The Spark of a Dying Fire

A renowned evolutionary theorist once said:

In nature, most animals openly display their reproductive organs to attract mates. But in sentient species, the opposite is true. The first emotion they develop is shame—an instinct to cover themselves before the opposite sex.

At first glance, it sounds absurd.

The very first thing a sentient species does… is put on underwear?

Covering one's genitals offers no evolutionary advantage. On the contrary, it suppresses reproductive urges and hinders population growth.

According to the laws of natural selection, any species that resists reproduction should be weeded out.

Yet intelligence is a strange anomaly. It leads to countless exceptions that defy the logic of survival—like the human race.

Xu Zhi understood this unpredictability all too well. That's why he had stopped accelerating the Tyranis evolution by 10,000x. Sentience couldn't emerge under such unnatural conditions.

He wanted something real. Something gradual.

He hoped that if he waited long enough, true intelligence would emerge on its own. That it would forge civilization, rewrite rules, and offer unexpected brilliance.

And now, it had.

"Shame is the first sign of sentience. I've done it," Xu Zhi murmured, peering through his binoculars.

Below, the Bugapes were awkwardly tying strips of grass around their waists—just enough to cover their privates. It was primitive. Inefficient. But it meant something.

Xu Zhi grinned. "Not long ago, they were still screaming 'Baldy! Baldy!' at me. Now look at them... They've started building language. Culture. Civilization. Much less irritating. Not bad at all."

But they were dying.

They were hopelessly outmatched.

Even though Xu Zhi had selected the best genetic foundation for them, evolving the Bugapes had taken two full days of trial and error. In the Sandbox, that equated to twenty thousand years of real time. By the time the Bugapes returned, the world had moved on without them.

Their ancient genes couldn't keep up. They lacked the tools, instincts, and biological upgrades to survive in a world that had evolved for millennia beyond them.

Only the rich ecosystem of the great canyon Xu Zhi had chosen for them kept them alive this long.

He lowered the binoculars and sighed.

"Maybe... maybe I interfered too early. This species wasn't meant to appear yet."

In real history, humans emerged long after the extinction of the dinosaurs. By then, the world was safer. The largest predators were mere big cats. That gave mankind time to craft tools, to make fire, to think.

But here in the Sandbox, it was a different story.

This was still the violent Jurassic. Ten-meter-tall beasts roamed freely. Survival was brutal. The Bugapes had no time to evolve, no time to grow wise.

Intelligence needs knowledge. And knowledge takes generations.

The Bugapes didn't have generations.

"I can't just sit back and watch them go extinct."

With a quiet resolve, Xu Zhi turned away, walked into his room, and flipped open his laptop. He connected to the Wi-Fi, opened Taobao, and began placing orders.

"Looks like I'll have to be the one to give them fire. Civilization needs a spark, after all."

He closed the lid with a click.

"I chose express shipping. It should arrive in about a day and a half. If they can't survive that long…" He shrugged. "Then maybe they weren't meant to survive at all."

That afternoon, he rode his bicycle through the countryside. The sun was warm, the air fresh. He greeted the locals, exchanged smiles, and even ran into Chen Xi.

She was just as talkative as he remembered. The girl chatted endlessly, and Xu Zhi didn't mind. Her company was a pleasant distraction—though her true intent couldn't have been more obvious. She stared at him with the sharp eyes of a detective, subtly probing with every sentence. Was he really Xu Zhi? Had something changed?

She even asked to visit his home.

Naturally, he refused.

God forbid she wandered into the Sandbox and wiped out a whole species by accident.

Would he cry? Probably.

The next morning, after a light jog and a quick shower, Xu Zhi returned to find two packages waiting for him.

Right on time.

The first package contained a miniature potted juniper tree.

The second held a custom-made item from Taobao—a sword. Exquisitely forged, little bigger than a toothpick, made from high-grade metal alloys, and decorated with elegant etchings. It gleamed like a relic from a lost age.

By now, a day and a half had passed in real time.

In the Sandbox, that meant one hundred and fifty years.

And the Bugapes were on the brink.

Their numbers had dwindled to almost nothing. They were fighting extinction with tooth and nail.

Xu Zhi stood up and headed to the courtyard. "Stop acceleration. Return the time flow to normal."

In the southern reaches of Mesopotamia, the Bugapes clung to life.

They lived in a great valley filled with fruit trees and edible plants. The nearby Tigris river teemed with fish, and for a time, their primitive tools and courage had been enough.

But now, that wasn't enough.

The village lay in ruins. Corpses littered the ground. Their thatch huts had been smashed to pieces.

"Run! Run! The Arrah are coming!"

Bugape warriors with thick black hair and tough, armored joints stood their ground. Their bodies resembled upright chimps clad in bone armor. Their enemies were swift and cunning—black-scaled raptors with razor talons.

With crude clubs made from horned beasts, the warriors charged, shouting for the women and children to flee.

"We must survive!"

But the women didn't scream or cry. They just ran, blank-eyed and expressionless, as if following instinct rather than hope.

The battle was a massacre.

Bugape warriors were ripped to shreds. Blood soaked the earth. The air reeked of fear and iron.

Xu Zhi watched from above, expression solemn.

Beside him, the Hive Mind offered its cold observation:

"The Tyranis are prolific. Most species are just cannon fodder… unless they ascend."

"Ascend?" Xu Zhi raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"To break free of the cycle. To awaken."

The Hive Mind's voice was even and distant.

"Among the billions of Tyranis seeded across the galaxy, a rare few unlock their genetic locks. These become Tyranis Heroes—able to reshape their bodies, rewrite their genes, and evolve by will instead of chance. These chosen few rise above the masses and lead their kind to greatness."

Xu Zhi nodded slowly.

Of course. The Hive Mother couldn't manage an entire race alone. The upper echelon needed leaders—Tyranis Heroes to bear the weight of civilization.

Passive evolution was brutal. It required countless deaths. The Bluemoon Grass, for example, only survived by outlasting the deaths of millions of lesser plants before it could absorb moonlight.

But heroes… they shaped their own fate.

"Do you think one of the Bugapes could become a hero?" Xu Zhi asked, half-laughing. "A Bugape Hero?"

The Hive Mind paused. "It's possible. The Bugapes carry unique traits. After assimilating monkey DNA, their genetic profile shifted. Now, they carry both instinct and potential. A rare mix."

Xu Zhi smiled faintly. "Good. Then let's see what they can do."

He stepped forward.

Boom. Boom.

The ground trembled beneath his feet.

In the primeval forest, beasts fled in panic. Trees shattered. Rivers reversed their course. Entire mountains crumbled beneath the weight of a god.

Those who didn't run fast enough were flattened into pulp—lifeless chunks of red meat.

Xu Zhi stepped again.

Another forest fell.

The Arrah, still feeding on Bugape corpses, didn't even have time to react before a shadow swallowed them whole and their world ended beneath a single footfall.

Xu Zhi marched.

Toward the survivors. Toward the future.

"Oh my god!" one Bugape screamed, eyes wide with terror.

"What is that thing?! It's… it's a thousand times bigger than the great beast Fenba!"

"It crushed the Arrah like ants! We can't even see its head—it pierces the clouds!"

They dropped to their knees, trembling.

From below, Xu Zhi looked like a walking continent. A titan of unimaginable scale. A god made flesh.

He looked down at them—these trembling, grass-wearing, terrified creatures—and wondered.

What do they see when they look at me?

They were so small, they couldn't even match a centimeter of his boot.

And yet, in their eyes, he was divine.

Xu Zhi said nothing.

After all, what god answers the cries of ants?