I'm Trapped in the Block

’The Origin Cell... is this Bubble Man?’

Mo Ling was confused by Liang Zhi’s words.

"I always thought those little Blocks were the Origin Cells. I never imagined that the Origin Cell was you yourself," Liang Zhi exclaimed, his eyes wide as he stared at the Bubble Man.

A moment later, Mo Ling sorted out his thoughts.

’That strange egg is the Origin Cell!’

Liang Zhi’s face was bitter. "You’ve deceived me for so long."

’Is he communicating with the Origin Cell?’ Mo Ling could hardly believe it.

But what happened next shocked Mo Ling even more.

The Bubble Man slowly descended from the air and, with a steady gait, walked in front of Liang Zhi.

The bubbles vibrated slightly, and it actually produced a sound.

It was an ethereal sound, tinged with the echo of flowing water, unlike any human voice.

"After so many times, you’ve finally figured it out."

Despair filled Liang Zhi’s face as he said dejectedly, "Figured it out? What’s the use?"

The Bubble Man stood steadily before him like a statue, its voice just as stable. "You’ve caused quite a stir this time."

"I got a lot of people killed. This isn’t what I wanted. It’s a price that never should have been paid."

"No, it is part of the price," the Bubble Man replied. "This is also the last time. Haven’t you already gotten what you wanted?"

Liang Zhi froze. He glanced at the strange egg beside the Bubble Man, and as if he’d suddenly realized something, his eyes widened.

"I didn’t lie to you, did I? You’ve already obtained what you wanted," the Bubble Man said. "Next is the final step. This time, I will preserve your memories."

Then, the Bubble Man extended its hand.

Liang Zhi sighed and also held out his hand.

Their two hands clasped together.

The Bubble Man’s watery membrane then began to slowly cover Liang Zhi’s body.

The acceleration phenomenon within the zone suddenly appeared on Liang Zhi’s body. He began to age rapidly.

Gradually, he could no longer support his own body and fell forward.

The Bubble Man, still holding his hand, let him lean against its shoulder.

It then embraced him, letting him die slowly in its arms.

His flesh rotted away, and his bones turned to dust.

The Druid’s Spine inside Liang Zhi’s body, having lost the support of his other bones, fell to the ground.

It became one of the countless spines in the nest.

Before long, a child walked out from behind the strange egg. The child slowly walked toward the Bubble Man, its body continuously growing as it moved.

The moment he reached the Bubble Man, his growth stopped instantly.

This person was none other than Liang Zhi.

On his bare back, the exposed Druid’s Spine was visible.

He touched his cheek, inspected his body, and then put on the clothes from the ground.

The Bubble Man looked at him and said calmly, "Our game is over. What comes next is a game between your two species of life."

With that, it once again floated slowly into the air, moving toward the strange egg.

Liang Zhi wore a complex expression. He looked at the Bubble Man in the air, seeming to want to say something, but though he reached out his hand, no words came out.

After the Bubble Man made contact with the strange egg, their watery membranes merged, and it slowly dissolved back into the egg, returning to its initial bubble-like form.

The bubble inside the strange egg continued to transform, becoming a perfect sphere.

Only then did Mo Ling realize that the strange egg now looked exactly like a cell from a conventional understanding.

The transparent outer shell was the cell membrane.

The transparent liquid within was the cytoplasm.

And the spherical bubble was the nucleus.

The form of a cell was laid bare.

The last shred of doubt in Mo Ling’s mind vanished.

’The Origin Cell... it really exists.’

The thing above the nest could no longer be called a strange egg. This was the true form of the Origin Cell.

It was enormous and fantastical.

After the bubble’s transformation was complete, the Origin Cell began to slowly writhe, rising from the nest of Druid’s Spines.

Like a single-celled organism drifting in the ocean, it began to slowly swim upward.

It drifted with the current.

The air acted like ocean waves, pushing the Origin Cell back and forth.

The entire acceleration zone shifted its position along with the cell’s movements.

The Origin Cell writhed, approaching the top of the Divine Hall, and then passed directly through the wall, flying outside.

This incredibly wondrous Origin Cell thus vanished from everyone’s sight.

The acceleration zone also disappeared shortly after, and the lush vegetation vanished as if it had never existed.

It left behind nothing but a completely empty Divine Hall.

Mo Ling was utterly shocked.

’To think the Origin Cell is such a terrifying thing.’

’Other cells took the path of multicellular organisms, yet it has maintained the shape of a single cell.’

’Other cells evolved to divide, winning through numbers, and to differentiate, winning through variety.’

’But the Origin Cell just grew larger and larger, venturing further and further down the path of individual evolution, carving out a completely incomprehensible path.’

’It even gained self-awareness in some unimaginable way.’

’And it possesses such a powerful ability to accelerate evolution.’

’This is a completely different evolutionary direction!’

The soldiers below were also dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, after the Origin Cell disappeared, the Sheep-headed Man to the side picked up its rack and leaped directly onto a pillar of the Divine Hall.

It then used its chainsaw to cut an opening and scrambled out through the top of the Divine Hall.

...

After a moment of silence, Captain Su looked at Liang Zhi with a hint of resignation. "I think I’m starting to understand you a little now."

But Liang Zhi shook his head, refuting him. "Now I’m the one who doesn’t understand myself."

"You need to tell us exactly what happened," Captain Su said gravely.

"Let me catch my breath first." He seemed to have a headache, a weary look on his face as he plopped down on one of the spines.

After resting for a while, Liang Zhi began to recount his experience.

"Some of what I said before... was wrong."

He looked at the countless spines on the ground, his expression complicated.

"These spines... I think they were all left by me."

...

「The real story was like this.」

It all started with a routine investigation.

On that occasion, Liang Zhi discovered this strange egg filled with a transparent liquid somewhere underground near the Big Tree Cave. There was also an acceleration zone surrounding it.

At the time, however, he only found the acceleration zone peculiar and didn’t sense any danger, so he walked straight into it.

However, as a Theseus Cell Life, he was unaffected.

Instead, the strange egg transformed directly into the Bubble Man and began to communicate with him.

Back then, he didn’t know this was the Origin Cell. He only thought it was some kind of relic, because the Bubble Man proposed a price:

"Play a game with me, and I will grant you one wish. Any wish."

The Bubble Man’s decisive attitude made Liang Zhi even more certain that it was a relic.

A relic that could grant any wish...

And so, driven by a strange attraction and desire, he told the Bubble Man the wish he had harbored in his heart for so long.

It was also his lifelong pursuit.

"My wish is... to find the Origin Cell."