Interstellar Travel: Becoming a Dress-Up Game Designer

Chapter 207

Turning my head to look back, I saw that ten people had already sat down, tightly gripping the person in front of them.

After sitting in ten seats, we realized there were still three seats left!

Those behind quickly climbed up to grab a spot. These days, players don't care if experienced drivers crash and die; as long as it's fun and exciting, that's all that matters.

The driver called out, "Are you all seated?"

"Sit tight, sit tight, let's go!"

The driver released his foot, gave a slight push back, and the tree mop thorn shot forward, accelerating faster and faster. The players behind clung tightly to the players in front, screaming desperately.

At this point, the players behind will find that the person at the back is being thrown off, which is quite exciting. The last person will also start rubbing against the players' buttocks due to the friction from the leaves and the lack of sturdy branches for support.

The player in the middle is in the most comfortable position, but the field of vision is not very good, so it's just comfortable.

Just when things were at their most exciting, a huge, dead tree suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The experienced driver quickly adjusted his position. A powerful tail swing sent the four players flying, and they managed to grab the giant tree and stop. As they climbed off the tree, it loosened, and one end broke off and dangled in the ditch, with one player still hanging from it.

He instinctively pushed off the ground with his feet, trying to steady himself. That very movement sent the log plunging completely into the ditch, sliding down with a thunderous roar. The log was moving much faster than the tree mat!

They rushed up behind the players in front, and the players behind shouted, "Hey, hurry up! A log is rolling down! Help!"

"Old driver, are you sure you can handle this? We're going to die!"

The logs were moving incredibly fast, and the last player was hit first, thrown forward one after another until the person at the front controlling the direction was knocked down. In the end, only three of the thirteen people in the vehicle survived; the rest perished and returned home.

When the group set off, many onlookers sat on red embroidered balls and watched the excitement from the sidelines. After watching the whole process, they felt a mix of emotions.

It's a little exciting and a little scary.

The aversion and fear of death is an instinct of all living beings, even if this is just a game.

The fun of rubbing and squeezing is only temporary; players will get tired of it after two or three days.

When Lin Shuying designed this game, she considered that players might get bored simply by flying kites or not be able to find the rhythm of flying kites, so she arranged for NPCs in the Chinese martial arts world and the main city to lead the rhythm.

Around this time, when players go to the kite shop to buy kites, the shopkeeper will openly spread many tasks and gameplay information through the "Back in the Days" chat, and will even boast that anyone who breaks the record and makes it onto his leaderboard can come here to receive 10,000 taels of silver.

That's incredibly extravagant!

These include records for the highest flying kite, the largest kite, the most beautiful kite, the most unique kite, the most popular kite, the longest kite, and so on—a total of twenty or thirty leaderboards. Of course, you can get several rewards if you don't redeem them at the same shop owner's store.

Players weren't very familiar with kites yet; most were just having fun and didn't have much interest in learning more. However, some players were interested in the backstory, and as loyal players of Qingfengyi, they were certainly familiar with the custom of releasing themed event items. So they went to the server to check the announcements and surprisingly found a detailed explanation of kites.

Kites originated in China and have existed and developed for over two to three thousand years since the time of their home planet. Here, Lin Shuying, having entered interstellar time, doesn't know how much history Earth has in her timeline, so the historical length is calculated based on her point in time.

The kite was originally called a wooden hawk, which is said to be a wooden bird made by Mozi, a master of mechanical arts.

Kites existed before the invention of paper. Back then, they were made of wood and had functions such as gliding and flying, which were quite amazing. Later, when paper came out, people began to make kites from paper, which were called paper kites.

Originally used primarily for military purposes, these kites were not intended for civilian use. Only after the Sui and Tang dynasties did they gradually become objects of entertainment and play for the common people, resulting in a wide variety of styles and designs. People imbued them with much hope and blessing for life, expecting all their wishes to soar like kites.

The most exquisite kites are comparable to works of art, adorned with auspicious symbols such as dragons and phoenixes, good fortune and prosperity, and longevity.

Players were stunned after seeing it, finding it hard to imagine the richness of the ancients' artistic aesthetics and creativity!

Opening the kite encyclopedia, I found a total of fifty kites waiting to be unlocked.

When it's not unlocked, it only shows a question mark and a swallow outline.

The kite encyclopedia has three rarity levels: green, gold, and red. Each color represents a different level of rarity. Clicking on the question mark above a different color will tell the player whether the kite is discontinued or not, and its storage availability.

Players who came to see the details of the announcement were happy because all three levels of kites were now unavailable, but unhappy because there were too few of them!

There are only 500 million green ones; once they're all taken, they disappear. 500 million is nothing compared to 5 billion players; it's simply not enough to go around.

There are only 50 million golden ones; once they're all taken, they disappear.

The player gasped, a sharp breath caught in their throat. They no longer cared why they could inhale such a chill in a holographic game; their fingers hovered over the red question mark, hesitant to tap it.

"I both love and hate Qingfengyi!"

