This handsome face and perfect proportions already made him look like a flawless Norse god. But instead of feeling pleased with himself, Xu Zhi found himself with a headache. After changing into this, Chen Xi would probably lose her mind, wouldn't she?
She would definitely ask where he bought that photo-editing cheat.
"Damn it, am I going to get studied now? Can I modify my genes?" Xu Zhi suddenly asked the Zerg Mother Nest. "Modify these superior genes that manifest in my appearance."
He felt that this perfect appearance, like a face stepped out of mythology, was far too exaggerated and eye-catching. The sort that would make countless people scream if he walked down the street, as though he were some fantastical mythological character from myths, anime, or books.
He wanted to return to how he looked before.
Honestly, he had already been very satisfied with his previous appearance. It had already drawn plenty of attention, while still retaining the outline of his old face. Even then, it had been difficult enough to make Chen Xi and the neighborhood aunties in the village accept it. Saying he had become more handsome was still barely explainable.
But after changing again and again, they would probably become completely suspicious.
"Would you like to merge with Zerg cells?"
The Zerg Mother Nest asked, "Creator, those with the natural ability to open Gene Locks are Zerg Heroes. They can modify their own genetic fragments and alter their own genes."
I'm already a Zerg Hero? In other words, countless Zerg sought Transcendence, to open their Gene Locks and become Zerg Heroes, while I had already become one?
In truth, Xu Zhi had previously been too physically weak to undergo modification. Now that his body had grown strong, he could finally accept Zerg cells and completely become a glorious member of the Zerg.
He did not spend long hesitating over whether he should remain human. He was already dying anyway. Was he supposed to quietly wait for cancer to kill him? Being an ordinary human was no fun at all! Becoming a bug was far more interesting.
So he quietly said, "Merge with Zerg cells!"
"Fusion initiated!"
A mechanical voice rang out.
In an instant, excruciating pain tore through the depths of his soul. Dense bumps and cold sweat erupted across his body. He collapsed onto the bed, howling in agony, before blacking out from the dizziness.
By the time Xu Zhi came to, three hours had passed. He silently crawled out of bed and found his entire body covered in blackish-gray grime, as though he had soaked in mud. He hurriedly took a shower and changed clothes before returning to inspect himself.
He felt that his body had become somewhat different.
It had become filled with boundless potential.
"I'm a real bug now! I possess the Zerg's suicidal racial talent—ultra-fast accelerated cell division. If I want to, I can easily kill myself at any time by aging myself to death!" He silently clenched his fist, feeling that he could freely regulate his genes.
He slowly closed his eyes.
Within the black space, he saw a twisted double helix of DNA.
A person's genes consisted of vast amounts of complicated, disordered, meaningless material, including numerous hidden disease genes.
Xu Zhi saw that the vast quantities of useless, miscellaneous information fragments in his human genes had already been cleared away and optimized, leaving only the essence. Most of his genetic chain was now blank.
1. Human genes (cancer cells) 2. Empty 3. Empty 4. Empty 5. Empty. Xu Zhi frowned slightly. "Remove the cancer cells from the human genes."
"Fundamental genetic component. Cannot be removed." The Insect Nest Sub-Brain transmitted a mechanical voice.
Xu Zhi froze for a moment, then took a deep breath. "There's no way around it? If the human genes can't be removed, then I can only find a way to cure it."
He could only set those thoughts aside.
At this point, he could choose to merge other genes, but he had no such plans for now.
Because among the evolutionary species in his Gene Bank, there were only two types of genes.
Ant Ape Gene (Gilgamesh's improved version). Insect Ape Gene.
He could choose to gain strength like the Hero King, but he had no interest in it. He did not particularly like either of those genes, and he was too lazy to merge them. After all, he was just a farmer tending fields. His life was not in immediate danger, so why rush to obtain life-preserving abilities?
He was already dying. His top priority was finding a way to cure his cancer and save his life. As for becoming powerful, that could wait.
He silently sensed his body.
"Wait, I'm already in the late stages of stomach cancer?" Xu Zhi's face instantly turned pale. "How could it progress so quickly? Just a few days ago, I had only received a diagnosis of mid-stage stomach cancer."
The Queen Zerg replied, "Cancer cells are rebellious cells of the human body. The stronger the person, the stronger the cancer cells become."
