I'm Trapped in the Block

The thug listened to Midas’s complaints and sighed. "It’s not easy for anyone."

Midas wiped the tears from his cheeks, a little confused.

"It’s been so cold lately, the wind makes my eyes water."

He returned to an empty house. The liveliness of the past was gone.

The bookstore where his wife worked called. Midas made up an excuse, saying she was sick, and refused his wife’s colleagues’ request to visit.

He suddenly felt there was no point in going to the olive grove.

An endless emptiness consumed him. A few days passed. It wasn’t until his stomach started to growl and the fear of death washed over him that he finally found something to eat in the refrigerator.

Then, he sank back into emptiness.

The strange situation at Midas’s house eventually caught the neighbors’ attention, and they called the police.

When the police arrived at Midas’s home, they found him lying disheveled on the sofa. The pair of gloves sat on the table beside him.

"Mr. Midas, where is your wife?" The officer who had come to the house was the same one who had helped their family before.

He was being very cautious, worried that Midas had suffered some kind of shock.

But Midas didn’t answer him. The officer searched the whole house but couldn’t find Lady Midas. He did, however, discover piles of gold in the garage.

This anomaly finally alerted him, and he called for backup from headquarters.

When police cars surrounded his house, Midas was finally startled awake by fear. He started making all sorts of excuses to clear his name.

But the police had already begun their investigation and discovered that Midas’s wife was missing.

As they dug deeper, the full story of what had happened to Midas’s family finally came to light.

The thug involved in fencing the goods and the gold that had been sold were also tracked down one by one.

The police also found the gloves. After securing them, they handed them over to the authorities, whose researchers then appraised the Relic. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

In the end, the researchers gave it a proper designation:

[Relic: Golden Touch Hand]

[Price: All of the user’s emotions except for fear.]

[Ability: When worn, allows the user to change the material of objects they touch.]

[Discovery Location: Earth]

[Discoverer: Midas]

...

Through experiments with the Golden Touch Hand, researchers discovered that it could do more than just "turn stone into gold."

It could also change touched objects into other materials. However, while the price for turning things into gold was relatively small, the price for changing them into other materials was astonishingly high.

In comparison, turning things into gold only caused a slight loss of emotion, which was why Midas had been able to use it for so long.

To change an object into another material, the user also needed an extremely firm will. Any lapse in concentration would result in the object becoming a strange mixture of gold and the intended material.

It was truly worthy of the name Golden Touch Hand.

Although the price was small, Midas had used it for so long that the cost had completely devoured him. He had no emotions left.

Aside from fear, he was an empty shell.

The researchers endlessly debated the use of this Relic. Some insisted that the price was small enough that it could be used on a rotational basis to handle emergencies.

But Midas’s case was too striking, and in the end, the Relic was sealed away by the authorities.

And so, the record of the Golden Touch Hand concluded.

...

The more Mo Ling read, the more he felt that this and the Abnormal Vein Patient cases were like two completely opposite situations.

The afflicted members of the Mineral Race went from only feeling fear to being filled with all sorts of emotions—the complete opposite of the Golden Touch Hand’s price.

And yet, the changing of materials was identical to the Golden Touch Hand’s ability.

"No wonder Li Luo specifically looked up the file for this Relic," Mo Ling realized.

’It seems the Golden Touch Hand is a fairly famous Relic, or Li Luo wouldn’t have thought of it so quickly.’

Thinking of the strange occurrences inside the Thorn Stone Forest, Mo Ling couldn’t help but wonder, "Could someone be using the Golden Touch Hand?"

’Perhaps the Golden Touch Hand has some kind of hidden effect on the Mineral Race.’

’That patient from the Quartz Race said he felt someone touch him when he got sick. Could it have been the Golden Touch Hand that touched him?’

Recalling the patient’s blue spots and the gradually spreading lapis lazuli material, Mo Ling became more and more convinced that someone was causing trouble with the Golden Touch Hand.

Mo Ling told Li Luo his suspicions, and she strongly agreed.

"The reason I looked up this Relic’s file is that I also felt it fit the current situation too perfectly," Li Luo explained.

But who could possibly fool the entire Mineral Race and create the Abnormal Vein disease?

Mo Ling couldn’t figure it out.

The mines were a sprawling network, easy to hide in, but the idea that someone could sneak silently into the veins, touch one person while surrounded by a group of the Quartz Race, and then escape unscathed seemed impossible no matter how you looked at it.

’Unless that person... was invisible.’

Mo Ling and Li Luo discussed it for a while but couldn’t reach a solid conclusion.

Just then, Shibeng poked his head in from outside the cave. He glanced around fearfully, and upon seeing that the patient was gone, his face returned to its usual expressionless state. He asked:

"Why were you looking for that Abnormal Vein Patient?"

"To look at his symptoms. He said he felt someone touch him right before he contracted the Abnormal Vein disease. Have previous patients reported this?" Li Luo replied.

Shibeng nodded. "They all say that. No one believes them."

’Just as I thought. No one listens to the Abnormal Vein Patients or pays any mind to their explanations. When faced with these patients, the only attitude any of the Mineral Race People have is fear.’

No one feels "curiosity," and no one feels "pity."

They don’t even have emotions, so you can’t expect them to care about others.

Mo Ling gained an even deeper understanding of the Mineral Race’s fundamental nature. As it stood, Shibeng was actually one of the more "normal" ones.

’From the perspective of the Mineral Race People, someone like Shibeng, who runs around looking for things to do every day out of boredom, is probably considered an oddity.’

"Have you seen any glove-like objects inside the Thorn Stone Forest?" Li Luo asked after a moment of thought.

Shibeng shook his head. It seemed he knew nothing about it.

Li Luo didn’t press him further. Instead, she showed Shibeng the file on the Golden Touch Hand.

Then, she explained their theory about the Abnormal Vein disease.

As he listened, a ripple disturbed Shibeng’s indifferent expression.

After hearing everything, he said fearfully, "If someone is spreading it on purpose, then I think the Abnormal Vein disease is even more terrifying."

"An invisible person, secretly orchestrating this whole Abnormal Vein outbreak in the Thorn Stone Forest, spreading a plague... that’s a horrifying thought."

This possibility, far from calming him, left Shibeng’s face etched with a fear that wouldn’t fade.

"If that’s true, does that mean the person is still nearby?" Shibeng’s body began to tremble again as he started to scare himself.

He whipped his head around, cautiously scanning his surroundings as if someone were standing right next to him.

Shuffling over to the wall, Shibeng pressed his back against it, looking completely paranoid.

Li Luo watched Shibeng, speechless. She was probably regretting ever telling him their theory.