I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 132

Siren ,this strange infectious power sparked endless debate among researchers.

Some said it was a Relic; others said it was a lifeform hidden within sound.

If there are creatures in the air, in water, even in magma-

Why can’t there be creatures in sound waves?

Sirens follow those who hear their voices, parasitizing the sound within the human body, then, when hungry, devouring all living things around their host.

When they manifest, what appears is an island.

A beautiful island, from which a seductive song drifts.

Odysseus was a human parasitized by a siren.

This hunting behavior is one reason they’re classified as lifeforms.

Since their discovery, humanity has searched for the siren’s true body, but never found it.

But they did figure out the source of the siren’s power, sound.

That island is an illusion created by the siren’s song; the power of temptation is also hidden in the sound.

Researchers who visited islands created by sirens found that every island was exactly the same, even the arrangement of bones on them was identical.

It was like copy-paste.

That’s why, at this moment, Bai Zhou felt the power used by the robed figures was so similar to the siren’s.

“It’s just that they create even more things, not just islands,” Bai Zhou said seriously, touching the black bricks on the wall.

“Because mermen are immune to the siren’s temptation, and sirens don’t attack mermen, mermen actually know very little about sirens, less even than humans do.”

Mermen really are impressive.

Maybe Bai Zhou was just imagining things again, but this information about sirens couldn’t be faked, it was indeed recorded in the official database.

“Why do these robed figures possess power similar to sirens?”

Mo Ling thought again of the Hieroglyph Relic with a similar effect; the Black Tower eemed like a jumble of all kinds of powers, utterly chaotic.

“We need to find a way into that castle,” Bai Zhou said, looking toward the distant black castle.

That was exactly what Mo Ling was thinking.

The “Lord of True Speech” who wrote the ritual book must know something.

“Can your Relic cut through the wall?” Bai Zhou suddenly asked Li Luo.

As soon as he said this, Li Luo understood his intention and nodded.

The group stealthily made their way to a side alley by the castle.

“Wait a moment.”

Bai Zhou summoned his water tentacle, moved a few bricks from the side to build a wall, blocking the alley entrance tightly.

“All right, now.” He made an “OK” gesture toward the cube.

With Mo Ling’s teleportation, a square opening appeared in the castle wall. After the group entered, Mo Ling sent the bricks back as they were.

“Once we’re inside, if we run into anyone, let me do the talking. You stay in the back,” Bai Zhou instructed.

They circled a few pillars and entered a side room of the castle.

A rich aroma of meat filled the air. The robed figures here were singing a fast-paced song; as they sang, black ingredients appeared out of thin air, falling into equally black pots and bowls.

The ingredients also looked like copy-paste, very odd, resembling simple ink-wash paintings of food.

Meat was a ring of shadowy chicken legs, vegetables were wavy balls of cabbage, and there were all sorts of other “ink painting” foods-plentiful, but all a bit uncanny.

When the food dropped into the pot, a black flame ignited beneath it, the fire looping like an animation with only a few frames, repeating the same changes.

They could clearly create cooked food directly with language, so why build a “canteen” like this?

A canteen supervisor noticed newcomers, greeted Bai Zhou warmly in sign language, his face full of pride.

But after the exchange, he looked disappointed, made a gesture to Bai Zhou, and left.

Bai Zhou quickly led Li Luo out of the canteen and into the corridor. Seeing no one around, he whispered, “He was inviting me to join the canteen.”

It turned out, the robed figures built the canteen not just to make food, but to train their pronunciation.

They used the time spent making food to master the pronunciation of various words, using those songs for practice.

When they felt their training in the canteen was sufficient, they’d move to other rooms.

For example, the bathhouse-to practice water-related pronunciation.

The wood room-to practice words for burning and smoke.

The armory, to practice weapon vocabulary.

And so on; the robed figures rotated through different rooms, and once they’d mastered all the vocabulary, they could seek out the Lord of True Speech to learn even more advanced pronunciation.

“It’s just like job rotation for interns,” Mo Ling suddenly thought.

Why does this castle feel like a company?

Normally, if you entered through the main gate, someone would assign you a post-your first job.

Each job had a supervisor, who acted as a “mentor,” teaching all the vocabulary for that role and helping correct pronunciation errors.

Not only that, the supervisor was also the “graduation” examiner; only when your pronunciation was accurate enough could you graduate to the next room, and then choose where to go.

The canteen supervisor had thought Bai Zhou was there to “apply,” so he’d been touting the canteen’s benefits.

When Bai Zhou refused, he was visibly disappointed.

“Let’s keep looking.”

The group continued wandering the castle, and sure enough, found all kinds of rooms. From the outside, the black castle didn’t look big, but inside it was a complex maze with many hidden spaces.

There were even laundry rooms in the basement, where robed figures sang cheerfully as they worked.

Besides that, staff like cleaners, guards, and movers roamed the castle at will, singing loudly as they went.

Mo Ling also noticed that the black bricks seemed to have soundproofing properties, and the layout of the corridors and rooms was designed to prevent sound from spreading.

Some walls were even made with double-layered hollow bricks to avoid sound leakage.

It made sense, if the singing from the bathroom drifted into the canteen and threw off the melody, you could end up making weird food.

But even with all the soundproofing, the castle was still bustling, with all kinds of songs coming from the rooms.

If you ignored the distortion, the songs were actually very pleasant.

As they walked, they came to a gently rising staircase.

At the top stood a grand hall like a cathedral, light streaming out to pierce the heavy darkness.

Sacred and solemn.