I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 399: Chapter 396: A Performance

Mo Ling was lost in thought as he listened to the familiar word.

”Transcendence?”

”Yes, transcendence. A god shouldn’t exist in this world. He probably just watches us quietly, as if taking in a show. And naturally, he wouldn’t lend us a helping hand.”

Kindness Stone swept up a speck of dust, letting it drift back and forth in the void as if it were dancing.

Seeing this, Mo Ling also swept up a speck of dust and joined the dance.

Gradually, the specks of dust multiplied. They gained their own world, their own identities, and their own stories.

”To these specks of dust, we are gods, aren’t we?” Kindness Stone said, watching the dancing dust.

”A god only watches and offers no aid, just as we offer these specks of dust no gifts...”

Mo Ling watched the dust, his mind elsewhere.

’Gifts?’

On a sudden whim, he took a can of cola from his Block and tossed it into the middle of the dust.

The vacuum caused the cola can to rupture instantly. Black liquid sprayed out, completely drenching the dust.

”What is that thing?” Kindness Stone asked in surprise, looking at the red can that had suddenly appeared.

”It’s a gift to them from their god.” Mo Ling watched the burst can, his heart aching over the waste. He’d forgotten they were in a vacuum.

He felt a little guilty for wasting food.

Watching the cola continue to spill out, Mo Ling hastily stored the can away again.

”It disappeared again!” Kindness Stone couldn’t understand what had happened and exclaimed, ”What on earth was that thing?”

Before Mo Ling could answer its question, he saw the distant star cluster twitch.

’What’s going on?’

He looked toward the star cluster and saw that its rotation had actually rewound a short distance.

And somehow, Kindness Stone was already back at the edge of the vortex.

It was now painfully asking Mo Ling:

”Can we go back?”

Mo Ling froze. ’Didn’t this just happen?’

’Did time really just reverse? What triggered it?’

’Giving the dust cola triggers a time reversal?’

An absurd guess appeared in his mind, which he immediately dismissed.

Mo Ling quickly looked inside his Block. It turned out that when he had stored the cola can, he had brought some of the dust in with it.

’Could it be that transporting the dust caused time to reverse?’

At this thought, Mo Ling quickly looked back toward the dust swirling around them.

”Can we go back?” Kindness Stone asked again, its voice full of pain.

”We can, but maybe not all the way.” Mo Ling gave it an ambiguous answer.

While Kindness Stone was still stunned, Mo Ling stored another portion of the dust in his Block.

In an instant, the shattered fragments of the planet were fully restored. The vortex rested quietly atop its original mountain, a red giant hung in the sky, and the life on the planet was at the very end of withering away.

’It worked.’ Mo Ling was inwardly delighted.

He quickly understood everything. Transporting the dust hadn’t just removed it; it had also removed the dust’s ”slowing” effect.

If the original time flow ratio was 1:10,000, the current ratio was now 1:9,998. Because there was less dust, the vortex’s slowing effect also weakened.

Mo Ling hadn’t expected that a change in the flow ratio would actually cause time to reverse.

’It’s as if that portion of dust had never existed at all.’

Mo Ling couldn’t figure out why such a strange phenomenon was occurring, but it was an opportunity—a chance to undo everything the petrified bugs had gone through.

Thinking of this, Mo Ling continued to transport the dust.

The swirling dust seemed plentiful, but its density was actually low. Inside the Block, it only formed a small pile. Mo Ling quickly transported a portion of the dust from within the vortex into his Block.

The sun outside had completely recovered. Civilization was resurrected from its demise, regressed from advanced to primitive, and finally devolved into mindless beasts.

Towering trees reverted to sprouts, rain flew back into the dark clouds, the land became parched once more...

Everything was regressing, but Mo Ling was ecstatic. This was exactly what he wanted.

Mo Ling kept transporting the dust until the vortex had completely fallen into the sea, returning to the waters filled with Petrifying Dust. Only then did Mo Ling stop.

’The Block can’t hold any more...’

There was simply too much dust within the great vortex, and Mo Ling didn’t dare to throw the dust back out, so he could only pile it up until the Block was full.

’Still not enough space.’

If he had enough space, Mo Ling could have transported more dust, but this was as much as he could manage for now.

However, this was enough.

At this point, the vortex had not yet become impossible to stop. With just a little effort, Mo Ling could bring it to a halt.

He didn’t hesitate for long before quickly throwing himself into controlling the vortex.

Before long, the speed of the vortex began to slowly decrease.

The dust that had been gathered also began to slowly disperse, scattering across the entire sea...

Finally, the vortex stopped, and Mo Ling breathed a sigh of relief.

The petrified bugs at the edge of the former vortex didn’t understand what had happened and were all astonished by the vortex’s disappearance.

A petrified bug slowly drifted over with the current.

”Why did you stop the petrification vortex?” The newcomer was none other than Kindness Stone.

”Petrification is a mistake.” Mo Ling told it the truth directly.

”We would only become stones, drifting toward the end of time, where there is nothing but an endless void...”

Mo Ling slowly recounted what he had seen, telling Kindness Stone everything:

The shattered planet, the dead star, and the empty universe...

”Is that really what happens?”

After hearing Mo Ling’s account, Kindness Stone looked dejectedly at the scattered dust all around.

”You really saw it?”

”I saw it,” Mo Ling replied seriously.

The surrounding petrified bugs also gathered, carried by the current. They had all heard Mo Ling’s story, but they still found it hard to accept.

”The petrification we’ve been pursuing all this time... is actually a mistake?”

Most of the petrified bugs couldn’t accept such a truth.

”Are you lying to us? You just don’t want to share the great vortex with us, so you’re saying this, right?”

”The Petrifying Dust is limited. You’re telling us not to petrify so you can have all the dust for yourself.”

”This talk of a void, of destruction... what does any of that have to do with us? As long as we can live long enough, what does that other stuff even matter?”

”I thought you were going to lead the clan to complete petrification, but I didn’t expect you to give up halfway. I misjudged you!”

The petrified bugs chattered noisily. The whole meaning of their insect lives was to constantly pursue petrification. To ask them to give it up and ”enjoy life” was simply impossible.

They could only feel anger that the petrification had stopped.

Faced with such accusations, Mo Ling was powerless to do anything.

Unless one personally felt the terror of that void, they would not be able to understand any of this.

Mo Ling fell silent, letting the petrified bugs argue amongst themselves.

He quietly watched the clamoring petrified bugs, as if he were observing a performance...