Inside the Cage

Cold.

Mo Ling struggled to wake up, his whole body aching. He couldn't help but want to stretch his body, but his head hit a hard wall.

Thump!

What was going on? Mo Ling touched his head. Why was there a wall on his bed?

In pain, Mo Ling opened his eyes.

The slightly glowing metal inner wall illuminated the entire small space. He was leaning against the back wall, sitting with his knees bent in his pajamas, his feet unable to even straighten.

Where was this?

Mo Ling was confused. He didn't understand why he was trapped here.

Was I kidnapped?

Stretching out his hand, Mo Ling searched for an exit in this cramped space.

The metal inner wall was incredibly smooth, with seamless joints.

He turned around, and the scene behind him was exactly the same. The four directions were completely identical.

Carefully raising his head, Mo Ling knocked on the metal plate above, but there was no sound.

Even the ground was an indestructible, smooth metal, made of some unknown material.

It was oppressive and narrow, filled with a sense of suffocation.

Mo Ling estimated the size of this cubic space. It was probably about one cubic meter.

In other words, he was locked in a metal cage of 1m*1m*1m.

"But why am I trapped here?"

Mo Ling kept thinking about what happened before he went to sleep, but everything was perfectly normal.

Until he woke up in this space.

After moving around a bit, Mo Ling moved to a corner and sat down. At least now he could straighten his body and ease the soreness in his joints.

Gurgle~

But after solving the movement problem, Mo Ling's stomach rumbled, and hunger surged.

"Is anyone there!" Mo Ling shouted, but his voice sank into the metal wall like a stone into the sea.

Mo Ling started to panic again, desperately hitting the wall, only to be met with pain in his hands.

Am I going to be trapped here until I die?

Mo Ling frantically searched his pajamas for tools.

But who would put tools in their pajamas? The result was, of course, nothing.

Mo Ling only found a candy he had casually put in his pocket last night.

He was like an ant on a hot pan, his mind racing.

No matter how much he racked his brain, with the strength of a frail youth, he simply couldn't break through the metal of unknown material.

Hoping for people outside to save him?

There wasn't even a way to send out a message; the sturdy walls completely isolated everything inside and out.

In the cramped space, only despair remained.

Mo Ling raised his hand, wanting to punch the wall, but lost his strength, his arm drooping limply.

Ventilating would only make him more miserable, serving no other purpose.

The light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and Mo Ling slumped to the ground.

Just wait for death.

He began to recall who he had offended, or if his family had enemies, but he still couldn't figure it out.

Mo Ling was a peaceful person, and his family was honest and law-abiding.

Yesterday, he helped a neighbor carry things and was even given a candy by the elderly neighbor.

Taking out the candy from his pocket, Mo Ling held it in front of his eyes and looked at it.

Little Black Rabbit Milk Candy.

"At least before I die, I can taste something sweet," he said with a bitter smile.

Good people should be rewarded, right?

Tremblingly holding the candy at both ends, peeling off the wrapper, Mo Ling put the precious candy into his mouth.

A faint milky fragrance.

The sweetness spread throughout Mo Ling's body. He had never been so happy; the churning in his stomach was slightly soothed.

He saw his whole body, the space he was in, and the hard metal walls.

Then, he passed through.

A lush jungle, with raindrops still dripping on the emerald green leaves. There was a clearing in the forest.

A metal cube, one cubic meter in size, stood there.

After reaching the outside world, his perception also became blurred. After reaching a certain distance outside the cube, he could no longer move forward.

It was the same in every direction.

His perception was confined within a cube-shaped area centered around the cube, measuring 11m*11m*11m.

He could even see clearly underground, though his perception was slightly obstructed.

"Why can I see outside?"

Mo Ling was startled, waking up from the sweetness, but this unusual perception did not disappear.

He found his thoughts incredibly clear, moving like a fish within this metal block.

Outside, there was a slight sluggishness, but he could still see in all directions and hear everything.

A rainforest?

Looking at the clear rainwater dripping down, Mo Ling couldn't help but swallow dryly.

"So thirsty."

A water drop dripped from a large leaf, about to fall on Mo Ling's head.

He opened his hand, trying to catch the water drop, then laughed at himself.

"How could I forget I'm trapped?"

Drip!

What is this feeling?

Cold and refreshing.

The water drop landed precisely on Mo Ling's hand.

He didn't have time to think, bringing the incredibly precious clear water to his face and licking it clean.

The tiny bit of liquid moistened his cracked lips, chilling him to the bone.

By the time Mo Ling recovered, he suddenly realized that the water drop had actually been caught by him in mid-air!

It hadn't passed through the metal wall, but had been grabbed by his consciousness!

Let's try again.

With a start, the subsequent attempts became even simpler.

Mo Ling selected a square area in the air, and the things within it were grabbed by him and sent inside the metal cube.

Water drops, leaves, branches, soil, stone blocks...

Soon, the already small metal space was filled with various sundries.

But that didn't matter.

Mo Ling repeated the process, and these things were thrown out of the space.

Moreover, controlling things inside was even more effortless.

At this moment, a bold idea appeared in his mind.

"Can I also be thrown out?"

After some attempts, the result left Mo Ling very disappointed.

Everything that detached from his body, such as hair, skin flakes, etc., could be thrown out, but he himself couldn't get out.

It was like when selecting, he just couldn't select himself.

"This is just a bigger cage."

Like a prisoner's iron bars, he could see the blue sky outside, but it had nothing to do with him.

In his small field of vision, the scene was monotonous, the rainforest repeating over and over.

But at least, he could transmit messages.

Mo Ling had a flash of inspiration. He teleported a stone from the outside in and then threw it into the air.

The stone fell into the pool under the force of gravity.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Next to the solitary metal block, a continuously falling stone appeared.

Mo Ling didn't know how much time had passed. When he was thirsty, he drank dew. When he was hungry, he gnawed on earthworms.

Finally, within this narrow space of perception, a different movement appeared.

Something was coming.

Two Black Imps, as tall as the metal block, stopped in front of Mo Ling's Cage.

The Black Imps wore tattered grass clothes, were short and thin, had long and pointed ears, and sharp venomous fangs in their mouths.

Their entire bodies were covered in various colorful totems painted with paint.

They looked like Goblins from a game, chattering in a strange language.

Mo Ling was shocked, not just because he had seen these fantastical creatures with his own eyes.

But because he could actually understand them!