Shepherding Humanity

“Everyone got disconnected right after entering?”

This immediately drew the curiosity of everyone in the forum.

After all, “Spore Evolution” was an unprecedentedly popular game and almost every gamer paid close attention to it and enjoyed discussing it. It was a game with infinite possibilities after all.

As they skimmed the forums, they finally found a detailed post that revealed what had happened.

“Is the time-flow really that fast? In the time it takes for us to go to the restroom, an entire month has passed for you guys?”

“F*ck! You’re all crazy! Back then, you wanted to challenge the Creator, and now, after you entered, you challenged the native Gods? And got owned in an instant? Hats off to you guys! (😅)”

“LOL! You guys are a lost cause! (😂)”

When people learned of the cause of this mass disconnect, they could not help but point and laugh. So sad, so sad.

At this moment, in the forums, there were countless posts attacking Akina’s Speedster. They b*tched and moaned as they listed his deadly sins.

“Back then, he led us against the Creator, which resulted in our party wipe against the boss. (💢)”

“He made us evolve into such an ugly creature, all the ladies were scared out of their minds! It’s all Akina’s Speedster’s fault! (💢)”

“And just now, he made us pick up a stone and try to smash the Land of the Gods! You think you’re King Kong attacking a plane or something? We’re all deader than dead because of you! The heavenly gods are probably sprinkling salt and pepper on our body right now and having a nice BBQ! (💢)”

“Akina’s Speedster, show yourself! You must answer for your crimes! (💢)”

…

Everyone was pissed off at Akina’s Speedster.

After they disconnected, many had tried to reenter the game to no avail. The screen stubbornly stayed black. Did they all die just like that?

It was at this moment that a new post appeared that tried to make logical sense of this situation. The poster was Mr. Learning is a Waste of Time.

Learning is a Waste of Time: “How are you everyone? You all know me. Everyone should calm down, I’m sure that we didn’t actually die. Listen to my analysis.

First, I don’t think that it’s Akina’s Speedster’s fault that the natives all faint the moment they see us. The creature we’ve evolved is simply too chaotic in nature. Its spiritual waves are too strong, too evil and distorted, much more so than the Evil Eye. This property must be the cause.

Secondly, although we’ve lost, since the otherworld’s Gods do not know of our body’s unique make up, they can't truly kill us. They probably no longer care about us and think that we’re dead, not knowing that we can revive ourselves from just a single drop of blood.

As you all know by now, our group is made up of 173 tiny “Kings” distributed throughout the body’s vital points. We’re like tiny pressure points and are probably still alive. If I were to take a guess, only our subordinates who were outside had died.

What’s more, we’ve evolved our giant to have a sturdy exoskeleton, with 173 skeletal plates specially evolved to protect our vulnerable pressure points, where the 173 “Kings” reside. So don’t worry too much.”

Now that a reliable big-shot has appeared, everyone could finally sigh in relief.

Learning is a Waste of Time: “But although those protective bone plates are the sturdiest parts of our body, that’s no guarantee that all 173 of us have survived. There may be an unlucky few who died and have to leave the game.”

Everyone started b*tching and moaning at this, saying that they had always been lucky and that this couldn’t possibly happen to them.

Then one of them asked: “If that happens, wouldn’t you guys be crippled because you’d be missing body parts?”

Learning is a Waste of Time: “That shouldn’t be the case. The possibility of someone actually dying is pretty low. And even if they get kicked out, I’m certain that their species would still survive and multiply, while remaining a part of our body. The only downside is that they’ll turn ‘wild' and won’t be capable of independent thought since their ‘King’ died.” 

“I hear you. Theoretically speaking, players in charge of the bones and skin can freely log out since they’re not supposed to move any way. Their death won’t be an issue. In fact, it might actually be a plus since it’ll keep those idiots from rebelling and trying to move…

What matters is that the 13 players in charge of the giant’s muscle movements don’t die. Even if something were to happen, as long as one of them could take over for his comrade, then everything should be fine.”

Everyone felt much better after this analysis.

After several more minutes of discussion, someone suddenly shouted: “We can finally reenter the game, everyone! What the hell happened to us?! I can’t see anybody else!”

The group hurriedly asked him what had happened.

Other players started panicking. They reentered that game, and, after merely a dozen seconds, they logged out again to exchange information.

“I can also enter the game now! Our creature is amazing! Even without sensory organs like the eyes, I can still make out the surroundings with my spiritual senses. I’m in a forest right now, what about everyone else?”

“I'm hanging on the edge of a cliff.”

“I’m on a roof. What happened to us? Where’s everybody else?”

“Guys, I’m part of the giant’s skin. After I regained consciousness, I found that I’ve been turned into a vellum page in a notebook. A blond haired, blue eyed woman is writing on me with a feather quill right now, while sitting at a table by the window! (😵)”

“The poster above me should count himself lucky! I’m also a piece of skin, and do you know where I’m at right now? I’m in a f*cking desert! After traveling under the sun for half a day, I’m about to die of dehydration! Can anyone reading this come up with a way for me to survive? I want to pull a reversal like the Emperor of Alchemy! (😭)”

“Ha ha ha! Dude, go in peace! (😂) My situation is pretty ordinary. I’m at the bottom of the sea! There are lots of fish around me!”

“F*ck, as for me, I’m a thread of hair. After I’ve woken up, I found myself part of a bird’s nest, and there is weird yellowish shit on my head. These f*cking birds are so unhygienic! (😢)”

“You think you guys have it bad? Your situation is nothing compared to mine! I’m a bone, and right now, I’m in the mouth of a giant dog. It’s licking me all over, and I can’t even run away! When I tried, it was stunned for a few seconds—it must have never seen a bone capable of moving around before—then it immediately grabbed me and brought me back. I’m drenched in saliva! Somebody save me!!!”

Ha ha ha!

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at this.

“Guys, how is it that you can all walk? I’m a bone, and I can’t move at all. I can only lie stock still in the middle of a forest. (😱)”

“Ha ha ha, look everyone, we have a sucker here! Let’s bully him! When the big-shots were helping you evolve back then, why didn’t you secretly evolve some legs, just in case? You must be ready to run away at any time. What have you been learning evolutionary theory for?”

“Stop gloating guys! To the honest person above, where are you? Give me your location and if it’s close by, I’ll go save you! Us bones have to stick together!”

…

“We’ve been scattered all over the world.”

After discussing their situation in the forum, the players have come to this horrifying conclusion.