I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 19

It was a big house with a garage.

The room was clean and tidy, comfortably arranged, with a curved glass window showing the jungle outside.

Inside, all kinds of furniture were complete, full of life-it was hard to believe this was a room inside a Hunter monitoring station.

“But why was there a swimming pool?”

“Is this an Abyss expedition or a vacation?”

If not for the Abyss, Mo Ling would want to laze around here forever.

“It’s good to have money.”

Li Luo opened the fridge, already stuffed with food.

“What do you want to eat?”

She took out the food, laying it out in front of the cube.

After Mo Ling picked, Li Luo placed her electronic screen on the table and asked, “You can use this, right? You could in the dream.”

Mo Ling took the screen and wrote a word: “Yes.”

Li Luo looked delighted as she saw the screen teleported back out.

“Then we can use this to communicate!”

Li Luo took out another screen, trying to get Mo Ling to send messages outside.

Mo Ling found that the metal cube’s shell blocked all signals.

Inside, the screen couldn’t receive or send messages-he could only pass notes to Li Luo.

Mo Ling suddenly realized his plan to use Li Luo’s car control wristband was ruined-he’d hoped to drive the car himself.

But at least they could communicate now.

Through the screen, Mo Ling told Li Luo about the abilities he currently had.

After talking, Mo Ling realized how much Li Luo had misunderstood the cube.

Up to now, Li Luo still thought the cube was a Relic-a self-aware Relic.

So Mo Ling kept part of the truth hidden and didn’t tell her he was actually trapped inside.

“She can’t know I’m not a Relic.”

For now, their cooperation was going well, so he could keep it that way.

Li Luo was clearly happy to learn how his ability worked.

Mo Ling was a bit puzzled.

“Are there really that many Relics that can communicate?”

He didn’t ask Li Luo-he wanted to find out for himself.

After discussing abilities, Li Luo grew extremely curious about the cost of using the cube.

“What do you like to eat? Can you write it down?”

Mo Ling wrote his favorite foods on the screen.

“So few?” Li Luo was puzzled. “If you eat these, will your abilities level up?”

“What flavors do you like?”

“Where do you throw your trash after eating?”

“Can you eat more-will that let you teleport farther?”

“……”

Looking at the girl’s endless enthusiasm for food, Mo Ling seriously doubted whether this was the same cold girl he’d first met.

Time passed quickly.

In the days at the monitoring station, Li Luo was very well-behaved-no new missions, barely even leaving the house.

She vacationed in the room, ordering food delivered when hungry.

Her only daily routine was browsing Relic and Abyss creature info on the screen.

And, tirelessly talking to the cube-mostly about food.

Compared to the ability’s mechanics, she was clearly more interested in the cost.

Mo Ling wanted to ask when she’d take another mission.

“Weren’t you desperate to reach the Abyss Second Layer? What about points!”

He was quickly slapped in the face.

Over these days, all the data and biological samples Li Luo uploaded were reviewed one after another, with the screen constantly updating.

[Oscillation Beast video data review complete, reward: 300 Monitoring Station Points.]

[Red Rope Worm parasitism video data review complete, reward: 500 Monitoring Station Points.]

[Dream Qilin video data review complete, reward: 500 Monitoring Station Points.]

[Dream Qilin biological sample review complete, reward: 500 Monitoring Station Points.]

……

The screen popped up with all sorts of info, and Mo Ling watched Li Luo’s points soar.

Finally, after all the data was processed, Li Luo’s points reached 5000.

Even Li Luo seemed surprised-every update brought her more joy.

Mo Ling was surprised too.

It seemed the main way to earn points wasn’t just missions-data collected during missions was the real prize.

The rarer the data, the more points-after all, the monitoring station was set up to research the Abyss.

This time, the extra points were because Li Luo’s uploads filled crucial gaps.

Once all the mission data was settled, Li Luo seemed ready to take a new mission.

She opened the screen to check the latest missions.

Just then, a message arrived.

Station Head Liang: “Li Luo, if you have time, please come to the lab. There’s a problem with the Red Rope Worm parasitism sample you sent last time.”

After getting the message, Li Luo took the car to the lab.

……

Inside, Station Head Liang explained the anomaly in the biological sample.

“You might not see it on a macro scale.”

“But our lab found a big problem when we checked the cells.”

He led Li Luo to a monitor showing a microscopic view of the parasitic sample.

Mo Ling saw nothing wrong after watching for a while.

Li Luo looked equally puzzled.

Station Head Liang quickly brought up another image and explained,

“This image shows normal Red Rope Worm and Oscillation Beast cells, but the cells on the monitor aren’t either.”

“In the entire sample, we found two types of cells-one Oscillation Beast, the other this unknown type.”

“And it’s not Red Rope Worm cells.”

Station Head Liang asked seriously, “Li Luo, are you sure the sample you sent was from an Oscillation Beast parasitized by a Red Rope Worm, after it died?”

Li Luo nodded firmly.

“Then this is a big problem. I remember you said in your data that this Oscillation Beast anomaly was caused by mass Red Rope Worm parasitism?”

Li Luo nodded again.

With her answer, Station Head Liang thought for a moment and said,

“Red Rope Worms aren’t supposed to parasitize on a large scale-you noted that in your data as a doubt. But if this is true, it explains it.”

He led Li Luo to another device and pointed at the screen. “This unknown cell in the sample-we researchers know it well. Look, it’s this.”

Mo Ling looked at the screen-a group of constantly wriggling transparent cells.

They lay quietly in the culture device, looking unremarkable.

Mo Ling compared these cells to the unknown ones in the parasite sample-they were the same.

“Why would this happen?”

He’d watched Li Luo seal the infected slime in a capsule with his own eyes.

That capsule had stayed in the storage box, always in Mo Ling’s view-no chance for a switch.

Could it be, these were unknown cells from the start?