Chapter 321 Cretaceous Memories

(If you have read the previous chapter on the Cretaceous period, this chapter can be skipped, as it deals with human archaeological content.)

Crisis Era, Year 340.

Following the victory over the Trisolaran Civilization's war, Human Society welcomed an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. The development of technology was no longer just for war and defense, but rather served more to improve people's lives and to explore the unknown.

As vigilance towards the external universe gradually waned, humanity once again turned its attention to the Solar System it inhabited. Solar System archaeology quietly rose as an academic discipline during this period, gradually becoming a highly regarded field of study.

Scientists had long noticed inexplicable relics and anomalies within the Solar System, and these unusual findings sparked an intense interest in the history of the Solar System among humans.

Perhaps the aspects of a different prehistoric civilization were about to be pieced together, bit by bit, from the fragments of history carried by the river of time.

Only this year, an astonishing discovery shook the entire world, thanks to the deployment of new types of detectors.

On Earth, a civilization's remains, buried tens of thousands of meters underground, were detected, providing a portal through time, showing us a glimpse of an ancient and enigmatic civilization.

As the site was gradually excavated, people were finally able to glimpse the true face of this mysterious civilization.

Inside the ruins, the massive architecture, exquisite artifacts, complex symbols, and patterns seemed to tell the rise and fall of a thriving civilization.

It was a great Dinosaur Civilization.

This discovery completely overturned the scientific community's understanding— who could imagine that the fierce but primitive Dinosaurs could have fostered such a magnificent civilization?

What was even more astonishing was that this civilization did not seem to be purely a Dinosaur Civilization but rather a complex coexistent Civilization of Dinosaurs and Ants, which seemed to have formed a special symbiotic partnership.

Their level of civilization had reached 0.8, not only establishing vast cities on Earth but also extending their reach into space, and even beginning to attempt space colonization. Such achievements, even viewed today, are breathtaking.

The Dinosaurs had lived on Earth for about 170 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago in the late Triassic and becoming extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago.

This timeline spanned three geological eras: the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.

Further archaeological finds revealed that the heyday of Dinosaur Civilization lasted only a few thousand years, which was insignificant compared to their long 170-million-year existence, after which they faded into the dust of history.

In the long and complex geological and historical evolution of Earth, numerous possibilities intertwined to form a magnificent and colorful tapestry.

Humanity also dedicated itself to piecing together a complete account of the Dinosaur Civilization's developmental history:

In the late Cretaceous, two glimmers of intelligence appeared on Earth.

One was that of the massive Dinosaurs, the once-dominant creatures that, through a long process of evolution, gradually shed their primitive clumsiness, with the glimmer of intelligence shining in their brains.

The Dinosaurs began to form primitive tribes, coexisting in huge caves excavated by their own hands. They even learned how to use fire, bringing warmth and light to their massive caves, or sitting around a fire roasting food.

The second was the Ants, also quietly nurturing the seeds of intelligence. These hardworking little creatures built vast cities underground. Their societal structure was complex and ordered, resembling a finely tuned machine, where each component worked together seamlessly to maintain this enormous subterranean city.

Seeing this, perhaps the Ant Civilization indeed bears many similarities to the Trisolaran Civilization. And Humanity also shares many similarities with the Dinosaurs.

However, compared to the Trisolarans and Humanity, these two species each have their own insurmountable limitations.

The Dinosaurs' greatest flaw was the lack of nimble hands. Their claws, though strong and powerful in combat and even capable of making simple tools, severely limited their dexterity.

Therefore, the Dinosaurs were unable to perform tasks requiring fine skill, such as making complex tools or engaging in cultural activities like writing. This limitation greatly hindered the advancement of Dinosaur Civilization to higher levels.

In stark contrast were the Ants, with their remarkable precision and dexterity. They were able to build complex structures both above and underground, displaying outstanding organizational and collaborative skills.

However, the thought processes of Ants were relatively simple, relying more on collective intelligence to tackle challenges.

When gathered in significant numbers, Ants formed a collective intelligence that, while precise and efficient, lacked flexibility and creativity, akin to the operation of a computer program. This rigidity in their collective intelligence curtailed the diversity and potential for development in Ant Civilization to some extent.

