Bai Ze flipped through his options, searching for a way to salvage the situation.
Meanwhile, the simulation continued relentlessly.
[Mid-Tertiary Period: Ice Age Phase. Marine species became the first to go extinct, frozen into blocks of ice and trapped on the ocean floor.]
[Due to the harsh climate and freezing world, large swathes of natural vegetation perished, drastically reducing food resources.]
[This directly led to the extinction of many small herbivorous animals on land, erasing them from the stage of history.]
[With no plants and no small prey to hunt, the food chain on land collapsed. Medium- to large-sized animals, desperate for survival, resorted to killing their rivals or even cannibalism, yet they too were driven to their ultimate demise.]
[Even the most intelligent species on land, the upright humans, were in dire straits. The black-skinned and brown-skinned populations in valleys and deserts suffered the most from frostbite due to their terrain.]
[Despite knowing how to wear animal hides and use fire for warmth, the sky no longer sent down lightning. They couldn't create fire on their own and had long run out of food sources.]
[In their desperate plight, the upright humans experienced mass deaths. The black-skinned and brown-skinned populations were nearly wiped out.]
[The white-skinned population, residing in forested areas where food ran out the latest, didn't fare much better.]
[The bitter cold left them nearly frozen stiff. One by one, their kin fell, and even fire couldn't last long in the relentless chill.]
[With no other choice, the white-skinned humans knelt and prayed to the heavens for salvation granting them fire and warmth to survive the disaster.]
"Praying won't help," Bai Ze muttered helplessly. "I don't have any cards to combat the Ice Age."
He searched through the four cards he still had, but none were suited for dealing with freezing weather. In the face of nature's overwhelming power, all creatures seemed utterly insignificant.
He thought of asking Aurora for help, but she was powerless in this situation. The Holy Spirit King Dragon was still too young if it were more mature, it might have been able to turn the tides against nature itself.
Unfortunately, this was merely wishful thinking.
To make matters worse, even the floating island had been encased in thick layers of frost. The extraordinary treants, though unaffected by the cold, still needed nourishment. The frozen soil yielded no energy to absorb, leaving them weak and withered.
"This isn't looking good this round is probably a total loss," Bai Ze sighed, feeling a sense of despair.
If his strongest species were struggling, how could the others possibly survive?
Yet amidst the despair, one group refused to give up.
[Late-Tertiary Period: The Ice Age continues. Ninety percent of life on the planet has gone extinct.]
[The only survivors are a handful of large species like mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and short-faced bears, whose thick fur shields them from the cold.]
[The forests have finally succumbed to the frost. The white-skinned upright humans, having waited in vain for divine intervention, perished in droves within the forests.]
[The black-skinned and brown-skinned upright humans were completely buried beneath layers of snow and ice, vanishing without a trace.]
[The last remaining group, the yellow-skinned upright humans, suffered heavy losses and were forced to migrate.]
[This group trudged across frost-covered grasslands, unable to find any food. They resembled flickering flames in a snowstorm, on the verge of being snuffed out.]
[But! The yellow-skinned humans did not bow to the heavens nor resign themselves to despair!]
[To survive the extreme cold, their cleverest members began to evolve, doing everything they could to endure.]
[In the face of death, a new species, evolved from upright humans, emerged upon this icy, blue-and-white-covered world.]
[This species demonstrated remarkable intelligence, devising three key methods to combat the cold.]
[They discovered that by rubbing two dry sticks together, they could produce fire without relying on lightning, providing warmth against the chill.]
[They learned the basics of weaving and shelter-building, using animal hides and tree leaves to create thicker clothing to protect themselves.]
[Using straw and deadwood, they constructed simple shelters to block the harsh winds, allowing them to survive in this unforgiving environment.]
[To combat the food shortage, they even attempted farming sowing seeds in frozen soil and nurturing them with a low success rate in growing edible wheat.]
[This species had fully upright spines, significantly reduced body hair, defined facial features, and strong, resilient bodies.]
[This new race came to be known in history as Homo sapiens!]
[Ding! Homo sapiens have learned to produce fire independently! They have mastered shelter construction, weaving, and agriculture!]
[Ding! The wheel of history begins to turn. The Neolithic Age has dawned!]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host intelligent lifeforms, Homo sapiens, have been successfully born for the first time!]
[Ding! The host's Creation Points +1000.]
The system's notifications echoed in Bai Ze's ears, leaving him momentarily stunned.
The unresolved issue from the last round had been effortlessly solved due to the onset of the Ice Age.
Or perhaps, Bai Ze thought more carefully, the Ice Age itself was the catalyst for the evolution of upright humans.
However, one thing still puzzled Bai Ze. Why did the Ice Age occur in this round but not the last one? The simulation timelines were identical.
"System," Bai Ze asked, "the simulation periods are the same. Why did the Ice Age appear this time but not the last? Did I accidentally trigger something?"
Unable to figure it out himself, he turned to the system for answers. After a while, the system responded.
[Ding! The host is correct.]
[The Ice Age occurred because the sun moved closer to the Galactic Center, reducing its luminosity and cooling the planet, thus triggering the Ice Age.]
[In the previous round, the host used the Spirit Revival ability, which perfectly mitigated this risk, preventing the Ice Age from occurring.]
Hearing this explanation, Bai Ze finally understood.
The Spirit Revival ability enveloped the world in spiritual energy, stabilizing temperatures at an optimal level for plant and animal growth. Even without sunlight, it made little difference.
But without that ability, the world changed drastically.
"So... does that mean I sabotaged myself last round?" Bai Ze muttered wryly.
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