Two days later in the afternoon, the work had reached the final step, which was to secure the net onto the turtle shell. Because the turtle shell is not flat, it wasn't difficult, just needed to tightly wrap the leftover grass onto it. But this step was particularly important, as if it fell off midway, everyone's lives would be at risk.
Under Peter's guidance, everyone wrapped circle after circle, almost turning the giant turtle into a dumpling. Fortunately, the turtle reacted slowly and was not very mobile, spending its days circling near the water and retracting into its shell when encountering predators, which didn't cause too much trouble for the cats' work.
By the time it was almost dark, they had basically finished binding it, and only needed to make slight adjustments and test it the next day. A few cats were also preparing to go back to sleep, as the place was a bit far from their nest, making it inconvenient and rather dangerous to travel back and forth, so they recently had been sleeping in nearby trees.
Luckily, they didn't go too far because as night fell, the group of Pteranodons came again.
Seeing the giant silhouettes crossing the sky, the cats were stunned: Wasn't it supposed to be once every three days? How did it become two days?
Of course, they had only observed it once, so it couldn't be conclusively said to be exactly three days, but based on the drone and Peter's deduction, the cycle shouldn't have such a big error. Coming a day early is essentially a one-third error, which is quite unusual.
Logically, these mechanical creations all operate according to some program, and they originally thought it would run on a daily basis, but now it seems it might be based on demand. Previously it was three days, now it's two days, which very likely means the demand for the cube has increased.
This is not an ideal time, but on one hand, the giant turtle will surely be taken away, failing to act on it would waste these past few days' efforts. On the other hand, an increased demand for the cube likely indicates a problem, and if they don't go, they might miss a crucial timing.
Shiller hardly hesitated, immediately taking a few cats to jump onto the turtle's back. They squeezed into the net, not daring to breathe. The placement of the net was very strategic, situated on the back like a small hill, near the tail of the giant turtle.
They had researched the Pteranodon's claws before; those claws have an extremely strong grip, almost impossible to escape once caught, even for fierce carnivorous animals. Additionally, they use the simplest method to grab, without adjusting positions or using techniques. Thus, the best way to catch a land turtle is to directly grab the tip of its shell, and based on the claw's size and grip position, the tail area is hard to reach.
Sure enough, a Pteranodon swooped down and grasped the giant turtle's back with its claw. The turtle did not disappoint, not daring to resist, shrinking into its shell at the first sign of crisis, making it easier for the Pteranodon. The cats inside the net felt a sense of weightlessness and almost immediately saw the dense canopy of the primitive jungle and the distant cube.
The whole process was smoother than imagined. They stayed in the net, observing the prey of the surrounding Pteranodons and then noticed that this time the captures weren't as big as the last time. Understandably, with such frequent hunting, the prey doesn't have time to grow big, of course, the large ones were caught first, leaving only these not-so-large ones.
There definitely is something wrong, Shiller was a little worried. The greatest advantage of mechanical creations is stability, but their weakness is once instability occurs, they can quickly slip into the wrong direction, ultimately becoming irreparable. Efficiency, in the face of a wrong path, can turn into a booster towards death.
The cats quietly hid on the giant turtle's back, praying for a smooth journey. Yet, they hadn't been flying long when one Pteranodon in the group suddenly staggered, or more accurately, dipped down. Its position was just to the right rear of the cats, and Peter quickly noticed that the Ark Reactor on its chest flickered.
Peter widened his eyes in shock: "Could it be out of power?"
"Could the Ark Reactor run out of power?" Shiller was also shocked. Heard rumors about its insecurity, and insufficient output, but never heard about it running out of power, isn't it cold nuclear fusion?
"It can," Peter said, "The Ark Reactor is indeed a nice clean energy source, also considered a practical small-scale energy, but it's not truly infinite energy. Our cosmic humans don't actually have true infinite energy, so-called infinite energy is actually just relatively long-lived."
Shiller thought for a moment since previously, during encounters with the Three Great Empires in the Central Universe, they all have infinite energy, even Asgard, so he assumed that the longer-developed Prime Universe should have it.
Mainly, through so many major events, the Prime Universe has quite a lot of divine artifacts, many with very high settings, should logically be utilizable, but if not, it likely means they weren't utilized, or they're too dangerous.
"Under what circumstances can the Ark Reactor run out of power?" Shiller asked.
"Element decay," Peter said, "Of course, it could also be interference with the reaction process. It is actually not suitable for embedding in armor, as it might stop working upon external attack; otherwise, it wouldn't have been phased out."
Shiller pondered for a moment. This Pteranodon didn't seem to have been attacked by any external force, or rather, these wild animals couldn't effectively threaten him—it seemed like something had gone wrong internally.
But before he could figure out what exactly had gone wrong, the Pteranodon they were sitting on also lurched, then tilted downward. Several cats desperately clung to the turtle shell as Shiller let out a sharp cry.
