I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 99

The purple gauze creature explained a theory to the ancient mineral tribe member.

“Eternal life isn’t just one path. You’ve walked too long on the road of individual immortality , and forgotten about group reproduction.”

“I really like the human race. You can observe them, then create descendants. Your descendants will inherit everything from you.”

“A species that always exists is also a kind of eternity…”

The purple gauze creature talked with the ancient mineral tribe member for a long time, sharing its philosophy and urging him not to cling to just one form of life.

“Do you know Yu Gong ? A very persistent human. You can learn his story. For example, right now you’re a mountain, imagine your situation. I find it very interesting.”

After saying goodbye to the purple gauze creature, the ancient mineral tribe member’s mind was still full of those novel ideas.

“Yu Gong, huh?”

So, he started learning about human stories and gradually understood the theory of group reproduction.

He even went to the place where Yu Gong moved the mountains, helping Yu Gong remove the two mountains.

At that, Mo Ling nearly jumped up.

“You moved Yu Gong’s mountains? Didn’t the Cataclysm) just happen fifty years ago? How did you get out?”

Mo Ling blurted out a string of questions in shock.

“The Abyss has only existed for fifty years, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t get out before then.” The ancient mineral tribe member explained helplessly.

Mo Ling suddenly realized he’d misunderstood the Abyss.

The Abyss appearing fifty years ago didn’t mean it hadn’t existed before; life in the Abyss might have been around far longer-even before life appeared on Earth.

And most unsettling, these powerful beings had already found ways to visit Earth long ago.

Mo Ling shuddered, realizing these beings might have been influencing Earth’s history for ages.

“And then?” Mo Ling pressed eagerly.

The ancient mineral tribe member continued.

After understanding group reproduction, he began making descendants, modeling them after humans, shaping them into humanoid forms.

He also used his ability to control materials to create descendants with many different bodies, hoping they’d all become powerful.

But these were all dead things,he didn’t know how to give them consciousness, so he asked the purple gauze creature again.

The purple gauze creature taught him a way to control emotions:

“These are human emotions, called the seven emotions and six desires.”

“The seven emotions are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, desire.”

“The six desires are lust, desire for appearance, desire for bearing and posture, desire for speech and sound, desire for smoothness, desire for human form.”

“Put these seven emotions and six desires into your descendants’ bodies in order and proportion, and they’ll gain consciousness.”

He studied this method for a long time, but found the emotions didn’t need to be added in order, just one was enough for the descendant to awaken.

He didn’t mind, just thought the purple gauze creature hadn’t figured it out either.

To practice, he created many, each with some ability to affect emotions, and added some of his own abilities.

“Red headscarf and Midas Touch ?” Mo Ling couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Yes, I really like human mythology.” The ancient mineral tribe member nodded.

Under the purple gauze creature’s influence, he became very interested in humans, and his relics drew from myths.

Mo Ling sighed in relief, he’d almost thought this ancient mineral tribe member was the Dionysus who gave King Phrygia (the Midas Touch.

“Looks like I was overthinking because of the Yu Gong story.”

The ancient mineral tribe member continued.

After mastering the ability, he began injecting the seven emotions and six desires into his first batch of descendants.

He’d tested that just one emotion would work, but now that he understood humans better, he knew that wasn’t ideal.

He trusted the purple gauze creature, so he followed the method and proportions exactly for the first batch.

To help his descendants develop quickly, he even injected knowledge and names through emotions.

So, these mineral tribe descendants were born with intelligence and true names, each extraordinary from birth.

The first batch was a great success, and the ancient mineral tribe member was delighted, thanking the purple gauze creature and watching his descendant’s flourish.

But soon, he found a problem.

The first batch of descendants was too weak.

“How can they exist eternally like this?”

He was very dissatisfied, seeing them more and more as failures.

“Do you know how weak they were? They couldn’t even kill a Celestial Earthworm!” the ancient mineral tribe member said, exasperated.

“What’s a Celestial Earthworm?” Mo Ling was puzzled.

“It’s a beast with no special abilities or intelligence, about half the size of the Needle Stone Forest.” The gray mineral tribe member gestured casually.

“……”

Mo Ling was speechless.

Seeing Mo Ling’s silence, the gray mineral tribe member went on.

This batch of descendants spent their days pondering meaningless things, holding all sorts of rituals for the ancient mineral tribe member, even sacrificing their own people.

“They’d draw a circle on the ground, arrange strange things, and come to me for help.”

Whenever they had trouble, they’d come to him first, never solving things themselves.

“Attacked by beasts, they came to me. A tribesman went missing, they came to me. It rained hard; they came to me. They couldn’t find a mate; they came to me!”

At this, the ancient mineral tribe member looked extremely impatient, even a little disgusted.

The purple gauze creature had visited during this time, praising the descendants as adorable, but the ancient mineral tribe member felt only shame.

“So, I caused a great earthquake and wiped out these failures.”

He said this as casually as tossing out garbage.

Mo Ling realized he’d been judging these unknown beings with human standards,maybe too narrowly.

Or maybe, too complicatedly.

From the start, the ancient mineral tribe member’s goal was to create descendants who could exist eternally.

Whether learning about group reproduction, observing and even influencing human history, his goal never changed.

If the descendants weren’t strong enough, his goal couldn’t be achieved.

Without strength, they couldn’t survive the Abyss; too stupid, and they’d be lost forever.

The ancient mineral tribe member always used a simple rule to decide his descendants’ fate-

-Are they strong enough?

Like an eagle pushing its chicks off a cliff.

If you’re not strong enough, you die!