Chapter 2: Evolution

If there is anything different today than usual, it is only this sudden appearance of the handheld game console.

"Is it because of you?"

The girl looked at the black and white handheld game console in her hand, thought for a moment, and decided to do an experiment.

The experiment was simple. She would not take any food or medicine tonight.

This would be a very dangerous thing under normal circumstances. After all, her health is so poor that she will not be able to support herself if she stops taking the medicine or does not take in nutrition.

But, things have come to this point. If the current stability is just an illusion and the game console cannot bring her vitality, then it will only prolong her survival for a few more days.

Thinking of this, Xu Zhi no longer took his medicine at the regular time as usual, but took out the textbook left by his brother and started reading.

It’s not that she is so thirsty for knowledge, but she doesn’t know what to do without reading.

Two hours passed quickly, and the alarm clock rang. Xu Zhi looked up from his book in a daze.

".Is it time now?"

She looked a little bit unbelievable. She had never been so focused before. In the past, even when she was reading, she would always be interrupted by the discomfort coming from her body. She couldn't concentrate for a long time at all.

And, until this moment, she still had not felt hungry.

“It really changed.”

As Xu Zhi muttered to himself, his eyes, which had seemed somewhat dead, slowly regained their luster.

In any case, since there was suddenly an extra chance of survival, she naturally had to seize it. She didn't want to care what this game console was or whether it would pose any danger to her future. She only knew that without this game console, she might not even have a future.

Xu Zhi is not afraid of death, but he doesn't want to die.

She suppressed her excitement and picked up the game console again. The two-hour cooldown was over, and all she had to do now was continue playing the game.

When I entered the game, I found that the cooldown time had indeed expired and the option to advance appeared on the screen again.

Xu Zhi controlled the little snake to wander around for a while. This time her luck was pretty good. In less than half an hour, she had collected ten evolution points.

[Current Evolution Points: 10/10]

[Upgrade conditions have been met, do you want to upgrade? ]

[Note: Upgrading from Lv1 to Lv2 takes 10 seconds, and the family member will lose consciousness within 10 seconds.]

[Please choose: 1. Upgrade on the spot, 2. Find a hidden location and upgrade]

“10 seconds.”

Xu Zhi hesitated for a moment, but decided to find a hidden place first.

The brief comfort of the game and the short number of 10 seconds did not paralyze her or make her let her guard down. She did not forget the prompts when she entered the game.

The little snake quickly found a tree hole and crawled into it. Then the evolution began, and a ten-second progress bar appeared in the center of the screen.

Ten seconds passed in a flash.

【Evolution Completed】

Snake: Lv2

Spirit: 3

Flesh: 10

Attributes: None

Trait: Toxin Lv1

On the screen, the evolved little snake shed its skin and slowly crawled out of the tree hole. Xu Zhi could see that its body had grown visibly larger, and its body was much longer than before. More importantly, in its open mouth, its two fangs were faintly flashing green light, as if showing Xu Zhi its new weapon.

Moreover, he didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Xu Zhi felt that even his body had subtly become more relaxed.

Because of her heart disease, she often felt very tired, her body felt heavy, she had difficulty breathing, her heartbeat was abnormal, and she had a constant feeling of dizziness. Now that the little snake had completed its evolution, although her other symptoms had not been alleviated, she felt that her body did not seem to be so heavy anymore.

Xu Zhi's eyes flickered slightly. With the previous experiments, she didn't think this was a coincidence.

Maybe this game can really change her body.

Therefore, Xu Zhi's desire to upgrade became urgent. However, when her eyes moved to the lower left corner and saw the points needed for the next upgrade, she felt a little distressed.

[Current Evolution Points: 0/50]

Demand has quintupled.

It took her nearly three hours to earn ten evolution points. How long would it take her to play the game to get fifty points?

The game seemed to understand her distress, and a line of subtitles gradually appeared.

[As your level increases, your clan becomes more powerful than before, but that is only compared to itself. In this world, it is still a creature too small to be worth mentioning.]

[An unknown fear urged it on. Even though it hadn't yet developed any intelligence, it vaguely sensed that it had to accelerate its evolution.]

[Please choose: 1. Continue hunting here, 2. Find stronger prey, but this also means risks come with it.]

Xu Zhi hadn't played games much, so she didn't quite understand the concept of "Novice Village", but she also vaguely felt that the previous risk-free hunting was indeed a bit too comfortable, and it was not at all like the world full of dangers described in the text.

She might be able to safely collect fifty evolution points by staying here, but she felt an inexplicable sense of urgency as she looked at the text on the screen. Perhaps she had to take some risks.

"Pick 2."

After pressing the select button, the little snake on the screen began to crawl as if it had received some kind of instruction, and Xu Zhi also found that not only its size, but also the range it could see had become wider.

If the range was only about 7 meters before, it is now about 20 meters.

This time, the little snake swam for a long time before finding a target.

Your clan has made a discovery.

