I'm Trapped in the Block

If no one had told Mo Ling about the Theseus Cells, he would have never noticed such a minute detail.

The one thing Mo Ling found most difficult to face had appeared—

Humans converted by Theseus Cells.

Before reinforcements could arrive, Mo Ling quickly had the Block accelerate away from the soldier.

’He still clung to a sliver of hope.’

But the further he traveled along the high wall, the more that hope was crushed.

The outer perimeter was filled with Theseus Cells!

Mo Ling even went over the high wall and circled around the outside a few times.

All life was proceeding as normal. It was a vibrant world, teeming with life, but without exception, everything was made of Theseus Cells.

Mo Ling returned inside the wall and cautiously approached the outpost.

His vision penetrated the ground. The soldiers inside were working in an orderly fashion, and the layout of the various facilities was no different from when Mo Ling had first seen it.

But that was the most terrifying part.

Recalling what the soldier he had just seen had said, Mo Ling confirmed his suspicion:

This was a Theseus Cell World!

In this world, normal cells were called Anti-Cells.

That was why this area was sealed off, and why he had found no trace of Theseus Cells.

Mo Ling had once wondered what it would be like if a world were entirely replaced by Theseus Cells.

He had assumed the people of that world would be in endless agony.

But he had never imagined that their perspective would be completely inverted.

’Only the minority would be called the anomaly!’

The soldiers at the outpost were vividly alive. They were likely born with bodies made entirely of Theseus Cells, so the concept of "replacement" didn’t even apply.

These living, breathing Theseus-humans grew and died normally.

Perhaps in their biology, Theseus Cells were simply the fundamental unit that constituted a living organism.

While Mo Ling was still observing the soldiers, someone noticed it.

"That Block went to the outpost! Stop it!"

A small squad gave chase.

Mo Ling could have dealt with them, but a strange feeling came over him as he looked at these Theseus-Cell humans.

"It must be a sentient relic. No idea how it got into the sealed-off zone."

"Has anyone reported a missing relic recently?"

"No, and neither has the monitoring station. I checked. It should be an undiscovered type of relic."

"Alright, let’s try to communicate first. It must have a cost to use its abilities, and it doesn’t seem very destructive at the moment."

’Are they any different from ordinary humans?’

Mo Ling’s teleportation frame targeted the soldiers’ heads.

Then, with a sudden shift, he moved it downward, turning all of their weapons into fragments.

Mo Ling had the Block float upward and swiftly leave the outpost.

He still couldn’t bring himself to strike.

In the blink of an eye, Mo Ling was back in the Big Tree Cave.

He stopped the Block on a platform, and Mo Ling leaned against the metal wall, panting heavily.

Just the outpost of this world had been enough to make Mo Ling feel suffocated.

Thinking about everything behind it—the monitoring station, the Abyss, Dawn City—he no longer dared to explore any further.

’I should head back first. I’m starving.’

One of the reasons Mo Ling had gone to this world’s outpost was to find something to eat.

But after seeing the bizarre scene at the outpost, he knew that even if there was food, it was most likely made of Theseus Cells. Perhaps it would even be some kind of transparent substance.

Even if it was all just protein and energy, the thought of it made Mo Ling feel squeamish.

"If the Tree Transformation of the Qifang Tribe knew their sacred relic only wanted to eat, wouldn’t that be ridiculous?" Mo Ling mocked himself.

After resting for a moment, Mo Ling had the Block slowly descend into the Big Tree Cave.

The descent was slow. Aided by the fluorescence of the glowing mushrooms, Mo Ling was finally able to get a clear look at the bottom of the Big Tree Cave.

It was a pool of water covered in glowing algae. The deep roots within the Big Tree Cave twisted down into the bottom of the pool.

The caverns between the roots stretched into the distance, supporting a vast, empty space.

A few small creatures covered in glowing algae lived peacefully in this space.

Despite being deep underground, damp and decaying, it was not the least bit desolate.

Seeing this peaceful scene, Mo Ling’s mind, which had been reeling from the shock of the Theseus Cell World, began to calm down slightly.

He continued to descend.

As Mo Ling was about to fall into the pool, the glowing water actually began to extend upward like a tentacle.

Mo Ling quickly stopped the Block in mid-air.

The tentacle swayed in the air and extended several smaller tendrils, which tentatively probed and grasped beneath the Block.

Mo Ling tentatively placed the Block on the tip of the tentacle. Upon contact, the glowing tentacle quickly suctioned itself onto the metal wall and began to climb.

The faintly glowing water climbed higher and higher up the vertical surface until it had completely engulfed the Block.

A thin film of water gently pulled the Block down into the pool.

After a moment’s thought, Mo Ling relinquished control, letting the Block plunge into the water like a stone under the pull of gravity.

The moment it hit the water, the familiar gravitational reversal occurred.

Mo Ling felt the Block pass through a watery curtain, and the whole world flipped upside down.

The Block burst out of the watery curtain and landed in another pool.

Water splashed everywhere.

Inside the Block, Mo Ling braced himself with his hands, narrowly avoiding hitting his head and getting another bump.

’Good thing the fall wasn’t too high this time.’

When Mo Ling sat up, he noticed a wary figure next to the Block.

The figure’s hair and clothes were soaked by the splash from the Block. Droplets—whether from the pool or from sweat, it was hard to tell—ran down her smooth cheeks.

It was actually Li Luo!

Her wary expression slowly softened into relief. She walked up and patted the Block. "Where did you run off to?"

Then, as if remembering something, she took an electronic screen out of her bag and placed it on the Block.

Mo Ling teleported the screen inside the Block. Holding it, he was at a loss for how to describe what he had just been through.

’The matter of the Theseus Cell World is probably too terrifying for the people here.’

After thinking for a moment, Mo Ling wrote three words on the electronic screen:

"I don’t know."

And in truth, Mo Ling really didn’t know what that place was.

’What if it was another dream?’

’If it was a dream, that would actually be a good thing.’

Seeing his answer, Li Luo didn’t get angry. She just moved closer and circled the Block a few times, checking it for damage.

She wiped the dirt from the Block.

"I’ve been looking for you ever since the Celestial God’s voice disappeared two days ago."

Only then did Mo Ling notice the dark circles under Li Luo’s eyes.

’So she’s been worried about me all this time.’

Mo Ling continued to ask via the screen, "Did the Celestial God’s voice really disappear? When?"

After getting Li Luo’s answer, Mo Ling did a quick calculation and realized that the time the Celestial God’s voice vanished was the exact moment the Leader of the Tree Transformation had put down the spine.

’What was the connection?’

Mo Ling also learned that Li Luo had already explored almost the entire bottom of the Big Tree Cave.

It was just a huge, empty cavern with nothing but a vast, shallow pool.

Creatures converted by Theseus Cells had been attacking each other in here, but after the Celestial God’s voice disappeared, the creatures here had gradually returned to normal.

That was how Li Luo had gotten the chance to come down to the bottom and search.

"Is there really nothing else?" Mo Ling confirmed again and again, but the answer was always the same.

Unconvinced, Mo Ling extended his vision downward.

Beneath the shallow pool, there was only murky sludge.

There was no world-traversing watery curtain at all...