Two cats suddenly applied the brakes, sticking to the ceiling, not daring to move.
The black substance below no longer resembled fungi but appeared more like slime. Although it could be some kind of slime mold, it was completely different from the red mycelium before.
Previously, the red mycelium didn't have much attack power, especially when they were full. With a quick dash, it was possible to pass through it. This black substance, on the other hand, certainly didn't allow passage; jumping down meant certain death.
Shiller sighed deeply. He was now confident that this was Misisha's scheme. Time line resets but not memory resets, nor did it affect those Outer Gods that wander beyond time. In the previous time vortex, he didn't defeat Yog, so in this one, he's directly targeting Iron Man by contaminating the plants and animals here, thereby polluting the neural system of those who need to eat animals.
Shiller had to admit that he didn't have much affection for these Tindalos Hounds, and one could even say he disliked them. Their behavior pattern is not quite like Outer Gods; the charm of Outer Gods lies in the fact that most of them don't bear malice toward humans. They just pass by casually, and humans suffer because of their insignificance. That's the essence of cosmic horror.
There are also Outer Gods that bear malice toward humans, like Nya, but malice comes in different types. Nyarlathotep seeks mental pleasure, meaning he's a fun person; all his evil deeds are just for amusement. The Tindalos Hounds hunt humans because they are on their menu.
Logically speaking, the former should be more detestable; doing bad things for fun is pure psychopathy, whereas hunting is a legitimate reason. But in reality, humans' aversion to the latter significantly outweighs the former.
Put simply, madmen like Nya aren't uncommon among humans. There are a few psychopaths everywhere who take pleasure in harming others, and most people are accustomed to them. But predators at the top of the food chain targeting humans are unprecedented for thousands of years. Predators that hunt humans are enemies of civilization, which induce instinctual fear and dislike.
Just like how people are more afraid of cannibals than mentally disturbed individuals who wield knives on the streets, even if the harm caused is similar, and cannibals might even consume less. But being hunted as prey is unacceptable for humans who have been at the top of the food chain for years. Many horror stories use this theme, including well-known legends like vampires.
Additionally, what disgusted Shiller was that this guy bullied the weak and feared the strong. Not winning against Yog, he turned to mess with Iron Man, and not even the complete Iron Man—targeting the neural system left by Iron Man like a shed skin instead of his main body. Even when dealing with a human, he sought clones; when dealing with clones, it wasn't a direct descent but a circuitous contamination through food, affecting the neural system.
If you were human, Shiller could call it clever. But Misisha, are you human? If you're so adept at being circuitous, why not become a politician on Earth? This lacks the charm of Outer Gods.
Observing the slime below, Shiller noticed subtle differences. If the previous neural system got polluted, color changes might occur. But why did its form alter entirely?
The black substance below didn't resemble the previous mycelium but looked more like a thick liquid, continuously surging, with no visible solid shape. Instead, it seemed akin to well-blended sesame paste.
Moreover, during a move along the ceiling, Shiller saw residual water stains on the room's walls, which were higher than black slime's current level. This indicated there used to be more liquid in the original room, which somehow leaked away.
If it was the original mycelium, there wouldn't be so much. Considering the digestion rate of that red fungal species, distributing this much mycelium in the feeding area held no significance; it wouldn't increase the nutrient intake.
Shiller was forced to consider that in this time vortex, choices not only changed for Misisha and Yog but for Iron Man as well. Iron Man didn't leave a neural system; whatever's now in this cube might be from another part.
Seeing the slime, Shiller naturally thought of another human bodily system: the circulatory system. Although "circulatory system" might sound unfamiliar, it essentially means the process of blood and other extracellular fluids circulating in the body, with blood taking the majority, as crucial as the neural system.
As Shiller pondered, another prey fell into the black ocean below and was engulfed instantly. At that moment, Shiller noticed the tide surges rhythmically, resembling a hot spring pool.
Some hot spring pools have water pipes underneath, drawing water into filters for cleaning, then discharge it out the drain to maintain water cleanliness.