[It was a wounded eagle, one of its wings was broken and its eye seemed to be injured as well]

[But even so, it is still the natural enemy of snakes]

[Injured eagles are rare, so this seems like an opportunity. However, this opportunity comes with a huge risk. If successful, a large amount of evolution points will be gained.]

[Please select: 1. Hunt, 2. Leave]

This was the first time that a risky hunt had occurred, which made Xu Zhi feel conflicted for a while, not knowing how to make a decision, until another line of words appeared on the screen.

[You should probably make a decision quickly. The injured eagle will attract more than one hunter, and its wounds are slowly healing.]

"heal?"

Xu Zhi was a little surprised. Was it because she had never studied biology that she didn't understand?

Is it possible to heal such a serious injury?

However, seeing the urging of the game subtitles, Xu Zhi gritted her teeth and no longer hesitated. She chose to hunt instead of leaving.

This seems inconsistent with her previous caution, but it is not. Most of the time, her outward appearance is silent, small and cautious, but she has lived under oppression for many years with this weak body but has not become a lamb. Instead, she still has a strong sense of self and even has more paranoid thoughts than ordinary people. This is enough to show that Xu Zhi is not a timid person.

She would pick up the suspicious game console on the ground and naturally make risky choices. She hesitated only because she had only fantasized about it before and had never really had the opportunity to make such a choice herself.

It took her half a minute to adjust.

The girl stared at the little snake on the screen. After she gave the order, the little snake began to execute it without hesitation. It slowly and quietly cast its hunter's eyes on the eagle, which was once its natural enemy. Then it found a suitable opportunity and attacked the eagle like lightning from the grass.

Possessing toxins, the little snake does not need to fight with the eagle. It only needs to find an opportunity to release its toxins to protect itself from eagle's sharp claws and beak before the eagle is paralyzed or killed by the toxins.

But this task alone was a bit too difficult for a small snake.

Xu Zhi watched the little black snake on the screen being torn apart by the eagle's claws, with several holes pecked in its body by its sharp beak. It even lost its agility and was chased and torn apart by the injured eagle several times. However, until the eagle's movements gradually became stiff and it even fell to the ground completely, the little snake did not die under the fierce attack.

Seeing that the eagle was completely dead, the seriously injured little snake greedily slid towards the eagle's body. It opened its mouth and swallowed the eagle's body, which was much larger than its own size, into its stomach. Then, its body swelled up visibly.

Seeing this scene, Xu Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he realize that he was so nervous that he held his breath at the end.

Before she could be surprised by the little snake's "devouring" ability, which was even more bizarre than what she had seen in the biology book, subtitles appeared on the game screen again.

Thanks to its upgraded physique, your clan managed to secure victory, but it also sustained significant injuries. It's unlikely it will be able to hunt again until it recovers.

But the good news is that evolution can make wounds heal quickly.

[Current Evolution Points: 100/50]

[Upgrade conditions have been met, do you want to upgrade? ]

[Note: Upgrading from Lv2 to Lv3 takes 30 seconds, and the family member will lose consciousness within 30 seconds.]

[Please choose: 1. Upgrade on the spot, 2. Find a hidden location and upgrade]

Xu Zhi chose 2 without hesitation.

The little snake was already seriously injured. If it encountered any creature attracted by the eagle or the noise caused by the fight between the two during its evolution, it would be easily killed.

It took some time to find a hidden place this time, but fortunately, evolution took less time, and soon Xu Zhi achieved the results of his bold choice.

【Evolution Completed】

Snake: Lv3

Spirit: 5

Flesh: 20

Attributes: None

Traits: Toxin Lv2, Sharpness Lv1]

In the picture, the black snake's body size has grown again, its teeth seem to be sharper, and the visual distance has increased to about 50 meters, but Xu Zhi is more concerned about the changes in his own body.

This time, she felt more clearly that her body was really getting better as the little snake upgraded.

Her breathing became smoother, and the "hand" that seemed to be slightly pinching her lungs and making it difficult for her to breathe disappeared.

She had never felt that breathing was so easy.

An expression of joy uncontrollably appeared on the girl's face. If she continued, she would definitely become a healthy person.

No.

Xu Zhi's expression changed slightly, and her eyes became sharp. Not only that, she wanted more than just a healthy body.

Perhaps it was the game that fed her ambition, or perhaps it was the sense of crisis brought to her by this dead city. What she wanted was not an ordinary person's body, but a powerful body that surpassed human limits and allowed her to live freely here.

Xu Zhi let out a breath. In order to achieve her goal, she had to be more clear-headed when making choices.

Just as Xu Zhi was about to continue the game, an empty knock on the door suddenly gave her goosebumps.

——Knock knock knock

It was just an ordinary knock on the door, but it wasn't a sound that should have happened!

The girl's hand holding the game console froze, then she slowly turned her head to look at the door, her brain working rapidly, wondering who would knock on her door at this time?

The answer is: No.

No one would do that because all the neighbors had left and she didn't know any friends would come back to see her.

So, who's knocking at the door?

(End of this chapter)