I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 344: Chapter 341: Memory Reading

Mo Ling quickly tossed out the black band they had gotten from the towering Giant God.

As soon as it was outside the Block, the black fragments around the band began to slowly coalesce.

Unlike inside the Block, the black fragments didn’t disappear. Instead, they stacked one on top of the other, growing thicker and thicker.

Perhaps in the near future, these fragments would form a new Giant God.

Fortunately, Jin Lou caught the reappearing band in time.

It immediately froze, standing motionless. Apparently, it had begun reading the memory. It recovered a few moments later.

”The read is complete.”

Unlike Mo Ling’s violent reaction, Jin Lou merely paused for a moment before setting the band aside. Mo Ling quickly teleported the band back into the Block.

”Are you okay?” Li Luo asked with concern.

”I’m fine. The immersion is indeed very strong. This type of memory is highly corrosive to one’s own, and can even overwrite original memories. But I moved it into a separate folder.”

”Corrosive?”

”Yes. Because it’s so profound, it easily washes out ordinary memories. For example, if you had your heart broken the day before yesterday, you’d only remember the heartbreak, not how many dishes you had for lunch that day.”

Hearing Jin Lou’s analogy, Li Luo nodded in understanding.

”So, what was that memory about?”

Jin Lou thought for a moment before answering, ”It’s about the buildings on Paradise Island. The memory was from a ’Builder.’”

”It built all the houses on this island...”

As Jin Lou recounted the story, scenes from the memory unfolded before Li Luo and Mo Ling.

「...」

Paradise Island was originally just a pure white island covered in glowing white stone.

Before humans arrived, there were no buildings on the island.

That’s because the island is just a prison—a prison for confining Hell Beasts. No one was meant to live here.

But the arrival of humans changed that.

They constructed buildings on the island. This would have been normal, but their architecture unwittingly upset the balance of Paradise Island.

Human buildings were colorful and full of sharp angles, creating many shadows and dark places on Paradise Island.

The Hell Beasts used these shadows and darkness to crawl out.

The Builder had been monitoring the prison and saw the impact humans were having.

However, it wasn’t a difficult problem to solve.

All it had to do was ”replace” all the buildings.

Paradise Island doesn’t just have the power to imprison Hell Beasts; it also has a ”memory correction” ability that can make anything irrational seem rational.

This was originally meant to reduce the influence of the Hell Beasts. Their destructive aura can destroy a creature’s memories, making them forget their past and turning them into an empty ”shell.” Therefore, a certain amount of memory patching was needed to cover up these ”gaps.”

And so, Paradise Island’s correction function came in handy. The Builder silently replaced every building on the entire island.

The humans on the island wouldn’t find it strange at all; they would even believe the buildings had been like that from the very beginning.

”Memory correction?” Li Luo picked up on the keyword in Jin Lou’s explanation and quickly asked for clarification.

”Yes. It’s a characteristic of Paradise Island, or rather, of the glowing white stone. It makes everything seem ’rational’ in order to protect the prison,” Jin Lou explained.

”Although Paradise is a prison, it can’t completely suppress the Hell Beasts’ power. When the Hell Beasts are active, they often affect creatures near the island. That’s when the memory correction function is useful for hiding the island’s true nature.”

”That’s also where the various ’rules’ on the island come from.”

Li Luo nodded. ’It seems my memories were altered this way too.’

”And then? What happened after the Builder finished replacing the buildings?” Li Luo pressed.

”Most of this memory is highly corrosive. I could only see some of the surface-level content. I don’t know what happened after that,” Jin Lou said, sounding a bit helpless.

It seemed Jin Lou’s reading ability had its drawbacks.

Unlike Mo Ling, it couldn’t fully comprehend the entire contents of a memory, only scratch the surface.

Still, the information was enough for now.

”Let’s continue.”

”Okay.”

The two of them looked at Mo Ling in unison, and Mo Ling began teleporting the black objects out, one by one.

Jin Lou touched each item in turn, then had Mo Ling take it back.

After it had gone through all the items, Jin Lou scratched its head.

”What’s wrong?”

”A lot of them are useless—just the past experiences of the island’s residents. Only the non-human memories offer any real intel, mostly about the island’s establishment.”

”Many races joined forces to build this prison and trap the Hell Beast here. Each race left behind a guardian to watch over the prison, but due to their lifespans, the guardians on the island slowly vanished.”

Jin Lou fell silent for a moment before continuing:

”Judging by the timeline, the Builder was likely the last one. The other races never sent anyone else. It’s as if they completely forgot about this prison.”

Li Luo was also puzzled. ”If the Hell Beast is so terrifying, why didn’t they keep sending people?”

Jin Lou shook its head. ”I don’t know. These memories are all like fragments. After the humans arrived, there’s no more information about the island itself, just a lot of highly corrosive content.”

As they talked, they reached another impasse.

Suddenly, as if she’d thought of something, Li Luo asked anxiously, ”Did you find my memory?”

”Yours?” Jin Lou froze, taken aback by her question.

”I... don’t think so?” It didn’t seem too sure.

”Let me check the logs.”

Jin Lou lowered its head, stood stunned for a moment, then looked up at Li Luo again.

”I’ve double-checked. None of them were your memories.”

”I see.” Li Luo nodded. ”Do you think there’s another me on this island?”

”Logically, there should be. Since the Hell Beast affected your memory, it would naturally create a memory construct,” Jin Lou replied.

Li Luo nodded again, lost in thought.

Just then, the Block flew over and nudged her.

”What is it?”

An electronic screen was teleported out, appearing on top of the Block.

Li Luo picked it up curiously. There was only a single word on the screen—

”Nameplate.”

’Nameplate?’

Staring at the word on the screen, Li Luo froze.

”What about the nameplate?”

She reached into her thick combat suit and pulled out her own nameplate.

The moment she took it out, Li Luo’s eyes widened.

It was a black nameplate, shedding strange, ethereal fragments.