Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6134 - 5147: Machine Soul Utopia (4)

The feline body structure prevents them from even starting a fire. Even if Prometheus stole the fire for them, they don’t have hands to place it on the fuel. They can only huddle at the bottom of tree hollows for warmth. Fortunately, their fur provides excellent insulation, and it’s not too cold here, so their bodies warm up quickly.

At night, a cat’s vision improves significantly, with their pupils dilating to let in more light, making even a night jungle as bright as day. Meanwhile, those creatures lacking good night vision retreat, the terrifying sounds outside diminish considerably, making it the perfect time for the silent, nocturnal hunters to move.

"We must send people out to hunt," Shiller said. "We’re not always lucky enough to stumble upon trapped prey. Without food reserves, we cannot explore outward. But if everyone hunts, the nest could be invaded, so I suggest sending two people out every night."

"That’s indeed the way to go," Peter agreed with the proposal and said, "Although we can’t cook or smoke food, we can dry some meat on branches. Perhaps we could even try weaving a bag or something—not just live like a cat because we’re cats now."

"There are some tough grasses under the trees that might be useful for weaving something," Constantine said. "Tonight, you guys go out, and I’ll try my hand at crafting. But don’t get your hopes up; cats aren’t exactly built for handiwork."

"Clark, are you coming hunting with us or staying in the nest?" Shiller asked but quickly added, "I think you’d better stay back; otherwise, your tail injury might worsen. Rest well tonight, and it might be better by morning."

"I want to go out with you," Little Superman said. "My tail doesn’t hurt much anymore. I didn’t do much during the day, and I must catch something."

"But leaving just one cat in the nest might be a bit dangerous," Shiller hesitated. "How about you and Peter go out, and I stay."

Little Superman hesitated; he clearly just wanted to stay with Shiller. However, he was too embarrassed to say Peter should stay, as Peter had just saved them during the day and seemed to be a skilled hunter, at least more so than him with his injured tail. He didn’t want to seem selfish in front of Shiller.

"Then you two go," Little Superman said dejectedly. "I will try to get some grass, to make our nest more comfortable, or maybe I can find some bugs or something at the bottom."

"Don’t leave the tree hollow today," Shiller realized that Little Superman listens to him well, so he said, "John will handle gathering, and you will handle arranging. That way, when we get back from hunting, we’ll have a soft bed to sleep in. Hunters need adequate rest."

Little Superman perked up and said, "Okay. Don’t worry! I’ll definitely make the bed comfortable!"

In the cover of night, the two cats silently slipped down the tree. On the way down, Peter said, "This world isn’t that simple, sir. I suspect these creatures have undergone some form of genetic modification, and it’s quite sophisticated."

"Of course, but we can’t study that now. Let’s fill our bellies first. In the morning, we can climb to the tree tops to take a look. I seem to have vaguely seen something far away when we first arrived."

"You saw it too?" Peter said, a bit surprised. "I recall in my hazy consciousness feeling like I was plummeting constantly, and when the world brightened up, I saw something huge in the distance, definitely not a naturally formed mountain or anything, more like an artificial structure. Could that be where Iron Man is located?"

"It’s not that simple," Shiller sighed. "This is just a starting point for the safe zone created by the Dream of a Thousand Cats for us. Our luck isn’t good enough to bump into Iron Man here, but certain things existing here might point us to Iron Man’s location."

"How do you know?" Peter asked.

"Because Tony Stark doesn’t fit in here," Shiller said. "The Outer Gods are extremely chaotic beings, even someone like Nya, who seems logical; their true form would seem utterly chaotic and unpredictable to humans. But Iron Man is different. Everything about him is orderly, especially the wisdom and technology he relies on, which would shine like a bright light in the dark, guiding us to him."

Peter seemed to understand and said, "So these animals seem mechanized; maybe we’ve already found traces of him."

Shiller nodded but didn’t continue speaking. They weren’t communicating with any squad voice module; there were no such things here. Strictly speaking, this place was no longer in the American Comic World, and there was no Doujie System. Here, dying means really dying, and since this is a Sea of Chaos, once dead, consciousness would merge with the Outer God, with no way to resurrect in any form.

Even with the help of The Nameless Fog, Shiller could only ensure his consciousness wouldn’t collapse. Still, once lost in the Sea of Chaos, even if one could retain consciousness, they’d end up being trapped like Iron Man, needing someone else to fish them out. Fishing someone out here is like finding a needle in a haystack, even for Nya and the grey fog. For even the Outer Gods, chaos is boundless, making it hard to find anything.

