Nurturing Humanity

Chapter 17

Constructional Concept for a Supplementary Sandbox

Xu Zhi now possessed a handsome appearance, and his body was perfectly proportioned. He was now like a perfect Nordic God. However, gaining such a perfect appearance did not please Xu Zhi at all. On the contrary, he felt a big headache coming along his way…

“Now that I’ve become like this all of a sudden, I guess that girl, Chen Xi, will probably go crazy!”

She would definitely yell at him and ask how his appearance had changed so much.

“It’s over. I’m going to become someone else’s lab rat… Can I modify my genes?” Xu Zhi suddenly asked the hatchery of the Insecta. “Modify the genes that give me this good-looking appearance?”

He felt that this perfect appearance, with a face of a man who had walked out of a fairy tale, was too flamboyant and striking. It was the kind of face that would make countless people scream when they saw him walk down the street. He looked just like a mythological character that had walked out of a fairy tale, or a two-dimensional space, or even from the books.

He wanted to go back to his former appearance.

To be honest, he had been satisfied with his previous appearance, which was also quite an eye-catching one. Chen Xi and his neighbors had already found it quite a struggle to accept the changes in the contours of his face. They barely accepted his explanation when he told them that he had simply become more handsome.

But now that his looks had changed again, he was worried that they would feel completely suspicious.

“Should I integrate the Insecta’s cells?”

The hatchery of Insecta said, “Creator, the natural ability you have that enable you to open genetic locks makes you an Insecta hero. You can modify fragments of your own genes and alter them.”

I’m already an Insecta Hero?

I’ve become an Insecta Hero, a breakthrough that countless Insectas have been attempting to achieve all their lives?

In fact, Xu Zhi’s body was previously in such poor health that it was difficult for him to accept the transformation. Now that he was strong enough, he was ready to accept the Insecta cells and fully become an honorable member of the Insecta race.

He did not hesitate for long when it came to the decision about whether to be human or not. He was losing his life, but was he just going to quietly wait for cancer to claim his life? It was no fun being a normal human being at all! How fun it would be to be a bug!

So, he silently called out, “Integrate the Insecta cells!”

“Integration begins!”

A mechanical voice was heard.

Instantly, an excruciating pain tore through every inch of his being and reached deep into his soul. There were goosebumps beneath his skin as he broke out in cold sweat. He collapsed on the bed, moaning in great pain and then blacked out.

By the time Xu Zhi regained consciousness, three hours had passed. He silently crawled out of bed and realized that his entire body was covered in blackish-gray mud. It was as though he had soaked himself in mud. He quickly took a bath and changed his clothes before returning to check himself.

He felt that his body had become somewhat different.

It had become full of infinite potential.

“I have become a true Insecta! I also have the Insecta’s racial gift of suicide—to be able to carry out an ultra-fast accelerated cell division. If I want to, I can easily commit suicide through the process of accelerated aging anytime!” He silently clenched his fist, immersing himself in the feeling of being able to freely manipulate his genes.

He closed his eyes slightly.

In the black space, he saw the twisted double helix structure of a DNA strand.

A human’s genes were made up of a large chunk of complex, disordered, and meaningless matter and even a large number of latent disease-genes.

Xu Zhi looked at his human genes. With large chunks of miscellaneous junk data fragments cleared and optimized, only the essence of his genes remained. The greater majority of his genetic strands were now blank.

1. Human genes (cancer cells)

2. Empty

3. Empty

4. Empty

5. Empty

…

Xu Zhi gave a slight frown and said, “Get rid of the cancer cells within my human genes.”

“Basic genetic component, not removable.” A mechanical voice came from the Insecta Nest mind.

Xu Zhi was slightly taken aback and took a deep breath. “There’s no way we can get this done? If I can’t remove those from my human genes, then I have no other choice but to find a cure…”

The only thing he could do in this respect was to put in more effort.

At this point, he could choose to integrate other kinds of genes, but he did not plan to do so at the moment.

This was because, from all the evolutionary species he had at present, there were only two kinds of genes assimilated into his evolutionary gene pool.

The ant-ape genes (Gilgamesh’s improved version).

The bug-age genes.

He could choose to become a giant force like the Hero King, but that idea did not really appeal to him. He did not take a fancy to either of these two genes, and also could not be bothered to incorporate them into his genes. After all, he was just a farmer working in the fields. There were no dangers that would put his life at stake. So, was there any need to rush into engaging such life-saving measures?

He was going to die. His foremost priority was to think of a way to cure himself of cancer. Saving his life was the most pressing matter. Getting stronger could wait.

He felt his body in silence.

