Chapter 381: Painted Skin

**Author: A Smile Weighing Three Hundred Pounds**

**Word Count: 244**

**Popular Novel:**

“Although success is unlikely, let’s still allow this player to join.” After a brief, casual discussion with the Zerg sub-brain, Xu Zhi skipped this paper and continued to review the next one from his chair, appearing quite relaxed.

In fact, the mind-frequency overclocking technology had finally resolved a long-standing question for Xu Zhi.

He had long wondered why the previous Zerg Empress, despite her incredibly powerful Zerg talents, had died. Even though she was incredibly reckless and waged war across the universe, with a ‘time’ acceleration of a hundred years per day, all other life forms and civilizations on other planets would appear static. How could anyone possibly defeat her?

Clearly, at the time, Xu Zhi had been thinking about it from the perspective of Earth’s civilization, which was a meaningless exercise!

It turned out that the magnitude of mind acceleration was one of the most crucial standards for measuring the technological advancement of higher cosmic civilizations. While the Zerg naturally possessed this ability, other advanced civilizations also had similar technologies to counterbalance it!

At this moment, as the Zerg sub-brain provided more scientific knowledge, a magnificent and grand cosmic worldview, one extending beyond Earth, was rapidly taking shape for Xu Zhi. This included the distinctions between silicon-based life and top-tier carbon-based life like the Zerg, and even the mind-frequency overclocking technology that served as a threshold for advanced cosmic civilizations.

Although Xu Zhi was currently in a secluded corner, the accumulation of this cosmic civilization knowledge undoubtedly gave him more ideas for building his transcendent sandbox world. The broader his vision and the higher his vantage point, the more concepts he would have for the future creation of his transcendent civilization sandbox.

While civilizations in other universes were developing...

...he, on the other hand, was creating civilizations to develop!

Outside the window, bright sunlight dappled the forests and mountains of the Wizarding World, casting a golden hue. Xu Zhi sat leisurely and comfortably at his desk in the living room.

“This paper is quite good…”

After approving over a dozen papers from his chair, he suddenly came across a particularly interesting creature: “The Mimetic Demon, a transcendent species that imitates a pufferfish.”

What kind of creature is a pufferfish?

Besides being delicious, it has a notable characteristic: when threatened, it rapidly inflates its belly, swelling up like a balloon.

However, the blueprint Xu Zhi was looking at didn’t entirely resemble a pufferfish; it looked more like an inflated super balloon fish, with big round eyes, peculiar, elastic skin, and the ability to transform and camouflage.

This balloon-like creature could inflate to dozens of times its original size, change its shape, and, thanks to chameleon-like skin properties, mimic many life forms.

“These players always come up with so many astonishing innovations and surprises… This species, for example, can transform into a human.”

Xu Zhi paused, a hint of surprise appearing on his face. “It looks like one of those tens-of-thousands-yuan, ultra-realistic silicone inflatable dolls… At first glance, it appears human, capable of walking and sitting. But it would be exposed the moment it’s touched, and a gust of wind would send it swaying, given it’s essentially a weightless, light balloon. In the dead of night, it would surely scare someone half to death… Isn’t this like ‘A Chinese Ghost Story’?”

Xu Zhi still found it very amusing; it was a natural-born specter!

This balloon fish was a shapeshifter, a ‘Painted Skin’ creature.

Xu Zhi read on, and it stated:

“This creature can not only arbitrarily change its appearance to mimic most other beings but also possesses numerous transcendent forms! If it inhales hydrogen into its belly, it can enter a flight mode, becoming a hydrogen balloon! Inhaling explosive gas allows it to function as a self-detonating balloon! And by inhaling laughing gas, it can emit toxic fumes, serving as a poisonous weapon….”

Xu Zhi was surprised once again.

This balloon creature had endless ingenious uses; this batch of new players had truly produced another remarkable talent.

Finally, there was one more sentence:

“Given that the current variety of grotesques, demons, ghosts, and monsters in the Three Realms is too limited! People’s imaginations aren’t rich enough, and their understanding of fear isn’t deep enough, I have specially evolved this ‘Painted Skin’ species to go in and scare people, directly transforming to promote traditional Earth horror cultural figures like Sadako, Xenomorphs, hanging ghosts, Black and White Impermanence, and even Ultraman, thereby holding up our own corner of the grotesque realm!”

Xu Zhi: ????

He almost spat out a mouthful of blood instantly. What kind of strange person was this? A scare-prank genius?! The Primordial World was already fraught with enough dangers! And you’re specifically coming to add to the chaos?

Xu Zhi’s expression slowly turned speechless.

It truly takes all kinds to fill a forest.

“Damn it, another one who’s going to stir up massive trouble is getting in!”

There was no way this creature could be put into the Primordial World; it was already too chaotic. What if another one came in and caused even more trouble? If this player truly succeeded in evolving the ‘Painted Skin’ creature, it would be thrown into the Lava World instead.

After all, the Lava World was a hundred times larger than the Primordial World, vast and boundless, truly difficult to explore to its limits.

It also genuinely needed a large number of transcendent species to diversify it, symbolizing a total of thirteen transcendent super-regions. Each of these regions was larger than the current Primordial World, and their territories were still continuously expanding.

Some players might even find it difficult to ever encounter each other!

Xu Zhi, much like a review official for a Transmigrator Management Association, spent several more hours reviewing application papers, identifying several highly unique species he intended to introduce.

Evidently, this batch had quite a few food-related species, appearing endlessly, influenced by ‘Silent Mu Mu’. However, any with potential were now being admitted.

After the review session concluded, feeling exhausted from the work, Xu Zhi ate a satisfying meal, took a shower, and went straight to bed. That night, he slept exceptionally soundly.

The next morning.

At only six in the morning, the list of approved new players was announced, allowing them to log into the evolution sandbox. Between seven and eight o’clock, new players began to come online one after another.

“Holy crap! I’m finally in!”

“Where’s the Creator God?! I want to see the Creator God’s famous scene of eating an apple!”

A group of spores in the ocean, having just evolved eyes, were shouting and screaming, beside themselves with excitement. This new world, its shock, and the infinite possibilities of life’s origin delivered an unprecedented impact on their lives.

However, on the first day of the sixth beta test, Xu Zhi was not in his usual chair for people to observe.

The new sixth beta test had begun.

After the busy day of the new public test concluded, Xu Zhi went directly to see what surprises the Lava World had brought him throughout the day, and what surprises Caroline had brought him.

Imperial Year 188.

Seven years had already passed since the death of Mr. Levis.

Humanity had lost the man closest to a god, and the development of technological civilization began to enter a stable era. Although there were occasional technological advancements and breakthroughs in various new technical fields, progress was now considered very slow.

However, a hidden professional group known as Beast Tamers gradually emerged.

Most of them were women who, unlike men, did not share a passion for mechanical romanticism. They possessed the ability to control low-level demonic beasts, acquire adorable small demonic beasts as companions, and raise them to become stronger.

Thanks to this, Beast Tamers quickly captured the high-end female market. In addition to mechanical armor modification shops, special ‘pet stores’ also began appearing throughout the streets.

Imperial Year 190.

The Beast Tamer community gradually expanded, but they still couldn’t compare to Mech Engineers. The combat power and versatility of a single demonic beast were far inferior to mechanical battle armor. Mechanical battle armor feared no damage and could have parts replaced, whereas carefully cultivated demonic beasts could not risk injury, as their death would instantly result in a significant loss of effort and investment.

Beast Tamers found it difficult to shake the position of the Mech Engineers.