Nurturing Humanity

They are all trying to kill me!

Xu Zhi held his head in his hands and felt a headache coming on. He could feel the evil intentions of the world flooding into him.

He did not think much of the sandbox in the beginning. It was just a place with an area of 30 square meters, and he just carved out a place for it in the yard behind his house. It was convenient for him to just sit on a chair and watch the play of evolution in the sandbox up close.

However, those people were actually trying to mess with an onlooker like him, precisely because he was near enough.

Strictly speaking, they were all spores that were in the process of evolution and he could be considered their maker, and technically their father in some ways…

Those people were actually trying to mess with said father, going so far as to attempting to murder him.

That was incomparably insolent!

He did not mind it when it happened with Gilgamesh before, given that it was the natural evolution taking place in the greater sandbox. However, the recreational players in the lesser sandbox helping to evolve creatures were actually thinking of taking him on as well.

“I may just be the lamest of makers in history.”

Xu Zhi was feeling very exasperated but quickly regained his composure. “Every single one of them is trying to mess with the heavens and kill their gods, trying to take me down. Are there really so many trying to be heroes? Don’t I look overwhelming enough?”

“It seems like this Racer of Mount Haruna guy has yet to suffer the wrath of society, and I sure as hell need to teach him a lesson. If he intends to be the loudest of the bunch, then he shall suffer the worst of punishments.”

Xu Zhi felt that he needed to show them what he was made of just to prevent any of them from trying anything funny like that.

He gave it a bit of thought and decided he did not care much about what those people scheming among themselves. Such vigor was useful for furthering the evolution of beings after all.

He simply asked the Insecta Nest mind, “Does this new species possess unparalleled potential?”

A robotic voice was heard from the AI saying, “This species does indeed possess unparalleled potential.”

“Well, well, ain’t this something indeed.”

Xu Zhi bit down hard on the apple, feeling very, very envious.

He had to admit that some people were so talented that it was futile to compare to them.

In comparison to that weird-looking Evil Eye thing from the last round, the being at the moment did indeed look a lot better.

The player was probably concerned that the poison would not be enough to kill Xu Zhi if the creature was made too small. As such, it had evolved into the greatest size allowable at the moment, which was about the size of a beetle. That was akin to an elephant when compared with the sizes of others like ants.

The fiery-red rooster of comparatively elephant-like size looked like some kind of huge crimson phoenix. The creature did indeed look beautiful and very appetizing.

It did look really tasty.

“How potent is its toxins?” Xu Zhi then asked, “Is it enough to do me harm?”

Xu Zhi was being cautious about it. It would have been really funny if he actually ended up poisoned.

“That creature possessed traits of a pufferfish. Its meat is extremely tasty, yet it packs potent toxins with a very strong kick. Even a tiny one would probably be enough to take a grown-up down.”

Xu Zhi gasped right away.

Ain’t that one hell of a son of a bit*h!

“He has gone that far in making something that venomous, and he really intends to kill me!”

A creature the size of a beetle capable of killing a grown-up human was a testament to the potency of its poison.

“Killing a normal person, sure thing. What about killing me then?” Xu Zhi continued. “How about killing someone like me, whose genes are modified to near perfection, and at the same time, a sorcerer who is trained in Spirit Meditation?”

If it were to only be capable of killing normal people, then there would be no need for putting such a creature into the greater sandbox, as such a creature would not be able to take on the sorcerers.

The Insecta Nest mind then answered, “Precise potency of the toxin requires further examination. As the queen mother of the nest, you would be eligible to test the potency personally.”

“I’m no queen mother. Call me king father instead, won’t you?” Xu Zhi mumbled to himself.

The AI apparently was not too bright and did not understand Xu Zhi’s joke. It continued robotically, “Please test the toxin personally, Queen Mother. While the toxin is potent, it will not be of any threat to your body, due to it still being a creature evolved from spores.”

Xu Zhi continued mumbling to himself, “No threat to me eh? Well, if it does possess such potential, then I’d need to test the poison out, regardless of the intention of that Racer of Mount Haruna guy, just so to see the future potential of that creature myself.”

