I'm Trapped in the Block

"I’m serious," the Big Greenhouse King said earnestly. "A sentient relic, and one with such powerful abilities, could surely allow everyone in Oasis City to eat fruit."

The Little Elf was speechless at this point, frozen in mid-air and muttering to itself, "Why won’t he make a wish? Why won’t he make a wish?"

But the Big Greenhouse King remained completely unmoved, continuing to lay out his vision.

The middle-aged man who had been cowering beneath the park bench was gone.

The moment he started talking about his work, the Big Greenhouse King transformed into a confident and fearless man of success.

He spoke with more and more animation, gesticulating wildly. He turned and pointed toward the vegetable greenhouses beyond the wall, and launched into an explanation of the growth cycles of various plants...

When he turned back, ready to ask if the Little Elf wanted a job in his greenhouses, he discovered it had vanished.

He froze for a second, then scratched his head.

"Where’d it go?"

...

From the sidelines, Mo Ling watched the speechless Little Elf vanish into thin air.

The Big Greenhouse King had managed to drive away a powerful relic creature through sheer persistence.

’It seems desperate for people to make a wish.’

Mo Ling had noticed that the Little Elf had urged both the woman and the Big Greenhouse King to make a wish.

But as long as they didn’t make a wish, the Little Elf was completely powerless against them.

It could create relics with all sorts of strange effects, but it seemed unable to use them itself. Moreover, it couldn’t interfere with anyone who hadn’t made a wish.

That was why the Little Elf had been completely helpless against the Big Greenhouse King.

However, the Little Elf’s bizarre state made Mo Ling extremely worried.

’What is it really trying to do?’

Why was it so desperate for people to make wishes?

Standing at the boundary of the iridescent light, Mo Ling watched for a long time, but saw no further sign of the Little Elf.

So, Mo Ling spotted another boundary of iridescent light and dashed toward it.

The other side of the iridescent light was still the park, but this time it was bustling with the sounds of a crowd.

A banner was hanging in the park:

"A Grand Celebration for the Opening of Oasis City Park."

Another era.

Standing at the boundary, Mo Ling saw many more residents trapped within the historical illusions.

Most of these residents hadn’t figured out their current situation.

A Little Elf floated beside each resident, asking for their wish. Some had already begun to bestow relics.

Among them were quite a few stubborn mules, just like the Big Greenhouse King, who refused to make a wish no matter what.

The Little Elves seemed frustrated by this as well. When their temptations failed, they had no choice but to vanish.

Most of the people unwilling to make a wish were very self-confident, believing they could fulfill their desires on their own.

There were also people like Old Xu, who were extremely wary of wish-granting relics. Some even closed their eyes, turning a deaf ear to whatever the Little Elves said.

Just as Mo Ling had guessed, no matter how hostile these people were toward the Little Elves, as long as they didn’t make a wish, the creatures couldn’t do a thing to them.

’It can only interfere with people who have made a wish.’

Mo Ling quickly grasped the nature of the Little Elf’s power.

Still, the wish-makers were in the majority. Faced with such a bizarre environment, and all alone, it was easy to make the wrong decision out of fear.

Many of these people were then punished by the Little Elf for inadvertently "lying."

Once a wish was granted, the Little Elf could easily influence the wisher through the resulting relic.

Perhaps in the illusions of other eras, countless people were suffering the same punishments from the Little Elves.

’This can’t go on any longer.’

Watching the Little Elves become more and more frenzied, Mo Ling resolved to intervene.

’I don’t know if my power will work on it.’

Taking aim at a Little Elf that was about to punish a wisher, Mo Ling activated his teleportation.

In an instant, the Little Elf that was about to bestow the relic vanished.

It was pulled into Mo Ling’s Block, along with the relic.

Mo Ling quickly peered into the Block. All he could see was the relic lying on the ground and a fading glimmer of golden light.

The golden light slowly dimmed, then faded from view completely, dissipating into nothing.

Mo Ling tossed the dangerous relic to one side and looked out again.

The wisher, who had been on the verge of being punished, stared blankly around, seemingly confused about where the Little Elf had just gone.

Mo Ling’s actions hadn’t triggered any reaction from the other Little Elves.

’They seem to be independent of each other.’

Realizing this, Mo Ling continued to rescue the Oasis City residents who were on the verge of being punished.

Under immense pressure, they had been deemed "liars" by the Little Elves.

The Little Elves seemed to have lost their minds and were now manically "fulfilling wishes."

Anyone who misstated their wish would be cast into an abyss.

Even those who expressed themselves unclearly, whose words deviated even slightly from their true inner desires, were considered deceitful by the Little Elves.

Mo Ling pulled these frenzied Little Elves into his Block, one by one.

Soon, Mo Ling had cleared out all the crazed Little Elves in this particular illusion.

He hurried to another boundary of iridescent light, entering the illusion of a different era.

Sure enough, this era was also filled with Little Elves in the process of granting wishes.

These Little Elves were even more aggressive in their coercion. The moment they appeared, they would state a potential wish and then relentlessly provoke the person, trying to get them to give in and make that wish.

However, this behavior only caused more people to misspeak their wishes in their haste.

"You’re lying!"

"Why are you deceiving me!"

These increasingly frenzied Little Elves even began to nitpick the wishers’ exact phrasing.

Things were getting more and more out of hand.

Mo Ling quickly dealt with these frenzied Little Elves and then immediately moved on to the next area.

He became more and more practiced, but the number of Little Elves seemed endless.

There were simply too many residents in Oasis City, and an equal number of Little Elves followed them. By himself, Mo Ling was powerless to turn the tide.

Finally, Mo Ling’s constant running back and forth attracted the attention of a Little Elf.

A Little Elf blocked his path to another boundary of iridescent light.

"What is the thing you want most?" it asked, blocking Mo Ling’s way.

Mo Ling was curious to see what this Little Elf was up to.

"Guess."

He knew the Little Elf couldn’t see his wish.

Hearing Mo Ling’s reply, the Little Elf strained to coalesce his vision with its golden light.

But the golden light remained a blur, showing nothing at all.

"It’s empty. There’s no wish at all."

The Little Elf clearly hadn’t anticipated this. It seemed to freeze up, as if it had crashed.

"My wish is for the mirage to disappear and for Oasis City to return to normal," Mo Ling said tentatively.

Just as he expected, the Little Elf was unable to determine the truth of his wish.

"Are you lying? You don’t have a wish!"

"No, you do! It’s impossible for someone to not have a wish."

"That’s right, you’re deceiving me!"

"..."

"No, no... do you have one or not?"

The Little Elf muttered to itself, descending into self-contradiction.

"So, take a guess. Am I lying to you?" Mo Ling pressed.

"Huh? Are you?" The Little Elf’s thought process seemed to have hit its limit. It could only question itself repeatedly, never reaching an answer.

Seeing the Little Elf thrown into confusion, Mo Ling came up with another idea.

"I was just joking. Let me tell you what I really want."

Hearing Mo Ling’s words, the Little Elf finally snapped out of its stupor. "Tell me! I will definitely make it come true for you!"

Mo Ling nodded. "Then listen carefully."

"I want a television that can show me my own true, innermost wish."

After listening, the Little Elf said excitedly, "Of course!"

It waved its hand, and an old-fashioned television set appeared on the ground.

And then, the Little Elf froze up again.