Chapter 363: Tracing the Origin of Humanity

In the blink of an eye, the underground lava world had already entered its industrial age. Black and white televisions, telephones, and even cars appeared, as human society gradually transformed into a concrete jungle of skyscrapers.

Xu Zhi was still in his secret base laboratory.

"Regardless, they have thoroughly developed," Xu Zhi murmured. He sat quietly at his desk in the base laboratory, on a white bench, a window behind him, reviewing detailed investigation reports.

In the office before him, thirty-seven black furry behemoths stood solemnly like an army. Their necks were affixed with black square system chips, and they served as laboratory assistants, dressed in white coats.

"These created block system assistants should be retrieved, and the Creator God's base laboratory should now be destroyed," he thought. "After all, it no longer serves a purpose."

With a whoosh, Xu Zhi reached out. A gentle breeze swept through, and the black system chips were swiftly retrieved, one by one, entering his black spatial ring.

The furry behemoths before him rapidly collapsed backward, hitting the ground with dull thuds. Having been attached for too long, they had become brain-dead beasts. As tool-beasts, they had successfully fulfilled their purpose and reached the end of their lives.

"It has begun, a brand new civilization," he declared. "I have poured all my effort into building your foundation using the accumulated resources of several previous worlds. Let me see just how extraordinary you become!"

Boom! Xu Zhi strode out of the laboratory. Behind him, an explosion echoed as a massive river of lava descended from above, engulfing the entire laboratory. In a beautiful, fiery red spectacle, the entire laboratory was utterly destroyed.

Except for the era when he created the lava land, he had long ceased to descend in his true form. After all, in the past few days, his third and final mirror clone had successfully materialized. It sat in the office like a wooden statue, and he would occasionally descend into it, open its eyes, and examine the research results. The mirror clone had no self-awareness; it merely served as a convenient, fixed teleportation coordinate for him to descend.

"However, this is just the initial development of a world," Xu Zhi mused, striding along in his refined black wizard's robe. "In just over a hundred years, they're already catching up to Earth's civilization... They've reached the medieval era; it hasn't been long at all!"

The technological path was indeed terrifyingly faster than the super-powered path. After all, on the super-powered side, the power system required constant deduction and refinement. It involved physical integration and took generations to perfect. Furthermore, even if one formally began cultivation, becoming a Seventh-tier Heavenly Emperor, even with exceptional talent, typically took over two hundred years. But the development of technological civilization didn't require that! As long as one possessed a sufficiently intelligent brain, super-fast computational abilities, and various external materials and conditions, one could rapidly advance the tech tree and create even more terrifying modern technological weapons!

However, Xu Zhi didn't want to interfere with them; he merely waited quietly.

"Let them develop their technology; I'll study my own," Xu Zhi muttered, slightly lowering his head to look at a dark red octahedral prismatic crystal in his hand. "The last research project of the institute has now been completed... My final subject was how to take over a system..." Xu Zhi was still very interested in this project. He had been attempting to become a silicon-based life form, and only now was this project completely finished.

"It can now be integrated into this mirror clone," Xu Zhi said with a serious expression.

What was a mirror clone? A mirror clone had a physical body; it was a type of Ancestral Witch True Body. An ordinary Ancestral Witch True Body would spontaneously grow various Dharmakayas, such as eight arms, becoming tall and mighty with its size increasing countless times. A mirror clone, however, would shed those extra arms and body mass, transforming into a human form... Of course, the size of this miniature clone was like a pimple detaching from Xu Zhi's body, or even smaller. So, since the clone had a true physical, flesh-and-blood body, it could naturally undergo self-modification, replacing its flesh-and-blood brain with a crystalline one.

Boom!! A large spatial rift opened, and the light of a teleportation array flickered.

"I need to give myself a new brain."

