Chapter Thirty-Five: Advance!
“Good grief, he’s turned an evolution exploration game into a horror escape run.”
“Anyone remember how many times Old Demon Li has died now?”
“Thirty-seven times. I recorded it, will post it in the group later.”
Watching the comments streaming across the screen, Li Shan’s expression darkened.
Fair-weather fans, the lot of them.
He cursed inwardly, then said, “Alright, I’ve pretty much figured out this game. Watch how I clear it in one go as a herbivore.”
“Here he goes again. Isn’t this the ninth time you’ve said that?”
“This game seems interesting. I’m going to give it a try.”
“I remember I only died about ten times before making it to stage eight. Old Demon here must be rusty.”
“He’s playing as a carnivore, you’re a herbivore—how can you compare?”
Li Shan ignored the barrage of comments. Instead, with a thought, he opened [Evolution].
Seeing this, his fans teased him even more.
“Wake up, Old Demon—you're out of gene points.”
“You only get them by killing creatures. Play as a carnivore first, then come back to challenge the herbivore mode. Watching you get slaughtered over and over is just sad.”
“I keep telling you all, I already know the correct way to play this game. Why won’t anyone believe me?”
Li Shan sighed.
When he first entered the initial stage, he’d noticed other features in his field of view.
All those deaths before were only because he was trying to get the lay of the land.
Now that he understood the mechanics, it was time to show some real skill.
[Prompt: Insufficient gene points. Would you like to purchase more?]
The prompt appeared. Li Shan saw that one yuan would buy ten gene points.
And twenty points were enough to unlock [Evolution].
“Quite cheap, actually. Let’s start with ten bucks.”
He made the comment, then purchased the points.
His fans, watching the livestream, had never seen this kind of pay-to-win mechanic before, and immediately the chat blew up.
“No way! You can do that?”
“I swear, you couldn’t buy gene points during the trial.”
“Wait, if you can just buy gene points, why did Old Demon wait until now? Does he like suffering?”
“I went through so much pain to grind out twenty points, and now Old Demon just drops ten bucks for a hundred points? Unfair! Why couldn’t the devs allow this earlier? I suffered for nothing.”
“E-sports is blind to eyesight. I bet Old Demon only just noticed [Evolution], or else he’d have paid up ages ago.”
With the chat growing more excitable, Li Shan didn’t bother to argue. Instead, he said, “Let’s try it with just twenty points first. It says there’s a chance of failure—I wonder what the odds are.”
As he spoke, he clicked to begin [Evolution].
At that moment, the surrounding waters began to ripple at high frequency, as if time itself had sped up.
At the same time, a line of text appeared before him.
[You have initiated Evolution]
[Your species cannot adapt to its current perception]
[In the darkness of the deep]
[You crave a keener sense for detecting danger]
[Driven by this intense desire, you evolve...]
[Vibration-Sensing Tentacles (Rare)]
[Evolution successful]
[Your species can now gauge danger through vibrations]
Seeing how easily he had succeeded, Li Shan was momentarily stunned, then quickly recovered and laughed. “No surprises here—first try’s a win. Seems the odds for [Evolution] are pretty good.”
As he spoke, he spent another twenty gene points to try again.
But—
[You have initiated Evolution]
[Your species cannot overcome its slowness]
[They struggle to swim faster...]
[But never quite get the hang of it]
[Evolution failed]
[No new genes evolved]
Li Shan was not surprised at the failure.
If it succeeded every time, that would be strange.
He kept going.
[No new genes evolved]
[No new genes evolved] x2
“…”
“Haha, Chieftain, are we sure we’re in the right star sector? The Summer Star games might be too advanced for you.”
“Old Demon looking for a new nickname? Four failures in a row—that’s absurd.”
“Thought that first success was luck? That’s the developer’s pity mechanic. I slogged through hundreds of points and didn’t get a thing.”
Seeing the comments, Li Shan cleared his throat. “Just testing, just testing. Looks like a single twenty-point try rarely works. Let’s up the ante.”
He thought for a moment, then topped up a hundred bucks.
A thousand gene points—surely enough to get a few successes.
[Prompt: Spend 100 gene points to initiate evolution?]
“Do it.”
[You have initiated Evolution]
...
[No new genes evolved]
Li Shan frowned and tried again, this time upping it to two hundred points.
[You have initiated Evolution]
...
[You have evolved...]
[Chameleon Skin (Rare)]
[You can now blend into your surroundings more easily and avoid attacks from other creatures]
“Looks like two hundred gene points is a safe bet,” Li Shan said, throwing another two hundred points in and continuing to evolve.
[No new genes evolved] x4
“Old Demon Li: Do you know what it means to get slapped in the face at the speed of light?”
“These odds are pretty low. Old Demon, please test how many points guarantee a success.”
“I want to see more of the game—hurry up!”
After burning through his points, Li Shan recharged again, his face dark.
“I’m not giving up until I’ve drained every gene from this game. Then I’ll keep playing.”
He reopened the recharge screen and dropped a thousand bucks.
“Baller!”
“Calm down, Old Demon! Couldn’t you buy a feast for a thousand bucks?”
“Exactly, don’t take this lying down—go all in!”
“Old Demon, how about some regular gameplay? We can’t afford to play like a tycoon.”
“As long as it’s fun to watch—keep going!”
Some comments hyped him up, others tried to talk him down.
He glanced at the chat, then looked away.
A thousand bucks should be enough to extract every gene in this game.
If not, he’d just top up a little more—it wouldn’t cost that much.
“Time to show off some real skill! Everyone, get ready to spam 666!”
After hyping up the chat, Li Shan began evolving again.
This time, he set the amount to 500 points.
And then—
[No new genes evolved] x19
[You have evolved...]
[Cannon Claw (Rare)]
Li Shan: ...
Did the developers set these numbers with their feet?
A thousand bucks!
For just one success!
Do you think that’s reasonable?
Absolutely not!