Although Yang Lin didn't have a strong sense of personal heroism, nor did he want to be a savior, he had finally managed to live a wealthy life for a few days.
"I hope these guys don't mess around. They can't possibly be trying to resurrect those prehistoric beasts."
While secretly praying, Yang Lin debated whether or not he should report what he knew to the country.
But he soon shook his head and dismissed the idea.
It was a joke; no one would believe such a thing if he said it.
He couldn't possibly rush to the police station and tell the officers that a group of crazy scientists composed of elites from various countries were preparing to resurrect prehistoric beasts to destroy the world.
"Forget it, these big issues shouldn't be my concern. I should focus on myself first."
"Perhaps it's time to upgrade the system to Level 3."
With that thought, he casually opened the system panel, which he hadn't accessed in a long time.
After a brief search, the conditions required to upgrade the system to Level 3 were once again presented before him.
[1000 Awakened Animals (Progress: 893/1000)]
[100 Golden Talent Animals (Progress: 97/100)]
[10 Legendary Talent Animals (Progress: 15/10)]
[All Skills Upgraded to Intermediate (Progress: 100%)]
[Cultivate or Discover 100 New Species (Progress: 53/100)]
Out of the five upgrade conditions, only two had been fully met, with three still pending. In reality, apart from the last item, Yang Lin could complete the other conditions immediately if he wished, requiring only the expenditure of some talent points.
However, the last condition was precisely the most troublesome.
"It seems it's time for a stroll around the park."
Having decided to upgrade the system to Level 3, Yang Lin immediately walked out of his office.
It was currently morning, and animals could be seen wandering everywhere in the park.
After more than half a year of development, the ratio of awakened animals to ordinary animals in Xihong Zoo had reached 1:5.
This meant that approximately one out of every five animals had awakened its talent.
Casually grabbing a hedgehog sunning itself on a nearby rock, Yang Lin began to examine the little creature.
"This is a good candidate for modification. I'll start with you today."
As he spoke, he began to calculate the hedgehog's evolutionary direction in his mind.
A minute later, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Out of sight of the tourists, an evolutionary beam shone upon the ordinary hedgehog.
Instantly, certain structures within the hedgehog's body underwent changes.
After Yang Lin confirmed that this evolutionary direction was feasible, he placed the hedgehog back on the ground.
The moment he let go, the hedgehog, which was originally only palm-sized, began to inflate its belly like a balloon, and the muscles on its back vibrated at an extremely rapid frequency.
In the next second, several sharp quills shot out from its back.
Following a series of faint sounds, several sharp quills embedded themselves into the trunk of a nearby tree.
If other tourists were to witness this scene, their faces would likely turn pale with fright.
It is widely known that hedgehog quills are for defense, and no one has ever seen a hedgehog capable of actively launching its quills.
If hedgehogs in the wild could master this ability, even birds of prey like eagles would not dare to provoke them easily.
Just as Yang Lin completed this modification of the hedgehog, a system prompt sounded.
"Ding! Host has successfully cultivated a new species. Please name it."
Yang Lin, who had anticipated this, was not surprised at all.
"It can shoot flying needles, why not call it a Flying Needle Hedgehog?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the name Yang Lin had casually given was recorded by the system, and the progress for the task increased by one.
With this auspicious beginning, Yang Lin was ready to press on and complete the remaining progress.
At this moment, a group of tourists gathered on the side of the main road also caught his attention.
Through a gap in the crowd, a large sloth with long fur was slowly climbing.
At its normal crawling speed, it would take about ten minutes to cross the main road.
Seeing this, Yang Lin couldn't help but recall some of the research he had seen on sloths.
Research indicated that sloths were so slow because their primary food sources lacked sufficient fat and protein.
To conserve energy, they crawled at such a slow pace.
And because of their slowness, the probability of sloths interacting with mates was reduced, thereby greatly decreasing their reproductive rate.
"So, if I slightly alter the sloth's diet, can it speed up?"
With this thought, Yang Lin immediately got to work.
He cast an evolution light, and all the secrets of the sloth's body were revealed to him.
Finding the genes related to diet control, he transformed into a modification engineer and made drastic changes.
Five minutes later, as the final modification was completed, the large sloth, which had been lying on the ground looking listless, suddenly raised its head. In the next second, to the shock of dozens of tourists, it sprinted across the main road at a speed of over 10 meters per second.
It was only after its silhouette disappeared from view that they reacted.
"Holy cow, why was that sloth moving so fast just now? Was it too lazy to even pretend to be slow?"
"I don't know. Don't books say sloths crawl very slowly? Was it faking it before?"
"Exactly like me on a Friday afternoon."
"Is there a possibility that the books are wrong, and actual sloths are this fast?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible."
"There's no way. The animals at Xihong Zoo are too competitive. If they don't have some unique skill, they don't have any status here."
"They say there are no animal shows at Xihong Zoo, but why do I feel like all these animals are performing?"
"Let's go find where it ran off to. I have to take a picture and show others today, so they won't be misled by movies and think sloths actually crawl fast."
...
Hearing the tourists' comments about the modified sloth, Yang Lin's face broke into a sly grin.
"System, name that sloth 'Lightning Sloth'."
"Lightning Sloth recorded. Current progress: 55/100."
With these two successful precedents, Yang Lin's subsequent modifications gradually became bolder.
Adding sweat glands to dogs and wolves.
Increasing the conception rate and libido of pandas.
Enhancing the immune system and disease resistance of turtles.
Improving the environmental adaptability and cold resistance of some migratory birds.
Strengthening the digestive capacity of Pallas's cats.
Although these evolutions and modifications did not alter the animals' appearance in any way, in essence, they already differed from their original species.
And this impact would not only apply to the individual but also to their offspring, who would inherit these traits.
If these changes were to occur through normal evolutionary pathways, it would take thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years. However, for Yang Lin, it only required a mere thought.
It was only at this moment that he truly realized the terrifying power of the skill known as the Light of Evolution.