Zhou Jie felt emotional.

A human life seems long, yet appears so brief when digitized.

"Alright,"

Just then, the female doctor's voice ca:

"This is the furthest point in ti we can reach."

The pointer stopped at the end of Old John's tiline.

"Furthest? That's it?"

Zhou Jie was stunned:

"So we can't just drag the progress bar freely?"

As she questioned this, the female doctor explained:

"We need to find John now, understand why he wants to go to the moon, then piece together mory fragnts to move backward through ti until we find the right mont to implant the 'go to the moon' idea."

Hearing this, the chat barrage erupted:

'Oh—damn! Reverse chronology?'

'That's sick...'

'The scriptwriting here is next-level'

'Like watching a movie, so interesting'

'Got my chips and soda ready, this ga's amazing'

'This unraveling mystery feeling is addictive'

'Warning! No idioms allowed in this stream! Host can't understand them!'

'HAHAHA cultural desert eh...'

'Go go, Detective Zhou is on the case!'

'......'

Amid viewers' urging, Zhou Jie and the doctor left the room.

At the lighthouse base, they found Old John.

Though bedridden and unconscious in reality,

In the dream, he was in decent condition, currently sitting on a bench by the lighthouse, staring blankly at the sky.

"Hey! Old man!"

Zhou Jie's mischievous side erged—between [Greet] and [Prank], she chose the latter, sneaking up to slap his shoulder.

"Ah?!"

The old man jumped, nearly sliding off the bench.

The exclamation marks above his head showed his shock.

"You... who are you?!"

Seeing this, the chat barrage 'raged'—

'You'll scare him into another coma'

'You're seriously ssed up...'

'If he collapses from fright, you'll be more scared than him'

'HAHAHAHA true'

'Old John: Girl's got strong hands, I'm not getting up without 800k compensation'

'......'

As the chat roasted her,

The female doctor scolded quietly: "Neil why must you be so inappropriate?! You'll scare him to death!"

"Hey... relax, it's just a dream,"

Zhou Jie's Neil character waved dismissively:

"Worst case we just rebuild the dream."

The female doctor's speech bubble showed ellipsis, clearly exasperated.

Ignoring her, she turned to Old John:

"Hello John, I'm Eva Rosa Lee, this is Dr. Neil. Have you heard of [Golden Wind Life Reconstruction Company]?"

Seeing this!

Zhou Jie smiled knowingly, pointing at the screen: "HAHAHA you sneaky bastard..."

The chat laughed too—

'Appeared! Classic Golden Wind universe!'

'Golden Wind's business spans the globe!'

'Not just globally—they're on other planets too'

'Director Gu got tired of battle arenas so now he's making dreams'

'But given GW's tech capabilities in-ga, this mory reconstruction stuff isn't surprising'

'Rember, Golden Wind doesn't employ slackers'

'LMAO...'

'......'

Hearing the doctor, Old John thought for a mont, then recalled:

"Oh right, I rember, Golden Wind. So you're here to grant my wish?"

"Send ... to the moon?"

"Theoretically, it's not 'us' sending you to the moon," the doctor said: "But 'you' going to the moon."

Since dream construction must follow logic and fit the requester's life stages, John must genuinely want to 'go to the moon'.

"So," Zhou Jie asked: "Why do you want to go to the moon?"

At this!

All viewers leaned in, awaiting Old John's answer.

Yet!

Old John froze, then fell silent.

After a pause, he slowly said: "I don't know."

What?!

This statent

Left everyone—in-ga characters, players, and viewers—utterly baffled!

This was bad!

Nobody knew why Old John wanted to go to the moon.

Not even Old John himself knew why he wanted to go to the moon!

Like so inexplicable obsession!

No leads whatsoever!

"But..."

Zhou Jie was stunned:

"You must have so motive, right? Money? Fa? Just exploration and adventure?"

Old John fell silent again, looking more confused than any of them.

"I'm sorry, I really don't know,"

"I just..."

"Have to go."