I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 244

“It really works! General, I remembered everything, dragon origami…”

The armor said joyfully while moving its hands.

But after a short while, his movements suddenly got stuck.

The originally joyful expression also instantly became stiff.

After his fingers twitched a few times, the armor looked at the screen where the image had stopped, seemingly wanting to see clearly how to fold that dragon.

But his hands still couldn’t move.

Seeing his strange behavior, the surrounding mermen didn’t dare make a sound, afraid of disturbing him.

But after waiting a long time, the armor still remained motionless, with both hands frozen in mid-air.

Finally, he gave up, and his hands dropped powerlessly.

With an evasive gaze, he said embarrassedly to his companions:

“I can’t do it again.”

The armor’s voice echoed in the fish swarm, and no one responded for a long time.

He tried again to play that video record, but this time, even staring closely at the little merman’s technique, he couldn’t keep up with the origami steps, getting so frustrated that he started slapping his own clumsy hands.

“Obviously just a little bit short, what’s going on?”

“All forgotten…”

At this statement, the mermen couldn’t sit still and became eager to try.

Jeff pondered for a moment and confirmed again, “Can you be certain that wasn’t an illusion? The racial lock disappeared?”

“Certainly!” the armor answered decisively. “During that free time when I was immortal, I remembered everything!”

“You’re telling the truth?”

“That’s the real key!”

“I can’t, I have to try it myself!”

“But General…”

He stubbornly wanted to try again but was stopped by Jeff.

Jeff interrupted him again, “Are you sure you just remembered the origami method?”

Hearing Jeff’s serious inquiry, the armor also lowered its head and thought deeply for a long time.

“I felt those once-disappeared skills reappear in my mind, like things I had originally mastered, everything was completely natural.”

“Don’t try it.”

“Don’t be hasty.” Jeff stopped those mermen who wanted to try personally.

He remained very calm, first pouring cold water on the mermen:

“This isn’t a suitable key. If everyone becomes confused souls, even if unlocked, it would be meaningless.”

Jeff precisely pointed out a fatal flaw in this unlocking method.

All skills were built on mastering sufficient knowledge. Immortality could indeed let the mermen race break free from shackles, but the liberated tribesmen would all become that “free and unrestrained” way, which obviously wasn’t what they wanted.

At this time, an irreconcilable contradiction appeared before the mermen race:

To be free meant becoming foolish.

To not become foolish meant continuing to wear shackles.

…

Soon, everyone present recognized this point. The mermen who had been excited instantly fell into conflict.

They had been searching desperately for a way to escape limitations, and now this method was right in front of them, incredibly simple to achieve, but they just couldn’t do it.

This made the mermen extremely uncomfortable.

“Are there other ways? Can we not use the body as the cost?”

“No, we just tested it. Only the Chali tribe’s method works. We can recreate bodies, which is already cheating.”

“What if we let the soul die forever and let the body achieve immortality?”

“Listen to what you’re saying! If the soul is gone, what’s the point?”

“Then let half the soul and body achieve immortality…”

The mermen still didn’t want to give up and tried to use various methods to achieve immortality.

However, after several tests, except for the Chali tribe’s method, none could take effect.

All attempts, without exception, were failures.

“What’s going on? Didn’t the Chali tribe say anything could work as a cost, as long as it was half?”

“Yes, anything works, but our measurement isn’t precise enough.”

“Measurement?”

“Yes, measurement. How much is half? Weight? Or volume? Or surface area? Or elemental ratio?”

Hearing this series of questions, the mermen who had been discussing heatedly all closed their mouths.

“Half is correct, but we don’t know the definition of half! The Chali tribe only told us that soul and body could each count as half, but didn’t tell us the precise measurement method!”

“Moreover, even if we knew the criteria for determining half, we don’t know the specific precision requirements. Our division can only achieve limited division. Who knows how much half a soul actually is.”

“This isn’t cutting meat, where cutting off half really means half!”

At these words, there was another silence.

“So we have no other choice except following the Chali tribe’s method?”

“Yes, none…”

Immediately, the scene became silent as a grave. The hope that had just sprouted instantly became bubbles.

The mermen’s discussion fell into deadlock…

Just then, a reminder sounded in the silent fish swarm’s channel, seemingly from scouts who had been monitoring the nearby environment and made a new discovery.

“General, the fog density is rapidly increasing.”

“Is it caused by natural factors?”

“No, we checked. It’s not those Chali tribe members doing it. This fog seems to appear out of thin air.”

“Appearing out of thin air? Where is the appearance location?”

“The fog… is all around us.”

Hearing this, the mermen present stopped discussing immortality and all summoned the flying components on their bodies, vigilantly watching their surroundings.

However, after waiting a long time, no enemies or dangers appeared. Only the fog became thicker and thicker, even rolling toward the mermen, seemingly wanting to stick closely to their bodies.

“What is this thing?”

“Detection says it’s ordinary fog… plus some unknown substances.”

Under the mermen’s vigilant gazes, the thick fog beside them slowly enveloped them. Like some kind of creature, it twisted its tentacles and kept drilling into the armor.

Seeing this scene, the mermen’s armor at the site began glowing, followed by strong winds blowing out, expelling the fog from their bodies.

Runes intersected, and protective shields composed of hexagons appeared on the armor, isolating the fog outside.

The fog that had been scattered by the wind, after regathering, rolled toward the mermen again, wrapping tightly around the outside of the protective shields.

The mermen watched this scene and all stayed carefully in place, no longer acting rashly.

“It seems to have latched onto us…”