"Mr. Leon, you're going to meet an old acquaintance of the Vidyadhara on behalf of a friend, right? Even if it's to see the Dragon Lady who holds the medicine, I can give you a ride along the way."
"No need. It's better to go find your general first."
"What? Your friend is also an old acquaintance of the general?"
Yanqing's face is full of shock.
Leon explains with a straight face.
"Yes. Thinking back to when General Jing Yuan was still young, they were evenly matched in chess and regretted not meeting sooner!"
"It's just that fate plays tricks. Between the long-life species and the short-life species, separation brought by the years is inevitable…"
"Pity my friend's ancestor, who once made a promise to General Jing Yuan that he could never fulfill in his lifetime… alas…"
[Big Boss Leon is such a troll!]
[If I didn't know his character, I almost believed him.]
[What if Leon isn't lying after all?]
[That's a matter for the future. Isn't it fun that he's trolling so well right now?]
The response to Yanqing's concerns later is 100% a lie.
He tells Yanqing that he is a short-life species, but in fact, he had already said that the Sky Haven Clan is not.
A few words of praise for Yanqing easily turn him into a hooked fish.
Hearing Yanqing's inner thoughts, players also learn from this.
This segment of the plot connects to the launch version, the part where he left to catch Blade without hearing Jing Yuan's full instructions.
No wonder in the main storyline, the Trailblazer and company never encounter Yanqing—it's because of this timeline node.
Of course, the realization is just a side note.
The main emotion is the uncontrollable auntie smile or stifled laughter.
Yanqing is half-convinced and half-doubting, while also finding excuses to convince himself.
"You're not an assassin sent by the Stellaron Hunters, right? It should be impossible, right?"
"Little Brother Yanqing, you've overlooked one thing." Leon's eyes remain closed.
"Huh?"
"I'm a doctor. I don't have the kind of strength you all do. Even if I were an assassin, there's no way I could beat you."
"If I can't even beat you, how could I possibly pose a threat to the grand Xianzhou general?"
Hearing this, Yanqing is as if enlightened, his little face stunned.
"Eh, that's right…"
Recalling how Leon had earlier used acupuncture to relieve the fatigue accumulated from sword practice, he feels it's enough.
"(Mr. Leon isn't a bad person. Let's end the probing here…)"
He clears his throat.
"I'll take you to see the general right now, but on the way, you have to first tell me the purpose of seeing the general."
"No problem."
The corner of Leon's mouth lifts, his expression full of the purest black-bellied squinted-eye flavor.
Accompanied by inner thoughts that make players go crazy with laughter.
"(He bought it, he bought it! Tsk, so gullible. It's been a while since I've seen such an interesting bear kid.)"
[Shocked! Trailblaze old man actually sweet-talks and tricks the Hunt little man!]
[What era is this to still be shocked? This is a white lie. Leon isn't going to cause trouble for Jing Yuan anyway.]
[Not to mention some things can't be laid out in the open. Even if they were, given Yanqing's personality, he wouldn't believe them.]
[Yanqing has achieved great military merits at a young age—this is true. But as Jing Yuan said, his maturity is far from passing the threshold.]
[So, it's better that Yanqing doesn't know the analysis in Leon's mind.]
The screen fades to black, transitioning into a cutscene.
Yanqing pats around his body, then awkwardly scratches his head after a moment.
He didn't bring his pilot's license.
Leon is silent for a few seconds, then suddenly pulls out a card-like object.
When players hear Yanqing say that the card is a pilot's license from the Zhuming, many players are stunned for a moment.
How does he have everything?
After hearing Leon's explanation and seeing his dead-serious, seemingly genuine expression—
Players still don't quite believe it.
There's no helping it. Everyone has seen his performance along the way.
He's just too Sit-Forget, too Elation.
After boarding, players with strange expressions and those doubting the authenticity of his Zhuming experience burst into laughter.
All because of one line from Leon.
"There are a million routes, safety first. Little brother, fasten your seatbelt. Prepare for takeoff."
One sentence contains several memes.
The first is a meme from the little broken globe. "Prepare for takeoff" is the Wuhu takeoff captain meme.
The last meme is about Leon himself.
Many players haven't forgotten that Leon is an outright vehicle killer…
They thought pulling out the pilot's license to start the starskiff would let Yanqing take the helm, but no designated driver.
Letting Leon pilot a flying vehicle—isn't this like the prison boss riding a helicopter, Mamba out?
Don't expect a human who can naturally fly to earnestly learn driving skills!!
The starskiff engine doesn't roar as it lifts off and flies away.
It disappears into the horizon with a smooth transition, then emerges from the horizon again, following the flight path to give a panoramic view of the scenery below.
"As expected, they increased the budget. This cutscene is so satisfying to watch."
Many streamers have similar thoughts.
Your turn-based combat is rather boring, but increasing the budget for the main storyline cutscenes compensates for it nicely.
If there's anything to regret, it's that the update cycle for following the story is 42 days.
Unless—
Within 42 days of one version, there are a full 6 episodes' worth of cutscene animation, corresponding to weekly updates.
Standard 24-minute length, minus 3 minutes for opening and ending, that's 21*6=126 minutes.
"No matter how you think about it, it's impossible to make it that long. Just the cutscenes alone would be two hours. Only in dreams."
Using the starskiff flight and the perspective overlooking the ground scenery, Ah Xian casually explains.
"Although I do illustrations, it's not like animation companies haven't approached me to be an original artist."
"I have some understanding of the animation production process."
"Games and anime are fundamentally different. To ensure quality, you can't bypass production schedules and costs."
"For one major version, main storyline plus cutscenes totaling two hours is short, four hours is standard, six hours is long."
"If the plot cutscenes can reach 60 minutes, that's already an impressive length."
Ah Xian wants to say more, but seeing the CG camera shift and someone starting to speak, he immediately focuses.
"What incredible speed!"
"What an elegant starskiff!"
"Like a nimble swimming fish weaving through the routes, speed not diminishing at all. Could it be a champion from some racing skiff competition?"
"Hey, hey, hey, shouldn't your attention be on the guy piloting the starskiff for speeding?"
"This Exalting Sanctum route has Sky-Faring Commission speed testers watching all day. Are they just eating dry rice?"
"That starskiff pilot is in trouble. He'll be stopped soon."
Ground pedestrians discuss animatedly, but Ah Xian mutters something that makes corners of mouths twitch.
"Something's wrong… With Leon's driving skills, how has he not crashed yet?"
"Front starskiff Class A 6383588 civilian aviation starskiff, immediately decelerate and stop for inspection."
The loud warning from the commission rings out.
However, the starskiff doesn't slow down in the slightest.
"6383588!! Stop immediately!"
"If you don't stop, we'll open fire… I Xianzhou profanity! Dodge quick!"