In the dark mountain cave, a snake as thick as a bowl lay quietly.
If he had seen this situation before, Yang Lin would have turned and fled.
But after seeing the two giant anacondas, he was much calmer now.
After all, compared to the two giant anacondas, the one in front of him was just a small loach.
However, judging from its general form, this large snake lying there should be the "baby anaconda" mentioned in the system mission.
The words spoken by the male giant anaconda confirmed this.
"Human, what you see before you is our child. Since its birth, it has been unable to walk."
"And we can feel its life ebbing away."
"If possible, please save it."
Listening to the male giant anaconda's words, Yang Lin finally confirmed that the large snake before him was their baby.
And as it said, although the baby anaconda was large, it appeared extremely weak.
To further confirm what was wrong with its body, Yang Lin first found the dot representing the baby anaconda on his exploration radar.
The next second, a line of information appeared before him.
[Giant Anaconda Cub (Critically Ill) 2 months old Indifferent]
"Critically ill? Could it be some congenital disease caused by radiation?"
At this moment, Yang Lin couldn't help but recall the information he had seen earlier about the two adult giant anacondas.
Whether radiation causes mutations is not yet uniformly agreed upon in biology, but it is obvious that radiation can cause some diseases.
Especially when the mother has been living in a radioactive environment for a long time, the offspring are likely to develop abnormalities, the most common being leukemia.
"Could the baby anaconda have leukemia?"
Thinking of this, Yang Lin, who had been full of confidence, couldn't help but murmur.
If it were an injury, it would most likely be cured by awakening its innate talent.
But he had never encountered an animal with a terminal illness like this before. If his awakened talent couldn't cure its critical illness, it would be troublesome.
To confirm further, he quickly cast another Insight Light on the baby anaconda.
[Baby Giant Anaconda (Excessive Radiation, Gene Collapse) ]
"Huh?"
Seeing this line of information, Yang Lin's brows furrowed immediately.
Now he had two clear pieces of information.
The good news was that the baby anaconda didn't have leukemia.
The bad news was that it was worse than leukemia.
Before obtaining the system, Yang Lin had never heard of the term "gene collapse."
This term did not exist in modern medical systems either.
But he had encountered such a situation twice so far.
One was the little golden retriever born in the Yunnan Zoo.
The reason for its gene collapse was that humans had caused two species that should not have been combined to mate.
The baby anaconda now was his second case, and the cause was obvious.
With its parents already having been exposed to a large amount of radiation, and as a cub, it had been continuously exposed to radiation. Its fragile body clearly couldn't bear it.
"It seems I can only try using the Evolution Light."
For some reason, Yang Lin thought of the time he saved the little golden retriever.
Seeing the baby anaconda's pained expression, Yang Lin no longer hesitated. The Evolution Light skill, which he hadn't used in a long time, turned into a ray and shone directly on the baby anaconda.
As the Evolution Light shone, imperceptible changes rapidly occurred within the baby anaconda.
At the same time, its surface began to change gradually.
The most obvious change was that its originally mottled patterns instantly disappeared without a trace.
It was as if it had faded.
In less than a minute, its scales turned completely white.
What surprised Yang Lin even more was that two small legs actually grew on its abdomen.
Looking at the newly grown hind limbs, Yang Lin was stunned for a moment before he realized.
"Did the anaconda's evolved hind limbs grow back? So is this evolution or devolution?"
Before he could figure out this relationship, another change on the little guy quickly caught his attention.
Following his gaze, he saw a large lump suddenly bulge on the smooth top of the baby anaconda's head.
It stopped growing when the lump became the size of a fist.
Seeing this, the word "bone hyperplasia" popped into Yang Lin's mind.
From being illuminated by the Evolution Light to the baby anaconda's skull growing a lump, the entire process took about 5 minutes.
When all the abnormalities ended, the baby anaconda, which had been weak and unable to even lift its head, immediately regained its vitality.
However, the lack of a mission completion prompt in his mind made Yang Lin puzzled.
"Could it be that its illness is not cured yet?"
To confirm if this was the reason the mission could not be completed, Yang Lin immediately cast another Insight Light.
However, when the first line of information appeared, he was stunned.
[?]
"What does this mean? Where's its name? Did the system bug out?"
Looking at the large question mark in the box before him, a question mark also appeared in Yang Lin's mind.
Just then, a system prompt sounded.
"Congratulations to the host for witnessing the birth of a new species. You have been rewarded with 400 achievement points."
"To facilitate the cataloging of this new species, please name the new species."
Hearing this system prompt, Yang Lin finally came to his senses.
It was clear that after being illuminated by the Evolution Light, the errors caused by excessive radiation had been corrected.
The baby anaconda's genes had undergone tremendous changes on the previous basis, and it no longer belonged to the category of anacondas.
Understanding this, Yang Lin quickly recalled the saying in traditional Chinese mythology.
"A snake becomes a python in 500 years, a python becomes a boa in 500 years, a boa becomes a Flood Dragon in 500 years, a Flood Dragon becomes a Chi in 500 years, a Chi becomes a Qiulong in 500 years, and a Qiulong becomes an Yinglong in 500 years."
"Since you evolved from a boa, let's name you Jiaolong."
As Yang Lin spoke, the information bar that had contained a question mark was immediately corrected.
[Young Jiaolong (Weak State)]
Seeing this, Yang Lin finally understood why the mission had not been judged as complete yet.
"Forget it, I'll see this through. Let's check what suitable talents you have."
As he spoke, Yang Lin looked at the talent panel of the baby Jiaolong.
[Brute Force Constriction (Gold Talent) Requires 5 talent points to activate]
[Stirring Up Winds and Waves (Legendary Talent) Requires 10 talent points to activate]
[Summoning Clouds and Rain (Legendary Talent) Requires 10 talent points to activate]
...
With just one glance, Yang Lin felt a numb sensation.
This was no longer a Jiaolong, it was clearly a weakened version of a dragon.
ps: I'm almost done with my work, and I'll start adding more updates tomorrow.