I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 270: Chapter 268: A Different Kind of Scene

With the sun’s permission, the school’s conquest entered its final stage.

They wielded this power to destroy the tough bones that had been so hard to crack.

In the face of death, nothing else mattered.

Little Fish watched all of this in silence, saying nothing.

It hadn’t been taking the other replicates out to play recently, as the scenes had been all but destroyed. Everywhere lay in ruins, and the replicates moved whatever they could find from the wreckage to Little Fish’s dwelling.

But it still couldn’t muster any interest.

It could now use its permissions to create more entertaining things and play more interesting games, but Little Fish remained mired in gloom.

Sometimes it would create a small sea, slip inside, and then conjure a beam of moonlight to shine upon the surface. It would remain there in silence for a very, very long time.

The permission was the same, the moonlight was the same, yet for some reason Little Fish would just stare blankly, its own thoughts a mystery even to itself.

It isolated itself from the rest of the school, a complete misfit.

Until Lingyi found it.

”There’s a scene we haven’t been able to enter. We need you to take a look.”

”Alright.”

Little Fish followed Lingyi through expanses of ruins, arriving before a thin membrane.

”This is the place.”

Without a word, Little Fish passed right through the membrane. There was no resistance at all.

The surrounding scenery shifted. This time, passing through the membrane felt different.

Not only did everything twist and warp around it, but Little Fish also seemed to see dazzling, colorful tentacles writhing and gently touching its body.

Just as the Moon had once done.

Once it was through the membrane, it found itself looking upon a sight both utterly new and incredibly familiar.

Previously, many of the scenes Little Fish had experienced were very pure. A single object would exist in a void: a tree, sand, the sea, the sun, the moon... There were never any other elements.

But this place was different. There was no black void, only a medley of various things. Traces of all the previous scenes could be found here.

Trees grew from soil. The sun drifted far away in the sky, its light exceptionally soft. The sea, stirred by the wind, sent waves curling onto the sand...

Little Fish was entranced.

It had never imagined that the scenes it had experienced could be combined in such a way, creating something so wonderfully beautiful and harmonious.

Lost in wonder, Little Fish swam through the beautiful scenery for a long time.

After the school had laid everything to waste, it had been a long time since Little Fish had seen such sights. It wanted to meticulously re-experience every single one.

As it explored, the sun slowly descended. It was a brilliant crimson as it dipped into the sea, suffusing the water with a fiery glow. Little Fish had never imagined the sun could have such a stunningly beautiful moment.

Not long after the sun had completely set, Little Fish spotted it on the other side of the sky: the Moon it had been longing for.

Except, just like the sun, the Moon was very far away.

But its familiar moonlight still cascaded down without reservation, wrapping gently around Little Fish’s body.

Little Fish was ecstatic. It used all of its permissions and charged recklessly toward the Moon.

’I have to get back to the Moon’s side!’

But no matter how hard it tried, though it rose farther and farther from the ground, the distance between it and the Moon never seemed to shrink.

The Moon remained distant, impossible to approach.

After trying every method it could think of, Little Fish finally gave up. It hovered in place, gazing in anguish at the distant Moon.

’I can see it so clearly, but I can’t reach it.’

Bathed in moonlight, Little Fish’s eyes saw only the unreachable Moon. Everything else was darkness.

As Little Fish stared blankly at the Moon, a few colorful tentacles appeared beside it. They patted its head comfortingly before retracting again.

A moment later, the tentacles extended again, this time holding a few pieces of something with a strange smell. They offered them to Little Fish’s mouth, as if wanting to share a meal.

When Little Fish didn’t react, the tentacles swiftly retracted, followed by the sound of noisy chewing...

”Is this a dream?” Mo Ling asked, looking at the colorful tentacles in surprise.

’They’re so familiar to me.’

”You can tell?” Jeff was surprised. He hadn’t expected Mo Ling to figure it out so quickly.

”This entire scene is a dream. That’s why it’s a combination of everything that came before—the sun, the moon... Those tentacles are probably a mix of an octopus and a rainbow. It’s all fake...”

Mo Ling listened, unsure of how to respond. He hadn’t recognized it as a dream for any of those reasons; he knew simply because he had seen the colorful tentacles.

’Looks like the Fishman Race doesn’t know about the tentacles,’ he thought. ’They’re just treating them as part of the dream.’

Little Fish also clearly considered the tentacles to be part of the scene and paid them no mind.

After staring at the Moon for a long while, Little Fish reluctantly turned, returned to the ground, found the membrane it had come through, and passed back.

Lingyi was waiting outside the membrane.

”You have returned. What was the scene inside?”

Little Fish told Lingyi everything it had seen, down to the last detail.

”It seems you may need to bring us in with you,” Lingyi said after listening. ℴ

”Do we have to?” Little Fish asked hesitantly, its thoughts clearly returning to the Moon inside.

”You are the one to make the choice. You don’t need to ask me,” Lingyi replied calmly.

It had never forced Little Fish to do anything. In all decisions, it deferred completely to Little Fish’s opinion, and its every action was taken from the perspective of the school.

But this only made Little Fish feel more strongly that it was the one in the wrong.

’This scene is completely different,’ it thought. ’The permission it holds must be extraordinary. There’s a good chance it’s the hope the school has been searching for. I shouldn’t stand in the way of the entire school’s future for my own selfish reasons.’

”Can we destroy the Moon last? Leave it for now...” Little Fish asked in anguish.

”As you wish.”

Lingyi’s answer was the same as always, but Little Fish felt the future of the entire school pressing down on its shoulders.

’I am the leader of the school. That’s an unchangeable fact.’

No matter how much Lingyi and the other replicates shared the burden, the final responsibility would always fall upon it. The ”fish” of the school must always be at the vanguard.

”Then... let’s try other things first. If nothing else works, we’ll destroy the Moon last. I want to keep it...” Little Fish said, its voice trailing off into a whisper.

But Lingyi listened carefully to Little Fish’s request and solemnly agreed.

”Everything is in ruins. If, in the end, we still haven’t found a way to break our shackles, what will we do?” Little Fish asked Lingyi, worried.

”Then that would mean our understanding of the permissions is still insufficient. We possess many permissions now, but we don’t understand the principles behind most of them. We can try to figure out those principles, or explore on a deeper level—for instance, why these permissions came to be in the first place.”

”Destruction is only a means, not an end. This process is a necessary part of understanding the world.”

”This is only the beginning. We’ve only learned how to destroy, not how to create. There is more than one path forward.”

”You can rest assured that hope always remains.”

Lingyi still had the same earnest expression.

Little Fish looked at it and thought it could see a glimmer of moonlight in Lingyi’s eyes—a light all its own.