Choice

A powerful suction vortex suddenly formed, drawing in the acid rain falling from the sky and covering the vegetation, pulling it all into his mouth.

This awe-inspiring sight shocked the dinosaurs hiding behind the karst cave.

They did not understand what this great white dragon was doing; they were only instinctively afraid of this great power and subconsciously backed away.

But unable to resist their curiosity, they gathered around again before long.

Only when the acid rain stopped falling did Haoyuan halt, letting out a long sigh.

“This way, the dinosaurs won't eat the vegetation contaminated by the acid rain.”

“Next...”

He opened his status panel, spent some Energy Points, and made a few adjustments to Whale Gulp Dragon Inhale.

Under the control of his mind, the spatial organ inside his body holding the acid rain began to filter out the volcanic ash and dust.

Soon, he separated the acid rain into pure water and a massive clump of impurities.

Afterward, he spat the pure water back out, watering the forest vegetation outside the karst cave.

Then, he spat the massive clump of impurities into a distant area devoid of vegetation and dinosaurs.

Having done all this, he returned to the karst cave.

Seeing the great white dragon return and that the acid rain had stopped outside, the dinosaurs at the cave entrance went out one after another to eat the vegetation.

This time, they found the plants to be extraordinarily delicious, free from that burning, pungent taste, and even the soil emitted a fresh scent.

At night.

The temperature dropped drastically.

The dinosaurs huddled close to one another to share warmth, their bodies shivering uncontrollably.

With a heavy thud, a pile of black charcoal landed beside them.

The dinosaurs saw the great white dragon slithering out while they were trying to sleep, and they scrambled back in panic.

The great white dragon glanced at them, turned, and spat. The pile of charcoal immediately erupted into a raging fire.

Terrified, the dinosaurs scattered and fled.

They recalled the terror of the forest fires ignited when those fireballs had rained down from the sky.

Haoyuan paid them no mind, turning his head to look at a few dromaeosaurs in the corner, gesturing for them to come warm themselves by the fire.

Those dromaeosaurs tilted their heads and studied him for a moment. After some hesitation, they took their first steps and slowly approached the fire.

Their pupils also reflected a fear of fire, but once they felt its warmth, they grew bolder.

Before long, they were squinting in comfort as they basked in the warmth beside it.

Highly satisfied with their behavior, Haoyuan went back out to gather more firewood, lighting fires all around the karst cave to help the dinosaurs ward off the cold.

Then, he slipped into the water and peacefully fell asleep.

The following days proceeded in much the same way.

The dinosaurs gradually grew accustomed to his strange actions.

Before heading out to forage each time, they would wait for him to suck up all the acid rain first before collectively beginning to feast.

At night, they would also wait for him to light the charcoal fires before drawing close to keep warm.

A few more days passed like this.

Looking at the forest that had already been stripped bare of food, Haoyuan felt a wave of helplessness wash over him.

The forest fires triggered by the falling fireballs had consumed most of the vegetation.

What remained was nowhere near enough to sustain the dinosaurs.

Now that they were out of food, what were the dinosaurs supposed to do?

Drive them away to find food somewhere else?

That would only terrify them, causing them to scatter and flee.

The tacit understanding they had worked so hard to build would vanish in an instant.

Haoyuan closed his eyes, recalling the series of disastrous consequences that an asteroid impact would bring.

In the end, he let out a helpless sigh.

Perhaps he should not have meddled with the dinosaurs in the first place.

Trying to use personal strength to fight a natural disaster destined to bring about extinction was nothing short of a pipedream.

Even if there were still edible plants, as long as the nuclear winter did not end, plants would be unable to perform photosynthesis. They would eventually wither and die, and the herbivores would still starve to death.

The dinosaur carcasses washed down by the subterranean river were also starting to dwindle.

Once the carnivores ran out of food, they would eventually resort to hunting each other.

This was a tragedy of inevitable extinction; it could not be resisted.

Haoyuan took a deep breath, dragging his weary body as he swam toward the distance.

It was better to focus on evolution.

Dinosaurs were merely passing travelers in his long life.

Since their end was inevitable, he should just let go.

“Ang-woo—”

A tender, youthful cry drifted over.

Haoyuan instinctively stopped swimming.

