I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 1

Cold.

 

Mo Ling struggled to wake up, his whole body aching, unable to stop himself from wanting to stretch, but his head bumped into a hard wall.

 

Thud!

 

“What’s going on?” Mo Ling thought as he touched his head. “Why is there a wall on my bed?”

 

In pain, Mo Ling opened his eyes.

 

The faintly glowing metallic inner walls illuminated the small space. He was leaning against the back wall, sitting with his knees drawn up in pajamas, unable even to straighten his legs.

 

“Where is this?”

Mo Ling fell into confusion. “Why am I trapped here?”

 

“Was I kidnapped?”

He reached out, searching for an exit in this cramped space.

 

The metal inner walls were perfectly smooth, with seamless joints.

 

He turned around, but the scene behind him was exactly the same-identical on all four sides.

 

Carefully, he raised his head and knocked on the metal plate above. Not a sound.

 

Even the floor was made of an indestructible, smooth metal of some unknown material.

 

Oppressive, narrow, suffocating.

 

Mo Ling estimated the size of this cubic space-about one cubic meter.

 

“So I’m locked in a 1m x 1m x 1m metal cage.”

 

“But why am I trapped here?”

 

Mo Ling kept thinking about what had happened before he went to bed, but everything had been perfectly normal.

 

Until he woke up in this space.

 

After moving a bit, Mo Ling shifted to sit in a corner. “At least now I can stretch out my body and relieve my aching joints.”

 

Gurgle~

 

But after solving the problem of movement, Mo Ling’s stomach rumbled. Hunger surged up.

 

“Is anyone there!” Mo Ling shouted, but his voice sank into the metal walls like a stone into the sea.

 

Mo Ling started to panic again, desperately pounding on the walls, but all he got was pain in his hands.

 

“Am I going to die trapped in this place?”

 

Mo Ling frantically searched his pajamas for tools.

 

“But who keeps tools in their pajamas?” Of course, he found nothing.

 

All Mo Ling found was a piece of candy he had casually stuffed into his pocket last night.

 

He was like an ant on a hot pan, his mind spinning wildly.

 

“But no matter how hard I rack my brains, with the strength of a frail young man, there’s no way to break through this unknown metal.”

 

“Should I rely on someone outside to save me?”

He didn’t even have a way to send a message. The sturdy walls cut off everything inside and out.

 

In this cramped space, only despair remained.

 

Mo Ling raised his hand, wanting to punch the wall, but lost all strength, his arm falling limply.

 

“Venting only makes me feel worse.”

 

The light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and Mo Ling slumped to the ground.

 

“Just wait for death.”

 

He began to recall if he had offended anyone, or if his family had enemies, but he still couldn’t figure it out.

 

“I’m a gentle person, and my family is honest and upright.”

 

“Yesterday, I helped the neighbor carry things and was even given a piece of candy by the old lady next door.”

 

He took out that piece of candy from his pocket and looked at it.

 

White Rabbit Milk Candy.

 

“At least before I die, I can still taste something sweet,” he said with a bitter smile.

 

“Good people should have good fortune, right?”

 

With trembling hands, he held the candy at both ends, peeled off the wrapper, and put this precious candy into his mouth.

 

A faint milky fragrance.

 

The sweetness spread through Mo Ling’s whole body. He had never felt so happy. The churning in his stomach was slightly soothed.

 

He saw his whole body, saw the space he was in, saw the hard metal walls.

 

Then, he passed through them.

 

Lush jungle, rain still dripping from the emerald leaves, a clearing in the forest.

 

A one-cubic-meter metal cube stood in the middle.

 

Once outside, his senses became blurry. After reaching a certain distance from the cube, he couldn’t go any farther.

 

It was the same in every direction.

 

His perception was trapped in a cube with the metal block at the center, measuring 11m x 11m x 11m.

 

He could even see clearly underground, though his perception was slightly obstructed.

 

“Why can I see outside?”

 

Mo Ling was startled, waking from the sweetness, but this abnormal perception did not disappear.

 

He found his mind was incomparably clear, swimming like a fish inside the metal block.

 

Outside, it was a bit sluggish, but he could still see in all directions and hear everything.

 

“Rainforest?”

Watching the clear raindrops fall from the huge leaves, Mo Ling swallowed hard.

 

“So thirsty.”

 

A droplet fell from a large leaf, about to land on Mo Ling’s head.

 

He opened his hand, trying to catch the drop, then laughed at himself.

 

“How could I forget I’m trapped?”

 

Drip!

 

“What was that feeling?”

 

Icy cold.

 

The water droplet landed precisely in Mo Ling’s palm.

 

He didn’t have time to think, quickly bringing the precious clean water to his mouth and licking it dry.

 

The little bit of liquid moistened his cracked lips, cool to the core.

 

When Mo Ling came back to himself, he suddenly realized that he had just caught that droplet in midair!

 

“It hadn’t passed through the metal wall, it was grabbed by my consciousness!”

 

“I should try again.”

 

Now that he had started, the next attempts became much easier.

 

Mo Ling selected a rectangular area in the air. Everything inside could be grabbed and sent into the metal block.

 

Raindrops, leaves, branches, soil, stones…

 

Soon, the already small metal space was filled with all kinds of debris.

 

But that didn’t matter.

 

Mo Ling did the same again, and these things were thrown out of the space.

 

And inside, he could control everything even more smoothly.

 

At this moment, a bold idea appeared in his mind.

 

“Can I throw myself out too?”

 

After trying, Mo Ling was very disappointed.

 

Anything that left his body-hair, skin flakes, etc.-could be thrown out, but he himself could not leave.

 

It was like when he tried to select himself, he just couldn’t do it.

 

“This is just a bigger cage.”

 

Like a prisoner’s iron window, he could see the blue sky outside, but it had nothing to do with him.

 

In his tiny field of vision, everything was the same, the rainforest scenery repeating endlessly.

 

“But at least, I can send messages now.”

 

A sudden idea struck Mo Ling. He teleported a stone from outside, then threw it into the air.

 

The stone, pulled by gravity, fell into a pool.

 

Thud! Thud! Thud!

 

Beside the lonely metal block, a stone kept falling.

 

Mo Ling didn’t know how long it had been. When thirsty, he drank dew; when hungry, he gnawed on earthworms.

 

Finally, in this small perceptual space, something different happened.

 

“Something’s coming.”

 

Two little black-skinned people, as tall as the metal block, stopped in front of Mo Ling’s cage.

 

The black little people wore ragged grass clothes, short and thin, with long, pointed ears and sharp, poisonous fangs in their mouths.

 

Their bodies were painted with all sorts of colorful totems.

 

They looked just like goblins in games, chattering in a strange language.

 

Mo Ling was shocked-not just because he saw these fantastical creatures with his own eyes.

 

But because he could actually understand them!