I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 23

Captain Su kept retreating, soon entering Mo Ling’s field of view.

Through the bandages, Mo Ling saw the bones inside Captain Su’s body were full of cracks, the wounds beneath the bandages deep to the bone.

Those were wounds from the bone spikes bursting out!

So Bone Breaker meant breaking his own bones-Mo Ling suddenly understood.

It must be a Relic’s effect, with a heavy price and power.

Though the cracks and wounds on his bones healed rapidly, Mo Ling could see Captain Su gritting his teeth in agony.

The two worms chased relentlessly, entering Mo Ling’s view.

Captain Su stood his ground, apparently having thought of a solution, but Mo Ling had already targeted the two worms.

As one worm coiled to strike, a huge cubic void suddenly appeared beneath it, making it fall flat.

Immediately after, countless bloody holes appeared on its body-an invisible attack instantly turned it into a honeycomb.

Not only that, to prevent further regeneration, the invisible attack kept gnawing at the worm’s body, its already battered flesh vanishing chunk by chunk.

In the end, the worm was dismembered in midair.

The other worm, apparently mindless, kept attacking Captain Su, but seeing its companion vanish, it froze.

Its thick body seemed to deflate, collapsing from within, the spiral skin caving in, losing all support.

When a hole appeared on the skin, it became clear the worm’s insides had already been hollowed out by the invisible cubic void.

The smooth cut kept spreading, devouring the last of the worm’s skin.

The two terrifying monsters vanished just like that.

Captain Su stared in shock at the sudden turn of events.

When he came to, he realized something and turned to look at Li Luo and the cube behind her.

Li Luo met Captain Su’s gaze and nodded.

……

Mo Ling lounged in the cube, snacking on food he’d teleported in, listening to the soldiers thank Li Luo.

Thinking back on the fierce battle, Mo Ling realized his teleportation was getting faster.

“I seem to be getting more skilled.”

Using teleportation was like learning to use your hands.

If he’d been a newborn on arrival, now Mo Ling was like a three-year-old.

He could now instinctively teleport anything in his view, without needing to focus, so his teleportation speed soared.

He’d already tossed the worm’s flesh chunks underground.

“If I can go faster than the eye can see, could I make things vanish instantly?”

Mo Ling was eager to try.

Once the soldiers confirmed the beast tide was over, they gathered around.

Some even approached the cube out of curiosity, but Li Luo blocked them.

A soldier scratched his head and apologized to Li Luo, “Sorry for blocking you outside the wall earlier.”

Then he hurried off to clean up the battlefield.

After standing guard a while longer, Captain Su also approached Li Luo and solemnly extended his hand.

“Thank you for your help.”

Li Luo reached out and shook his hand casually.

It seemed that, at this moment, the soldiers at the outpost finally realized Li Luo was no ordinary investigator.

Li Luo took the opportunity to ask, “Why didn’t you report these biological anomalies to the monitoring station?”

Captain Su was taken aback. “We did. Everything that happens here is clearly written in our daily reports to the monitoring station.”

Mo Ling was confused too.

Station Head Liang hadn’t mentioned any of this when assigning the mission.

Seeing Li Luo’s puzzled look, Captain Su realized something.

“The monitoring station doesn’t know? No wonder. We’ve been requesting reinforcements, but the station only gives routine replies and never sends anyone.”

“That’s why the soldiers are so resentful.”

Captain Su quickly called over the communications officer, checked the recent communications, and confirmed all reports had been sent as usual.

He paced in confusion, then looked at Li Luo and asked, “Does the monitoring station know about the Transforming Trees? We reported that too.”

Li Luo shook her head.

“Transforming Trees? What kind of creatures are those?”

Mo Ling had thought the outpost was hiding something, but it turned out there was just a communication gap.

Captain Su suddenly remembered something and confirmed with Li Luo, “Your mission here is to investigate the Theseus Cell anomaly, right?”

After getting confirmation, Captain Su offered a suggestion:

“You should visit the Transforming Tree tribe and see what’s going on there.”

“We’ve wanted to investigate, but the beast tides are getting more frequent and we’re stretched thin.”

“We’ll go check why our reports aren’t reaching the station, and then join you.”

Captain Su had Li Luo open her electronic screen and sent her the information on the Transforming Trees.

……

The Theseus Cell Containment Zone is surrounded by massive walls.

All creatures in this area are made of Theseus Cells, from millennia-old trees to the tiniest insects.

Except for one species-

Transforming Trees.

These are jelly-like gel creatures, capable of simple communication and some intelligence, living in tribes within the containment zone.

After learning about human technology, they sought out humans at the outpost to trade for fertilizer.

Eventually, dedicated couriers would travel from their tribe to the outpost, bringing relics found by the tribe to exchange for fertilizer.

Once this was discovered, the outpost was happy to trade with these friendly beings.

They are not infected by Theseus Cells because they all appear out of thin air.

“Appear out of thin air?”

Seeing this, Li Luo looked at Captain Su.

Captain Su explained, “They really do appear out of nowhere and can’t be replaced by Theseus Cells. We’ve tested them-all Transforming Trees are made of normal cells.”

“We also thoroughly check any Transforming Tree that comes to trade, or we wouldn’t do business with them.”

What a strange creature, Mo Ling thought.

“And why do they want fertilizer?”

Reading further, Mo Ling found the answer.

Because, true to their name, the only purpose of every individual in the species is-to become a tree.