At this moment, a colossal giant appeared, trampling giant trees. The young man in the black jacket pulled out a small folding stool and sat down. He looked at his tiny, ant-like clone, took out a surgical knife smaller than a needle, slowly bent over, and began performing cranial surgery on the clone. "I am modifying myself," he declared.

Three days later, the clone opened its eyes. Before its eyes was a pale blue system interface, displaying icons like "Recycle Bin" and "My Computer." He tested it, and there were no problems.

"Although it's been transplanted, this talent isn't inherently mine," Xu Zhi's main body mused. "If this mirror clone dies, it won't reappear upon rebirth..." Meanwhile, the clone, highly interested, sat down then and there and began computer programming.

On the computer desktop, in less than three days, games like Snake, Minesweeper, Landlord, Chess, and Go quickly appeared. There was no need to question why Xu Zhi understood computer programming, C language, and similar subjects. It was because Hermes, the God of Wisdom, had been acting as a learning tool, without self-awareness, relentlessly studying.

After playing two rounds of Landlord, he was immediately satisfied with this new brain. Xu Zhi calmly embarked on his journey, not in a hurry to interfere, wanting to first observe their future.

"To what extent will technological civilization develop?"

It was the 131st year of the Empire. The Leviathan Octagon Building stood in Mokka City, the City of Technology. In the distance, a channeled river of scorching lava emitted a golden light, illuminating the entire technological city and providing electricity, giving the urban landscape a fantastical, mechanical steampunk aesthetic. On the ground, motorcycles had already appeared. There were even outrageously fashionable biker gangs, racing wildly and chasing each other through the streets and alleys.

"What will become of this beautiful world after my time? Will it stagnate?" he murmured, leaning on his cane, filled with immense worry. He had never imagined he would be so intelligent, that he alone would greatly advance human civilization. Leviathan was already thirty-two years old. He had been awarded too many prizes and medals, and even held the highest lifelong honors of the two human empires: Royal Professor, Supreme Dean of the Academy of Technology, and Human Great Sage. But in this human imperial world, where the average lifespan was thirty, no matter his high position, he was already a white-haired old man, standing shakily in the laboratory, leaning on his cane. He clearly knew that his life was nearing its end.

He suddenly felt a surge of emotion, recounting his very arduous life. Born in the slums, he endured abuse throughout his childhood. He secretly self-studied and researched knowledge, eventually being discovered by chance by the young lady of the Weis family, who provided funding to establish an electricity research institute at the Mikia Grand Ranch. Ultimately, he lived up to expectations by discovering and utilizing electricity at the age of seven. This led to sponsorship from countless benefactors and capitalists. Later, capitalists from both East and West provided full support, establishing the Leviathan Power Company. Now, it had even developed into the largest conglomerate of the Eastern and Western Human Empires, possessing the world's most cutting-edge technology, medicine, and wealth. Its secret technology was even thirty years ahead of public knowledge!

"My life, it seems, has been sufficiently glorious."

He turned around and sat calmly in a chair, his mind filled with images of the shareholders and council members, vying with each other, ready to quickly divide his legacy and dissolve Leviathan Ltd. after his death. The company existed because of him. If he died, it would naturally lose its core competitiveness; dividing the wealth was the best option, which was standard practice for businessmen. In fact, the entire Leviathan Company was not truly in his hands. Its wealth, shares, and decision-making power were all in the hands of the shareholders. From beginning to end, he was merely a scientist controlled by capital. He wanted to break free, but it was incredibly difficult. "This is the ugliness of humanity," he concluded.

He merely smiled. This white-haired old man, dressed in a dignified black suit, slowly ascended to the rooftop. He sat in a newly developed small steam plane, standing tall as it sped through the air, overlooking the flowing crowds on the streets below. "I do not fear death; my life has been too arduous," he mused. "I never enjoyed myself, always confined to laboratory research. Perhaps ending this way is not so bad... I just feel a lingering attachment to you all, fearing that my lifelong efforts and research won't be properly applied... I also want to see how far the technological civilization of human society can develop in the future... Wisdom, truly, is humanity's most powerful force."

