“What do you mean by eliminate, exactly…?”
[It means erasing all data of the character, to reduce the computational power spent on maintaining useless data and expedite the repair of permissions.]
Ha.
Huang Yang’s mouth twitched.
“Then what about this body of mine right now?”
[It will be eliminated once the story progresses into a Personal Route.]
“And my own consciousness?”
[It will be erased together, since there’s no space to store it.]
“What if I transfer into someone else’s body—”
[Insufficient computational power.]
“Tsk, Ma Kua…”
Huang Yang felt an urge to strangle someone.
But the System in front of him was just a display screen—he couldn’t do anything.
“No way…no way…I want to appeal, I want to sue you—”
He buried his hands into his hair, head drooping in utter despair.
His fingers messed up the fresh, pleasant-smelling long hair, but Huang Yang had no interest in a girl’s scent at all right now.
[Please file a direct complaint with the Author.]
“Ahhhh! How can this happen…”
I’ve never even been in love, never been liked by anyone, I should have had decades of life ahead.
To be dragged into a game world like this and then ‘eliminated’—all for just playing a romance adventure game for emotional comfort, like usual. Why should I be treated this way?
Recalling his busy, loveless past life, Huang Yang let out a heavy sigh, his eyes stinging with heat.
The display screen seemed to understand his dejection, quietly staying by his side without saying a word—giving Huang Yang space to ‘be alone.’
“…So where is the story in the game right now?”
[It’s right at the start of the latest maintenance cycle—in other words, the beginning of the Common Route.]
“Latest maintenance cycle?”
[=.=]
[To repair permissions, the game world keeps rebooting before the ending, integrating computational power.]
After displaying an expression, the System continued to explain.
[Through the previous work, 95% of the required computational power has already been accumulated. Now it’s just the start of the final maintenance. Once the story reaches the ending this time, all permissions can be restored.]
“Uh—so that’s why you said I have to wait another year or two before I can go back.”
Huang Yang sighed again.
He already knew, since he was just about to clear the game anyway; Brilliant and Shining! The Love Story of Starshine Academy is a text-based romance adventure game with a linear plot. Its main selling point is that, at different points in time, the protagonist connects with various female characters.
From the beginning to the end of the story’s timeline, if the protagonist chooses to pursue a particular girl, he enters her Personal Route, and the plot develops sequentially through high school graduation and beyond.
If he never pursues any girl, the story reaches graduation after the protagonist’s final interaction with the last heroine; the male lead, who fails to get a girlfriend, greets the Graduation Ceremony alone, and the game ends.
So, regardless of whether the game enters a Personal Route, the story always ends at the protagonist’s high school graduation—at which point, the System completes its final maintenance, finishes accumulating computational power, restores permissions, and can send his consciousness back to the real world.
…But the problem is, he wouldn’t survive that long!
There are four heroines with their own routes in this game—how long could he possibly last?
“If I have to die, I’d at least like to live a little more freely in these last days—can’t you spare even a tiny bit of computational power to put a hundred thousand or eighty thousand in my account, so I can spend it here however I want?”
[It’s just a matter of editing a few data points. It’s possible.]
The display screen still wore the ‘=.=’ expression—the more Huang Yang looked at it, the more he wanted to smack it.
But what it said next sparked new hope in Huang Yang.
[But things may not be as bad as you think.]
“……”
“What do you mean?”
Huang Yang asked.
[If you can prevent the story from entering a heroine’s Personal Route, characters from the Common Route can continue to exist.]
The System replied.
“…——!”
As long as you don’t enter a route, it stays as the Common Route—wasn’t this just like ‘if you kill someone, they die’!
Makes sense, doesn’t it?!
Huang Yang’s eyes lit up. “What exactly does that mean?”
[When the story enters a Personal Route, supporting characters who no longer appear are indeed erased. But as long as you don’t enter a Personal Route, supporting characters have everyday scenes all the way to the ending.]
[In that case, your consciousness can stay with this body until the System regains permissions and sends you back to the real world.]
“So you’re saying I need to stop the male lead and the heroines in the game from getting together…”
[It’s not that easy.]
[Entering a Personal Route isn’t always marked by starting a relationship. Sometimes a single choice can trigger it. Since you’ve played the game, you should know about this.]
“Ugh…”
The System was right.
Huang Yang frowned.
Some key choices, once made, automatically lead into a Personal Route; the progression of affection and confessions afterward are all Personal Route content, not part of the Common Route, and the exclusive storylines between different heroines differ as well.
So it’s not just about preventing confession scenes—you even have to block the key events that lead into those routes.
After the System’s words, Huang Yang naturally began thinking about how to ensure his own survival.
As he pondered, a crucial question popped into his mind.
“…If I do something extreme to disrupt the story, will it create new bugs? Will it interfere with your computational power gathering?”
[No.]
The System displayed a ‘x.x’ expression.
[This is essentially a continuously running backup. I’m just collecting computational power here—there’s no risk of bugs from story changes.]
[So if you want to try surviving, I won’t interfere with your actions.]
[In fact, I’m willing to offer my support.]
Huang Yang’s eyebrows twitched.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Is there something you want me to do for you?”
[Computational power now exists as data scattered throughout the game world. If you notify me when you find it, it will help my computational power reach the repair threshold sooner.]
[Collecting computational power while maintaining world operation isn’t fast. With help, the completion date can be moved up.]
The System explained crisply.
Huang Yang understood.
So he was being put to work.
“Fine, I accept—but you’d better support me within your capabilities too, deal?”
[Of course.]
The System displayed an ‘ok’ gesture on the screen.
[The core issue is to avoid the male lead entering other heroines’ Personal Routes.]
[Retrieving information… Key path extraction in progress…]
After a moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar figure appeared in Huang Yang’s mind.
Wearing thin-rimmed glasses, with a handsome but slightly aloof face, neat hair, long and lean limbs, and a standard uniform that somehow made his proportions look especially striking.
“Isn’t this Kanzaki Sou?”
Huang Yang recognized him.
The protagonist played by the player in Brilliant! Starlight Academy Romance—multi-talented in instruments, sports, academics, and with undeniably good looks; even among text-based romance adventure games, his specs were top-tier.
From another perspective, this male high school student truly shone.
Compared to himself back then, he really was the main character at school.
While Huang Yang was still brooding over someone else’s brilliant youth, the System had already pulled up an interface he’d never seen in the game.
On the right side was Kanzaki Sou’s image; on the left extended the portrait of a girl.
The confident smile and lively hairstyle belonged to the first heroine who could be pursued in the story—a girl named Kondo Haruka, the male lead’s childhood friend.
Between the two portraits, a prominent blue number ‘50’ flickered.
“What does this number mean?”
Staring at the unfamiliar floating interface, Huang Yang asked in surprise.
[It’s the Favorability Value of the male lead, Kanzaki Sou, towards Kondo Haruka.]
The System explained calmly.