He turned around.

In the distance, he saw the young hadrosaur he had once saved calling out to him.

Beside it stood its young hadrosaur mother.

Behind the hadrosaur mother was a massive herd of dinosaurs.

Haoyuan stared in a daze.

He raised his head and looked as far as his vision could reach.

Without him realizing, a vast multitude of dinosaurs had made their way outside.

They wandered around the burnt forest, looking this way and that, before ultimately gathering together and following behind him in unison.

More dinosaurs continued to stream out of the karst cave entrance without end.

Calling out to one another, they urged every single dinosaur still inside the cave to keep pace with the main herd.

For some reason, Haoyuan's eyes grew slightly moist.

A few dromaeosaurs boldly leaped in front of him, letting out a few calls.

Only then did he finally snap back to his senses.

Looking out, he realized that even those few carnivores had followed them out.

He found himself stuck between laughter and tears.

These foolish dinosaurs had actually taken him as the leader of their migration, forcing even the carnivores to tag along for fear of starving to death.

“The migration leader...”

Haoyuan found it rather amusing yet incredibly fascinating. Spurred on by the continuous, urging cries of the dinosaurs behind him, he turned and swam into the darkness ahead.

“Perhaps, life will find its own way...”

“Only...”

Looking back at the dense, sprawling mass of dinosaurs tailing him, he could not suppress the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“To think they would actually look to me as their way out... How intriguing...”

The dromaeosaurs behind him chirped and chattered as they darted to the front, fanning out in a wide arc.

They were scouting the way.

Haoyuan smiled faintly.

He opened his status panel.

Evolution Direction: Language of All Things (??)

...

In the days that followed.

Haoyuan led the dinosaurs in search of a path forward.

Using his dragon whiskers to sense moisture in the air, he guided them upstream along the river.

Along the way, many surviving dinosaurs joined their ranks.

The original army of over three hundred dinosaurs swelled to over five hundred.

Naturally, troublemakers would occasionally show up.

For instance, a seventeen-meter-long Tyrannosaurus Rex had just appeared at the rear of the herd.

Having survived the initial stage of the disaster by cannibalizing its own kind, it was currently dizzy with hunger. Spotting Haoyuan's migrating army, it naturally wanted to steal a few dinosaurs to fill its belly.

Unfortunately for it, the dromaeosaurs had received instructions from Haoyuan to patrol near and far.

Sensing its hostile intent, they immediately called out to their companions and rushed over to confront and block it.

Naturally, the Tyrannosaurus Rex did not think anything of them.

Unleashing a furious roar, it prepared to rip these dromaeosaurs apart.

A stream of Fire Line swept over, instantly engulfing its body in flames.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex let out a heart-wrenching shriek of agony, collapsing to the ground and rolling frantically in an attempt to extinguish the fire.

But it was of no use.

Haoyuan's massive form glided over. Opening his mouth, he inhaled deeply, sucking away all the flames before breathing out a chilling mist to cool down its burned flesh.

However, he had no intention of saving it.

Instead, right before its terrified eyes, he shot his sickle claws out from the sheaths between his fingers, ending its life in a single strike.

“With a size this massive, it should be enough to feed several carnivorous dinosaurs...”

Saying so, Haoyuan sliced off a few chunks of meat and threw them to the dromaeosaurs as a reward.

Then, dragging the remaining carcass with one hand, he returned to the head of the herd.

Since incidents like this had happened several times already, the dinosaurs were no longer surprised.

Whenever an unstable element appeared, Haoyuan would eliminate it and keep it as reserve food.

Over time, the dinosaurs all learned to behave themselves.

As Haoyuan led the dinosaur army forward, whenever they came across a place with vegetation, he would halt to suck up the acid rain so that everyone could eat their fill.

As for the carnivorous dinosaurs.

They had Uncle Crocodile to thank.

Although he was quite fond of his old friend, those survival champions were hardy enough to persist all the way until the rise of humanity; losing a few now wouldn't affect the future.

This was also the reason he had been migrating along the river.

Meanwhile, to make grasping easier, reduce nail wear, and increase his approachability to the dinosaurs, he evolved his claws into a retractable form, much like those of tigers and cats. This allowed him to spring them out at critical moments to catch his enemies off guard.