I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 119

“What are those officials outside actually doing? The Black Tower hasn’t contacted the outside for so long, and there’s not a single reaction?”

“A bunch of freeloading trash.”

Inside the Black Tower Monitoring Station , they continued their daily lives, but as the language distortion progressed, they discovered that some of their words possessed tremendous power.

“A kind of power similar to kotodama,” Bai Zhou said.

He had silently observed the spread of the distortion, since, as a fishman, he no longer shared a common language with those around him.

From the moment the distortion began to spread, Bai Zhou had stayed at home, watching as things grew more and more severe.

Once they discovered that power, no one brought up the previous debate about the target of the distortion again, as if it had never happened.

The black pointer that had tracked Li Luo was created by that very power.

“Hieroglyphs?” Li Luo suddenly asked.

“It’s very similar, they’re both manifestations of linguistic power,” Bai Zhou nodded in agreement. “But I haven’t seen Hieroglyph runes on them. To use that power, they have to shout out the word, which is why I say it’s like the word spirits.”

Bai Zhou continued his account.

Those who gained power seemed to use it to try to find a way out of the Black Tower, but they discovered the pointer only pointed to the upper levels of the tower.

So, they went upward, and when they returned, they were already wearing those robes.

“Only a small number of people came back. After returning, they were deeply hostile toward me, as if they wanted to catch me, so I hid,” said Bai Zhou.

“What’s at the top of the Black Tower?” Li Luo asked, confused.

“I don’t know. Ever since the distortion appeared, I haven’t gone up. The entrances are all guarded by robed people. I have no idea what’s happening up there.”

Hearing this, Mo Ling basically understood what had happened in the monitoring station.

It seemed the distortion was more severe than he’d imagined.

“I have a bad feeling about what those Hunters turned into,” Mo Ling thought.

The source of the distortion was also at the top of the Black Tower, and the exit pointed to by the black pointer was up there as well. It looked like they’d have to go up.

Bai Zhou put away his electronic screen and said to Li Luo, “Let’s hide farther away-this place isn’t safe.”

He led the two through winding tunnels to an open area, where a few pieces of research equipment and some living supplies were scattered-very simple.

It looked like this was where he’d been living.

“Want some fish? My grilled fish is pretty good.” He went to a small pond, where many strange fish swam.

Li Luo politely declined.

“Do you know the way up? Or do you have a map of the tunnels?” she asked urgently.

“Let’s get some energy and go together. I was planning to go up before you arrived anyway,” he said, looking at Li Luo seriously.

That was unexpected.

Bai Zhou walked to the research equipment, looking at them with nostalgia, and explained, “I have to fulfill a promise.”

A promise?

“What promise?” Li Luo blurted out.

Bai Zhou went to an old display, tapped it a few times until the static faded, then brought over an old storage device, plugged it in, and opened a video file.

“What you’re about to see, remember it. During the process, don’t have any doubts.”

Bai Zhou suddenly looked at Li Luo with gravity. After she nodded, he pressed play.

It was a cartoon.

With the frequent flickering static, the animation looked extremely eerie.

And the production was very poor, as if it had been rushed out.

The transitions were rough, the art style like a child’s random doodles, all sorts of lines jumbled together.

The animation began with a tall Black Tower.

The camera zoomed in, passing through countless holes, showing a team returning from the upper levels, standing at a checkpoint for inspection.

This was the origin story of the distortion!

It was that Hunter team.

Sure enough, what followed was exactly as Bai Zhou had described, but the animation focused on the development of the language distortion phenomenon.

Nouns, verbs, adjectives…

Grammar, tones, mood…

The cartoon vividly depicted the order in which language distortion occurred, using exaggerated performances by different characters to explain the bizarre phenomenon in detail.

The poor animation quality made the story even eerier.

And there was no sound or text in the animation; when showing words, it used hieroglyphs and symbols.

Very basic ones.

If you ignored the cult-like art style, the cartoon was so simple it seemed made for children who couldn’t read.

Soon, the animation introduced a character with words spirits power, giving a detailed introduction.

Simple symbols flew from the character’s mouth, transforming into all sorts of things.

Knives, spears, swords, halberds; wind, rain, thunder, lightning…

The character even cut a wound into his own wrist, blood spurting out.

Then he spat out a round-headed cross, and the wound quickly healed.

The blood bizarrely flowed back into the wound, and the animation drew flashing golden light around the character, showing he was completely restored.

Not only that, as more words appeared, the animated character’s body grew stronger and more perfect, golden light of divinity shining in his eyes.

Even with such crude production, the exaggerated style made the character’s transformation stand out.

Just as the character was becoming more and more perfect, the animation abruptly stopped.

The screen returned to chaotic static.

“Is it over?”

Li Luo looked at Bai Zhou, but saw him put a finger to his lips and shake his head.

“Shh.”

This lasted a long time, the screen black beneath the static.

After a while, new content appeared.

A man in a white coat.

He didn’t speak, just silently set up the camera and lay down on the operating table in front of it.

A familiar figure walked over.

It was Bai Zhou, wearing his diving helmet.

Bai Zhou stood before the camera, straightened his coat, then began to introduce himself. The sound, as if underwater, came from the old display.

This was the first sound in the video.

“Hello everyone, I’m Bai Zhou, an intern doctor at the Black Tower Hospital.”

“Next, I will dissect my colleague, who is also the creator of the animation and the discoverer of the distortion, Dr. Li of the Black Tower Hospital.”

“This is his own wish, in order to study this unknown distortion.”

He looked at Dr. Li on the table, who raised his hand and made an “OK” gesture.

“First, let me explain the previous animation.”

……

“All right, explanation over. Now, let’s begin the dissection.”

“We’ll start with the hand.”

The blade sliced through the skin.

Blood spurted out.