Chapter 190. Cities: Skylines—Truly a Mayor Who Loves the People Like His Own!
[Launch!]
[Woohoo, Gensokyo's new game—let's go, boys!]
[Heard this one's by a new team at Gensokyo. Maybe don't crank expectations too high. Watching the Mini-Game Fest stream, even Old Thief didn't show up.]
[Whatever—believe first!]
The bullet comments flashed by in sheets, but Sirin had no time to care anymore. Once she clicked into the game and Gensokyo Company's Yin–Yang Orb logo appeared, the entire screen instantly dimmed.
"It's time to start from the beginning."
A slightly low female voice sounded, and then a single point of light appeared.
A seed underground sprouted, illuminating the metal pipeline buried beside it. Following that pipeline forward, it quickly broke through the soil.
Whoosh.
A speeding car shot across the screen. A highway cutting through a whole expanse of wasteland appeared in the picture.
Morning sunlight pierced the clouds, as if scattering rays of hope across this barren land. In the distant haze, a bustling metropolis loomed faintly.
Then the view shifted to the car's first-person perspective on the highway. As it rolled onward, buildings sprang up on both sides, and bridges rose in quick succession.
At this moment, the camera turned, and the BGM swelled a little.
Skyscrapers shot up by the dozens. The once-desolate zone began to show residents living their lives. Rain came pouring down, and the puddles gathering on the roads reflected the splendor of the city.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter—seasons turned. In the flow of time, the entire city underwent earthshaking change.
High-rises kept being built. Cars flowed endlessly on the crisscrossing roads. Ships cleaved the river. Airplanes streaked across the sky.
"You are the all-seeing one. You are the creator. The city is born from your hands."
As the final line of narration fell, the image froze on a majestic overhead view of the city.
[Ah, that lighting. Ah, that water~]
[Wait—wasn't this supposed to be a mini-game? You call this a mini-game????]
[It's just a CG. The game proper shouldn't actually be this polished, right?]
[I wasn't into sim-management at first, but why did this CG suddenly get me hyped?]
This time, Xander Masato had referenced the trailer from his previous life for Cities: Skylines II, and paired with Gensokyo's tech, it was indeed ridiculously persuasive. This one CG alone was a clean sweep over the other show-floor games—a full-on dimensionality reduction strike.
Sirin hadn't expected the finished effect to be this good either, and the interest in her eyes grew even stronger.
"Ahem. Although this project only had a little over two months of dev time, Xander… Old Thief Masato personally oversaw it. No need to worry about quality. Without further ado, let's start."
With that, Sirin clicked Start Game.
First, a window popped up for Sirin to choose a map.
Green Plains, Mysterious Black Forest, Golden Beach…
So many biomes made Sirin's eyes go a little blurry. In the end, urged on by a chorus of "Cliff Bay" diehards, she picked Green Plains.
Ignoring the chat's mockery, Sirin started pondering a city name.
She thought for a bit, hesitated, and typed three characters: "Xiyu City."
[Genuine question: does that name have some special meaning?]
[Ahem, friendly reminder: Old Thief Masato's given name is "Yu." No need to spell out the rest, right.]
[Bro, that's ironclad crush behavior!]
[Lol, can't get it in real life, so you fulfill it in-game, huh? Sirin, you do get it.]
[I remember Sirin and the Old Thief are quite close. What if she actually succeeds?]
[Buddy up there, you think a pufferfish can beat Metal Gear Bronya? Or the Princess of the Moon? Or Miss Pink Elf?]
[All right then.]
The barrage was one breath away from calling her a toad lusting after swan meat, and Sirin was a little rattled.
"I—I'm just playing around! Who would like that guy? Don't start rumors!!!!"
"And what about me, huh? How am I not good enough for Xander, you jerks!!"
[Then change it.]*n
Sirin pretended she didn't see those words and clicked Start directly.
"I clicked Start by accident. Changing the name is too much hassle—so be it."
Muttering under her breath, Sirin skillfully ignored the jeers again. In any case, in a little while these jokers would find something else to latch onto—no need to mind them.
The loading bar began to fill. Soon, a map generated on the screen.
She studied the procedurally generated layout. A light-blue dashed box outlined a plain near a river. A river system spanning nearly three directions ran from the left side of the screen to the lower right. At the bottom of the map, a highway cut from left to right. Near the dashed boundary, two short ramps stuck into the box from that highway.
Obviously, one was an inbound ramp, the other outbound.
A tiny Pikachu floated at the top of the screen. Clicking it showed the messages she'd received.
"This 70,000 must be our starting funds. By the mission requirements, we're to build a great metropolis here, so…"
The light tutorial only taught Sirin the basic controls. Looking at the highway on-ramps, she thought for a moment and connected the cheapest dirt road.
"To get rich, build roads first. We need to pinch pennies right now—let the future citizens suffer a little first."
Muttering away, Sirin got to work.
Roads first, then residential zoning.
"For housing, let's branch a single road out and build deeper in. Can't put residential right beside the highway—walking out the door and immediately 'hitting the jackpot' would be bad."
Then came water and power—and here she made a small oops.
She accidentally put the sewage outlet upstream and the water intake downstream, making the viewers cry out that the Grim Reaper had arrived.
Once the basic plan was in place, Sirin hit Play. Before long, houses in the residential zone she'd laid out started rising rapidly.
The effort she'd put into zoning suddenly turned into strands of accomplishment at this moment. Watching her city take shape, she felt her heart get lightly tugged.
[Hss—this feeling…]
[Why is it kind of satisfying?]
Soon, construction finished, and about half of the residential plots she'd planned were now occupied.
