I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 258

The channel fell silent again.

Terrifyingly quiet.

The surrounding light points also quickly began surging, and one of the Moon Altars in the sky suddenly went out.

Time continued flowing.

The rushing light points continued circling around Mo Ling. He was like an immovable rock standing in a river of moonlight, letting everything around him change.

Mo Ling stood dazed, reaching out to try to catch those light points, but they nimbly avoided him, slipping through his fingers and swirling into the air.

One petal disappeared from the blooming shadow flower beneath him.

But the moonlight didn’t dim because of this. Mo Ling seemed to feel that the remaining Moon Altars were becoming brighter and more dazzling.

When those light points swirled into the air and the spiral stopped again.

The originally flowing air suddenly became like solidified mud—slow and suffocating.

Before he could catch his breath, that familiar voice came through the armor again. This time, they seemed to adapt very quickly and immediately entered into conversation.

“General, welcome back to consciousness.”

“Another two hundred years, but I don’t feel anything at all,” Jeff said in an unchanged tone.

“Death of the soul is like that, it’s absolute nothingness, so naturally there’s no sensation. During those two hundred years, we simply didn’t exist, like skipping over a void in time…”

Jeff didn’t continue discussing the topic of souls with the other voice, but asked with concern, “How are those bodies?”

The other voice was silent for a moment, then answered somewhat disappointedly, “Still no good. Immortality is still there, hasn’t been replaced. They really haven’t learned anything. The island’s perspective is too limited, and their civilization has remained at a primitive stage.”

Hearing this, Jeff was also silent for a long time.

“External stimulation isn’t enough. Continue adding to their heritage. During the time we’re awake, create as much heritage as possible and scatter it around the island.”

“General, even if the heritage is abundant enough, they don’t have time to learn it. Two hundred years is really too limiting. Should we extend the time we spend dead?”

“Absolutely not. Two hundred years is the limit we can control. Beyond two hundred years, if something unexpected happens, with our current number of components, we have no way to correct mistakes,” Jeff answered seriously.

“But General, we consume components every time we wake up. Who knows how many more two hundred-year cycles we have? Is it really okay to leave the entire race’s fate to chance?”

Jeff quietly listened to the other voice’s complaints. Only after it finished did he slowly speak:

“What the mermen race fears least is chance.”

“Even after discovering the racial lock, we never stopped exploring new things.”

“Learn one thing, forget one thing. We’ve lost so much, but the mermen race has never given up pursuing the unknown. As long as there’s still probability, there’s hope.”

“Under the shadow of the racial lock, everything we possess is just redundancy and burden. Only those things in the unknown have the possibility of being the hope that can save us.”

“Have you tried thinking from another angle? Actually, the racial lock is some kind of talent of the mermen race, using an already outdated skill to gamble on a future we’ve never touched.”

“All this time, we’ve plundered so much knowledge and Relics from various races, never worrying about the cost. This time is the same, mermen have never feared struggling against fate.”

“Nothing can lock up the mermen.”

“Only we ourselves can trap ourselves!”

Jeff’s voice echoed in the channel, unable to settle for a long time.

Mo Ling had never seen Jeff so emotionally agitated.

Before this, Jeff had always maintained that calm and composed appearance, seemingly indifferent to everything. But faced with the other voice’s cowardice, he erupted with unprecedented emotion.

“I’m sorry, General. I… I’m just somewhat worried,” the other voice said apologetically. “I’m worried we’ll fail.”

“How many more awakenings can our component consumption support?”

“Looking at the current fog situation, probably only a dozen or so times. By then all our components will be completely ineffective.”

“Then we’ll find other solutions when we reach the last time.”

“Yes, General. See you in another two hundred years.”

“See you then…”

Silence descended again, and the light points around Mo Ling began flowing once more.

Was it going to be another two hundred years later?

Mo Ling had figured out the pattern of these moonlight changes. Each time they flowed, they would span two hundred years. Each time they stopped, they would welcome another awakening of the mermen race.

Was this real?

Had the mermen race really waited like this for two thousand two hundred years?

Just to replace immortality?

Another Moon Altar in the sky went out, and another petal withered from the shadow flower beneath Mo Ling’s feet.

After another repetition, those voices appeared in the armor’s channel again.

Jeff was still the same as before, continuing to ask about immortality.

“Still hasn’t been replaced, but this time the newly born souls seem to be learning much faster, and their civilization level has improved considerably. The heritage is having a great effect,” the other voice answered excitedly.

“Have they tried communicating with the outside world?” Jeff asked.

“No, General. They’ve stayed on the island the whole time, and no other races have visited. Do you mean we should block their communication with the outside world later? That might be very difficult to achieve.”

“No, we need to promote their communication with the outside world. The most learning happens through exchanges with other races. Cultural collision is the source that makes knowledge burst forth. With self-imposed isolation, two hundred years is far from enough.”

“I understand, General. I’ll guide their yearning for the outside world in future heritage.”

“Remember to keep them friendly toward the outside world. Don’t cause conflicts that would affect our plans.”

“Yes, General. I’ll go create the heritage. See you in another two hundred years.”

“See you then…”

This exchange was very brief. Both seemed to be deliberately saving time. They hadn’t said much before directly beginning to take action.

However, although the conversation was minimal, Mo Ling still extracted quite a bit of useful information from it.

“The ‘newly born souls’ they’re talking about should be those primitive mermen on the island. That friendly personality was also deliberately guided.”

After learning all this, Mo Ling felt his scalp tingling.

“An entire ethnic group under the control of hands behind the scenes. All of civilization’s development follows guidance.”

The heritage should be the mermen’s ancient texts on the island.

Mo Ling had previously felt that the mermen race had an almost obsessive trust in ancient texts. It seemed this was also the goal the people behind the scenes wanted to achieve.

This way, they could better control those “newly born souls.”

“Nothing on Merman Island was ever accidental.”

Thinking of this, Mo Ling seemed to feel the invisible moonlight around him pressing down so heavily he couldn’t breathe…