In the following days, the cats had nowhere to go, so they just ate and slept, then slept and ate again. The giant tortoise's meat was as large as a mountain, and after several days of gnawing, they hadn't finished it. But eventually, the meat started to rot and was no longer edible, so they began to break it into small pieces and throw it down, observing the actions of the fungi.
After throwing the meat down, the mycelium immediately covered it, with activity visibly strange and terrifying. Then, whatever was thrown down would almost instantly disappear, and the surrounding mycelium would become exceptionally robust, able to devour more things.
The reason this tree persisted for so long is because it was the strongest tree nearby. The essence of the mycelium seemed to be gnawing at its roots underground, but due to the cats' continuous feeding, the nearby mycelium grew increasingly strong, gnawing on the tree even faster.
A few days later, the giant tree collapsed with a loud crash, and it fell in the direction the cats desired.
This was the plan of a few cats. Without transportation, and impossible to walk on the ground, they could only use the tree. The tree was very tall, about tens of meters, so even though it fell, it couldn't reach the cuboid, but the cats had another plan.
The Pteranodon was perched at the top of the tree, and when the tree fell, the Pteranodon was naturally flung out and slid forward a long way. Although the Pteranodon's body was quite large, lying on the ground like a small island, it wasn't directly next to either the tree or the cuboid but became a transit station for the cats.
With the ground full of mycelium, it's essentially like an ocean, and the cats couldn't swim across it; they had to find a way to sail across. But they couldn't create a boat, or even if they did, it would be devoured by the mycelium in mere moments, unable to linger.
However, they discovered a pattern where the mycelium didn't eat steel—they only consumed organic matter. Structures like the Pteranodon's skeleton were inedible for them. The mycelium could climb on such structures, but climbed slowly and retreated when they couldn't consume them.
Using the impact of the falling tree to fling the Pteranodon out became the transit station towards the cuboid. But the cats couldn't stay on the Pteranodon because they were made of meat and couldn't withstand the impact.
When the tree fell, they clung to the softer branches on the opposite side; the downward impact was cushioned, much like hanging on an elastic rope, ensuring they wouldn't die from a fall of tens of meters.
They could do this because the cats were small enough in size, and the branches could fully bear their weight. One cat hanging on a branch was like the tree having a few extra leaves—no burden—allowing it to act as a spring instead of breaking directly. If it were a human's weight, survival wouldn't be guaranteed.
After the tree fell, the cats quickly ran towards the Pteranodon's direction. They had previously calculated that although a single big jump wasn't enough, two big jumps would nearly touch the tip of the tail, at which point the little drone was needed as a transit station.
The little drone flew to the center of the route, and Shiller was the first to jump. Since the branch he stood on was elastic, he could jump higher and further, landing precisely on the little drone next. The little drone had difficulty bearing the cat's weight, but Shiller stayed for just a moment, immediately jumping again to the tip of the Pteranodon's tail.
Peter was second, and he also smoothly completed this series of actions. After swinging around New York's sky for years, his coordination and precision were impeccable. He even bounced several times on the branch like preparing for a dive, jumping slightly further.
Little Superman did it a bit awkwardly, not because he wasn't agile but because he was too full. The tortoise meat he had gorged on a few days ago hadn't digested, making his movements a bit clumsy. Fortunately, he was safe and sound.
Only Constantine wasn't as agile, his jump not far enough, crashing directly into the fungus group. But luckily for him, the mycelium quickly devoured static objects, but with some struggle, he could break free as long as he didn't stay too long.
As soon as Constantine hit the ground, he rushed forward, sprinting several steps onto the Pteranodon, avoiding entanglement. This was a pattern they discovered before; jumping was insurance, but if they fell, they could escape with a few steps.
Here, the animals were consumed not because the fungi ate them alive but because most plants had been consumed by the mycelium, disrupting the ecosystem's bottom layer. Most animals here died of starvation, and the mycelium fed on their corpses.
Peter observed that this kind of fungus seemed more fond of carrion, prioritizing more decayed animal corpses.
When they reached the Pteranodon's head, there was still some distance from the cuboid, but thankfully, this distance couldn't be covered by the cats, but the little drone could already fly over. The little drone flew all the way to the cuboid's wall, basking in the sun to recharge while flying up, and finally found the Pteranodons' nesting spot at the top.