Chapter 28: The 63 Million-Year Extinction Cycle, the Dry Season Officially Begins!

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"Is this... the future?"

Chu Xu, finally waking from that incredibly realistic dream, muttered to himself. This must be what they call the "curse of knowledge"—once you know something is about to happen, you can no longer imagine what it is like not to know.

In his past life, Chu Xu had studied the mass extinction of the dinosaurs in depth. By synthesizing data from other mass extinctions throughout Earth's history, he had derived a pattern: biological extinctions occur in a cycle of approximately 63 million years.

First was the Cambrian-Ordovician extinction, the first mass extinction on Earth, where over 80% of species vanished. Next was the Ordovician-Silurian extinction; due to global cooling and a significant drop in sea levels, about 85% of species perished. Then came the Devonian-Carboniferous extinction, where further global cooling and receding sea levels caused the loss of another 70% of species. Following that was the Permian-Triassic extinction, the most severe of all, claiming 96% of species, including the trilobites that had dominated the Earth since the Paleozoic. Then arrived the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, where 76% of species disappeared, allowing dinosaurs to become the masters of the Mesozoic. Finally, there was the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, caused by factors such as asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions, which wiped out 70% of species—including dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and mosasaurs—paving the way for angiosperms, mammals, and birds to become the dominant species of the Cenozoic.

In total, there were six mass extinctions, interspersed with many smaller-scale events, such as the Carboniferous rainforest collapse and the end-Jurassic extinction. These events, large and small, were separated by that 63-million-year cycle—a duration that roughly corresponds to a "period," the fundamental unit of geological time.

Chu Xu happened to be living at the end of the Cretaceous, right at the tail end of this 63-million-year cycle. It was hard to say whether he should call that lucky or unlucky.

"No point in overthinking it. As long as I'm still alive today, that's enough."

Chu Xu didn't bother with unnecessary anxiety. If today were truly the apocalypse for the dinosaurs, he would make sure to witness this historical moment, perhaps solving one of the top ten unsolved mysteries of his past life: the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Besides, with a system at his disposal, as long as Chu Xu continued to evolve, what was a mere meteorite impact to him? It wasn't impossible that he could become a "One-Punch Man," shattering the meteorite with a single blow and saving the dinosaurs. Perhaps the history of life would change drastically as a result, with dinosaurs continuing to rule the Earth, and it was uncertain if humanity would ever even emerge.

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...

Time flew by, and another month passed in the blink of an eye.

The dry season on the Laramidia sub-continent had officially arrived. Months of sparse rainfall had withered the forest vegetation and dried up lakes and rivers to their beds. Beyond that, it was visible to the naked eye that the prey within Chu Xu’s territory was becoming increasingly scarce.

Large and medium-sized herbivorous dinosaurs had begun their collective migration, heading from north to south and west to east toward the humid Western Interior Seaway of North America. That region, where rivers emptied into the sea, formed vast coastal wetlands and delta plains, crisscrossed by rivers and dotted with lakes—the perfect destination during the dry season. Meanwhile, carnivorous dinosaurs would follow the migration of the herbivores.

Such spectacular scenes of mass migration often occurred on the East African savannas of the future; they were desperate measures taken by animals for the sake of survival, and the dangers inherent in such journeys went without saying.

Over the past month, hunting had become increasingly difficult for both Chu Xu and his mother. It wasn't because their skills were lacking, but because the prey had simply dwindled. You cannot make a meal without ingredients; no matter how skilled they were at hunting, there was no hunt to be had without prey.

Consequently, his mother had clearly been considering migration lately. She frequently went out to patrol her territory, confirming the movements of animal herds and preparing for the journey. The only thing that worried her was the immense distance of the trek—often thousands of kilometers—and whether her three young Tyrannosaurus rex could endure it. She was naturally confident in her eldest son, but the situation with Longyue and Liuxing was different. Their physical condition was one concern, and the unpredictable threats of the outside world were another; she had to be extremely cautious.

Meanwhile, Chu Xu was busy preparing for the potential mass migration. Over the past month, he had been smoking the raw meat from the prey he caught. First, he would use his claws to tear the meat into strips, then dig a pit, build a fire, and cover the flames with hardwood to create a thick, incomplete-combustion smoke. Finally, he would hang the meat strips above the dense smoke to cure. After a few days of this, until the meat turned completely black, a simple smoked meat was ready, with a shelf life of up to three months.

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Of course, even rotting meat was safe for Tyrannosaurus rex to consume; they possessed powerful digestive and immune systems capable of processing carrion and resisting various pathogens. Combined with the T-rex’s highly developed sense of smell, many paleontologists in the future even speculated that they were scavengers. However, Chu Xu currently found the idea of eating carrion hard to accept. Unless he was on the verge of starvation and had no other choice, there was no need for him to resort to it.

After a long day of hunting today without finding any suitable prey, Chu Xu had no choice but to head home, stopping by his "secret base" where he stored the smoked meat.

The secret base was actually a clearing within the core of his mother’s territory. There stood the smoking rack he had built himself. The roaring fire sent up thick black smoke, turning the hanging meat a deep, shiny reddish-black. The texture of the meat had become firm and chewy, and the aroma drifted for miles. Because this was the core of his mother’s territory, marked by the scent of an adult T-rex, most carnivores wouldn't dare approach, even if they smelled the enticing aroma.

There was also a tall, sturdy sycamore tree here. Chu Xu had dug a deep hole in its trunk and sealed it with a stone of similar size. This dry, enclosed tree hole was where he stored his finished smoked meat.

"What on earth?!"

However, when Chu Xu arrived at his secret base for an inspection today, he discovered that the smoking rack he had spent so much effort building had been dismantled, the fire extinguished, and the unsmoked meat hanging on it had vanished!

The ground was littered with chaotic, three-toed theropod footprints, and there were even scattered feathers, indicating that this theft was clearly the work of a gang!