86: Chapter 86: Man follows the laws of Heaven, Earth follows the laws of Heaven, Heaven follows the laws of the Tao, and the Tao follows the laws of Nature.

As Jiang Zhe's analysis concluded.

Inside the living room of the staff quarters at the Kyoto University of History.

Professor Liu Guangyi was smoking while staring at the screen.

He didn't even notice that the cigarette in his hand was about to burn his fingers.

"Old Qian, Old Chen, Old Wang."

He began to summarize:

"Whether in the field of history or ecology, it's all about survival of the fittest, about how the environment shapes and changes humans."

"But listen to what Xiaoyu's brother said about these three times: clearing the field, preparing raw materials, and iteration!"

"This process is terrifyingly smooth!"

He flicked the ash from his cigarette, unable to help but look moved:

"My confidence as an ecology professor is wavering right now."

"Because he is working backward from the result, and even working backward, this process is just too effective."

"It's so effective that it doesn't seem like a natural evolution; it's like..."

Professor Chen Runzhi took over, "It's like there's an invisible scale moving forward slowly."

Old Qian and Old Wang on the side both nodded in agreement:

"The key is that every iteration happens exactly when the old biological version is no longer viable, and the new biological forms happen to need new resources."

"Once is a coincidence, twice is a coincidence, but three times...?"

The four of them looked at each other, all seeing the incredulity on each other's faces.

On the other side, inside Qingfeng Temple.

Zheng Ming looked angry as he watched Jiang Zhe, then glanced at the comment: [The Earth's thought process is so similar to human thought process].

"Look, he is misleading people, leading everyone astray."

"Humans can think, but Earth is just a giant rock. What kind of thought process could it have?"

He really wished a professional ecology professor would come forward to debate this.

But then he thought, Xiaoyu's brother can't see the comments anyway, so he gave up on the idea of inviting a geological ecology professor for a confrontation.

Celestial Master Zhang stared at the screen and spoke slowly:

"Humans follow Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Dao, and the Dao follows Nature."

He lit a cigarette and took a light puff.

"Brother Zhang, you smoke?"

"Yes, I am complying with the Dao following Nature."

"This..."

Zheng Ming stopped speaking.

Celestial Master Zhang continued to explain:

"The meaning of these four sentences is—the way humans do things imitates the Earth."

"The way Earth does things imitates Heaven."

"The way Heaven operates imitates the Great Dao!"

"And the laws by which the Great Dao operates are its original form!"

Celestial Master Zhang looked at the stubborn Zheng Ming:

"You should say: It's not that the Earth's thought process is like a human's, but that the human thought process is like this [Dao] that has been operating for over four billion years!"

"Even the Earth is imitating the [Great Dao]!"

"Do you understand now?"

After saying this, he gently blew a puff of secondhand smoke at Zheng Ming, choking both Zheng Ming and Xu Mu, who was standing nearby, into silence.

Especially Xu Mu, who felt like he had studied fake theology.

Theology seemed a bit weak in the face of the Dao.

Celestial Master Zhang's voice was very soft, yet it struck both of them like a heavy hammer, leaving an impression that would be hard to forget for a long time.

At this moment, inside the office at Gusu No. 1 High School.

Principal Fu took off his tie, his neck covered in sweat.

Even with the air conditioning on full blast, he couldn't stop breaking out in a cold sweat.

Old Wang analyzed with a grave expression:

"I teach history and always say history rises in a spiral, but look at the three mass extinctions Jiang Zhe mentioned: clearing the field, preparing materials, iteration..."

Principal Fu raised his head, also becoming serious.

Old Wang explained in detail:

"The succession of our human dynasties, when placed on this scale, seems as if it was deliberately arranged perfectly."

"The 'exhaustion of fate' that the ancients spoke of, including what Jiang Zhe said during the tui bei tu segment: 'fate is exhausted'."

"Looking at it this way, the reason is unimaginably vast!"

"If we dig deeper, we can excavate Earth's climate, changes in Earth's magnetic field, various layers of the Earth, and even plate tectonics, monsoons, and cold air..."

"Everything is interlinked; the butterfly effect is everywhere!"

"The manpower of every dynasty is insignificant. Under the slightest trend of change by the Earth, no matter what dynasty it is..."

"It is almost instantly annihilated in a very short time!"

Listening to Old Wang, Teacher Xiao Wang on the side shrank his neck and tugged at Old Wang's arm,

"Uncle Wang, stop talking. I have to go check the residential students' dorms in a while."

Principal Fu gasped, not knowing what to say.

It was too terrifying!

The office was completely silent, with only the sound of the air conditioner blowing.

Just as they were discussing, Jiang Zhe on the screen spoke again:

"Xiao Yu, the story isn't over yet!"

"The race between these two new contestants at the starting line has quietly begun."

"In the upcoming race, human ancestors, the mammals, are the underdogs."

