I'm trapped in a cube

Jeff raised his head and looked at the source of the fallen leaves.

It was a big tree covered with dead leaves. Because of the decay of the fog on the island, the tree looked a little decayed. Looking at it, it looked like a dead tree.

The fallen leaves fell from that tree.

Jeff told Li Luo that most of the old fishmen in the fishman village did not survive and never woke up. They did not see the warm sunshine, and their memories stayed in the darkness before dawn forever.

The patriarch had been lying on his favorite table and fell asleep forever, just like he used to do when he was tired from reading and took a nap.

The young murlocs were all fine. Apart from being a little dizzy from time to time, there were no bad conditions.

The fish people are also big-hearted and don't think this is something worth being sad about.

They just sat together and discussed what happened to those old fish people.

Jeff also talked nonchalantly to Li Luo about the past of the patriarch.

The patriarch is a very old-fashioned person.

What he likes most is staying in the library, reading all kinds of ancient fish-man books, and looking serious when talking to all the fish-men.

When talking to Jeff, he also kept a straight face and never took any sloppiness in arranging things.

Most of the rules in the village were set by him:

Not allowing fake fishmen to enter the village, maintaining trade with humans, maintaining the excavation of ancient books and parts, and all kinds of strange village rules.

It is obviously just a small fishman village, but the patriarch has formulated many strict rules to control the idle fishmen.

Most fish people are lazy, but they are forced to do many things by the rules of the big clan.

It is precisely because of these rules of the big clan leader that the already chaotic fish-man village can slowly start to operate.

Some murlocs are responsible for digging, some murlocs are responsible for finding food, some murlocs are responsible for construction, and some murlocs are responsible for trading with humans.

Every fishman in the village has been assigned a job by the patriarch.

The murlocs didn't know what the patriarch saw in the ancient murloc books, but the reason why they obeyed the patriarch's orders was because he had an extremely deep understanding of the ancient murloc books.

Every time we encounter a problem, the patriarch can always find a solution.

The only person who can drive this broken ship of the fishmen forward slowly is him.

It's just that the way he drives the broken ship is a bit too rigid.

However, Jeff knew that this rigid patriarch also had a cute side.

Once, Jeff came to the library and saw him holding a human book and looking over it over and over.

Jeff remembered the title of the book, so he talked about it with the captain during a transaction with humans.

"Captain, let me ask you something."

"When did you not ask me something? Just tell me." The captain said nonchalantly while fiddling with the cargo.

"Captain, have you ever heard of a book called "The Complete Book of Jokes"?"

The captain was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Jeff with a surprised expression: "Where did you know that? Did a crew member tell you?"

"No." Jeff shook his head.

Then he was lightly knocked on the head by the captain.

"Don't ask these nonsense questions."

Mess?

Jeff was confused, was the patriarch looking at a mess?

"What is that book about?" Jeff still wanted to know.

The captain scratched his head and thought for a moment before speaking slowly.

"It's about how to make others laugh."

The captain's summary was very brief.

Make others laugh? The patriarch wants to make others laugh? Jeff couldn't imagine that the patriarch would actually look at such a thing.

"Really?" Jeff asked in disbelief.

"Really, jokes are meant to make others laugh." The captain affirmed.

Then Jeff suddenly remembered that the patriarch seemed to have personally practiced the jokes in the book, but none of the fishmen who heard the joke at that time laughed.

He is also one of them.

Jeff remembered that the patriarch was teaching the fish people how to use fishing tools, but many of the fish people were absent-minded and the atmosphere was very dull, so the patriarch asked a strange question.

"Do you know how fish sleep?"

Everyone didn't know why the clan leader asked this, and they all shook their heads.

So the patriarch picked up a freshly caught fish and hit it hard on the head with a stone. Blood and flesh flew everywhere and the fish's eyes fell out.

The patriarch raised the dead fish and said calmly:

"Sleep like this."

After finishing speaking, he looked at everyone expectantly.

Sure enough, the dull atmosphere suddenly eased a lot.

Everyone began to study seriously and was no longer distracted.

"Perhaps the patriarch really wanted to liven up the atmosphere at that time?" Jeff said uncertainly.

…

As he and Li Luo slowly told the story of the patriarch's past, Jeff became increasingly happy and even laughed softly.

But after a while, he seemed to have thought of something again, his laughter stopped suddenly, he lowered his head and looked at the ground silently.

At this moment, a fish-man who looked older was helped over.

Jeff quickly stepped forward, trying to lead the old fishman to the door of the library.

But the old fish man waved his hand.

"Jeff, no need, I'm here to see you."

"Looking for me?" Jeff asked doubtfully.

"Yes, you also know that the position of the clan leader is vacant. The remaining old guys in our village have decided to let you be the clan leader."

"Why?" Jeff was very surprised: "There are so many experienced fishmen in the village, why should I be the one?"

The old fishman shook his head, and he gently raised his hand in front of Jeff. As soon as it was raised above his head, it fell down weakly.

"Did you see it? Although we survived by chance, our ability to control our bodies will be greatly reduced. Such bodies are not strong enough to bear such a heavy responsibility."

He looked at Jeff and asked gently: "Actually, you don't have to worry so much. You just need to do what you have been doing before. The patriarch has made you familiar with these things."

Jeff wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by the old fish man raising his hand.

"No need to say any more, the village has already decided."

"No." Jeff scratched his head: "I don't want to refuse, I just want to ask when I will take office."

Jeff said a little embarrassed.

When the old fish man heard this, he actually laughed.

"Now!"

He looked at Jeff and replied happily.

After that, the old fish man explained a few more things, and then turned to leave, but before he could turn around, he stopped again.

"Jeff, do you know what your name means in fishman language?"

Jeff nodded quickly.

The old fish man also smiled, muttered, turned and left.

Until far away, he was still chanting Jeff's name:

"Hope...hope..."

The old fish man walked far away, stopped, and looked up at the big decaying tree in the village.

A few green new leaves have been hanging on the branches unconsciously.