However, to carry out the subsequent plan, ample food reserves are indispensable. Shiller carefully considered the hunting strategy, to put it simply—Beast Fight.
Although their body type is that of a cat, they possess the wisdom of the human race, and they don't necessarily need to use feline methods to solve problems. With so many animals here, just casually stir up some chaos, won't there be two or three that get trampled to death? At that time, take advantage of the chaos to drag one back, and it can be eaten for quite a number of days.
But this requires a suitable opportunity, after all, unlike games, there is no revival option, and there's no way to rely on the flesh to start a group fight, so the only way is to seize the moment to add more chaos, with expanding the situation as the primary objective.
They waited for a while, and finally, the opportunity came. The sky suddenly darkened, and an incredibly enormous figure swept across the lake's surface. All the animals scattered and fled, even including those extremely large animals—they really sprinted with all their might, not a single one not running.
Shiller was very surprised: it can be tolerated if the herbivorous ones run, and even the smaller carnivorous ones, choosing not to provoke such large creatures is understandable. But you, a colossal entity with a head taller than a tree, why are you running? Can this Pteranodon actually pick you up?
This Pteranodon actually can. Shiller watched it pick up an animal that was twice as big as itself. This Pteranodon is already much larger than the Wind God Winged Dragon, even larger than the King of Seagulls, but after all, as a flying creature, its weight surely isn't that heavy, yet it picked up something equivalent to grabbing a skyscraper with its claw.
Then the Pteranodon flapped its wings, ascending effortlessly, leaving Shiller dumbstruck. Although knowing in the Cthulhu Universe's world view, Newton doesn't have a coffin board, but can't be too absurd, right?
As this Pteranodon turned its head with a flap of wings, Shiller's pupils shrunk because he saw a familiar structure on its chest, which looked very much like an Ark Reactor.
Shiller moved his paw instinctively wanting to chase after, but quickly realized now wasn't the time for pursuit. The shocking part was, this Pteranodon was indeed social, as twenty to thirty of them descended all at once, taking all the larger animals with them.
Not that the ecological circle has managed to stabilize till now, could it be Morgan's Spirit manifested? Although it's reasonable, with such a massive force, if it doesn't eat much more, even a Perpetual Motion Machine isn't as formidable as this Pteranodon.
Shiller watched as the massive Pteranodons flew in groups to their nests, sensing something was off. These Pteranodons barely exhibited any animal instincts, appearing not to be hunting with their overly mechanical movements. Moreover, Shiller noticed they grabbed the prey irrespective of species or location, strictly from large to small, taking the first dozens away without any misses, which doesn't align with wild animal behavior.
Not mentioning anything else, even if the Big Crocodile in the lake is slightly larger than the land animal resembling a cow, capturing in water is clearly more challenging than on land. Wild animals tend to seek benefits while avoiding harm, opting for minimal energy consumption in hunting and avoiding hazardous zones. Yet, the Pteranodon catching the crocodile plunged entirely into the water, persistently grabbing the crocodile even after being bitten for a while, still refusing to glance at the cow.
What's astonishing is, even when bitten, it showed no alarm. After flying up, it again dove into the water, exhausting the crocodile until it ran out of physical strength, finally taking the crocodile into the air, while the land cow safely escaped with a thundering rumble.
Shiller could almost confirm that this group of Pteranodons might be associated with the cubic building, possibly dispatched by it. They weren't constructing nests using the cubic building's height like wild animals, but were some kind of mechanical executors tasked with completing certain missions.
The first thought that crossed Shiller's mind was eliminating large predators to allow the ecological circle to continue sustaining itself, but upon reflection found it implausible, as body type doesn't entirely determine the food chain. In this hunting scene witnessed by Shiller, more herbivorous organisms than carnivorous ones were taken, unlikely contributing towards stabilizing the ecosystem.
Due to lacking relevant expertise, Shiller could only silently record all, planning to consult with Peter once returning. Nonetheless, they still need to prioritize their main task, which is to see if they can reap some benefits opportunistically.
Actually, their luck wasn't too good, among the trampled was no suitable prey, either too large to drag or too small. The two cats scampered around the trees for half a day, eventually finding a sheep carcass crushed into a pulp.
Though called a sheep, it was an animal akin to a sheep, even more resembling a llama. Ordinarily, such a large animal would be utterly beyond their capability to drag, but somehow something stomped this creature into two halves, leading Shiller and Little Superman to decide on dragging the lower half back.
Firstly, a certain processing must be conducted because, even just the lower half, they still couldn't drag it, but with spinal damage, the remaining parts weren't that difficult to handle. After a round of gnawing by the two cats, aside from feeding themselves, they separated two of the most luscious legs.
