I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 118

“We’re sick too?”

The cleaner looked at the screen, the words had no meaning.

He still didn’t quite get it.

“Why are the words messed up? Can it affect electronics too?”

But the doctor said seriously, “There’s nothing wrong with the electronics. We’re the ones with the problem!”

He quickly called the security station to report.

“Hello? Security station?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a problem at the quarantine site. I suspect we’ve been affected by the distortion…”

But halfway through, he realized something was wrong and fell silent.

The operator, hearing nothing, quickly asked, “Hello? Doctor, please continue.”

The doctor stared at the numbers on the phone keypad, now unrecognizable, and said gravely,

“What I’m about to say is very important. Please tell everyone at the Black Tower Monitoring Station: look for any writing nearby, and if you can’t read it, report immediately.”

The operator was silent for a moment, then his voice trembled. He seemed to understand.

“Understood.”

“Highest-level alert!” the operator shouted, then hung up.

The cleaner, standing by, cautiously said to the doctor, “Isn’t it true? That distortion can affect outside writing, even the text on electronics is messed up.”

The doctor was now extremely anxious and snapped, “It’s our problem, not the text’s.”

“What’s the difference?” the cleaner muttered quietly…

The distortion at the Black Tower was spreading. Soon the entire monitoring station was shrouded in shadow.

Signals from the Abyss Second Layer were severely blocked. Those trying to leave to send word found the Black Tower surrounded by a “ghost wall” .

The situation grew more dire. Almost everyone realized they could no longer read the writing around them.

After a while, the entire Black Tower Monitoring Station was thrown into chaos.

People started making wild guesses, panic spread.

To calm the public, the station authorities called everyone to the residential plaza for a briefing.

The doctor, as the discoverer, took on the job of explaining, presenting their research on the distortion.

“This is a distortion targeting the human language system. It starts with nouns and verbs, then grammar and pronunciation. So far, that’s all we know, but it doesn’t affect daily life, so don’t panic.”

But his words didn’t soothe the increasingly fearful crowd.

Questions erupted from below:

“What about the ghost wall outside? Did you report this to the authorities? Did you cause this yourselves?”

The Black Tower director announced all their recent efforts.

“We’ve tried all sorts of relics to contact the outside. Please be patient. Now is not the time to panic.”

But not everyone could stay calm, especially when their own safety was at stake.

“I don’t think you’ve done anything! Doesn’t the station have powerful relics? This is the Black Tower Monitoring Station, are we just supposed to wait to die?”

The director kept trying to reassure them, but it was useless.

Just then, the cleaner jumped up to challenge the doctor’s explanation.

“This isn’t a distortion of the language system, it’s a distortion of external writing! You keep saying it’s our problem. Are you trying to use this as an excuse to get rid of us?”

At this, everyone fell silent.

“Get rid of”, that was a measure sometimes taken under Abyssal distortion: to prevent the spread, all affected people would be eliminated.

Seeing the silence, the cleaner grew proud and pressed on.

“Otherwise, why the ghost wall? You’re just stalling, doing nothing. I bet you changed the writing yourselves, trying to make us doubt ourselves.”

The doctor, seeing his reassurance backfire, hurried to explain, “No, we’ve been researching as fast as we can, but because of the text disorder, a lot of equipment can’t be used.”

“Those newcomers from outside could read at first, that proves it’s us being affected, not the writing. That should be easy to deduce…”

The doctor anxiously listed their research findings.

But a voice from the crowd left him speechless.

“After all that research, did you find a solution?”

The question set off a storm. No one cared about the rules of the distortion, or its progression.

“Yeah! Did you find a solution?”

“What about the ghost wall outside?”

“Can I get out?”

“You have all these powerful relics, don’t want to use them, or can’t bear to?”

“You still want us to trust you? How can we?”

“……”

The doctor listened, dejected, and walked away helplessly.

The director stepped forward again, repeating their efforts, but was met with endless doubt.

Finally, the director lost control and roared, “We’ve tried every useful relic in the station! If there’s no way, there’s no way! Why don’t you try yourselves?”

His subordinates quickly pulled him away, under such pressure, even he lost his composure.

The crowd looked at each other, then began whispering.

“Aren’t you the authorities?”

“You want a Level 2 Hunter like me to try?”

“I don’t get paid as much as you.”

“……”

They quietly mocked the director’s outburst, while excusing themselves.

“Forget it,” the doctor said weakly, trying to comfort the director.

The briefing ended in disarray. Instead of calming things, it made the chaos worse.

After a while, the angry crowd broke down the hospital doors.

But all they found was the doctor’s corpse, he lay on the operating table, his body dismembered beyond recognition.

So, the crowd became even more convinced it was an official conspiracy.

With security already thin, they stormed the monitoring station’s office building, capturing the remaining staff.

“Where’s your most powerful relic?”

The officials said nothing, so the crowd searched for themselves.

They seized the powerful relics from the vault, turning the office upside down.

With security stretched thin, the guards who arrived were killed by the crowd using relics.

They stormed the director’s office, continuing to interrogate him about his supposed plot.

“What are you really up to?”

The director, tied up on the floor, replied miserably,

“I want to contact the outside, I want to get you out, I want to solve the distortion…”

He was answered with a vicious slap.

“Don’t play games! Speak up! You killed the doctor, didn’t you? Did he discover something?”

Hearing of the doctor’s death, the director stared ahead, eyes empty.

“So, it was you!”

The leader didn’t wait for an explanation, using a stolen relic to end the director’s life.

“What do we do next?”

“Wait, of course! People from outside will come save us!”