I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 477: Chapter 474: Mo Ling’s Fear

CREAK, CREAK...

The sweltering summer day made the students in the classroom restless.

”Mo Ling! What are you doing?!”

A furious roar snapped Mo Ling out of his daze.

He hurriedly looked up and saw it was the language teacher at the front of the class.

The teacher was glaring at him, the fire in her eyes looking like it could devour him whole.

Before Mo Ling could answer, his mischievous desk mate snitched on him, ”Teacher! Mo Ling is watching airplanes!”

The classmate’s words sent the room into an uproar of laughter. The once-dull classroom instantly came alive with commotion, as if ignited.

”Quiet!” The teacher slammed her hand on the desk and said angrily, ”I know you’re upset that I took over PE class, but isn’t that because the gym teacher is sick? Pay attention! Don’t let your imaginations run wild!”

Hearing this, Mo Ling’s mischievous desk mate started stirring up trouble again.

”The gym teacher is sick again? He’s been sick all semester!”

His desk mate’s comment caused another stir. The language teacher’s face turned beet red as she stormed down from the podium and pinched his ear.

”Ow, ow, ow!”

While pinching his desk mate, the teacher looked over at Mo Ling, who was still staring blankly at the ceiling.

”Mo Ling, are you still watching airplanes?” the teacher asked angrily.

”No, Teacher...” Mo Ling raised his hand and pointed at the wobbling ceiling fan. ”I think... the fan is about to fall.”

CREAK, CREAK...

Mo Ling wasn’t watching airplanes; he was watching the ceiling fan.

”Huh?” The teacher paused for a moment. ”Your imagination is quite...”

Before she could finish, the teacher heard a sharp, clear sound.

DING!

A screw fell to the floor.

The teacher snapped her head up just in time to see a spinning ceiling fan plummeting toward her face.

The rapidly rotating blades had already sliced through a strand of her hair. In the next second, she would be beheaded.

She could almost see the blades cutting into her neck, splitting the fragile skin, the rusty iron slicing through her artery as warm blood gushed out...

The teacher swallowed hard, regretting that she hadn’t listened to Mo Ling.

’If only I’d dodged sooner.’

She closed her eyes, waiting for the rusty steel to sever her fragile neck in the next instant.

However, she waited for a long time, but nothing happened.

She opened her eyes. Before her was a strange, cubic void, precisely where the ceiling fan should have been. It was pitch-black, as if leading into an endless darkness.

’What... is this?’

The teacher quickly bent down, trying to shield Mo Ling and his mischievous desk mate below her.

But Mo Ling, who had been sitting in his seat, had vanished.

Only his dumbfounded desk mate was left.

...

Mo Ling’s heart was pounding, but his consciousness was a blur.

’How strange... How did I get here?’

Mo Ling stood in the middle of his living room at home. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do or why he was standing there. It was as if his mind had been suddenly wiped clean, unable to recall anything.

His head throbbed with pain, so he sat on the sofa and rubbed his temples.

The landline on a nearby table suddenly rang, playing a melodious sonata. Mo Ling hesitated for a moment before reaching for it.

”Your mom and I aren’t coming back tonight. Go to bed early.”

With that, the person on the other end hung up.

CLICK. The clock struck eleven. It was time for bed.

Mo Ling groggily walked toward the side of the living room, preparing to turn off the lights.

But as his hand touched the switch, a chill ran up his spine.

Mo Ling took a deep breath and flipped the switch.

Instantly, the living room was plunged into darkness.

The moment the living room went dark, Mo Ling felt a breath on the back of his neck. It was as if countless eyes had suddenly appeared in the unseen cracks, all staring at him.

’Run!’

His first instinct was to run.

He bolted toward his room, but the presence behind him followed like a shadow, sticking right to his back.

’As long as I make it to my bed, it can’t catch me!’ The thought suddenly surfaced in Mo Ling’s mind, and he ran faster and faster.

This was his own home; Mo Ling could run to his bed with his eyes closed.

But in the darkness, the distance from the living room to his bedroom felt impossibly long.

The chill at his back was pressed against him now, something like fingers tracing along his spine. He instantly broke out in a cold sweat, his heart hammering at its absolute limit.

’What is that thing!’

Mo Ling’s senses seemed to extend behind him. He didn’t need to look to feel the threat from the darkness. Those things had been following him all along, just waiting for him to turn off the lights.

’If only I could get rid of this creepy thing...’

The instant that thought formed in Mo Ling’s mind, he felt a cold draft rush past him from behind, as if the space behind him had suddenly become empty.

Immediately after, that strange sense of danger vanished completely.

There was nothing chasing him in the dark, no fingers caressing his back.

It was as if the fear had been instantly stripped away from his heart.

”Huh?” Mo Ling stopped abruptly, confused. ’This is my home. What am I afraid of?’

He nonchalantly turned his head, only to discover that the living room had been sliced apart by some terrifying force, with air rushing in nonstop.

The ceiling and floor were both cleanly severed. He was standing right at the edge, and he could even see his downstairs neighbor through the gap.

The neighbor, who had been watching TV, was now staring up as if he had seen something unbelievable, the snacks in his hand having fallen to the floor.

’This is a little awkward...’

Mo Ling raised his hand sheepishly and gave his neighbor below a wave.

”Hi, Uncle Wang! I like dried fish snacks too...”

Before he could finish, Mo Ling’s figure vanished, leaving Uncle Wang frozen in place, staring.

...

”Huh? How weird.”

Mo Ling sat by the sports field after school, dangling his feet.

”Mo Ling, I’m sorry. I snitched on you to the teacher again. I had no choice. I have to become class president, and sometimes, in the face of personal gain, friendship doesn’t seem so important. I’m sorry, I just want to get ahead so badly...” Mo Ling’s mischievous desk mate sat beside him, apologizing while munching on a watermelon.

”What did you snitch about?” Mo Ling asked, puzzled.

”Sigh, why must you be so direct? Knowing too much will only cause you more pain. The content of the report isn’t that important. The main thing is, I feel our friendship should be unshakeable. Though imperfect and flawed, it is incredibly beautiful...” his desk mate said pretentiously, spouting nonsense.

”So what did you snitch about?” Mo Ling asked again, ignoring his rambling.

His desk mate sighed again. ”I told the teacher you climbed the wall during break to buy a watermelon. That’s why she confiscated it.”

He said apologetically while taking another bite of the watermelon in his hands.

”But I have to say, the one you picked is really sweet.”

”Why is the watermelon I picked in your hands?”

”This is my reward for snitching. The teacher gave me the confiscated watermelon and told me to share it with our classmates.” His desk mate pointed to a group of students eating watermelon not far away. ”This way, I can win people over. I’m one step closer to being class president.”

”That’s why I told you not to get to the bottom of things. This world is a dark place, full of deceit and betrayal. To achieve your goals, you must use any means necessary. The classmates will only remember that I shared watermelon with them and that you got punished in class. I gained benefits, and you earned ridicule...”

”Mo Ling, you can’t be so naive anymore. This is a word of advice, from one friend to another.” ℴ

His desk mate gazed at the distant sports field, as if he had seen through the very nature of life itself.