Shepherding Humanity

Dongcheng was a big city, and Xu Zhi and his companion spent a long time walking around.

He went to the shopping mall and bought a whole bunch of stuff: a washing machine, a microwave oven, and a refrigerator, among other things. He planned to transform his old house into a modern home. The shop owner was naturally very happy. People mostly shopped online these days, it was rare for a brick-and-mortar store to get such a generous customer. He promised to have Xu Zhi’s purchases immediately delivered to his home.

In truth, Xu Zhi also preferred to shop for electrical appliances Online.

After all, their performances were mostly the same. He mainly cared about their appearances, how they’d match, and how he could arrange them to create an uncluttered living environment.

Then, Xu Zhi had Chen Xi lead him to other shops, and got the equipment he needed: a high pressure water gun, an electric drill, a chainsaw, and water sprinklers along with other modern farming tools.

"Pack it up, pack it all up! We’ll deliver it for free." The shop owner was overjoyed to get such a big spender and laughed happily.

The equipment cost thousands of yuans. Up to this point, Xu Zhi had spent seventy to eighty thousand yuans, but he still had eleven thousand yuans left in the bank. He did not plan to be frugal with his spendings for a while, and was frankly too lazy to think too much about it.

On their way back, Xu Zhi rode in the front seat of the scooter, with Chen Xi sitting behind him. She couldn’t help herself and touched Xu Zhi's thick black hair. Then without any warning, she yanked out a single strand. The sudden pain made Xu Zhi grimace, he felt like crying. "What are you doing? Control your hands!"

"-Wow!" Chen Xi was also shocked, throwing away the strand of hair that she had plucked out. She was very very shocked. "What firm hair! I had to pull very hard! Hey! What did you do! What did you do? Hey!"

Xu Zhi felt an oncoming headache.

Why are you so bothered by my hair!? Am I not allowed to grow out my hair?

He was speechless. Eventually, he said in a pained voice: "I told you, it was because of chemotherapy, chemotherapy! I've recovered from the side effects of chemo. I wasn't born bald!"

"Really?" Chen Xi stared at him.

"Really."

Xu Zhi answered seriously.

"It’s still too much." Chen Xie remained shocked.

She had been delivering him food for several days, and she could now tell that this was nothing like the last rally before death. He had truly recovered. Not only has his hair grown out, even his body has improved and his face has become much more handsome. Could this really be due to just recuperation and exercise?

Something felt off.

"You’re too suspicious. I'm not even going to bother with you." Xu Zhi rode the scooter home with a befuddled girl sitting behind him. He did not bother to avoid the occasional pile of cow dung on the dirt road. The scooter was not his after all.

On the sides of the small road were neatly arranged fields, and from time to time there were elderly ladies who greeted him warmly.

"Oh? Did the two of you just go into town?"

"You young people need to get out more."

"Our village only has old people. Everyone’s busy studying and working. You two are the only young ones left!"

"Hello Mrs. Li, hello Mr. Zhang." Xu Zhi responded with a smile, "I’m just taking Chen Xi out on a shopping trip and buying some household items."

The warm sunlight shone down on them.

It was already more than six o'clock, and the stars could be vaguely seen in the sky. The countryside was different from the heavily polluted city. Here, the night sky was extremely clear.

Xu Zhi believed that even in the miniature sandbox world, with its 50 years long night, one could still see the bright stars and the full moon when gazing up at the night sky, and realize the vastness of the universe along with its infinite possibilities.

"How small is our world? For them, it’s been two hundred long years and five generations of labor. For me, it’s only been two days and a short shopping trip…" Xu Zhi laughed, bade farewell to Chen Xi and returned home to take a look at the sandbox. He learned from the Hive Mind that Gilgamesh was about to die of old age.

"It’ll be tonight, probably even within half an hour," the Hive Mind said.

"That soon? It simply does not feel real at all."

In the yard, Xu Zhi sat still for a moment, knife in hand. He silently peeled an orange, his knife going round and round. The orange peel came out in an unbroken string. 

Suddenly, the knife faltered.

It broke.

"Too bad I couldn't succeed."

Xu Zhi scratched his head. He thought for a moment and stood up in the end.

The tiny Bugape from back then was able to come this far and write a great epic with his life. Xu Zhi couldn’t help but marvel.

He had only given him some simple tools. You could not give the starting tools of civilization to just anybody and expect him to advance all of civilization and become a great king. There was no doubt that Gilgamesh was an excellent monarch, despite his harsh and brutal character.

The race of Bugapes that he had created, the race that could only scream "Baldy!" "Baldy!" mindlessly, has flourished.

"Fine, since he wants to see me, I’ll go and take a look. I can't change his lifespan, but it's only proper to visit an old acquaintance. And also, this race must be stopped. In just a few days, they've destroyed countless ecosystems and exterminated many species. I didn't think this would happen. Like locusts, they went to war, conquered, and killed with no regard for the environment. If they keep this up, the sandbox will be ruined in no time. All other species would be exterminated and they’d be the only ones left. I’ll have to persuade them to show some restraint"

Xu Zhi stood up and put down the orange. It won’t take long, so it should be alright to come back and eat it later.

"Slow down their time flow and return it to normal." Xu Zhi ordered.

He put on his blue boot covers, and slowly strode into the sandbox.

Step, step, step.

The world trembled, the mountains, rivers, earth and ocean shook.

Great trees were trampled, valleys were formed from the huge footprints, and the beasts of the forest madly fled.

"This is…"

"Will the city collapse?"

Gradually, the entire royal city of Uruk started to tremble. The ground, the walls, the houses and streets shook. The ant-like pedestrians all had worried looks on their faces.

Leading his court, Gilgamesh fell to his knees. A childlike expression of joy appeared on great Hero King’s aged face. "After two hundred years, the sentient titan I met when I was a young child has returned! The Great Beast of Wisdom who gave me the Three Treasures of Civilization is finally back…"

The ground trembled, and the entire city of Uruk seemed to shake with each of the giant’s steps.

This massive sprawling city, which housed tens of millions of people, was in Xu Zhi's eyes only a disc slightly bigger than a dining table. The great city of Uruk was, after all, a city built by ant-sized creatures. This was already extremely impressive.

It was an exquisitely beautiful city, its every part carefully sculpted, with delicate and luxurious details.

But, this great city was not very sturdy, their civilization was still too crude. They did not know how to bury the foundations of the stone pillars supporting the city walls deep into the dirt. The flimsy walls trembled with each of Xu Zhi’s steps.

"It's also related to their inability to use cement. The solidity of a structure created from simply piecing stones together is just too low." Xu Zhi strode towards the royal city, trampling over lush patches of forest.

He reached the ancient city, and looked down at its magnificent temple.

A hoary old man with a pale handsome face was looking up at him, his hand gripping the Sword of Damocles, his face wet with tears.