Chapter 554 - Chapter 554: Chapter 554 Super Princess Storm (1/2)
Chapter 554: Chapter 554 Super Princess Storm
Not long after Xiang Kun returned to the hotel room, Chang Bin also returned — since Wang Han hadn’t come with them, Chang Bin shared a standard room with him in Peng City for these few days.
“I didn’t see it coming, but Old Xia’s brother seemed quite straightforward and honest, but when it came to playing cards, he was quite the rascal, cunning and crafty!” Chang Bin exclaimed, shaking his head as he entered the room.
Just after he got back to the hotel, he went to Xia Tianhuo’s room to play cards with Zi Cheng and Yang Zhuo, only just having finished.
“Seems like you lost big time, huh?” Xiang Kun laughed.
“It’s not too bad. I just lost more than 80 Genesis Coins. Zi Cheng was worse, losing over 400 Genesis Coins. His card-playing skills are worse than they were in college, hahaha.” Chang Bin chuckled in response.
The so-called “Genesis Coins” are in-game exchange items newly introduced in their game, Genesis of Voice. They can be used to purchase services such as modifying and saving the entire game process. Furthermore, they can be used to automate editing down saved material, removing unnecessary noise and blank waiting sections, and making all the sounds in the same scene sound as if they were in the same space, making the entire game process feel more like a radio drama.
In the new version update next week, users can also directly tweak their sounds in the game, but for now, they cannot make drastic changes — not because it’s impossible, but because it’s intentionally limited. Moreover, if you play the game with a voice changer turned on, or through any other voice change methods, you will be suspended if detected.
The exchange rate between “Genesis Coins” and RMB is one to one. Chang Bin and his friends being players of this game, naturally they can use “Genesis Coins” as poker chips.
Seeing many of the presents piled up in the room were still unopened, Chang Bin curiously urged him to open them, “Hurry up and see what kind of gift Zi Cheng has given you. We all agreed not to send gifts, yet that little devil actually sent one.”
Xiang Kun, Chang Bin, and Zi Cheng were buddies who never had the habit of sending each other birthday gifts. When they were in university, whoever had a birthday would just throw a big meal, with the birthday person footing the bill. After graduation, if they remembered anyone’s birthday, they’d just shout in the WeChat group, and if they were free, they’d go out for a meal together. Of course, the birthday person would still be the host. However, Zi Cheng had been largely overseas these years, so Xiang Kun and Chang Bin were mainly who went out to eat. Of course, most of the time either Chang Bin was busy or Xiang Kun was working overtime.
Xiang Kun laughed, “I guess his fiancée must have told him to send it.”
Chang Bin nodded in agreement, “Yeah, must be. Girls are better at observing social customs. When Wang Han found out I was going to Peng City to surprise you for your birthday, she also asked me if I had prepared a gift. I casually told her that I had. But what I didn’t tell her was, the gift I prepared was an empty stomach, I came to eat the birthday cake!”
Xiang Kun laughed, “Your waistline is already 36, right? Better eat less, Old Chang… Hey, this gift from Zi Cheng is not bad.”
After he had unwrapped the gift, he took out the contents, which was a Switch game console.
In fact, due to his extraordinary sensory abilities, even though he didn’t deliberately probe, he already knew what most people’s presents were, including the Switch from Zi Cheng. But still, he needed to display surprise.
“Looks like Zi Cheng chose it himself, without consulting his fiancée. It’s unoriginal.” Chang Bin shook his head in disappointment, then urged Xiang Kun to continue unwrapping gifts. “Come, let’s see what the others have given. What’s inside that Jingdong courier box? It’s even bundled up with a supermarket plastic bag. This style is obviously Old Xia’s. Come on, let’s see, I’m particularly curious about what kind of gift Old Xia would give you.”
Xiang Kun picked up the box, and after unwrapping it, he took out the paper balls that served as cushioning material, revealing a human skeletal model.
Looking at the model, which appeared to be a medical-grade human skeletal model and was quite finely crafted, Chang Bin was speechless for several seconds before muttering,
“Old Xia’s gift is…quite…unique…”
Xiang Kun laughed and played, opening and closing the model’s movable jaw, saying, “I find it pretty cute. Haha, just kidding. I mentioned it when I visited Old Xia’s house before. They have a bunch of these medical human models. I casually said I wanted one too.”