He then took another bite of the apple. Completing the supernatural world of the greater sandbox was of the utmost priority after all. A new creature created by a genius player who created the Evil Eye would still be worthy of anticipation after all.

Seven to eight meters away.

“We’re waiting for him to take his dinner.”

“Shhh. Poison him, slowly…”

“Such a horrifying scheme. I like it!”

The players were still watching him in the dark of that dense forest in the lesser sandbox and murmured among themselves, watching that super huge giant in the dark before them.

Xu Zhi ate fruit basically every day. He had stomach cancer, so he needed to look after his stomach. He ate one apple after another. “If it’s to have me test the potential of that new creature, then it’d be best for me to just keep to my usual routine. If he wants to jump into my plate, going so far as to make himself so delicious, then I guess I’d just take up the offer. Hopefully, the new creature will taste nice.”

It was not yet 5pm, which was his usual time for dinner. He was not in a hurry either and simply flipped the pages of his black notebook containing information about the evolution of creatures.

That was yet another matter that he needed to attend to—recording the experiments of evolution taking place in the sandbox.

He intended to make records of the fifth age, coming after the Dark Cambrian Period, Light Cambrian Period, Cenozoic Era, and the Genesis Period.

Despite the age of the Kingdom of Babylon having yet to come to an end, he had nonetheless wanted to record it.

“I’ll call this age…” Xu Zhi thought hard at it for a bit and then came out with a name on a whim. “I’ll call it the Witchcraft Period. The time where sorcerers emerged en masse. A true age of the sorcerers.”

He bit on his pen and gave it some thought, before writing down the first part.

The Witchcraft Period. Hermes the God of Wisdom conversed with the people of the land, and the three witches blazed the path of witches. Year 198 of Babylon. The three witches passed. The gods bestowed miracles upon the land to mourn the passing of the witches…

Dum, dum, dum!

The voice of that brat was heard outside the door before Xu Zhi was done writing. She was here to bring him his dinner.

Xu Zhi got up immediately to get the door.

The weird creatures that were scheming on the ground shouted right away and began charging.

“Charge, my brothers!”

“The usual routine begins. The giant is about to eat! Get away from the Path of the Beast!”

Xu Zhi built his sandbox near the entrance to his compound, and he needed to cross the sandbox when he went outside. The path he took was known among the players as the Path of the Beast, the daily route taken by the giant boss. It was imperative to stay away from the Path of the Beast in order to prevent one from being trampled.

“He’s gone. I guess no one’s stomped to death then?”

“My brothers, the usual dinner routine is about to begin. According to our usual schedule, we would have a window of about four minutes to get to the huge chair!”

“Come on, get on with the ladder!”

“Charge! We will kill the boss with our first try!”

“Come carve me up if you call yourself a brother of mine!”

A bunch of weird ant-like beings climbed up the chair. They intended to hide at the back of the chair after getting on top of it.

However, the Racer of Mount Haruna halted everyone who was hiding. He was a veteran and as such, he naturally had ample experience. “We’re getting into a raid, my brothers. Remember to not get overzealous when taking on the boss and follow your orders. I’ve been watching in the dark and the giant is not only eating an apple this time, but also breaking that black book that he has always been reading. He has always been making records in that book, and I’d say we should take a look. I bet there would be some hidden plot in it.”

All of them stared at each other.

Oh yea, hidden subquests. How exciting!

“I’ll do it! I have eight legs!”

“Me, me, I have five arms! Everyone is saying that I’m the Deformed Prince!”

“That’s nothing. I have five tentacled eyes, and I’d be able to flip the pages with those eyes alone!”

Over a dozen weird beings all felt themselves to be of insane strength. All of them went to flip open the pages that were about the size of basketball courts excitingly.

Those tiny creatures laid low on the chair and flipped the pages of that huge book, seeing that the first page read ‘Genesis’, and they shuddered in response.

“What the hell is this?”