Chapter Twenty-Four: A Day of Leisure

[Your evolution level has reached the required threshold. Would you like to begin evolving?]

Staring at the prompt that appeared before his eyes, Li Shang nearly burst into tears.

It had truly been an ordeal; only heaven knew how many times he had been forced to start over and rebuild from scratch.

But thankfully, his efforts had not been in vain; he could finally begin his evolution.

“Let’s see just how this evolution works. If it turns out to be dull, don’t blame me for being harsh,” he muttered, then made his choice with a single thought.

[Please select your evolution type:]

1. Carnivore ☚

2. Herbivore

3. ? (Gene missing, unavailable)

Li Shang gave the options a quick glance and decisively chose carnivore. After all, carnivores were generally stronger than herbivores.

[Selection successful]

[Evolution in progress]

[Sensing your strong desire for improved vision]

[You have evolved Polarized Eyes (Common)]

[Evolution successful]

[Please name and modify your organism]

The information faded, and his perspective shifted; when he regained his senses, he found himself in a god’s-eye view.

Below him was a transparent creature.

Its body somewhat resembled a tadpole.

At the front of its form was a slightly flattened eye, which, from the looks of it, seemed not especially keen-sighted.

Aside from the eye, the creature possessed two other organs.

One was a beetle-like mouth located at the front.

The other was a pair of antennae-like appendages, one on each side of its body.

He didn’t know their precise names, but just by looking, Li Shang understood these were what enabled the creature to move.

After he’d finished inspecting the creature below, Li Shang turned his attention elsewhere.

There, a virtual panel was displayed, showing various organ icons.

There were dozens of categories in total.

However, at the moment, aside from the organs present on his transparent creature, the other categories were empty.

“So this is where my evolved organs are displayed?” Li Shang wondered, trying to select one with a thought.

But he was met with a notification: [Insufficient Gene Slots].

Only then did he notice a number at the top of the virtual list.

(4/4)

The number matched perfectly with the creature’s organs: one mouth, one eye, a pair of antennae—four in all.

“It seems I can rearrange these organs at will, or even remove them without restriction.”

Seeing this, Li Shang decided not to alter anything for now; he believed this was already the most optimal form given his current conditions.

He continued exploring other functions.

Soon, he discovered he could also fine-tune the creature’s shape and color.

On a whim, he changed its original elongated form to a round one—he thought it looked cuter this way.

Once the adjustments were complete, Li Shang paused at the field for the creature’s name, considered for a moment, then entered the name of his first organism:

‘Sphere’

[Would you like to complete the evolution and begin species propagation?]

Li Shang clicked yes without hesitation.

A short animation immediately played before his eyes.

In a dark space, hundreds of white spheres lay clustered at the center.

Light and shadow flickered across the scene, as if a long time had passed.

Then, the white spheres began to react.

Cracks appeared across their surfaces in the blink of an eye.

Soon, the shells broke apart, and hundreds of the round creatures he’d just designed wriggled out.

At that moment, his viewpoint zoomed in on one among them.

When he came to, his consciousness had entered it.

His control over his body returned.

“So I’ve evolved an entire population, not just a single individual.”

Li Shang’s interest in the game grew, and he also felt a twinge of guilt for having doubted Mr. Yin earlier.

His perspective had been far too narrow.

Mr. Yin was truly passionate about games, yet he had suspected this game was only meant to fob off players.

“When I log out later, I absolutely must leave a positive review for my teacher,” he thought. His conscience would not let him do otherwise.

He refocused and began to sense the changes in his evolved body.

This time, his vision was no longer shrouded in darkness.

Colors appeared.

But his sight was…

“So this is what they mean by ‘myopic like a mouse’?”

Li Shang was stunned to find he could only see clearly within a very narrow area—about five body-lengths around himself.

Beyond that, everything dissolved into blurred patches of color, so vague as to be unrecognizable.

Not only was his range of vision limited, but its width was also constricted.

A human’s field of vision spanned 124 degrees, but his now covered only a quarter of that.

Barely 30 degrees—so he could see only what was directly in front of him, with darkness enveloping everything else.

It was a deeply uncomfortable sensation for someone who had once been human.

“If I’d known, I would have evolved an extra eye,” Li Shang thought ruefully; he hadn’t anticipated this at all.

“Oh well, this is still better than before. At least I can see something now,” he consoled himself, and began to observe his surroundings.

He found himself in a world filled with bubbles, as if submerged underwater.

Tiny particles floated everywhere.

There were two colors among these particles: red and green.

“Is this food?”

He immediately tried to consume some, only to discover that he could eat only the red ones; the green were inedible.

“Red must represent meat,” he surmised.

As he pondered this, new functions appeared in his field of view.

[Mate]

[Evolve]

[Gene Bank]

[Talents]

Both [Evolve] and [Talents] were grayed out, unavailable.

But there was a difference: [Evolve] indicated he lacked sufficient gene points, while [Talents] was marked as “content not yet released.”

As for the remaining functions—

Li Shang first checked the [Gene Bank]. Opening it, he saw a constantly rotating three-dimensional DNA model.

At its top, three light bars shone.

He focused his gaze on them.

Each bar corresponded to one of his unlocked genes: eye, mouth, and antennae.

It resembled a collection log.

But there were other functions as well.

Focusing on any unlocked organ brought up a prompt: insufficient gene points to optimize the gene.

“Gene points? That sounds like a bonus awarded after each game, based on performance.”

As an experienced gamer, Li Shang quickly deduced the purpose of this feature.

This game couldn’t be cleared in a single run! Instead, it used a kind of inheritance mechanic, allowing players to build on previous advantages to gradually overcome formerly insurmountable obstacles.

Now understanding this, Li Shang also guessed at the purpose of [Mate].

Returning to the creature interface, he considered once more how to arrange its organs.

“So the goal now is to fill up the evolution bar.”

He glanced at the ten-segment evolution bar at the bottom of his view, which appeared after consuming food.

One segment had filled up when he completed his first evolution.

It seemed each segment represented a different stage.

With his goal clear, Li Shang immediately began searching for and devouring red particles.

He was eager to see what his final form would become.

After swallowing a few more red particles and seeing the evolution bar fill a little further,

he was startled to find his body had grown noticeably larger.

“So it’s not just when the bar is full that changes occur—eating itself brings about transformations.”

With his increased size, Li Shang found himself moving faster and able to see farther, which improved his mood considerably.

“Damn! What was that?!”

But before he could celebrate for long, a massive black shadow flashed just beyond the edge of his vision.

It seemed the real game was only just beginning!