“Wait a minute. I’m already in the final stage of gastric cancer?” Xu Zhi instantly turned white and said, “How can it have happened so fast? I was only given a confirmed diagnosis stating that my gastric cancer is in the intermediate stage a few days ago.”

The Insecta Queen replied, “Cancer cells are the rebellious cells in a human’s body. The stronger a person becomes, the strong these cells become.”

Xu Zhi was speechless.

You mean to tell me that as I get stronger, the cancer cells in my body become stronger as well? And they are now propagating in a most unrestrained rate?

So if I were to absorb just a little more power and get a little bit stronger from this mass extinction that is happening right in front of me, I might just die right away?

He was given a great shock.

What the hell was going on?

“I can’t accept a fourth energy feedback from a mass extinction any time soon.” Xu Zhi took a deep breath. Fortunately, that was still a long way off. If it was not for the ecosystem being thrown out of balance, he would not have to reset everything within the sandbox. A thriving sandbox with different generations arising from the alternating cycle of death and rebirth was what he wanted to see.

But he had better remain vigilant.

“In other words, within a short period of time, no matter where they choose to go rampant and tyrannical, I can’t simply choose to exterminate them in large numbers and reshuffle everything?” Xu Zhi felt a headache coming on. But he was already in the final stage of cancer; his hands were tied.

Xu Zhi had not expected the change to be that fast.

He recalled Gilgamesh’s final moments of madness and struggle before death from the night before. He too felt the same fear and apprehension that death could bring.

Death was the one thing every single living creature feared the most. He could not help but let out a sigh with mixed feelings. “Is there no way I can survive this?”

Xu Zhi could feel his approaching death and feared it just like Gilgamesh did.

He stood up and walked to the door of the yard.

“The final stage of cancer leaves me with too little time… I must hurry to develop a civilization for the species in the great sandbox and bring about the evolution of a supernatural power in the next era. With this supernatural power, I will be able to find the ability to improve and fight the cancer cells!”

Xu Zhi looked at the scene in the sandbox.

Everything was dying. It was seemingly void of life.

A night had passed, which was forty or fifty years for them. But they had yet to reach complete recovery.

Only a pair of every species had been saved, and they were slowly repopulating as well.

Besides, they had just begun to heed the warning that “God” issued. God said that all life was equal, so they had cut down on unnecessary barbaric killing except for killing for the food they needed. They even helped some species to breed and expand their populations.

However, at the same time, after the great mass extinction, all kinds of new species appeared and started to reproduce. There were an infinite variety of them, and they were of all sorts of strange forms. The situation appeared to be like a new bud sprouting after the end of the world had occurred.

Xu Zhi watched as he sat in the sunny yard, eating the farmer-style breakfast that Chen Xi had brought him.

“Things have stabilized and started to develop again. But it is still too slow. With my current condition, I won’t be able to last much longer…”

Xu Zhi sighed.

“Should I open up another sandbox and start a second Genesis?”

He wanted to begin a new sandbox world.

He could carry out evolution and allow a civilization to develop inside the sandbox, or even boldly derive a vast, superior world of fantasy, or a mythical realm. But obviously, this was somewhat unrealistic.

After all, this great sandbox in front of him just showed signs of a budding supernatural power. Rather than trying to do more than what he could complete, he should be patient and wait for this sandbox to give him the power of hope.

He put aside the thought of constructing a new sandbox for the moment and so, all he could do was to seek other ways to set in motion, the emergence of supernatural species in the great sandbox after sending down the Great Flood.

“But they won’t just appear because I want them to appear.” He sat on the wooden chair in front of the courtyard and pondered matters. Suddenly, he recalled something he had once heard. “Intelligence is impermanent, and it will consequently give rise to many things that do not conform to evolutionary theory.”

“Since intelligence is impermanent, perhaps I should tap into other people’s wisdom. After all, it’s too limiting for me to rack my brain and delve into evolutionary theory. I might as well draw on the wisdom of the masses. Why not just put the heads of a group of people together?” A daring idea appeared in Xu Zhi’s mind all of a sudden.

That was it! This time, he decided to take a huge risk!

If he tried to evolve the species and carry out the evolution of spores alone, it would take too long.

He might as well get some other people on board to help him drive the evolution of spores!

He remembered a sandbox game, Spore, that he had played before. In the game, the player would start out as a spore and begin to evolve. Eventually, it would turn into all sorts of strange, bizarre creatures…

Xu Zhi asked the Nest mind, “If I want to make a miniature sandbox, will I be able to make like those ones found online, where other people could project themselves as souls, enter the yard and use the sandbox as a game? To help me with the evolution of new species?”