I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 268

With the sun’s authority, the fish swarm’s conquest entered its final stage.

They used this power to destroy those originally very difficult opponents.

Under death, everything became insignificant.

Little small fry silently watched all this without saying anything.

It hadn’t been leading other replicas around to play recently, because those scenes had been destroyed almost completely. Ruins were everywhere, and the replicas had moved things from those ruins to where Little small fry lived.

But it still couldn’t muster any interest.

It could now use authorities to create more fun things and play more interesting games, but Little small fry remained dejected.

Sometimes it would create a small patch of sea, dive into it, then create a beam of moonlight shining on the sea surface. It would just stay there quietly for very, very long periods.

Clearly they were the same authorities, and the moonlight was still the same moonlight, but Little small fry didn’t know why it still stared blankly in a daze, never knowing what it was thinking about.

It isolated itself from the entire fish swarm, completely out of place.

Until Zero One found it.

“There’s a scene we’ve never been able to enter. We need you to take a look.”

“Alright.”

Little small fry followed Zero One through patches of ruins to arrive before a membrane.

“It’s here.”

Little small fry said nothing and passed right through the membrane without any obstruction.

The surrounding scenery changed. This passage through the membrane seemed somewhat different.

Not only did everything around become distorted, Little small fry seemed to also see some dazzling colorful tentacles writhing and gently touching its body.

Just like the moon used to do.

After it crossed the membrane, it discovered that everything before its eyes was something it had never seen before, yet was infinitely familiar.

Previously, many scenes Little small fry had experienced were very pure – just one thing in a void: trees, sand, sea, sun, moon… without any impurities.

But here was different. There was no dark void, only various mixed things. All the previous scenes had similar shadows here.

Trees grew in soil, the sun in the sky floated far away with very gentle light, the sea was blown by wind with waves rolling onto the beach…

Little small fry was mesmerized.

It had never imagined that those scenes it had experienced could be combined like this, and be so wonderfully harmonious.

While marveling, Little small fry also swam in this beautiful scenery for a long time.

After the fish swarm had turned everything into ruins, it had been a long time since it had seen these things, so it wanted to carefully experience all these things again.

During its time playing, the sun also slowly set, red and round, falling into the sea surface. The seawater was tinged with red throughout. Little small fry had never imagined that the sun could have such a magnificent and beautiful moment.

After the sun completely set, before long, on the other side of the sky, Little small fry discovered the moon it had been thinking about constantly.

However, like the sun, the moon was very far away.

But that familiar moonlight still generously poured down, gently wrapping around Little small fry’s body.

Little small fry was overjoyed. It used all its authorities, rushing toward that moon regardless of everything.

It wanted to return to the moon’s side again!

But no matter how hard it tried, getting farther and farther from the ground, the distance between it and the moon never seemed to shorten.

The moon remained far away, impossible to approach no matter what.

After trying various methods, Little small fry finally gave up, staying in place and painfully gazing at that moon far on the horizon.

It could clearly see it, but couldn’t grasp it no matter what.

Bathed in moonlight, Little small fry’s eyes held only that unreachable moon. Everything else was darkness.

Just as Little small fry gazed at the moon in fascination, several colorful tentacles appeared beside it, comfortingly patting Little small fry’s head, then withdrew again.

Before long, those tentacles extended out again, wrapped around several pieces of something with a strange smell, placing them by Little small fry’s mouth, seemingly wanting to share food with it.

Seeing Little small fry had no reaction, those tentacles quickly withdrew again, followed by munching sounds…

“Is this a dream?” Mo Ling looked at those colorful tentacles and asked somewhat surprised.

He was all too familiar with this.

“You know about it?” Jeff was somewhat surprised. He probably hadn’t expected Mo Ling to recognize it immediately.

“This entire scene is a dream, so it combines everything from before. The sun too, the moon too. Those tentacles should be a combination of octopus and rainbow. Everything is false…”

Mo Ling listened but didn’t know how to respond. He recognized this as a dream not for any other reason, purely because he saw those colorful tentacles.

It seemed the mermen didn’t know about those tentacles, treating them as part of the dream.

Little small fry obviously also thought those tentacles were part of the scene and paid them no attention.

After staring at the moon for a long time, Little small fry reluctantly turned around, returned to the ground, found the membrane it had come through, and passed back.

Zero One had been waiting outside the membrane all along.

“You’ve returned. What kind of scene was inside?”

Little small fry told Zero One everything it had seen in detail.

“It seems we might need you to bring us in together.” After listening, Zero One said to Little small fry.

“Is it necessary?” Little small fry seemed to think again of the moon inside and asked somewhat hesitantly.

“You can make the choice. You don’t need to ask me.” Zero One replied coolly.

It had never forced Little small fry to do anything. In all decisions, it completely followed Little small fry’s opinions, and everything it did was from the fish swarm’s perspective.

But this made Little small fry feel even more that it was wrong.

This scene was very different and the authorities it possessed must also be extraordinary. There was a great possibility it was the hope the fish swarm was pursuing. It shouldn’t obstruct the entire fish swarm’s development because of selfish desires.

“Could we destroy the moon last? Leave it for now…” Little small fry asked painfully.

“As long as you wish.”

Zero One gave the same answer as always, but Little small fry felt the entire fish swarm’s future weighing on its shoulders.

It was the fish swarm’s leader. This was an unchangeable fact.

No matter how much Zero One and other replicas shared the burden, the final responsibility would still fall on its shoulders. The fish swarm’s “fish” would always be at the front.

“Then let’s try other things first. If nothing works, we’ll destroy the moon last. I want to keep it…” Little small fry spoke softer and softer.

But Zero One still carefully listened to all of Little small fry’s requests and seriously agreed.

“Everywhere is ruins. If in the end we still haven’t found a way to break the shackles, what should we do?” Little small fry asked Zero One worriedly.

“That means our understanding of authorities isn’t sufficient yet. We now possess many authorities, but we don’t know the principles behind many of them. We can try to figure out these authorities’ principles, or explore to deeper levels, such as why these authorities are produced.”

“Destruction is just a means, not the goal. Understanding the world must have such a process.”

“This is just the beginning. We only know how to destroy, but don’t yet know how to create. There isn’t just one path.”

“You can believe that hope has always been there.”

Zero One maintained that same serious expression.

Little small fry looked at it. It seemed that Zero One’s eyes also held a moonlight of its own.