Nurturing Humanity

Chapter 26

There’s Always Some Unruly Ones Out To Get Me

As soon as the announcement was made, there was uproar amongst the players who were all completely engrossed in the game within the sandbox. They were all extremely worked up.

Most of them had not even made it onto land. They had been put through so much suffering in the ocean where all life originated and had died over and over again. The few that just managed to climb ashore and become amphibians had not even taken their first glimpse of the legendary giant. They had just started a private discussion among themselves and now something like this had happened. This instantly made them give vent to their anger with a torrent of abuse.

“This god*mn game designer, three seconds! That’s the same as not saying it at all!!”

Swish.

The moment the three seconds ran out, the screen before them instantly went black

D*mn it!

Countless players took off their VR headsets, and many of them were close to smashing the device out of anger.

They were completely unaware that it was all because they were mouthing off about him right before Xu Zhi himself, which reminded him of their presence. They had asked for trouble by playing with fire and thus had got their fingers burned.

“I am Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hand, and I want to evolve into Kun, the legendary fish: Just look at this! Is this notice issued in human language? The god*mn game designer! Aren’t you supposed to give advance notice? Are you that busy with work? I’m quitting the game! This is my first time seeing such a game designer! I propose a ten-thousand-people petition to demand the execution of game programmer to appease us all!”

Racer of Mount Haruna: Just get used to it. This is just how hardcore these casual games can be. Anyway, it’s not something that has just happened a day or two ago. It’s nothing new at all. (Emoticon: Picking nose smiley)

Top-up more, I’ll chop off your hands: Hey you up there, who is saying you want to quit now? I’m sure you are still thinking about how fun the game is! (Picture of Wang Jingze’s expression upon eating delicious food)

A group of beta testers of the game were having a discussion in the forum. They were berating the d*mned game designed like crazy, but their passion for the game was no less abated for they simply could not resist the high degree of freedom the game presented.

Xu Zhi took a look at the lively comments.

Those responsible for breeding new species found within these sandboxes were starting to brag and boast, showing off in an ostentatious manner. But Xu Zhi simply could not be bothered with them. Watching them as they howled and begged, his expression was cruelly indifferent, for he was a creator void of feelings.

The group of players who wanted to play but were unable to get a place in the game were instantly tempted to seize a slot if anyone quit. They began to leave their comments below those that the beta players had posted earlier on.

Crazy African: Bros, if the game’s too hardcore for you, let me have it! I have liver cirrhosis, yet I am still living! I’m superbly capable of surviving!

Beautiful Little Fist: If you don’t need your beta tester slot, then please donate it to people who do! Thank you!

A group of players felt that the opportunity had come, and they waited silently for people to quit. Who would not wish to get on the playing field, become a spore with infinite possibilities, and take a turn at being a creator who was able to evolve?

However, while the group of beta players were kicking up a huge fuss, they completely ignored those who were asking them to quit the game. They pretended not to hear and then started talking about other things like the mysterious giant. After all, in the entire sandbox, other than the various kinds of species that existed after evolution, it was obvious that only the giant was a special existence.

Racer of Mount Haruna: Guys, did you guys notice? With us logging in one after another, the game is beginning to involve cutscenes, with an interlude in the plot! That giant is actually eating from a lunchbox in the yard! Unbelievable!

Top-up more, I’ll chop off your hands: Nonsense! According to how hardcore and realistic this game is, then even the Boss would have to eat, so naturally he would have programmed a Non-Player Character for himself… We have to evolve our species and then, defeat him.

Racer of Mount Haruna: It will be almost impossible to beat him any time soon. But the game is so realistic and hardcore, and he is eating now, so we might be able to find a way to take him down.

I am Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hand, and I want to evolve into Kun, the legendary fish: He is eating… You mean you are going to poison his food? But we are inside the game, and there is no poison in this game.

Racer of Mount Haruna: If there are no guns and cannons, we will make them ourselves! We little bugs should be able to evolve into a lethal poison, a neurotoxin, and then we will self-destruct by jumping into his lunchbox and let him eat us. This way, we should be able to successfully poison the Boss to death, or at least give him serious diarrhea.

I am Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hand, and I want to evolve into Kun, the legendary fish: Cool! Fabulous! This idea of yours is so evil and malicious! I love it!

Racer of Mount Haruna: I’m going to get started on cramming my brain with as much knowledge as I can, biological knowledge about neurotoxins, the evolutionary history of scorpions, venomous insects, and snakes. I will evolve a lethal species that looks just like sh*t. I will give him a taste of the prowess of us little bugs. I will put sh*t in his food, and I will hide the poison in this sh*t!

Top-up more, I’ll chop off your hands: Bro, you’re awesome!

