I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 379: Chapter 376: Non-existent Divine Wrath

The advance party gradually encountered other races and experienced attacks similar to those by the Winged Cats.

After subduing these races, the advance party discovered they all attacked humans for similar reasons.

”If humanity’s uncivilized behavior isn’t stopped, it will incur divine wrath.”

This reasoning drove these races to attack humans.

The advance party also discovered that the races attacking their ships were mostly weaker ones, who found it harder to suppress their rage.

They theorized this was related to their level of civilization.

The advance party also encountered some friendly races, which confirmed their theory.

The more primitive a race, the more they fixated on the morality of ”actions,” imposing their own values on others and believing unquestioningly in ”divine wrath.”

After traveling through the Sea of Creation for some time, the advance party had gained a more detailed understanding of the region.

At the same time, they recorded the ”taboos” of each race, and these taboos later became the list of precautions for the Tiansuo.

The device still held a great deal of information, but before Li Luo could finish reading, the ship’s broadcast came to life:

”Initiating departure preparations. Engaging hull camouflage.”

After the broadcast finished, the Tiansuo suddenly launched from the dock, accelerating rapidly until it reached a patch of sea far from the coast.

Immediately after, a low mechanical hum began to fill the air.

”What’s happening?”

Hearing the sound, Mo Ling quickly tore his gaze from Li Luo’s electronic screen and looked outside.

The drill-like bow was spinning nonstop, churning seawater up into the air.

The helical grooves of the drill began to scoop up seawater, flinging it back onto the Tiansuo with the force of its rotation.

The Tiansuo’s surface began to secrete a strange liquid film, which held the seawater, sheathing the hull in it.

Before long, the entire Tiansuo was encased in a thick film of water.

Moreover, this film of water appeared to be flowing. Whenever the drill spun to push the Tiansuo forward, the water within its grooves would stream backward, in turn pushing the water on the hull’s surface to flow backward as well.

This made the Tiansuo look like a massive object lurking just beneath the waves as it sailed, a truly terrifying sight.

’So this is the hull camouflage?’

Mo Ling was surprised that this was their method of camouflage. He watched as the film of water grew more and more substantial.

The layer of water also obscured the porthole, but the scenery outside was still vaguely visible.

Seeing the churning film of water, Li Luo also leaned curiously toward the porthole, craning her neck to get a better look.

”Preparing for departure. Interior lights out. Engaging bionic mode.”

With the broadcast’s conclusion, the lights in the room instantly shut off, and the humming from the ship grew noticeably louder.

The drill’s rotation suddenly accelerated, and the Tiansuo shot forward again, hurtling away from the coast.

The sudden acceleration even sent Li Luo tumbling onto the bed.

After the room was plunged into darkness, the only thing visible was the constantly churning seawater outside.

The ship’s speed increased, and the flow of the water film outside the porthole quickened with it. Yet, it remained perfectly stable; the ripples slowly vanished, and the view, paradoxically, became even clearer.

Only when the water film outside the porthole reached an extremely stable state did the ship’s humming slowly fade away.

The drill began to turn at a smooth, even pace, no longer making any noise.

At this point, thanks to the waves, the entire Tiansuo began to bob up and down as it moved through the water.

In Mo Ling’s vision, it looked like a giant black fish, staying close to the surface, occasionally dipping into the sea only to have its ”dorsal fin” suddenly break the waves.

The Tiansuo used the waves to simulate the vivid, lifelike movements of a living creature.

’I see. So this is the bionic mode.’

Mo Ling could guess why the Tiansuo needed to enter this state.

’If it maintained a conventional ship’s form, it would be attacked by races like the Winged Cats.’

In fact, Mo Ling believed this was the very reason the Tiansuo was designed so differently from a normal ship in the first place.

Humanity had compiled the many taboos of the races in the Sea of Creation and, based on that knowledge, built the Tiansuo—a unique ship designed to reduce attacks from other creatures.

This, like the list of precautions on board, was all wisdom passed down from their predecessors.

Watching the Tiansuo settle into a steady cruising state, Mo Ling gradually pulled his focus away from the outside world.

”Cruising normally. Estimated time of arrival: three days...”

A mechanical voice crackled intermittently over the broadcast.

Li Luo finally steadied herself and, using the light from outside the porthole, found her electronic screen.

Instead of continuing to read the device’s files, she opened the list of precautions and began to study it carefully.

The bright red font was especially glaring in the dim light, but Li Luo read on earnestly.

After learning a little more about the Sea of Creation, she realized that these seemingly absurd rules might actually be incredibly important.

”Let me see your screen. I’ll send you a copy,” Li Luo said to the Block.

And just like that, Mo Ling began reading from inside the Block.

Only after seeing these precautions for himself did Mo Ling realize just how ”chaotic” they truly were.

They were completely illogical; some even seemed to contradict one another.

”Do not wear horizontally striped clothing...”

”Do not wear vertically striped clothing...”

These sorts of seemingly repetitive and bizarre rules were written in different places throughout the list, leaving him baffled.

’Is there a connection between these two? Why not combine them into a single rule?’

Mo Ling racked his brain but couldn’t understand. The precautions offered no specific reasons and were completely devoid of logic.

The more he read, the dizzier he felt.

The tiny, squiggly characters began to swirl in his mind, and before long, he started to get drowsy.

He’d forget a rule almost as soon as he’d read it, forcing him to start over. But before long, he’d have forgotten the ones he’d just reviewed.

What’s more, the convoluted phrasing often left him disoriented. He would get the feeling he’d seen a rule somewhere before, but when he went back to look for it, he couldn’t find it. He would even forget his place entirely.

’So dizzy...’

The Tiansuo swayed back and forth with the waves. Inside the quiet room, Li Luo sat dutifully on her narrow bed, muttering under her breath, seemingly memorizing the text on her screen.

Seeing how hard Li Luo was trying, Mo Ling forced himself to focus.

’In any case,’ he thought, ’memorizing this stuff will definitely be useful in the Sea of Creation. It might even prevent a conflict or two.’

With that in mind, Mo Ling focused his attention on the text once more.

’Where was I?’

His mind had wandered for just a moment, and he had forgotten again. He had no choice but to start over from the beginning.

’Do not leave your ship cabin... Right, that’s the first rule.’

Steeling himself once more, Mo Ling tapped his finger on the screen and began reciting the contents.

...

And then he fell asleep.