While Zhou Qi’an was eagerly declaring his resolve, a burly veteran player whispered to the young girl beside him, “Sis, when it’s time to push someone out as a meat shield, make sure you consider him last.”
Someone acting this much like a monster was obviously paranoid, twisted, and not easily taken down.
Besides, for everyone else it was a multiple-choice question; for Zhou Qi’an, it was a race to hit the buzzer. Dismantling a rice cooker? Anyone with hands could do it.
Mr. Si exaggeratedly blinked his red eyes, urging the remaining two newbies for their answers.
The college student didn’t hesitate. His teacher had shown him a mountain of grace, so he firmly shook his head.
Then it was the middle-aged man’s turn. He had built his fortune entirely on the staunch support of an old friend. After running into him at the airport recently, he had even planned to repay the favor by giving him shares. Who could have expected that after a sudden fog, he’d inexplicably end up in this place?
Having spent too long navigating the treacherous waters of vanity and profit, and under Mr. Si’s suffocatingly close stare, he opened his mouth.
“A smart choice.”
By the time he realized he had actually said “I accept,” the middle-aged man lowered his head in shame.
Mr. Si broke into a wide grin, said “Very good,” and vanished with a snap of his fingers.
The middle-aged man looked around anxiously. “Where did he go? Where’s that rabbit?”
“So annoying,” a veteran player said, picking at his ear. “Just wait.”
“Will my friend…” The middle-aged man desperately wanted to confirm the consequences of his choice. Seeing him fussing endlessly, the veteran shrugged nonchalantly. “Every staff member gives out different little perks based on their questions. As for what your choice will actually bring, who knows?”
Another veteran sneered, “Good and bad are always relative.”
The sound of wheels interrupted him. An eye-catching bus shaped like a giant rabbit head came speeding toward them, drifting violently around the bend with a sharp screech of tires before slamming to a halt right beside them.
Mr. Si’s terrifying rabbit head popped out. “Get on.”
The veteran players boarded with practiced ease, and the newbies followed suit.
The bus was full of empty seats, yet no one wanted to sit near Zhou Qi’an. Compared to his eager answer, even the middle-aged man’s struggle showed a glimmer of humanity.
Zhou Qi’an was happy to have the space. People were always bullies who feared the strong. If this were a situation requiring teamwork, he would definitely play the harmless, hard-working fool. But the way those veterans had looked at them earlier wasn’t exactly friendly; establishing a vicious, ruthless persona right now was highly necessary. Subconsciously, they would guard against him harming them, rather than plotting to harm him.
“Where are we going?” the college student asked timidly.
A veteran player proactively moved closer to explain. “Just like playing a game, we’re entering a dungeon instance now.”
Businessmen always go straight for the core interests. The middle-aged man hurriedly asked, “Earlier he said it was our honor to be selected. Where exactly is the honor in this?”
The veteran asked a seemingly irrelevant question. “What are the ancestors of humanity?”
“Nuwa?”
The veteran shot him a look.
The middle-aged man smiled awkwardly. “Apes.”
The veteran remained silent.
“There’s another theory,” Zhou Qi’an suddenly spoke up. “Fish are the common ancestors of humanity.”
The veteran nodded. “Then you must have also heard that with rising global temperatures, the Earth will eventually turn into an ocean.”
Zhou Qi’an: “There are rumors like that.”
“They aren’t rumors,” the veteran said solemnly. “The global environment is rapidly deteriorating. We are about to usher in the true Age of Water. Only New Humans have the priority right to survive, and players are the chosen ones.”
Speaking of being “chosen,” his expression turned somewhat arrogant, though it was quickly swallowed by his fear of the instances. Amidst this contradiction, he paused. “With every instance completed, your bodily organs can evolve, until you completely become a New Human.”
This completely overturned Zhou Qi’an’s worldview. He opened his mouth to speak, but a bus ticket suddenly appeared out of thin air in his hand.
Mr. Si, sitting in the driver’s seat, announced, “Hand it back when you get off.”
The front of the ticket depicted the grand gates of a mysterious underwater world, with exaggerated text printed across it: New World.
Turning it over, Zhou Qi’an found dense, neat little characters on the back: Please select an evolutionary direction ( ).
