Starry Sky Railway: I develop mobile games in Xianzhou

Chapter 12: Stop Giving Stuff Away!

“Alright, let’s check out the MC’s ultimate move!”

Guinaifen excitedly tapped the button to unleash Star’s finishing move.

At this point, the thing she was most looking forward to was seeing the ultimate animations of each character.

Every single one had its own unique style and personality.

The visual effects were detailed and stunning.

It was nothing like the sloppy, low-effort mobile games she had played before.

You could feel the developers had poured their hearts into every single frame.

Even the character splash screens that flashed for a brief moment when activating an ultimate—

They were absolutely breathtaking.

— SWOOSH! —

Star’s splash art appeared, far more powerful-looking than expected.

One foot confidently planted in mid-air, a golden energy sphere levitating in her left hand.

She stood there like an invincible force of nature, overlooking the battlefield with supreme dominance.

Behind her, the Astral Express charged forward, steam and steel intertwining in a stunning backdrop.

“Celestial Ace!”

With a cold, determined look, Star pulled a baseball bat from her waist.

An ordinary, unremarkable bat—

But now crackling with lightning and cosmic energy, as if it had been enchanted with +999 upgrades.

“Rules? They’re made to be broken.”

Then came the massive AoE attack.

The impact shook the entire screen, as if the game itself was about to shatter.

The enemies instantly disintegrated.

For the first time, she saw a damage number over 124.

Before this, it had been tiny little numbers chipping away at enemies.

Forget Guinaifen—even the livestream viewers went completely insane.

Livestream Chat Explodes

“Wait—why is the MC’s ult so damn cool?!”

“She’s just swinging a baseball bat, but it looks like she’s wielding the freaking Galactic Excalibur!”

“These devs are insane. The quality of these skills is unreal!”

“Damn, the MC is so badass—I love her!”

Guinaifen was falling more and more in love with the MC.

Her excitement was through the roof.

She couldn’t wait to find more enemies to fight.

Arriving at an elevator, a story cutscene triggered.

The elevator system malfunctioned, blocking Star and March 7th from reaching the Master Control Zone.

Fortunately, Dan Heng appeared at the right time.

After some friendly banter, he decided to escort them to the Surveillance Room to meet Arlan from the Defense Department.

The conversation ended—

And then, suddenly, the screen flashed purple!

Under a twisting maple tree, a young man leaned against the trunk, his face emotionless.

In his arms—a sleek, cyan-colored spear.

He exuded an aura of absolute calm, untouched by the chaos of the world.

[Dan Heng (4★, The Hunt) has joined the party.]

???

“Wait… are they seriously just giving Dan Heng to us for free?”

Guinaifen’s eyes widened in shock.

She quickly opened the party menu.

Sure enough—

There was a “NEW” label on one of the character slots.

The game had just handed her another free character.

A tutorial prompt even guided her to level him up.

Livestream Chat Goes Ballistic

“NO WAY. THEY’RE ACTUALLY JUST GIVING HIM AWAY?!”

“That’s THREE free characters now! And judging by the previous ones, Dan Heng’s ultimate is gonna be insanely cool too!”

“Most gacha games try to bleed us dry, but this one just keeps handing us free stuff!”

“Are the devs running a charity?? I’m actually scared they’re going to go bankrupt!”@@novelbin@@

“STOP GIVING STUFF AWAY! LET ME SPEND SOME MONEY!!!”

Even Guinaifen was stunned by how generous the devs were.

With this level of quality, they could have easily made bank selling these characters—

But instead?

They just handed them out for free.

She didn’t even need to say anything.

The chat was already freaking out.

At this point, no one could figure out how this game was even making money.

Finding Arlan & Equipping the Light Cone

Upon meeting Arlan, March 7th suddenly remembered—

The security key for the elevator?

Yeah… she had it the whole time.

Along the way, they “accidentally” picked up a Light Cone.

After reading through the tutorial, Guinaifen finally understood.

“Ohhh, so Light Cones are basically this game’s weapon system!”

“Damn, they actually worked real-world lore into this? These things are stupidly rare in reality!”

“There are 3★, 4★, and 5★ variants too.”

“Not sure how we’ll get the higher-tier ones yet, though.”

After equipping the MC with the new 3★ Light Cone, they finally reached the elevator.

A New Enemy Appears

This time, the enemy looked way stronger than before.

A half-human, half-horse beast.

Among the Antimatter Legion, it was a top-tier elite unit.

“If I saw this thing in real life, I’d immediately turn around and walk away.”

“But this is a game… so—”

“I’M TESTING DAN HENG’S ULTIMATE RIGHT NOW!”

Guinaifen gritted her teeth and tapped Dan Heng’s ult.

[Ethereal Dreamscape]

“Life and death—reality and illusion—exist within a single thought.”

Dan Heng calmly held his spear.

At its tip—a perfectly balanced orb of black and white.

A swirling mist of white energy circled the sphere.

Just as the name implied—

“Ethereal Dreamscape.”

A single red maple leaf floated past the camera.

Suddenly, the entire background shifted.

The scene transformed into a mesmerizing ink-wash painting.

Only the red maple leaves and dark ink-strokes remained.

Dan Heng’s eyes snapped open—his stance ready.

“Break.”

In a blink, he vanished.

Reappearing right behind the enemy.

A flash of ink-like energy exploded from his spear tip—

The screen turned black.

[BATTLE OVER]

Livestream Chat Loses Its Mind

“HOLY SH*T, THAT WAS INSANE!”

“HOW?! A freaking watercolor art style just made a finisher look more terrifying than a horror movie?!”

“The aesthetics! The execution! This is next-level animation quality!”

“This is straight-up Xianzhou culture—THE DEVS HAVE TO BE FROM XIANZHOU!”

“Wait, wait, WAIT—THEY’RE GIVING AWAY CHARACTERS LIKE THIS FOR FREE?!”

“March 7th AND Dan Heng at the start? I’M RICH!”

Final Thoughts This game—

It was too generous.

Too high-quality.

And it still had no way to recharge money.

That was the real horror.