Everything Was Terrible

After opening the sandbox, Xu Zhi stopped paying attention to them. If they complained again, he would shut it down once more.

He had just gone out to practice witchcraft. It was like he had been on a night run, leaving him drenched in sweat. He took a shower, then, wearing only blue shorts and exposing his strong, toned body, slowly walked into the room.

Phoenix and the new species had just been placed into the Great Sandbox World. What would happen next? Xu Zhi was looking forward to it.

One day was accelerated into a hundred years. Only a few hours had passed in reality, and only a few decades had passed in the sandbox. It was still far too short. With nothing else to do, he could only quietly open the forum and see what was happening inside.

Previously, Xu Zhi had happened to browse the forum and seen some idiot's post, which was how he learned that they had ambushed him. Otherwise, what kind of disaster would have erupted? He might have been secretly poisoned without even realizing it.

Clearly, gathering intelligence on the enemy camp was important.

At this moment, aside from frantically complaining about how the Second Beta Test had launched on its first day, gone public for half a day, then shut down for half a day, and cursing about why the server still was not open, they were also discussing the painful tragedy of that total party wipe.

Xu Zhi observed in secret.

Little Brain Tiger Goes Down the Mountain: "The tragedy of provoking the boss on the first day of the Second Beta Test may become the biggest farce in gaming this year!"

Chunzi Loves Learning: "The veteran players really didn't lie to us newbies when they said they'd give us a surprise—they really did! They turned back into spores and returned to the starting line with us newbies, evolving all over again. (smirk)"

The forum was full of miserable cries. The veteran players from the first test had failed to take down the boss, and the outcome had been horrific.

Some described how miserably and painfully they had died—cramping up, peeing themselves in fright, convulsing.

One person in particular wrote a vivid, tearful account, complete with pictures and text.

"AAAAAHHHH!! I suddenly screamed in my room, my whole body convulsing and twitching, tears streaming down my face. I scared my mom so badly that she started crying too! She asked what I was doing. How could I get so sweaty playing such a wholesome, study-loving casual sandbox game? Why was I crying tears of emotion?

What could I do? I was desperate too! I had nothing to say. I could only tell her that I was studying evolution and had suddenly grasped the core of Darwin's evolutionary theory! My whole body was twitching because I was crying tears of joy!

Honestly, my mom had always been so proud. She bragged to all the neighbors about how amazing her son was, that I got to play such an incredible phenomenon-level game. Tens of thousands of people had entered the essay selection, yet my essay made it into the fifty internal beta slots and earned learning resources worth six hundred thousand! I brought honor to the Old Liu Family! Even professional graduate students were no match for her son!

People used to say that games ruined ambition, that playing games meant abandoning your studies. But now, being able to play this phenomenon-level social game had become a symbol of parental pride, proof that their son studied hard. How could I possibly tell her the truth?

And the boss still isn't dead. He's still sitting in the yard eating apples. He probably heated up the lunchbox and ate the Funeral Chicken, yet it couldn't poison him at all. (silently sheds tears)"

"I can see how miserable OP is. As a bystander eating popcorn, I can't help letting out a barbell-like laugh—HAHAHAHA!! (laughs with hands on hips)"

"I feel your pain, and tears of regret stream down my face. It hurt so badly that I wet myself, so I quietly put on a diaper."

"My wife asked why my face was covered in tears. All I could say was that I loved this hardcore game deeply!"

People online shared their painful experiences one after another.

How could the word "miserable" possibly cover it all? Elsewhere on the forum, some players posted the photographed pages from the book Genesis that they had seen before fighting the boss. There were five long historical eras in total. Many people said they could not understand them at all, and that they were probably hidden side content or world-setting lore.

Quite a few people showed tremendous interest and began speculating.

My Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hand, Going to Evolve into a Kun: "Based on the world-setting lore, could there have been many eras of civilization before us? Are we the newborn civilization of the sixth era, still in the spore age? In the future, can we choose to evolve into humans and all sorts of species? Then each of us creates a species, and together we form a world and an ecological civilization?"

"Holy shit, the freedom is terrifyingly high!"

Many people agreed, saying they were incredibly excited.

This game had already sparked far too many trending discussions. People enthusiastically began discussing the background setting again. What exactly did that giant's black notebook mean? And even more importantly, the first achievement reward had appeared—the first extraordinary species had been born.

The moment everyone logged in, they received a system notification.

Announcement: Congratulations to player 'Mount Akina Speed.' The species you evolved, Funeral Chicken, possesses tremendous potential and has received an achievement reward.

This server-wide announcement suddenly appeared, causing a huge uproar on the forum.

"Big shot, take screenshots! Let us see the reward!"

"Even though it didn't poison the boss to death, it's obviously terrifyingly strong, or it wouldn't have gotten a notification. Big shot, you're insane!!"