- Heart, Lungs, Brain (Note: The brain requires multiple consecutive selections to fully evolve)
- Skin, Blood Vessels, Liver
- Stomach, Intestines, Kidneys, Spleen
- Teeth, Eyes, Tailbone
- Other (Please specify)Tip: Advanced organs often require two (or more) evolutions.
Undoubtedly, the brain was the most troublesome.
At this point, a veteran player bit his fingertip, smiling as he warned before making his choice: “The higher up the list the option is, the harder the game difficulty for the player. Picking the heart straight away is certain death.”
He wasn’t acting out of kindness; if the newbies’ personal quest difficulty was too high, they would probably get killed off right at the start before they could even serve as meat shields.
The middle-aged man immediately asked, “Then what if I select ‘Other’ and write down evolving my appendix?”
His appendix had been removed ages ago. Wouldn’t the game difficulty be zero?
The female player sitting behind him sneered. “There’s no upper limit to the difficulty, but there is a lower limit. Feel free to try.”
Before evolving into a New Human, one had to continuously enter instances. Even the simplest instance hid fatal dangers; choosing something too easy offered absolutely no cost-effectiveness.
Zhou Qi’an looked thoughtful. “Do all of these have to finish evolving before you’re considered a New Human?”
“Of course not. For example, successfully evolving your lungs might automatically trigger the evolution of your skin,” the female player said, a trace of longing in her voice. “Simply put, evolving a primary organ gives a chance for secondary and tertiary vital organs to follow suit. The same applies down the line. However, everyone’s situation is different. The more advanced your initial evolutionary species direction is, the more advantageous it is.”
“Initial evolutionary species direction?”
The female player lost her patience. “You’ll know soon enough.” She bit her finger like the previous veteran and started writing, covering her answer.
Zhou Qi’an followed suit, writing down his choice. The moment the blood slightly congealed, a voice echoed in his mind:
[Instance entrance has closed.]
“Congratulations on successfully selecting your evolutionary direction for this instance. Loading player attributes…”
[Name: Zhou Qi’an
Initial Species Evolutionary Direction: Whale
Currently Evolved Organs: Not a damn hair.]
Bzz bzz—
A strange static noise made Zhou Qi’an’s head split with pain. Noticing this, a veteran player flashed a look of contempt. Players encountering the game panel for the first time were usually surprised, but it was rare to see someone scared to this extent. He was even worse than the college student; was he just a paper tiger?
After the static, the text on the panel changed:
[Currently Evolved Organs: Hair (Absolutely useless??); Eyes (Powerful night vision, certain probability to see through monster disguises)]
[Skill Talent 1: Speed (Current 100-meter dash speed rivals the top ten in the city)
Evaluation: One-Second Man. Sooner or later, you’ll be a man so fast you’re measured in seconds.]
[Skill Talent 2: Poison resistance, excellent drug tolerance.
Evaluation: Dalang, they can’t poison you to death.]
Bullshit. Zhou Qi’an cursed expressionlessly in his mind. I last a very long time.
[Second Talent: Predator
Ever heard of big fish eating little fish? Because you ruthlessly chose to sacrifice your bride, you have a very small probability of plundering energy to complete your own evolution when other creatures die.
Friendly Reminder: The more intimate the dying entity is to you, the higher the success rate of the plunder.]
[Trait: …]
However, before the trait could fully load, the word “Hair” that Zhou Qi’an had previously written on his ticket vanished.
Exploiting the loophole failed.
He had originally guessed that his strange silver-blue hair was a type of evolution. Sure enough, already evolved organs could not be filled in on the ticket.
After a brief thought, Zhou Qi’an had to pick another body part.
When he looked up again, everyone else had long since made their choices. The female player gave the college student a wink, asking what evolutionary direction he chose. Getting no answer, she shrugged. “Veterans keep it a secret because they’re afraid of being isolated if they pick a high-difficulty organ evolution. What does a newbie like you have to be afraid of?”
It was the truth. After all, they were operating in the same instance. If someone chose the heart, let alone trying to harm them, the other players would probably automatically stay ten meters away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. A new player wouldn’t make such a choice.
“I-I chose hair.”
“The most useless part. The danger level won’t be too high.”
The college student hadn’t given up hope—who doesn’t have a little fantasy? “Is hair really of no use at all?”
Among the three veterans, the most silent one suddenly sneered. “Plenty of people evolved hair, and they all ended up bald in the end.”
“!! What!”
