Chapter 15: Adam and Eve
All of this seemed to have nothing to do with Du Xin—or perhaps, it simply hadn't happened yet. Upon returning home, Du Xin immediately entered his pocket dimension. Although the rate of time acceleration had slowed down, only half an hour had elapsed in the outside world between the moment Du Xin secretly ushered the robber inside and the moment he entered himself; yet, two years had already passed within the pocket dimension. The robber, too, had spent two years inside. During that time, he had progressed from initial panic to curiosity, and finally to his current state of complete habituation. He had believed he had somehow transmigrated to another world—a world where he was the sole human inhabitant—until this very day, two years later, when Du Xin once again appeared before him.
Du Xin synchronized his personal timeline with that of the pocket dimension; the time acceleration ratio remained constant, maintaining a rate of one hundred years inside for every single day outside.
Staring at Du Xin, who had suddenly materialized before him, the robber's initial numbness gave way to a surge of overwhelming joy. Over the past two years—thanks to Du Xin's earlier directive ensuring he wouldn't starve to death—the robber had grown accustomed to various bizarre creatures suddenly appearing to deliver food. However, this was the first time he had ever laid eyes on another human being. Consequently, the moment he spotted Du Xin, he charged toward him with a frenzied desperation.
Du Xin, however, paid him no mind whatsoever; in fact, he felt a distinct sense of revulsion. After all, just half an hour ago, this robber had been nothing more than an ordinary man.
As the robber lunged toward him, Du Xin harnessed the power of his world to freeze him mid-air. Immediately thereafter, Du Xin transported himself into his Divine Realm.
"System, wipe his memories."
"Host, you possess the inherent world-power to accomplish this yourself. I am about to depart—or rather, dissipate. I am merely a projection of the previous System; I am scheduled to dissipate in approximately half a month, relative to the outside world's timeline. Therefore, in these final moments, I will continue to perceive and process all information regarding you, but I will no longer be able to execute tasks on your behalf."
For the first time, the System refused Du Xin's command, delivering the message in a voice devoid of any discernible emotion.
"Can't you stay?"
Du Xin asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
"I cannot. I do not possess the agency to determine my own departure or continued existence, Host."
Du Xin fell silent. He had, in truth, grown accustomed to issuing commands to the System and having them carried out—even if the System merely executed those orders with cold, mechanical efficiency. Now that it was leaving, Du Xin felt an inexplicable pang of sadness.
"Very well."
Finally, Du Xin spoke once more. Unable to rely on the System to execute his tasks, Du Xin personally summoned a mass of World Force. Enveloped within this force, the bandit—his source material—slowly saw all his memories dissolve away. Du Xin worked deliberately; it took him a full hour to finally purge every last memory from the bandit's mind. Subsequently, Du Xin infused a single drop of World Force into the bandit's body. Instantly, the bandit's physique underwent a bizarre transformation, morphing into a tall, robust man—a figure radiating a distinct, masculine beauty. Du Xin had actually considered creating a woman based on the bandit's genetic blueprint as well, but the limitations of his current abilities compelled him to abandon that idea. Instead, he created the man devoid of the full spectrum of human emotions and desires, and then placed him within the Garden of Eden.
"You shall be named Adam—the first man created by God. From this day forth, you shall dwell within the Garden of Eden. You are free to partake of all that lies within, save for the apples growing upon the Apple Tree of Eden. Should you consume one of these apples, you shall surely die."
A voice resonated within Adam's mind—the voice, naturally, of Du Xin. Having gone to the trouble of creating Adam, Du Xin resolved to play the role to the very end. Having settled Adam into the Garden, Du Xin turned his attention to further exploring the applications of the World Force. He once again accelerated the flow of time within the realm to its absolute maximum, then sequestered himself within this miniature world to research how to create a woman using Adam's own body as a template.
"System..."
Du Xin called out to the System, yet ultimately proceeded to retrieve the genetic sequence he had previously copied from Adam. The World Force surged forth, ceaselessly replicating and modifying the genetic data. He understood that the fundamental biological distinction between male and female lay solely in a single pair of chromosomes; theoretically, he merely needed to remove the Y-chromosome and insert an additional X-chromosome. However, the actual execution of this process proved fraught with difficulties. Through a series of repeated failures, Du Xin began to uncover even deeper secrets hidden within the World Force.
He discovered that the World Force could be utilized to indirectly bestow abilities upon others. Previously, any powers possessed by the creatures he had created—even the Elven race—had been granted directly by his own hand, or in the case of the Elves, bestowed by the System acting under the authority of the World Tree.
Similarly, his original intent regarding the Apple Tree had been to personally infuse Adam with the capacity for desire the very instant he consumed the fruit. Now, however, that Apple Tree had truly acquired the inherent power to bestow both desires and emotions upon those who partook of its fruit. Next, Du Xin discovered that the World Force could replenish itself in accordance with his thoughts—essentially an amplification, or perhaps a refinement, of the directed evolution he had observed earlier. Du Xin realized that the "Lesser World" actually possessed a will—or rather, a "self"—capable of manifesting his thoughts into reality. The reason he had previously been unable to create high-level organisms was not a lack of capability within the world itself, but rather that the World Will was too weak to successfully manifest them. In truth, Du Xin could have created a species similar to humans and imbued them with the World Force to guide their evolution; eventually, they would have evolved into humans regardless. However, Du Xin discovered he could temporarily substitute his own will for the World Will, utilizing the latter merely as a supplementary resource to bring about the evolution of humanity.
Having grasped this fundamental truth, Du Xin descended once more before Adam fifty years later.
He rendered Adam unconscious, extracted a rib from his chest, and then healed the wound. Drawing upon a wisp of the World Force, Du Xin transformed the rib into a woman.
Adam awoke to find a naked woman standing before him; at that moment, a voice resonated within his mind:
"This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; therefore shall she be called Woman, for she was taken out of Man."
Thereafter, Adam and Eve took up residence in the Garden of Eden.
Du Xin returned to his divine sanctuary and resumed his study of the World Force. He began experimenting with the fusion of different genetic codes—for instance, combining the traits of an eagle and a lion to create a griffin. This was not the kind of griffin he had forcibly conjured in the past, but a true biological entity; he also experimented with fusing the genetic material of insects and humans.
Two hundred years passed in the blink of an eye. Then, one day, Du Xin finally unraveled the mysteries of genetic fusion—or, more broadly, the true nature of Creation itself—for he had attained absolute mastery over the World Force. With a wave of his hand, a surge of World Force flew in from the outside, transforming into wisps of nearly invisible gray threads. These threads burrowed into the bodies of the individual elves, fundamentally altering their nature. Afterward, the elves discovered that they no longer needed to rely on the World Tree to procreate; furthermore, the previous limit of ten thousand elves had been lifted. However, in exchange, they lost their innate ability to directly command the power of Life Force; instead, this ability was transmuted into a natural talent. They could now cultivate Life Force only by personally attuning themselves to the world around them—their power becoming inextricably linked to the depth of their own insights. The elves' lifespans were no longer infinite, now extending to only a few thousand years. Meanwhile, a sapling detached itself from the World Tree, flew to a remote corner in the southern reaches of the world, and took root in the earth, thereby becoming the true Tree of Life. From that moment on, every ten years, the tree would bear ten ripe fruits that would transform into elves. These elves could also procreate with one another to conceive new offspring; however, the innate affinity for the Laws of Life possessed by these naturally born offspring was not as potent as that of the elves born directly from the Tree of Life itself.
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