Seeing the population tick upward, Sirin was delighted. Silently she swore she would, as their mayor, ensure they lived happy, beautiful lives.
Next, she carved out a commercial zone and an industrial zone with the road tool. The industrial sat across the road—by basic logic, it should be far from residential—while commerce was just the opposite.
By happy accident, Sirin's build actually looked like the real deal.
Very quickly, a city's outline emerged.
Residents lived in the residential zone. They worked in the industrial zone. Goods from industry flowed to the commercial zone. Residents then spent their leisure and money in commerce.
A flawless closed loop was born.
Growing more engrossed, Sirin hammered away at construction non-stop.
In under an hour, a decent-looking city sprawled across the screen. Seeing it, Sirin felt a swell of pride.
Only… that pitiful city income made her frown.
At this rate, the money was nowhere near enough.
Maybe… try prodding consumption a bit?
Brows furrowed, she stared at the screen for a long moment. To the viewers' puzzlement, Sirin deleted the direct road from the residential zone to the factories, leaving only a one-way road for the trip home.
[Did the pufferfish's brain fog up? Why are you deleting their road?]
[Who knows. Without this road, residents can only go via the commercial district, right?]
[Commercial district—wait…]
Under everyone's gaze, small cars, left with no choice, detoured through commerce, and the commercial revenue began climbing—visibly.
[No, what???]
[This works?]
[Genius!]
Seeing this, something in Sirin's heart stirred awake. Her original aspiration—that every resident would live and work in peace—began to fade.
Development first. Let the residents suffer a little.
Residents—no, the rabble—come home exhausted and feel grumpy? Tear it down!
In her city, there was no need for deadweight who couldn't keep up!
The bullet comments condemned her instantly—until day two, when new residents moved into the demolished plots and the city's GDP didn't budge in the slightest. Then everyone fell silent.
"Anyway, building houses doesn't cost my—wait, doesn't cost the city money. If you don't want to work, we'll swap in someone who will. If you won't do it, plenty of others will!"
That line instantly set chat ablaze.
[Birth—ahhhh!!!]
[Pufferfish, did you forget your vow at the start? You said you'd let everyone live and work in peace and be the best mayor in the world!]
[Pufferfish, you've fallen!!]
"The past is the past; the present is the present. Don't use the past as the present, okay? Everything I'm doing is for the city's development. My conscience is clear!!"
As she said it, Sirin couldn't suppress the grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. It felt like she'd discovered a different kind of fun.
Fire trucks too expensive to dispatch?
No problem. Just place the fire station far away and wrap it in ring after ring of roads, right?
Watching fires break out, sirens blaring as ambulances departed the station, they finally reached downtown after looping round and round—only to slam into heavy gridlock at the crossroads. By the time they were about to arrive at the blaze, all that remained was a pile of rubble.
Though it was only the death of one building's worth of rabble, Sirin had protected her GDP. Truly delightful.
With each new inhumane exploit, Sirin's smile grew wider. In the end, her eyes landed on toll booths.
At first, nobody minded much. They thought Sirin merely wanted more revenue and was adding a few toll booths on the roads.
But as the number of booths grew, the nature of the game quietly changed.
Five. Ten. Twenty. Fifty…
Until a "Taiji formation" of one hundred and eight toll booths completely encircled the entire city, the audience collectively lost it.
Tolls leapt to become the lion's share of all income.
[Last time our armored cash truck passed through a city, all the money vanished. Any bright ideas, folks?]
[This city is so hospitable. I drove my Ferrari here to sightsee, and when I left, the mayor personally smiled and put me on the train.]
[Ten kilometers per toll booth is already absurd. You've got ten tolls per kilometer—are you trying to break the heavens?]
Grinning at the barrage, Sirin didn't get mad. She chuckled and said, "C'mon—did the revenue go up or not!"
"Besides, I've got a new idea. Let me make a fresh save!!"
[Residents: New account, stop it!]
[Residents: Listen to me—thank you. Because of you, all four seasons are warm.]
[Letting you play this for free is a net loss.]
No time to care what the viewers thought—Sirin saved the old file, then quickly started a new one.
Early roadwork didn't change much. But once zoning began, everyone watched in confusion as Sirin built the residential inside a park.
"Ahem, allow me to introduce my Green City."
Looking quite proud of her idea, Sirin continued, "For eco-friendliness, this city advocates green travel and fewer cars on the road. So… watch my upcoming plan."
With everyone watching, Sirin got busy.
Not just housing—she put the industrial and commercial in separate parks too. Apart from each park's main gate at the entrance, she scrapped roads entirely, forcibly isolating them from the world.
She divided the whole city into eight big blocks. Each one was independent. A single road merely connected the highway exit to each park's gate.
Thus the viewers were stunned to discover—if residents wanted to travel, they had to go out via the park gate. Park gates don't allow cars, so for travel it was either walking or waiting for buses at the gate.
Aside from buses, you could hardly see any sedans in the entire city. Streams of pedestrians practically filled the whole place.
As for revenue—when residents went to work, they passed in and out through the park gates. And park gates aren't there to look pretty: every time someone went out, they had to buy tickets. The city made money on every commute.
Putting tolls downstairs from their homes wasn't enough—even the buses counted as mayoral assets. Going to work meant paying the mayor yet again.
"Guys, how's my idea?"
[You are literally a genius at this!!!]
[Gensokyo Company says: meeting you was our great fortune.]
All morning long, Sirin was immersed in how to "manage" her city, unable to pull herself out. So much so that she never even saw the message Xander Masato had sent asking if she wanted to go out and have some fun.
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