“We’re all evolving toward marine life. Have you ever seen a marine animal with hair?”
The college student muttered, “Humpback whales do.” And some other marine life had quite abundant fur.
The veteran was dismissive. “Even if they do, it doesn’t play much of a role. Furthermore, ‘fur’ is a collective term for skin and hair, not a single evolutionary direction.”
At the mention of whales, everyone perked up a bit.
“There’s a saying out there: ‘A whale fall sustains a myriad of creatures,'” the female player said, admiring her freshly done nails. “Word is, if you kill a player with whale attributes, you can reap immense benefits.” She lowered her hand, sighing with regret. “Unfortunately, to date, I’ve never heard of any player whose initial species evolutionary direction was a whale.”
Zhou Qi’an’s eyelid twitched slightly. Thankfully, no one was sitting near him to observe his expression.
Right at that moment, the previously incomplete [Trait] re-emerged.
[Trait: Affinity to Humans 100%
Note: Dolphins are also a type of whale. They frequently show sympathy and offer assistance to humans in danger.]
The other players were still discussing hunting whales. Zhou Qi’an chuckled dryly in his heart. They want to kill you, and you save them? How pathetic is that? And besides, why didn’t he feel any particular goodwill toward humanity?
Midway through the discussion, the taciturn veteran coldly stated, “There won’t be any in the future, either.”
Zhou Qi’an made his voice hoarse, feigning curiosity. “Why not?”
Surprisingly, it was Mr. Si who answered. “For balance, of course.” The red eyes stared at the players through the rearview mirror, a terrifying smile blooming on his face. “The more powerful the species, the more terrifying the player’s late-stage skill talents. Big fish eat little fish. The whale is unequivocally one of the overlords of the ocean.”
The veteran nodded in agreement. “The game emphasizes fairness. It’s impossible to assign such an evolutionary direction.”
The female player crossed her legs. “Who knows? The Whaler Association spreads rumors as if they were facts. They firmly believe they exist, and even believe that players with this evolutionary direction can autonomously evolve before even entering an instance.”
Zhou Qi’an: “…”
Spot on. Also, damn this association.
His sudden silence drew a side-glance from the female player, who asked suspiciously, “What are you thinking about?”
Zhou Qi’an stared blankly ahead. “I was just wondering, did the whale come first, or the Whaler Association?”
The female player’s mouth twitched.
I think it’s your brain that’s sick first.
She then asked the college student if he had awakened any skill talents. The college student looked completely lost.
“When a species’ evolutionary direction leans toward advanced marine life, it activates a certain talent right at the start, though it might not be very strong.”
The regret on the college student’s face was answer enough.
The middle-aged man suddenly beamed with joy. “I have a talent for building houses.”
To his disappointment, the veteran players showed no reaction. The female player guessed his species direction was likely a beaver; this type of species was quite specific but not particularly powerful, just having very obvious characteristics.
The bus suddenly sped up, and Zhou Qi’an fastened his seatbelt. The world outside was sometimes shrouded in white fog, sometimes pitch black, passing through an underwater tunnel and an abandoned hospital. After a long journey, the driver slammed on the brakes.
Mr. Si’s magnetic voice rang out: “We’ve arrived.”
Everyone stood up one after another, handing back their tickets in sequence before disembarking. In front of Mr. Si, no one dared to peek at anyone else’s answers, nor did they dare to linger.
Hair.
Ears.
As Mr. Si browsed the choices on the tickets, he finally showed a hint of interest when he saw [Blood Vessels].
He kept reading.
Teeth.
Stomach.
…
Suddenly, Mr. Si’s gaze paused.
—Toes.
He looked again to make sure he hadn’t misread.
What the hell?
He had been leading groups for so many years and had never seen anyone evolve this. Who was this sick in the head?
Mr. Si sniffed the scent of blood, tracing it back to its source. Finally, he turned his head just in time to see Zhou Qi’an striding down the steps, the bitten wound on his hand not yet healed.
Stepping off the final stair, Zhou Qi’an wore a solemn expression as he planned his strategy. In an instant, you didn’t necessarily have to win a fight, but you absolutely had to be able to run away. Starting from his toes, he was going to work his way up to his legs, his waist, his lung capacity… maxing out his extreme speed advantage to become the man with the most developed limbs!
__
Author’s Note:
Zhou Qi’an: Be the extreme man, enjoy a normal life.
