Chapter 21: Boiling Online Evaluation

After the Great Extinction, the Insecta-Sapien race was still clinging to life, confined to small, scattered tribes instead of being widespread. This conveniently allowed Xu Zhi to secretly carry out a second modification of the sandbox terrain.

He selected an area, poured in cow and chicken manure, added water, and mixed in some dead branches and fallen leaves. This began to transform the spot into fertile, decaying mud. In the future, as microorganisms fermented, it would produce methane gas, eventually becoming a sticky, muddy swamp.

He directly placed this "Evil Eye" creature into it to survive.

There was no competition here. Even if it was weak, it could still reproduce and survive in large numbers. He had already provided it with the environment for development. As for later, whether it could become the first unintelligent monster on this sandbox land, resembling the Evil Eye from Cthulhu mythology, would depend entirely on itself.

If it failed, Xu Zhi wouldn't lose anything; it would simply be as if a new species had appeared out of nowhere on this land. In fact, if it couldn't succeed, its chances of extinction were extremely high.

After all, its eyeball accounted for two-thirds of its body mass, consuming so much nutrition without fulfilling its purpose. It would naturally be eliminated by other species; nature is incredibly cruel.

The next morning, Xu Zhi continued to relax, legs crossed, casually eating an apple in the courtyard. With nothing else to do, he began to talk to himself, as if performing a stand-up comedy routine:

"Honestly, working in isolation is useless. Others really bring me surprises, like these bizarre creatures, the big-eyed monsters... Sometimes, I truly hate myself for not being 'stupid' enough to fit in with them. It's hard for me to evolve such peculiar species."

As he chuckled and looked at the small sandbox, he was surprised to find that the entire mini-evolution sandbox was full!

It had reached his set player limit: one hundred spores were now surviving and evolving within it.

The sandbox was designed with a player cap of one hundred.

One hundred players wasn't many; Xu Zhi hadn't intended to bring in a large crowd. It was merely meant to be a niche, casual sandbox game for people to provide him with inspiration.

It wasn't really a game for their entertainment, so why make it large?

But Xu Zhi hadn't expected it to be so popular; in just one day, the sandbox server was completely full.

Curious, he looked online and found that the initial post that sparked the online craze came from a single thread.

The post was titled:

"Black Tech! The Strongest Realistic Simulation Game with Full Tactile Sensation. China's Most Hardcore Casual Sandbox Game: 'Spore Evolution'."

At first, after reading the content, everyone scoffed, calling it clickbait. What era-defining masterpiece could it be? Experienced players knew that virtual reality (VR) technology was just a gimmick, far from mature.

Despite the complaints, some brave souls still tried it. People logged in one after another, and then it truly exploded.

They returned to comment under the post:

"It's real! It's terrifying! It actually has tactile feedback! What kind of alien tech is this?! I'm blown away!"

A group of people below furiously accused them of being shills.

Then, some couldn't resist testing it themselves, only to get hooked and never return. This cycle continued, and soon, players began posting game screenshots and images of the bizarre, failed creatures they had evolved, completely igniting widespread interest. However, it was quickly discovered that only one hundred beta accounts could be registered, and no one else could log into the game.

"Only one hundred beta testers."

Countless people were heartbroken, consumed by envy and jealousy.

The first batch of players who successfully logged in secretly rejoiced, incredibly excited.

They had stayed up all night, obsessively playing this groundbreaking game. Early this morning, the first "Spore Evolution" game guide and beta test impressions were posted and stickied to the top of the game forum's homepage.

"Hello everyone, I'm 'AkinaSpeed.' I also posted the previous thread. I'm incredibly lucky to be the first to discover this unadvertised, groundbreaking game. Now, I'm here to provide a simple game review!

First, the most important question everyone has: Does it really simulate all five senses?

My answer is: Yes!

The realism is absolutely, unequivocally real! I guarantee it with my honor. It truly feels like you're in a second world. I have no idea what kind of black technology this is.

There's also pain sensitivity adjustment. I set it to 100%, and the feeling of death was so intense, I was convulsing! When I took off the VR headset in reality, my body was instantly covered in cold sweat, trembling and twitching.

I'm never trying that again for as long as I live. That's the first terrifying aspect of this game.

Attention, players! I'm about to describe a few more terrifying aspects that might make you reconsider playing!

First, this game is categorized as a casual sandbox survival game, but it's incredibly hardcore in reality. When you first log in, there's no character creation or race selection like in traditional online games. There's only one option: 'Begin the life of a spore.'

