Chapter 3: Biological Explosion

After enduring the scorching sun of the day, the seventh night began to fall.

The Purple Lux Grass still lived peacefully in the ocean, now able to withstand 5,000 years of alternating sun and moon cycles. Meanwhile, with its prolific reproduction, the photosynthesis of these aquatic plants led to a significant increase in the oxygen content of the seawater. The conditions suitable for the birth of marine animals were now in place. In nature, if water lacks aquatic plants and is stagnant, it's difficult for oxygen from the air to dissolve into it. Such stagnant water cannot create a suitable environment for aquatic animals.

Soon, spores and single-celled organisms in the sandbox world's ocean began to evolve. The first to appear were a group of black armored creatures, resembling *Eurypterids*, an ancient Paleozoic marine species from Earth. Thus, marine animals stepped onto the historical stage of the evolutionary epoch.

“My sandbox world’s marine animals have finally evolved from single-celled organisms,” he exclaimed. “I’ve waited so long for you, through two mass extinctions.”

The moment he saw the animals appear, Xu Zhi revealed a relieved smile. His body, exhausted from being awake for a day and a night, finally gave in. He went straight back to his room, lay down, and fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already the eighth day of creation for the spore evolution sandbox.

Anyone who has studied biology knows that the ocean is the origin of life. However, Xu Zhi discovered that some marine animals, no longer content with the fierce competition in the ocean, were gradually evolving toes and scales, becoming amphibians and living on barren coastlines. Seeing this, he recorded the next page after the Guangwu Epoch in his clear, elegant handwriting.

This third evolutionary epoch, destined for a complete rebirth after the mass extinction, was named the Neozoic Epoch by Xu Zhi:

The Neozoic Epoch: The era welcomed a new beginning with an explosion of various animal life. The first marine animals appeared, marking a golden age of species where many vied for dominance. Invertebrates, relying on their shells, briefly dominated the seas, becoming the epoch's overlords. However, their reign was short-lived as vertebrates emerged, defeating them with their superior agility. Vertebrates became the dominant force of the Neozoic Epoch, crawling out of the ocean and poised to rule for a long epoch!

After writing all this, Xu Zhi quietly closed the book.

On Earth, the geological epochs are the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and so on. Xu Zhi’s epochs, on the other hand, are the Dark Martial Epoch, the Light Martial Epoch, the Neozoic Epoch, and others.

“How fast!” he mused. “I slept for just one night, and the spores are already about to leave the ocean and evolve into terrestrial species…”

Xu Zhi's eyebrows suddenly twitched. “But to evolve intelligent life, who knows how many more long epochs it will take,” he thought. “Now that an ecosystem has emerged, perhaps I should…”

“Stir things up a bit?”

His playful side emerged. He looked at his fingers, thinking of cutting his hand and dripping blood into it, allowing some species to absorb the genes and rapidly evolve into humanoid intelligent creatures. Would a beautiful race of Merfolk Naga appear in the sandbox ocean within his orchard courtyard? Or a strong race of wise apes, like Tarzan, on the sandbox mountains?

“Just thinking about it is exciting,” he mused, “a miniature sandbox world right in my courtyard.”

However, he dismissed the idea, feeling some resistance to using humans for experiments to evolve intelligent species. “I remember there’s a zoo in the city outside,” he thought. “I could secretly get some gorilla fur, take some gene templates, and stir things up that way.”

He left immediately.

A few hours later, Xu Zhi entered the zoo. Around him, couples walked hand in hand, flaunting their affection, or families of three, with parents showing affection while taking their children to play. As a single person, he stood out conspicuously. After all, who comes alone to a zoo just to look at monkeys? It’s easy to be stared at like a monkey oneself.

A family of three whispered to each other.

“Dad, look at that uncle…” a child whispered. “He’s bald. He looks so strong!”

“Don’t say that about people,” the father replied. “He’s bald, and he doesn’t look strong. He’s probably sick, otherwise he wouldn’t look so old. A severely ill person coming alone to a zoo—he must be a pitiful soul with no one to accompany him…”

Xu Zhi was only in his early twenties, but the severe side effects of chemotherapy were obvious. He looked excessively old, and his hair was thinning. But to call him pitiful… He had been quite pitiful before, but now he was having a blast. Evolving species was exhilarating.

“Heh heh,” Xu Zhi thought, “believe it or not, I, this bald young man, could evolve a head of black, long hair overnight, modify my evolution genes, cure my cancer, and restore my youth?”

“But I don’t even believe it myself,” he continued. “The evolution is too slow; my orchard is still in the Paleozoic marine and terrestrial period.” He observed the gorilla enclosure for a while and settled on the male gorilla with the best physique. He then directly approached an administrator and bluntly stated that he was a medical student from a nearby university, had a research topic assigned by his advisor, and needed gorilla blood for his master’s thesis.

“Young man, you say you’re a lab professor’s assistant, a top student, knowledgeable… I believe you,” the uncle said, looking at Xu Zhi’s thinning hair with a face of regret and pity. “But to ask for blood from my gorilla? Impossible. I raised it myself; it’s like a son to me. Even if you threaten me, give me money, or bribe my supervisor, I still couldn’t…”

“One tube of blood.”

