Still alive 200 million years ago

Mountainous areas, in the Triassic at this time, were no less deadly zones than deserts, and could even be said to be more terrifying than deserts.

You must know that the end-Permian mass extinction that destroyed the world was the eruption of the earth's volcanic groups, mainly Emei Mountain and Siberia. The mantle plume broke through the bottom layer, and countless lava torrents swept across the world. The sky and the earth were dyed red, as if they were in lava. Hell is terrible.

The mass extinction at the end of the Triassic was also due to volcanic eruptions. During the 50 million years of the Triassic, the geology has been in an extremely unstable state. The Langoria volcano in the northwest of the North American plate is still erupting to this day.

The mountainous area in front of us is still clear and clear, but maybe the volcano will erupt later.

Xu Dong is not a geologist and cannot understand the difference between active volcanoes and extinct volcanoes. The only thing he knows is to see if the mountain is emitting smoke. Of course, this must be done after seeing the main body of the mountain.

At first, Xu Dong's idea was to take the little red dragons around this large mountain range, but the width seemed a bit large. At the speed of the little red dragons, they walked for two days without even seeing the main body of the mountain.

After all, it is a mountain range formed by crustal movement. It may not be possible to go around it even if you walk for several years. No wonder the ancients had no choice but to pass through the continuous mountains such as the Qinling Mountains and Taihang Mountains. It is a bit impractical to go around the mountains.

This mountain range is actually more similar to the plateau terrain like Tibet, but not as high.

Therefore, after entering the mountain, the little red dragons spent most of their time climbing. Climbing is at least better than steep cliffs. The size of the little red dragons determines that they are not afraid of slopes, but more afraid of vertical climbs without leverage. Mountain wall.

Time spent hiking through mountains and ridges is destined to be lonely and boring. Basically, you just climb up, jump down, climb up, jump down, and take a detour when you encounter a vertical mountain wall.

I walked like this for three days, and the surroundings were still the same. The only commendable thing was that I finally saw the sharp corners emerging from the mountain peaks.

When the top of the mountain popped up from the other side of the sky, Xu Dong didn't think anything at first. He thought it was still the endless piles of hills. But as he walked further, the small tip turned into a big tip, and then continued. Go up.

When the mountains stood in front of them like towering giants, Xu Dong had no time to be excited because the little red dragons were out of food, or in other words, they had been out of food since they left the grassland.

However, the ability of sauriformes to withstand hunger allows the little red dragons to go without eating for five or six days after a full meal. However, this limit is only half a month at most. Now the little red dragons have been on a hunger strike for ten days, and they are still They won't be able to hold up during high-intensity mountain climbing.

But where is the food in the wilderness? In the past ten days, except for the occasional insects flying from high altitude, there are no other creatures. Xu Dong admitted that he made a mistake again and overestimated the number of creatures in the mountainous area, so that There is now a shortage of water and food.

There was actually a way, but it was a bit cruel. He didn't want to use it unless it was a last resort, and he didn't want to sacrifice any of the sixteen brothers following him.

Xu Dong tried to dig the land to look for bugs, but the damn ground was full of rocks. Xu Dong’s claws were almost broken when he dug, but he still couldn’t find any trace of bugs. All the dragons without food could not even walk. Shaking and swaying, the efficiency of the journey was not even one-third of what it was before.

The last straw for Xu Dong was that Long Twenty-Qi fell ill.

After a long period of hunger and fatigue, coupled with the constant acidic rain from the sky, Long Twenty-Qi, who had followed Xu Dong for so many years, finally couldn't hold on any longer. He slipped and fell to the ground and never got up.

Xu Dong had already expected this situation, and the little red dragons who had not eaten anything would probably fall down one after another in the next few days.

What is now in front of Xu Dong is whether to eat the dead Long Twenty-Seven and save the remaining fifteen little red dragons.

Looking at the sad and coveted eyes of the little red dragons around him, Xu Dong rationally told Xu Dong that he should eat Long Twenty-Seven. He was just a small animal. This is how nature is, the jungle eats the strong.

But after all, after being together for so long, he can do it by abandoning a few to save his life when encountering a strong enemy, but letting him kill or eat them, this is. . . Xu Dong couldn't do it no matter what.

But the little red dragons around him were all looking at him. Every minute there was a risk that the little red dragon would starve to death, and he couldn't hesitate for too long.

For a moment, depression, helplessness, and sadness all surged into his heart, and he violently slashed his claws at the small stone next to him to vent his emotions.

But what came out this time was not the sound of chopping stones, but the sound of claws breaking something open.

Xu Dong turned around and saw his three sharp hooks piercing directly into the stone on the side.

When did I master the Nine Yin White Bone Claw? Could it be that he was too excited and broke through the genetic lock?

While he was thinking wildly, blue liquid actually flowed out from under the stone.

What's this?

Xu Dong pulled out his claws and actually brought out blue liquid. Only then did he realize something was wrong and carefully inspected the water-producing stone.

Compared with ordinary stones, this stone is slightly whiter, but it is not pure white, but a bit bluish white.

Xu Dong reached under the stone with his claws and lifted it up. Under the stone-like appearance, there were actually several thin legs.

Xu Dong looked carefully before he recognized it. Isn't this a horseshoe crab? Baby, don't think you can't be recognized without your tail.

Horseshoe crabs, also known as arthropods Stegopleura, appeared on the earth in the Ordovician period 200 million years ago, and then survived for 400 million years. They still exist in modern times, but they are about to be wiped out by the terrifying upright apes. .

Taking a closer look at the 10,000 years since the emergence of Homo sapiens, 90% of large animals have become extinct. Although climate change is also responsible, Homo sapiens, or modern humans, are at least one of the accomplices.

They exterminated the thylacine, the monitor lizard, the dodo, the mammoth... and even the Neanderthals and the late Homo erectus.

It feels perfectly fine to call the terrifying Ape erectus the sixth mass extinction.

Although the stone horseshoe crab didn't have much meat at all, and the heavy metal content exceeded the standard, he couldn't care so much now. Xu Dong hurriedly gave the stone horseshoe crab to the dragons to share while he continued to search.

Because Xu Dong was in a restless mood and it was raining before, he didn't pay attention to the stones on the roadside at all. Now when he looked for them, he was shocked. There were too many stone horseshoe crabs here. Didn't they all live in the water? ? They are all running up the mountain.

Since there are so many stone horseshoe crabs here, does it mean that the water source is nearby, and as long as you find the water source, you will not worry about finding something to eat.

But now he had to fill the stomachs of his men first. Xu Dong killed three stone horseshoe crabs again and had a whole horseshoe crab feast. After eating some to pad his stomach, Xu Dong started another path exploration operation.

Thanks to Wang Quan Taiyi for the reward.

Small theater of paleontology: Stone horseshoe crabs (fictional species) look similar to trilobites, but have nothing to do with them. They are marine arthropods of the order Stegopleura. The earliest appearance of Stegopleura can be traced back to the Ordovician period, so they are known as As a living fossil, there are only 3 genera and 4 species of horseshoe crabs in existence.

Phylum Arthropods - Limulus - Xiphopleura - Limulus order - Limulus superfamily - Limulus family - Terrestrial horseshoe crabs