I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 214

As lights flickered, a group of strange-looking creatures walked to the shore.

These were a group of mermen. Their bodies were similar to humans, but their heads were ugly and fierce fish heads, completely black all over. Apart from the different clothing they wore, these mermen showed no other differences.

They all wore old human clothes, apparently obtained from previous trades. Some only had upper garments, some only lower garments, and some mermen just tied a belt around themselves, looking extremely comical.

The lights in the mermen’s hands were also human flashlights, searchlights and such, though they all seemed to have insufficient battery power, very dim, and some even kept flickering.

Several mermen among them carried a huge wooden box. This box even had human-marked numerical codes, apparently also obtained from humans and put to waste utilization by the mermen.

Leading them was a merman fully clothed. Most notably, this merman also wore a Christmas hat, obtained from who knows where, bright red and very conspicuous.

Though their appearance was extremely ugly and fierce, these mermen’s attire was truly amusing. They seemed to have been severely corrupted by human culture.

The mermen waited obediently below the transport ship. After the captain came down, only then did the Christmas hat merman step forward.

“Hello, Captain.”

This merman actually spoke in standard human language when he opened his mouth.

Though due to pronunciation issues, he sounded somewhat stiff and rigid. Combined with that Christmas hat, he appeared extremely dull.

“It’s you again? Jeff, your Great Chieftain sent you to work again?” The captain seemed to recognize this merman.

He didn’t know if he recognized him or recognized that Christmas hat.

“It’s me working. Need help?” Merman Jeff asked honestly, then walked directly toward the ship.

He looked back at the mermen behind him, “You have quite few people. We might need to make several trips this time.”

The captain quickly waved his hands, “No need, no need. This time there’s quite a lot of cargo. I’ll unload it to the shore, you just help move it a bit.”

“No problem,” Jeff also looked back and was stunned, “Then we’ll make several trips.”

The captain returned to the ship, went to the pilot house, operated for a while, and the cargo hold’s side slowly opened. A passage connected to the shore.

Only then did Mo Ling discover that the cargo hold’s bottom actually had a conveyor belt. As the conveyor belt began operating, those very messily packed wooden boxes were sent one by one to the rotting dock on shore.

Jeff also quickly directed the other mermen to move the cargo to the more distant shore.

Their strength was great, and they could also manipulate water currents to wrap around wooden boxes. One merman could carry several wooden boxes, and even the conveyor belt’s speed couldn’t keep up with their transportation speed.

They would even use relay methods, saving walking time.

Before long, the mermen had finished transporting the last piece of cargo, but they still waited there blankly, awaiting instructions.

The captain came out and shouted loudly, “Done! Everything’s unloaded!”

Then he personally took Jeff for a tour around the cargo hold, packing up those fallen goods.

“This is all yours to keep. Don’t turn it in to the village,” the captain said teasingly.

“That won’t do. These are all things the village traded for. I can’t take them myself,” Jeff was very resistant.

“What’s this about? The Great Chieftain makes you work for free with no reward at all. Don’t you want to secretly get some benefits?” the captain tempted.

Jeff heard this and was stunned, then asked with a face full of confusion, “What are benefits?”

“This is… this is…” The captain was also stumped by Jeff’s question, unable to think of a reasonable explanation no matter what.

“Forget it, forget it. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you,” he said, grabbing a bottle of pepper powder from the cargo and pouring some out for Jeff to taste.

Jeff had no guard up and dipped his finger to taste a bit.

Then he sneezed violently, his entire fish head shaking three times.

His whole fish eyes were irritated red, and he kept opening and closing his mouth, completely unable to adapt.

“Not good,” Jeff said seriously after recovering.

“Oh, seems you mermen don’t like eating this. I’ll change it for something else next time. What do you like to eat?” The captain felt no remorse whatsoever. After putting away the pepper powder bottle, he casually asked.

Jeff didn’t mind either and continued seriously answering the question, “Seaweed sheets are quite tasty.”

Hearing this, the captain seemed to think of something and ran to the small room next to the cargo hold, taking out a package of seaweed sheets.

Holding the seaweed sheets, the captain had another flash of inspiration.

“Jeff, I’ll teach you now what benefits are.”

“Okay.”

“You like eating seaweed sheets, right? Like this package in my hand, do you know how many sheets are inside?”

Jeff seriously looked at the human text on the seaweed sheet packaging, then read aloud stiffly, “This product is for display use, not for sale. One package contains 10 sheets. Contains excessive preservatives. Do not consume. Do not take…”

The captain quickly coughed, “Alright, alright, stop reading… I’ll continue teaching you.”

“Okay.”

The captain exerted force and tore open the seaweed sheet packaging in his hand.

Inside were indeed ten seaweed sheets, individually packaged, very exquisite.

The captain took out one sheet, tore open the individual packaging, and placed the seaweed sheet in Jeff’s hand, “Try it.”

Jeff seemed to have already forgotten the warning labels he’d just read.

He picked up the seaweed sheet and swallowed it in one bite.

“Delicious.”

Jeff looked blissful, and a happy expression actually appeared on his rigid fish face.

The captain smiled wickedly at Jeff and nodded with satisfaction.

After Jeff finished tasting the seaweed sheet, the captain asked again, “All this cargo belongs to the village, right?”

Jeff nodded.

“What about this package of seaweed sheets?”

Jeff nodded again.

Just then, the captain suddenly laughed.

“Hahaha, now that seaweed sheet in your stomach, that’s the benefits. Understand?”

Jeff didn’t understand for a moment and raised his hand to scratch his head.

Then his fish head suddenly froze.

His huge fish eyes revealed a strange and intelligent light.

He seemed to realize something, looked at the remaining seaweed sheets in the captain’s hand, then looked at his own stomach.

After a long silence, Jeff said dully:

“I understand.”

Hearing this, the captain was very pleased and patted Jeff’s shoulder, “You understand? Then tell me what it means.”

Jeff raised his head and looked seriously at the captain, his two fish eyes still dull and honest.

Fluent and perfectly pronounced human language came from Jeff’s mouth:

“Benefits are greed, are theft, are blasphemy against racial will, are the vile behavior of using personal interests to erode racial interests.”

“Like the borers in the rotting wood of the dock, eroding their own homeland without knowing it. What awaits them is only one result, sinking into the ocean.”

“This is the extreme act of separating the individual from the race, a manifestation of extremely immature mentality and wisdom, it is…”

The captain’s face turned pale as he listened, and he quickly interrupted Jeff’s speech, “Good, good, good, Jeff. Your understanding is very thorough. You can be taught. Human language is broad and profound. Keep working hard.”

While speaking, the captain was already covered in sweat. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and kept wiping his forehead.

Jeff heard the captain’s “praise” and nodded solemnly.

“Thank you, Captain. You’ve taught me so much again.”

“You’re always so wise.”