Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually-?!

Chapter 89.1- End of an Era

Light shone through the dead reed and wooden branches of the warm campfire, and the stones in the fire hole crackled from the heat.

By the constantly flickering source of light, Wu Jin flipped over the small line of words on the exchanger as his three teammates looked on.

Evolution Point: 1 point.

“The Red Queen hypothesis––in any given ecological environment, all species are competitors in the evolutionary game.”

“Before entering the arena, I guessed that the ‘competitors’ would be the Pelycosaur, the Anteosaurus, and even dinosaurs that haven’t yet shown up in the arena. They would be species that evolved in the present environment, who chose an evolutionary direction that creates evolutionary advantages, and come out on top by outdoing their opponents and pushing them out of their ecological niches.”

“This model is limited and compressed.” Wu Jin turned the cube around in his hands, his slender fingers with slight gun calluses stroking lightly over each side, “The Red Queen hypothesis is the main rule of the game, and each player represents a population. The small probability of functional mutation is based on the Evolution Point points, and the way to develop the species is––through using the Evolution Points to specialize certain points of the evolution tree.”

Ming Yao and Sora figured it out first and looked at the exchanger simultaneously.

Ming Yao: “Based on the meaning of these supplies... You’re saying that the competitors in the Red Queen game––also includes the contestants?”

Wu Jin nodded and brushed over the exchanger’s virtual projection.

The light was projected out into the center of the group, mingling with the flames from the bonfire. Wu Jin stood up, causing half of his body to be covered in bright light, while the other half was immersed in the cold and humid Permian period night.

“The way the fourth elimination match gives supplies isn’t the same as before, because the rules of the Red Queen game needs to include the players. The only difference between the contestants and a natural species is that the evolution of a natural species changes over time, while the evolution of the contestant comes from the program’s supplies.”

“And the conditions for winning are the same––to win, we have to choose the right evolutionary direction.”

“There’s only one evolutionary tree. Snatch up Evolution Points before each small segment of time, then allocate points towards different branches––each corresponding to a species evolving into different advantages to cope with the environment’s natural selection and confrontation between species.”

The others leaned close to look at the projection screen.

“There are several exchange categories.”

“Respiratory equipment, which can be used to exchange for highly adaptable and high pressure resistant respiratory systems that are similar to the evolutionary direction of the birds during the Mesozoic Jurassic. A bird’s dual respiratory system ensures that two gas exchanges take place during the same breath, thus allowing them to draw a lot of oxygen from the air while they’re in flight.”

Wu Jin continued his analysis, “The armor category corresponds to biological armor.”

Lin Ke’s brain flashed, and he raised his hand without thinking, “The Stegosaur! I know this!”

Wu Jin nodded, “The direction for biological armor evolution and the Stegosaur is similar. The Stegosaur resists predator attacks through its back plates, tail spines, and highly tough epidermis.”