Eye of Evolution

Eye of Evolution is a long-form fantasy web novel by Ashe Luo, serialized and completed on Qidian, running to roughly 4.6 million Chinese characters across 1,880 chapters. The story begins in 2021, when a mysterious energy called "psionic particles" pours into Earth through rifts in the "Spirit Realm," datafying the entire world: species mutate on a massive scale, and monsters from the Spirit Realm invade in waves—bulletproof zombies, hard-to-target deinonychus beasts, mountain giants of immense strength, and vengeful spirits capable of tearing at the soul. Humanity's technological civilization proves helpless against these creatures, but psionic particles also rewrite the human body, opening a new path of evolution; those who evolve successfully are known as "Awakened." With 2021 CE designated Spirit Era Year 1, a fragile balance takes shape between humans and monsters. The protagonist, Bai Xiaowen, was once a failed web novelist holed up in a basement writing for pennies. After being struck by a bizarre eyeball, he transmigrates a century into the psionic era and inexplicably gains a younger sister and an older sister whose whereabouts are unknown. Through the eyeball he acquires the "Insight" talent, which lets him datafy and analyze all things in the world, revealing attributes, weaknesses, and growth paths. Yet the first hurdle before him is not saving the world but the college entrance exam—with only 130 days to go. In this era, exam scores and fame directly determine an Awakened's resources, rating, and eligibility to enter Spirit Realm instances. Starting with his goal of becoming the top scorer, Bai Xiaowen fights monsters in the real world for equipment and builds a team while leading it into one original psionic world after another on missions, gradually uncovering the larger mystery behind the Spirit Realm's invasion. Driven by a game-like rhythm of "one blade out the door, all gear from drops," the book is a representative work of the data-driven infinite flow genre.