Chapter 1: In the Cage
Cold.
Mo Ling struggled to wake up, his whole body aching. He could not help but stretch his body, but his head hit a hard wall.
Bang!
What’s going on? Mo Ling touched his head. Why was there a wall on his bed?
Despite the pain, Mo Ling opened his eyes.
The slightly glowing metal interior illuminated the entire small space. He was leaning against the wall behind, sitting with his knees folded while wearing pajamas; he couldn’t even stretch his legs.
Where is this?
Mo Ling felt bewildered. He didn’t understand why he was trapped here.
Am I kidnapped?
Mo Ling reached out and searched for an exit in this confined space.
The metal interior was incredibly smooth, with seamless joints.
He turned around, and the scene behind was exactly the same in all four directions.
Carefully lifting his head, Mo Ling knocked on the metal plate above, but it made no sound.
Even the ground was made of indestructible smooth metal, crafted from some unknown material.
Oppressive, narrow, and suffocating.
Mo Ling estimated the size of this cubic space; it was probably about one cubic meter.
In other words, he was trapped in a one-cubic-meter metal cage.
“But why am I trapped here?”
Mo Ling kept thinking about what happened before he went to sleep, but everything seemed normal.
Until he woke up in this space.
After moving a bit, Mo Ling shifted to a corner where he could at least stretch his body, easing the joint pain.
Gurgle~
However, after resolving the movement issue, Mo Ling’s stomach growled, and hunger overcame him.
“Is anybody there?” Mo Ling shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the metal walls.
Panic set in again as he desperately pounded the walls, only to hurt his hands.
Am I going to be trapped here until I die?
Mo Ling frantically searched his pajamas for tools.
But who would carry tools in their pajamas? Of course, he found nothing.
He only found a candy he had randomly stuffed into his pocket the previous night.
Like an ant on a hot pan, his mind raced frantically.
But no matter how much he racked his brains, with the strength of a weak young man, he couldn’t break through the unknown metal.
Rely on someone outside to rescue him?
There was no way to send out a message; the solid walls isolated everything inside from the outside.
In the narrow space, only despair remained.
Mo Ling raised his hand, intending to punch the wall, but lost strength, and his arm dropped weakly.
Venting only made himself more miserable and served no other purpose.
The light in his eyes gradually dimmed as Mo Ling slumped to the floor.
Just wait for death.
He began to recall if he had offended anyone or if his family had any enemies, but could not figure it out.
Mo Ling had always been amicable, and his family was honest and decent.
Yesterday, he helped the neighbor carry some things and even received a candy from the old lady next door.
Taking the candy out of his pocket, Mo Ling looked at it before his eyes.
Little Black Rabbit Milk Candy.
“At least, before I die, I can taste something sweet.”
He smiled bitterly.
Good people should get good rewards, right?
With trembling hands, he peeled off the candy wrapper and put the precious candy into his mouth.
The light creamy flavor.
The sweetness spread through his whole body. He had never felt so happy, and the rumbling in his stomach was slightly soothed.
He saw his entire body, saw the space he was in, saw the hard metal walls.
Then he went through them.
Lush green jungle, with rainwater still dripping off the green leaves, and a clearing in the forest.
A one-cubic-meter metal cube stood firm among the bushes.
Outside, his perception became vague, and he couldn’t go further beyond a certain distance outside the cube.
Any direction was the same.
His perception was trapped within a one-cubic-meter cube centered on the metal block.
Even underground was clearly visible, though perception was slightly blocked.
“Why can I see outside?”
Mo Ling was startled, waking up from the sweetness, but this unusual perception did not go away.
He found his thoughts extraordinarily clear, freely moving within the metal block like a fish in water.
Outside, his reaction was a bit slower, but he could still see all around and listen in all directions.
A rainforest?
Looking at the clear rainwater dripping, Mo Ling couldn’t help but swallow dryly.
“So thirsty.”
A water droplet fell from a large leaf, about to land on Mo Ling’s head.
He opened his hand to catch the drop, then laughed at himself.
“How could I forget I’m trapped?”
Drip!
What was this feeling?
Cool and refreshing.
The water droplet landed squarely on Mo Ling’s hand.
Ignoring his thoughts, he brought the precious clean water to his face, licking it dry.
The slight amount of liquid moistened his chapped lips, cooling him to the core.
When Mo Ling came back to his senses, he realized that the water droplet had indeed been caught by him in mid-air!
It wasn’t passing through the metal wall; his consciousness had grabbed it!
Try again.
With the initial attempt, the ensuing ones became simpler.
Mo Ling selected a square area in mid-air, and whatever was inside was caught and brought into the metal block.
Water droplets, leaves, branches, soil, stones…
Soon, the already small metal space was filled with various debris.
But that didn’t matter.
Mo Ling used the same method to throw those things out of the space.
Inside, the control was even more fluid.
Then, a bold idea popped into his mind.
“Can I throw myself out too?”
After some attempts, the results disappointed Mo Ling immensely.
Everything separated from his body, like hair and flakes of skin, could be thrown out, but he couldn’t throw himself out.
It was as if he couldn’t select himself when framing.
“This is just a larger cage.”
Like an iron-barred prison, able to see the blue sky outside, but it had nothing to do with him.
In the small field of vision, the endless, repetitive scenes of the rainforest continued.
But at least, he could pass information now.
Mo Ling had a brainwave, transporting a stone from outside inside, then threw it into the air.
The stone fell into a pond below due to gravity.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A solitary metal block beside continued to see the falling stones.
Mo Ling didn’t know how long it had been; when thirsty, he drank some dew; when hungry, he nibbled on worms.
Finally, within this narrow perceptual space, something different happened.
Something was approaching.
Two black-skinned dwarves as tall as the metal block stopped in front of Mo Ling’s cage.
The black-skinned dwarves, wearing ragged grass outfits, were short and frail, with long, pointy ears and sharp, venomous teeth in their mouths.
Their bodies were covered with various totems painted in colorful inks.
They looked like goblins from games, chattering in strange languages.
Mo Ling was shocked, not just because he saw these fantastical creatures with his own eyes.
But, he actually understood them!
