"With Zerg technology, that would naturally be easy." The Zerg Sub-brain replied, "But it can't work like Earth's online games, where you level up by killing monsters."
Xu Zhi nodded.
This was not a real game, but a real world. Naturally, there was no setting where one could grow stronger simply by killing monsters.
Nor did he intend to provide any monster-killing, level-grinding system. He planned to create an open-ended Sandbox World like Minecraft, where players could freely explore, evolve, and build.
He intended to make it a laid-back farming game like Mole Manor, a casual nurturing game like Spore.
Xu Zhi activated a ten-thousandfold acceleration of cell division for them, allowing them to begin in spore form and evolve their own species.
They would control their own cell division, growth, evolution, aging, death, and the emergence of new species. In two or three days, they could finish a round of Spore Evolution, freely experimenting to see whether they could evolve some unusual creature and surprise him.
This was merely a spur-of-the-moment little design.
It would not require much effort. His primary goal still lay with the Great Sandbox.
They could only entertain themselves in an independent small sandbox, leisurely raising and developing things.
The two sandboxes would not connect, nor could he allow them into the Great Sandbox World of the natives. They could not level up by killing monsters, after all. As for making them cultivate slowly and obediently like the natives? Heh.
He had no time to train them!
Xu Zhi planned to call this independent, small, mysterious sandbox the Origin of Life in Myriad Worlds, meaning the birthplace of competition for all species.
From every generation of species evolved in their games, Xu Zhi would select the most unique, powerful, interesting, and promising races to add to the Great Sandbox—to the world after the Great Flood following Sumerian Civilization—thereby perfecting his Sandbox World.
After all, having only the Insect Ape as an intelligent race was far too monotonous.
At this moment, Xu Zhi already understood that allowing only one intelligent race to dominate could easily destroy the sandbox and lead to extreme imbalance. He wanted to create a world with many races, each checking and balancing the others.
"How many days will this take?" Xu Zhi asked.
"About three days." The Zerg Sub-brain's reply was unexpectedly quick. "With existing technology, VR Gaming Glasses can serve as a medium to guide them into the sandbox."
"VR? That works too?" Xu Zhi froze.
VR movies were popular now, but he had played a few VR games online, and they had been terrible. The technology was far from mature.
But since the Insect Nest Sub-Brain said it could be done, Xu Zhi did not ask further. The previous generation of Zerg had followed the Technology Side route of brain development and evolution, pursuing a highly intelligent civilization. They even had Planet-Destroying Cannons, so naturally they possessed plenty of Black Technology.
"Then I'll first clear out a small sandbox in the yard for the players to use as the game sandbox for 'Spore Evolution.'"
His health had improved considerably, and he planned to reclaim a second patch of farmland.
"Anyway, it won't be large. I'll put it right in front of the house—thirty square meters." He raised his hoe. "If I don't like the look of someone, I can even step on them to death while heading out."
Over the next few days, the Insect Nest Sub-Brain would sort out the network data and various other matters. On his end, he needed to prepare the experimental sandbox site in advance as well.
"Have I really become a farmer, herding and plowing in my yard?"
He swung his hoe. With the same layout as before, he was already familiar with the process, creating an identical sandbox environment.
His body had improved. Although he still suffered from a terminal illness, he at least had the strength to work now.
After setting up the sandbox, he used a flamethrower to sweep through it once, clearing away the remains of plants and animals.
This time, with his stronger body, the thirty-square-meter sandbox before him took less than half a day. Once it was finished, his clothes were covered in black mud, so he simply took a bath.
A day later.
Chen Wenshan was a veteran player on the Steam platform. As a third-year college student and an avid gaming fanatic, he had bought countless games. Having just played a round of Sekiro and cursed it for being too hardcore, he silently began browsing the platform for obscure new games and promising little indies.
What was this? A VR game, Spore Evolution, beta version?
Introduction: A sandbox farming game. Begin with a single spore, evolve species, infinite possibilities—the top choice for casual players?
He silently seized upon several keywords, gave a cold laugh, and cursed under his breath. Some shady domestic game developer was obviously putting this up to fool people and attract attention again. Infinite possibilities, becoming a spore and evolving? Did they think this was Civilization VII? Other games started with primitive tribes and developed from there, but this one was even more outrageous, starting with a spore—a single-celled organism? The openness was absurd. Were they more impressive than major Western game studios?
Besides, it was not as though he had never seen VR games before. What good could it possibly be?
"Heh, VR games were once a hot new concept, but that excitement cooled off ages ago. It's not like I haven't played them—put on VR Glasses, build blocks, milk cows, play as pigs. Current technology simply can't achieve it." He complained while silently downloading it.
It was clearly a game from some unknown little studio, yet it took up seventy-three gigabytes. The system requirements were terrifyingly high, practically shocking.
With a game file that huge, what game in the current market was not a triple-A masterpiece produced by a major foreign studio after three or four years of development and the work of hundreds or even thousands of professionals? He could not help looking forward to it.
After Chen Wenshan finished downloading it, he registered the account name Mount Akina Speed, put on the VR Glasses he normally used to watch movies, and entered the game.
"What an exquisitely made opening scene." The moment Chen Wenshan logged in, his eyes lit up. It seemed rather interesting, completely different from the usual crude VR games. After watching for a while, he found only one option:
Begin a spore's evolutionary life?
He silently clicked it.
His vision went dark, and he felt as though he were swimming through a black ocean, as if he had gone blind.
"How is this possible?! There's actually a sense of having a body. It feels like I'm really swimming in the ocean?" Chen Wenshan's mind went blank for an instant.
Could this be some kind of Black Technology?
Electrical signals from the device were transmitting the sensations from the game directly into his mind, creating a realistic virtual physical experience? This was the legendary virtual reality game, one hundred percent real!
He gradually found it unbelievable and grew excited. He knew he had stumbled upon something unimaginably terrifying. As an experienced player in the industry, he clearly understood what kind of storm this would cause throughout the entire gaming community if word got out.
"It's so dark." Chen Wenshan swam around in the pitch-black ocean for a while, then became completely bewildered.
What exactly am I supposed to do in this game? Why can't I see anything? Did I go blind?
At that moment, a data prompt appeared before his eyes: "The player is still in spore form, a single-celled organism. Please evolve eyes and a visual system."
???
Please evolve my own eyes?
Chen Wenshan was completely dumbfounded. This damn game called itself a casual sandbox farming game, the top choice for casual players, yet it was even more hardcore than Sekiro?
Before you continue