I'm Trapped in the Block

What’s more painful than being trapped in a loop is being trapped by a misconception.

Liang Zhi had no idea who the Bubble Man was.

He even began to suspect the Bubble Man was deceiving and toying with him, and he started to give up.

The moment his memories flooded back, he stopped trying to guess who the Bubble Man was. Instead, he confronted the entity before him, demanding, "Why are you doing this?"

He felt he was being tormented by a relic, utterly unable to escape the game.

Once trapped in this mindset, it was incredibly difficult to break free, and so he made the same mistake over and over again.

Liang Zhi was convinced his own answer was correct and believed the Bubble Man was cheating, determined to stop him from winning the game.

It was also around this time that the Theseus Cells region was sealed off, making it increasingly difficult to find the strange eggs.

Each round of the game dragged on longer and longer.

The effects of the memory tampering grew more severe. Every time Liang Zhi found a strange egg, it took him a long time to even remember the game he was playing.

This only made him more furious.

’The very thing I’ve been desperately chasing is nothing but a sham?’

He even wanted to end the game, believing he had already found the Primordial Cell and no longer needed to play.

But the Bubble Man told him, "The price has been paid. The game cannot be stopped."

...

The game was a failure, and the spines continued to multiply.

Affected by his corrupted memories, Liang Zhi’s confusion grew ever deeper.

And so, driven by false memories and his thirst for knowledge, he began to orchestrate the events with the Red Rope Worm and the riots...

His intense obsession even influenced his work on modifying the Tree Transformation. He subconsciously embedded the Block’s pattern into the knowledge of Tree Transformation itself.

This, in turn, indirectly led to the birth of the Qifang Tribe.

Fortunately, after countless hardships, he had finally guessed the Bubble Man’s identity this time.

But he felt no thrill of victory.

At this, Liang Zhi sighed and gave a bitter smile. "I never imagined it was the Primordial Cell itself. No wonder he always said I was wrong."

But the price had been paid, and there was no turning back. He had indeed done those things while driven by an overwhelming desire for knowledge.

When he finished, Liang Zhi lowered his head, helplessly fiddling with the Druid’s Spines scattered on the ground.

"You still succeeded, didn’t you?" Captain Su said suddenly.

"Succeeded in what?" Liang Zhi asked, taken aback.

"The Primordial Cell. You found it."

"The price was too high." Liang Zhi kept his head down.

Captain Su said nothing, simply walking over to Liang Zhi’s side and sitting down next to him.

Druid’s Spines were scattered everywhere, piled into a small mountain. On the ground, these precious relics looked no different from common, decaying bones.

"It’s laughable, isn’t it?" Liang Zhi casually picked up a Druid’s Spine and held it up between them.

Captain Su didn’t look at the spine. He just shook his head and said grimly:

"This is the abyss."

...

Listening to their conversation, Mo Ling felt a heavy sense of gloom.

He maneuvered the Block to the opening the Sheep-headed Man had created and passed through it, exiting the Divine Hall.

He wanted to see where that Sheep-headed Man had run off to.

But he was not prepared for the horrific scene outside.

The Primordial Cell’s acceleration field covered the entire Transparent Race village. Countless Transparent Race People were fleeing in panic, trying to escape the field’s reach.

But only aging and death awaited them; they could never escape the field.

The Primordial Cell drifted slowly through the air.

’Why hasn’t it left yet?’

Mo Ling had assumed the Primordial Cell would leave quickly after exiting the Divine Hall, but it had remained in the village.

This had plunged the entire Transparent Race village into crisis.

"Divine punishment! This is divine punishment!"

The Transparent Race People screamed as they died, only to reappear in a daze, look around, and fall back into terror.

Over and over again.

"This is divine punishment for failing to drive out the undying!"

They continued to cry out, but soon their mouths gaped open, unable to produce a sound.

As the Primordial Cell drifted, bubbles once again appeared within it.

The bubbles began to transform into all sorts of creatures, replaying the scene from inside the Divine Hall.

This time, however, the Primordial Cell didn’t form the humans it had before.

Instead, it became a beautifully curved, female humanoid.

Wavelike clothing began to form on the bubble figure, its surface covered in all kinds of plants.

Its lower body became a coiling serpent’s tail, from which the limbs of various animals sprouted.

The various parts of its body were in constant flux, solidifying for a moment before changing again, never settling into a fixed form.

Once the bubble ceased to change, the figure drifted out of the Primordial Cell’s membrane, exiting via exocytosis once more.

A long spine appeared in the figure’s hand.

Only then did Mo Ling see it clearly.

It was the spitting image of the Goddess statue from inside the Temple.

The moment the Goddess stepped out of the cell membrane, the acceleration effect within the Transparent Race village ceased.

All the Transparent Race People were frozen at the stage of life they had been accelerated to.

They stared at their own bodies in horror. Only when they realized the changes had stopped did they fall to their knees in terror.

"Goddess, please forgive us!"

"Please give us a chance to atone! We will drive out all of the undying!"

"We have indeed been neglectful! Oh, Goddess, please forgive us! Give us another chance!"

...

Their pleas were endless.

The Transparent Race People kowtowed frantically toward the Goddess in the sky, some splitting their own heads open in their fervor.

Mo Ling watched the advent of this deity, completely stunned.

’The Primordial Cell is the god of the Transparent Race?’

’What kind of relationship is that?’

He had thought the Primordial Cell would leave after its game with Liang Zhi was over.

Mo Ling realized he knew far too little about the Primordial Cell.

This ancient being, which had existed for who knew how long, was far beyond his comprehension.

The Goddess in the sky surveyed her surroundings, then slowly descended. The spine in her hand swung in the air, creating a bizarre sight.

The Goddess landed among the crowd and began to walk past the Transparent Race People one by one, as if searching for something.

But after making a full circle, she seemed not to have found what she was looking for and returned to the center of the crowd.

"You have failed," the Goddess said calmly.

Hearing the Goddess speak, the kneeling Transparent Race People began to plead once more.

"Goddess, there are just too many of the undying! Our power is limited, there was nothing we could do."

"The Flesh Race is everywhere! The expulsion is ongoing, please just give us more time!"

The Transparent Race People all spoke at once, offering up a slew of excuses.

But the Goddess remained unmoved. She repeated her words to the Transparent Race People.

"You have failed."

Hearing this, one of the Transparent Race People crawled desperately to the Goddess’s feet and pleaded, "Goddess, we haven’t failed! We are still driving them out, we always have been! We will succeed!"

The Goddess finally reacted. She looked down at the pleading figure, her ethereal and solemn voice echoing throughout the village.

"You have already failed."

"The eagle is gone."