The black slime seemed similar, with something below consistently drawing the water, while side wall drainage outlets discharged it. This continuous drawing and discharging led to waves; otherwise, the water surface should remain calm.
That means the black slime circulates between certain mechanisms. If it's for filtering, what is it filtering? Shiller moved along the ceiling toward the suspected drainage outlet and found trickles of water, but the suction port should be on the floor, and they couldn't reach it.
Since there's a water recycling system, there must be corresponding architectural rooms. Shiller observed the drainage outlet direction and climbed out through the feeding channel with Little Superman. Pteranodons still flew back and forth in the sky, ignoring the two cats traversing the roof terrace. Shiller estimated the direction and climbed down toward the wall.
Being able to walk on the wall simplified matters significantly. But as this cube is just a big box with no doors or windows, breaking in from the outside is challenging. However, Shiller wasn't planning on breaking in through the outer wall. He roughly estimated the position and listened against the wall.
Cats have excellent hearing, one of the few advantages small felines possess. Quickly Shiller heard water sounds, along with collision noises that were fleeting and disappeared fast.
An increasing certainty welled up within Shiller's mind. He turned to Little Superman and said, "Climb to the edge of the roof terrace. When you see the Pteranodon drop food, signal me with your tentacles."
Little Superman nodded and climbed up again. He crouched at the terrace edge to see the feeding mouth ahead and Shiller below. After a while, a Pteranodon dropped a cow into the feeding mouth. Little Superman promptly wagged his tail vigorously, and Shiller immediately pressed his ear against the wall.
The water recycling system might not be right up against the wall, but if there wasn't a rapid stream, this slime flow shouldn't make much noise. Thus, the building remained quiet, except for loud sounds coming from that direction, making them easier to identify.
Shiller estimated the time needed as they climbed through the feeding channel once, knowing how long it takes for prey to drop from the roof terrace into the black ocean. Shortly after falling in, those collision sounds reappeared, then vanished quickly again.
It seemed the water recycling filters part of the prey, meaning the black slime doesn't consume completely. Unlike mycelium, it possibly leaves significant residues, thus requiring a recycling system for filtering.
And to determine how much residue remains, Shiller squatted there listening for a long time. This time, he needed to know the prey's falling time and type. Fortunately, Little Superman had several tails, enabling him to form patterns—designing a cipher system where tails form different shapes to pass messages.
The sound of animals' meat and metal parts hitting the walls differs. Using this, Shiller roughly gauged the animal's form entering the filter by its collision sound. After listening for a long time, he confirmed one thing—the animals weren't eaten.
All animals entering the filter went in whole, but fragment collisions wouldn't produce that sound regardless of being cattle, sheep, or crocodiles; they all went in complete and got quickly decomposed to non-sounding forms.
If they weren't being eaten, it proved the meat is useless. However, the Pteranodons followed the pattern of capturing larger prey, which was abnormal. If meat wasn't needed, capturing smaller prey would be simpler, with higher quantity and efficiency. Iron Man wouldn't make such elementary mistakes.
This meant bones and meat weren't needed, but larger body size prey held numerically more of something Shiller could only think of—blood.
Regarding the brain, size doesn't always correlate with larger brain size. Similarly, varying organs from digestion don't differentiate between eating a kidney or not. Thus, the only possibility remains blood itself—using blood to sustain blood?
They returned to the feeding room, and Shiller watched the slime silently. It's commonly known blood exhibits rejection reactions; even human blood isn't always compatible, let alone with animal blood. If animals are caught to extract blood, what happens if blood types aren't compatible?
This highlighted Peter's absence as a disadvantage. Shiller didn't thoroughly understand professional biology or that biological computing falls under interdisciplinary research examining whether blood types affect biological computing networks.
If it's just blood, there shouldn't logically be rejection. But the issue arises because Stark left a network formed by this blood, so non-his blood incorporating itself—animal blood—might disrupt the network functionality?
Shiller had no choice but to set aside such thoughts temporarily; he came to rescue people, needing to find Peter's group sooner, possibly before it's too late.