Chapter 91 Lonely Cupid

Chapter 91 Lonely Cupid

The screen darkened, loaded data for a moment, and returned to the progress at the very beginning of the mission.

Through his first attempt, Lin Haoda had already figured out some basic logic of the game: for instance, "Sifenny's Wedding" was a mandatory task that couldn't be ignored; the main storyline wasn't a simple teenage romance, just like the sound of cannon fire at the end of the game—Lin Haoda suspected that the town would eventually be ravaged by war as well.

So he changed his mind and started actively helping Sifenny find a partner. In the process, more characters became available, including romanceable male NPCs, as well as Sifenny's friends, teachers, and her mother who lived far away, gathering many new memories and storylines.

His understanding of the town went beyond what was written in the text. Lin Haoda controlled that golden-haired girl, walking through the town's streets and alleys every day, her feet stepping on every cobblestone, her songs echoing across the church square.

The only frustrating thing was that no matter whom Sifenny chose, she couldn't change the outcome of the town being dragged into war.

At first, Lin Haoda thought he needed to find a deeply affectionate partner, so he let Sifenny fall in love with the barber's son over time. Progress was fast; within half a month, they reached the goal of marriage. But when the countdown hit zero, Sifenny's father still had to leave town, and shells would still fall at dawn.

Later, he had Sifenny actively befriend the mayor's son and ask him to abandon his decision to leave town. This time, the father stayed behind to tend the flower shop, but Sifenny, wearing her wedding dress, met her end amidst the soldiers' cavalry.

On one attempt, Lin Haoda had Sifenny marry the rich merchant's nephew and persuaded them to leave the town before the countdown ended, moving to the warmer, wetter south. The story progressed smoothly, but ten days before mission failure, the rich merchant received secret news, abandoned his nephew and Sifenny, and fled alone in a carriage loaded with gold and jewels in the dead of night. The last news Sifenny received was that on the way to a neighboring town, he encountered a band of deserters, his treasures were looted, and he died deep in the canyon.

After many failed attempts, Lin Haoda felt a bit discouraged and quit the game. It was already late, and he originally planned to sleep, but he couldn't let go. He tried searching for game walkthroughs on his phone.

He tweaked the keywords in the search bar many times, from "Sifenny" to various NPC names, but came up empty. The game didn't seem to have been publicly released, and very few people knew about it.

Only on an obscure gaming forum did Lin Haoda, using keywords like the character name, "golden-haired girl," "town," and "war," find a few foreign accounts discussing it. However, the posts were from seven or eight years ago, with a few game enthusiasts giving brief praise and nothing more.

Lin Haoda couldn't make sense of it and suspected that Tang Chen had sent him a demo version of an upcoming project, using him as a closed beta tester to secretly collect feedback.

Thinking this, he contacted Tang Chen for the first time and messaged, "I'm playing the game, but I can't get the story to progress."

After a moment's hesitation, he decided to be a good tester and elaborated: "I couldn't find any guides. Does who Sifenny marries affect the town's final outcome?"

Tang Chen was probably busy, or perhaps there was a time zone difference, so he didn't reply immediately.

The next morning, Lin Haoda got his reply: "Yes."

Five minutes later, Tang Chen replied again: "[Mailbox] [Cupid's Blessing]."

The hints were very brief, obviously carefully considered, not a word more.

Tang Chen was easier to get along with than he seemed, but when it came to games, he was strict and tight-lipped.

Luckily, Lin Haoda now had the key information. He got up, turned on his computer, and logged into the game again.

Tang Chen's hint was the mailbox. In fact, Lin Haoda often used this feature during the game. Sifenny would write letters to whoever she was dating. Once she got acquainted with someone, there was no limit to the number of letters, and she could also send gifts. In the mid-to-late game, this was how you increased the affection level of male characters.

He opened the letter list and went through them one by one, finally noticing something off. He then opened several different save files and confirmed that no matter which NPC Sifenny pursued a relationship with, whenever their affection reached the halfway point of the progress bar, there would be an anonymous letter in the mailbox. No signature, simple content, more like a prayer from a believer: "May the god of love watch over the one you love."

Lin Haoda clicked on the screen, and a dark feather slipped out of the envelope.

Lin Haoda was surprised that this clue was so well hidden. Thinking it might be a hidden male character he had never encountered, he started a new game save.

The screen took a few seconds to load and then lit up again. The game returned to the beginning: Sifenny found an injured bird by the river.

Sifenny bandaged it, but this time she didn't leave. Time passed slowly, and then a new option appeared on the screen: "Wait until the moon rises."

The sun sank below the horizon. In the silvery moonlight, the injured bird transformed into a tall young man. He strode toward Sifenny, his voice gentle: "Thank you, Sifenny. I am Heinz."

His smile was handsome and shy.

Heinz was cursed by a dark god. Unless he received a blessing from a god, he would remain a homeless wild bird forever.

Sifenny brought the injured Heinz home. It turned out that every day at sunrise, Heinz would turn back into a bird. The only thing that could break the spell was Cupid's blessing. Sifenny watered the flowers before sunrise for three consecutive days, obtained the token from the god, and finally broke Heinz's curse.

Together, they made a wish in front of the Cupid statue: to be together forever.

The days of wedding preparations were peaceful and happy. One day before the countdown ended, Sifenny walked into the church with Heinz, with the whole town as witnesses. The priest prayed to the heavens. Just as the wedding ceremony was about to begin, a cannonball crashed through the church roof and landed in front of them.

War broke out prematurely.

Amid the chaotic wails and cries, with flames of war all around, Sifenny looked at Heinz's blood-smeared face. Two options appeared on the screen: one was "Please complete the wedding with me," and the other was "Respect his choice."

