And just like that, a completely bewildering day had passed!

Even Ayin himself didn't really know what he had been doing all day.

Time was like the money in many people's wallets - you clearly didn't do anything significant, yet it somehow mysteriously disappeared.

The most fucking ridiculous part was that even though this first day in Stardew Valley felt to Ayin like it "just passed by," the overall experience wasn't actually boring at all!

Especially when he woke up the next morning.

Stepping out of his house, looking at yesterday's accomplishments, seeing the large cleared area, and checking the backpack full of collected junk!

Standing at the doorway, Ayin couldn't help but feel excited and couldn't resist shouting:

"Holy shit! How did I already owe two hundred dollars?!!!"

Right then!

[-200G]

Smack!

After a brief moment of recollection, Ayin slapped his forehead.

Damn.

He remembered now.

When he passed out last night, he vaguely remembered seeing some related instructions about not easily letting yourself collapse outside, otherwise the village medical team would transport you home and charge two hundred dollars for their services.

"Goddamn it!"

Thinking about this, Ayin couldn't help but feel heartbroken and frustrated, pounding his chest in anguish:

"Didn't accomplish shit on the first day, worked twenty hours straight without earning a single cent, and even lost two hundred dollars instead! I fucking..."

After a frustrated grumble!

He heard Ayin's deep voice call out in the livestream chat:

"Cousin! Log in! Taking you farming! Damn it, I'm definitely going to earn back these two hundred dollars!"

Yes.

Thanks to reminders from the chat barrage, Ayin happily learned that this game actually had multiplayer functionality.

So, thinking that more people meant more strength, first thing the next morning, Ayin invited Cousin to join the multiplayer session.

With Cousin's addition, CSTG Farm now had an additional small green house.

That was Cousin's house, slightly smaller than Ayin's main base, containing only a small bed and a small chest.

"What? We're living separately? Shouldn't we just live together?"

After realizing they could squeeze into one bed to sleep, following Cousin's suggestion, Cousin's original house became the storage room for CSTG Farm.

The two of them also made several chests to organize the junk they were currently carrying.

Yes.

Although for this world, open-world role-playing games like Stardew Valley had never existed before.

With Cousin's addition, CSTG Farm now had an additional small green house.

Neat little plots of land grew parsnips, while chests in the storage room categorically stored wood planks, fiber, and stones.

Splash—splash—

As Ayin picked up the small watering can and watered the parsnips, he felt quite pleased.

Strangely fun.

Yes.

Although he couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly made this game fun, when he planted the seeds and watered them, that sense of anticipation waiting for the harvest genuinely felt comforting.

Moreover, after some simple exploration, Ayin and Cousin discovered there were more things waiting for them to handle than just this—

On the farm's wilderness, besides small dry branches and stones, there were also relatively larger tree stumps and big rocks.

These were things their current stone tools couldn't handle yet.

They still needed copper axes and copper pickaxes, and needed to figure out where to get copper.

"Maybe someone in town will give us quests?"

After discussing it, they followed Mayor Lewis's directions and headed toward town.

While passing through the outskirts, Cousin even cheekily picked two wild horseradishes and green onions from the fields, not knowing what they were for. Cousin said they could check if they could sell them for money later by putting them in the [Shipping Box].

Soon, they arrived in town.

And with their lively reactions, they demonstrated to all viewers what "country bumpkins entering the city" looked like.

"Wow—!!!"

The moment they reached town, they exclaimed in unison.

The small town called Pelican Town appeared harmonious and exquisite.

The stone paths were clean and tidy, lush plants in the small flower beds along the roadside swayed gently in the spring breeze.

The large trees were pruned into rounded, exquisite shapes, making you feel like you could smell the fresh scent through the screen.

Walking further into town, the first two-story building near the north side was the town hospital. The doctor here was named Harvey, though he wasn't there when they visited.

Next to the town hospital was a small store called Pierre's General Store, home to a family of three: the friendly shop owner Pierre, the beautiful green-haired shopkeeper Caroline, and their daughter Abigail, who had beautiful purple hair and loved adventures.

Further east, a two-story villa housed Grandpa George's family.

In a small trailer southeast of Grandpa George's house lived the somewhat impoverished mother-daughter pair Pam and Penny.

Further south was Mayor Lewis's residence.

Of course.

Besides these, there were also little Vincent's family in the southwest corner, the Haley sisters next to Vincent's family, and the blacksmith shop and library east of the small bridge.

However!

Besides these town families and buildings.

In the northeast corner of the town center, there was also a supermarket.

Unlike the town's simple, rustic buildings filled with vibrant colors.

This supermarket was entirely made of glass curtain walls, with large freight trucks parked beside it, emitting a cold, imposing atmosphere that seemed out of place in this small town.

At the supermarket's entrance stood the store's sign—

[KomiVendi Supermarket]

"Ah—bad stuff—"

It seemed the main villain of this game was probably this KomiVendi Supermarket.

After all, this thing looked completely different from the entire town's art style.

However, currently KomiVendi didn't seem to have revealed its ambitions yet, at least they hadn't seen any signs. Probably it would be reflected in later story content.

