Xu Zhi was still looking forward to it.
In truth, the appearance of Evil Eye had brought him far too many surprises. He hoped several more extraordinary species like that would emerge. After all, there were quite a lot of talented people online.
After all, it was fundamentally impossible for him alone to evolve countless species and create an entire world. It was far too complicated and required endless wisdom. He could only borrow the talents of others to help him develop a complete Sandbox World.
The Second Beta Test had actually begun long ago.
Just before Xu Zhi ate breakfast and saw the Three Witches off, fifty screened new closed-beta players had already entered the sandbox and begun their pitch-black evolutionary lives.
The old players had also entered the sandbox.
"Holy crap, the Second Beta Test has gotten richer. There's even opening music."
"Yeah, there's so much more now. There's cutscene music right at the start—Beethoven's Symphony of Fate. Does this symbolize the difficult life we're about to begin in Spore Evolution?"
The old players chatted animatedly. In their little sandboxes, they could also hear the music playing nearby for the Three Witches' farewell.
The new players had obviously done their homework. The servers opened at five in the morning, and they had entered the game then. Four hours had now passed, and they had already evolved eyes. They were utterly amazed by the flourishing ocean of species, looking everywhere.
"It really is Virtual Reality! Full bodily sensation! This is a genuine second world!"
"Hahaha, I feel like I'm covered in the scent of money! Every word I say, every evolution I make, even every environment I touch is being calculated in real time with six hundred thousand yuan worth of computational resources to create a real second world for me!"
A bunch of Sand Sculpture Players.
They hadn't spent a single cent. This was his yard, okay?
Did they really think it was a virtual game world?
Xu Zhi silently sat in the yard, eating an apple with one leg crossed over the other. He looked toward the distant sandbox, every bit the feudal landlord supervising laborers. "Get moving. Create all kinds of species for me."
A group of ant-evolved creatures also noticed their supervisor, Xu Zhi. They could not help secretly watching him and whispering among themselves. "Holy crap, holy crap! We've finally seen the legendary giant in person. He's really huge."
"He's eating apples again. Could this be some hidden storyline? I want to go over and join the fun. Maybe I can switch to a hidden evolutionary Spore profession."
"Don't. The old players have all gone over before, and basically all of them got stepped on and killed. Still, this game is way too free. There are so many things we haven't uncovered yet. It's incredibly mysterious."
The Second Beta Test had begun, and the first batch of closed-beta players had also fallen into a tense sense of pressure.
Everyone understood just how precious a slot was now, based on what industry experts had said. Each player was worth six hundred thousand yuan, comparable to half the computational load of a large Online Game. This sandbox game world needed huge amounts of money burned every moment just to keep running.
As the leader and one of the most veteran hardcore players, Chen Wenshan—the famous forum star player known as Mount Akina Speed—naturally would not slack off.
He was now frantically studying Evolutionary Cytology, Origin of Species, Biomolecular Structures, Reasonable Structural Frameworks for Biological Skeletal Mechanics, and The Evolutionary History of Neurotoxins. His dorm room was already piled with more than a dozen thick professional books from China and abroad.
He had gotten into a prestigious university in Kyoto with a college entrance exam score of 656. He had been a studying genius; he was merely addicted to games now. At this moment, he had dug out all the drive he had once used for the college entrance exams.
"For this evolution, I first need to follow the arthropod route, eat plankton, and evolve a skeleton!"
"Then I'll switch to a vegetarian route and evolve an abdominal cavity. After that, the exoskeleton can degenerate, eliminating that transitional equipment. I'll evolve into a vertebrate, crawl onto land, enter the swamp, and take the neurotoxin route. At that point, to evolve venom sacs, I should begin preying on swamp frogs."
He planned it out step by step. Over the past few days, he had lost quite a bit of hair, faintly developing the same sparse hairstyle Xu Zhi once had. He filled more than ten pages in his books with densely packed drawings.
Different environments and different foods, and which biological organ structures were evolved first, would lead to different evolutionary paths. It was like an enormous branching tree of evolution, dense as stars.
It would not be an exaggeration to call this the most profound discipline in the world. Even a lifetime of study would make it difficult to reach its end.
In the end, Chen Wenshan finalized his plan, filling more than a dozen pages with evolutionary procedures. "After planning for so long, it's time to put my Funeral Chicken Plan into action and poison the BOSS to death!"
That was right. On the first day of the Second Beta Test, he was going to pull off something that would shock the entire game sandbox!
The achievement system the official developers had introduced required players to evolve a species with extraordinary potential.
But what exactly counted as extraordinary potential? Nobody knew.
If his evolved species could poison a BOSS to death, he would definitely be the first to get that achievement. This was the safest way to claim it!
Of course, he would not jokingly evolve a species that looked like shit as he had before. It would have no appetite appeal at all. He wanted to evolve a species that looked delicious while possessing intense toxicity.
That was right. He was going to become the first player in Spore Evolution to earn an achievement!
And with how generous this game was—even a single player slot came with six hundred thousand yuan worth of computational resources—the huge mysterious reward mentioned in the achievement had to be unbelievably good!
