Chapter 205: New Sandbox World Preview Wandering Earth

Suddenly, the intelligent sub-brain emitted a mechanical voice:

“Hive Mother, do you intend to begin exploring extraterrestrial environments?”

“I do,” Xu Zhi nodded. “Since a Zerg hero has emerged, now is the perfect opportunity to launch our Zerg’s first ‘interstellar exploration vessel.’ It will be a small step for the Zerg, but a giant leap for our planet. We’ll send Di Qi to search for a suitable life-sustaining planet!”

In fact, according to the records left by the previous Zerg Mother Queen in the hive’s sub-brain, when she developed her civilization, the emergence of a living Level 8 mechanical god already represented the pinnacle of power for a planetary civilization. It was at this stage that the Zerg began exploring extraterrestrial environments.

After all, while Level 6 beings could fly in the sky, they could not survive long in a vacuum.

Level 7 Great Emperors could endure a vacuum for a limited time.

Only Level 8 gods possessed the ability to traverse the void for extended periods, crossing from one planet to another.

It was at this point that the previous Zerg Mother Queen began to develop outer space civilization, embarking on a long journey to search for life-sustaining planets.

After all, planets suitable for the growth and reproduction of life are incredibly rare, almost impossible to find.

Factors like abundant liquid water, atmospheric ozone concentration, and temperature are crucial. Even Earth, with its advanced detection of countless exoplanets, has yet to find a single planet truly capable of sustaining and propagating life, only a few approximate candidates.

The previous Zerg Mother Queen herself spent a full seventy thousand years exploring the universe before discovering a second planet suitable for spore dispersal, in addition to her home world.

Even though the Zerg are incredibly powerful and possess terrifying adaptability, they remain fragile carbon-based life forms, similar to humans. While their strong vitality, through evolution, might allow them to overcome one or two harsh conditions—such as a lack of oxygen, water, or sunlight, or even exposure to intense cosmic radiation—they cannot possibly overcome dozens or hundreds of such extreme environmental factors.

Otherwise, if the Zerg could truly propagate on every single planet, they would have achieved invincibility long ago.

As for terraforming a planet's environment?

Early Zerg lacked the immense power required to terraform planets. Even the previous Zerg Mother Queen, in her later stages of development when she was capable of such feats, was unwilling to undertake it due to the terrifying amount of resources required.

Destruction is ten thousand times easier than creation.

“It’s better to launch it now, ahead of schedule. My deep-space vessel, ‘Great Luo Heaven,’ will carry a small pocket dimension of life and journey deep into the Milky Way, searching for a planet suitable for life.”

Xu Zhi’s gaze grew fervent. “If I can find such a new, suitable planet, it will become my new orchard!”

Though it might be a lengthy and ambitious endeavor.

The universe is simply too vast; even the Zerg of old spent seventy thousand long years on this quest!

However, the Zerg’s ability to accelerate life is truly a heaven-defying power. They can explore their surroundings at an astonishing speed. For a god flying continuously outwards, one hundred years of their exploration might only be equivalent to a single day for the observer. Thus, seventy thousand years, while seemingly long, is actually acceptable.

Currently, although Xu Zhi had reached the realm of a Level 8 god, he wasn't planning to take this step so quickly. The initial investment was too substantial, demanding a powerful god—at minimum, a pseudo-Zerg hero—endowed with terrifying talent and adaptability.

The void period before seeing results would also be excessively long.

No immediate results were possible; with bad luck, tens of thousands of years could be wasted.

“But then Di Qi appeared! He possesses extraordinary talent and vision, he understands the art of patience, he has secretly mastered peerless techniques, and he manipulates one era of Heavenly Emperors after another from the shadows.”

Xu Zhi’s eyes brightened. “Such an intelligent and monstrous individual, unprecedented in history… he is simply the best person to naturally undertake the mission of our Zerg’s great revival!”

