Once again, Ding Yun entered a new world and a new body with a random golden finger. Her first sensation was extreme fatigue, not of her soul, but of the body itself, which felt incredibly weary.
It was as if it hadn't slept for a very long time.
If this body were a machine, it would likely be a dilapidated, worn-out one, used continuously for decades until it completely broke down.
Not a single organ within it was healthy; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that not a single cell in its body was healthy.
Because of this, Ding Yun used her mental power to survey her surroundings. Finding no one else, she quickly retrieved numerous healing potions rich in life source energy from her soul space and injected them into the body.
Only then did she lie back down to sort through the original owner's memories.
As it turned out, Ding Yun's feeling was correct. The original owner had indeed worked herself to death. She had to mine in an energy mine that could only be manually excavated for eight hours every day.
After work, she would head to another energy mine.
And continue mining for another eight hours.
After nineteen hours of mining, she also had to work for three hours as a sparring partner at a martial arts hall. Of course, that was just a title; in reality, she was responsible for getting beaten.
Her three hours of work earned more than eight hours of mining, but unfortunately, she could only endure for three hours. Any longer and her employer wouldn't allow it, and she herself couldn't last.
Most importantly, customers found her boring after three hours because she had little ability to resist. They preferred sparring partners who could fight back a bit. If she had no resistance at all, just taking hits, why not just use a sandbag?
This nineteen-hour workday, coupled with less than four hours of rest.
The fact that she had held on until she died of exhaustion was solely due to her panda bloodline, which granted her great vitality and a strong physique. Otherwise, she would have died long ago.
That's right, the original owner wasn't a pure human.
She was a panda person, or rather, a beastman with a diluted panda bloodline, capable of transforming into a panda.
The story was quite complicated.
It began a very, very long time ago.
Over a thousand years ago, before this world entered the interstellar era, there was a spiritual energy resurgence.
After a wave of plants and animals died off, the survivors mostly adapted to the spiritual energy-rich environment and underwent various mutations. Some grew larger, their bloodlines reverted to ancient forms, inheriting the bloodlines of many mythical beasts. Some developed special abilities, and some directly gained sentience.
They could almost be considered demons.
After mutating, these plants and animals that had direct contact with humans naturally began to retaliate against all humanity. Those that hadn't had direct contact began to invade human territories to secure more living space.
It could be said that all surviving plants and animals gained significant mutations and enhancements during this spiritual energy resurgence, and most harbored intense animosity towards humans.
Humans, however, were as if forgotten.
No one died, and no one mutated.
At most, their physical fitness improved slightly, they breathed fresher air, and environmentally caused diseases decreased.
If not for the mutated plants and animals, these small, purely beneficial changes would have been cause for great joy. But the reality was that humanity was utterly left behind by this species-wide evolutionary leap. Mutated plants and animals everywhere were relentlessly attacking humans, causing heavy casualties and turning survival into a nightmare.
Humans plummeted from the top of the food chain.
Later, they managed to repel most of the mutated plants and animals with high-tech weapons, preserving many cities and holding onto half of humanity's territory.
But everyone knew this was only temporary.
They couldn't forever rely on various high-tech weapons to fight against plants and animals that were constantly mutating and growing stronger. This was because many resource areas were occupied by mutated plants and animals. Even if they could reclaim them by force, they might not be able to hold onto them.
And they might not have the time for mining and other resource extraction.
They might only mine for a few days before mutated plants and animals attacked again.
All of this meant their high-tech weapons would gradually deplete and become difficult to replenish, while the mutated plants and animals would only become more numerous and stronger. They had to change.
Or rather, humanity had to keep up with the pace of evolution.
Thus, over a thousand years ago, humans quickly established a human evolution project and initiated several different research directions concurrently.
Some researched inducing humans to develop special abilities.
Some researched gene enhancement.
And some researched bloodline transplantation.
These three research directions represented humanity's different choices and levels of acceptance. Some were willing to accept purely evolutionary paths, with comprehensive gene enhancement of individuals without any other genetic mutations. Others were willing to undergo pineal gland modification in the brain to develop special abilities.
And some felt that for humanity's continued existence, any sacrifice was worth it, and even the appearance of animalistic traits was acceptable.
Ultimately, fate favored them.
All three research directions succeeded within a period of no more than three years. Inducing human abilities was the most difficult. Due to the short time, they couldn't figure out specific patterns, resulting in a very low success rate and a high mortality rate. For every ten people who attempted to awaken an ability, eight would die, one would be crippled, and one would awaken their ability.
Gene enhancement, while not fatal, consumed excessive resources. Each enhancement required vast amounts of resources and could not be improved through self-cultivation.
It was useful, but its effect was limited.
Only the bloodline transplantation research was the most successful. Through analysis of individual personality, physical fitness, and other factors, if the compatibility with a certain animal reached over eighty percent, transplantation was almost guaranteed to succeed. After successful transplantation, not only would one gain the ability to transform into that animal, but they could also cultivate like those animals, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon to improve themselves.
The only drawback was a shortened lifespan, but this could be compensated for with cultivation.
Consequently, although all three research directions yielded results, humanity's mainstream choice eventually became bloodline transplantation. After all, it was the safest path. Moreover, at the time, many believed that humans had been abandoned by nature, and perhaps only by transplanting the bloodlines of other animals could they continue to survive in the natural world.
Thus, beastmen emerged.
However, they weren't called beastmen then, but "New Humans."
All those who underwent bloodline transplantation were brave warriors, at the forefront of the struggle. It was the continuous sacrifices of those who accepted bloodline transplantation that ultimately helped humanity withstand the attacks of mutated plants and animals, buying humanity more time.
This was the origin of beastmen like the original owner.
For many years, beastmen like the original owner enjoyed extremely high status, honor, and praise.
Until the other two research directions began to show progress.