He entered the game.
"Please evolve your eyes!"
He had already entered the restart phase. He was a brand-new spore, all for this very moment.
When the Second Beta Test servers reopened at five in the morning, he had restarted the game while the new players were still feeling their way around. Ten hours had now passed, and it was already past three in the afternoon.
"Finally succeeded, though there are still some flaws."
Chen Wenshan was beside himself with excitement. As a player with liver cirrhosis, he had forcibly grinded for ten straight hours! His species now looked like a delicious, fiery-red rooster. As its king, he controlled a small rooster population.
"It's time to show those Second Beta Test newcomers just how awesome us First Beta Test veterans are. I'll put on a show for the newbies and poison the giant BOSS in the yard to death!" Chen Wenshan revealed a wicked grin.
That was right. After preparing for so long, he was finally going to make something happen—something earth-shattering! So, he made a forum post and started streaming.
"On the first day of Spore Evolution's Second Beta Test, Mount Akina Speed has decided to show the new players some fireworks: taking down the giant BOSS eating apples in the yard live!"
The moment this post appeared, the entire forum exploded.
Everyone knew that even the fastest First Beta Test players had only evolved clumsy, malformed creatures, constantly being eliminated by nature.
Recharge and Chop Hands: "Boss, have you mastered evolution that well? Don't tell me you can already win a Nobel Prize? Have you evolved some terrifyingly powerful species and started fighting BOSSes now?"
Little Brain Tiger Goes Down the Mountain: "This newbie has only just evolved eyes and is still reading the foundational evolution book Origin of Species that all the veterans recommended on the forum. I can't help trembling."
Everyone found it unbelievable!
They had seen in game videos how enormous that giant was.
At present, all the players' evolutionary techniques were immature. They were all malformed species. The largest creature anyone had evolved was only the size of a beetle and could not even reach his feet. Most were basically ant-sized. How could they possibly challenge a BOSS?
But some closed-beta players immediately caught on.
My Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hand, Wants to Evolve into a Kun: "Boss, are you actually taking that old joke seriously? You're going to put shit in the Ten Thousand Feet Giant BOSS's food, with poison hidden in the shit? [Funny]"
Cute Girl Wants to Evolve into a Dragon, Endorsing Legendary Web Games: "Holy crap! Holy crap! Oh my god, is Boss Mount Akina really planning to poison him? Has he already evolved a neurotoxic species? And it's called Funeral Chicken? [Funny]"
What kind of plan was that? Putting shit in food? Hiding poison in shit? It sounded incredibly vicious!
After asking around, a group of confused netizens on the forum could not help clicking their tongues in amazement. They gave thumbs-ups and praised the game's terrifying degree of freedom. It was completely realistic. Someone had actually thought of such a fancy method—evolving a neurotoxic species to begin poisoning the BOSS to death.
Mount Akina Speed: "I hope everyone can cooperate with me. Is there any martyr willing to control their own population and test the strength of my toxin? Of course, it would be even better if the king of your population personally tried it, set the sensation level to one hundred percent, and described what it feels like to be poisoned to death."
Countless people merely replied with sneers.
No one was willing to use their population's king to test poison at one hundred percent sensation. Wouldn't that hurt them to death? Still, some people controlled a few spores from their populations to help test it. The toxicity was indeed shocking, and a large number died in an instant.
Then, because their populations had become too sparse, they quickly headed toward extinction and were weeded out by natural selection.
They could not help wailing in despair.
Mount Akina Speed: "Hahaha, brother, your sacrifice was glorious. My toxin is useful! Then it's time for the next stage of the plan. It's already past four. Based on my usual secret observations, this BOSS's daily routine means he'll be having his boxed meal sometime after five. Brothers, help carry me to that giant bench in the yard. I'll secretly jump into his boxed meal, sacrifice myself for righteousness, carve off my flesh to feed the eagle, and poison him to death!"
A group of spectators and assorted freeloaders immediately cried out, praising the boss as awesome.
"We'll help!"
"On the first day of the Second Beta Test, we'll watch the boss blow himself up and poison the giant BOSS to death!"
Then a group of players excitedly formed an "ant relocation team," charging toward the chair at the very edge. They began preparing to make something big happen on the first day of the Second Beta Test and poison the apple-eating BOSS to death.
Xu Zhi: "????"
Of course, he browsed the game forum as well. He wanted to see the players' feedback on the first day of the Second Beta Test. Who knew he would happen to see a post from some stubborn Sand Sculpture Player?
And now, he sat by the yard chair, gnawing on an apple as he watched the sandbox before him. A group of strange ant species was hiding in the miniature forest, gathered in a circle and secretly observing him. They were streaming enthusiastically and discussing how to take down him, the enormous giant BOSS.
He was dumbfounded. "I'm just sitting here, watching your sandbox evolution. What did I ever do to you?"
Xu Zhi was instantly shocked.
That Sand Sculpture Player, Mount Akina Speed, still had not given up. He had just kindly opened the Second Beta Test and increased the number of player slots, yet they were repaying kindness with hostility. Now they wanted to jump into his loving dinner and poison him to death?!
Before you continue