I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 25

A great crisis had struck the Transforming Tree tribe.

Just as that Transforming Tree said, they couldn’t become trees anymore.

Their previous method had always been to use Theseus Cells.

But not long ago, when they buried a companion as usual, something strange happened.

After swallowing Theseus Cells and being buried, the companion never sprouted.

The Transforming Trees thought it was a special case-maybe the temperature or location was wrong. It had happened before, and they were just sad.

But soon, the same thing happened to others.

More and more Transforming Trees were buried without saplings sprouting, and their numbers dwindled.

Until one time, after burying a companion, a strange creature crawled out of the ground.

It was a black drill-mole, able to burrow.

The Transforming Trees then realized it wasn’t a problem with sapling growth.

The Theseus Cells had stopped obeying them.

The cells would change at random, becoming any kind of creature. If it became something that couldn’t burrow, it would suffocate underground.

Alarmed, the Transforming Trees experimented and confirmed it.

Not only that, but all the creatures in the area were changing at random.

Offspring would become other species, and the Transforming Trees were among the least affected.

All sorts of mismatched offspring appeared in every group, causing the biological riots.

That’s why so many creatures tried to break out, attacking the wall and the outpost.

Li Luo asked a Transforming Tree how they controlled the Theseus Cells to become trees. The answer was, “Instinct.”

Their whole kind appears out of a Great Hollow Tree, born with a single purpose-to become a tree.

As for how they control the Theseus Cells, they didn’t know, nor could they fix the mutation problem.

Learning of the Theseus Cell anomaly, Mo Ling fell into thought.

Why had the always-normal Theseus Cells started changing like this?

It was as if their recognition function had broken.

Trying to become a mouse but turning into an elephant instead.

Li Luo learned from another Transforming Tree that the Great Hollow Tree was also acting strange, with odd noises and fewer new Transforming Trees appearing.

If this kept up, all the Transforming Trees would vanish, which explained the tribe’s panic and why they’d stopped trading for fertilizer.

If the Theseus Cell anomaly continued, not just the Transforming Trees-all creatures in the area would go extinct.

Mo Ling thought, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

If all creatures infected by Theseus Cells died, there’d be no more Theseus Cells in the world.

But before that, some incredibly powerful creatures would be born, and the outpost was already at its limit.

They had to find out what caused the Theseus Cell anomaly and find a way to control it.

Such a massive effect had to leave a clue.

Mo Ling thought for a while, recalling what the Transforming Trees had said.

“Strange noises?”

“The Great Hollow Tree?”

He quickly used a can to get Li Luo’s attention, then wrote on the tablet: “Go to the Great Hollow Tree!”

……

At the Great Hollow Tree, Mo Ling didn’t hear any strange sounds.

Maybe it was because he was trapped in the cube.

Li Luo didn’t seem to hear anything either.

Inside the hollow, ring-shaped roots spiraled down into the depths. The Transforming Trees said they all crawled out of the hollow, but no one knew what was inside.

Following the roots down, glowing mushrooms covered the hollow, their faint light making it look dreamlike.

Around the mushrooms, all sorts of small creatures crawled from the roots.

There were also giant corpses fused with the mushrooms, as if the fungi grew from their bodies.

No surprise, the Theseus Cells were transforming fungi too, and the glowing mushrooms’ reproduction was affected.

The Great Hollow Tree was especially affected. As they went deeper, Mo Ling saw many strangely grown remains.

A horn embedded in the roots.

A limb stuck in moss.

A deep-sea creature’s corpse fallen to the ground.

Coral hanging from dead branches.

Bird bones sunk in a pond.

……

All the evidence showed this was the area most affected by the anomaly.

Li Luo took out her recorder, documenting all the bizarre sights.

But up to now, the strange sound the Transforming Trees mentioned hadn’t appeared.

Instead, many crazed creatures attacked.

Most were starving, skin and bones.

Among them, Mo Ling even saw some already-extinct Earth species.

Though they were easily dealt with, the sudden attacks kept Mo Ling on edge.

When they reached a huge root platform, Mo Ling was even more shocked by what he saw.

A massive ocean beast skeleton lay there, its bones embedded with multicolored limbs.

A snake-like creature’s body was impaled on the giant ribs, but it still clung to life, going berserk at their approach.

There were many such living creatures, stuck in the bones, unable to move, surviving by attacking each other.

It was like a natural gu pit-only the strongest, best-adapted creatures could claim a spot.

No wonder the other creatures were so aggressive.

It wasn’t the Theseus Cells’ fault-they were born in an environment of constant struggle.

Born into mixed groups, they had no choice but to fight.

Mo Ling also saw two creatures fused together.

A turtle-like creature lay dying in the roots, with the upper half of a jackal growing from its shell.

The jackal kept savagely biting the turtle, its limbs bloody, the turtle able only to hide in its shell.

What a bizarre biological hodgepodge.

As Mo Ling was still shocked by the chaos, Li Luo suddenly froze.

After a while, she turned to the cube and said seriously,

“I heard it.”

“It’s the voice of God!”