Chapter 18: Sand Table Game Spore Evolution

"With the Zerg's technology, this can naturally be achieved easily," replied the Zerg's sub-brain. "However, it's not possible to have a monster-killing and leveling-up system like Earth's online games."

Xu Zhi nodded.

This wasn't a true game; it was a real world, so there was no setting for gaining strength simply by killing monsters. He had no intention of providing a leveling system or monster hunting. Instead, he planned to create an open-world sandbox similar to "Minecraft," where players could freely explore, evolve, and build. He envisioned it as a laid-back farming game, much like "Mole Manor," or a casual simulation game akin to "Spore."

Xu Zhi activated a 10,000x cellular division acceleration for them, allowing them to begin as spores and evolve their own species. They would control cell division, growth, evolution, aging, and the development of new species. In just two or three days, they could complete a round of "Spore Evolution," freely exploring to see if they could evolve some unique creature that might surprise him.

This was just a small, impromptu design. It wouldn't require much effort; his main focus remained on the large sandbox. They would only be able to entertain themselves and engage in casual development within their independent small sandbox. The two sandboxes would not be interconnected, nor would they be allowed into the large sandbox world of the natives. After all, they couldn't level up by killing monsters, and as for letting them slowly cultivate like the natives?

Ha ha.

He had no time to train them!

This independent, small, mysterious sandbox, Xu Zhi intended to name "The Origin of Life in Myriad Worlds," signifying the competitive birthplace of all species. From each round of their game-evolved species, Xu Zhi would select the most unique, powerful, and interesting potential races to add to the main sandbox, incorporating them into the post-Great Flood world of the Sumerian civilization, thereby refining his sandbox world. After all, having only the Insectoids as an intelligent race was too singular.

At this moment, Xu Zhi understood that a single dominant intelligent race could easily destroy the sandbox, leading to extreme imbalance. He wanted to create a world with multiple races, mutually checking each other.

"How many days will this take to complete?" Xu Zhi asked.

"About three days," the Zerg sub-brain replied, surprisingly quickly. "With existing technology, VR gaming glasses can serve as a medium to connect to the sandbox."

"VR, that works too?" Xu Zhi was momentarily stunned. Currently, VR movies were popular, but he had played a few VR games online and found them terribly flawed; the technology was far from mature. But since the Zerg sub-brain said it was possible, Xu Zhi didn't ask further. After all, the previous Zerg iteration had focused on brain development and evolved along a high-intelligence technological path, even possessing planet-destroying cannons, so advanced technology was naturally abundant.

"Then I'll first create a small sandbox in the yard to serve as the 'Spore Evolution' game sandbox for players." His health had improved significantly, and he planned to reclaim a second patch of farmland.

"Anyway, it's not a large area, just in front of the house, about thirty square meters." He swung his hoe. "If anyone annoys me, I can just step on them on my way out."

The Zerg sub-brain would handle the network data and other preparations over the next few days. On his end, he also needed to prepare the experimental sandbox site in advance.

"Have I really become a farmer, grazing and plowing in my yard?" He wielded his hoe, and once again created a thirty-square-meter small sandbox. The layout was identical to the previous one, feeling familiar, and he created an exact replica of the virtual environment. His body was stronger; although he still had an incurable illness, he now had the strength to work.

After finishing the sandbox, he used a flamethrower to clear it, removing any plant and animal residue. This time, he was stronger. The thirty-square-meter sandbox in front of him only took him a day and a half to complete. Once finished, his clothes were covered in black mud, so he simply took a bath.

One day later.

Chen Wenshan was a seasoned veteran player on the Steam platform. As a junior college student and avid gamer, he had purchased countless games. He had just finished a round of Sekiro, cursing how hardcore it was, and silently began searching the platform for niche new games, various "seedlings."

What was this?

A VR game, "Spore Evolution" closed beta?

Description: A sandbox farming game. Start as a spore, evolve species, infinite possibilities. The first choice for casual players?

He silently noted a few keywords, chuckled, and inwardly cursed some unknown unscrupulous game developer for trying to fool people. "Infinite possibilities," "evolve into a spore"? Did they think this was Civilization 7? Other games started development from primitive tribes, but this one was even more exaggerated: starting from a spore, a single-celled organism? The open-endedness was too extreme. Was this game better than those from major European and American game developers?

Besides, it wasn't as if he hadn't seen VR games before; what good could this be? "Ha ha, the hype for VR games' new concepts has long cooled down. It's not like I haven't played them—wearing VR glasses to stack blocks, milk cows, or play as a pig... Current technology simply can't achieve this," he grumbled, while silently downloading the game.

Despite being a game from an unknown small developer, it was 73 GB and had terrifyingly high system requirements, almost sensational. Such a massive game size, in the current gaming industry, usually only came from international major game developers who had spent three or four years or more, with professional teams of hundreds or thousands of people, to create a AAA masterpiece. He couldn't help but feel a little anticipation.

After Chen Wenshan finished downloading, he registered an account named "Akina Speed," put on his usual VR glasses for watching movies, and entered the game.

"What a refined entry screen," Chen Wenshan's eyes lit up as soon as he logged in, finding it intriguing. It was different from the usual crudely made VR games. After watching for a while, there was only one option:

"Do you wish to begin the spore's evolutionary life?"

He silently clicked.

His vision went black, and he felt himself swimming in a black ocean, as if blind. "How is this possible?! I actually have limb sensations, like I'm truly swimming in the ocean?" Chen Wenshan's mind went blank for a moment. He instinctively wondered if this was some kind of advanced technology, transmitting in-game sensations through electrical signals from the device directly into his brain, achieving true virtual bodily perception? This was the legendary virtual reality game, 100% real!

He gradually found it incredible and grew excited, realizing he had stumbled upon something unimaginably terrifying. As a veteran player in the industry, he clearly understood what kind of upheaval this would cause in the entire gaming community if it got out.

"It's so dark," Chen Wenshan swam around for a while in the pitch-black ocean before becoming utterly confused. What exactly was he supposed to do in this game? Why couldn't he see anything? Was he blind?

Just then, a data prompt appeared before him: "Player is still in spore state, a single-celled organism. Please evolve eyes and a visual system."

"Evolve my eyes?" Chen Wenshan was utterly bewildered. This damn game... touted as a casual farming sandbox game, was it even more hardcore than Sekiro?