"Teacher..." A man behind him couldn't help but speak, looking at the old man with a bitter expression. This man, who was called the one closest to a god! Reputedly a time-traveler from the future—Leviathan—at one year old, he learned the languages of the two human empires; at seven, he invented electricity; at twelve, alternating current. Subsequently, his achievements in various fields were simply astounding! This was an era of rapid technological advancement! This was also a glorious age of technology that belonged to one man alone! He found it hard to imagine how human society's technology would stagnate after his teacher's death...

Even though his teacher had left behind many research institutes that could continue to operate normally after his death, benefiting humanity, and even established the "Leviathan Prize," those hateful capitalists would directly divide the Leviathan conglomerate after his teacher's death, causing all research institutes to crumble! This was the sorrow of scholars. It was also human greed that hindered social progress; they only focused on the present, disregarding the future of generations to come.

"If only the teacher could be given a young body, to live another lifetime, how wonderful that would be!" several research assistants behind him couldn't help but force a bitter smile, dressed in white coats, looking at the old man overlooking the entire city. This god-like old man possessed a god-like brain.

"Give me another young body?" Leviathan's body trembled. He lowered his head and returned to his plane seat, looking at a brain transparency map he had observed for a long time. "If it were an ordinary human brain, modern technology could absolutely not succeed, but..."

Another year passed. Leviathan dedicated himself to researching the medical field, specifically craniotomy. On July 14th, a secret surgery, unknown even to the major shareholders, began. In the hospital, before a surgical table reeking of disinfectant, white lights shone down. An old man lay calmly on the operating table, surrounded by young assistants holding surgical knives.

"I want to live a second life," he thought. "Transplanting a body, which is akin to a head transplant—is it possible? Can modern medical technology achieve it? If it truly can be done, then our technology can touch upon immortality." A crisp sound, and pale white light slowly shone down. As the anesthetic needle was injected, Leviathan gradually lost consciousness. "Whether it can succeed, I myself am not sure," he thought. "The premise for all this to succeed is that my brain... is truly a pineal gland, and transplanting a flesh-and-blood brain is currently impossible..." This moment was the closest Leviathan had ever come to death in his life.

In the hazy white light, his mind was like a revolving lantern, flashing through scenes of his life's experiences. Time was reversing, and in a trance, he actually saw his entire life: The young man enjoying worldly glory, holding trophies and basking in the cheers of the crowd... The wind-chasing boy researching electricity at the ranch... The pitiful childhood in the slums... He originally thought this was the end, but a bizarre scene appeared in his mind: a human slave, oppressed by a mine lord, digging minerals in a dark mine shaft... "Is that... my father?" "How can I see my father's memories?" In his bewilderment, he read the lingering memories of his father, seeing the first half of his father's life, as if in a revolving lantern. Just when he thought his father's life was the end, he then saw his grandfather... Next, Leviathan saw one ancestor after another. Finally, he saw the ancestral memories of his human lineage. Leviathan trembled. He had witnessed everything firsthand; it was incredible. In reality, the "inheritance" characteristic of silicon-based life, where a chip-based brain differs from a flesh-and-blood brain, caused fragments of ancestral memories to accumulate over generations, allowing him to trace back to a very distant past.

"Who exactly am I?" "What exactly am I...?" In a vast expanse of whiteness, Leviathan couldn't help but ask himself this question. "I possess rapid thought... I possess terrifying wisdom... I have incredible hyperthymesia, able to recall every moment of every day since I was one or two years old. And now, even the memories of my ancestors, I remember them... Ordinary people have a 'revolving lantern' of memories before death... But my 'revolving lantern' can see the inherited memories left to me by my father and generations of ancestors...." He fell into bewilderment, along with unparalleled fear and shock. This was unknown and terrifying. He suddenly felt terrifying, as if he and humans were not the same species at all, much like the difference between an ape and a human...

