Outside Beihe Natural History Museum

"Six minutes late for team building - your perfect attendance bonus for this month is gone." Supervisor Liu said with a stern face, looking like a confident lawyer at the negotiation table.

"Brain-dead moron." Li Xuan calmly spat out two words, shouldering past Supervisor Liu and strolling inside.

Simple verbal abuse, ultimate enjoyment.

When feeling unhappy, just curse it out - who cares about the consequences? Please yourself first, deal with other matters later.

Besides, the apocalypse was coming soon anyway. These people before him might not even have a "later" to worry about.

To be precise, it wasn't just a simple apocalypse. Zombies were merely the appetizer for the end times - this was the ultimate trial for civilization!

Last night, he had bound with an intelligence system that randomly refreshed one or two pieces of intelligence every one to seven days.

After binding, he received four beginner intelligence reports: [World Version Update], [First Version Preview], and [The Happy Dead].

[World Version Update: In twelve hours, the ultimate trial begins, and the world version receives its first update.

First Version: Apocalypse Arrival (Zombies, Torrential Rain, Eternal Day, Eternal Night)

Second Version: Global Mutation (Unknown)

Third Version: Martial Arts Rise/Strange Occurrences Emerge (Unknown)

Fourth Version: Spiritual Energy Revival/Ten Thousand Tribes' Calamity (Unknown)

Fifth Version: Mythological Revival/Dimensional Invasion (Unknown)

Sixth Version: Universal World Creation/(Unknown)

Entering corresponding versions unlocks version secrets. Currently unlocked: First Version.]

The [Happy Dead] intelligence referred to an elderly man living below Li Xuan's apartment who had passed away peacefully this morning, dying at home without having to experience the trials of the apocalypse - truly a happy dead person.

After going downstairs this morning to confirm the intelligence was true, Li Xuan rushed to the natural history museum. Not to save his colleagues, but for an opportunity - the first opportunity after the trial began!

Supervisor Liu staggered, greatly angered by Li Xuan's insubordination, glaring furiously. "Li Xuan! Do you not want to work anymore!"

Beside them, Ying Cui, the company's famously kind person, tugged at Supervisor Liu's sleeve and said in a gentle tone: "Supervisor, don't be angry. The boss is watching. Later I'll properly scold Li Xuan and make him apologize to you."

Hmph!

Supervisor Liu snorted coldly, mentally calculating how to severely punish Li Xuan back at the company - tentative plans included not counting overtime, not reimbursing business trips, delaying salary for half a year, deducting all annual bonuses, and having others receive honors on his behalf.

"Ying Cui! You're always like this. Being too kind isn't good either. Young people these days are cold-hearted and won't remember your kindness."

Ying Cui adjusted her glasses. "As the saying goes, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. I think the same applies to colleagues. Everyone in the company knows you have a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Li Xuan will understand your good intentions later."

She spoke slightly louder, just enough for the boss not far away to hear.

Supervisor Liu's mouth curved upward, quite pleased, using a paternalistic tone: "Ah, you understand me best."

Thinking of Li Xuan again, he felt utter contempt. Today's team building was different from usual - even the boss had come. It was a perfect opportunity to show off, and Li Xuan's behavior today had probably been noticed by the boss, ruining any promotion chances.

'College students from rural areas just aren't good enough - they don't understand social etiquette or how to assess situations. Do they really think big cities are as easy to navigate as rural villages?'

He didn't like people like Li Xuan, but the company did for a simple reason - they were cheap.

The group entered the museum, and the several people with their own agendas quickly spotted Li Xuan. He stood at the most conspicuous spot in the museum, before the blue whale specimen.

Beihe Natural History Museum was the largest natural history museum in several nearby provinces, and the only one with a blue whale specimen.

A tour guide was currently leading a group, vividly describing the blue whale.

"Everyone knows that biological individuals from hundreds of millions of years ago were very large - dinosaurs, titan boas, megalodons, etc. Giant creatures were everywhere. Nowadays, dinosaurs are extinct, and animal sizes have shrunk. Many people think modern animals can't compare to ancient ones, but that's actually not true!

The blue whale is the largest animal known to have existed on Blue Star, reaching over thirty meters long and weighing up to 180 tons - even larger than the extinct dinosaurs!"

Someone disagreed: "That's not right. When I browse short videos, I've seen the New Zealand giant ichthyosaur - 38 meters long and 400 tons heavy, much larger than a blue whale."

The guide explained unhurriedly: "The data you mentioned is speculative and unverified. Actually, in recent years, many ancient animals were speculated to be larger than blue whales, but after excavating more complete fossils, their estimated sizes were revised downward to smaller than blue whales."

A little boy in the crowd tugged at his mother's hand: "Mom, isn't the mosasaurus the largest animal?"

"He's tricking you. How could a blue whale be the largest animal? Dinosaurs are the largest." The middle-aged woman comforted.

The little boy's disappointment vanished, replaced by excitement: "Mom, that big brother seems to be climbing over the railing. I want to touch the blue whale too."

"Okay, okay, later you can sneak in and touch it when there's chaos." The middle-aged woman had just looked up when everything went dark before her eyes.

Light from around the world was snatched away in an instant. Everyone's vision turned dark as if they had lost their sight. Countless voices arose - confused, anxious, angry curses, crying...

Darkness most easily triggers human fear.

The museum descended into chaos.

In the darkness, Li Xuan felt his way to the blue whale specimen and without hesitation bit down. A fishy odor filled his mouth. Suppressing nausea and disgust, he swallowed a piece of blue whale flesh.

Intelligence [Trial Secret: When the first version updates, darkness falls for sixty seconds. During this time, eating any animal allows you to master the corresponding animal transformation ability after light returns. Note: Choose carefully - more varieties aren't necessarily better. Recommended to choose large-sized animals.]

Then relying on instinct, he felt his way leftward in the dark. Being unable to see, he bumped into several people along the way.

45, 44...35

After darkness fell, Li Xuan had been silently counting down sixty seconds in his mind. When he reached thirty-five, he touched a bone.

His second chosen animal!

The largest pterosaur that ever existed! The Quetzalcoatlus!

No time to find the Quetzalcoatlus's smallest bone. He randomly grabbed what felt like a small bone, stuffed it into his mouth, and forced it down his throat despite the pain.

Meanwhile, he continued running in another direction. To overcome his fear of darkness, he closed his eyes, pushing people away or forcefully bumping into them when encountered.

10, 9, 8...5

Time was running out. Finally, Li Xuan touched a new bone.

The former land dominator! Tyrannosaurus Rex!

The classic backdrop in giant monster movies - to highlight a particular monster's strength, they usually kill one or two T-rexes.

But movies are fake, while the T-rex truly once dominated the land.

After picking up the T-rex bone, he put it in his mouth, biting with all his strength. If he couldn't swallow it, he ground some bone powder to swallow.

When counting down to three, he felt like he had swallowed some bone powder, or maybe he hadn't.

At this moment, light returned, and the world welcomed great changes!

Mental counting definitely has errors - after all, humans aren't machines. Any emotion can affect the speed of silent counting.