After the emergence of the Evil Eye, Felix found himself genuinely looking forward to what the players would come up with next. After all, the internet was never short on creative lunatics.
The second beta test had officially begun.
While Felix sat in the courtyard eating breakfast and preparing to send off the Three Witches, fifty new players had already passed the screening and entered the sandbox—stepping into a pitch-black void where evolution was their only path forward.
Returning veterans had logged in as well, already buzzing with discussion.
"Damn, this update is stacked. There's even opening music now!"
"Yeah, it's Beethoven's Symphony of Fate. Is this supposed to symbolize the brutal climb from a single spore up the evolutionary ladder?"
The music wasn't just in their heads—it was actually playing from speakers in the courtyard, added by Felix for immersion.
The new players clearly came prepared. The servers had opened at 5:00 a.m., and just four hours later, some had already evolved eyes. When their vision awakened, they were stunned by the vast underwater ecosystem teeming with bizarre and unfamiliar life.
"This is insane. It's full-dive VR—I can feel everything! It's like I've been transported to another world!"
"Hahaha! I feel like I'm made of gold! Every evolution, every blade of kelp I touch—it's burning six hundred thousand dollars' worth of computing power!"
What a bunch of idiots.
It doesn't cost me a dime. You're literally crawling around in my backyard.
Felix took a casual bite of his apple, sitting cross-legged in the courtyard as he gazed down at the sandbox like a feudal lord surveying his peasants.
"Go on," he muttered. "Keep working. Make more species for me."
Inside the simulation, a few players happened to glance upward—and froze.
"F*ck! I saw him—I saw the giant!"
"He's eating an apple again! Is that a hint? Maybe it unlocks a hidden spore class?"
"Don't bother. The old players tested that ages ago. Everyone who tried got squashed. This game gives way too much freedom—there are still tons of secrets we haven't even touched."
The second beta had only just begun, yet the pressure was already immense. After all, a beta tester slot was now valued at nearly six hundred thousand dollars.
Among the veterans, Akinas Speedster—the legendary forum god—refused to be overshadowed.
With the same intensity he once devoted to university exams, he buried himself in evolutionary theory: cytology, The Origin of Species, biomolecular structures, skeletal mechanics, neurotoxin evolution.
His dorm room was packed with thick biology textbooks, sourced both domestically and overseas.
Though he'd become a gaming addict in recent years, he was still a top student at a prestigious capital university. And now, he'd rediscovered the thrill of learning—only this time, it was tied directly to survival.
"First, I evolve into an arthropod and feed on plankton while growing an exoskeleton."
"Then I become a herbivore, develop an abdomen, move onto land… migrate to the swamp, and evolve a neurotoxin sac. Swamp frogs should work."
Page after page of dense notes filled his notebook—over ten pages outlining a meticulous evolutionary path.
Different environments.
Different food chains.
Different genetic branches.
The evolutionary tree sprawled outward endlessly, more complex than stars in the night sky. Calling it the most complicated science in the world wouldn't be an exaggeration—even a lifetime might not be enough to master it.
Finally, Akinas Speedster leaned back and smirked.
"The Pallbearer Chicken Plan is complete. Time to poison the boss."
Yes. He was completely serious.
The achievement system encouraged players to evolve species with "extraordinary potential," but no one really knew what that meant.
However—
If his creature could poison the giant in the courtyard?
That had to count.
Of course, the "dung creature" idea was only half a joke. The final product would look mouthwateringly delicious—while hiding lethal toxins within.
He logged in.
The interface greeted him:
"Please evolve your eyes."
The second beta had started at 5:00 a.m. More than ten hours had passed. It was already after three in the afternoon.
"Finally… success. Still a few flaws, but close enough," he muttered, exhilarated.
He had created a species resembling a fiery red rooster—beautiful, deceptively appetizing, and lethally poisonous. He stood proudly as the alpha of his flock.
"Time to teach the newbies what real power looks like. I'll poison the giant on Day One."
He opened the forums and went live.
[Akinas Speedster has officially declared his plan to take down the apple-eating giant in the courtyard to celebrate the launch of the second beta!]
The forums exploded.
Everyone knew the scale of the giant—they'd seen the footage. At best, most players could evolve something beetle-sized. Many were ant-sized. Killing the giant sounded insane.
Hands Off: "Boss, your understanding of evolution is Nobel Prize-level… and now you're challenging the final boss?!"
Cerebral Bluff: "I just evolved eyes and I'm still reading The Origin of Species! I wasn't ready for this!"
Veteran players, however, quickly caught on.
Future Skywhale: "Wait… you weren't joking about the poison? I thought it was a meme. You're really putting poison in the boss's food?"
Cute Girl Who Wants to Become a Dragon: "Holy sh*t! You actually evolved a neurotoxin species? And you named it Pallbearer Chicken?!"
More details emerged.
The plan was simple—and deranged.
He would sneak into the boss's food. Literally. The poison would be hidden inside something that looked like droppings.
Disgusting.
Brilliant.
Utterly unethical.
Glorious.
The forums roared with laughter and admiration.
Akinas Speedster posted again:
"I need a volunteer. Preferably someone willing to use their king unit, max out sensory settings, and tell me exactly what dying from the toxin feels like."
Naturally, no one volunteered personally—but plenty were willing to sacrifice members of their species.
The results were immediate.
Death was swift. Extinction followed soon after due to low population counts.
There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.
"Hahaha! Comrades, your noble sacrifices were not in vain! The poison works!"
"It's almost 4:00 p.m. The boss eats at five. Help me get to the bench—I'm sneaking into his lunchbox!"
The spectators snapped to attention.
"Let's go!"
"We're killing the final boss on Day One!"
A swarm of excited players mobilized, ready to assist in the audacious assassination.
Felix: "…"
He had been browsing the forums himself, curious about player reactions to the second beta.
And now—
He was completely stunned.
"I'm just an observer," he muttered. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"
That lunatic—Akinas Speedster—still hadn't given up on his insane dream of jumping into Felix's carefully prepared lunch…
…and poisoning him.