Chapter Sixty: Truly, Every Peculiar Creature Can Be Found Here

“Goodness, the old demon really dug his own grave this time—this is hilarious.”
“I knew it, every time the old demon boasts, something goes wrong.”
“These bugs are intense. If they keep multiplying like this, won’t they devour all life?”
“Hard to say—this mode always has something bizarre up its sleeve. Who knows, maybe something even crazier will pop up next.”
“Old demon, you better run, or there won’t be a chance left.”

As the swarm of explosive bugs appeared, the barrage of comments in the livestream scrolled rapidly.
But Li Shan had no energy to pay them any mind.
All his attention was fixed on the ever-increasing number of mushroom bugs.
In just a short while, their numbers had grown significantly.
A quick estimate put them at nearly ten thousand.
And it would only take a few breaths for them to break ten thousand.
At this rate, hundreds of thousands or even a million was not out of the question.
They reproduced by splitting.
It took only seven seconds for a larva to reach maturity.
Such an exaggerated reproductive rate made Li Shan shudder inwardly.

“They’re almost done devouring everything…”
He watched as the swarm closed in on him.
Gritting his teeth, he began extracting nutrients from the remaining main trunks.
Better to cut his losses than hand resources to the enemy.
Minutes ticked by.
The vast area once covered in blue mushrooms withered rapidly.
The mushroom bugs, too, had gone from a handful to a suffocating swarm that blotted out the sky.
It was reminiscent of a locust plague, the insects devouring everything in their path.
Ten minutes swiftly passed.
Where mushrooms once thrived, there was now nothing but desolation.
There wasn’t even a scrap left—not even the top layer of earth, which had been chewed away.
Wherever they went, nothing survived.
And when every edible scrap was gone, the mushroom bugs, unable to find more food, gathered in groups and marched toward the distant green fields.
The sky was thick with their numbers, their momentum terrifying.
The hum of their wings faded into the distance until it vanished entirely.

In the barren ground, within a tiny crack, a blue-green mushroom no larger than a fingernail struggled through the dirt, bathing once more in sunlight.
Watching his hunger meter slowly climb, Li Shan breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he’d evolved chlorophyll earlier, allowing him to photosynthesize.
Otherwise, he would have been wiped out by now.

“No way, the old demon actually survived this?”
“Classic old demon—his burrowing skills put female streamers to shame!”

“I feel like the old demon’s just created something terrible.”
“This mode is wild—everything’s evolving, not just the players but the monsters too. By the end, it’ll be a true carnival of chaos.”
“Exactly! Hurry up and evolve, old demon. I want to see you crush others, not get crushed yourself.”
“Stop taking risks, old demon! Just quietly live as a mushroom—what’s wrong with that?”

After skimming the comments, Li Shan cleared his throat:
“Brothers, everything is under my control.”
“That bug was created on purpose.”
“It’s all to help me reduce the number of players.”
As he spoke, Li Shan glanced at the remaining player count.
Eighty-three… eighty-two.
“You see? I just said it and another one was eliminated. All according to plan.”

“Impressive.”
“666666.”
“I almost believed you, you sly old demon!”
“Play it safe—this mode is all about who can outlast the rest.”

Li Shan finished reading the comments and cleared his throat again.
“Well, since you all say so, I’ll reluctantly play it safe for a while.”
With that, he withdrew his attention from the chat and returned to the game.
Though the surface had been ravaged by the bugs, there was still a wealth of plant roots underground.
So this time, he planned to develop below ground.
His vision would be limited, but at least it would be safe.
He extended his mycelium toward the areas with plant roots.
After absorbing enough nutrients, he split off only a dozen main trunks.
If survival was the goal, he couldn’t draw attention to himself.
With his hunger meter stable, Li Shan began searching for new genes.
Today’s events had taught him that more wasn’t always better—quality trumped quantity!

…
…

“Damn it!”
Li Shang fled, cursing furiously as he ran.
Currently, his body was that of a woodpecker that had accidentally eaten a watermelon—evolving into a watermelon woodpecker.
He looked somewhat ridiculous, but his abilities were impressive.
He could, when pecking an opponent, fire watermelon seeds into their bodies at high speed, inflicting armor-piercing damage.
But!
Before he could enjoy it for long, a massive swarm of bugs appeared behind him.
Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that a woodpecker—an insect-eater—would one day be so desperately chased by bugs.

“This is absurd!”
Watching the swarm close in, Li Shang swore again.
Whoever evolved these things was clearly out to sabotage everyone else!
“Am I going to die again?”
Li Shang was frustrated—if he died once more, his death penalty would stack to the fifth level.
That would make it much harder to compete against other players later.
Everyone wants to win, and he was no exception.
What he wanted most, of course, was the prize for first place: a hundred gene points.
That would take five or six standard games of grinding to earn.

His eyes darted around, searching for a way to escape.
Soon, a nearby stream caught his attention.
“They wouldn’t follow me into the water, would they?”
If these bugs weren’t even afraid of water, he was doomed.
He sped up, flying swiftly over the stream.
With a quick scan, he dove into a shallow spot.
Splash!
The swarm hovered above the water for a moment, then quickly dispersed.
It wasn’t worth lingering for such a small meal.

“Damn you!”
As soon as the bugs left, Li Shang leapt out of the water.
As he jumped, a giant shrimp with a back like a keyboard was pulled out with him.
Its claws were clamped tightly around his woodpecker beak.
Once on shore, Li Shang immediately countered, stabbing at the shrimp’s head with his sharp beak.
Bang!
Bang!
Two sounds rang out in quick succession—one from beak meeting shell, the other from a watermelon seed piercing through.
In an instant, the keyboard shrimp’s shell was shattered.

Strike while the iron’s hot.
Li Shang pressed the attack, smashing through the shrimp’s head.
When his foe stopped moving, he finally relaxed.
Now he could take a moment to examine the keyboard shrimp that had ambushed him.
The “keyboard” on its back was just an ordinary shell, shaped like that by a player, with no real function.

“What bizarre creatures people come up with,” Li Shang muttered.
He’d thought his own creations were weird enough, but there was always someone wilder out there.
He realized he’d been too narrow-minded.
“When this game is over, I have to roast the developers for this.”
With that, he lowered his head and began devouring his spoils.

[Prompt: You have devoured the Keyboard Shrimp]
[Evolved: Filter Mouthpiece—can filter out impurities]