I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 235

A gift?

Mo Ling couldn’t quite understand the situation before him.

But he knew that Bai Zhou was in great pain right now.

He slowly moved to Bai Zhou’s side, ignoring the warning looks from those mermen, wanting to help support the injured Bai Zhou.

But what Mo Ling didn’t expect was that Bai Zhou actually refused his help.

He pushed Mo Ling away with his weak arms and continued standing shakily, his whole body trembling uncontrollably under the pain.

His cloth clothing was already soaked with sweat. Breathing heavily, Bai Zhou didn’t glance at Mo Ling who wanted to support him, but stared intently at the mermen before him.

The mermen watched this scene with interest, as if watching a show.

Just then, Jeff spoke again:

“Give him some treatment.”

A nearby merman’s disappointed expression vanished in an instant. With another wave of his hand, the runic component on Bai Zhou’s neck suddenly blazed with light, and his complexion visibly reddened.

As soon as Bai Zhou recovered, he hurriedly thanked the mermen before him.

Under the component’s effect, Bai Zhou’s body quickly recovered completely. Only the component embedded in his neck looked extremely conspicuous.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Yes, General.” The merman nodded respectfully and silently withdrew.

After the several mermen exchanged glances, they left the prison and retreated to the other side of the corridor, but their gazes still kept glancing toward the prison.

“You go out first. I’ll interrogate them alone,” Jeff said calmly.

“But…” The merman was about to speak when Jeff raised his hand to interrupt him.

“Those who can speak the merman language don’t need it.”

That merman ignored him and manipulated another component to fly into the air, wanting to thrust it at Mo Ling.

But his action was quickly stopped by Jeff, “Those who can speak the merman language don’t need it.”

“Yes, General.” The merman nodded fearfully and silently retreated.

After his subordinates moved away, Jeff spoke again, his tone not as formal as it had been initially.

“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before?” Jeff looked at Bai Zhou and asked with slight curiosity.

However, he still answered calmly, “Perhaps the General saw me when you came to our island.”

Jeff was stunned, “No, not that time.”

He thought for a moment, seemingly unable to come up with an answer, and shook his head.

“Forget it, let’s talk business.”

He looked at Bai Zhou and asked seriously, “I heard from those who interrogated you before that you know a way to remove the mermen race’s limitations?”

“Yes!” Hearing Jeff’s question, Bai Zhou answered anxiously.

However, his hands quietly clenched into fists, then quickly relaxed.

“What method?” Bai Zhou’s eager appearance piqued Jeff’s interest.

“Immortality!”

Hearing this word, Jeff’s expression changed several times. He seemed to understand Bai Zhou’s thinking and raised his hand to signal Bai Zhou to continue.

“The so-called limitations are just bottlenecks that can’t be broken through due to insufficient time. The mermen race is currently encountering such a situation.”

“When a merman spends their entire life unable to solve a problem, it naturally leads to developmental stagnation.”

“Strength is only temporary. Later generations not only won’t continue their predecessors’ exploration, they might become even more lazy, which leads to the deepening of limitations.”

“They might even regress!”

“General, do you think the current mermen race is in such a situation?”

Jeff pondered for a moment and nodded, “So we need immortality to let strength continue forever.”

“Exactly!” Bai Zhou clapped his hands excitedly.

Mo Ling listened to their conversation and roughly understood something.

“The mermen race has fallen into some kind of developmental bottleneck?”

The limitations mentioned by both of them didn’t seem to be some irresistible force.

Was it technological constraints?

Mo Ling looked at those operating runic components and increasingly felt his speculation was correct.

These components might be the mermen’s form of technology.

However, listening to Bai Zhou’s words, Mo Ling felt somewhat familiar with them.

“Isn’t this just what alchemists said to deceive emperors?”

As long as there was immortality, the empire could remain strong forever, without worrying about unworthy descendants, without fearing which incompetent heir would destroy the foundation built by generations of ancestors.

Immortality would allow one to personally implement their will continuously, to keep pushing forward plans that weren’t yet complete, without worrying about the inheritance of will, without caring whether descendants would persist in exploration.

A permanent solution.

This was a very idealistic vision, believing that personal will could override historical laws.

“I am the fundamental source of the empire’s strength.”

Many emperors would have this kind of extraordinary “confidence,” which was also the root cause of their obsession with immortality.

However, Bai Zhou was actually using such words to deceive the mermen race?

And it seemed Jeff actually believed it somewhat?

However, Jeff wasn’t as simple as Mo Ling thought. After some time passed, he began questioning the effectiveness of immortality:

“All of this is premised on not trusting future generations, but I believe our mermen race’s descendants will find ways to break through limitations.”

“Right now, our inability to find suitable methods is only temporary. I don’t believe our descendants will stagnate or even regress because of this.”

“The mermen race… will always be strong.”

Jeff’s words were filled with determination, an extreme confidence in his race.

Such confidence left Bai Zhou stunned in place. The rhetoric he had prepared suddenly became useless, instantly leaving him speechless.

However, Jeff then changed his approach.

“Immortality is a path worth trying.”

“Insufficient time is indeed a problem we’ve been facing. Mermen don’t have long lifespans, in the Abyss, they can only be considered fleeting. Even if we can’t achieve immortality, extending lifespans could make the mermen race stronger.”

He looked at Bai Zhou and asked, “Since you can propose this, you must have a method to achieve it, right?”

“How do we achieve immortality?”

Jeff’s eyes carried inquiry, his deep gaze piercing through Bai Zhou, examining him thoroughly.

It seemed that all lies had nowhere to hide before Jeff at this moment.

Only now did Mo Ling clearly realize that the Jeff before him was not that honest merman who had been fooled by the ship captain into eating expired seaweed at the dock.

The space instantly froze.

Bai Zhou was left at a loss under that examining gaze, cold sweat appearing on his forehead again.

“General, you should know that we humans have always been seeking immortality, right?”

“I know.”

“Actually, we’ve already found it, but our capabilities are limited and we can’t implement it. However, with the mermen race’s power, it should be easy to accomplish.”

Hearing Bai Zhou’s words, Jeff fell silent again, continuing to examine him. After a moment, he spoke again.

“Tell me in detail. Don’t hide anything.”

“Yes.”

Bai Zhou calmly wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath, and began to speak slowly…

Mo Ling watched, feeling somewhat phantom pain.

But Jeff’s words made Bai Zhou clench his fists again.