That thing is incredibly fast. I had just shouted it out when that giant dragonfly, with a wingspan of over a meter and a body length of an astonishing 2.5 meters, was already less than five meters away from us.
There was no time to lose. Regardless of whether the natives and Top would be frightened by the gunshot, I had already aimed at the guy in the sky and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
A tongue of orange-red flame shot out from the gun barrel, followed by a thunderous explosion that echoed continuously in the empty sinkhole, the sound lingering for a long time.
The giant dragonfly that was flying towards us only stayed in mid-air for a second before being torn into pieces by the close-range storm of golden particle bullets and falling to the ground.
Top was alright; after all, it wasn't the first time he'd seen me fire a gun. But that young native was different; last time I used a slug, and it hit a tree.
Even the most shocking thing would only break a tree and send it flying, but this time I fired a shotgun.
With a single shot, the golden particle bullet flew out at lightning speed. Just a second ago, the giant dragonfly was two and a half meters tall, but in the blink of an eye, I turned it into dust. How could it not be terrified?
The young indigenous man's legs suddenly went weak, and he was about to kneel down. I quickly helped the frightened man up.
I patted him on the shoulder, indicating that I had already eliminated the giant dragonfly and that he didn't need to be so afraid.
It took the native a while to recover, but he still kept his distance when he saw my shotgun.
Just kidding, this thing is even more ferocious than Luo Du, who would dare to get close!
Seeing that the young natives couldn't immediately accept the shock of the guns, I didn't have any good solutions.
I admit my shotgun was a little too powerful; at most, I'll remind him to plug his ears before firing next time.
The attack by the giant dragonfly put us on high alert once again.
I put the empty shotgun shells into the recycling bag and reloaded them with a new one. These empty shells can be reused a few more times with a little processing.
Thankfully, we escaped unscathed this time and weren't hunted by the giant dragonfly. Otherwise, the feeling of that alien-like mouth chewing on us wouldn't have been pleasant at all.
I originally thought that it was already strange that most of the animals here were Pliocene species, but I didn't expect to encounter something even more bizarre this time.
This dragonfly was extremely fast and fierce, and was the aerial overlord of the Pebble Period 130 million years ago.
The Pebble Period was a time of great insect explosion, during which most of the world's animals were insects. Later, climate change led to the extinction of many of these giant insects.
I never expected there would be such a thing at the bottom of this sinkhole. You know, even if this species exists, the normal atmospheric oxygen content is not enough to sustain their normal physiological needs.
The reason why prehistoric dragonflies could grow to such a huge size is related to the high oxygen content in the atmosphere at that time.
During the Carboniferous period, the oxygen content in the atmosphere was 20% higher than usual, allowing insects to survive with relatively simple respiratory systems, which enabled them to evolve larger sizes.
As time goes by, factors such as decreased atmospheric oxygen levels cause dragonflies to gradually shrink in size.
Although this is a primeval forest, I don't think the oxygen content in this world reaches such a high standard.
Because the oxygen conversion rate of chloroplasts in modern forests has not yet reached that level, unless...
Thinking about this, I couldn't help but shudder. I thought it was absolutely impossible; that thing was too ancient, too old. So ancient that even the time of its extinction can only be roughly verified, how could it still exist?
Having experienced the giant dragonfly attack, we quickened our pace. The terrain here offered us no advantage; we needed to leave quickly.
Fortunately, the road downhill became easier to walk on, and the terrain was not as steep as before, becoming much gentler.
We still dared not be careless, with Top leading the way. After walking for another twenty minutes or so, we finally arrived at the bottom of the sinkhole.
As soon as I set foot on this land, I noticed something unusual: the ground beneath my feet had a very soft texture, like walking on a sponge.
This place is entirely peat moss!
My first impression was that the soil here was very fertile. To verify my idea, I turned over the damp soil on the ground.
Sure enough, the soil below was the same dark peat moss I had seen in the taro field.
The area is warm and humid, and with its fertile peat soil, it's no wonder that many of the trees here have grown to be as thick as a person's embrace.
But then something even more astonishing happened. A young local resident patted my shoulder and pointed blankly at a plant, wanting me to take a look.
This plant is not particularly eye-catching compared to other towering trees that require several people to encircle, and it doesn't even reach the height of a typical rainforest tree.
This plant-like thing made me gasp in shock; I've never been this surprised even when I've seen large, ferocious beasts.
It was once a super-creature that transformed the Earth, evolved all things, and dominated everything.
It had a tree-trunk-like structure, reaching up to 1 meter in diameter and 8.8 meters in height, and was composed of interwoven tubular bundles with a diameter of 50 micrometers, making it the largest terrestrial organism on land at that time.
It can only be called organic matter and is completely unclassifiable. It resembles moss, mushrooms, and the tissue of some kind of animal. Most importantly, it is 8 meters tall, practically a tree.
This thing appeared approximately 420 million years ago and dominated the Earth for 50 million years. At that time, this strange organic matter grew almost everywhere on Earth. It turned rocks into soil, provided shelter for plants, and nurtured primitive insects...
They seem to be intentionally altering the Earth's environment, but what exactly are they?
Until recently, an elderly gentleman (Francis Huber) who had dedicated his life to studying this fossil finally gave a conclusion that could convince most people: it was a prehistoric giant mushroom...
It's called Protozoa, a type of fungus that began transforming the Earth 420 million years ago, turning rocks on land into soil and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into oxygen.
However, this mushroom suddenly went extinct 370 million years ago, as if it had received some kind of order, left the earth, ran up to the trees, and became a gill-shaped fungus (also known as Ganoderma lucidum). Why did this happen?
This remains a mystery to this day.
Someone once asked me, what is the largest creature in the world?
I said, "Why even ask? It's just a blue whale, isn't it?" But my friend told me, "Remember, it's a mushroom."
In Oregon, there is a structure the size of 1,300 football fields (9 million square meters, 3.5 square miles), weighing 35,000 tons, and already 8,600 years old.
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