The little drone at this moment understood the cat's calls. It broke free from the net and flew at maximum power, accompanying beside the Pteranodon while trying to avoid the flapping wings and swinging head, approaching the center of the Ark Reactor.
Then, the Ark Reactor suddenly lit up. The Pteranodon fluttered its wings a few times, barely adjusting its form to become stable again. But it could no longer flap its wings and had to glide on air currents.
Still, as was said, without extra lift, such a large creature has difficulty with long-distance flight. Although it glided for a while, the altitude steadily continued to drop. When the Pteranodon lost control, Peter estimated the distance and said, "We certainly won't reach the cube; let's prepare for landing ahead of time."
Several cats slowly crawled outward, but still had to be careful because the altitude was still quite high, and falling prematurely would definitely be fatal. They crawled to the edge of the net, and lowered their heads to look down.
To their shock, the primitive jungle below looked completely different, almost like a sea of blood. When the Pteranodon descended further, they realized that some mysterious red substance was consuming the entire jungle, spreading outward inexorably, appearing extremely deadly.
Fortunately, the Pteranodon seemed to be aware of the danger posed by this mysterious substance and didn't intend to land on the ground. However, the nearby trees were sparse, with many toppled and others appearing corroded. Using its last bit of energy, the Pteranodon glided to the top of the tallest tree's canopy. Even when the Ark Reactor extinguished, it did not let go of its grip.
The giant turtle heavily crashed into the tree branches, causing the cats to be rattled, but thankfully the net was tied securely, preventing them from being thrown off, though they did sit on the turtle's back for a while before gradually crawling out of the net.
Blood flowed from within the turtle's shell; that recent collision was likely severe. Even after calm returned, the giant turtle did not emerge again. Little Superman bravely took a peek inside the turtle shell, and in the faint light, he only observed a mangled mess of flesh.
This scene was not terrifying. Instead, it unexpectedly stimulated appetite. Those two lamb legs hadn't actually lasted until the end—the cats had missed a meal and, smelling the rich scent of blood, did not feel nauseated but instead found their hunger greatly increased.
Except for Peter, who briefly repented inwardly, the other cats hesitated little before diving into the turtle shell to feast. The giant turtle wasn't entirely dead, but it certainly wouldn't survive. After all, if the Pteranodon didn't release its shell, it had no way of leaving, and below was filled with that blood-red, peculiar substance; falling would surely mean death.
Shiller and Little Superman worked together to bite through the neck, putting the giant turtle out of its misery before feasting. Turtle meat wasn't particularly tasty; they were simply too hungry—without consideration, they gorge themselves. Upon crawling out of the turtle shell, all four cats were covered in blood red.
Climbing back onto the giant turtle's back, they looked down, where the red sprawl seemed vast. The cats' night vision ability was excellent, allowing them to see clearly that the substance appeared to be emanating from the cube, seemingly alive and continually consuming surrounding organic matter.
The cube was actually close at hand, but venturing forward was certainly impossible. They again climbed from the tree branches onto the Pteranodon's back, retrieving the little drone. At the critical moment, it had regained control over the Pteranodon, exerting the last of its strength for a stable landing. Out of all the Pteranodons, this one flew the furthest; the others had long since crashed.
"Can the Ark Reactor be restarted?" Shiller's first reaction was this, but he quickly realized it was unlikely. Setting aside their inability to dismantle it, even if they could repair it, there were no conditions to do so. Most importantly, even after restart, this Pteranodon wouldn't listen to them; it would certainly carry the turtle shell back to the cube. But given the current situation, the cube was undoubtedly a perilous lair—returning with the Pteranodon would likely result in a bad outcome.
"Let's use the turtle shell as a base and recover properly," Shiller thought aloud, "At least finish eating this turtle, replenish our physical strength, and then explore further."
The several cats, also quite exhausted, agreed to his plan. This time they slept under the Pteranodon's wings, worried that the red substance might creep up at night, so one cat was assigned to keep watch. Shiller, highly alert due to his wounds, took the night watch.
Shiller naturally wouldn't obediently stay atop the tree keeping watch—he gradually climbed down to the lowest branches nearby. With most nearby trees dead, the dome's light illuminated the ground's conditions clearly. Coupled with the cats' night vision ability, Shiller soon discovered that this resembled some kind of fungus.
Be it the growth patterns or the sprawling shapes, they resembled spreading mycelium, but much more dangerous than ordinary fungi. Shiller found this fungus capable of digesting organic matter, seemingly possessing a certain hunting awareness, continually heading towards concentrated organic matter, and quickly digesting whatever was enveloped.
As the situation was already dire, the cats hardly slept before waking up. Although ground exploration was impossible, fortunately, several trees remained nearby. Once explored among the trees, the other cats reached the same conclusion as Shiller. These red substances looked more like recklessly growing strange mycelium; unquestionably, it was a carnivorous fungus that consumed rapidly.