Dead silence.
Outside the metal mountain, the giant Vibrating Beasts came to a standstill, the fleshy masses on their heads ceasing their pulsations.
The tangled balls of limbs stopped twitching, even uncoiling to lie scattered across the ground.
It was as if time had frozen.
The small vehicle drove all the way to the edge of the massive pit.
Nowhere in sight was a single Vibrating Beast moving; the ceaseless vibrations had stopped.
The Vibrating Beasts, which had been fighting tooth and nail to reach the center of the pit, now seemed to have lost their life's purpose.
A few Vibrating Beasts that had been fighting moments ago froze, still locked in combat poses.
A bird-like Vibrating Beast still in the air plummeted to the ground, becoming a statue.
The vehicle stopped outside the pit.
Li Luo aimed her instrument at the motionless Vibrating Beasts, powered on an electronic screen, and began to record her experiences inside the pit.
Mo Ling tried to strip the flesh from a Vibrating Beast, but the wound still healed itself.
He tossed the severed piece of flesh to a conspicuous spot, and Li Luo quickly noticed.
She found the Vibrating Beast with the stripped flesh and aimed her instrument at it.
Nothing had changed; the Vibrating Beasts were simply motionless.
'Have they lost their target?'
'Why aren't they attacking the Block's location?'
Mo Ling had already considered this possibility before teleporting the black horn.
Teleporting it required him to first pull it into the Block, which should have triggered a siege.
But Li Luo clearly didn't understand the principles behind Mo Ling's teleportation.
Mo Ling guessed that Li Luo had expected him to teleport the black horn into her hands so she could grab it and drive off.
Instead, this had happened by a complete fluke.
'It's as if I hid the black horn.'
Mo Ling looked at the black horn on the ground and curiously picked it up.
The moment he touched it, he saw the horn's pure black surface suddenly begin to shift.
It was like a black hole, endlessly falling inward.
It felt as if it could lead somewhere.
'What is this?'
Mo Ling was confused.
'I don't get it.'
He set the black horn down, and the sensation of falling instantly vanished. The horn returned to its pure black state.
Mo Ling decided to teleport the black horn to Li Luo. He'd let her research it first, and if anything went wrong, he could retrieve it instantly.
'Since I can't figure this thing out, I should use the power of a database. After all, there's a human from this world right here.'
Li Luo's face was also filled with confusion.
She was probably wondering where the black horn had gone and why the valley had suddenly fallen into a dead silence.
CLANG!
The sound, like a tin can, drew Li Luo's attention again.
Immediately after, the black horn appeared, sticking out of a tin box. Mo Ling watched it intently, ready to retrieve it at a moment's notice.
Li Luo looked at the black horn, and the confusion on her face slowly turned to joy.
BOOM!
With the appearance of the black horn, the entire valley began to vibrate again, even more violently than before!
Seeing this, Li Luo hurriedly grabbed the black horn.
The instant she touched it, Mo Ling saw that Li Luo, just like him, fell into a daze.
Her eyes widened as she stared straight into the depths of the black hole.
Though she was staring at the object in her hand, her gaze seemed to be fixed on a distant point, as if she had fallen into an uncontrollable trance.
The vibrations in the area grew increasingly violent.
Soon, Vibrating Beasts began to attack.
A crimson creature entered Mo Ling's field of vision.
It was a torrent formed from countless Flesh Slimes, which had gathered into a single mass and were surging forward at incredible speed.
Mo Ling hurriedly tried to strip them away with teleportation, but the process was too slow—it was like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water.
Fortunately, the steep edge of the pit slightly hindered the crimson tide.
But wave after wave surged up from behind, and more and more Flesh Slimes poured in.
They were on the verge of spilling out of the pit.
Massive Vibrating Beasts, carried by the surging torrent, charged forward, waving their limbs as they scrambled upward.
Their sharp limbs hooked onto the edge of the cliff, poised to haul themselves over at any second.
Mo Ling looked anxiously at the Young Lady. 'Let go already!'
But things didn't go as expected. Li Luo was still clutching the black horn.
Though dazed, she seemed to be trying to break free from the strange allure. Then, she suddenly passed out, and the black horn fell to the ground.
Mo Ling quickly retrieved the fallen black horn. He hadn't anticipated this; she'd held it for too long.
And just as expected, the vibrations stopped again.
The once-unstoppable crimson tide seemed to have suddenly lost its power, receding slowly like an ebbing sea.
The giant metal beasts within were no longer thrashing about, but were carried away by the tide, drifting aimlessly into the distance.
Dead silence returned.
Haaaah...
Mo Ling breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the Block could indeed obstruct the perception of those Vibrating Beasts.
He looked over at the Young Lady, who was lying unconscious on the ground. Mo Ling now felt a twinge of regret; he had been too reckless, just tossing out the black horn like that.
'What's going on?'
'Where on earth does this black horn lead?'
After waiting a while, Li Luo still hadn't woken up. Mo Ling had no choice but to pick up the black horn and examine it again.
The pulling sensation returned, drawing Mo Ling's consciousness inward.
This time, Mo Ling didn't resist. He glanced at the unconscious Li Luo, made up his mind, and allowed himself to slide inward along the pitch-black surface.
「...」
'Where is this?'
When Mo Ling came to his senses, he was standing on a bustling city street at night.
'I'm standing?'
Mo Ling felt his perspective was strange, but his mind felt sluggish, as if he had forgotten something.
A thought surfaced in Mo Ling's mind:
He felt he shouldn't be standing. He should be either sitting or lying down.
It wasn't just that strange thought; he didn't recognize this place, either.
Everything felt out of place.
He looked up at skyscrapers that soared out of sight, their surfaces covered in colorful lights that constantly shifted into new patterns.
Aerial tracks crisscrossed between the buildings, with sleek flying cars zipping along them at high speeds.
The building facades were a dizzying array of signs. Flickering projections cast holographic advertisements, where a lifelike woman waved enthusiastically at him.
A futuristic car pulled up to the curb. A robot stepped out, extended a hand, and helped a lavishly dressed noblewoman into the vehicle.
Pedestrians in strange, daring outfits chatted enthusiastically under the bright streetlights.
He took it all in, and the sense of wrongness became overwhelming.
'Who am I? Where am I?'
Mo Ling froze.
Just then, a robot from the sidewalk approached, bowed, and asked in a resonant voice, "Hello, do you need any help?"
Mo Ling tried to speak, but found he couldn't make a sound.
He could only wave his hand at the robot.
'Why can't I speak?'
Mo Ling started to walk down the street, discovering a certain awkwardness in his gait.
'How strange.'
He stopped in front of a cake shop's display window and peered inside.
The glass, reflecting the light from the streetlamps, showed Mo Ling his own reflection.
'A block-person?'
?
He was wearing a messy set of pajamas, and his head was a metal Block. The edge of the Block was a clean line across his neck, with no visible seam or connection.
The Block reflected the lights as he just stood there, dumbfounded.
The instant he saw the Block, the feeling of wrongness in Mo Ling's mind finally shattered his mental fog, and his memories came flooding back.
'Is this the place the black horn brought me?'
Mo Ling's memories had fully returned, but he was still filled with questions.
This unknown city, and this strange new form of his.
He hadn't walked in a long time; no wonder his movements felt clumsy.
And his vision.
Mo Ling's field of view was no longer confined to a cubic space. He was truly seeing things with his own eyes.
Mo Ling looked around curiously, savoring this long-lost freedom.
In the distance, a sign on a magnificent building caught his attention.
"Dawn City Library."