I'm Trapped in the Block

Li Luo stopped in front of an automatic steamer.

Behind her was a flatbed cart carrying the Block, and trailing behind that was a shopping cart filled to the brim.

The shopping cart was piled high with all sorts of food and some outdoor camping gear.

Mo Ling was numb to it all.

Li Luo had also bought a ton of expensive Relic Capsules, only to ask the sales associate if they could be used to hold food.

Mo Ling worried for the Young Lady’s wallet.

But he was quickly proven wrong. When they checked out, Mo Ling glanced at Li Luo’s electronic screen.

The total cost of their shopping couldn’t even keep up with the rate her savings were increasing every second.

’Rich people are impossible to understand!’

Poverty truly did limit Mo Ling’s imagination.

Li Luo then headed to the modification workshop.

When Li Luo emerged from the workshop with the cart, the simple flatbed that had been carrying their supplies had been transformed into a small, combat-ready ATV.

With its thick treads and powerful engine, it drove brazenly through the monitoring station, the Block loaded on the back.

Behind the Block was a massive storage container with a refrigeration unit, stuffed full of all kinds of items.

You could tell at a glance that she came from money.

And so, under the astonished gazes of everyone around, Li Luo left the monitoring station.

In front of the monitoring station’s main gate, Li Luo climbed into the driver’s seat and sped off toward the valley indicated by her mission.

The road was full of other Hunters on missions. They were startled by the sudden appearance of the ATV and could only stare, dumbfounded, as Li Luo sped into the distance.

Mo Ling was speechless.

He recalled what Li Luo had said to the staff when she first walked into the modification workshop—

"Can you guys modify this thing into a tank?"

The vehicle’s commotion attracted attacks from many aberrations along the road.

But before they could even get close, Mo Ling turned them into chunks of meat.

The weaker ones couldn’t even keep up with the ATV’s speed.

Two days later, the pair arrived at the habitat of the Vibrating Beasts—a journey that would have taken half a month on foot.

It was a massive valley.

Looking down from the road, they couldn’t see any sign of the Vibrating Beasts; tall, dense trees obscured the entire valley floor.

The early morning mist enveloped the valley, and a thick vapor drifted up, making it look peaceful and serene.

But faintly, they could hear a low, rumbling sound.

The Vibrating Beast, as its name implied, was a creature that could generate vibrations.

The behavior of living creatures is always driven by a purpose, whether for survival, mating, or even pleasure.

However, scientists didn’t know the purpose behind the Vibrating Beast’s vibrations.

Some studies even theorized that the Vibrating Beasts were forced to create these vibrations, as they could even be woken up by the tremors from their own kind.

While reviewing the data on the Vibrating Beasts on her electronic screen, Li Luo slowly drove the small vehicle down into the valley.

Mo Ling was also eager to see this strange creature for himself.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before they spotted one at the bottom of the valley.

At first glance, it looked like a giant mechanical spider with its legs extended. Its massive, jointed limbs were made of metal components that had no place on a living organism.

But unlike a spider, it only had two mechanical legs that looked completely unbalanced, which it used to move through the tall trees in an alternating, front-and-back motion.

Its slender body blended in with the towering trees of the valley.

Atop its two legs was a small, spherical metal cage. Entangled within the mesh was bright red flesh—the only biological structure visible from the outside.

The crimson flesh pulsed like a heart. With every beat, the rear mechanical leg would swing forward in a half-circle.

Its sharp tip would plunge deep into the ground. Then, with the next pulse of flesh, a dull vibration would emanate from the tip of the leg buried in the earth.

It was a repeating cycle. As long as it was moving, the vibrations never ceased.

Mo Ling stared in awe at the bizarre, two-meter-tall creature.

Bizarre. Unspeakably bizarre.

Its body defied the laws of mechanics, and its behavior seemed utterly purposeless.

Li Luo was following behind, discreetly recording the creature with some kind of device.

According to the records, the Vibrating Beast was a creature with extremely poor perception that typically just wandered about aimlessly.

The Vibrating Beast could only perceive vibrations in its immediate vicinity, a range even smaller than Mo Ling’s.

When they sensed a vibration that wasn’t their own, they would fly into a rage and frantically attack the source, as if they’d been rudely disturbed.

Like you, being woken up by your upstairs neighbor’s power drill at 6:30 on a Saturday morning.

It was so bad that they would even attack their own kind in a frenzy.

That’s right. They were strictly solitary creatures, yet they congregated in a specific habitat.

The first time Mo Ling had read the records, he’d felt a profound sense of dissonance about this creature.

’What is the point of their existence?’

Mo Ling found himself wrestling with the question.

Just as they were observing, the Vibrating Beast up ahead suddenly stopped moving. The chunk of flesh inside the spherical metal cage went still.

’What’s happening?’

When the mechanical leg moved again, it pivoted around and pointed directly toward Mo Ling and Li Luo’s position.

’This is bad.’

The chunk of flesh suddenly began to pulse violently, like a heart about to burst, and the vibrations rapidly accelerated.

The Vibrating Beast was acting contrary to its known behavior. It had sensed their presence behind it and was now turning to charge!

Because she knew the Vibrating Beast’s typical behavior, Li Luo hadn’t kept a large distance. The sudden change of events caught her completely off guard.

Fortunately, Mo Ling’s sights had remained locked on the Vibrating Beast.

He quickly aimed at its spherical head and separated a large chunk of its flesh.

A perfect, cube-shaped hole instantly appeared in the Vibrating Beast’s spherical head.

The pulsating flesh oozed out from the hole in the metal cage like jelly, splatting onto the ground like a cracked egg.

Even after hitting the ground, it continued to pulsate, just like a red Slime.

Red, bloody tendrils grew out from the empty space Mo Ling had carved, and the hole slowly began to heal.

The small Flesh Slime still wouldn’t give up, slowly hopping toward Li Luo in a suicidal charge.

Without the chunk of flesh to control them, the mechanical legs collapsed with a loud crash.

All that remained was the red Slime on the ground, hopping comically as it tried in vain to get closer.

Li Luo picked up her device and recorded the bizarre situation.

Then she grabbed a capsule from the back of the ATV and encapsulated the Flesh Slime.

After checking her surroundings, she finally relaxed and sat down in the driver’s seat.

She took out her electronic screen, uploaded the data she had just recorded from her device, and began to log the anomaly:

"Vibrating Beast exhibits increased sensory range."

"Flesh from head, when detached, exhibits rapid regeneration. Subject remains viable and aggressive."

...

After she finished logging her observations, Li Luo went to the storage container at the rear of the vehicle. She pulled out a pile of food and arranged it neatly on the Block.

Then she patted the Block.

"Good job. Eat up."

Mo Ling was about to pick some food when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

’Have I really become her digital pet?’

"I will not eat food offered in contempt!"

’The food is right there in the back of the vehicle. I can get it myself!’

However, Mo Ling’s stomach rumbled.

After several days on the road, he had finished all the berries and canned food he had stored. There were no rations left inside the Block.

...

’Ah, to hell with it. Since it’s already here, I can’t keep up this act forever.’

Half the food on the Block instantly vanished.