Chapter 19: Courtyard Leisure Days

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Updated: 2019-05-26 16:24:30

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"My farm finally has modern appliances."

Xu Zhi sat in his orchard yard. The washing machine next to him whirred to a stop. He quietly took out the clothes, hanging them one by one on the nearby line. Then he sat back down on the chair by the door, took out an apple, and began peeling it with a knife.

"Sub-brain, are you saying someone has already entered the sandbox?" Xu Zhi asked, looking at the small pond in front of him, its water clear. Even if they had entered, Xu Zhi wouldn't be able to see them, as they were still in spore form, single-celled organisms.

In the grand sandbox, countless spores would begin evolving simultaneously. Players would become one of these spores, competing with naturally evolving spore species in a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

"What if someone quits the game mid-way?" Xu Zhi asked.

The Swarm Sub-brain explained, "The spore will evolve autonomously without the player's conscious influence. By the time they return to the game, they might not recognize themselves, as evolution happens every second."

Xu Zhi wasn't bothered by this. It was, after all, a casual sandbox game. If players had to leave temporarily, going AFK or quitting was perfectly natural. Besides, if one round went awry, they could just start another and control what species they evolved into. Wouldn't that be fun?

In reality, a game lasting two or three days was for advanced players. Most casual players would likely go extinct within a few hours. Without hardcore biological evolution knowledge, they probably wouldn't evolve viable species and would be eliminated by other naturally evolving species.

"Once they breed unique, high-potential species, I'll plagiarize their evolutionary achievements," Xu Zhi chuckled gleefully, like a sly merchant behind the scenes. He added, "I believe the insect-apes I've guided will be stronger than most species. Their species shouldn't be more powerful than mine."

The Swarm Sub-brain stated, "Artificially engineered genetic organisms have less potential than species that evolve naturally."

"Does that mean they might be better than me?" Xu Zhi was momentarily stunned, then exhaled. "Well then, let's wait and see. I hope these players can create new species to throw into the grand sandbox and compete with the insect-ape race I created."

"Come on, new species!" Xu Zhi was filled with anticipation.

He observed for a while, finding that the player wasn't making any significant moves and was still exploring. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed and shifted his attention to the development of the grand sandbox.

In fact, after the third great flood extinction event, the world was still in a state of recovery. It would likely take two or three hundred years to fully recover, so there hadn't been many major changes.

After the collapse of the Sumerian civilization, Utnapishtim, a benevolent leader, took on the fate of the fallen kingdom. He led his people to repopulate the lands submerged by the flood, rebuilding their tribe on the ancient site of Mesopotamia.

One 'day' (in game time) passed, and it was over a hundred years later. His grandson, Ishbi-Erra, now the new leader, began to exhibit the ambition and talent of a true leader. He named his tribe: the Babylonian Tribe.

Babylon. This tribal name would hold profound significance in later eras. The age of the Sumerians, a fleeting yet brilliant ancient civilization led by the epic hero Gilgamesh, had passed. The future would belong to the enduring glory of the ancient Babylonian Sorcerer Kingdom.

Chen Wenshan had already discovered the terrifying nature of this game. He died countless times, his descendants eliminated one after another. He eventually evolved eyes, then a mouth to consume plankton, but his species quickly went extinct.

This was because the mouth and eyes he evolved were too weak, and he lacked limbs for hunting. "Damn, this is hardcore!" He gasped, silently taking off his VR headset. He couldn't resist trying several more times, but each attempt failed halfway through evolution.

However, the incredibly realistic tactile feedback, the fully virtualized black-tech graphics, and the infinite possibilities of biological evolution compelled him to keep playing. It was simply too fascinating and engaging.

"Extinct again! My eyes, they must have been too small! I refuse to believe I can't evolve beautiful big eyes!" He was furious, a surge of anger welling up inside him. Because of this, he even went to the school library to look for biological information. Fortunately, his English was good, and he opened a very hardcore foreign book on evolutionary biology.

People around the dormitory found it very strange. Chen Wenshan was a wealthy gaming enthusiast who had a high-end computer costing seventeen thousand yuan in his dorm, which he used for extensive gaming. Now, why had he suddenly fallen in love with studying, and specifically, the most profound biological genetics?

Half a day later, Chen Wenshan, having studied basic evolutionary theory and failed several more times, finally managed to evolve a species that could barely survive. To better grasp food, it developed countless disgusting, viscous tentacles. To fulfill his personal desire, he specifically evolved a massive single eye.

Its appearance was a gigantic single eye surrounded by slimy tentacles, with a small cherry-like mouth below, filled with sharp fangs. "Hahaha, I finally succeeded! Such a massive eyeball, hahaha!"

Filled with a sense of achievement, Chen Wenshan guided his strange, tentacled creature ashore. He was instantly awestruck. "These are beautiful mountains and rivers! Such a vast, realistic world! I've finally become an amphibian... Damn, over 70 GB, the graphics truly are worth every penny! I'm going to control my species, explore the land, and dominate the world! The world belongs to me!!"

Meanwhile.

Xu Zhi sat by his courtyard gate, munching on an apple, rocking in his chair and basking in the sun. He watched the bizarre creature crawling ashore in the distance and was instantly dumbfounded. "What kind of freakish species is this? Are you kidding me? Naturally evolved species absolutely wouldn't turn out so grotesque. Its eyes are terrifyingly huge, taking up two-thirds of its body. How deep must his obsession be with growing eyes? How desperately does he want to see the world?"

According to evolutionary theory, if a species chose to spend most of its bodily nutrients evolving a useless eyeball that took up two-thirds of its body, it would surely be eliminated by nature... This was an invalid species, a failed evolutionary path that defied evolutionary theory!

"I knew it wasn't reliable," Xu Zhi chuckled wryly, taking another bite of his apple. "A giant eyeball surrounded by viscous tentacles, what a bizarre species, hideously ugly, basically a shoddy product of random play... Wait, doesn't this appearance resemble a mythical monster's Evil Eye?"

He suddenly found it quite interesting.

"Hey!" At that moment, a knocking sound came from the door. It was Chen Xi, the girl. "Open up, I've brought food!"

"Opening now!" He had been so engrossed in watching others evolve species that he only just snapped back to reality. He stood up quickly and walked towards the door, just as he accidentally stepped on and crushed the Evil Eye monster.

*Splat!* It turned into a blob of goo.

"Hesitation leads to defeat." In Chen Wenshan's vision, the word 'Failure' appeared again. "You have exited the game. Please restart."

He was instantly dumbfounded! "I was evolving so well, finally becoming a decent species, escaping the ocean of species origin, and just crawled ashore to dominate the world. How could it suddenly be gone? I was actually crushed by a single step? Hey!! You damn game developer, get out here!"

"Oh, you're here again." Xu Zhi opened the door to find Chen Xi had brought delicious food once more.

***

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