Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually–?!

Chapter Ch86.2 - Permian Period

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Lin Ke kept talking and consumed more water than an ordinary person. At this time, the river was clear and calm, but Lin Ke always remembered the scene of the giant dragonfly dipping its huge butt into the river to lay eggs.

Wu Jin also filtered his drinking water. When he bowed his head, he could occasionally see the shape of common fish and salamanders in the water.

Over billions of years of evolution, they could still remain and avoid countless extinctions and natural disasters. Their evolution was far, far ahead of the other species.

Beside him, Lin Ke had drunk his fill of water and jumped up again.

At this time, they were close to the meeting point with their third teammate. Based on the parachute distribution at the start, it was impossible to determine if there were other trainees around, and Lin Ke had no choice but to lower his voice.

During Wu Jin’s efforts to calculate the resource line, Lin Ke had already moved from Godzilla to talking about his own dachshund, then back to Godzilla again, talking exaggeratedly, “Just its footprint was this–––big!”

Wu Jin took another two steps, then turned back to look at Lin Ke, who’d frozen in place.

Lin Ke pointed in a certain direction, “Look...”

The soft sand by the river was very deep, and a series of footprints appeared from deep in the forest. It seemed that whatever it was had just come to the sand to take a look before returning to the forest.

The footprints were 50cm long and 30cm deep. The first and last toes were short, and the middle three toes were long.

Wu Jin sucked in a breath and quickly pressed his hand to the ground. The earth transmitted back a dull tremor from somewhere off in the distance.

More than one.

According to the footprints, ‘it’ should be around five meters long and walking on all four feet. It should travel in groups with its companions and was likely a slow-moving, large creature without the attack capabilities of a hunter. It probably fed on the dense ferns nearby, and in order to keep such a huge body functioning, ‘it’ must eat constantly––

Wu Jin quickly followed the footprints into the forest. “Come.”

Lin Ke was close behind him.

The footprints became messier in the jungle, but with more sample footprints, the creature’s basic gait could now be observed. “The hind legs are upright, and the forelimbs extend to the sides. Lizard.” Wu Jin thought about the lizard from his visit to the zoo two days ago, “Its gait is a cross between mammals and lizards.”

“This kind of gait is a characteristic of the Therapsida, a dominant species during the Permian period.”

“Herbivorous.” Wu Jin added, “They’re similar in size to an elephant.” He carefully observed the signs of vegetation being eaten along the way, “Their heads are at around three meters high. From their center of gravity, their head is heavier and bigger&#k2013;&#k2013;”

Lin Ke was suddenly struck by inspiration, “Their center of gravity is tilted towards their head, so they can’t run quickly?”

Wu Jin’s eyes sparkled.

Lin Ke was also itching to have a go, “In any case, they can’t outrun us, and our teammates are also in that direction. Do you want to go over and have a look?”

Wu Jin nodded, “We’ve walked for about half an hour, and the resource line is obviously not near the river. If it’s not by the river, then none of the contestants will be able to find it, and there must be a prompt from the competition––”

He stood up from the muddy ground and looked at the footprints, “Regardless of whether it’s a hint or not, let’s just give it a go.”

The two of them quickly made their way through the jungle.

With the training from the Crosson Show’s vine course, the dense fern jungle could barely be considered a barrier.

As the dull footsteps became increasingly obvious, Wu Jin and Lin Ke showed differing degrees of excitement. Even if they weren’t dinosaurs, what they were about to see were prehistoric beasts that had disappeared from history for nearly 300 million years!

Lin Ke: “Brother Wu, when I was a child, I liked the Tyrannosaurus Rex the most. After I grew up, I started to like the Mosasaurus!”

Wu Jin immediately refused to show any weakness and supported his own dinosaur, “I pick the Quetzalcoatlus!”

Lin Ke: “If I’d known earlier that survival show contestants would personally get to see dinosaurs, I would’ve skipped kindergarten to become a trainee! I had a set of AI dinosaur models when I was younger––”

The two of them communicated eagerly about their straight-young-men hobbies as they followed the footprints all the way to where the mist turned dense once again.

“The river branched out? Is there a lake?” Lin Ke guessed, “Are they going to drink water?”

Wu Jin bowed his head. There were several other different shapes to the footprints.

Lin Ke: “It doesn’t look like cubs...”

Wu Jin said, “It’s a mixed group. Different species will gather together, like giraffes, zebras, and antelopes, in order to maximize their ability to protect themselves from predators. It’s likely that the predators in this area also come here to drink water. Be prepared.”