"They are small in size, living in the shadow of the dinosaurs, and by all appearances, they have no chance of winning."

"The question is, how did Earth's preparatory work ensure that the final winner would be the weak, rather than the dinosaurs?"

Xiao Yu took a moment to check her phone; the comments were all saying [Cheating].

She looked up, full of curiosity:

"Brother, our ancestors were indeed the underdogs. How did they win?"

"Did Earth really give our ancestors a cheat code?"

"That's right!" Jiang Zhe smiled lightly, "In a sense, it was indeed a cheat."

"But the cheat wasn't giving them the theory directly; it was giving them a training environment!"

"Next is the fourth mass extinction: between the Triassic and Jurassic periods, about 200 million years ago."

"But this mass extinction was far less tragic than the third, yet it played a key filtering role."

"The dinosaurs won, and our ancestors lost."

Xiao Yu was stunned and couldn't help but ask: "They both lost? Then how did our ancestors make a comeback?"

"Don't worry!"

Jiang Zhe waved his hand gently,

"The ancestors' loss this time was a deliberate arrangement in the race."

"First—after the dinosaurs won, they quickly occupied all ecological niches on land, in the ocean, and in the sky."

"Like the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pterosaurs, Deinosuchus, Argentinosaurus, Dreadnoughtus, Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurs, and so on."

"And our ancestors, the mammalian order, were forced underground, becoming nocturnal walkers, starting to shrink, and becoming small players in a big world."

Speaking up to this point, he nodded slightly,

"Xiao Yu, it seems like the dinosaurs occupied many advantages, and mammals were squeezed into the corners."

"But what if you look at it from another angle?"

"Dinosaurs were easily dozens of meters long, bigger, stronger, and heavily reliant on the main path of the environment."

"They certainly proved the brilliance of this path, but they would ultimately pay the price for their glory in the future!"

"And human ancestors were arranged onto another small path; under absolute suppression by the dinosaurs, they began to adapt to extremely harsh environments. They had to develop completely different skills to survive!"

"This is adaptability!"

"It's not about who is the strongest or brightest, but about who lives the longest!"

"Our ancestors understood more than we do!"

Jiang Zhe put down the tablet in his hand and handed it to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu took it and saw that the information was all prepared, so she tried to read it out:

"Advantages of our ancestors—"

"Endothermic system: Does not rely on external temperatures, keeps body temperature stable."

"Keen senses: Locating sounds in the dark, relying on smell to forage."

"Complex social behavior: Huddling together for warmth in small groups, division of labor, teamwork."

Jiang Zhe took over and continued to explain:

"Besides these, the ancestors' brains, especially the parts responsible for thinking and learning, began a long and painful upgrade and iteration!"

Xiao Yu's eyes suddenly lit up:

"I get it, the dinosaurs were the bosses in the open, but our ancestors were sneakier, secretly outlasting the dinosaurs!"

"That metaphor... is not bad."

A slight smile appeared on Jiang Zhe's face,

"In these 160 million years, it was a dynastic era for the dinosaurs, and for our ancestors, it was living under someone else's roof, but the downsides weren't that big!"

"The most crucial part is:"

He paused for a moment and slowed down his speaking speed.

"During these hundreds of millions of years, the Earth wasn't idle either."

"The Earth has been deep underground, continuing to carry out energy infrastructure."

"The raw materials prepared in the first two times, under continuous pressure and geothermal heat, began to convert into high-efficiency oil and gas."

"The Earth was secretly preparing these coal mines, oil, and natural gas for our ancestors, saving them up, accumulating them, even saving them to a state where they could be directly extracted."

"And the dinosaurs didn't need these; their civilization was built on plants and sunlight."

"These fuels seem to have been created entirely for another civilization that would need them."

As he finished speaking, Xiao Yu narrowed her eyes, suddenly realizing the truth.

The fourth mass extinction was not a screening, but a division of labor!

Dinosaurs took the path of being stronger, bigger, and more robust—the Earth was testing the limits of civilization for large animals!

Mammals were forced to take the narrow path—testing the limits of civilization for small animals under extreme pressure!

And the Earth itself was secretly underground, storing the final energy, providing resources for whichever of these two races became the civilization.

In an instant, the live stream chat was boiling!

"Holy crap, I get it, I totally get it!"

"The Earth was preparing energy for both the dinosaurs and our ancestors; whoever won, these resources would belong to them!"

"That's right, the Earth said: [Dinosaurs, you go to the front line as tanks, take down that meteorite. Mammals, you go and develop stealthily, then follow behind the dinosaurs to pick up meteorite fragments. I will provide resource support from the rear to make guns and ammunition]."

"Damn, this arrangement is too obvious, isn't it?"

"I now believe that humans were indeed calculated, no, that's not right, they were computed!"

The viewers in the live stream were shocked for quite a while.

"Then, the last question!" Jiang Zhe continued to reveal the secret: "When..."