The Birth of Intelligent Life

Chapter 150 The Birth of Intelligent Life

At this moment, even Tianyuan, who was standing to the side, noticed the abnormality of the sand table. It was the proliferation of cyanobacteria that caused the originally light blue and clear seawater to turn slightly blue and orange-red in the shallow part, and this part was still expanding over time.

Tianyuan didn't think too much about it, assuming the water had gone bad. He couldn't possibly connect it to the fact that cyanobacteria were multiplying in large numbers in the ocean. After all, Lilith hadn't revealed that the time in the small world had been accelerated by a trillion times, which would be very troublesome to explain.

So Tianyuan only watched for a while, and after not figuring out anything, she went to the side to study barrier techniques on her own. That's how she spent her thousand years.

Meanwhile, Lilith kept her eyes fixed on the small world, observing all the changes within it:

Thirty million years have passed in the small world, which is equivalent to two hours in reality. At this time, the iron in the ocean has been almost completely oxidized, and the free oxygen produced by cyanobacteria begins to enter the atmosphere, marking the beginning of the Great Oxidation Event.

A large number of anaerobic bacteria went extinct, and the survivors evolved aerobic respiratory enzymes, increasing their energy utilization efficiency by dozens of times. At the same time, iron oxide on the ocean surface began to sink, and the ocean was filled with blue.

Looking at this blue ocean, Lilith couldn't help but feel delighted, after all, from this moment on, her little world was finally filled with oxygen.

Aerobic bacteria have a higher energy efficiency and are more adaptable to the environment. However, from this point on, Lilith worried that the bacteria from reality, after evolving, would burst the small world.

So Lilith scaled down all the creatures in the small world to the same scale as Australia, giving them more space to live.

After completing this step, Lilith began to observe the evolution of the small world with great interest.

However, ever since Lilith shrunk the creatures of the small world, the entire ocean, which had been vibrant not long ago, suddenly became completely still. Lilith was taken aback, then exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that they were too small and couldn't adapt to the environment, so they died?!"

He carefully observed everything happening in the sand table until he discovered a small clump of bacteria in the shallow sea at the edge of the continent. Only then did he feel relieved: "It turns out everything is fine. I was so scared. I thought it was dead."

Lilith patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. However, with the bacteria shrinking in size, it would take more time for them to fill the ocean again.

During this time, Lilith didn't want to be idle, so she casually turned on her computer and opened an urban adventure game called "Give Him Love".

After playing for a while, Lilith became more and more addicted. The joy this game brought her was something other games couldn't provide, since not all games allow for murder, arson, rape, kidnapping, and torture.

Before she knew it, five hours had passed. Lilith stretched comfortably and couldn't help but praise the game's gameplay: "With such a high degree of freedom, I could play it for ages and never get bored! Once I finish my little world, I'll make it in this style, and it'll definitely be a huge hit!"

Lilith almost subconsciously began to fantasize, but at this moment, she suddenly remembered the small world that she had left behind, and cried out "Oh no!" Fearing that something might happen to the small world because of her absence, leading to a mass extinction, she quickly moved to the front of the small world to observe the changes in it.

Fortunately, 80 million years have passed in this small world, and the ozone-rich stratosphere has begun to form, enhancing its ability to shield against ultraviolet radiation. Amphibians that are born in the future will not have to worry about being killed by ultraviolet radiation.

"It's alright, it's alright—"

Lilith was quite frightened by her own carelessness. To prevent any accidents from happening in the small world while she was away, she dared not play the game anymore and devoted herself entirely to the small world.

In the 200 millionth year of the small world, in the 17th hour of reality, an archaea devoured an aerobic bacterium, which transformed into mitochondria. From that moment on, the first eukaryotic organism was born.

Three hundred million years later, one day after Lilith initiated the acceleration of time, another devouring event occurred: a certain eukaryotic organism swallowed cyanobacteria, transformed into chloroplasts, algae appeared, photosynthetic efficiency reached a new level, and oxygen levels soared to near modern levels.

Another 300 million years passed. Two days after Lilith activated the time acceleration, sexual reproduction appeared, and gene recombination greatly accelerated evolution. Multicellular red and green algae bloomed, fungi and primitive sponges appeared, and the ocean entered the algal forest era.

Two hundred million years later, on the third day after Lilith activated time acceleration, the ozone layer was fully formed, the land was no longer deadly, mosses were the first to land, followed by lichens, and rocks began to weather at an accelerated rate.

Three hundred million years later, on the fourth day after Lilith initiated the time acceleration, vascular plants evolved vascular tissues, truly took root on land, the first forests appeared, arthropods landed, and atmospheric oxygen levels soared to over 30%, creating the era of giant insects.

Four hundred million years later, on the sixth day after Lilith activated the time acceleration, the ancestors of vertebrates [lobe-finned fish] crawled ashore with their strong paired fins, amphibians appeared, and along the coastline, plants and animals together built a lush wetland ecosystem.

Five hundred million years later, on the eighth day after Lilith initiated the time acceleration, reptiles underwent radiation and evolution, giving rise to large terrestrial behemoths resembling dinosaurs, while giant marine reptiles and ammonites flourished in the ocean.

Two billion years have passed, and still no intelligent life has emerged in the small world. Lilith looked at the various behemoths that dominated the small world and was troubled: "These guys are so big and powerful that they don't need to think at all. No matter how long it takes, they will never develop intelligence. What should I do?"

To find a solution, Lilith searched on a certain search platform and discovered that the end of the Age of Giants originated from an asteroid impact. Otherwise, mammals, including human ancestors, would never have had a chance to emerge.

Upon learning that the creation of intelligent life required destroying the giant beasts with an asteroid, Lilith felt a pang of regret. These beasts were ones she had watched grow up, and she was reluctant to let them go.

"But for the sake of humanity, how can we not abandon a mere behemoth?"

Lilith murmured, as if she had made some kind of awakening, and a stone the size of a grain of rice appeared in her hand, which she threw into the small world.

Although the asteroid was only the size of a grain of rice, its impact on the continent immediately triggered a mass extinction event. Dust blocked out the sun, photosynthesis plummeted, the era of giant beasts ended, and surviving cave-dwelling, omnivorous small mammals were given a new lease on life.

Eight hundred million years later, on the tenth day after Lilith activated the time acceleration, the primate ancestors in the forest evolved stereoscopic vision, grasping ability, and complex social behaviors, and their brain capacity began to increase rapidly.

Seeing the birth of human ancestors, Lilith felt a great sense of relief. It took a full ten days, or three billion years in the small world, for intelligent life to finally emerge in the small world.

In other words, the game framework has already been built; all that's needed is to add the background story and gameplay.