Evolving infinitely from ground zero

"Mom, I want to spend 998 yuan on half a kilo of Phantom Squid Meat—it's Exotic Beast Meat," Xiao Chen said.

"No problem, if you want to buy it, go ahead. Once you bring it back, I'll cook it for you," Zhang Wanxin cheerfully agreed without a second thought, assuming Lin Zichen just wanted to eat the Phantom Squid Meat.

Though spending 1000 yuan per half kilo on meat was a bit extravagant for their ordinary family.

But since her son had always been sensible, never wasting a penny, she definitely had to agree now that he rarely wanted to buy something.

After a brief chat, Lin Zichen quickly ended the video call.

Right after that, he saw that Zhang Wanxin had transferred 2000 yuan to him on WeChat, along with a text message telling him to buy a bit more and invite Han Han's family over for a meal.

Lin Zichen replied with a "Thanks, Mom," then looked at the sales clerk in front of him and said, "My mom has agreed to the purchase, please pack up three kilos of Phantom Squid Meat for me."

"Sure thing, I'll get it packed up right away," the saleswoman said with an enthusiastic smile.

A moment later.

Lin Zichen paid 2994 yuan and left, carrying the three kilos of packaged Phantom Squid Meat.

On the way, Shen Qinghan couldn't help asking, "Didn't you say you were just coming to have a look at the Exotic Beast Meat? Why did you suddenly buy it?"

"Because I wanted to buy it for you to eat."

"I don't believe that, it's obviously you who wants to eat it," Shen Qinghan said, before sighing, "This Exotic Beast Meat is 998 yuan per half kilo, so expensive, and who knows how it tastes."

Lin Zichen didn't say anything more, he was just feeling a headache over whether or not to consume the Phantom Squid Meat.

Originally, he wanted to secretly buy some Phantom Squid Meat to consume, but as a minor, he couldn't make the purchase without parental consent.

Now that his family knew he had bought Phantom Squid Meat, they were all waiting for him to bring it back home to eat—how was he supposed to consume it now?

The meat wasn't like teeth, if the Life Origin within it were consumed, it would likely rot away.

"Seems like I can only consume a little bit for now. I'll have to find a proxy to help me buy Exotic Beast Meat in the future," he decided.

Lin Zichen quietly reached into the bag to touch and consume a small portion of the Phantom Squid Meat.

It wasn't much, just a small piece weighing about 50 grams.

[You have consumed a trace of the "Phantom Squid's" Life Origin.]

[Phantom Squid compendium: 0.1%.]

Consuming 50 grams of meat had given him a compendium progress of 0.1%.

By that calculation, he would need to consume 100 kilos of meat to fill the compendium's progress bar to 100%.

And the price of Phantom Squid Meat was just 998 yuan per half kilo.

That meant spending roughly 100,000 yuan would enable him to unlock the Phantom Squid compendium.

The amount wasn't prohibitively expensive.

Lin Zichen decided that he would buy and consume Phantom Squid Meat from now on.

About the Phantom Squid, this Exotic Beast, he had read about them in books when he was very young.

He knew that they were common low-level Exotic Beasts that mainly lived thousands of meters deep underwater, occasionally swimming to shallow areas to hunt.

They had a special ability that allowed them to dissolve and disappear into the water in an instant, appearing ghost-like, which is why they were named Phantom Squids.

Moreover, because they were weak in shallow waters and plentiful in numbers, making them easy to capture, they gradually became a food source for humans and circulated in the various Exotic Beast markets.

"Instantly dissolving and disappearing into the water? I hope I'll gain that ability after unlocking the compendium," Lin Zichen thought to himself.

With that thought, he took out the piece of meat whose Life Origin he had consumed, intending to find a trash can to throw it away.

After all, with no Life Origin left, the meat was definitely spoiled, and it needed to be discarded.

However, upon inspecting the piece of meat he took out, he was surprised to find that it hadn't rotted!

He couldn't tell if it was just psychological, but it seemed less fresh to look at.

But that didn't affect its edibility.

Lin Zichen was a bit stunned.

How could the meat not have spoiled, even though its Life Origin had been consumed?

What exactly was Life Origin?

Could it be genes?

Or rather, are genes a type of Life Origin?

After all, the term "origin" seems to encompass a broad range.

Lin Zichen couldn't figure it out, so he decided to look for answers on the internet.

Taking out his phone, he opened the browser and searched for "Life Origin" with a hint of expectation.

But he found nothing.

There was no such term as Life Origin.

Forget it, no need to fixate on it, it's enough to know that the meat won't spoil after being devoured by Life Origin.

Soon, Lin Zichen devoured the remaining Phantom Squid Meat.

He raised the completion progress of the album to 3%.

After finishing these tasks, he took Shen Qinghan downstairs to stroll around the ordinary commercial district.

Shen Qinghan spotted a claw crane machine, really liked the stuffed animals inside, and without giving it a second thought, she went to play.

She was both unskilled and keen to play; in just a moment, she had spent 20 yuan and hadn't managed to grab a single stuffed animal.

Lin Zichen just couldn't stand by and watch, so he had to step in to help her.

After just three attempts, he had a perfect record and grabbed her three of her favorite stuffed animals.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, it was already 10 p.m.

Since they had classes the next day, the two didn't stay in the mall for long and quickly left the mall to ride home.

"Xiao Chen, the night breeze feels so comfortable," she said.

"Indeed, it's comfortable," he replied.

"I really love the three stuffed animals you helped me win," she said.

"I'm glad you like them," he replied.

"Xiao Chen, I can't wait to taste the Phantom Squid Meat. I've never eaten Exotic Beast Meat in my whole life," she said.

"..."

On the way home, the two casually chatted, with one speaking intermittently.

Most of the conversation was Shen Qinghan talking, with Lin Zichen responding.

They could have continued chatting like this.

That is until they passed by a park, where a sudden commotion interrupted them.

"Put the knife down!"

"To hell with that! To hell with all of you! You deluded fools, if humanity is doomed in the future, all you stubborn people will be the traitors!"

"I repeat, put the knife down now!"

"Being human won't save Earthlings! Being human won't save Earth, do you understand!!!"

The shouting that came through was hysterical.

Frowning at the noise, Lin Zichen wondered if there was a Heretical Sect traitor causing trouble inside the park?

Curiosity piqued, he immediately sped up to get a closer look.

As they passed the source of the noise, he glanced over from a distance.

And the next second, he saw an unexpected acquaintance.

It was Teacher Strawberry, the intelligence development teacher from Rainbow Kindergarten back in the day.

Right now, Teacher Strawberry was being held at knife-point by a deranged man, her neck already seeping blood, the situation extremely urgent.

Yet the few public security officers at the scene were still verbally trying to persuade or warn the man, with no real action being taken.

Seeing Teacher Strawberry's face grow paler and the blood on her neck seep more profusely, Lin Zichen knew he needed to do something within his power. He immediately stopped the bike, got off, picked up a stone from the ground.

His eyes narrowed, he aimed at the knife-wielding hand of the assailant and fiercely threw the stone!

...

PS: Bowing down, I beg for Monthly Pass recommendations!