These guys must be crazy!
All of them plotting against me?!
Xu Zhi rubbed his temples, nursing a headache, and felt the world's deep maliciousness aimed squarely at him.
Initially, his plan for the sandbox was modest—just a simple 30-square-meter space near the yard entrance, convenient for him to sit and observe their evolutionary progress close up.
But precisely because of this proximity, these little devils had gotten the crazy idea of going after him—the bystander!
Strictly speaking, these spore creatures were his creations—his offspring, if you will.
Yet now, these ungrateful little bastards were plotting to murder their own creator—trying to commit patricide!
Gilgamesh in the large sandbox was one thing—after all, he naturally evolved to challenge everything—but now even the casual player testers in the mini-sandbox, intended only to help create new species, were conspiring against him.
"I might just be the most miserable creator ever," Xu Zhi sighed, exasperated. But then he quickly regained his calm, smiling faintly, "Everyone wants to defy Heaven, defy gods, and strike me down. Are they all hero-wannabes? Haven't I already shown them how overwhelmingly strong I am?"
"It seems our friend AutumnMountainSpeed hasn't experienced a proper beating from society yet. I'll have to teach him a little lesson. Since he loves to act like a bigshot among the players, he should be ready to take the harshest beatdown."
Xu Zhi decided it was time to discipline these unruly players before they got carried away.
However, he didn't actually take their plotting too seriously. After all, youthful spirit and rebelliousness were beneficial for innovation and evolution.
He casually asked the hive mind, "Does this new species have extraordinary potential?"
The hive mind's mechanical voice replied, "This species possesses extraordinary potential."
"It really does?"
Xu Zhi bit into his apple, impressed and a little envious.
Some players indeed had remarkable talent, surpassing what he himself could come up with.
Compared to that hideously deformed Eldritch Eye species last time, this creature was far more visually appealing and well-designed.
Likely fearing it would be too small to poison him effectively, this creature had evolved to the current maximum size allowed—a creature about the size of a beetle, which, relative to ant-sized creatures, was enormous.
A large, vividly red rooster, looking like a brilliant crimson phoenix—it appeared delicious and appetizing.
"How's its toxin strength?" Xu Zhi asked, cautious. "Could it pose a threat to me at present?"
It'd be embarrassingly funny if he actually got poisoned by a player's creation.
"This species possesses characteristics similar to pufferfish: delicious flesh but incredibly potent toxins. Even a small individual can easily incapacitate a fully grown adult human."
Xu Zhi instantly sucked in a cold breath.
That guy was ruthless!
He'd deliberately evolved an incredibly poisonous species, seriously aiming to kill him!
A beetle-sized creature capable of killing a full-grown adult indicated how terrifying its poison must be.
"It can poison ordinary people easily," Xu Zhi murmured. "But what if it tries to poison me? Given my superior genes and having cultivated meditation and sorcery, could it harm me?"
If the poison only worked against ordinary humans, it wasn't worth introducing into the big sandbox—it wouldn't survive the witches there.
The hive mind answered, "To accurately gauge its potency, testing is required. As the hive mother, you may test its toxin personally without risk."
"I'm not a mother—call me Father Emperor," Xu Zhi jokingly muttered under his breath.
The hive mind, clearly lacking humor, continued mechanically, "Please test the toxin personally, Hive Mother. Although the toxin is potent, spore-based creatures cannot pose a real threat to the Hive Mother."
Xu Zhi considered this, mumbling, "If it can't harm me, fine. Since it really has potential, regardless of AutumnMountainSpeed's intentions, I should test this toxin and gauge the species' true potential."
Taking another bite from his apple, Xu Zhi felt anticipation growing. After all, enriching the sandbox's extraordinary ecosystem was crucial. Given the surprises from the previous Eldritch Eye, he was looking forward to the possibilities from this new species.
About seven or eight meters away…
"Let's wait for his mealtime!"
"Shhh, quietly. We'll sneak in and poison him."
"So devious! But I like it!"
Tiny, weird-looking creatures hid in the miniature forest, secretly observing and whispering excitedly while planning to assassinate the massive giant before them.
Xu Zhi mostly ate fruit daily—due to stomach cancer, he took extra care of his digestion. Finishing one apple, he started on another. "Since they're volunteering to enter my lunch, and evolved specifically to be so tasty, guess I'll graciously accept their offering. Hope they taste good and crunchy."
It wasn't yet 5 PM, his regular mealtime, so Xu Zhi calmly flipped open his black notebook.
This notebook was another matter—a record of his species-evolution sandbox experiment.
He had previously recorded the Anwu Era, Guangwu Era, Xinsheng Era, and Chuangshi Era—now it was time to add a fifth era.
Although the Babylonian kingdom era was far from finished, he wanted to jot down some notes now.
"I'll call this epoch…" Xu Zhi pondered momentarily before randomly naming it, "The Age of Great Wizards. It's the era when a large number of wizards appear on the land."
Chewing thoughtfully on his pen, he slowly wrote down the first sentence:
"In the Age of Great Wizards, Hermes, the God of Wisdom, spoke with humans. The Three Witches opened the path of witches. In Babylon Year 198, when the Three Witches reached the end of their lifespan, the god bestowed miracles to mourn their passing…"
Knock knock knock!
Before Xu Zhi could finish writing, Chen Xi's cheerful voice rang out from the gate, bringing his dinner.
Xu Zhi quickly stood up and went to open the door.
Seeing this, the creatures secretly plotting nearby instantly panicked, screaming as they scattered.
"Run, brothers!"
"Routine giant action incoming! He's about to cross the Beast Path again!"
Xu Zhi had built the sandbox right outside his gate, naturally creating a path he traversed daily when leaving home. Players dubbed this road the "Beast Path," and wisely avoided it at specific times to prevent getting trampled.
"Has he gone? No casualties?"
"Brothers, the daily eating-event script is underway. We have about four minutes of opportunity. Quick, climb up onto the giant chair!"
"Quickly, build a spore-ladder!"
"Charge! Kill the boss, get the first-kill achievement!"
"Slay-the-dragon swords here—click to claim yours! Bros, come and get some action!"
A swarm of bizarre ant-sized creatures climbed frantically onto the chair, hiding behind its backrest.
However, AutumnMountainSpeed quickly called out to the hidden players, his experience evident. "Calm down, brothers! I've been secretly observing him. Today, the giant wasn't just eating apples; he had that black notebook he's always writing in. Let's flip it open first and peek—it's probably a hidden storyline!"
Players exchanged glances.
"Right, hidden plotline! I'm hyped!"
"I'll flip it—I have eight legs!"
"Me! I have five arms—I'm called the Deformed Little Prince!"
"I'm the best! I've got five tentacle eyes. I'll lift it open with my eyeballs!"
A group of strange creatures excitedly combined their strength and flipped open the cover of the notebook, enormous as a basketball court.
When the tiny creatures finally opened the giant black notebook, their eyes widened. Written in majestic letters on the first page were the words: [The Book of Genesis].
"What…what's this?" they whispered, trembling with excitement.