At this very moment, as he casually enjoyed ‘farewell chicken’ from a white plate, sipped Phoenix spiritual tea on the sofa, and watched a movie on a nearby computer, he made the monumental decision to explore the vast universe, all from the comfort of his unassuming rural home.

“Although I only have a small orchard…”

“…you cannot stop my dream of the stars and the sea!”

In the vast and immense universe, Earth is certainly not the sole planet sustaining life. While human technological civilization has only just managed to leave Earth and venture into vacuum, it remains incapable of distant interstellar travel; most of its applications are limited to Earth-orbiting satellites.

“Furthermore, a new world—a ‘Wandering Earth’ drifting through space, searching for life-sustaining planets—this will become my third new sandbox world!”

This could potentially be an extraordinary civilization of adventurers.

Imagine a wandering space-world, constantly drifting through the cosmos, passing by countless planets. Powerful individuals would continually venture out, land, explore, gather planetary resources, and extract valuable materials.

Xu Zhi took a deep breath, his expression thoughtful. “Now that eleven Heavenly Emperors have died, this constitutes another mass extinction event. However, it’s not as massive as the Phoenix’s previous one, as none of them reached the level of a Hunyuan Saint. Still, the energy feedback is sufficient for me to break through from peak Level 5 to Level 6 Legendary Wizard.”

Becoming a Level 6 Wizard represents a terrifying qualitative leap.

Only upon achieving Level 6 Wizardry would he gain the ability to fly—to grasp Di Qi, ascend to the atmosphere, and release him into outer space.

“Of course, this is merely an initial concept for the sandbox; its full realization will take a very long time, and I’m unsure what challenges might arise along the way…. But first, I need to figure out how to get the basic outline of this plan in motion.” He gently closed his eyes, silently absorbing the energy from this mass extinction, then weighed how to implement the next phase of his plan.

Three hours later.

Xu Zhi silently absorbed the energy, faintly hearing a crisp sound resonate in his mind. He slowly opened his eyes. “I’m a Legendary Wizard now,” he murmured.

What did it mean to be a Legendary Wizard?

It meant flying between heaven and earth, freely roaming wherever one pleased.

It was the strongest power, surpassed only by Epic beings and Heavenly Emperors.

The ability to fly also meant he wouldn’t need to ride his electric scooter anymore when going out.

He strode out of his room, gazing at the boundless azure sky, eager to test the powers of a Level 6 Wizard and attempt a test flight.

“But it’s 35 degrees Celsius today; it’s practically scorching people alive, and the sun up there might be even worse,” he mused. He decided he still needed to protect his skin before heading out. He picked up a parasol by the door, then reconsidered and put it down, opting instead for a black sun hat. He pulled on long sleeves to cover his skin and slung the pre-prepared black oxygen tank over his back.

“Invisible Air Body.”

With a gesture,

Whoosh!

Transparent, distorted air enveloped Xu Zhi, making his form hazy and indistinct, as if refracted by optical camouflage, rendering him nearly invisible to the eye.

With another gesture, he gradually ascended, rising into the vast sky.

Whoosh.

The whistling wind roared past his ears, swirling around him, but the powerful air currents of the sky were isolated beyond the translucent barrier of his air-elemental sorcery.

Occasionally, birds flew past him. The orchard below gradually shrank, followed by the entire village appearing in his view. The mountains, rivers, and the entire landscape looked like a delicate sandbox.

“This world is truly beautiful,” he mused.

He took a deep breath, looking down upon the world from high above.

This was the power of Level 6.

Previously, he had only observed the miniature figures in his sandbox world, making proportional conversions. Now, for the first time, he truly grasped the terrifying nature and tangibility of this power.

This was the true entry into a higher realm, the fundamental threshold for becoming a powerful being.

He stood amid the clouds, dense white layers stretching beneath his feet, creating an impression of vast magnificence. Ordinarily, he had only witnessed such a sight from an airplane window.

“Too bad there isn’t a plane for me to ride,” he thought.

Xu Zhi expressed a hint of regret as he glanced around; the vast blue sky was devoid of passing aircraft.