"Big shot 666! The game developers are so generous, the reward must be ridiculously good. Please reveal it! Otherwise I'll be itching with curiosity and won't be able to sleep tonight."

The comments refreshed at a frenzied pace.

Chen Wenshan was dumbfounded too. He had gotten a reward?

After working so hard for so long, even rubbing so much hair off that he had gone partly bald, had he finally succeeded?

The next second, he felt that even the pain of being roasted in an oven had been worth it. He hurriedly put on his glasses, logged into the game, and started a livestream on the platform.

He changed the room title: "A Mysterious Reward for the New Species—Livestream Begins!"

In an instant, countless people eagerly flooded in. The viewer count immediately exceeded six hundred thousand. Some Cloud Players who could not play the game were also excited, eager to feast their eyes on it.

Chen Wenshan logged into the game and saw three options on the game interface. He could choose one as his reward.

First, choose to permanently retain the Funeral Chicken character. Each time he died and restarted, he would have two choices: be born as a spore or be born as a Funeral Chicken.

Chen Wenshan was overjoyed and burst into excited laughter. "There's finally an initial species selection! Damn it, once I die and restart the game, I won't have to evolve from spores anymore. I can choose a species—Funeral Chicken."

This reward was absurdly awesome.

Second, permanently retain his slot and no longer be subject to elimination.

Third, receive an experience of a second life.

The three options made everyone green with envy, and they began discussing them heatedly.

"The first option is insanely powerful. So it turns out this game doesn't lack an initial species selection. You just have to evolve a powerful species first before you can preserve it and make it one of your species options."

"Doesn't that mean everyone's initial species will be different in the future?"

"Above, you're overthinking it. In the future, certain big shots will definitely enter the interface and have a whole bunch of species to choose from. Weaklings like us won't be able to evolve powerful species at all. When we enter the interface, we'll only have the beginning of a spore life."

"Hardcore! You really can't mess with that—seriously!"

"The second one is pretty awesome too! Permanent game access is basically giving you 600,000 yuan's worth of game computing resources—600,000 RMB for free! They really are loaded!"

"I can't make sense of the third one."

"Same. It's some kind of mysterious option."

Everyone discussed the options, studying the three choices.

Chen Wenshan frowned as well, quietly weighing which one to pick.

The first was obviously excellent.

He would no longer begin in spore form, but with an initial race. And Funeral Chickens could still evolve. Although their evolutionary potential and overall direction were limited, they could continue advancing through the species ranks and become even stronger venomous birds.

The second looked the most tempting and cost-effective, but Chen Wenshan quickly rejected it.

With his abilities, he felt there was no need to settle for a pension. It was an elimination system, and he was confident he would not be eliminated. His hair had not gone white and bald for nothing.

The third option: begin a second life? What did that mean? He frowned, feeling that it was not very reliable. After hesitating for a moment, he decisively chose the first option.

The game login screen gradually changed, revealing two choices.

1. Begin the life of a spore.

2. Selectable race—Funeral Chicken.

Chen Wenshan silently clicked Funeral Chicken. The screen scattered like willow catkins, transforming into an exquisite blue login screen. A red rooster stood in the middle, offering choices for male or female chicken, facial customization, and body type.

The livestream instantly exploded.

"Wow! Big shot, that's awesome! It finally feels like other online games, with face customization and a choice of starting race! Unlike us, who can only start as identical single-celled organisms!"

"This game is getting scarier and scarier. Even your starting race has to be evolved by yourself."

Ignoring the jealous players, Chen Wenshan quietly customized his character, inwardly delighted. He made his rooster look exceptionally magnificent, then chose to enter the game and appeared within the enormous Sand Table.

Full of enthusiasm, Chen Wenshan began evolving again. Before long, he led his population through evolution within the Sand Table.

Boom! Boom! Boom! At that moment, a giant beside him happened to walk out through a doorway and pass along Beast Path, causing the ground to shake violently.

He happened to spot the Funeral Chicken population on the ground and gave a soft cry of surprise. "Eh? Isn't this the food I ate last time? It was especially delicious. I'll catch a few and take them back to make soup for a late-night snack."

The giant bent down and lowered his head.

A giant hand descended from the sky.

In one swipe, it snatched away most of his Funeral Chickens.

Chen Wenshan: "????"

Everyone in the livestream: "????"

Chen Wenshan instantly felt as if his balls had exploded. He became incomparably aggrieved, feeling awful all over!

Was this boss's behavior pattern really that Black Technology? It could interact with them? It could even hold grudges? Did that mean he might end up becoming part of its menu, with it grabbing a couple every time it passed by?

His teeth ached terribly.

If I'd known, I wouldn't have evolved them to be so delicious. The poison couldn't kill him, and now they've become a recipe on the boss's menu. Chen Wenshan was instantly filled with regret. He should not have chosen this option; he should have picked one of the other two.

Choosing this option was practically killing him.