Indeed, during the previous meal at Old Xia’s house, where Nana and others mistakenly thought it was his birthday, he had complimented a few 1:1 full-body skeletal, organ, and muscle models in Old Xia’s study. Old Xia had said then that if he wanted one, she would give it to him.
At that time, he was indeed studying human anatomy, and it would’ve been great to have a physical model for reference. But now it’s unnecessary, and Old Xia knew it too. The model he received wasn’t intended for use.
This model wasn’t as large as the 1:1 scale one in Old Xia’s study— it stood only a little over 40 centimeters high, but it was very refined, unlike typical medical skeleton models.
Xiang Kun knew that this birthday gift was not only from Old Xia. Alice had also contributed by producing a 3D model based on his body’s skeletal proportions, which was then custom-made by a dedicated service provider. Of course, Old Xia was the one who footed the bill.
Xiang Kun continued to open his gifts. Xiao Pingguo’s gift was a well-preserved leaf specimen about the size of a palm.
The veins on the leaf were very complex. At first glance, one might even find them chaotic, but Xiang Kun immediately recognized that they formed the words “Happy Birthday”.
Xiang Kun knew that Xiao Pingguo had created this leaf out of great effort, using “Xiao Luobo”.
He only looked at it briefly before putting it away. Chang Bin, who was watching from the side, didn’t realize that the chaotic veins on the leaf contained two Chinese characters. He thought it was just a rare leaf and didn’t give it much thought.
Xiang Kun opened the gift from Tang Baona. It was an 87-key red-switch keyboard. Underneath the keyboard was another box, out of which he picked up a pair of black-framed glasses. They didn’t look much different from the pair he was wearing, but one could tell at a glance that the quality was far superior.
The glasses came without lenses, as it was assumed that Xiang Kun would choose a suitable pair himself. But what Tang Baona didn’t know was that Xiang Kun’s current glasses did not have any lenses.
Chang Bin opened up the keyboard cover and toyed with it for a moment before expressing his envy: “Tang Baona really knows how to choose gifts.”
Smiling, Xiang Kun nodded in agreement, tested out the glasses, and moved on to the next gift— this one’s from Yang Zhen Er.
When he opened the box, even though he had known its contents, he couldn’t help but be torn between laughter and tears upon seeing it.
Chang Bin stuck his head over to take a peek, and then reached out to pick up the two bottles in the box. He couldn’t help laughing: “Shampoo and conditioner? Holy cow… Yang Lao San, you’re something! Hahaha! What’s in that box underneath? Don’t tell me it’s hair gel or a comb or something? Hahaha.”
Xiang Kun picked up the box underneath. It contained a more “normal” gift— a pair of sneakers.
Since they used to all live together in Chongyun Village, it was easy for Yang Zhen Er to know his shoe size.
Next was the gift from Little Fatty Girl. Like the present she’d given to Old Xia, it was a colored pencil drawing she’d made herself.
Looking at the sole figure on the drawing— apparently spotting an enemy and readying for combat, shown only from the back— Chang Bin couldn’t stop laughing: “Although we can’t see his face, that bald head… Xiao Lingdang, you’ve drawn yourself, haven’t you? Dressed in armor, carrying a shield and a bow, holding a magic wand in your left hand and a great sword in your right. This bald man, is he an archer, a great swordsman, or a magician? Wait, what he’s carrying on his back – that’s not a shield, is it? It’s a frying pan, hahaha.”
But Xiang Kun was quite pleased. The quality of the drawing had noticeably improved. Whether you looked at the proportions and perspective of the figure, the color palette, or the contours of various objects, it was all starting to look much more professional.
Plus, he knew that Little Fatty Girl had not cheated with Alice’s help and had drawn it all by herself. She had really absorbed the teachings of Alice, Tang Baona, and Da Lu.
If you compared this piece to the painting she’d left along with the rice cooker outside Xiang Kun’s door when she moved away from apartment 706 with her mom, the improvement was spectacular. No one could’ve imagined that these two pieces had been painted less than a year apart by the same preschooler.
Next, Xiang Kun looked at the gift from Zhang Qian. It was a piece of limited-edition memorabilia specially crafted for the game “Genesis of Voice” by Tengjiao Interactive Entertainment. It was an undeveloped special edition, the one and only piece with the number 001, and was engraved with “Father of Genesis of Voice, Xiang Kun’s thirty-first birthday: 2020.07.02”.
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