Further east, a two-story villa housed Grandpa George's family.

In a small trailer southeast of Grandpa George's house lived the somewhat impoverished Pam and Penny mother-daughter pair.

Surprised by how rich this game's content was.

Just think!

What were Golden Wind's previous two pixel-style games?

To the Moon and Vampire Survivors.

To the Moon was undoubtedly a masterpiece, considered the pinnacle of story-driven pixel games.

But if you looked at it vertically, you could see that To the Moon's overall narrative was purely linear.

Although theoretically, the protagonist controlled by the player could move freely with directional controls.

But because the story was fixed, no matter how much you moved as a player, you could only trigger key main story events at specific times and locations.

Unlike the town's simple, rustic buildings filled with vibrant colors.

But!

This time!

The Stardew Valley brought by Golden Wind had put tremendous effort into game content!

In this small town, nearly twenty NPCs!

All with different appearances, personalities, vastly different speech habits, and seemingly all having their own stories!

"Hiss—"

Ayin couldn't help but take a sharp breath, slowly nodding:

"Seems kinda interesting?"

And the viewers also seemed to have discovered the clever design—

'Everyone has hearts, is this affection levels?'

Based on galgame experience, reaching certain affection levels can trigger events, wonder if Stardew Valley has this

'Oh ho, based on Old Thief's consistent style, he probably would implement it, right?'

Holy crap.... that would be such a massive amount of text...

'Feels like this game might be quite replayable...'

Although it seems like the game doesn't have a clear goal, there are actually many things you can do

Seems like there's no goal, yet everywhere seems like goals

'Indeed, you can farm to earn money, you can be a loafer to pick up girls and date, and you can also...'

Cousin was shocked:

"Holy shit! Hey! The mayor said we could visit Willy at the beach south of town, said we can fish there."

"Huh?"

Over here, Ayin was still trying to give Abigail gifts to increase affection,

When he suddenly heard Cousin's exclamation, he immediately dropped Abigail and hurried over,

Sure enough

After visiting all the town residents, old Mayor Lewis suggested they could go to the beach and try fishing.

You can farm! You can pick up girls! You can fish!

Holy shit!

Ayin was shocked.

What kind of heaven is this?!

Simply an ideal place in the human world.

Except for his current two hundred dollar loss being somewhat painful, this place was practically dreamland.

So, after bidding farewell to the mayor, Ayin and Cousin immediately rushed to the beach.

Here, they indeed found a seasoned fishing enthusiast named "Willy" in a small beach cabin—a white-bearded old man wearing dark brown breeches and a melon-skin cap.

Willy was very kind, giving both of them fishing rods and freely providing some bait.

And the viewers also seemed to have discovered the cleverness—

Ayin commented with a slight nod.

As he spoke.

Following Willy's instructions, Ayin stood at the beach, held left click to charge, then cast his hook!

Splash!

The bobber flew out, landing on the sea surface with a soft plop.

Swoosh—

Although pixelated.

Within those seemingly blurry color blocks, the details were not lacking at all.

The character's hair gently swayed with the sea breeze, ripples slowly spread around the bobber on the water's surface.

The sea surface reflected the sunset's glittering light, groups of seagulls circled above the golden sand.

"Ahhh—really quite nice—"

Seeing this, Ayin couldn't help but sigh:

"If only I could live like this someday, just not needing to think about anything, setting up a fishing rod, sitting by the beach all day, watching the tides come and go, would be quite nice too..."

As he spoke.

Ayin couldn't help but become somewhat distracted.

His mind felt peaceful.

It seemed like it had been a very, very long time since he had experienced such mental tranquility as in the game.

Work, family, life......

Responsibilities were like a huge rock, eternally pressing on his shoulders, to the point where he had almost become accustomed to this tense exhaustion.

How long had it been since he last emptied his mind alone, just thinking about nothing, staring blankly at the sea?

How come even though Tianjin was so close to the sea, it seemed like he hadn't seen the ocean in such a long, long time?

Sigh...

Thinking of this, Ayin lightly sighed, seeming somewhat melancholic, then asked:

"Cousin, what do you think we're so busy for?"

"Huh?"

Over there, Cousin was struggling with a fish and didn't immediately react, thinking he was talking about the game.

After all, in Stardew Valley, fishing wasn't an easy task, especially for beginners.

When fish bite, the small fish icon would randomly jump up and down in the bar, and players needed to control the charge level with left mouse button to keep the capture green bar covering the small fish icon. It was a skill that required practice, with considerable difficulty.

Cousin, while "struggling" with the fish, somewhat distractedly said:

"Aren't we just coming to the dock to catch some fish?"

"Tch, no"

Ayin felt somewhat amused and exasperated, saying:

"I mean, why are we so busy, from morning till night? What's the meaning of life?"

However!

Before he finished speaking!

He heard Cousin cheer beside him!

"Woo hoo! Holy shit! Sardine! And it's silver star! Hahahahaha!"

"The meaning of life?"

"The meaning of life is coming to the dock to catch some sardines!"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com