I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 56

“This is Mind Broadcast,” Liang Zhi said helplessly. “It took me a long time to come to this conclusion.”

“Who could have imagined that the source of such a disaster was a cicada?”

All these unique insights into unknown phenomena came from his integration of knowledge from both worlds.

Liang Zhi continued his story.

After gradually understanding the principle, he began a new experiment.

He used God’s Voice to broadcast the thoughts of the modified Transforming Tree, sending them through Mind Broadcast from the other side of the Great Hollow Tree, influencing Theseus Cells.

The “must change” Mind Broadcast was a powerful signal for unstable Theseus Cells.

This triggered the biological chaos in the containment zone.

Normal cells, being more stable, were barely affected, and the effect didn’t even reach outside the Great Hollow Tree.

Thus, it achieved highly targeted control, with great concealment.

Once the biological chaos started, to prevent the riot from being discovered, he concealed information about the containment zone, creating an illusion of peace.

This was why news from the outpost never reached the monitoring station.

But concealment couldn’t last forever. As the Red Rope Worm incident came to light, more people began to pay attention to the containment zone.

So he took the opportunity to have Li Luo come to the outpost, to allay others’ suspicions. He didn’t think a rookie hunter could find the source of the riot.

Unexpectedly, Li Luo solved the riot almost by accident soon after arriving.

Fortunately, as he kept watch on the containment zone, he discovered that a creature matching the Ugly Duckling Phenomenon had been born.

It was a Tree-Breaking Sheep lamb.

After implanting a Red Rope Worm in the lamb ahead of time, he joined the squad and followed them underground.

All of this was to find the Primordial Cell.

“You know the rest,” he said, spreading his hands.

Captain Su was furious at this answer. “So just to prove something that might not even exist, you got so many brothers killed?”

Liang Zhi repeated what he’d said at the start:

“This was a necessary price. These sacrifices are nothing compared to proving the Primordial Cell exists. Don’t you want to know where you came from?”

“This is the foundation for peaceful coexistence between the two forms of life,” he explained seriously. “Can you honestly say you have no prejudice or fear toward Theseus Cells?”

The soldiers fell silent.

Mo Ling also recalled his own panicked escape from the anti-cell world; prejudice against outsiders was indeed unavoidable.

In the Abyss, the unknown brings fear.

“How did you know the sheep-headed person would find the Primordial Cell? Wasn’t it always slaughtering Theseus Cell life?” Captain Su was still confused.

Liang Zhi shook his head and explained, “No, the Ugly Duckling Phenomenon isn’t just about slaughter-it’s also about tracking. It will always trace back toward the oldest source, and slaughter is just a sign of low intelligence.”

“When intelligence rises, they’ll kill less, begin to search for their origin, and eventually find a similar species and become that species.”

Slaughter is just a means of distinction.

During the tracking process, he’d originally planned for the sheep-headed person to keep searching for the Primordial Cell without ever becoming a normal cell lifeform.

Unexpectedly, during the battle with Prophet Baixiang, the sheep-headed person still became a normal cell lifeform.

What surprised him most was that the sheep-headed person ultimately found the Primordial Cell.

“I think it’s time to tell you everything. At least you’ve seen this strange egg with your own eyes,” he said calmly, pointing at the nest. “So I don’t want to hide anything anymore.”

Captain Su sighed and said, “You can’t even be sure it’s the Primordial Cell, can you?”

Liang Zhi was stunned for a moment, then replied, “No, I’m sure. It’s appeared in my mind many times.”

His enigmatic answer left everyone around even more confused.

He walked toward the strange egg atop the nest, and no one stopped him.

Mo Ling kept a close watch on Liang Zhi as he approached the nest.

He didn’t doubt Liang Zhi’s story, just felt that his actions were far too bold.

“It’s like he’s just doing random experiments, trying things over and over, and somehow he actually succeeded.”

Thinking back over recent events, Mo Ling realized that most of Liang Zhi’s plans had been gambles.

Red Rope Worms, riot-induced mutation-the randomness was extreme, yet he really did find his “Primordial Cell.”

“But was it really the Primordial Cell?”

Mo Ling piloted the cube to follow.

At this point, the sheep-headed person had already gone to the egg, but seemed uninterested, instead picking up Druid’s Spines from the nest.

“This sheep-headed person doesn’t seem to be looking for the Primordial Cell at all,” Mo Ling thought, puzzled.

After picking up the spines, the sheep-headed person tied them to its frame, trying to assemble a human shape, but couldn’t manage it.

Liang Zhi walked past the sheep-headed person, who ignored him and kept rummaging through the spines.

Soon, Liang Zhi reached the edge of the egg, sliced the shell with a knife, and it split open easily.

Transparent liquid slowly flowed out, and he took a container from his bag to collect it.

He took out an instrument, aimed it at the flowing liquid, and plugged in a tablet to observe the transparent liquid.

As he watched, a smile he couldn’t suppress spread across his face.

On the screen appeared soft, transparent cubes, constantly wriggling like crystals.

These cubes were much larger than cells and could be easily observed.

They gathered together, moving aimlessly, looking like living transparent slime at the macro scale, constantly surging.

“Are these cells?”

Mo Ling couldn’t believe it, staring intently at the screen.

These cubes had only a thin transparent membrane, enclosing clear liquid, with no impurities inside.

“Cube-shaped cells with only a cell membrane.” That was the only thought in Mo Ling’s mind.

After observing for a while, Liang Zhi could no longer contain his joy. As he recorded the cells, he muttered to himself, “That’s right, exactly as I imagined.”

He switched to a modeling program and began comparing the cells.

The cell model in the software matched the discovered cube cells exactly.

Mo Ling was confused. “Wasn’t this his first time seeing these cells? Didn’t he say he couldn’t find the egg before? How could he have such an accurate model?”

But Liang Zhi’s joy was utterly genuine. His hand holding the tablet trembled with excitement, his breathing quickened.

This was exactly how a researcher would react when confirming a hypothesis.

“But where had his precise hypothesis come from?”