Chapter 372: No Main Quest? Find One Yourself! No Boss? Create One Yourself!
The temporary template granted by Cheng Tian's Game Expert talent could only be settled in two ways.
One was to successfully complete the main quest of the monthly trial, and the other was to clear the entire process as originally set in the blueprint of the dungeon's game.
However, the current problem was that due to the super-dinosaur attributes granted by the erosion of his dungeon fragments in the current "Adventurers' New Dinosaur Century," and the drastic changes in social atmosphere caused by humans and super-dinosaurs beginning to compete for ecological niches, the original plot setting had been completely unrecognizable.
If one were to follow the normal Dinosaur Protection Association faction route, then the players' final Boss would be Fessenden, that crazy balding man. But now, Fessenden had been recognized by mainstream society; although his desire to become the strongest in the world hadn't changed, he at least no longer hated humans, and thus, his identity as the final Boss was relinquished.
Not only had Fessenden's identity been normalized, but the members of the Dinosaur Protection Association, who were originally part of the protagonist's faction, had been reduced to operating only in the shadows.
Some might ask, if humans and dinosaurs are currently competing for ecological niches, why would anyone choose to side with their ecological competitors?
Well, that's probably the diversity of the human species. In a big forest, all kinds of birds exist, and human tolerance also allows some idiots to survive.
Coming back to the point, even if Fessenden had maintained his original identity, Cheng, who was never aligned with the Dinosaur Protection Association and belonged to a purely independent third-party force, would not have Fessenden as his corresponding Boss to clear the game.
Without a main quest settlement and without a final Boss to defeat, Cheng Tian's new template naturally couldn't enter the settlement phase.
If it were still the original Azure Star Greatsword Hero template, no settlement would be fine, but the Hammond Innovation Lab template, which includes logistical development elements, must have a part of it retained!
Therefore, compared to further attempts to find and replicate the saber-toothed tiger genome, figuring out a way to "clear" the dungeon was the most important thing for Cheng Tian, and this matter had been elevated to the highest priority by him.
In the absence of a main quest and a clear Boss for clearance, finding a way to expand the worldview and unearthing hidden Bosses was what a reliable player with a sub-charm attribute should do.
At this stage, he had become a colleague of Dr. Fessenden. Although there might be a saying like "colleagues are the most naked enemies" in this context, after communicating with the Bald Butcher and investigating information about the Dragon Hunters, Cheng Tian could basically confirm that, at least in the current "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs" society, Fessenden was no longer the traditional villainous final Boss... unless he suddenly came up with some anti-human, anti-social shenanigans again.
Similarly, although the protagonist group of the Dinosaur Protection Association had all gone underground and were completely opposed to Cheng Tian in terms of stance, Cheng Tian didn't believe that those four protagonists had the power to become the final Boss... If that's the case, then he probably could only start from the "Adventure Island" aspect that had invaded.
The Boss units from the Adventure Island worldview being incorporated, as evidenced by the Amphibious Blazefire Dragon that had become Cheng Tian's breastplate, proved this point. So, logically, the final Boss of this worldview might be hidden somewhere in the scenario.
What was absurd was that in the world of Adventure Island, which was full of dinosaurs and primitive people, the final Boss was a combination of UFOs and aliens!
Perhaps influenced by a series of works such as "Super Mario Bros.," "Makaimura," and "The Legend of Kage," the original driving force of the entire story of Adventure Island III was aliens with physiological isolation kidnapping the protagonist's girlfriend. The protagonist, Master Takahashi, with his shoehorn-shaped face, then rode his beloved little dinosaur, defeating all Bosses, eliminating the aliens, and finally rescuing his girlfriend in a classic development.
As for the reason for the kidnapping, it sounded even more absurd: the aliens were envious and jealous of Master Takahashi and his girlfriend's happy life!
Yes, a classic but absurd plot, basically without any consideration for the logic of the story, and it didn't need to be considered.
However, facing this illogical story development, Heaven's Chosen Space, which constructs the dungeon, had a lot to consider. If there really was an alien hidden somewhere in the current dungeon, then there needed to be a relatively reasonable explanation.
Thus, Cheng Tian made a hypothesis: "Aliens are the source of dinosaurs acquiring super-gene traits."
He then made a second hypothesis: "Aliens are the source of prehistoric creatures re-occupying the earth."
However, this second hypothesis was a bit too much tracing back, essentially grafting the originally very vague "dinosaur revival" in the settings of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs entirely onto aliens, which felt a bit like the tail wagging the dog.
If the dungeon was Adventure Island as a whole + Cadillacs and Dinosaurs fragments, then the probability of this second hypothesis would be much higher.
But currently, it was Adventure Island fragments + Cadillacs and Dinosaurs as a whole. According to the primary and secondary division, aliens modifying Earth's dinosaurs with an experimental mindset and granting the dinosaur population super-bloodlines sounded much more reasonable.
But here, a new problem arose: there was no objective opposition of position between Cheng Tian and the potentially existing alien Boss. In this situation, even if he managed to find the alien, it would probably be difficult to be judged as a clearable Boss.
"Hmm…"
Cheng, who was spinning around in his office chair, making Bazett dizzy, had already decided to proactively contact Fessenden.
As the industry leader and the most authoritative existence in the research of dinosaur mutated bloodline genes, it was highly likely that they had clues related to aliens in their hands.
He wondered what price he would have to pay for information exchange with such a person.
Incidentally, Cheng Tian had already hired the Bald Butcher's team to help him collect saber-toothed tiger fossils or carcasses.
He had noticed from the types of dinosaurs he had previously acquired from the Butcher that the dinosaur types here had expanded, and the reason was very likely the "Jurassic World: Evolution" related template he had brought.
Although there were no ancient creatures other than dinosaurs in the original game, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and Adventure Island, these two game dungeons contained species like archaeopteryx, rattlesnakes, spiders, bats, seahorses, and sea anemones. It was possible that the dungeon expansion could lead to the genes of saber-toothed tigers.
Even if there were no live ones, fossils were also considered ancient creature carcasses. In Jurassic World Evolution, players' genetic genomes were obtained by collecting fossils.
But just at this moment, Cheng Tian's chariot matrix issued a warning feedback. The detection radar built into Radar One detected a flying vehicle approaching at high speed.
Cheng Tian's consciousness linked with Radar One, which was in automatic combat AI, and its cannon began to aim at the sky.
Subsequently, a perfectly standard flying UFO appeared within Cheng Tian's field of vision.