Lin Ke sighed over this wisdom as he stared at the new footprints a few more times.

The two of them assembled their tranquilizer guns, and Wu Jin adjusted the dosage himself––Lin Ke’s brain completely couldn’t understand how Wu Jin had ‘inferred the weight of the herbivores based on their footprints, then the weight of the predators, and finally estimated the dosage for the anesthesia’.

The dense jungle grew sparse after another several hundred meters.

In the distance, the last ray of sunlight cast huge shadows as they neared nighttime.

Before stepping out, Wu Jin suddenly scanned the area.

His heart almost seemed to skip a beat.

Giant, dark green, lizard-like creatures were walking in groups along the shore of the lake. They had four sturdy legs, and were between two to five meters in length. Their bellies hung low, and their heads and tails were heavy, their bodies leaving long, deep shadows against the sun. Long, low calls came from their nostrils and vibrated in the air.

Amongst them were stout and big, heavily armored creatures, and there were amphibians moving actively around the edge of the lake. The dragonflies reappeared, and countless insects with wings that hadn’t yet become vestigial fluttered and flew around.

The world from hundreds of millions of years ago was presented at its fullest.

By the lake, right where the giant beasts were drinking water, were large supply boxes with the Crosson Show logo. They were piled up into a small tower.

Wu Jin and Lin Ke’s gazes suddenly burned intently.

Lin Ke asked in a low voice, “Brother Wu, do you think it’s possible that there are other players who have come over by following the footprints? These reptiles have all come together and intermingled, so there should also be contestants in the vicinity, quite a few of them together...”

Wu Jin was just about to answer when both of them reached out to their headsets at the same time.

After disappearing for a long time, their last two teammates finally reappeared. They were nearby.

There was a series of percussion sounds from the headphones, and it was unclear what kind of message was being conveyed. The Morse code was intermittent, and seemed vaguely like a call for help. Wu Jin didn’t hesitate to pick up his tranquilizer gun and exchanged glances with Lin Ke. “Let’s go meet up.”

The two men ran through the forest like bolts of lightning and came closer and closer to where the signal had been transmitted.

In the distance, the giant herbivores that were drinking water began to stir. A fierce predator that looked like a cross between a crocodile and a wolf pounced and bit down savagely at its prey.

In the Crosson live broadcast room, Blood Pigeon continued to give his popular science lecture, “The is the largest herbivore in the area. Therapsids are about the same size as an elephant. Dinocephalians are predatory hunters. This one is called an Anteosaurus, and they’re one of the largest predators in the Permian period––”

Ying Xiangxiang smiled slyly and picked up where he left off, “In order to obtain supplies, the first thing they have to do is deal with this four meter long Dinocephalian. Of course, there are also other contestants.”

The camera changed.

The scrolling comments suddenly grew excited, and a series of ‘Yooooooo’ floated through one after another.

In the middle of the camera, Wu Jin was looking down at his wrist watch.

Their two teammates were still alive and were less than 300 meters away from him and Lin Ke. If nothing unexpected happened, they would be able to meet them in a few more steps––

There was a rustle in the forest.

The huge fern leaves were peeled away, and Wu Jin subconsciously looked up against the last rays of the sun.

His amber pupils brightened, and Wu Jin showed an incredulous expression before immediately tensing up his expression for the camera. Other than Ying Xiangxiang, who was proficient in expression management, perhaps only a microscope fangirl would be able to catch this change.

Wei Shi was fully equipped with a combat suit and equipment that could be considered luxurious––a tranquilizer gun, anesthetic daggers, and a second set of breathing equipment hung from his waist. It was obvious that he wasn’t worried about meeting the bare requirements.

He looked at Wu Jin through the light and shadows beneath the ferns, and rubbed his fingertips against the thin blade of the willow-leaf shaped dagger.

At this time, two trainees with disordered clothing and frightened faces suddenly ran out of the forest.

The first one to emerge was Ming Yao from Jingyi Entertainment. He was ecstatic as he caught sight of Wu Jin, “Abalone and fried sea cucumber can make you soar after eating! Don’t look anymore, I’m your teammate! Motherf*cker we finally managed to grab a supply box with much difficulty but got intercepted half way through by a tough opponent; let’s hurry up and retreat before talking more so we don’t run into that person––”

Ming Yao suddenly turned back and looked panicked when he saw Wei Shi. He uttered a few words through gritted teeth, “...It’s him!”

Juurensha: Ohhhh WS isn’t on his team this time.