If dinosaurs and ant civilizations had evolved along their original trajectories, their respective societies might have both faced an evolutionary bottleneck.

However, a historical coincidence brought these two distinct civilizations together.

As the exchange between the two civilizations escalated, Ant World drew a wealth of knowledge and ideas from dinosaur civilization, with every new scientific and cultural achievement of dinosaur society quickly spreading to Ant World.

The ants became the dinosaurs' dexterous hands, while the dinosaurs became the fountainhead of the ants' thoughts and creations.

In the late Cretaceous, the fusion of these two burgeoning intelligences finally triggered a violent nuclear reaction. From that moment on, the Sun of civilization rose, illuminating the long night of Earth's evolutionary history.

Time flew by, and in what may have only been a millennium, dinosaurs and ants rose to establish their own vast empires.

The rate of development of these two civilizations was astonishing; they not only stepped through the technological thresholds of the electrical and atomic ages but also smoothly entered the information age.

In the process of exploring ruins, people discovered many devices the size of a wall that turned out to be dinosaur computer screens after testing. Their computer keyboards had keys as large as our computer screens.

The dinosaurs loved space adventures and operated numerous satellites and spacecraft in Earth's geostationary orbit. How these massive objects were sent to space during that era remains a puzzle to many scientists to this day. Yet, this precisely demonstrates the advanced nature and technological prowess of dinosaur civilization beyond its time.

Meanwhile, humans have also found many creations from Ant World, but after over sixty million years, it is impossible for anything to have survived such lengthy erosion.

Unlike the grand creations of dinosaurs that can still be examined and analyzed with some professional tools today.

For the smaller constructs of the ants, humans can only speculate on their original forms based on the composition of the materials, the diffusion of each material, etc., using intelligent programs. However, no one can confirm whether these are their original appearances, as everything is based on conjecture.

Then, from their reconstructed appearances, they deduce their possible uses. As for the original structures, it is impossible to analyze them, but this also allows us a glimpse into the splendor of that era.

People speculate that the ants might have used biologically engineered power muscles as engines for cars and airplanes. These power muscles, shaped like thick electrical cables, could flex at various frequencies to produce power when infused with nutrient fluids.

This innovative technology showcases the ants' profound understanding and application of biotechnology, stimulating awe for the technological level of that era.

...

But strangely, the composite civilization built jointly by dinosaurs and ants seems to have come to an abrupt halt at some point.

Why did this once thriving, technologically advanced dinosaur civilization silently disappear in the river of time?

Humanity has also calculated the last period of dinosaur civilization through relics, which is the late Cretaceous, approximately 65 million years ago.

At that time, the civilizations of dinosaurs and ants had reached a pinnacle, but a sudden extinction event completely destroyed them.

Although some have suggested that the demise of dinosaur civilization might be related to the impact of two small asteroids on Earth, this view is not widely accepted in the scientific community.

A civilization so advanced should have had the technology and wisdom to deal with the disasters brought about by such celestial impacts.

While no definitive answer has been found, some speculate that it could have been due to internal wars, natural disasters, depletion of resources, etc. Some scholars even suggest that it was not caused by two asteroids' impacts but by some kind of weapon, and there are even those who do not rule out that it might have been a strike from the Dark Forest.

Although these speculations have their basis, the true nature of what happened remains an unsolved mystery.

The disappearance of dinosaur civilization is not just a historical event, but also a profound warning for the development of human civilization. It was unexpected that a symbiotic relationship between civilizations truly existed, but could a fusion of civilizations also be possible?

Dinosaur civilization will also remain a long-lasting topic of discussion among humanity.

...

PS: In the Trisolaran Universe, the behavior of the Devourer civilization is tantamount to courting death, having consumed all planets suitable for them and still roaming for tens of millions of years, spanning regions of thousands of light-years, seemingly unafraid of the Dark Forest.

Considering their relatively low level of technology, probably a single Waterdrop would be enough to annihilate them, and such technology wouldn't support their survival through countless interstellar wars.

Therefore, this book will make appropriate changes to the Devourer civilization, for which I seek understanding.