"Exactly. If there are fewer items, the value increases more, but the chances of not being able to get them are higher. If there are more items, they are easier to get, but the value increases less."

One sentence tells the story of countless bitter tears.

You still have to open it if you need to.

There are only 5,000 red ones!!!

"Aaaaaah, designer, I challenge you to a duel! Do you even have a sense of the number of players on Qingfengyi?!"

Five thousand?

It's practically the same as nothing!

His companion quickly covered his mouth, "Quiet, hurry up and go find it, don't make a sound."

The surrounding players noticed this and fell silent, exchanging knowing glances. They quietly left, quickly dispersing into the dungeon.

The announcement says these kites are hidden in various serendipitous encounters, including treasure chests in the Chinese martial arts world, treasure hunting at the Temple of the Matchmaker, and wild adventures. There are many ways to obtain them, but what you get depends on fate.

Players don't believe in fate; as long as they grind hard enough, they can bring down any game.

In the grassland dungeon, many players who didn't intend to do quests started flying kites. They genuinely just enjoyed the kite, the exhilarating feeling of running while holding the string, or the thrill of mastering or controlling something.

Flying a kite is a great way to release your desire for control: the kite rises little by little in your hands, yet it can never escape your control; you can even make it fly higher...

It's irresistible.

Of course, there are also players who simply enjoy letting loose and just want to run around happily.

Players completing the quest must craft their own kites, as the quest requires that kites purchased from shops cannot be used. It can be completed in teams or individually. The rewards are all silver coins, which are easy to obtain.

After looking at the various kites in the kite shop, the players had many creative ideas for kite design.

The shop had a wide variety of kites, all incredibly beautiful. There were butterfly kites with wings painted with peonies, peonies, and butterflies; phoenix kites with each feather meticulously drawn; swallow kites adorned with auspicious clouds and ruyi (a traditional Chinese symbol of good fortune); long centipede kites; and even eight swallow kites stacked together to form a long nesting doll shape.

Players are skeptical that these stacked kites will actually fly.

Upon arriving on the grassland, it became clear that anything sold in the shops could fly; the problem was with how people released it.

Two players each grabbed a string and sprinted forward, but the eight swallow kites remained stuck on the grass, showing no sign of moving. A player next to them shouted, "You're not fast enough, you're not strong enough, go faster!"

"You guys keep running, I'll carry it for you."

The player flying the kite had a sudden inspiration, summoned a black tiger, and rode over. The kite quickly took flight, its immense strength pulling the player along, and before they knew it, they were dragged off the black tiger.

The surrounding players saw Black Tiger and knew he was a relatively early player.

Yes, Black Tiger is now a representative of early to mid-game high-spending players. Items like the Flower Fairy, Pig Jade Pendant, and Bluebird Box are now rare and unique, and there are no longer any buy requests on the quest leaderboard. These items need to be found through the rare item trading channels; just the information alone can fetch tens of thousands of gold ingots or hundreds of thousands of interstellar coins.

Only a select few powerful and influential players know that the items have already been sold on the game platform and entered the auction house and black market. You really can't afford them if you don't have the financial means.

Actually, no one sells them unless there's a genuine, urgent need for the resource, forcing you to exchange items for it.

The player being dragged down clung tightly to the wheel on the kite string. Once the kite took flight, its strength was considerable, and it continued to pull the player along. Without any control over the kite, it began to fall.

He cried out in desperation, "Someone, please help me!"

The player who had just run away exhausted ran over and grabbed the rope he had let go of, finally stopping the player who had been being dragged along. He was covered in mud and looked quite disheveled.

Just as he was tidying his clothes, the kite fell down and lay limply on the ground.

The two players were dumbfounded.

It finally took off, so why did it fall down?

Just then, an old man slowly approached the two of them, leading a very beautiful butterfly kite. "A kite isn't just about flying; you also need to control the force, direction, speed, and so on. If any of these are wrong, it will fall down."

"Grandpa, why don't you help us fly?"

The old man smiled and said, "Sure, whoever comes over here and holds my kite."

The old man's kite was a yellow butterfly kite, with a beautiful yellowish color. The black skeleton on it formed the boundary line of the butterfly's body structure, which was very harmonious.

After obtaining the butterfly, players instinctively open the encyclopedia, as they have developed a habit of unlocking encyclopedia entries for many items in Qingfengyi.

Who knew that unlocking it would reveal a green item?

He clicked on the description behind the green kite in the encyclopedia and discovered that there were only 500 million of them!

So, I got a little itchy to grab the old man's kite and tried to put it in my backpack, but it showed that the item didn't belong to him. I even tried to withdraw cash using a withdrawal token, but it wouldn't work...

It's so frustrating to want something but not be able to get it. Every time this happens, I get annoyed by Qingfengyi's protection mechanism for valuable items. Wouldn't it have been better if we could grab anything in the beginning?

But I'm afraid of having my things stolen when I can take anything. My feelings are so complicated.

"Grandpa, where did you get your kite?"