Chapter 447

Chapter 447: You Call That a Crocodile?

"Just wait a bit longer, and we’d have meat! Ha—hiss—!"

"But that big guy was so cute! Who knew who would die! Hiss!"

"It was okay, no matter who died, we all got to eat meat! Ha—hiss—!"

"That was true! Ha—hiss—!"

…

On the outskirts of the "depression," a group of small fellows happily howled in "ha hiss."

They were very noisy, like a flock of constantly chirping birds.

But the "chirping birds" part only meant to show how loud they were.

When it came to their cries, they were nothing like birds.

At least to Trilobite’s ears, it wasn’t a "chirping" sound, but a "ha hiss" noise.

He couldn’t understand what these small fellows were "hissing" about; it just sounded noisy and rough to him.

It wasn’t pleasant, almost like noise.

Very annoying.

But he still listened with great interest.

As a skilled taxonomist, he could often tell species apart just by their sounds.

"Hmm…"

"From the sound alone, it probably wasn’t a creature from the dinosaur order."

"But rather…"

"Hmm…"

Trilobite thought back carefully; he seemed to have heard such sounds before he traveled here.

"This sound, he remembered hearing it in the Yangtze crocodile Reserve…"

"And those Siamese crocodiles we kept in our museum made this noise when they wanted meat."

"So…"

"False crocodiles?"

False crocodiles were a big group, including things like postosuchus, fascist croc, and Bopolong, as well as true crocodiles.

Meanwhile, the dinosaur order was a different branch far away from false crocodiles.

So in the past, paleontologists often looked at crocodiles and lizards to picture dinosaurs, leading to old ideas like the "kangaroo-style" stance of theropod dinosaurs and their slow, cold-blooded ways.

Now, paleontologists mostly use living dinosaur order creatures—Birds—to rebuild dinosaurs; of course, they went too far sometimes.

For instance, large theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex all became Ground Chickens.

The calls of distant relatives, along with scans of dinosaur throat hollow cavities and a few rare soft tissue fossils, finally let scientists piece together dinosaur sounds bit by bit.

But anyway, whatever sound it was, it was nothing like the cries that sounded like Yangtze crocodiles or Siamese crocodiles.

"But looking at you, why did you resemble early theropod dinosaurs so much…?"

"They looked quite similar to Ornitholestes, small ornithomimids, or Compsognathus…"

"Hmm, it seemed time to check a video about convergent evolution."

"But could creatures like that really exist among false crocodiles!?"

To many outsiders and enthusiasts, false crocodiles conjured images of colossal beasts—large-headed, robust-bodied, moving bipedally or quadrupedally—primarily occupying the ecological niche of large predators.

Novices often mistook them for theropod dinosaurs due to similar names or appearances.

Unfortunately, large terrestrial false crocodiles lacked air sacs and had dense bones; coupled with inherent limitations, they became mere "inferior versions" of theropod dinosaurs.

Whether in growing larger or competing for ecological niches, they fell short against dinosaurs.

"Yet reality might differ."

"Among false crocodiles—particularly the seemingly clumsy Bopolong superfamily—there indeed existed similar creatures."

"They belonged to the Paracrocodylomorpha, Bopolong superfamily, and Suchosauridae: the Suchosaurs."

"Another ‘relative’ of mine."

Suchosaurs lived during the late Triassic Carnian period. To Trilobite, they were among the few species that faintly echoed this era.

As for the name "Suchosaur"…

This translation proved remarkably faithful and elegant, perfectly matching their appearance.

They possessed slender, elongated bodies with lengthy tails and necks. Notably, their forelimbs were extremely short—less than a third the length of their hind limbs.

At first glance, they closely resembled contemporaneous Ornitholestes and Troodon, all measuring two to three meters long and weighing dozens of kilograms—comparable to a husky.

Similar size and build implied a similar ecological niche: omnivorous.

From lizards and insects to shoots, fungi, and even carrion, these three would eat anything.

Yet who could have predicted that these seemingly identical creatures would forge entirely different futures?

One lineage of Ornitholestes evolved into history’s most formidable land predators, their legacy echoing through Earth’s history, with descendants still soaring skies today.

They were theropod dinosaurs.

A cousin lineage of Troodon burgeoned into history’s largest, most magnificent land creatures—the sauropod dinosaurs.

As for Suchosaurs…

Their story ended abruptly.

They vanished shortly after the Carnian period.

Despite their resemblance, closer inspection distinguished Suchosaurs from their dinosaur counterparts: Suchosaurs had slightly elongated torsos, creating greater distance between their limbs.

Their overall build felt less compact, almost sluggish.

They gave the impression of "dachshunds."

"Frankly, they looked rather awkward."

"And these little creatures seemed sluggish—was it due to the rain?"

The "heavy rain" kept falling, growing heavier by the moment.

The curtain of rain poured down, hitting Trilobite’s mouth and nose.

If it hadn’t been for his Olfactory Membranes and the Lorentz Jar detecting things, and the saber-toothed Bopolong already being used to blurry vision, Trilobite wouldn’t have noticed anything.

"This is interesting," he thought.

"These little things…"

"I’ll give them a scare."

Honestly, Trilobite didn’t care much for these noisy, annoying little creatures.

Though Suchosaurs were about 2.5 meters long on average, they were skinny and light. For Trilobite, who always hunted prey his own size, they seemed too small.

Plus, in system vision, they were light yellow.

There was Chaos Energy, but not much; it was weak.

Catching them wasn’t worth the trouble for Trilobite, so when he charged, he meant no harm.

But not meaning harm didn’t mean he couldn’t scare these Suchosaur-like critters.

After all, he was a saber-toothed Bopolong!

"Whoosh—!"

His huge, saber-toothed head shot out from the rain curtain, right into the group of Suchosaurs!

—-

The ether rain curtain hid everything.

Many etheric liquid droplets fell from the sky or floated in the air.

Though the ordinary Pan-Spirit Deities were quick and sharp, they couldn’t see through the ether rain curtain.

The fighting nearby also distracted them.

"Hiss! Big ones win, 1.2 odds! Hiss!"

"Giant ones win, 1.5 odds! Hiss!"

"Big ones win! They never lose! Hiss!"

"But giant ones are meaner! Stronger! Hiss!"

"But there are more big ones! Hiss hiss!"

"Stop fighting! Hiss! Bet on who you think wins! Hiss!"

…

The Pan-Spirit Deities argued and yelled about who would win, and some troublemakers started bets.

In the rain, the onlookers were happy and calm.

Until…

"Boom…"

The ground shook softly.

"Gah—!"

All the ordinary Pan-Spirit Deities went silent.

"Whoosh… rumble…"

A deep roar echoed in the air, making the ether rain curtain sparkle with etheric droplets.

Their small eyes widened in shock before one Pan-Spirit Deity finally moved.

They all gasped together.

They almost choked on the etheric liquid.

In some places, the rain stopped, showing a huge monster with bloody jaws and scary saber teeth.

"Hiss—!"

"Help, hiss!"

"Run! Hiss!"

…

"Hahaha…"

Trilobite laughed hard, but soon he coughed.

"Ah, no time for laughing," he thought.

"I need to move fast."

"If I don’t hurry, when the Baryonyx lady finishes, I’ll get nothing!"