Xu Zhi pulled out three thousand yuan and placed it on the table.

The administrator’s eyes lit up. This was his month’s salary. He couldn’t help but jump up and say, “Just one tube of blood? I can draw a few more!”

“No, brother, I only need one tube,” Xu Zhi chuckled. He ran a hand over his thinning hair on his balding head, smiling like a devil tempting someone to fall. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell your supervisor. If possible, we might even cooperate in the future. For instance, I’m very interested in the blood of your zoo’s peacocks and white cranes.”

“Alright, alright!” The uncle excitedly rubbed his hands together. “Supporting university students in biological research is a very meaningful endeavor.”

A moment later, Xu Zhi calmly left. After he handled the orchard, he wasn’t someone who indulged in luxuries, so his remaining hundreds of thousands in savings wouldn’t run out anytime soon as long as he wasn’t extravagant. He was financially confident; his baldness had made him stronger! He now possessed ‘cash power,’ and that made him arrogant!

Then he thought for a moment and also collected some termites he happened to see by the roadside. After all, ant genes granted immense strength, and they were free.

Around five in the afternoon, as he returned to the front of his courtyard, Xu Zhi was suddenly called out to:

“Hey, are you Xu Zhi??”

Xu Zhi turned his head, looking at the rural roadside where a pretty girl on an electric bike was looking at him.

“I’m Chen Xi,” she said, “the one who used to visit your house often when we were kids. I’ve seen the lights on at your house at night recently, so you really came back?” The girl couldn’t help but look surprised. “How did you become like this? You weren’t like this before…”

Chen Xi? Xu Zhi vaguely remembered her. “It’s because of stomach cancer,” he explained. “Hair loss, low spirits—it’s all from chemotherapy.”

“You have cancer? How could that be…” She widened her eyes, staring at Xu Zhi, and for a moment was too shocked to speak. She suddenly said, “I also got into university last year, the same one as you…”

“Congratulations.”

Xu Zhi nodded. It only just occurred to him that it must be summer vacation and she was back in her hometown for the holidays. As soon as the thought passed, Xu Zhi was eager to get back. After all, he’d been gone for half a day, and he wondered what monstrous forms those incredibly prolific insectoid species had evolved into!

He had been quite desperate before, silently waiting for death. But now, his boring life felt unknown and interesting. He was incredibly exhilarated now! Propagating species and creating life was like being on drugs, and he could entertain himself with it.

“You’re leaving?” Chen Xi didn’t stop him, her expression complicated. She pursed her lips, looking at the idol she had always strived to catch up to. He clearly looked like he was fleeing in despair; his current optimism was clearly put on. After all, he was bald! He was bald!! That sparse amount of hair, just thinking about it made her heart ache!

Chen Xi suddenly felt like the dream she had been chasing had collapsed, but they could still be friends. She shouted loudly from afar, “Hey! Come visit my house when you have time. If anything comes up, you can come over and talk to us about it.”

Xu Zhi’s head ached. Why was everyone staring at his head with mournful, nostalgic expressions? He had already explained that hair loss was a normal side effect of chemotherapy, hadn’t he? Even if the cancer wasn't cured, now that chemotherapy had stopped, he was gradually recovering, and his hair would grow back!

“Heh heh,” he thought, “it’s time to evolve a powerful species that doesn’t grow hair, and let them experience the terrifying power of baldness!” Xu Zhi scratched his head and went back into his courtyard, looking at the pond.

At this moment, another half-day had passed. After the species had crawled onto land, their terrifying reproduction speed had almost covered the entire hundred-mu miniature sandbox. The mountains were lush green, the plains were covered with strange-looking trees, and animals were swimming in the rivers.

“There are fish in freshwater now,” he observed. “Sea fish have left the saltwater and are now in freshwater rivers.”

“They’ve only evolved for ten days,” he marveled, “yet they’ve gone from single-celled organisms to this level of complex multicellularity, achieved biodiversity, and evolved an entire ecological world. Their speed of reproduction and evolution is truly terrifying.”

This was already a small sandbox ecological world. If the insectoid nest hadn’t restricted their propagation range, preventing them from leaving, they would probably cause a species invasion on Earth.

“Alright,” he thought, “now I’ll randomly pick a lucky one to subject to a mass extinction event. I’ll add gorilla and ant genes to them. Those who survive will be reborn and become the ancient insectoid ape tribe of the Paleozoic era in my courtyard sandbox…”

Xu Zhi, wearing the blue plastic shoe covers he had bought, walked into this vast hundred-mu experimental field. Along the way, he undoubtedly stepped on countless ant-sized emerald trees and animals. He paid no mind.

“This is natural selection, survival of the fittest,” he thought. “If you’re stepped on and die, it only means you’re unlucky and have been eliminated by nature.” He squatted down, silently observing each species. “I’ll select the one with the most potential to evolve into a wise ape species.”

He thought for a moment and then added, “Hmm, preferably a bald one.”