You might not believe it, but when you enter the game world, everything is black. You have to evolve your eyes to see the world! It's ridiculously real!

(My inner thought: The moment I saw this, I realized this free sandbox game, which claimed to be the top choice for casual players, was anything but simple.)

In the game, we are a spore, the leader of a species, capable of controlling our species' evolution. However, if the "king" we control dies, it doesn't matter how large our tribe is; we will be forced to exit the game.

It's worth noting that the virtual reality immersion in this game is incredibly terrifying. Whatever creature you evolve into, you experience its true sensations. For example, if you become an insect, you'll feel exactly like an insect!

The first species I evolved into was a big-eyed monster, with enormous eyes. I found my field of vision was also incredibly vast, extraordinarily so. The second time, I evolved compound eyes, eight pairs of them. Guess what I saw?

The world through compound eyes! It was unbelievably real!

It's absolutely amazing!

In this game, we can fully experience the world and perceptions of other species. I imagine if I could evolve into a dragon, I would definitely be able to fly and experience the thrill of being a dragon, soaring through clouds and mist.

However, my longest run so far only saw me evolve into an amphibian—a bizarre big-eyed monster that left the ocean but didn't even survive five hours of playtime.

Furthermore, if you die in this game, you have to create a new character.

Yes! This is the second hardcore reason to be deterred!

Unlike other games with respawn points, you only get one life here. Dying means you must create a new character and start over as a spore! All your previously evolved 'levels' and 'structures' are gone! It's unbelievably hardcore; it completely ignores the traditional concept of loading a save file! It does whatever it wants, with no regard for player retention!"

The third hardcore aspect is that this game has no so-called "guides" or "walkthroughs"!

Don't expect me to write a guide. I once tried to evolve into the big-eyed monster again using my previous method, but I ended up evolving into a different species—the one with compound eyes...

—This perfectly aligns with a tenet of evolutionary theory: the emergence of any life form throughout evolutionary history is a unique miracle.

Even if you follow the exact same environment and process, a small butterfly effect might lead you to become a completely different species. Although I don't know how it's designed, this game truly feels like a real evolutionary world, with authentic materials and infinite possibilities!"

"Furthermore, the game's setting is quite interesting. Next to the mountains, rivers, and vast oceans where we spores live, there resides an immense, ten-thousand-foot tall, shimmering divine giant. We evolve right outside his courtyard. He often sits on a wooden chair in front of his huge house, peeling fruit and quietly reading a book. We evolving spore creatures can even sneak close to him, or even climb onto him. One time, when I was a big-eyed creature, I tried to get closer to look at him, but he stepped on my 'king,' forcing me out of the game. A bunch of my subordinate big-eyed monsters were left there without my control and have probably gone extinct by now.

My personal guess is that he's probably a background character in the sandbox game!

He might be set as invincible, or perhaps he's a boss that we can challenge later if we evolve into the strongest species. Either way, it's incredibly fascinating; we're like insects evolving in the giant's backyard.

In summary, this is the most hardcore game in history! Hardcore in every way! It's so discouraging! But it's also incredibly fun!

High freedom, infinite possibilities, 100% virtual tactile sensation—it feels like a real world, and it's explosively fun! I wholeheartedly recommend it!

To be honest, my current goal is to survive for a long time, escape the fate of constant death and character resets, and evolve into a powerful species that can firmly establish itself in the entire ecosystem, perhaps even becoming the apex predator! Then, I want to evolve into a legendary dragon and develop a dragon race—isn't that every Chinese person's dream?! It's so exciting! And then I'll fly over to that person in the courtyard peeling apples and poop on his head!!

Oh, the exhilaration! I feel like my life has reached its peak!

As for guides, there really aren't any... Brothers and sisters! If you want to play, read up on *On the Origin of Species* and various professional books. Knowledge is power! It was only after reading that I could evolve various organs. Students of biology, you'll excel in this spore game!

That's all for now. I only came out to write this guide because I played for so long that I got a headache. Now I'm going back in for another round. This time, I'm sure I'll live a bit longer. Am I addicted or what?!"

Poop on my head?

Xu Zhi smiled slightly upon reading this. "The last species that dared to provoke me like that, calling me bald, do you know what pitiful fate befell them?!"

Xu Zhi silently made a note of this grudge in his little notebook. "My friend, we'll settle this score later." He had completely forgotten that he had just mocked others as being "stupid"—this was, at most, tit-for-tat.

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