Chapter 17 Garbage Game

"Brothers, I guessed wrong—seems like this isn't a high-difficulty action game, but a high-difficulty... what do you call it, climbing game? Or a platform-jumper?"

"Anyway, I think it should be similar to the 'bounce bounce joy' found in many other games."

"Don't worry, everyone, I'm also good at this kind of game. I've played the bounce mode in lots of FPS games before, like 'Ascension Pathway.' When it comes to jumping on platforms, Little Ding has never been afraid of anyone, all right.

"Today I'm going to show everyone what exquisite jumping skills look like!"

As a streamer, "bluffing" and "staying tough" are essential skills to master, and Instructor Ding was truly a master of these arts.

In a few words, he managed to shift the viewers' attention from the "merchandise" to the game itself.

After familiarizing himself briefly with the controls, Instructor Ding set foot on Sisyphus's torturous journey.

"Okay, brothers, there's a turn up ahead; let's be careful and get through it slowly..."

"No problem, easy peasy."

"There's a ditch."

"Ai, it's fine. We'll just lift the boulder and jump right over!"

"This game is so simple. With just these easy operations, even my grandma could do it. All we have to do is follow this winding mountain road upwards, right?"

Instructor Ding was quite pleased with himself and even joked around with the chat.

Just starting out, his patience was still in ample supply, so he made sure to pass each ditch with care. Unknowingly, he actually climbed up to the first level, known as the "Belacqua"—the place for those who were lazy and only repented at the last moment of their lives.

This place should be considered the first level on the periphery of Purgatory.

Inside Purgatory, on the fourth level, there's a similar place called the "Slothful Ones." The themes of these two levels are similar, both revolving around "laziness."

Their set designs were also similar, mostly consisting of mountains of garbage, dilapidated houses, streets full of junk, and unfinished constructions and so on.

However, this layer on the periphery of Purgatory, comparatively speaking, had less trash and was less difficult—it was the "youth version."

It was not until he reached this level that he truly stepped onto the road of Purgatory, and the difficulty began to increase sharply.

After passing through a lot of trash, Instructor Ding saw the principal character of this level, Belacqua.

He appeared to be a very tall giant, carrying a heavy burden on his back, pressed down so much that he couldn't straighten his back.

Belacqua's feet were planted on the ground, leaving deep footprints. However, these footprints were circular, for he was continually walking around the periphery of this layer of Purgatory, in an endless loop.

This was to rid himself of the laziness that plagued him in life.

Instructor Ding had thought he could engage in some simple dialogue with these NPCs, but clearly, he had thought too much.

These huge NPCs were just part of the game's scenery. Besides being movable, Belacqua and the piles of trash by the roadside were no different.

"Hey, brothers, I suddenly have a bold idea.

"What do you think would happen if I pushed the boulder to trip him?"

Perhaps the move to a new level had relaxed Instructor Ding's tense nerves, and suddenly such a thought came to his mind.

No sooner said than done, Instructor Ding pushed the giant boulder, caught up with Belacqua, and then took a sharp turn, setting the boulder right in the giant's path.

However, the next second, the giant-like Belacqua moved forward as if he hadn't seen anything, kicking the boulder with his foot!

"Ah! Darn it!"

Instructor Ding exclaimed as he watched the boulder slip from Sisyphus's control.

Under the force of inertia, the boulder rolled a short distance up the slope but soon, under the force of gravity, it began rolling in the opposite direction, gaining speed and accelerating rapidly back down the path it had come from!

"Ah!

"Ah!!

"No, stop!!!"

Instructor Ding panicked instantly. He wanted to control Sisyphus to stop the boulder, but he couldn't move because the game camera had switched to a follow-cam on the boulder.

He could only watch helplessly as the boulder rapidly fell, bouncing "thump thump thump" over various ditches and eventually landing with a loud noise back on the initial beach.

The next second, Sisyphus was teleported back beside the boulder.

He sighed deeply, shaking his head in annoyance, but finally stood up again, his hands once more steadying the boulder.

Clearly, in this game, Sisyphus and the boulder were in some kind of "soul-binding" state.

Once the boulder slipped from his grip, Sisyphus could no longer do anything but watch helplessly as the boulder rolled down, having to start the journey over again from where the boulder finally came to a halt.

Climbing this layer took Instructor Ding about 30 minutes, but the stone took just a few short seconds to roll back down.

All that could be said was that Instructor Ding had a very good sense of what a "sudden heart stop" felt like as the huge stone rolled downward.

His mouth hung open slightly as he stared at the screen full of "hahahahaha", at a loss for words.

"There's no save point in this game??

"If I had known, I wouldn't have been such a masochist! Tch!"

Instructor Ding regretted it, but regret was useless, and he could only push the boulder again, retracing his steps just taken.

Such toil gradually began to subtly alter Instructor Ding's mindset.

Without realizing it, he became more impatient for quick results, preferring the risk of taking dangerous routes to save time and reach the upper levels more quickly, rather than the safer, more secure paths.

But this impatience often led to even more frequent failures.

Fortunately, smiles never vanished; they just moved from the face of the live streamer to that of the viewers.

Watching Instructor Ding fail repeatedly, the live stream viewers burst into laughter, and the stream's popularity continued to rise!

...

As Instructor Ding played the game, the audience also began to understand some of its deeper mechanics.

Although at first glance it seemed like just a simple "push the boulder" game, there were actually three different movement modes.

The first mode was "Standard Mode".

By pressing the ASWD keys, one could roll the boulder along the main path toward the pinnacle of Purgatory, which was the most reliable method.

Although the steeper the slope, the slower the movement, and the more challenging it was to get past certain ditches and bumps, the boulder seldom slipped away.

When needing to turn, one could first adjust the viewpoint with the mouse, then press the right mouse button to realign Sisyphus with the path, almost ensuring infallibility.

The second mode was the "Driving Mode".

This was a technique Instructor Ding had figured out on his own; he realized if he held down the right mouse button, he could synchronize his viewpoint rotation with Sisyphus's body rotation, giving the feeling of playing a driving simulation game while pushing the boulder.

The advantage of this operation mode was that it allowed real-time adjustments, making it smoother and more time-saving when passing through consecutive bends, compared to the first method.

However, it had a downside: when the boulder started rolling, it took some time to bring it to a stop again. If there was an impossibly tight turn ahead during this time, it could lead to a "crash".

The third mode was "Carry Mode".

By holding the left mouse button, one could lift and carry the boulder to bypass some obstacles or gaps. This allowed Sisyphus to navigate through more complex terrain.

Furthermore, players could choose to jump to some risky locations, like those floating platforms in the air.

Compared to the regular path, this new route was high-risk, high-reward. A successful pass could save a great deal of distance, but failure would mean losing all progress.

On the surface, the game seemed quite fun to play.

But the thing about games is that "looking good" and "playing well" can often be worlds apart!

And the infuriating part of Sisyphus was exactly in its numerous operation details.

Instructor Ding originally thought he had gradually gotten the hang of the game's operations and it should be smooth sailing from here.

But clearly, he was mistaken.

The real hardships had just begun.

"Ai! Why! I clearly stood on it, why did I fall off again!

"Damn it, why is this person squeezing me!

"Wait a minute! Can't I place the boulder here? Why is it rolling down!!"

"Guys, give me a fair judgment, isn't Sisyphus a god? Why is he acting like a paralyzed kid!!"

In Instructor Ding's live stream room, sounds of breakdown were incessant.

Clearly, Lilith had laid the biggest trap in the game: the game character's frail physical performance!