I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 222

“Let’s go,” Jeff said flatly, but his tone couldn’t hide his worry.

Because they could participate in the Sea Moon Ceremony, the pseudo-mermen were all very excited. No one noticed Jeff’s abnormality, and they all rushed excitedly toward the Moon Altar.

Only Li Luo, who had fallen behind, looked at Jeff with confusion.

“What’s wrong?” She probably noticed Jeff’s abnormality.

Seeming to have his thoughts interrupted, Jeff was startled and turned to look at Li Luo blankly.

After coming to his senses, he slowly answered, “Nothing, let’s go.”

After saying this, he led Li Luo to catch up.

But throughout the journey, Jeff still looked preoccupied.

Finally, he couldn’t help himself and asked, “Humans also perform sacrifices, right?”

“Of course.”

“Would they build altars like this?”

“They would.”

After getting an affirmative answer, Jeff fell silent again, walking while lowering his head…

Jeff called to the pseudo-mermen and walked up the passage leading to the Moon Altar.

The passage was built inside the Moon Altar, spiraling upward with many branches in all directions.

These passages were all very spacious to facilitate cargo transport.

Up close, the oppressive feeling of this massive altar became even more obvious.

The Moon Altar in the fog was like a giant beast whose complete form couldn’t be seen, crouching in the fjord, restless.

Soon, everyone arrived at the edge of the Moon Altar.

Mo Ling’s vision extended around and discovered this was actually near the seaside edge.

They wound around in the passages and unknowingly had already reached the other side of the Moon Altar.

The arrival of the pseudo-mermen quickly caught the attention of other mermen.

They also saw many mermen in the passages, but they would all avoid them in time, choosing other branch routes and automatically staying away from the pseudo-mermen.

Although the exclusion wasn’t brought to the surface, this oppressive atmosphere had already spread.

This made the pseudo-mermen very uncomfortable.

But they all didn’t stop their work, just silently looked at Jeff’s group, strange glances frequently coming their way, then quietly detoured, choosing other transport routes.

Before long, the previously busy mermen disappeared. They must have found other passages to avoid the pseudo-mermen.

The pseudo-mermen who had just been excited suddenly had their enthusiasm extinguished, feeling embarrassed beyond words.

Fortunately, the passage wasn’t long. Jeff had probably chosen the closest route when leading the way, and they soon arrived on the Moon Altar.

A gentle breeze blew, and the fog slowly moved. It was so quiet here that there wasn’t a sound.

Some wooden boxes were placed at the edge of the passage, probably brought up by the previous mermen, piling up the surroundings.

Other mermen seemed to have avoided this place early on, so there were no mermen working here.

“It’s these wooden boxes. We need to arrange what’s inside,” Jeff said to the pseudo-mermen.

“What are these?” Although they had lost their initial enthusiasm, they still asked seriously.

“Bait.”

Bait?

The pseudo-mermen were all very confused.

The shrimp-headed person walked to a wooden box, used water currents to pull out the nails, and looked inside.

Inside the box was a messy pile of expired human food and various seasoning bottles, like a food garbage mix.

The packaging of these foods was covered with thick dust, and some were already damaged with food leaking out. Under the fog’s influence, they had rotted and begun to stink.

As soon as the box opened, that rotting smell dispersed.

The shrimp-headed person tore open a package containing potato chips, and black, hard chunks actually fell out.

These black hard chunks also emitted a foul stench.

The thick fog covering Merman Island was so powerful that it could even affect properly packaged food.

“So they didn’t trade these foods from humans to eat.”

It was to use as bait.

But could these rotting foods really serve as bait?

What could they lure out?

Mo Ling was still puzzled when those pseudo-mermen who had crowded forward to see the rotting food in the box seemed to instantly understand something, all looking at Jeff together.

Their eyes were full of shock and some fear.

“The Sea Moon Ceremony needs those things?” a pseudo-merman asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s clearly recorded in the ancient texts. We need many,” Jeff confirmed.

Jeff pointed to other boxes in the distance, “The cages are in there. The village spent a long time preparing, but the required quantity is too much, which is why there wasn’t time to arrange the Moon Altar.”

The shrimp-headed person walked in the direction Jeff pointed, opened a small opening in a box, and pulled out a small wooden sphere.

The sphere was only walnut-sized, very smooth. The shrimp-headed person played with it in his hands for a moment, his pair of antennae swaying anxiously.

“There is too many,it’s very dangerous,” he said worriedly.

At these words, everyone present fell silent.

That box was filled with identical wooden spheres.

Mo Ling listened with complete confusion.

Why were these spheres called “cages”?

What exactly were they trying to catch?

His vision sank into the sphere, it was solid inside and couldn’t trap any creature at all.

And the volume was particularly small, seeming to have no destructive power either.

Only one thing was very strange, the surfaces of these spheres were all very smooth, seeming to be wrapped in a thin layer of waxy sheen.

Just like the materials Mo Ling had seen in that library before.

“Is this Immortal Wood?”

After careful observation, Mo Ling was certain he hadn’t misjudged.

These strange wooden spheres were indeed Immortal Wood, except the waxy sheen was much fainter than that on the library or Merman Ancient Texts, just a shallow, very thin layer.

“Does Immortal Wood have other uses?” Even knowing about these wooden spheres, Mo Ling was still confused and could only wait for everyone present to provide answers.

However, the silence continued. Everyone present remained speechless, and the atmosphere was very subtle.

Just then, the shrimp-headed person broke the silence:

“Did the Great Chieftain ask us to do this?” he asked with a somewhat dejected tone.

Jeff shook his head, “No, he just agreed to let me find you for help. Even if you don’t do it, other tribespeople will.”

“Everyone’s the same.”

Hearing this, the shrimp-headed person’s antennae stopped swaying, and his hand gripping the sphere slowly relaxed.

“You should have said so earlier. I thought we were really abandoned.”

“The Great Chieftain would never abandon anyone,” Jeff looked at the shrimp-headed person and said seriously. “He’s always treated everyone equally…”

The shrimp-headed person waved his hand, “No need to say more. Anyway, someone from the tribe has to do this, whether it’s others or us ‘freaks.'”

“Why worry about so much? It just adds to our troubles.”

Saying this, his antennae stood up again.

“Do it or not?” He turned his head to look at the group of silent pseudo-mermen.

“Do it! What’s there to fear?” A pseudo-merman rolled up his sleeves.

“For the mermen race…”

“For the mermen race!”