Zi Ye opened her eyes and followed his gaze to the sky, where a dark brown object floated like a tattered rag. She pulled off her sunglasses in surprise and fitted her long-range eyepiece, finally seeing it clearly: a bizarrely shaped kite, flown by someone unknown, crudely constructed of a heavy water buffalo hide stretched over a few metal wires, yet somehow it managed to stay aloft.
She looked blankly at An Junlie, who also wore an expression of confusion. Who on earth would fly such a peculiar kite? It couldn't have just fallen from the sky!
It was a kite, anyway. Zi Ye couldn't figure out whose it was, so she decided to stop thinking about it, lay back down, and rest her eyes.
A while later, another kite drifted up from another direction within the gravity field, even stranger than the first. This one was a heart shape fashioned entirely from rose petals. As it ascended, the wind buffeted it, causing it to constantly shed crimson petals that scattered between the heavens and the earth, dancing wildly and passionately, as magnificent as a fireworks explosion.
Zi Ye shot upright and blurted out, "That pervert?" In Yin Fu, who else would be so ostentatious? Who else had this many roses? She opened her communication interface, about to dial the pervert's comms, when her own phone rang—a call from the pervert himself. On the screen, the pervert stood with his hands on his hips, grinning smugly, "Hahahaha, did you see my kite? Hundreds of times prettier than yours, hahahaha!"
Zi Ye spat disdainfully at him and retorted irritably, "When all the petals fall off, you’ll look like a bald monk."
The pervert’s eyes immediately widened in anger. "You insolent brat!"
Zi Ye shrugged and waved her hand in a gesture that dared him to do something about it, which irritated the pervert to the point of grinding his teeth. She chuckled and asked, "Whose animal hide kite was that?"
The pervert snorted dismissively. "Who else but Old Dog? His aesthetic sense is the most desperate."
Huh? Zi Ye was utterly bewildered. Why was everyone so interested in flying kites today? If these two were out, the others surely wouldn't stay cooped up indoors. If they were going out for some fun, it had turned into a kite competition! Who came up with such a silly idea?
As expected, kites began to rise into the sky one after another, in all sorts of miraculous shapes and utilizing the strangest materials: scorpion-shaped, dragon-tailed, battleship-shaped, airship-shaped, and even drone-shaped...
Zi Ye was thoroughly entertained. These people were too adorable. To think of such methods, and to be able to launch kites in the gravity field—they were simply geniuses!
Eventually, the kites all began to converge toward her location, though she couldn't tell if it was a display of dominance or preparation for a rendezvous. She made a face at An Junlie, untied a kite string, held it in her hand, and ran toward their direction.
Along the way, airships flew toward her like kites from all directions. They all stopped together in the four-times gravity field, stepped out of their vessels, and greeted her with beaming smiles: Da Tou, Black Beard, the Pervert, Old Dog—almost everyone was there, except for Red Hair.
Zi Ye waved happily, surprised. "Where's Red Hair? It's rare for her not to join the fun."
"Little Brat, who are you bad-mouthing?" Red Hair's voice suddenly materialized behind her. Zi Ye jumped in fright and turned around. Red Hair held several badly twisted pieces of metal wire in her hand, gritting her teeth. "Damn it! A mere kite dared to bully me?"
Everyone quickly turned their backs, pretending not to see. The Queen’s anger had serious consequences. Only Zi Ye, rarely seeing Red Hair thwarted, laughed loudly without restraint, instantly becoming the target and getting chased around by Red Hair.
Zi Ye called out while running, "What’s going on with you guys? Why the sudden kite flying?"
Old Dog sighed helplessly. "It’s all because of you. When you flew that kite in the sky, everyone thought it was an extraterrestrial object and locked onto it for scanning until we realized the truth. I was haggling with the Pervert at the time, and he said if he could make a kite that flew in the gravity field, he’d give me twenty percent off White Rose Sauce."
The Pervert interjected, "Idiot, can you even call that a kite? It's so ugly it drags down our entire aesthetic standard!"
Neither yielding to the other, they started arguing back and forth.
Zi Ye felt a mix of exasperation and amusement.
Red Hair, unable to vent her frustration, saw them bickering nonstop and finally roared, "Shut up, all of you! Say another word, and I’ll cut your strings!"
"Whoa, the Queen is mad, everyone run!" Da Tou, not realizing the danger, spoke up to break the tension and was the first to bolt toward the ten-times gravity field. The others followed, laughing as they went, finally changing the subject.
Red Hair walked over to Zi Ye and whispered, "Little Brat, tell me quickly, how do you make a kite, and how do you get it to fly in the sky?"
Zi Ye gave her a troubled look, pursing her lips, a light flickering in her eyes.
Red Hair raised an eyebrow. "Not going to tell me?"
Zi Ye shook her head. "I didn't make that kite; an alien did."
Red Hair’s eyes instantly lit up. "Wonderful! I’m going to find him!" With that, she trotted rapidly toward An Junlie's position, leaving Zi Ye standing alone.
Zi Ye watched her retreating figure and sighed wistfully, "A fair-weather friend."
Da Tou and the others had run far ahead. Seeing Zi Ye hadn't followed, they turned back and shouted, "Brat, hurry up!"
Zi Ye’s mood instantly brightened. She replied, "Be right there," and started running toward them. An outing with a whole group was always livelier than an outing with just two people. While Red Hair was busy clinging to An Junlie, everyone had warmed up in the eleven-times field. Once Red Hair’s kite finally soared into the sky, they began playing games.
Shooting contests, hunting matches, wilderness survival—one challenge followed another, each increasing in difficulty. Usually, everyone exercised alone, at most in a gym or near their homes. Having such a large-scale gathering was rare, so they played with immense enjoyment. By evening, they stopped and laid out their spoils for a massive bonfire feast.
Normally, everyone feared the purple star, but having lived in Yin Fu for so long, they were accustomed to the irradiation from the gamma baseline; staying outside for one or two nights occasionally didn't bother them.
Without the constraints of "69" [likely a reference to a previous, restrictive condition], everyone was confident about regaining their freedom outside Yin Fu and played without reservation. Each person came from a different galaxy with a different profession, but it in no way dampened their enthusiasm. They spoke and acted without shyness, occasionally throwing in a local song or folk dance for good measure.
Zi Ye, being the only "child" among them, received extra care. She got more meat, more vegetables, and even more ammunition than the others. Zi Ye held a huge pile of food and ate!
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