"But perhaps, this scene... can corroborate the theory of evolution!" he thought. "That is human history! My lineage of humans has witnessed the entire historical transformation..." His breathing quickened as he looked at the surrounding scenes, his father's memories, his grandfather's memories, moving forward like a revolving lantern in a corridor of memory. "This is an opportunity! I don't know why this unscientific, supernatural phenomenon is occurring... But anything deemed 'unscientific' is simply something that current science cannot explain... This is a great opportunity; I want to trace back to ancient times! The most ancient memories of humanity on this land!" *The Theory of Species Evolution* he had written seven years ago, stated that various plants and animals adapted to their environment, surviving the fittest, and thus evolved. He had once observed the same type of beetle in two different forests and found that they had changed color due to differing environments. The theory of evolution had scientific basis, supported by data he had obtained through big data. It was the survival of the fittest; creatures across the entire land were evolving, transforming, and mutating. "I am validating science!"

He saw time receding, witnessing his ancestors, one by one. Time was reversing; modern humans, walking upright, gradually grew smaller, becoming *Homo erectus*. They were lives even smaller than humans, with an average height of only about 1.4 meters. Their fists were huge, and they liked to run, pounding the ground with both fists, uttering "woo-woo-woo" sounds to scare beasts. He then saw ape-men, from an era before humans had shed their fur. They liked to live in lava caves in the desert and enjoyed roasting meat; it was an age of slash-and-burn cultivation. His own ancestor was a magnificent, furry ape-man. He then saw terrifying giant beasts, their mountain-moving and ocean-filling battles unfolding as if gods were soaring across the sky. "This is... the origin! Those terrifying unknown lives..."

Leviathan was stunned. On the operating table, the old man, whose skull had been opened, streamed tears of excitement and shock, his face streaked with old tears. "Abnormal brainwaves! He seems to be dreaming, his brain is thinking!" "Tears! Someone tell me! How can he be crying?! Did you touch a nerve during the surgery?!" "Everyone, remember this! We cannot fail," a voice urged. "Mr. Leviathan, his scientific spirit! His god-like wisdom! It will determine the future of our humanity!" On the operating table, lights shone brightly as doctors in white coats walked back and forth, their voices growing increasingly urgent.

Leviathan continued to stride forward in the corridor of memory, like an ancient pilgrim, firm and steady. His steps traced back through ancient times and ages, witnessing the rolling wheel of history. He wanted to see the glorious origin of humanity within the history of evolution. "The origin of humans: humans evolved from apes, constantly transforming through ape-men and *Homo erectus*, leading to modern humans today," he mused. "So what did apes evolve from? Reptiles? Amphibians? We are vertebrates. The origin of life, the common ancestor of vertebrates... could it be fish?" Leviathan grew increasingly excited. On the operating table in reality, his body completely convulsed and twitched due to the excitement. "Surgical anomaly!" "Impossible! We've simulated the procedure multiple times!" a voice exclaimed. "Mr. Leviathan's consciousness, his brain, has indeed completely integrated into the pineal gland!" Urgent voices arose around him. People bustled around the operating table, tension reaching its peak. But Leviathan no longer cared about these things, because as time reversed further, he witnessed a terrifying scene!!

It was a golden desert landscape, covered in gravel. A mysterious young man in a refined black robe stood by a river of lava, holding two crying ape infants high in his hands. His entire being was bathed in the golden glow of the lava, like a god. He held up these two wailing infants as if supporting the majestic light of the entire world—sacred, brilliant, and vast, like a deity depicted in an ancient religious fresco. Suddenly, the mysterious young man spoke indecipherable divine words, as if singing praises for the future of the two ape infants and bestowing blessings. Under Leviathan's immense shock, he had already heard the words of the great god:

"Finally, it's done. I can relax tonight. Let's go play a couple rounds of Hearthstone with the internet trolls from the wizard community!"