Level 1 — "The Habitable Zone"Survival Difficulty: 1 — Safe, Stable, Minimal Entities
Level 1 stretches as an immense, seemingly boundless warehouse, its floors and walls cast from cold concrete, with skeletal rebar jutting through in places. A strange, sourceless fog lingers low in the air, and shallow puddles glisten across the ground, formed by the condensation of that mist.
Yang Tao rose from one such puddle, and within seconds the water soaking his clothes had evaporated, leaving his garments perfectly dry once more.
He glanced at the puddle—barely a centimeter or two deep—and chuckled."So this counts as a landing pool?"
In Minecraft, no matter how great the height, so long as water lies beneath one's feet at the moment of impact, all fall damage is nullified.
"A bit ridiculous… but I won't complain."
Surveying his surroundings, he found Level 1 starkly different from Level 0. Here, a steady supply of both water and electricity pulsed through the endless halls. With suitable precautions, wanderers could live here indefinitely. Stairwells, elevators, isolated chambers, and sprawling corridors branched in every direction.
It was then that his gaze caught a shelf pressed against a distant wall. Resting upon it was a single cardboard box. He studied it cautiously—no markings, no strange signs, no aura of threat. Just a plain, ordinary carton.
After a moment's thought, Yang Tao decided it was wiser to return to the "Overworld" first, to summon Eric and set him to guard the doorway. After all, stumbling upon Level 1 only to die and respawn back in Level 0 would mean half a day squandered.
"Home!"
At his command, a mosaic of pixels knitted itself into the shape of a wooden door before him. He pushed it open, stepping back into the pocket space.
Eric turned sharply at the sound, his eyes widening as he beheld Yang Tao.
"How are you feeling?" Yang Tao asked with a smile, noting the color that had returned to Eric's face.
"I'm fine—just a little hungry. But… did you just come from another level?"
Yang Tao nodded. "Yes. I found Level 1."
The moment he returned to the pocket space, both his health and hunger surged back to full. Here, in this [Overworld], he seemed to exist within a perpetual [Peaceful Mode].
"Level 1?" Eric's face clouded with confusion, his bafflement now turning upon Yang Tao.
"You don't know what Level 1 is? Then how did you claim to be from Level 0? What organization do you belong to?"
Yang Tao had assumed Eric was part of the consolidated M.E.G., yet now it seemed otherwise.
Flustered, Eric hurried to explain: "I work for A-Sync. I was hired to explore the Backrooms. Through graffiti left on walls and fragments of abandoned notes, we identified our location as Level 0. The researchers suspected there might be other numbered zones, but nothing was ever proven."
The revelation left Yang Tao unsettled.
M.E.G.—the Major Explorer Group—was a coalition formed by wanderers trapped in the Backrooms, a self-made refuge of knowledge and aid. A-Sync, however, was a corporation from reality itself, whose failed experiment had torn open the first doorway into this realm.
When the company's executives learned of Level 0, with its terrain vast as multiples of Earth itself, their first notion was to exploit it for real estate development. That decision birthed countless calamities in its wake.
"This place really is a mess…"
Not that it mattered much to him. All Yang Tao wanted was to mine resources, trade them for energy, and eventually find his way back to the [Frontrooms]. Nothing more.
The Backrooms are infinite… A little harvesting won't tip the scales. Probably. Hopefully.
"Eric, keep this door open for me. I'm going back to explore Level 1."
Though weak with hunger, Eric managed a nod and pulled himself to his feet, steady enough to hold the door.
Yang Tao turned—only to halt in surprise. Two wooden doors now stood upon the wall.
"…"
Don't tell me every level manifests its own door…
He pictured the wall crammed with endless rows of wooden doors, stretching into absurdity. Testing the handles, he found one opened to Level 1, the other to Level 0, just as he suspected.
"This will make traveling between levels… a lot simpler."
Eric, still stunned, scribbled the sight into memory. He had never seen a door spontaneously appear before—and from Yang Tao's reaction, neither had he. This would need to be recorded.
Obediently, Eric moved to stand beside the door to keep it from closing, while his eyes roved across the alien warehouse beyond.
Meanwhile, Yang Tao strode to the shelf and pried open the box. Inside lay a meager collection: two gray thermos flasks, a flashlight, and a slice of cake that smelled far too pleasant to belong here.
Without hesitation, he packed everything away into his inventory, only to pause mid-step. Turning back, he drew his stone pickaxe and struck the shelf.
"Almost forgot about you."
In Minecraft, even useless blocks were worth collecting—otherwise, one was no true Steve.
The steel shuddered under each blow. Cracks spiderwebbed slowly across its surface, far more stubborn than the walls of Level 0. At last, with a sharp crack, the entire structure shrank into a palm-sized cube and flew neatly into his body.
Satisfied, Yang Tao left. Eric shut the door behind him at once.
Only then did Yang Tao pull up his inventory to examine the spoils:
[Gray Almond Water]Restores 10 HungerAdds 10 SatietyValue: 20 Energy
[Flashlight]Value: 1 Energy
[Delicious Cake]Value: 1 Energy
[Metal Shelf]Value: 2 Energy
"Gray Almond Water can restore hunger?"
Almond Water was one of the Backrooms' most ubiquitous and vital resources—scarce, invaluable, and endlessly sought after. It sustained wanderers across countless levels.
To date, four varieties had been discovered, distinguished by the colors of their containers: gray, red, blue, and green. Each carried unique properties.
A single bottle held enough energy to provide 600–700 calories, sustaining an adult for a day with as few as three servings.
"Eric—catch!"
He tossed a flask across the room. Eric fumbled, but managed to snatch it from the air.
"What is this?"
Level 0, barren of natural resources, had never offered him such a thing.
"Almond Water," Yang Tao explained with a grin, pulling out the slice of cake and tasting it. "It fuels the body, restores mental strength, and serves as hard currency in the Backrooms."
"As for the flavor—try it yourself."
Almond Water's uses were many: nourishment, defense against entities, even as a means of taming them.