Xu Zhi: "..."
So I got stronger, and the cancer cells got stronger too, multiplying wildly inside me? Does that mean if I absorb a little more power from this extinction event and become stronger, I might just die outright?
He could not help but shudder.
This was seriously messed up! "For a short period of time, I can't accept the power feedback from a fourth mass extinction." Xu Zhi took a deep breath. Though it was still far away, if the ecosystem had not lost balance, he would not have needed to reset the Sand Table. What he hoped to see was prosperity, with generation after generation slowly dying and being reborn in succession.
But he still became wary.
"In other words, even if they act recklessly and brutally on this land for a short time, I can't casually wipe them out in large numbers and reshuffle everything?" Xu Zhi felt a headache coming on. But he was already in the late stages of cancer. He was practically done for.
Xu Zhi had never expected things to worsen so quickly.
He recalled Gilgamesh from last night, his madness and struggle before death. It had likewise filled Xu Zhi with terror and profound reverence for death.
Death was the thing every living creature feared most. He sighed with mixed emotions. "Can I really survive?"
Feeling death drawing near, Xu Zhi became afraid, just like Gilgamesh.
He stood and walked toward the courtyard gate.
"Late-stage cancer. I don't have much time left. In the next era, I must quickly simulate racial civilizations in the Great Sandbox, simulate extraordinary powers, and find among them an ability capable of improving or fighting cancer cells!"
Xu Zhi looked toward the Sand Table.
All things had withered, and there was almost no life left.
One night had passed. For them, forty or fifty years had gone by, yet they had still not fully recovered.
Each species had brought only a single pair, and they were slowly reproducing again.
They had also begun to obey the warning of the "god." The god had said that all living things were equal, so apart from necessary food, they reduced needless savage killing. They even helped some species reproduce and expand their populations.
Yet at the same time, after the mass extinction, various new species were faintly emerging again and beginning to multiply. They came in all sorts of strange forms, like fresh sprouts of life after the apocalypse.
Xu Zhi watched for a while, then sat in the sunny courtyard and ate the farmhouse breakfast Chen Xi had brought him.
"They've stabilized and started developing again, but it's still too slow. My illness won't hold out much longer."
Xu Zhi sighed.
"Should I open up a second Sand Table and create Genesis again?"
He wanted to open a new world Sand Table.
He could evolve it, let civilization develop within it, and even boldly simulate a vast higher world of fantasy and immortals. But that was obviously somewhat unrealistic.
After all, this Great Sandbox had only just begun to show the first buds of extraordinary power. Trying to do too much at once would only ruin everything. He might as well wait for this Sand Table to give him the power he needed.
For the moment, he set aside the idea of creating a new Sand Table and could only seek other ways to spur the emergence of extraordinary species in the Great Sandbox after the Great Flood.
"But they won't appear just because I want them to." Sitting on the wooden chair in front of the courtyard, he thought for a moment and suddenly recalled those earlier words: "Wisdom is unpredictable, and it will emerge along with many things that do not conform to evolutionary theory."
"Since wisdom is unpredictable, perhaps I should borrow the wisdom of others. It's too limiting for me to bury my head alone in evolutionary theory. Better to pool our ideas. Better to drag a group of people into this." A bold, audacious idea suddenly surfaced in Xu Zhi's mind.
That was right. This time, he wanted to make a huge gamble! Evolving species and Spore Evolution all by himself was far too slow.
He might as well bring in other people and have them help him simulate Spore Evolution! He recalled a Sand Table game he had once played called "Spore." Players began as spores, evolved and reproduced, and eventually became all sorts of bizarre creatures. Xu Zhi asked the Zerg Nest Brain, "If I make a miniature Sand Table, can I turn it into something like an Online Game, allowing other people's souls to enter the courtyard and treat the Sand Table as a game? Can they evolve new species for me?"
Now that you've reached Chapter Seventeen, asking for some recommendations and bookmarks isn't too much, right?
Also, the Sandbox World will not become an Online Game where players kill monsters and level up. It will retain the same style as before.
It will merely let other players' imaginations help create all kinds of new species. After all, it would be too exaggerated for the protagonist alone to create countless new races by himself. (*^▽^*)
Before you continue