I'm Trapped in the Block

Bai Zhou finished relaying the rumor, speaking in fits and starts as he recalled the details.

The existence of the Stone Gate had never been officially confirmed, so it circulated only as gossip within the Hunter community.

For some reason, the rumor of the Stone Gate had spread far and wide.

Some claimed to have seen a squad enter the Stone Gate, only to get trapped inside when they failed to emerge before it closed.

But with nothing but his word to go on, no one knew if he was just making it up.

But now, the Stone Gate had appeared right before their very eyes.

The identical tray, and its tendency to shut rapidly, all matched the rumors.

’Those robed figures... can they find the Stone Gates?’

Not only that, but they also seemed to have prepared the materials for the tray in advance, and those materials didn’t look like relics.

’You can put other things on the tray?’

Unsure of the Stone Gate’s mechanism, they all stared at the tray, deep in thought.

Mo Ling floated forward, his vision penetrating the Stone Gate, but what he saw was no treasure vault.

There were no treasures strewn across the floor, no mountains piled high with relics.

Amidst the pitch-black darkness, Mo Ling could only see a thick stone wall.

’Is it solid behind this?’

He could hardly believe his eyes, but after checking several times, he confirmed that the interior was indeed made of thick, black tower stone.

A few small holes were interspersed throughout the stone, but they weren’t even big enough to fit an arm through, let alone serve as a treasure vault.

’So where did that robed figure go?’

Mo Ling considered using his teleportation to open the Stone Gate and take a look, but Bai Zhou had already produced an item.

"I happen to have a fairly useless relic we can try," he said, turning to Li Luo. "I have no idea where this Stone Gate leads. Do you want to go in together?"

Li Luo nodded decisively.

The relic, which looked like a water cup, was placed onto the tray.

This time, the tray didn’t sink little by little; instead, it descended slowly to the very bottom.

Even though the relic clearly weighed less than the robed figures’ spoils, the tray seemed to judge it as being heavier.

’It seems this tray really can determine an item’s value.’

A curious thought occurred to Mo Ling. ’If I put the Block on it, will it make the Block disappear?’

As he was thinking, the water cup relic began to emit a purple light, then vanished. The Stone Gate slowly opened in response.

"Quick, get in."

While the Stone Gate was wide open, the group hurried inside.

The Stone Gate was indeed only open for a very short time before it shut again.

Mo Ling looked at the closed Stone Gate. When his vision penetrated it, he found that this side was also solid black tower stone. The path they had come from was gone without a trace.

’How strange.’

Looking into the area beyond the gate, it was pitch-black, with a single tunnel leading into the distance.

"There’s light up ahead. It looks like sunlight," Bai Zhou said, though he didn’t sound sure.

He took out a light and swept it around. He saw no relics scattered on the ground, nor was this any kind of black tower treasure vault.

It was just a plain, unremarkable tunnel.

Walking down the tunnel, Mo Ling also saw the glowing exit. Beyond it was a road paved with flat flagstones.

’It’s man-made.’

Sure enough, after passing through the tunnel’s exit, the group found themselves on a flagstone road, facing a towering stone city wall.

The wall was made of uniform black bricks. Every single one was identical—a perfect, dense rectangle.

’It’s like they were copied and pasted.’ For some reason, the thought suddenly surfaced in Mo Ling’s mind.

The bricks were just too uniform, as if they had been manufactured with an incredibly advanced mold, leaving no margin for error.

And yet, the wall’s architectural style was completely medieval. The mismatched technological levels made it feel incredibly bizarre.

Behind the wall stood houses built from the same uniform bricks.

The city gate was a short distance away. It was unguarded. A few robed figures passed in and out, merely glancing curiously at the newcomers emerging from the tunnel mouth.

Most of them focused their gazes on the floating Block, showing no interest in Li Luo or Bai Zhou.

After the robed figures had moved on, Bai Zhou surreptitiously took out his recording device again and aimed it toward the city gate.

Only then, on the device’s screen, could Mo Ling see the entire city in full.

’It was magnificent.’

The entire city was built from those pitch-black bricks, with no other shapes in sight. The dense blocks interlocked to form perfectly uniform structures.

Even the roads were paved with the identical bricks, as if the city’s builders had only possessed this one type of construction material.

At the city’s center stood a black castle.

It was called a castle, but it was perfectly square, looking as though it had been assembled from building blocks, like a toy.

’How on earth was this city built?’

Soon enough, Mo Ling had his answer.

A group of robed figures was gathered before an empty plot of land. They were gesturing to one another, apparently discussing something, then began pacing out measurements on the ground.

Then, they backed away from the empty plot and began to sing. The song’s style was very similar to the one from the blood-exchange ritual—incredibly sacred, but with completely different words.

As the song began, black bricks materialized out of thin air and began to fall, like pieces in a game of Tetris.

Their singing grew louder and louder, and the stones appeared faster and faster, as if someone had pressed a fast-forward button.

With a sound of TAP-TAP-TAP, dust flew as interlocking bricks sealed the roof. A small, single-story house was completed with the speed of a printer.

One of the robed figures seemed to shake hands with the others in thanks. Then he let out a great shout, and a fierce gust of wind erupted from his mouth, sweeping up all the construction dust and carrying it beyond the city walls.

He then summoned a dark cloud, which began to rain and wash the newly built house. Afterward, he even placed a ball of black flame inside to heat and dry it.

This scene, like something out of a Magic show, left Mo Ling dumbfounded. The robed figures’ control over their abilities seemed to have grown even more proficient.

Mo Ling was suddenly reminded of the humans from the animation, who were gradually becoming perfect. ’Could it be that these robed figures will eventually master the power of the Word Spirit completely?’

’Will every word they speak become reality?’ 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Mo Ling also realized that from the time in the crooked village to now in this black city, the robed figures seemed to have reduced the frequency of their speech.

Ever since they arrived at the gate, the robed figures here had all kept their mouths shut. Even companions traveling together remained silent.

There were quite a few robed figures coming and going through the city gate. It should have been a bustling place, but they all passed by in utter silence, without saying a word.

Seeing more people passing by, Bai Zhou quickly hid his device, not forgetting to whisper a quiet warning to Li Luo.

However, his faint whisper suddenly attracted the attention of every robed figure in the vicinity. They seemed to be extremely sensitive to the sound of speech.

They all turned to stare at him in unison, their gazes filled with deep suspicion, as if Bai Zhou had done something terribly wrong.

In that instant, Mo Ling’s heart leaped into his throat.

’Have we been discovered?’

Fortunately, the robed figures probably hadn’t heard what Bai Zhou said clearly.

One of the robed figures walked over, placed an index finger to his lips, and stared sternly at Bai Zhou.

He then made a series of various hand gestures at Bai Zhou, apparently warning him about something.

He then gestured by placing his index finger to his lips one more time before slowly walking away.

Bai Zhou’s eyes were wide. After the robed figure left, he quickly pulled Li Luo into a secluded corner and whispered:

"That was sign language!"