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The Electric Wire Twitcher's corpse wasn't of much use to him; after all, he was Steve, not a scientist.
"I wonder what this thing tastes like…"
Just as he was smacking his lips, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Eric walking towards him.
"..."
The door was gone.
"You shouldn't have come out…"
Eric looked at Yang Tao with some confusion and asked, "Why?"
Yang Tao pointed a finger at the yellow wall behind Eric. Eric turned to look and his pupils contracted, finding that where the wooden door should have been was now a smooth yellow wall again.
"The door… the door is gone."
Yang Tao didn't care about this; for him, the space he was in before was not as good as this Level 0. There was an Electric Wire Twitcher here before, and he might even encounter the Dullahan.
"If it's gone, it's gone. Did you get attached to that place after staying there for a while?"
He took out a stone pickaxe from his backpack and walked to the yellow wall, gently tapping it. The thudding sounds echoed through this maze-like space.
Eric didn't forget his duty. Seeing Yang Tao's strange behavior, he stepped forward and asked, "What do you want to do? Do you need my help?"
"No, just follow me. It'd be good if you could chat with me when you have time."
Level 0 belongs to the ultimate liminal space.
Witnessing or entering a liminal space is such an experience; at the critical point between familiar and unfamiliar, it triggers our unease, making you realize that you shouldn't be in this field. They shouldn't exist, and they don't welcome us.
There is also one more thing: theoretically, in Level 0, Wanderers will not encounter other Wanderers.
If Yang Tao lost Eric or he lost himself, they would almost certainly never see each other again.
"You'd better stay close to me. If you're suddenly cut off to another level… then I can only wish you good luck."
Eric nodded slightly. He felt that Yang Tao seemed to know a lot of things. His task was to explore this strange space, and perhaps following this harmless presence in front of him was a good choice.
Cracks appeared on the wall with the striking of the stone pickaxe.
A few seconds later.
With a soft bang, a 1 meter x 1 meter gap appeared on the originally intact wall.
[Normal Wall]
[Value: 1 Energy]
Picking up the dropped block, Yang Tao looked at the prompt on the block with some surprise.
"This… what does 'Value 1' mean? Equivalent exchange?"
However, while he was confused, a new prompt appeared again.
[Energy value can be used to repair tools, return to the Overworld, exchange for one-time teleportation keys, upgrade the Overworld, and other functions.]
"Return to the Overworld?"
As he murmured, a prompt sound appeared in his mind.
[Insufficient energy value. Do you want to recharge?]
The strong flavor of a pay-to-win legend made him a little overwhelmed for a moment.
He glanced at the [Normal Wall] in his hand and silently thought "recharge." The next moment, the block in his hand disappeared.
[Energy Value: 1]
[Repair Tool: 1 Energy Value / 20 Durability]
[Open Teleportation Gate: 10 Energy Value]
[Exchange for One-Time Teleportation Key: 15 Energy Value]
[Upgrade Overworld: 10,000 Energy Value Needed]
"The Overworld, is that the small space I was in before? Can it be transformed into a real Overworld as it upgrades?"
Yang Tao looked again at the walls covered in yellow wallpaper. He had originally thought he would get visual fatigue from looking at them too much, but he suddenly realized these weren't just walls—they were "money"!
In an instant, even the decaying smell in the air became fresh.
Thump thump thump…
Yang Tao tirelessly swung the stone pickaxe in his hand, striking the walls and converting each dropped block into energy value.
Eric looked at Yang Tao, who was inexplicably excited, and was momentarily confused. He silently took out a notebook and a pen from his protective suit and quickly jotted down notes.
[Unknown humanoid creature, no designation yet]
[Possesses the appearance of an Asian male human, approximately twenty-three or twenty-four years old, capable of normal communication, stable mental state (to be determined)]
[Possesses special communication and spatial abilities, able to produce special stone swords, stone axes, and stone pickaxe tools at any time.]
[Capable of using corresponding tools to perform attacks and destructive actions]
[Easily killed a monster]
[Other details still need to be supplemented…]
As time passed, Eric felt the sound of current he heard in his ears grow louder and louder, which caused an inexplicable irritability in his mind.
However, the thudding sound produced by Yang Tao striking the wall gradually alleviated his increasingly suppressed mood.
Grrr…
The feeling of hunger returned in his stomach. If it weren't for this accident, he should have returned to base to enjoy food and rest by now.
"Are you hungry?"
Eric snapped back to reality and looked at Yang Tao, who was standing in front of him without him realizing when.
"I haven't eaten for a long time. The chase by this damned monster was really exhausting."
"Oh, by the way, have you heard anything? It sounds like someone is talking."
Yang Tao sighed.
Because in his sight, Eric's current state was very wrong. His face was pale without a trace of color, but his eyes were the exact opposite. His eyeballs, which originally had only a few bloodshot veins, were now completely red.
Coupled with his recent mention of hearing someone talking, this indicated that his SAN value was constantly decreasing due to the influence of the Backrooms.
SAN is what is called mental power or sanity. When the SAN value drops to 0, people will go mad, lose their sanity, and also attract some special monsters.
In the Backrooms, after human sanity disappears, they will become a special Entity, a Wretch (#15).
"Eric, your current state is a bit off, but I don't have any food here either. We need to find an entrance to Level 1."
Searching for Level 1 wasn't just for Eric, but also for himself. He found that his hunger value, which hadn't dropped for a week, began to decrease after he mined a large number of walls.
"Remember, in Level 0, there's only you and me, and those monsters and Entities. Any other voices are illusions."
Yang Tao silently thought, 'Open the teleportation gate!'
A wooden door appeared out of thin air in front of him. Yang Tao didn't hesitate, placing his hand directly on the doorknob, pushing the door open, and saying to Eric, "Let's go. We should go back and rest for a bit to relieve your mental state."
Eric now only felt his head spinning, and even Yang Tao's voice felt somewhat unclear to him.
However, seeing the appearing wooden door, he subconsciously walked into it. In his subconscious, the inside of the wooden door was a safe place.
As soon as he walked in.
Eric, who felt like he was about to fall asleep, suddenly became incredibly clear-headed.
"What… what happened to me?"
"Nothing, just affected by the Backrooms space."
Yang Tao smiled when he saw Eric recover his clarity. Two people surviving in the Backrooms was always better than one.
"You rest well here and don't move around. I'll go out and find you two oranges!"
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