I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 36

After receiving blood, the flesh nodules inside the tunnel writhed even more violently, and in the blink of an eye, the wounded lamb was sent deep into the tunnel.

Mo Ling hurriedly flew up to check, but the lamb had already gone too far, disappearing from his sight.

Several soldiers, their eyes bloodshot at the loss of their comrade, rushed straight to the tunnel entrance and jumped in after it.

They too were pushed deeper by the flesh nodules.

Captain Su immediately shouted angrily, “What are you doing? Don’t chase a cornered enemy-save the wounded first!”

The remaining soldiers, who had been about to charge in, finally snapped out of it and stopped their reckless actions.

“Is there any hope?”

“The wounds are too severe, there’s nothing we can do.”

The wounded soldier lying on the ground had dilated pupils and no breath left.

Captain Su reached out and closed the soldier’s eyes, instructing the others to carry the body back to the outpost.

He then stood at the tunnel entrance, clenching his fists, the atmosphere around him icy cold.

Everyone was still in shock at what had just happened.

A weak little lamb, surrounded by an outpost squad, had killed a soldier and escaped?

“Captain, this is the weapon it used for its ranged attack,” a soldier said, bringing over the metallic liquid the lamb had just fired.

It was a broken chainsaw chain, the break looking as if it had been melted by high heat, or as if the metal had stopped being forged halfway through.

“It came out of its body?”

“Yes.”

Captain Su carefully examined the chain, turning it over in his hands before returning it to the soldier.

He called over the soldier who had discovered the tunnel, asking about the Tree-Breaking Sheep, “Have they ever used ranged attacks like this before?”

The soldier quickly shook his head, explaining that he was one of those who had surrounded the lamb-if this were normal, he would have said so.

“I’ve never seen such healing ability, let alone making chainsaw chains from its own body,” he said.

Captain Su wanted to ask more, but Li Luo, who already knew about the Red Rope Worm in the lamb, came over and explained the source of its healing ability.

“So that’s it,” Captain Su muttered, falling into thought.

At that moment, the investigators at the slaughter site came over to report their findings:

“Based on blood samples, surveillance from the nearby high wall, and the battle traces and remains, that lamb is indeed the culprit that slaughtered its own kind.”

Hearing this, Captain Su looked up information on the Red Rope Worm, then asked Li Luo, “Would the Red Rope Worm control its host to kill its own kind? Or evolve special attack abilities?”

Li Luo thought for a moment and replied, “It could, if the group blocked it from seeking out the mother worm host, or if it needed to evolve special abilities to move forward.”

Only when something blocks it will it trigger evolution.

Mo Ling also pondered the lamb’s special abilities.

After the Oscillation Beast incident, Mo Ling knew that if the other members didn’t block the Red Rope Worm-infected individual, it wouldn’t even care about its companions.

Let alone slaughter its entire group as if driven by a blood feud.

“And what obstacle would require evolving a ranged attack to overcome?”

“Shouldn’t its biggest obstacle be something like the high wall?” he wondered.

“Could it be that its group tried to stop it from entering the tunnel?”

Captain Su asked the same question to the soldier, “Would the Tree-Breaking Sheep herd stop a young member from leaving?”

The soldier shrugged, “I don’t know. The young always follow their mothers. Only the crazy ones run off alone.”

He added, “Even if the mother tried to stop it, it would just kill her and leave. The herd doesn’t really care.”

Captain Su didn’t press further.

The situation was at a stalemate-no one could explain the lamb’s behavior.

At that moment, Mo Ling suddenly thought of a contradiction.

He quickly told Li Luo via the electronic screen.

“Red Rope Worm-infected hosts are always purposeful. They don’t do things like turn back after leaving.”

“Even though there’s a Red Rope Worm in its brain, this lamb is very different from a typical infected host.”

“Is there any other relic phenomenon or creature that could cause this kind of slaughter?” Mo Ling prompted.

Li Luo’s eyes lit up at the message and replied, “This kind of slaughter, I can only think of one undefined phenomenon-the Ugly Duckling Phenomenon.”

“Ugly Duckling Phenomenon?” Mo Ling was puzzled. What a strange name.

Li Luo pulled out her electronic screen and showed Mo Ling the record of this phenomenon.

……

During the Cataclysm, on a farm in Denmark, there was a duck egg that wouldn’t hatch.

The owner noticed the egg was strange, with beautiful markings, so he left it, thinking he’d collect it later.

But before long, a strange duckling hatched from the egg.

From birth, this duckling was different. Other ducklings would slowly peck open the shell and crawl out.

But this one burst out, shattering the shell.

Its yellow fluff was already gone, and like a drake, it jumped straight into the pond and started catching fish.

It seemed to skip the growth stage-it was born knowing everything. By the time the farmer noticed all the fish in the pond were gone, he checked the surveillance and found this strange duck.

The odd duck was caged, and the owner called the authorities, saying an Abyss creature had invaded.

The cage was left by the pond, and the other ducks attacked it in fear, even trying to push the cage into the water.

With their efforts, the cage fell in, and the ducks piled on, trying to drown it.

Ducks can swim, but they can still drown.

The odd duck was pressed under, but the cage’s wooden latch loosened due to buoyancy.

The odd duck escaped, attacking the flock. Its feathers became sharp, its body strong, its beak grew fangs, and its webbed feet sprouted claws.

The flock was no match, slaughtered by the monster. Even those that ran were shot down by feather projectiles from its wings.

It could even shoot high-pressure water from its mouth. After killing the flock, it badly injured the farmer who came out with a shotgun.

When hunters arrived, they found the ground littered with duck corpses and the farmer collapsed.

Other animals hadn’t been harmed-only a few were killed by accident, most hid in fear.

The farmer was barely alive and couldn’t speak. The hunters checked the surveillance and realized the “Abyss creature” was just a duck born on the farm!

The egg was laid by the mother duck under surveillance, and all its siblings were normal-only it was different.

The hunter team reported the strange duck and began tracking it.