Cute girl who will evolve into a dragon, become the face of a web game: Bro, that’s impressive!

I am Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hand, and I want to evolve into Kun, the legendary fish: Bro, you’re amazing!

…

Xu Zhi was dumbfounded.

“Dude, you’re quite a courageous one. This time, you’re actually instigating people to mess with me.”

Xu Zhi smiled with the best intentions. “Do you resent me that much? I’m just here in my yard, eating while watching you all evolve in the little sandbox by my feet. What have I done to incur your wrath? The last time you wanted to sh*t on my head, and now you are thinking of simply putting sh*t into my food, and sh*t with hidden poison in at that?”

Xu Zhi silently noted this down. May luck be with you, dude. You better watch out for yourself in the future, for doom is finding its way to you.

He did not bother himself too much over it though. After forcefully taking the little sandbox game, which was otherwise known as the “Land of the Origin of Life”, offline, he brought a white rubber hose that was slightly thicker than the size of a finger to the sandbox. He intended to adjust the structure within the sandbox.

Then he began to study how he could enter the world of the large sandbox.

He picked up his hoe and started digging. “Since I have decided to enter the large sandbox through the channel that players take, then I’ll need a link between the two sandboxes. I will bury a water pipe underground to create a pathway that links the two sandboxes.”

Then he started digging with his hoe in hand again. After taking half an hour, he had buried a ten meters long white rubber hose underground, positioned right between the two sandboxes. Henceforth, he had opened up a pathway between the two worlds, which was known as the “Universe Pathway”.

This was his VIP access path, exclusively his to use.

In the future, this was the medium he would take to enter the large sandbox, the exclusive channel for him. Without Xu Zhi’s permission, no one would be able to see it or enter it, and this included those comical players who were enthusiastically discussing their plot to poison him.

Then, he went back to his room, opened his laptop, put on his VR headgear, and used his personal client-server to register for a player account. “My little book takes note of all who curse me.”

After logging into the game, he clicked on “Confirm” to start. Then everything went pitch black. It was as if he was floating and wandering about in the ocean.

“Please evolve your eyes!”

After a little while, the species that Xu Zhi himself, from a player’s perspective, had evolved, began to climb ashore.

“This body, it’s really not what I’ve expected it to be. It’s just as ridiculously weird as the other players…”

Xu Zhi looked at the body that he had evolved and found that it was no different from the bizarre body of the single big-eyed monster. Initially, he had believed that he would wield greater mastery of the game compared to the other players. It had never crossed his mind that he was no better than any of them. He and they were just like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They were simply oddly formed things.

He now resembled a black, long feathered, three-eyed crow, with a vertical pupil right in the middle of two ordinary eyes, and black feathers all over his body.

And he was the kind of crow that could not fly. Despite making desperate attempts to take flight by fluttering its wings over and over again, it could only glide at a low altitude to cover a short distance of three or four meters.

Although Xu Zhi was reluctant to admit it, the species that he had evolved was indeed a complete failure. In the large sandbox, it would certainly not make it through the ordeal of survival of the fittest. By natural selection, it would be bound for extinction.

Xu Zhi could not help but ask, “Nest mind, by your definition, this crow is as ugly as the big-eyed monster. According to the law that says that the uglier the species, the stronger it will be, then the potentiality of this species has to be just as strong as that Evil Eye, right?”

The Insecta Nest mind speedily gave him a critical rating that shot him right in the heart. “According to my deduction, the probability that it possesses extraordinary potential is negligible. This three-eyed crow is simply a deformed species, the failed product of evolution.”

You’re too much!

Xu Zhi instantly felt the impact of the blow.

But on second thoughts, this was only natural. The evolution of every lifeform couldn’t be identical. Every lifeform was special and unique. Although the Evil Eye was born by chance and possessed astonishing potential, it was a miraculous lifeform that was brought about by a series of coincidences and was too difficult to replicate.

“However, I’m not asking for too much either. I just need the species that I evolved to be able to move. That’s enough for me.” He took a moment to recover his composure. Then he entered the secret passage that led to the sandbox, the white water hose that was buried underground.

After a long journey through the long, pitch dark tunnel of the Universe Pathway, light gradually appeared in front of him.

After regaining a clear state of mind, he found that he had already appeared in a dense forest. The trees were thick and lush, and the earth was verdant. In the distance, terrifying beasts were roaring as they pursued and raced one another. It was a glorious and vast scene of a primordial forest in the Paleozoic Era.

“I have finally entered my own sandbox. Congratulations to me.”

Xu Zhi had already seen the topography of this terrain from his god’s-eye view and knew where he should head to next. He quickly lifted his pair of crow claws and with an oblivious attitude to everything around him, he headed straight for the Babylonian tribe.