Biological Explosion

After enduring the blazing sun of the day, the night of the seventh day began to fall.

Purple Zhao Grass still lived peacefully in the ocean. It could now withstand five thousand years of alternating sunlight and moonlight.

At the same time, as it reproduced in great numbers, the photosynthesis of these aquatic plants greatly increased the oxygen content of the seawater. The conditions necessary for marine animals to emerge had now been met.

In nature, if there were no aquatic plants in the water and it could not circulate, it would be difficult for oxygen from the air to dissolve into it. A stagnant pool like that could not produce an environment suitable for aquatic animals.

Before long, the spores and single-celled organisms in the ocean of the Sandbox World began to evolve. The first creatures to appear were a group of black beetles, shaped similarly to Eurypterids, an ancient marine species from Earth's Paleozoic Era.

Thus, marine animals stepped onto the historical stage of the evolutionary age.

"My Minecraft Sand Table... marine animals have finally evolved from single-celled organisms. I've waited so long for this—through two mass extinctions."

The moment he saw the animals appear, Xu Zhi revealed a gratified smile. His exhausted body, having stayed awake for a full day and night, finally could not endure any longer. He returned directly to his room, lay down, and fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already the eighth day since the spores' evolution Sand Table had created its world.

Anyone who had studied biology knew that the ocean was the Origin Land of life. Yet Xu Zhi discovered that some marine animals were no longer content with the fiercely competitive ocean. They gradually evolved toes and scaly skin, becoming amphibians that lived along the barren coast.

Seeing this, he once again recorded it in neat handwriting on the next page after the Light Martial Era.

This third era of evolution should have been completely reborn after the mass extinction. Xu Zhi named it the Newborn Era: The Newborn Era, an era ushering in new life. All kinds of animals exploded into existence. The first marine animals appeared, and species flourished as countless contenders competed for glory. Invertebrates relied on their shells to dominate the seas for a time, becoming the overlords of the era. Yet they did not reign for long. Vertebrates were born and defeated them with their agility. Vertebrates became the overlords of the Newborn Era, crawled out of the ocean, and would rule for a long era!

After writing everything down, Xu Zhi silently closed the book.

Earth's eras were the Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian, while Xu Zhi's eras were the Dark Martial Era, Light Martial Era, and Newborn Era. "So fast. I slept for one night, and the spores are already about to leave the ocean and evolve terrestrial species."

Xu Zhi suddenly furrowed his brow. "But who knows how many long eras it will take to evolve intelligent life? Now that the ecosystem has appeared, why don't I..."

"Cause some trouble?"

His playful instincts surged. Looking at his finger, he wanted to cut it and drip his blood into the water, letting certain species absorb his genes and quickly evolve humanoid intelligent life. Would beautiful Naga merfolk appear in the ocean of the Sand Table in the Orchard Courtyard? Would a powerful Wise Ape Tarzan race appear among the mountains and rivers of the Sand Table in the Orchard Courtyard? "Just thinking about it is exciting—a miniature Sandbox World in my courtyard."

But he dismissed the idea. He was somewhat resistant to using humans as experiments to evolve intelligent species. "I remember there's a zoo in the city. I can secretly get some gorilla fur and use it as a genetic template... cause some trouble."

He headed out immediately.

A few hours later, Xu Zhi entered the zoo. Couples were everywhere, showing off their affection, along with families of three, parents displaying affection while bringing their children to the zoo for fun.

As a single man, he stood out terribly.

After all, who came alone to the zoo to look at monkeys? It was easy to end up being treated like one.

A family of three whispered among themselves.

"Dad, look at that uncle. He's bald. He looks so strong!"

"Don't say that about him. He's bald, but he doesn't look strong. He's probably sick. Otherwise, he wouldn't look so old. A seriously ill patient coming alone to the zoo... no matter how you look at it, he's pitiful. No one is accompanying him."

Xu Zhi was only in his early twenties, but the severe side effects of chemotherapy were obvious. He had aged far too much, and his hair had thinned. But pitiful? He had indeed been pitiful before, but now he was having a blast. Evolving species was incredibly satisfying.

"Heh, believe it or not, this bald young man will evolve a head of thick black hair in a couple of days, alter his evolutionary genes, cure his cancer, and regain his youth?"

"But even I don't believe it. Evolution is too slow. My orchard is still in the Paleozoic Era's oceanic stage." He studied the gorilla enclosure for a while, picked out the male gorilla with the best physique, then went straight to find an administrator. Straightforwardly, he claimed to be a medical student at a nearby university with a research assignment from his advisor. He needed gorilla blood to write his graduate thesis.

"Young man, you say you're a laboratory professor's assistant, a top student, and highly knowledgeable. I believe you." The uncle looked at Xu Zhi's thinning hair with a face full of sympathy and regret. "But taking blood from the gorilla I raise is impossible. I raised him myself. I treat him like my son. Even if you threaten me, stuff money into my hands, or bribe my superiors, I still won't agree."