Lin Haoda first chose to complete the wedding, thinking that if Sifenny found her true love, the gods would descend and protect the people. But in the end, the church was engulfed in flames, and Sifenny and Heinz died in each other's arms.

Luckily, it was just a game—there was always a chance to reload and try again.

After choosing the second option, Heinz's body gradually turned translucent. Under Sifenny's gaze, his face shattered into countless golden fragments. They slowly rose above the town, forming a massive barrier wall that blocked all the artillery fire on the other side.

Sifenny's lover disappeared. A feather drifted down from the sky, finally landing in her palm.

The screen flickered twice, and then a line of text appeared: "Congratulations on helping Cupid Sifenny reawaken."

Then came the epilogue: Cupid Sifenny descended once more. The war-ravaged town finally regained peace. The shattered statue of the goddess was restored, believers found their faith again, and under her protection, the town flourished, enjoying prosperity and stability for ages.

But everyone forgot Heinz; no one remembered who he was. Sifenny asked everyone in town if they had ever seen Heinz, but got nothing.

Sifenny became the lonely Cupid.

After being Cupid for a very, very long time, one day just before sunrise, a dark-feathered bird landed on Sifenny's windowsill. She named this bird "Heinz" and, in the morning light, bent down to kiss its sharp beak.

Two text options appeared on the screen: "Heinz, I forgive you" and "Heinz, I hope you come back."

Lin Haoda stared at the screen, choosing neither. After a long while, he typed in the third blank option:

"I still don't understand why you would take it upon yourself to give up and decide to leave.

But if you ask me if I ever thought you would come back, the answer is 'I have thought about it.'"

Lin Haoda hesitated for a few seconds, momentarily dazed, unsure whether this answer was for Sifenny or for himself.

Perhaps because Heinz reminded him of someone. Under the gaze of Cupid, that person had also found themselves, yet left arbitrarily, vanishing without a trace.

After hitting Enter, the screen slowly darkened. In the black center, the game's title appeared: "Lonely Cupid."

Lin Haoda had spent over eight hours on a very ordinary Saturday afternoon clearing a very niche game—one that probably only a handful of people in the world had actually played.

He sat dazed for a moment, then stood up from his chair. The setting sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling across the floor. The game's main theme still reverberated in the room. After completing it, the recorder melody had incorporated other instruments, varied to better suit the somewhat sorrowful ending.

Lin Haoda felt a lump in his chest. Recalling the last scene—Sifenny's silhouette before the Temple of Cupid—he realized that even a god could only bless others, not protect themselves.

He grabbed his phone, intending to message Jiang Tianyi, the only other person who had played it. They were practically fellow enthusiasts by now. But somehow, a message from Tang Chen came in first, as though he had installed a monitor on Lin Haoda: "How was it? Cleared it?"

Lin Haoda replied, "Cleared it." After a long hesitation, he couldn't help asking, "Is there only one ending? Any hidden quests or something?"

Tang Chen answered, "Yeah, I didn't make multiple endings."

Lin Haoda felt he was too certain, not leaving players any chance to try, and said regretfully, "Alright."

Tang Chen continued to discuss the creative concept with him: "Originally, it seemed they weren't even planning to include a reload feature."

Lin Haoda complained that it was "too harsh." Trying to justify himself, he said to Tang Chen, "Sifenny has over a dozen love interests. If you couldn't reload and had to try them one by one, no one would have the persistence to finish the game."

Tang Chen sent a voice message. Laughing, he told him, "The developer's initial intention was to limit romance attempts to a maximum of three. After three attempts, the game would directly enter a failure ending."

Lin Haoda only sensed the developer's condescending attitude. He sent a disapproving emoji and ended the conversation.

Later in the evening, as it was nearing midnight in China, Guan Junshan had just finished a speech at a gaming carnival. When he stepped off the stage, he received a call from Tang Chen.

Tang Chen first updated him on the latest progress of several ongoing projects, then mentioned the new game being exhibited at the event. After a two-second pause, he told Guan Junshan, "He already beat it."

Guan Junshan nodded to the people around him and walked toward a quieter corner, asking, "That fast?"

Tang Chen added, "He probably pulled an all-nighter."

Guan Junshan chuckled softly. "What did he think?"

Tang Chen passed on Lin Haoda's feedback, including the dissatisfaction and suggestions regarding the ending and save files. After listening, Guan Junshan paused briefly, then said, "Got it."

After hanging up, he finished socializing for the night and finally returned to his hotel in the late hours. As usual, he still had to deal with some accumulated work due to the business trip.

The project "Lonely Cupid" was already in its final stages. As a small-scale single-player game, Guan Junshan decided to first release it on public platforms as an indie developer to see what kind of word-of-mouth and feedback it got.

It was originally a small game he had casually posted on a forum while in school to gain experience. Back then, he had to abandon it midway. Later, after leaving the group and investing in Tang Chen's gaming team, he picked it up again and completed it.

Since it was a one-time purchase model with no other ways to spend money, it had only been tested within a small circle. The feedback received was quite positive. Apart from Jiang Tianyi complaining about why she couldn't enable a harem mode, only the two problems Lin Haoda mentioned came up.

In fact, Guan Junshan himself admitted that without a walkthrough, the game was indeed quite difficult. At the time, on Tang Chen's suggestion, he had modified the limit on the number of reloads, no longer restricting Sifenny to only three romance attempts.

Now that this issue had been raised again by Lin Haoda, he suddenly regretted it and was tempted to change it back to the original version. After three failed attempts, if Sifenny once again chose the wrong lover, the game would forcibly enter the ending where war breaks out.

After all, Sifenny could only complete the cycle of fate by finding Heins.

Just as he had to return to Lin Haoda's side to find the meaning of love.