I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 229

The world began to move.

Everything returned to normal, and everyone present was unaware of what had happened.

Only Mo Ling remained trapped in that eerie scene, unable to extricate himself.

Looking again at the runes on the ground, there was nothing broken, no world-destroying dragon, they still lay there intact.

Aside from an Immortal Wood sphere now placed in the little small fry’s eye, there was no difference at all.

It was as if nothing had happened.

After resting, Jeff directed everyone to spread out and place these spheres into grooves in different areas.

Mo Ling floated in the air, observing these grooves in different positions.

They were cleverly distributed evenly along the runic lines, with fifty meters between each groove, arranged in a grid pattern across the Moon Altar.

“Is this to ensure that spherical area covers the entire Moon Altar?”

Mo Ling was thinking when the others had already placed the wooden spheres one by one into the grooves.

Mo Ling only observed for a while before discovering the pattern of these grooves.

However, the time stasis Mo Ling had anticipated didn’t occur again.

Spheres were placed into grooves one by one.

Everything was perfectly normal.

Sea wind stirred the fog, and everyone stayed busy.

Placing spheres was much easier and simpler than hunting Decay-eaters. Everyone took Immortal Wood spheres and spread out by area.

Wooden spheres rolled plainly into grooves, then were immediately fixed in place by the grooves.

The runic lines on the ground lay quietly.

The pseudo-mermen placing spheres didn’t stop moving either—they stood up and walked toward another groove.

The “given eyes” little small fry didn’t come alive again either.

Mo Ling was very certain that what he had just seen wasn’t any hallucination, it had truly happened.

But everything before his eyes made him doubt himself repeatedly.

“What’s going on?”

Mo Ling had already prepared to see the little small fry transform into a dragon again, but the previous scene didn’t reappear.

“Did I really see wrong?”

After becoming familiar with the groove distribution pattern, the speed of placing spheres increased. Before long, some people had already finished their assigned portions.

“Which areas are left?” these returning pseudo-mermen asked Jeff.

“Just the ones inside the passages. Those are more complete, go check if there are any omissions,” Jeff said.

The pseudo-mermen nodded and walked down toward the passages, following other companions to check the grooves.

After that, people returned one after another.

“Checked everything, no omissions.”

Jeff nodded and looked toward a raised circular platform in the center.

“Then there’s just one last step.”

He led everyone to the platform’s edge. This platform wasn’t high—only the height of one step.

Around the circular platform were many small holes. These holes were smaller than the diameter of the Immortal Wood spheres, clearly not meant to be used as grooves.

“I tried this before, it won’t fit,” one pseudo-merman said.

Jeff shook his head, “We don’t put anything here.”

He summoned water current tentacles, extending them into the holes and gripping firmly.

“Come help out, everyone.”

The other pseudo-mermen quickly realized what Jeff wanted to do. They all summoned their respective water current tentacles and extended them into the small holes.

“Use some force, let’s turn counterclockwise together.”

“Okay.”

“Understood…”

As everyone exerted force together, the platform actually began moving slowly, starting to rotate counterclockwise.

However, these small holes were obviously difficult to apply force to. Even with everyone working together, it turned very slowly.

“Lifting up a bit will be easier,” Jeff reminded them.

Sure enough, as the direction of force changed, the platform’s rotation speed gradually increased…

Mo Ling floated in the air, originally puzzled about this platform’s purpose.

But as the platform’s angle continuously changed, he began to see some clues.

This platform also had a section of runic lines, but just now the angle was wrong and couldn’t connect with the runes outside the platform.

As the heavy platform slowly began turning, the runes on it started gradually aligning with the outside world.

“Is this alignment?”

After carefully observing the runic breaks, Mo Ling discovered that the runes on the platform could indeed align with those outside.

At this moment, as the platform rotated, the breaks also began slowly aligning.

“About right.”

Everyone carefully twisted the platform. With a sound of hard stone collision, the platform locked into the designated position.

“Now let go, be careful. Everyone else, stand clear,” Jeff cautiously commanded, watching the platform.

As the water current tentacles released one by one, the platform’s height began slowly descending.

After a dull rumbling sound, the platform landed smoothly. The vibration echoed throughout the entire Moon Altar.

Seeing this scene, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Success.”

At this moment, the break had seamlessly joined with the runes outside.

The entire platform had completely merged with the Moon Altar. Except for a faint ring of gaps around it, no difference was visible.

“What’s this platform for?” Li Luo asked, puzzled.

“This is the connection point, making the entire Moon Altar’s runic lines connect end to end. Only now can the entire rune form a complete cycle,” Jeff explained. “The ancient texts say so, place the spheres first, then connect the runes.”

“Why?” Li Luo pressed.

“Don’t know.”

“…”

Li Luo probably realized she wouldn’t get answers from Jeff and didn’t continue asking.

Perhaps no one in the entire mermen race knew why they had to do this, they just copied exactly.

The runic lines on the Moon Altar seemed to have no pattern, and this platform was just a small part of them.

But Mo Ling in the sky could make out a vague shape from these runes.

“This is… a dragon?”

These winding runic lines were already chaotic, like wildly growing vines.

However, using this platform as the “eye,” Mo Ling discovered these runic lines actually drew a dragon!

Very similar to the strange dragon Mo Ling had seen before.

The grooves for placing spheres were the fish’s eyes.

And the circular platform was the dragon’s eye.

“First give eyes to the fish, then give eyes to the dragon.”

This seemed to be some unchangeable sequence.

In a trance, Mo Ling seemed to see that wandering little small fry again, slowly becoming a writhing dragon.

The dragon transformation dream from before kept overlapping with the scene before him.

The entire rune seemed to come alive as the platform aligned.

Mo Ling stared at that platform, and the mysterious merman language echoed in his mind again.

The text on the platform was very simple.

It was a cross formed by intersecting “horizontal” and “vertical” strokes.

A little small fry was circling endlessly around the cross’s center point, seeming unable to swim to the end no matter what.

When seeing this character, Mo Ling instantly understood its meaning—

“Clock.”