I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 251

“Ah!”

The root-carved figurine suddenly let out a piercing shriek. The sharp sound startled Bai Zhou so much that he immediately stepped back, nearly sitting on the ground.

The figurine seemed to suddenly come alive. The tree roots behind it quickly retracted, and it took its short little steps, actually turning around to run away.

Fortunately, Bai Zhou was quick-eyed and fast-handed. Steeling his heart, he directly stepped forward and grabbed the strange figurine in his hands.

The figurine kept shrieking, clawing fiercely at Bai Zhou’s palm with its small hands.

Although intense stinging pain came from his hands, Bai Zhou didn’t dare let the figurine go, afraid that once he loosened his grip, this root-carved figurine would immediately run away without a trace.

Finally, after a period of struggle, the figurine also recognized the situation and stopped moving around wildly. Bai Zhou took this opportunity to tie up the figurine with cloth strips.

Looking at his hands again, they were already covered in bloody scratches from the figurine’s claws.

Ignoring the pain in his hands, Bai Zhou looked at the figurine that had finally quieted down.

“This Relic is really troublesome to use.”

Bai Zhou was secretly glad that if he hadn’t reacted quickly, this root-carved figurine would have long since run off to who knows where. The Chali Tribe hadn’t told him that using this Relic would cause such a situation.

With curious feelings, Bai Zhou carefully asked, “Can you speak?”

Hearing this, Bai Zhou was stunned for a moment. This voice didn’t seem to be an illusion, this figurine was really talking.

“Nonsense!” the figurine directly replied viciously.

Seeing the figurine’s arrogant attitude, Bai Zhou didn’t continue indulging it. He picked up the figurine and walked into the village.

He lit a fire and suspended the figurine over it.

“Let me go! Let me go! I don’t want to go back!”

Bai Zhou immediately understood the figurine’s meaning.

“Don’t want to go back?”

“Go back where?”

Bai Zhou crouched by the fire pile and said coldly, “I ask, you answer. Do you understand?”

“Understood! Understood!” the figurine answered fearfully.

Such behavior made the figurine’s resistance even more intense, continuously letting out shrieks.

He poked the still squirming figurine with his finger.

The sharp sound rang out again, like a noisy child.

Being poked by Bai Zhou, the figurine also accelerated its twisting, arching around on the ground like a caterpillar.

“What are you?”

“I’m a tree, I’m that tree!” the figurine struggled while looking toward the direction they had come from.

The soul of a tree came to the figurine?

No wonder the Chali Tribe said this Relic could communicate with souls, it turned out it extracted souls to communicate with them.

The reason for using this Relic this time was because Bai Zhou wanted to use it to communicate with the soul of the great tree beside the village. Perhaps this great tree might know some things that had happened in the village.

However, why did this figurine suddenly come alive?

After understanding this Relic’s working principle, Bai Zhou didn’t continue learning about the Relic, but directly began asking about what happened in the village.

“How did the other people in this village die? Who did it?”

After hearing Bai Zhou’s question, the root-carved figurine trembled and told Bai Zhou the whole story in detail—

Mermen invasion, slaughter, burning…

The root-carved figurine spoke very briefly, finishing the entire matter in an understated way from an observer’s perspective.

Everything happened very quickly. Humans had no ability to resist against the mermen at all. Components flew through at high speed, leaving behind only charred corpses.

The mermen also didn’t stay long. After carefully searching the village for a period of time, they departed from this island riding their dragon fortress.

Extremely casual.

Bai Zhou listened while clenching his fists.

“What was their purpose?”

“Don’t know. They were just looking for things. When they couldn’t find anything, they left.”

“Just like that?” Bai Zhou asked incredulously.

“Just like that…”

Hearing such an answer, a thunderous roar sounded in Bai Zhou’s mind. Ringing came from his ears, and he could no longer hear the figurine’s pleas for mercy.

The fire pile in front of him continuously sent out sparks.

The wood in the fire pile was burned black, making fine cracking sounds, but Bai Zhou couldn’t hear anything.

His gaze penetrated through those pitch-black pieces of wood, as if seeing those dead compatriots.

Piled together, piled into a mountain.

Digging out pits, burying them with ash-like dust, leaving no traces ever again.

Bai Zhou’s fists loosened.

He looked at his palm. The wounds the root-carved figurine had clawed earlier were seeping fresh blood again.

But Bai Zhou felt no pain at all.

No sound, no sensation, everything was numb.

Only the charcoal in front of him swayed, continuously telling him of their suffering.

“Bai Zhou, we’re so thirsty. We want to drink water.”

“Alright.”

Bai Zhou walked to the well. Completely ignoring the wounds on his hands, he laboriously drew up a bucket of water.

Then he walked to the fire pile and poured the water over it.

After a series of “sizzling” sounds, the fire was extinguished, leaving only a few flickering sparks.

A wisp of smoke and dust drifted up to the sky, disappearing into the clouds.

The figurine that had originally been suspended over the fire pile was also drenched by the water. At this time, seeing Bai Zhou continuously talking to himself with somewhat strange behavior, it no longer dared to act rashly.

Just like this, Bai Zhou stood by the fire pile holding the water bucket for a long time…

Until the last spark was extinguished, Bai Zhou finally put down the water bucket, grabbed the figurine, and returned to the great tree.

The tree roots on the carving burrowed into the bark, and the figurine’s facial features slowly disappeared. Its hands also returned to their embracing posture.

As the tree roots retracted, the root-carved figurine returned to its original form.

In the following days, Bai Zhou continued his unchanging life.

Getting up in the morning to dig pits, burying corpses in the afternoon.

He collected those charcoal pieces that had broken into fragments. Those that could be put together he assembled, and those that couldn’t be assembled he placed together, burying them with the clothing from the houses.

After all the corpses he could find were buried, he erected a large stone monument on the mountain and carved the character “仙” (immortal) in small seal script.

After completing everything, Bai Zhou stood before the monument for a long time…

When morning came the next day, he packed his things and left the village without looking back.

Boarding his boat, Bai Zhou decided to first return to the Chali Tribe’s island. This was both to return the Relic and to find a method for revenge.

In the Abyss, he only knew the Chali Tribe as a race, and could only learn more through them.

Most importantly, Bai Zhou wanted to know more about the mermen.

“Going around in circles, they actually got it right, another crossing…”

Bai Zhou marveled at the wonder of the Chali Tribe’s prophetic ability and was amazed by the mysteries of the Abyss.

Touching the root-carved figurine in his bundle, Bai Zhou rallied his spirits again.

Just an ordinary root carving could have the effect of extracting souls, so there must be more powerful, more lethal Relics.

Perhaps someday he could obtain…

Rowing his small boat, Bai Zhou once again approached the long-missed Chali Tribe island.

But thick fog rose from the sea surface, which was very rare near the Chali Tribe’s island.

Bai Zhou felt something was wrong, but still plunged into the fog without looking back.