I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 68:

This bizarre creature had blown off both its arms.

Yet it seemed to feel no pain, turning to look at the cube in the sky, a fearful expression on its blurred face.

A ripple spread through the mineral lifeform’s body, gathering at the base of its arms.

The sharp ends of the broken arms began to round off, then suddenly regrew.

Small stone clusters quickly spread, repairing both arms, which became thick and strong again.

The new arms were pale green, then quickly darkened to deep green.

The humanoid pressed its four arms together, aiming at the cube, and another ripple ran from its body to its fingertips.

A stone spike grew from the four fingertips, stabbing toward the cube in the sky.

“It could attack at range?”

But it was so slow, Mo Ling shifted aside, dodging the spike.

But that wasn’t all; the spike thickened, turning into a huge green blade, which the creature swung at the cube.

Each time the metallic sound rang out, the green blade accelerated, very rhythmic.

The blade whirled through the air, its changing rhythm making it hard for Mo Ling to dodge; several times it almost struck the cube.

When the cube dodged, the blade struck a pillar behind and shattered, the broken part falling to the ground, but the stump regrew, restoring the blade.

Seeing things were bad, Mo Ling stopped dodging and targeted the creature’s arm, using teleportation to slice it off.

The giant blade crashed down, leaving only a smooth, glowing cut on the arm.

But the cut kept growing, restoring itself.

Mo Ling quickly pressed the attack, slicing up the arm, and after cutting off a large chunk of the body, the creature finally stopped regenerating and fell.

Breathing a long sigh of relief, Mo Ling slowly descended.

“It’s regeneration is pretty weak.”

After seeing the sheep-headed person’s regeneration, Mo Ling felt this creature was nothing impressive.

With the cube’s space expanded, Mo Ling’s teleportation range had grown, making it easy to slice off big chunks.

“What exactly was this thing?”

Mo Ling peered inside, examining the fallen fragments-just ordinary green translucent stone.

No control core, and he couldn’t tell where the metallic sound or the controlling ripples came from.

Li Luo hopped over from the platform; she’d been standing there acclimating to the second layer’s pressure, and Mo Ling had worried the stone man would attack her.

But the creature ignored her, treating her like air.

It seemed to be targeting the cube-very strange.

Li Luo looked at the fragments, picked a few up, and examined them under the light, frowning.

After a while, she said to Mo Ling, puzzled,

“This is jadeite.”

Jadeite?

That big, and it’s jadeite?

“And it’s very high quality.” Li Luo glanced at the fragment in the light, then tossed it aside.

That was worth a fortune.

Mo Ling finally understood why the creature was so dazzling.

A pity for such a big chunk-he’d never known much about gems, only ever seen green beer bottles.

“Still not as green as a beer bottle.” Mo Ling picked up a jadeite fragment and concluded.

So, the mineral lifeforms in the database looked like this.

Li Luo started searching for information on the creature.

But there was much less data on the second layer, especially for rare creatures found only in certain areas.

The entry just said mineral lifeforms in the Needle Stone Forest were rare, took many strange forms, and hadn’t been well studied.

They were intelligent, some hostile to humans, but it didn’t specify which.

Very superficial records, just a mention.

“Many forms?”

“Was this jadeite humanoid a common form?”

Mo Ling suddenly realized how important intelligence was, without it, you were blind.

While Mo Ling was still reading, a stone fell from a pillar nearby, landing on the ground.

“What was that?” Mo Ling floated up to check.

Soon, he saw a creature hiding behind the pillar.

Also, a four-armed humanoid, but not as tall as the jadeite one-normal human-sized, very thin, hugging the pillar and trembling.

It wasn’t as conspicuous as the jadeite one, just ordinary rough black stone, very plain.

When the cube floated over, it slipped and fell, landing beside Li Luo.

Mo Ling quickly aimed the teleportation frame at it.

But the humanoid crouched on the ground and begged loudly.

Like rough stones grinding, a hoarse voice came from its body, “Iron Tribe brother, I’m one of us! Don’t kill me!”

It had clearly seen the cube defeat the jadeite man and was terrified.

Li Luo quickly put on her translator and understood the stone man’s language.

“Are you an Iron Tribe brother? I’m from the Basalt Tribe, spare me! I was just watching,” the black stone man said, looking at the cube uncertainly.

Then he looked at Li Luo, saying, “And you, human friend, I mean no harm!”

Mo Ling couldn’t speak, just floated above, but his movements seemed to scare the stone man even more.

Only when Li Luo told him to stand up did he slowly rise.

This skinny stone man was very intelligent, with expressive features. After standing, he looked around, then reached out to Li Luo.

He seemed to want a handshake. Though still a little scared, his gesture was very friendly.

“I’m Shi Beng of the Basalt Tribe. Human friend, what should I call you? And the Iron Tribe brother up there, why won’t he say anything?”

Li Luo didn’t reach out, but asked curiously, “You know our customs?”

“I saved some humans before; they taught me,” Shi Beng replied.

After a while, he suddenly realized, “Did you two fall from the sky too?”

“Yes,” Li Luo still looked suspicious.

“Why do you call it Iron Tribe?” Li Luo pointed at the cube, asking what Mo Ling also wanted to know.

“Isn’t it Iron Tribe? Looks like one, just a weird shape, a bit odd.”

He quickly waved at the cube, embarrassed, “I didn’t mean you’re ugly, just… a bit strange-looking.”

“……”

Realizing nothing he said sounded right, Shi Beng scratched his head with both right hands and fell silent.

Once things calmed down, Li Luo started talking with Shi Beng, repeatedly confirming he meant no harm.

After a while, Li Luo finally let down her guard.

With Shi Beng’s introduction, the two also learned about the current situation in the Needle Stone Forest.