003. Evolution or Simulation?

Lu Wu was utterly exasperated, darting madly through the air, his rapid flight tracing out a string of expletives.

"Damn it, you tricked me!"

"What is this? This isn’t a human body, is it? Is this a metal model?"

The female sage frowned in confusion. "Metal model? This is a human body. It’s just that my physical form is a bit..."

"Have you ever heard the saying 'a frog in a well sees only the sky above'? It means a toad living in a well thinks the well’s opening is the whole sky... Forget it, you’re just a little bug, it’s normal to be ignorant."

Lu Wu’s mindset was on the verge of collapse. I’m a well-educated youth of the twenty-first century—how could I not know the difference between flesh and iron?

The female sage continued, "For such a minuscule insect, you possess remarkable intelligence. You understand speech and written language."

"I thought you were quite unique..."

"My body is that of a sage. Not to mention you—even a Sovereign’s weapon couldn’t harm me."

"I thought you, a strange little beast with odd laws swirling around you, might be able to pierce my skin. It seems I overestimated you."

A sage’s body? A Sovereign’s weapon?

Lu Wu circled in the air and said, "Your skin is simply too thick. Find a thinner spot and let me try—I want to try your backside."

The female sage sneered, "Try it, and I’ll slaughter you."

"I’ll skin you alive... Though you may not have much skin, I can still slice off your backside."

She paused, then hesitated, "Would you like to cultivate?"

Lu Wu looked puzzled.

Suddenly, a flurry of characters appeared in the air before him, clearly written with the female sage’s manipulation of vital energy and spiritual power.

The Book of Knowledge swiftly recorded them.

He read: "Celestial Silkworm Codex."

And there was an anatomical illustration of the celestial silkworm, marked with numerous meridian networks.

Lu Wu grumbled, "Are you kidding me? I’m not a silkworm larva."

The female sage pondered, then revealed something new.

"Method for Refining the God-Slaying Broodmother."

Lu Wu examined it carefully. It described a type of insect capable of stripping a Sovereign’s body clean.

He still wasn’t sure what exactly a Sovereign was.

But the refining method described was essentially the technique for raising a venomous parasite: capture a hundred thousand Skyhorn insects, feed them massive quantities of mica rice-gold and fire-thunder ganoderma, and seal them in a jar for four hundred years…

In the end, the one survivor’s murderous desire would crystallize into an egg, hatching the God-Slaying Broodmother.

Lu Wu asked, "Is there anything else?"

The female sage replied, "No more. How did you learn to read?"

"How did you cultivate and awaken your intelligence?"

Lu Wu feigned ignorance, "I have no idea."

The female sage thought for a long while. "Perhaps it’s related to bloodsucking?"

"There are many creatures in the world that cultivate by feeding."

"Did you perhaps suck the blood of some demon beast or powerful being, and thus awaken your intelligence?"

Lu Wu suggested, "Why don’t you give me some of your blood to try?"

The female sage fell silent.

Lu Wu was beginning to understand: this female sage’s aim was to get him to release some of her blood.

Her soul was active, but her body was in a vegetative state—why, he didn’t know.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t pierce her skin.

The female sage gently lifted her arm.

A wild gust swept down the corridor outside.

The Book of Knowledge promptly displayed new text.

"Detected a demon fox beginning to awaken intelligence."

With a wave of her spiritual hand, the female sage drew a demon fox toward her.

"Try sucking its blood."

Lu Wu really did feel hungry. He flew forward.

The fox demon, clutched in the sage’s grasp, had its fur part of its own accord—in Lu Wu’s tiny eyes it was like the parting of the Red Sea.

He maneuvered his mouthparts, aligning them perfectly, and pierced the softest part of the fox demon’s skin.

Blood was drawn forth.

The Book of Knowledge rapidly updated.

"Fox demon blood. Energy value sufficient to open the path of evolution."

"Path of evolution—"

"One: Evolve into the next-tier organism—a fly."

"Two: Mimic the fly in form, keeping the mosquito’s body unchanged."

"Three: Accumulate demon energy and break through to the Qi-Gathering Realm."

Lu Wu was bewildered.

What was all this?

He continued reading the Book of Knowledge, which offered further explanation.

If he chose the first path, the potent energy in the blood he’d just absorbed would suffice to transform his physical form into that of a fly.

If he chose the second path, he could retain his mosquito body but gain all the abilities of a fly.

If he chose the third path, he’d embark on the demonic beast’s cultivation journey and become a Qi-Gathering mosquito demon.

What kind of nonsense was this?

Turn into a fly? That was out of the question. At least mosquitoes drink blood—flies eat filth…

Gaining all the abilities of a fly, or cultivating to become a demon beast?

What were the benefits of being a demon beast? Lu Wu didn’t know.

But if he chose the second path and could mimic a fly’s abilities, what next? A spider or dragonfly? Then centipede, mouse, all the way to tiger? Elephant?

So… was he destined to become Mosquito-Man?

The female sage stared intently at Lu Wu, wanting to see if this peculiar little insect would undergo any abnormal transformation after consuming so much fox demon blood.

Yet Lu Wu hovered motionless.

Then, he made his choice.

Mimic the fly.

The Book of Knowledge instantly condensed a set of strange runes.

These runes branded themselves onto Lu Wu’s body, then vanished without a trace.

Lu Wu waited for some time, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, the female sage kept her eyes fixed on him.

She could discern no obvious change, but she had seen his belly, swollen with blood, deflate as the blood inside disappeared.

Yet around him, a new, indecipherable law seemed to hover.

Lu Wu, for his part, was studying the characteristics of flies.

What, after all, set flies apart from mosquitoes?

Above all, their legs: a mosquito’s legs are smooth; a fly’s are barbed, capable of gripping things—not in the human sense, but using friction to lift objects.

Researchers often note that flies, while cleaning their heads with their forelegs, sometimes rub too hard and knock their own heads off.

Flies are stronger than mosquitoes; their legs can grasp things.

Lu Wu landed on the desk and examined his surroundings carefully.

Suddenly, his vision underwent a dramatic shift!

In his mind, a new visual field appeared.

Hundreds of hexagonal images filled his sight.

Compound eyes—the fly’s perspective?

But mosquitoes have compound eyes too—why wasn’t it like this before?

The next moment, the images began to merge under the influence of his optic nerves.

The hexagonal visuals were processed by his brain into a seamless panorama.

The screen split horizontally; this time, the colors turned a deep orange.

His field of vision expanded to a ten-meter radius.

Within that range, he could see the macro world!

At last, his vision had leveled up—if a mosquito’s compound eye was 480p, then a fly’s was 4K ultra-high definition!

"Wow!" Lu Wu was astonished.

If mimicking a fly meant seeing through a fly’s eyes, did that apply to everything else?

Lu Wu landed on the desk, used his now smooth legs, and picked up an oval object.

He couldn’t quite distinguish its color, but guessed it might be a grain of rice.

Meanwhile, the female sage’s eyes narrowed, still watching him closely.

This smooth-legged insect had just used its legs to pick up a pellet of mouse droppings!

What’s more, there was a gap between its legs and the pellet!

Was this some kind of law? Fetching objects from the void?

Could a creature that had never cultivated possess such an ability?

Lu Wu, holding the "rice," realized that his wingbeat frequency had halved, yet his speed had doubled!

And he was much more agile.

Still unaccustomed to his sudden evolution into fly-mimicry, Lu Wu buzzed erratically through the air.

So this was what they called a headless fly dashing about?