I'm Trapped in the Block

"What a coincidence."

Why this one?

Mo Ling didn’t understand either. He couldn’t see the connection between this title and what the Ancient Mine Race had talked about.

Li Luo was clearly just as confused by her own title. After a moment of scrutiny, she put the nameplate down, her face a mask of bewilderment.

The nameplate had been created by some relic. The titles Mo Ling had seen before were all related to their bearers’ abilities.

’Is it about more than just abilities?’ Mo Ling couldn’t figure it out.

But this wasn’t the time to dwell on the nameplate’s title. Mo Ling noticed a strange movement up ahead.

A figure was charging straight toward Li Luo. It was a Hunter!

The Hunter wore thick, windproof goggles and was bundled up from head to toe.

The Hunter rushed up to Li Luo, skidding to a halt. He glanced at her and the Block behind her, then asked hurriedly, "New here?"

Li Luo nodded.

The Hunter didn’t linger. He tossed out two words and then charged past her.

"Run away!"

His hurried words echoed in Mo Ling’s ears.

What did that mean?

The Hunter had moved so fast that Mo Ling had barely heard him.

Only after a moment did he realize he hadn’t misheard.

’He’s telling Li Luo to run away? Is something chasing him?’

’Is it some powerful creature?’ Mo Ling waited a moment, but he saw no pursuers.

Li Luo also seemed baffled by the Hunter’s bizarre behavior, standing rooted to the spot, at a loss.

Worried there might actually be danger ahead, Li Luo took out a spherical observation drone and sent it flying forward. But even as it neared the black tower, it reported that everything was normal.

Just as he was puzzling over this, a figure reappeared in Mo Ling’s field of vision. It was the same Hunter, running back from the direction he had just fled.

Now what?

The Hunter was clearly shocked to find Li Luo still there. He stumbled to a stop in front of her again, panting, and gasped, "I told you to run away! I’m not kidding!"

He was breathing so hard that his words were slightly slurred.

Then, before Li Luo could ask a question, he took off running toward the black tower again.

He ran a few steps, caught sight of the black tower ahead, and promptly spun around to run in a different direction.

"..."

’Where is he trying to go?’ Watching the Hunter run around like a headless chicken, Mo Ling was utterly confused.

Li Luo’s observation drone circled the area once more. Everything was still normal. No sign of danger.

’He’s not going to come running back again, is he?’

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the Hunter came running back from the direction he had just disappeared in.

He looked exhausted. He stopped in front of Li Luo, gritting his teeth as he gasped for air, his goggles completely fogged over.

"What are you running from?" Li Luo asked, seizing the opportunity while he caught his breath.

The Hunter was panting too hard to speak. He just raised a hand and pointed at the black tower.

Li Luo followed his finger with her gaze and asked in disbelief, "The black tower?"

Hearing this, the Hunter nodded vigorously.

When he finally caught his breath, he started talking again in a rush, but his speech was laced with strange words.

"There’s a mango inside the zebra, it will change your radar. If you don’t run, you’ll find this mango soon. It must be an area-of-effect mango. Ugh, anyway, just run!"

After saying this, he scanned his surroundings, picked a direction, and hastily fled.

Now, Mo Ling was even more confused.

Zebra?

Mango?

Radar?

Were these some kind of relics?

Li Luo brought up her electronic screen and ran a search, but she found no relics matching those terms.

The search came up empty.

Just then, the Hunter appeared yet again. This time, he seemed too exhausted to run, sweat pouring down his face as he staggered forward with his arms hanging limply.

The sight of Li Luo made his face fall into despair. Seeing her still searching on her electronic screen, he shook his head and approached.

But this time, the Hunter’s words were even stranger, like a random jumble of words.

"Stop singing, there’s no such thing as a mouse mango. Just learn it, a pile of cardboard boxes inside the zebra won’t help..."

As he spoke, Li Luo backed away from the strange Hunter.

Finally, the Hunter seemed to realize something was wrong. He abruptly stopped his bizarre rambling, swung his backpack around to his front, and began to rummage frantically through it.

The Hunter pulled out an electronic screen and began to draw on it.

His drawing skills were terrible, but it was just possible to make out a stick figure. The figure was running as fast as it could away from the black tower, with long speed lines trailing behind it.

The Hunter then held the screen up for Li Luo to see, pointing at the drawing, then at her, and miming the act of running.

As if worried she still wouldn’t understand, he rummaged through his pack again and found a tattered piece of white paper.

He hurriedly unfolded the paper, gave the words on it a strange look, but after a moment’s hesitation, he resolutely held it up for Li Luo to see.

He jabbed his finger frantically at the paper. On it were the same two familiar words:

"Run away!"

Finally, Li Luo nodded.

Seeing that Li Luo finally understood, the Hunter was ecstatic. He carefully put his piece of paper away, zipped up his backpack, and resumed his flight.

It seemed there really was some kind of danger in the black tower. That must be what had made the Hunter so strange.

Was it some kind of distortion?

Better safe than sorry. Li Luo didn’t hesitate. She immediately changed direction and moved away from the black tower.

But after walking for some time, Li Luo stopped in her tracks.

The icon on her map was spinning wildly.

Mo Ling hadn’t felt anything unusual, but with his limited vision and the repetitive scenery of sand dunes, he could only follow along as Li Luo kept changing her course.

But the map’s orientation on the electronic screen kept shifting, and the observation drone’s feed would suddenly jump. It was as if they were trapped in this area.

No matter which way they went, they were always heading toward the black tower.

No wonder the Hunter had been running back and forth. It seemed he couldn’t find a way out either, trapped by the same disorienting effect.

’When did we enter this area?’

Mo Ling tried to recall their journey, but he couldn’t pinpoint anything out of the ordinary. They had been methodically following the route on the official map the whole time.

All the landmarks and topography had matched the map perfectly.

It seemed the effect had already enveloped the area without them realizing it, trapping anyone within a certain radius.

’What a powerful distortion.’

Li Luo’s expression was grave. She stared at the black tower in the distance, her thoughts unreadable.

Perhaps the black tower’s distortion had been active for a long time, but because of this inescapable trap, the outside world remained oblivious.

The distortion within might be far more severe than they imagined.

Was it caused by some kind of relic?

Recalling the Hunter’s bizarre sentences, Mo Ling had a theory. ’It’s a distortion targeting language, or perhaps cognition.’

With this thought, he immediately flew in front of Li Luo, typed a message on the electronic screen, and sent it to her.

"Can you understand what I’m writing? I’m going to give you a small test. One of the answers will be obviously strange. I need you to pick it."

"A. Strawberry, red."

"B. Grape, Purple."

"C. Orange, orange."

"D. Obtuse angle."

Li Luo stared at the screen for a long time, her expression growing stranger and stranger, as if the question was incredibly difficult. After a while, she replied with a serious look:

"I don’t understand."