Each cat took one leg, it became much easier. Little Superman dragged the leg with less meat, barely managing to move it. Shiller's strength had been reinforced, he dragged a complete leg, but dragging this he couldn't climb trees, so they had to traverse the ground back.
Yet, seemingly the arrival of the Pteranodons, akin to floods, was periodically disastrous wild animals evade; all animals had retreated, leaving only the two cats carrying the colossal lamb legs, slowly progressing through the Forest.
When they returned to the nest, the two cats waiting on the tree branch were utterly shocked. Where on earth did they get such a gigantic thing?!
Despite their shock, they helped the two people get the leg up onto the tree as quickly as possible, otherwise, if they were any later, it might have been snatched away. And even if they got it back, it wasn't easy to place. Fortunately, while basking in the sun on the tree crown, Constantine wove a mat using the simplest method of cross-weaving grass. It wasn't very sturdy, originally intended as a mattress, but now it could be tied between the branches to hold the sheep leg.
They did want to bring the sheep leg back to the tree hole, but that was definitely impossible. Several cats put in great effort, working from dawn till dusk, finally tying the mat onto the branch and putting the sheep leg on it.
For humans, tying knots was an easy task, but doing it with a cat's body was extremely difficult and required coordination from several cats. One side had to use their teeth to bite and push the vine inward, while the other side had to pull outward. Tying one knot wasn't reliable; several had to be tied. After all the work, everyone was immensely grateful to their ancestors for evolving hands adept at grasping things.
Let's not mention the fecal mountain code and genetic defects anymore. The two skills of upright walking and grasping with hands were really the pinnacle of our ancestors' achievements.
Then Shiller spoke to them about the scene he saw by the lake.
Peter thought for a moment and said, "If the only requirement is size, then perhaps it's not about affecting the ecosystem, but something to do with that cube."
"Explain in detail." Just as Shiller leaned forward to listen, he was nudged back by Little Superman. Little Superman directly poked his head under Shiller's chin, stacking the heads of two cats together.
Shiller didn't have time to shoo away Little Superman; he was eager to hear Peter's analysis. After thinking for a moment, Peter said, "As you said, the size of a creature doesn't determine its position in the food chain. For example, during the dinosaur era, many herbivorous dinosaurs were larger than the carnivorous ones, significantly larger in fact."
"Even today, elephants are much larger than lions. Although mature elephants truly aren't afraid of any predators, the young and the elderly are still at risk, and they can't be considered at the top of the food chain. I suspect it's the same in this ecosystem."
"Carrying out the culling in this manner seems too crude. Without careful selection, only looking at size, there's no way to ensure the ecosystem's balance. The only possibility is that the cube needs these large animals for some purpose."
"What do these large animals have in common?" Peter paced inside the tree hole. "There are both herbivores and carnivores, both birds and mammals, even reptiles are included. The only possible common factor is, they have a lot of meat."
This conclusion sounded a bit humorous, but upon careful contemplation, Shiller realized it was true. What commonality could so many animals have? The only shared trait is that they are large and have a lot of meat. Is the cube feeding something?
"We indeed need to go there and take a look," Peter said. "If it was uncertain before whether the cube was related to Mr. Stark, the appearance of those Pteranodons with Ark Reactors proves that it's undoubtedly crucial."
"We don't know how many days the Pteranodons take for a hunting cycle, so from now on, you have to go to the lakeshore every day." Shiller began to devise a plan. "The main goal is to examine the Ark Reactor. I think you should be able to identify its model and roughly estimate its power output."
Peter nodded, "The model is indeed a noteworthy point. To my knowledge, such technology should have been long abandoned by Mr. Stark. Perhaps, like that drone, it's a last resort due to material constraints."
Shiller did know that Ark Reactors played a significant role in the movies, appearing quite important, but they didn't feature much in the comics. The Main Universe Tony Stark has so many anti-physics devices, the Ark Reactor is relatively outdated among them.
But Central Universe's Stark continues to use this reactor, because not only did he make it hot-swappable, but also compatible with magic energy, turning it into a universal energy source. Its practicality makes it indispensable, but Main Universe Iron Man likely wouldn't have this habit.
Therefore, attaching these reactors to Pteranodons might be a necessity in these circumstances. After all, Ark Reactors are relatively easy to make, and they perform well in various aspects, just right for providing power to such mechanical creatures.
Yet, even under such resource scarcity, they still produce so many Pteranodons and attach reactors to each one, indicating the capture of giant animals is extremely important. Shiller couldn't wait to take a look inside the cube.