"One tube of blood."

Xu Zhi took out three thousand yuan and placed it on the table.

The administrator uncle's eyes shone brightly. That was a month's salary for him. Unable to restrain himself, he jumped up. "You only need one tube of blood? I can draw several more."

"Brother, I only need one tube."

Xu Zhi chuckled.

He rubbed the sparse hair on his bald head, smiling like a demon tempting someone into corruption. "Don't worry, I won't tell your superiors. If possible, we'll cooperate again in the future. For example, I'm very interested in the blood of your zoo's peacocks and white cranes."

"Sure, sure." The uncle excitedly rubbed his hands together. "Supporting university students in biological research is a very meaningful thing."

Not long afterward, Xu Zhi left calmly.

After dealing with the orchard, he still had several hundred thousand yuan in savings left. He did not know how to enjoy himself anyway, so as long as he did not splurge, he could not possibly spend it all anytime soon.

He was loaded. Being bald had made him stronger! He now possessed the power of money, so of course he could be this arrogant!

Then he thought about it and grabbed some termites he happened to see by the roadside. After all, ant genes gave immense strength, and these were free. When he returned to the front of his courtyard a little after five in the afternoon, Xu Zhi was suddenly called out to.

"Hey, are you Xu Zhi?"

Xu Zhi turned around and saw a pretty girl on the rural roadside, sitting on an Electric Scooter and looking at him.

"I'm Chen Xi, the one who used to visit your house all the time when we were children. I've noticed the lights in your courtyard at night recently. So you really came back?" The girl could not help but stare in surprise. "How did you become like this? You weren't like this before."

Chen Xi?

Xu Zhi vaguely remembered her. "It's because of stomach cancer. My hair fell out, I became listless, and chemotherapy did this."

"You have cancer? How could that be..." Her eyes widened as she looked at Xu Zhi, too shocked to speak for a moment.

She suddenly said, "Last year, I got into university too. The same one you attended."

"Congratulations."

Xu Zhi nodded. Only now did he remember that it should be summer vacation. She had returned to her hometown for the holiday, which was why she was here.

As soon as the thought passed through his mind, Xu Zhi hurried back. He had been away for half a day, and who knew what those Zerg species with their terrifying reproductive power had evolved into!

He had been quite despairing before.

He had silently awaited death, but now his boring life had become unknown and interesting.

He was high as hell now! Breeding species and creating life felt like taking drugs, and he could entertain himself with it.

"You're leaving already?" Chen Xi did not stop him, her expression somewhat complicated.

Pressing her lips together, she watched the idol she had always wanted to catch up to. He was clearly fleeing in embarrassment; all that optimism was just an act.

After all, he was bald! Bald, damn it!!

Just thinking about that pitiful amount of hair made her heart ache!

Chen Xi suddenly felt the dream she had always pursued collapse. Still, they could remain friends. She called out loudly from afar, "Hey! Come to my house when you have time. If anything happens, you can come discuss it with us too."

Xu Zhi's head hurt.

Why was everyone staring at my head with mournful expressions? I told them already, chemotherapy side effects were perfectly normal, okay?

Even if the cancer wasn't cured, now that chemotherapy had stopped, I would gradually recover, and my hair would grow back! "Heh, it's time to evolve a powerful species that doesn't grow hair and let them taste the terrifying power of baldness!" Xu Zhi scratched his head, returned to the courtyard, and looked at the pond.

At this moment, another half day had passed.

After the species climbed onto land, their terrifying reproductive speed allowed them to almost cover the entire hundred-acre miniature Sand Table. The mountains and rivers were filled with greenery, bizarre trees covered the plains, and animals swam through the rivers.

"There are fish in freshwater too. Marine fish have already left saltwater and developed into freshwater rivers."

"They evolved for only ten days, yet went from single-celled organisms to such complex multicellular life, achieving biodiversity and evolving an entire ecological world. This rate of reproduction and evolution is simply terrifying."

This was already a small Sand Table ecosystem. If the insect nest had not restricted their range and prevented them from leaving, they would probably have caused a species invasion on Earth.

"Then let me randomly pick one lucky fellow now, conduct a racial mass extinction, and add gorilla and ant genes. If it survives, it can be reborn and become the ancient Insect Ape race of the Paleozoic Era in my courtyard's Sand Table."

Wearing the blue plastic shoe covers he had bought, Xu Zhi walked into the enormous hundred-acre Experimental Field. Along the way, he had no idea how many ant-sized emerald trees and animals he crushed beneath his feet.

He did not care in the slightest.

"This is natural selection. Survival of the fittest. If you get crushed by me, it only means you're unlucky and have been eliminated by nature." He squatted down and silently observed the species one by one. "I'll select one with the greatest potential to evolve into a Wise Ape species."

After thinking for a moment, he added.

"Mm, preferably bald."