Shepherding Humanity

As soon as the announcement was made, the entire sandbox blew up.

Most players hadn't even made it onto land yet. They kept getting wrecked at the starting point, dying over and over again in the ocean. The few who managed to climb ashore and become amphibians had just gotten their first look at the rumored giant and started discussing him when this happened. They cursed up a storm.

Swish.

Three seconds passed, and their vision went black.

F*ck!

The players took off their VR glasses. Many of them were this close to smashing the device in fury.

They were completely unaware that this was all because they had been mouthing off in front of Xu Zhi. As the saying goes, “Ask and ye shall receive.”

Future Skywhale: Look at this! Where’s their conscience? F*cking developer, would it kill you to warn us in advance? I'm quitting! This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of game developer! I propose that we storm their company and lynch them!

Akina’s Speedster: Get used to it. This ‘casual’ game is just that hardcore. Nothing new here (?).

Hands Off: You’re threatening to quit now, but give it some time and I bet you’ll be saying: “It’s so good!” (?)

Though the beta players in the forum were berating the f*cking developer in a frenzy, their passion for the game did not diminish.

Xu Zhi looked at the lively comments.

The free labor could howl and beg all they want, but he would pay them no mind. He was an impartial and unfeeling Creator.

The group of people who wanted to play but couldn’t get an account immediately chimed in after the beta testers.

Crazy African: Guys, if it’s too hardcore for you, then let me have a go at it! I’m amnesiac and can go on for days without sleep!

Demanding Little Beauty: If you don’t need your beta tester slot, then please donate to those who do, thanks!

They felt that this was their chance and patiently waited for people to quit. They were all eagerly looking forward to playing the game

But although the beta testers made a huge fuss, they completely ignored the calls for them to quit, and started to discuss the mysterious giant. After all, he was obviously a special existence within the sandbox.

Akina’s Speedster: Guys, did you notice? This game is beginning to half-ass the plot! That giant was actually eating lunch in the yard! Unbelievable!

Hands Off: Nonsense! If this game is so hardcore and realistic, then even bosses will have to eat, and follow a set AI… We need to evolve and then defeat him!

Akina’s Speedster: It's almost impossible to beat him any time soon. But since the game is so realistic and hardcore, and he has to eat, we might have a way to take him down.

Future Skywhale: He has to eat… You mean, you're going to poison his food? But there's no poison in this game.

Akina’s Speedster: If we have no poison, then we’ll just have to make it ourselves! We little bugs should be able to evolve a lethal poison, a neurotoxin, and then self-destruct by jumping into his lunchbox and letting him eat us. This should poison the boss, and at least give him diarrhea.

Future Skywhale: GG. Such an underhanded and evil plot. I love it!

Akina’s Speedster: I'm going to go read up on neurotoxins, and the evolutionary history of scorpions, venomous insects, and snakes. I’ll evolve a species that literally looks like shit and show him our prowess! I’ll put shit in his food, and the shit will have poison in it!

Hands Off: Dude, you’re awesome!

Cute Girl who’ll become a Dragon: Incredible!

Future Skywhale: Amazing!

…..

Xu Zhi was dumbfounded.

"Bro, you’re quite courageous, aren’t you? This time, you’re actually leading an entire group against me."

Xu Zhi smiled amiably. "Why do you resent me that much? What have I ever done to you? The last time you wanted to shit on my head. Now you're actually trying to put shit in my food, shit with poison in it?"

Xu Zhi silently noted this down. Luck be with you, bro. You’re doomed.

After forcefully shutting down the "Spore Evolution" game and clearing the “Land of Genesis” of players, he brought a white, finger-sized rubber pipe into the small sandbox.

He intended to adjust the small sandbox's structure and connect it to the large sandbox.

He picked up his hoe and started digging. "Since I'm going to enter the large sandbox as a player, I'll need to bury a water pipe underground and create a pathway linking the two sandboxes."

After half an hour, he had buried a ten meters long pipe between the two sandboxes, linking them with a "Cosmic Pathway".

This was his VIP-Only passage.

Without Xu Zhi's permission, no one would be able to see it, or enter it. That included those comedians who were enthusiastically discussing how to murder him at the moment.

He then returned to his room, opened his laptop, put on his VR glasses, and used the client to register his player account: "Vengeful Creator"

He selected Start after logging into the game and was greeted with a black screen, along with a floating sensation and the message:

"Please evolve your eyes!"

After a little while, Xu Zhi finished evolving his species and stepped ashore.

"What an absurd body. I’m no different from those players." Xu Zhi looked at his body that was just as bizarre as the Evil Eye’s. He had believed that he would do better than the other players, but it was only baseless optimism in the end.

He now resembled a black, long-feathered, three-eyed crow, with two ordinary eyes and a vertical eye in the middle. It was the kind of crow that couldn't fly, and could only use its wings to glide at a low altitude for three to four meters.

Although Xu Zhi was reluctant to admit it, this species was indeed a complete failure. In the large sandbox, it wouldn't survive natural selection, and would surely go extinct.

Xu Zhi couldn't help but ask: "Hive Mind, this crow and the eyeball monster are equally ugly, and the uglier they are, the stronger they are, right? Does this species have the same potential as the Evil Eye?"

The Tyranis Hive Mind quickly shot him down. "According to my calculations, the probability that it would gain supernatural abilities is extremely low. This is simply a deformed species. A failed product of evolution."

You're overdoing it!

Xu Zhi felt wronged.

But when he thought about it, this was only natural. Every life form was special and unique. The Evil Eye was a miraculous life form that had been born from a series of coincidences that was difficult to replicate.

"However, I’m not asking for much. I just need my species to be able to move." He recovered his composure and entered the secret passage between the two sandboxes.

After a long journey through the dark Cosmic Pathway, light gradually appeared in front of him. When he came back to his senses, he was in a vibrant and dense forest. The trees grew closely together, and the ground was green with undergrowth. Frightening beasts roared in the distance as they chased after prey. The scene was that of a glorious and vast primordial forest in the Paleozoic era.

"I've finally managed to enter my own sandbox. Congratulations are in order."

Xu Zhi has already looked at the terrain from a bird’s eye perspective and knew where to go. He lifted his bird claws and swaggered in the direction of the Babylonian tribe.