I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 220

The shrimp-headed person seemed to instantly ignite with fighting spirit, and even his speech became powerful and resonant.

“I’ll go call them up! Jeff, you wait here!” After dropping this line, the shrimp-headed person ran up the mountain without looking back.

Only Jeff remained standing in place, his face full of determination.

Li Luo watched this scene with wide eyes.

Her gaze kept shifting between Jeff and the departing shrimp-headed person, her face full of disbelief.

“Do you really believe they’re mermen? Are there really missing companions on your island?”

“I believe,” Jeff nodded. “The area around Merman Island isn’t peaceful. We also have many companions who went out and never returned.”

“Do the names match up?” Li Luo suddenly asked, as if thinking of something.

If these pseudo-mermen really were former mermen who had changed, then the names should match up.

“They don’t match up. Their names have never appeared in the mermen village. They appeared completely out of nowhere,” Jeff shook his head.

“Never appeared?” Hearing such an answer, Li Luo was also very surprised. “Doesn’t that prove they’re not mermen?”

She obviously hadn’t expected that even with such ironclad evidence, Jeff would still believe those pseudo-mermen’s words.

Jeff shook his head, “I’ve had contact with them. I believe my own judgment.”

Jeff told Li Luo about his first encounter with those pseudo-mermen:

As a native merman, Jeff initially didn’t know how big the world outside Merman Island was,he only had a broad concept.

Just like a person who had never seen the sea couldn’t understand the sea’s magnificent waves.

The first pseudo-merman to appear on the island was a coral person.

These pseudo-mermen weren’t there from the beginning.

It was also after the fog began to thicken that these pseudo-mermen slowly started appearing.

He rowed a self-made wooden boat and drifted to the island following the waves.

As soon as he arrived at Merman Island, this coral person found his way back to the mermen village with ease, directly found his “companions,” and told them about his experiences.

At that time, no mermen suspected him, because on Merman Island, tribespeople did often disappear due to accidents.

The mermen had strong adaptability to new things and quickly let the coral person integrate into the village.

Jeff also made contact with this coral person at this time.

Due to his changed appearance, the coral person suffered many strange looks. Only Jeff could communicate with him normally, which also made Jeff become his confidant.

Moreover, this coral person was too familiar with the mermen village. He could recite every tribesperson’s name and was incredibly familiar with the village’s buildings. He even knew about other mermen’s childhood experiences.

Not only that, the coral person also knew merman language and could use various merman abilities. Aside from his different appearance, he was no different from a merman.

Insufficient experience meant his thoughts couldn’t extend far either.

But from the coral person’s adventure stories, Jeff personally experienced that magnificent sea and walked through that Abyss full of infinite wonders.

He was like the little small fry in those merman ancient texts, wandering through the scenes the coral person had experienced.

Not only that, the coral person also taught Jeff the coral tribe’s language.

That was an art of “solidification.”

A three-dimensional graphic language composed of secreted calcium that could convey the user’s intended meaning incredibly intuitively.

Although Jeff didn’t have the ability to secrete calcium and couldn’t use this language to express himself, he learned how to understand this language, how to comprehend the coral tribe’s wonderful expression.

While immersing himself in that colorful world, Jeff also experienced the diversity of Abyss races.

Besides this, there was also various knowledge infusion. Jeff began understanding the outside world from this time.

The coral person often poured out his troubles to Jeff, confiding his worries.

But good times didn’t last long. The Great Chieftain suddenly issued an order to isolate the coral person, driving him to the mountains far from the village.

The coral person originally argued his case, but the Great Chieftain asked him a fatal question—

“Does anyone in the village know you, know your name?”

The coral person, not believing it, asked around the entire village, but just as the Great Chieftain had said, no one knew him. Even his original “companions” were now speechless about that unfamiliar name.

So the coral person, falling into self-doubt, left the village.

From then on, whenever Jeff had free time, he would run up the mountain to chat with the coral person.

Even though the Great Chieftain had already issued the isolation order, Jeff didn’t care.

He was still hungrily absorbing knowledge about the outside world from the coral person.

Soon, more and more pseudo-mermen appeared on Merman Island. They used various strange methods to return to the mermen village.

However, these pseudo-mermen of various bizarre races all had one thing in common: they all had roughly the same “background story,” were all incredibly familiar with the mermen village, and all believed they were mermen.

The weird characteristics displayed by the pseudo-mermen made the mermen’s prejudice and ostracism toward them even more severe.

The native mermen were full of wariness toward these outsiders.

No one wouldn’t be afraid of “strangers” who were incredibly familiar with their home.

The Great Chieftain’s “isolation plan” quickly became the only way to handle these pseudo-mermen. All pseudo-mermen were driven to the mountains.

However, Jeff was quite happy at this time.

He had already learned all of the coral person’s knowledge, and these newly arrived pseudo-mermen brought completely new knowledge.

Language, culture, experiences, technology…

Each race was a book.

Each experience was a treasure.

Each pseudo-merman was a teacher.

As the only merman who would run up the mountain to visit, Jeff was very welcome. These pseudo-mermen were also very friendly to him, not only teaching him knowledge and insights but also confiding the wonderful thoughts in their minds.

Jeff listened carefully, beginning to use his shallow insights to understand those profound thoughts, integrating them thoroughly.

Because most of these pseudo-mermen had lived as “outsiders” among other races for a long time, their observations and thoughts about various cultures were very “objective.”

They wouldn’t blindly praise nor criticize without reason.

This “objective” and “rational” spectator mentality also benefited Jeff greatly.

He was able to jump out of racial limitations and view these different types of cultures from a higher perspective.

Jeff wasn’t clever, but he was good at summarizing.

Gradually, while understanding this diverse world, he also summarized many common traits of intelligent races.

So when conversing with the captain and the shrimp-headed person, he could speak with such philosophical insights.

As there were more and more pseudo-mermen, Jeff also began to slowly understand the Great Chieftain’s approach.

However, faced with the ironclad evidence that the pseudo-mermen had “no one who remembered their names,” Jeff still chose to believe.

Because compared to others in the village, Jeff had the most contact with these pseudo-mermen. He trusted his own judgment.

He also trusted what he had seen with his own eyes.

Changing races wasn’t uncommon in the Abyss.

Jeff looked at Li Luo and said seriously:

“I can tell that their love for their race in their hearts can’t be faked.”

“Actually, the key to determining whether they’re mermen or not isn’t things like body, thoughts, experiences, language, memories, or that so-called ‘name’ that can prove identity.”

“What can determine whether they’re mermen or not…”

“Is ‘recognition.'”