I'm Trapped in the Block

"We sent people to investigate the island. That strange mist is what caused you to be caught in those historical phantoms," the official explained.

"But there’s nothing wrong with my body," Shen Ping said, confused.

The official shook his head. "The mist just creates illusions through light refraction. It has no physical effect on your body, of course. As for why it records history... we’re still researching that."

Shen Ping nodded after hearing the explanation.

The official then asked him many more questions, such as what it felt like inside the mist...

"We’ve tested this cup as well. Everything’s normal. You can take it back and use it." The official pushed the Bronze cup toward him.

Shen Ping glanced at it before taking it back. Might as well.

"If you put medicine in it, it will create many duplicates. It only works on ’medicines,’ but the definition is quite broad—both traditional and modern medicines work. Even things like water, sugar, and salt count. You can experiment with it more."

The official even produced a test report and handed it to Shen Ping.

"Medicine?"

"Yes. Thank you for your cooperation. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be going now." After bidding farewell, the official picked up his case and prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Shen Ping quickly called out to him.

Shen Ping’s hand, holding the Bronze cup, trembled slightly. He asked dazedly, "How did it know... that I needed medicine?"

It turned out that the reason Shen Ping had ventured into the Abyss, pushed himself so hard, and buried himself under all kinds of loans was that his younger sister had a rare disease and needed a type of extremely expensive medication.

But his family was too poor, so his only option was to come to the Abyss and try his luck, hoping to strike it rich...

The official sighed after hearing Shen Ping’s explanation.

"Mr. Shen Ping, don’t try to understand it. This is a matter of historical inevitability. Just make good use of your relic."

With that vague admonition, the official said his goodbyes again, pushed the door open, and left.

Leaving Shen Ping standing there, stunned...

...

In the end, the mist on the island was named "Mirage Mist." It could recreate historical phantoms but had no effect on people.

Unless, by some means, one communicated with history itself.

And that was how the Mirage Mist was discovered.

The record ended there, with no further details about Shen Ping.

"So that’s what Mirage Mist is," Mo Ling mused.

’To recreate phantoms of history, and through them, glimpse creatures that once existed... how wonderful.’

’Still, Shen Ping’s experience was just too bizarre. To actually communicate with the past through a phantom and even obtain a relic from it...’

’The blue Olive and the Wishing Spring are so similar,’ Mo Ling suddenly thought.

’Both of them can grant "wishes" by creating relics. Maybe the Abyss is full of these wish-granting relics and creatures.’

’The Origin Cells probably count, too.’

But as Mo Ling thought of the Origin Cells, they also realized that the fulfillment of these "wishes" often came at a terrible price. Anyone who had made a wish through the Origin Cells had ended up royally screwed.

Li Luo also breathed a sigh of relief after finishing the account of the Mirage Mist.

The Mirage Mist only recreated historical phantoms and had no real effect on people; it was essentially just a peculiar type of fog.

’Maybe we can even use the Mirage Mist to learn what happened here in the past.’

The iridescent light around them grew more solid, continuing to spread until it began to cover the surroundings.

The sound of clacking shells grew more frequent. The noise emanating from within the coalescing iridescent light grew immense, gradually overpowering the sound of the rushing water.

Not only that, but humanoid figures began to emerge from the condensed, iridescent light.

As they slowly solidified, everyone realized the figures were shell people.

Before them, however, stood a vaguely shaped creature. The vast iridescent light tried to recreate its form, but every attempt failed. The water’s current was highly unstable, causing the creature’s body to flicker constantly.

A heavy, shell-like clacking emanated from the creature, its pace accelerating.

These once-intermittent sounds continued to speed up, creating the impression of shifting tones.

Finally, they coalesced into a single sentence:

"Help... me..."

’Help me? The strange creature is actually crying for help?’

As the water’s speed fluctuated, the Mirage Mist became extremely unstable. The movements of the shell people seemed to speed up, and the clacking sounds from their shells accelerated along with them.

Most shocking of all, humans could actually understand these accelerated sounds!

It turned out the shell people’s language wasn’t a separate language at all. They simply spoke so slowly that their words broke down into individual, differently-toned clacks, making it indecipherable to humans.

Hearing the accelerated language of the shell people, Old Xu stood frozen in place, muttering over and over, "So that’s how it is... so that’s how it is!"

The shell people’s language, which countless researchers in Oasis City had poured their hearts and souls into deciphering to no avail, was this simple all along!

The iridescent light formed blurry, accelerated figures of shell people. They trembled, responding to the giant creature’s cry for help.

"God, what’s wrong?"

’This unseeable creature is their god?’

The shell people’s god seemed extremely weak. It said slowly, "I’m trapped. Help me... help me."

Hearing their god’s voice, thick with desperation, the shell people grew frantic. "God, how can we save you?"

Everyone stared intently at the surrounding phantoms, but just then, the iridescent light suddenly blurred and became chaotic.

"The Mirage Mist here is very unstable," Old Xu said with a sigh.

When the dancing iridescent light stabilized again, the scene had changed. The god’s blurred and distorted figure was gone, leaving only a group of frantic shell people.

"Go! Pin down the outsiders!" one of the shell people, who seemed to be a leader, yelled to its companions.

The phantom blurred again. By the time it stabilized, that same group of shell people had already fled back to the burial ground.

"The outsiders are too strong. We can’t restrain them. The time is almost up. We have to tell the next generation."

"Agreed."

"Agreed..."

The shell people all voiced their agreement. Then, a thick liquid began to appear inside their shells, dissolving their bodies. The empty shells fell to the ground.

This was followed by a long period of darkness.

Until one day, an earthquake shook the underground waterway. The location of the burial ground shifted, moving much closer to the surface, it seemed.

A ray of light pierced a fissure in the rock, shining into the subterranean space.

Sunlight fell upon the shells. Soon, small shell people began to grow from within them. They seemed to be newborns—ignorant and dazed, wandering around the burial ground after being born.

These small shell people seemed to lack intelligence, merely eating the small creatures washed up by the current and gnawing on moss, like mindless beasts.

Their bodies appeared to grow rapidly, reaching mature forms within minutes, but their intelligence showed no corresponding increase. They remained muddle-headed.

Until, from a shard of shell touched by the sunlight, a wisp of mist rose. It was followed by the appearance of iridescent light, which slowly began to replay the events of the past.

The second-generation shell people stood before the Mirage Mist, silently watching everything.

With intense concentration.

Unfortunately, the words of the god were even more blurred in this replaying, while the records of the previous generation of shell people remained relatively clear.

And so, the new generation of shell people became immersed in the phantoms of the past.

When the historical phantom concluded, one of the second-generation shell people turned its head and spoke to its companions:

"Let’s go. We’ll pin down the outsiders!"