Dead Silence and Black Horn

Dead silence.

Outside Metal Mountain, the enormous Shock Beasts that had been there before stood motionless, the flesh on their heads no longer pulsing.

The intertwined Appendage Balls stopped trembling as well. They even loosened apart and scattered across the ground.

It was as though time had frozen.

The little vehicle drove all the way to the edge of the Great Pit.

Not a single Shock Beast moved anywhere it passed. The endless vibrations had ceased.

The Shock Beasts that had once desperately crowded toward the center of the pit had now lost the meaning of their beastly lives.

Several Shock Beasts that had been fighting moments ago came to a halt, still locked in combat poses.

The bird-shaped vibrating beasts that were still in the air fell to the ground and became statues.

The little vehicle stopped outside the pit.

Li Luo aimed her device at the immobilized vibrating beasts, switched on the Electronic Screen, and began recording what had happened inside the pit.

Mo Ling tried stripping the flesh from one vibrating beast, but its wound continued to heal.

He tossed the severed chunk of flesh somewhere conspicuous, and Li Luo quickly noticed it.

She found the vibrating beast whose flesh had been stripped away and aimed her device at it.

Nothing had changed. The Shock Beast had merely stopped moving.

"Did they lose their target?"

Why weren't they attacking the Cube's location?

Mo Ling had considered this possibility before teleporting Black Horn.

It had to be received inside the Cube first, so logically, it should have drawn a siege.

But Li Luo clearly did not understand how Mo Ling's teleportation worked.

Mo Ling guessed that Li Luo had planned for him to teleport Black Horn into her hand before driving away.

Yet by sheer coincidence, it had produced this result.

"It's like I hid Black Horn."

Mo Ling looked at Black Horn on the ground and curiously picked it up.

The instant he touched it, he saw the pitch-black surface of Black Horn suddenly begin to slide.

Like a black hole, it kept falling inward.

As if it could lead somewhere.

What was this?

Mo Ling was puzzled.

"Can't figure it out."

When he put Black Horn down, that falling sensation instantly vanished, and Black Horn returned to its pure black appearance.

Mo Ling intended to teleport Black Horn to Li Luo and let her look up some information first. If anything went wrong, he could retrieve it in time.

Since it was something he could not understand, he needed the power of the Database. There was a human from this world right beside him, after all.

Li Luo's face was now full of confusion as well.

She was probably wondering where Black Horn had gone and why the valley had suddenly fallen silent.

Duang!

Another clanking sound drew Li Luo's attention.

Black Horn appeared immediately afterward, embedded in a tin can. Mo Ling watched it closely, ready to retrieve it at any moment.

Li Luo looked at Black Horn, and the confusion on her face slowly turned to delight.

Boom!

With Black Horn's appearance, the entire valley began vibrating again, even more violently than before!

Li Luo hurriedly grabbed Black Horn when she saw this.

The instant she touched it, Mo Ling discovered that Li Luo had also fallen into a daze, just as he had when he touched it.

Her eyes widened as she stared straight into the depths of the black hole.

Though she was staring at what lay before her, her gaze seemed to be directed somewhere far away, as if she had uncontrollably fallen into some kind of trance.

The surrounding vibrations grew increasingly violent.

Very soon, Shock Beasts charged toward them.

A vivid scarlet creature entered Mo Ling's field of vision.

It was a torrent formed from countless Flesh Slimes. They gathered into a mass and surged toward them at incredible speed.

Mo Ling hurriedly began teleporting and stripping them away, but the rate was far too slow. It was merely a drop in the bucket.

Fortunately, the height difference at the edge of the Great Pit slowed the wave slightly.

But wave after wave surged up from behind, and more and more Flesh Slimes poured over.

They were about to rush out of the pit.

Huge Shock Beasts were swept forward by the surging torrent, waving their appendages as they continuously climbed upward.

Their sharp appendages hooked over the cliff edge. They would climb up the next second.

Mo Ling looked anxiously at the Girl. "Let go already!"

But things took an unexpected turn. Li Luo was still clutching Black Horn in her hand.

While remaining in a trance, she seemed to be struggling against that strange pull. Then she suddenly fainted, and Black Horn fell to the ground.

Mo Ling hurriedly retrieved the Black Horn that had fallen to the ground. He had not expected this situation, and too much time had passed.

Sure enough, the vibrations stopped again.

The unstoppable crimson Giant Wave seemed to have suddenly been drained of all power, slowly receding like the tide.

The metallic beasts within it no longer bared their fangs and claws either. They let the tide carry them along, drifting with the current as they gradually moved farther away.

Dead silence returned.

Phew~

Mo Ling let out a breath of relief. It seemed that the Cube really could block those Shock Beasts' perception.

Looking at the Girl again, she was already lying on the ground, unconscious. Mo Ling now regretted casually throwing out Black Horn. It had been too reckless.

What was going on?

Where did Black Horn lead?

After waiting for a while, Li Luo still did not wake up. Mo Ling could only pick up Black Horn again and examine it closely.

That pulling sensation struck again, dragging Mo Ling's thoughts inward.

This time, Mo Ling did not resist. After glancing at the unconscious Li Luo outside, he made up his mind and slid inward along the pitch-black surface.

Where was this?

When Mo Ling came to his senses, he was already standing on a bustling street at night.

I'm standing?

Mo Ling felt that his perspective was strange, but his thoughts seemed unable to turn. It was as if he had forgotten something.

A thought appeared in Mo Ling's mind:

He felt that he should not be standing. He should either be sitting or lying down.

And it was not just this strange thought. He did not recognize this place either.

Everything felt deeply out of place.

Looking up, skyscrapers whose tops could not be seen were covered in colorful lights that constantly changed patterns.

All kinds of aerial rails connected the skyscrapers, while sleek flying cars raced through them at high speed.

There were too many signs outside the buildings to take in. Flickering projections displayed three-dimensional advertisements, and realistic women enthusiastically waved at him.

A high-tech car stopped by the roadside. A robot stepped out, extended a hand, and helped an elegantly dressed noblewoman into the vehicle.

The pedestrians by the road wore bizarre, bold outfits and chatted animatedly beneath the bright streetlights.

After looking around, the sense of wrongness became even more overwhelming.

Who am I? Where am I?

Mo Ling froze.

At that moment, a robot by the roadside approached him, bowed, and asked in a magnetic voice, "Hello. Do you require assistance?"

Mo Ling wanted to speak, but discovered that he could not make a sound.

He could only wave at the robot.

"Why can't I speak?"

Mo Ling began walking down the street and found that his steps felt somewhat stiff.

So strange.

When he reached the display window of a cake shop, Mo Ling looked inside.

The glass display reflected the streetlights, and Mo Ling suddenly saw what he looked like.

A Cube Person?

?

He wore a messy set of Pajamas, and a metal cube sat atop his head. The cube's edges cut cleanly through his neck, with no visible sign of connection.

The Cube reflected the lights, while he stood there like an idiot.

The moment he saw the Cube, the sense of wrongness in Mo Ling's mind finally broke through the barrier in his thoughts, and his memories came rushing back.

Was this the place Black Horn had brought me to?

Mo Ling's memories had fully returned, but he was still full of confusion.

An unfamiliar city, along with this bizarre form of his.

He had not walked in a long time. No wonder it felt so awkward.

And his vision.

Mo Ling's vision was no longer confined within the cubic space as it had been before. He was truly seeing things with his own eyes.

Mo Ling curiously looked around, savoring this freedom he had regained.

In the distance, a sign on a magnificent building caught his attention.

"Dawn City Library."