87: Chapter 87: Earth, in conjunction with an asteroid, wiped out the dinosaurs.

Before the voice had even faded, Xiao Yu suddenly raised her hand, her eyes flashing with intense curiosity.

"Big Brother, wait a second. I have a question. Let's talk about the fifth mass extinction in a bit."

"Hm?" Jiang Zhe looked at Xiao Yu's excited expression, feeling a bit confused.

"You said earlier that dinosaurs ruled the Earth for 160 million years. In such a long time, is it really impossible for them to have evolved intelligence?"

"Like, developing into something like a dinosaur-person?"

"Why are we so certain that dinosaurs had no chance to evolve along the path of a technological civilization?"

"As far as I know, my biology teacher once said there was a dinosaur that had the best chance of evolving into a humanoid form, called: the Troodon."

"It had claws that could grasp, feet that could walk, an IQ higher than a Border Collie, and it even practiced teamwork and division of labor."

As these words were spoken, inside the office, Xiao Yu's biology teacher, Zhang Cuilan, eyes lit up. "Xiao Yu, not bad! You're learning to draw inferences!"

Principal Fu and Old Wang looked at Cuilan. "Is that really possible?" x2

The middle-aged teacher Zhang Cuilan nodded with a smile: "That's right! Principal Fu, Old Wang."

"Xiao Yu isn't proactive in her studies, but she's very proactive with extracurricular knowledge!"

"The Troodon is another group of [people] sealed within fossils, they are [people]!"

"Our modern perspective always views dinosaurs as stupid monsters, but the Troodon is an exception."

"The Troodon unlocked the [Wisdom Tree] among the dinosaur tribes; it was the Einstein of dinosaurs."

"Its brain-to-body mass ratio was close to that of early mammals."

"Its eyes faced forward, just like us humans; this means it had stereoscopic vision like us, making it an excellent hunter!"

"Even more astonishing is the fossil evidence showing their social structure: a group smarter than Border Collies, understanding tactical coordination, sharper than a wolf pack led by an alpha, prowling in the dark of the late Cretaceous—what a spectacular scene that must have been!"

"They stood 2 to 3 meters tall, and the key is their hands—three claws, flexible structure, capable of grasping!"

"If given enough time, those hands could have polished stone tools and held torches."

"Plus, they were already bipedal, so freeing their forelimbs was just a matter of time."

"If that asteroid hadn't hit Earth—no, even if it had arrived just ten million years later—what we might be discovering in archaeology today wouldn't be the skulls of primitive humans, but..."

"The city ruins of the Troodon-people!!!!"

Having said this, Teacher Zhang Cuilan took a deep breath, looking at the dumbfounded Principal, Old Wang, and the others.

"Yes, so Xiao Yu's association isn't just childish talk."

"It's entirely human intuition. We humans are just one answer among intelligent life forms."

"The Troodon is a path toward another [human-like group]."

As she finished, Old Wang, Principal Fu, Xiao Wang, and the rest of the teachers were stunned by this bold hypothesis.

Xiao Yu's words made the viewers' eyes light up, their curiosity exploding.

"That's right, 160 million years! How long has it been for humans since we were ancient apes?"

"If the dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, would there really be a dinosaur civilization?"

"Although I know there isn't, Xiao Yu is really on point today, I like it!"

"..."

Looking at Xiao Yu's curious expression, Jiang Zhe couldn't help but smile.

He didn't answer directly but instead changed the angle:

"Regarding whether dinosaurs could develop a civilization similar to humans… let's try thinking about it from a different perspective."

"My point is, what if dinosaurs had really walked the path of wisdom and developed a dinosaur civilization?"

"Xiao Yu, what kind of civilization do you think that would be?"

Xiao Yu was stunned for a moment, then tried to reason and imagine:

"Perhaps a massive, violent empire, using stones and bones to build huge structures?"

"That's possible." Jiang Zhe, however, asked with a serious expression:

"If you think about it again, they ruled the Earth for 160 million years, standing at the top of the food chain, in an environment with no natural predators—would they still need [technology]?"

Pausing for a moment, he raised another key question.

"A species that could dominate the world with just sharp teeth and claws, why would they need to study how to make fire, why polish stones, why ponder... [What if I could fly?]"

"Our human ancestors unlocked the technology tree purely because we were too weak. We weren't strong enough, sturdy enough, or fast enough, so we used our brains, tools, external forces, and teamwork."

"But the dinosaurs were too strong; they didn't need to rely on external forces..."

As he finished, Xiao Yu's expression was somewhat disappointed, as if she had lost a beloved toy.

Not only her, but the imaginative viewers also felt a wave of disappointment.

Soon, this sense of disappointment vanished as Jiang Zhe's voice rang out.

"Back to the topic. After the first four mass extinctions were prepared, what should happen next?"

Xiao Yu blurted out: "Time to clear the field! Wipe out the dinosaurs and let the mammals take the stage!"

"Correct!" Jiang Zhe's voice gradually became serious:

"This is the fifth mass extinction, the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago."

"An asteroid hit the Earth, but now more and more evidence suggests..."

"That impact was just a fuse!"

"That rare carbonaceous asteroid from beyond Jupiter's orbit that hit the Earth was not enough to wipe out the dinosaurs."

Jiang Zhe lowered his voice, "After it hit Earth, it flipped the table and threw the Earth's climate into chaos."

"But what's truly bizarre is... the Earth actually started cooperating with the action!"

At this, Xiao Yu's eyes widened, her steel-like posture straightening, "The Earth cooperated? It wasn't natural regulation?"

Jiang Zhe narrowed his eyes, but a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"It was the Earth cooperating, not what science calls a chain reaction."

"It's like... a three-meter-tall muscular giant being bumped by a one-year-old baby, and then... the three-meter-tall muscular giant weirdly follows that tiny bit of force and falls backward on its own!"

"And just like that, the dinosaurs went extinct?"

As he finished, Xiao Yu was dumbfounded. Not just her, but most of the viewers were also completely astonished.

According to most of the educated viewers in the livestream room... the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was about 10 kilometers in diameter, located in modern-day Mexico.

The impact energy was only about 1 billion Hiroshima "Fat Man and Little Boy" bombs.

This sounds terrifying, but if you calculate the direct damage to the Earth's surface area, the crater it created was only about 180 kilometers in diameter—roughly enough to wipe out Shanghai and the surrounding Su City, Kun City, Chang City...

Even the instantaneous damage it caused wasn't enough to destroy the Earth's entire ecological environment!!!

Things like acid rain or global warming are far less powerful than the Earth's own self-regulation capabilities!

The true global extinction required the Earth's own volcanoes.

It can be said that the Earth indirectly helped the asteroid hit the Earth... thereby directly wiping out the dinosaurs at the top of the food chain!!!

It only left behind small mammals, hidden in the dark of night, providing perfect conditions for the birth of humanity!