Now when they speak, it should sound like meows to other creatures, but Shiller has already discovered that a cat’s natural call isn’t "meow meow meow," but rather "owoo" or a low, throaty sound, retaining some innate wildness.

Leaving the thick tree behind, the jungle at night felt more intimate than by day, as they could see clearly, and most animals remained motionless. Shiller and Peter dared not wander too far, especially not back to where they encountered that bird. Birds have excellent visual capabilities, some even better than humans, and there are those like owls with strong night vision; it would be troublesome if they crossed paths.

In comparison, some small mammals can be considered as easy targets. Shiller wasn’t sure if there were mice or similar creatures nearby, but if the jungle had a complete ecosystem, there must be something small that predators around their size could eat.

"There seems to be some light over there." Peter peered over cautiously; his senses were sharp, and even without his spider sense, his animal instincts were stronger than others. Shiller followed his gaze and indeed saw faint glimmers of light between the shrubs.

"Could be glowing plants." Despite saying this, Shiller moved toward the light. The two of them crouched low, passed through the bush, and were instantly stunned on the spot.

In front of them appeared a centipede longer than the two of them combined, and it was of the glowing variety. As it crawled, every segment emitted a faint blue light. The two cats silently retreated in the same posture, apologizing for the disturbance.

This was obviously something they couldn’t afford to provoke; forget anything else, the pile of legs glimmered with a metallic sheen, possibly made of metal. If it were to crawl over them, it could puncture them hundreds of times per second, leaving them riddled like a sieve.

The two cats slowly backed away. Shiller sighed; it wasn’t just a primitive jungle but also mechanized modifications, how could they survive like this?

Yet, he didn’t plan to give up and said to Peter, "I just saw that the big centipede’s nest seems to have young ones, we could try to lure it away and capture the little ones."

"I’m pondering a question," Peter said, "Can this thing truly be eaten?"

Shiller wasn’t exactly sure either. After all, there were no blue-glowing centipedes on Earth and its principle of glowing, along with whether those glowing components were toxic to them, remained unknown.

"Let’s check elsewhere." Shiller contemplated and said. Just as they planned to turn in another direction, they felt the ground vibrations. The two of them dashed up a tree at top speed, a trait beneficial in feline animals, swiftly escaping to high ground when danger lurked on the ground.

Clinging to the tree branch, they looked down as a multi-legged creature around a meter high was frantically escaping in their direction. It vaguely resembled a spider, but without a head; its entire body was oval-shaped, with the most striking feature being the three-segmented slender metal-like legs, scrambling swiftly through the jungle.

However, such a creature wouldn’t cause significant ground vibrations, especially since many smaller animals were also running. Peter keenly spotted some that resembled mice, and others like large capybaras; none appeared to be carnivorous. He swallowed hard, feeling a slight hunger.

In addition were the bird flocks, the same type seen during the day, but these birds lacked night vision capabilities; several collided with trees as they passed through, yet others continued flapping frantically in confusion. Shiller kept his eyes on the direction they fell, intending to scavenge later.

Soon, the enormous figure finally revealed its full form—it was a massive four-legged dinosaur, distinctly different from the usual bipedal predators, instead moving on all fours, with a long neck akin to a serpentine plesiosaur bearing robust limbs.

This creature stood over five meters high; with its neck and tail, it stretched dozens of meters long. The most eye-catching feature was at the tip of its slender neck: a mouth not with typical teeth, but rather two rows of saw blades that rotated.

At that moment, it stretched its neck, directly biting a capybara, the two saw blade rows shredding the prey into pieces, lifting its head to swallow the morsels, then turned its glowing green eyes upward towards the trees.

The two cats perched on branches instantly bristled. Peter instinctively wanted to switch branches, but Shiller bit him on the nape, signaling him to stay still. Holding their breath and staying motionless, the light suddenly dimmed as a massive shadow swept over the ground. The two cats looked up to see a gigantic Pteranodon swooping over.

Judging by the wingspan alone, it even surpassed the Wind God Winged Dragon. Peter furrowed his brow deeply, now certain these creatures were indeed mutated.

If such creatures on the ground had distinct developmental pathways, that was understandable; but for those flying in the sky, aerodynamic principles needed to be followed, and such a body size without additional power rendering was unlikely to take flight. The last beings of such magnitude freely traversing the skies were the human-engineered commercial airliners.