I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 487: Chapter 484: Cleanup Work

Destroying trees was very simple for Mo Ling.

He aimed at the large animated tree the bottle cap had pointed out and, without a second thought, activated his teleportation.

The air seemed to freeze. A faint, cubic void enveloped the tree, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished, leaving nothing but a square-shaped hole in the empty ground.

Mo Ling had sent the tree, roots and all, directly into the Block, then casually tossed it somewhere in the distance.

’Cleanup complete.’

After finishing this simple task, he looked at the bottle cap again.

Master Bottle Cap was now happily spinning in the air.

”So smart, and so efficient at cleaning up! This is great!” The bottle cap flew a few circles around Mo Ling.

”But that’s just the first type of garbage. There’s more, so watch closely!” As it spoke, the bottle cap flew up into the sky.

”Some garbage hides underground. They gather in clumps and move in groups, which makes them very hard to find. If they sense danger, they’ll scatter and flee, so you have to take them out in one blow.”

That strange connection appeared again. Only this time, the bottle cap wasn’t connected to a single tree, but to the entire expanse of land.

Flip!

The bottle cap instantly turned upside down.

A deep RUMBLE echoed from the earth as several huge clods of dirt were suddenly overturned from underground. Mo Ling recognized them at a glance: they were masses of animated soil that had gathered together.

The bottle cap pressed its advantage, flipping over and over again.

Before the animated soil could even react, it was flipped upside down and smashed apart right where it stood.

The animated soil writhed, trying to burrow back into the ground, but the bottle cap flipped it over again, tossing it into the sky and tearing the clumped soil into fine grains of sand.

After being tossed about for a while, the soil had lost all ability to resist.

’So tearing apart these clumps of animated soil is enough to kill them?’

Mo Ling had actually learned something from this knock-off master of his.

’Only when they gather in a clump do they become ”soil.” Breaking them apart is like dismembering a person, causing their animation to fade...’

The bottle cap must have done this cleanup many times to know the animated soil’s weakness so well.

Still, Mo Ling didn’t understand why the bottle cap was cleaning up these animated things and calling them ”garbage.”

’Could this also be an order from that Lord Ying?’

Mo Ling was filled with questions, but he decided to blend in with this strange group of relics for now and see what they were up to.

The bottle cap’s lesson continued:

”The really powerful garbage gets cleaned up directly by Lord Ying during the projection. There’s also some garbage that hides in the air, but it disappears completely after the projection is over. So there isn’t much for us to do, understand?”

Listening to the bottle cap, Mo Ling got the gist of it: their job was to kill these remaining animated things and clean up the mess.

’But if Lord Ying can kill even more powerful animated things, why leave behind these animated trees and clods of soil?’

Mo Ling felt something was off.

From what the bottle cap said, the more powerful animated things were likely intangible, like animated light, animated darkness, or even animated fear. But Lord Ying would find and eliminate all of them.

If even these intangible things could be eliminated, there was no reason to leave behind a few trees and clumps of soil...

There was only one possibility: Lord Ying had left them behind on purpose.

’To give the bottle cap a reason to work. Or rather, to give it something to do.’

If these animated relics weren’t kept in check, they could cause a lot of trouble. So, Lord Ying purposely left behind some easy-to-clean ”garbage” and sent the bottle cap to take care of it.

And the bottle cap was very simple-minded. As long as it had a job, it wouldn’t get into trouble out of boredom.

At this thought, Mo Ling had a good guess as to what Lord Ying was thinking.

”Let’s clean up together! After we’re done, Lord Ying will send us back!”

The bottle cap spun excitedly in the air, seeming very passionate about its work.

Mo Ling hesitated for a moment, then joined the cleanup effort.

With an extra ”janitor” on the job, the garbage that had been deliberately left behind didn’t seem like much at all. Before long, Mo Ling and the bottle cap had completely cleared the area.

”That was so fast,” the bottle cap exclaimed.

Mo Ling could sense a hint of unfulfillment in its tone.

While they were cleaning, he had deliberately sped up his teleportation, finishing the job much faster.

Sure enough, not long after they finished, the surrounding scenery began to distort.

Mo Ling found himself pulled back into that flowing river of light and shadow, and then he was back beside the button on the giant projector.

’We’ve been sent back.’

Just as the bottle cap had said, they only needed to finish their work, and Lord Ying would even handle their transportation.

Back beside the button, the bottle cap was still very excited.

”We finished in only a third of the time! We’re so efficient! Now we can clean even more areas. Lord Ying will be so happy!”

The bottle cap was incredibly naive, single-mindedly focused on its work without ever considering Lord Ying’s purpose for giving it the job.

They had just gotten back to the button, and it was already rushing to press it again.

But just then, a faint, ethereal voice drifted over.

The voice was calm and steady, its gender indiscernible, but it was full of charisma.

”Wait, Little Bottle Cap.”

Upon hearing this voice, the bottle cap suddenly grew excited.

”Lord Ying!”

It spun with excitement in the air, then started gushing about Mo Ling.

”Lord Ying, I took on an apprentice! It’s really strong! We just finished a cleanup, and it only took one-third of the usual time! Aren’t we amazing, Lord Ying?”

”Mm, very good.” Lord Ying praised the bottle cap as one would a child.

”However, your apprentice has a more suitable job. It may not be able to continue cleaning up garbage with you. Little Bottle Cap, will you be sad?”

”Of course not!” Hearing Lord Ying’s words, the bottle cap replied decisively, ”My apprentice found a more suitable job. As its master, I should be happy.”

It flew next to the Block and nudged it.

”Apprentice, no matter the job, you have to put your heart into it. If there’s anything you don’t understand, remember to ask your master. You’re very strong, so your job must be very important. You have to do it well.”

”But if you don’t do well, don’t be afraid. No one does a job perfectly from the start. And even with a familiar job, mistakes can happen sometimes. Just make sure to fix them in time.”

”Even I miss some garbage sometimes, and I’ve been cleaning for so long...”

The bottle cap rambled on beside the Block, giving it all sorts of advice.

”The job is secondary. The most important thing is to protect yourself.”

Mo Ling never expected that he would feel a warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time... from a relic.