Looking out, it was nothing but an endless ocean with surging, rolling waves, sending a shiver down Chen’s spine.
Fortunately, there was a room right behind him, and Chen quickly climbed into it.
Strangely, the door to this room was quite awkward; it resembled a trapdoor in the ceiling, opening from top to bottom.
And the way Chen entered the room was by climbing from below to above.
Yes, he had to crawl.
Someone had hung a sturdy rope there, which allowed Chen to gain entry inside.
The gravity here seemed a bit off.
Chen closed the door and continued walking inside.
The furniture and facilities here were quite complete, but they were arranged strangely, likely due to the peculiar gravitational field.
Chen also discovered a set of diving equipment inside a nearby coffee table.
It seemed to have been left by a predecessor.
“Sitting” on the sofa, Chen began a level scan; he wanted to see how on earth one was supposed to explore this godforsaken place.
Did he really have to go into the ocean?
Just kidding.
If Chen went into the water, he’d basically be cosplaying Pyke and becoming a drowned spirit.
Level scan in progress…
“Level 7: Thalassophobia.
Survival Difficulty:
Class 4.
Unsafe / Partially Safe.
Unstable / Partially Stable.
Medium Entity Count / Two or more Entities.
Give it up, Wanderer; the ocean is full of Jackie Chans.
This level is divided into two parts: the rooms and the ocean.
The rooms might be safe, but it’s unlikely that Level 7 has any safe rooms.
Only two monsters spawn in the ocean: the Entity of Level 7 and Little One.
If you encounter them, just wait for death.”
What the heck?
Chen looked at the system introduction, completely bewildered.
Ever since the system update, the level descriptions had become increasingly bizarre.
In the beginning, it provided serious, detailed information, but now it was practically speaking in riddles.
However, looking at the system’s scan results, it seemed to be nothing but ocean here.
There were sea monsters in the water, and encountering one meant needing a second life.
The danger level of the rooms was yet to be determined.
Who on earth wrote the description for Level 7?
Chen was furious, wishing he could transform into the Cart Titan and punch the damn system.
After looking it over, Chen concluded: “Explore? Explore my foot. I can’t go into the ocean; I’m never going into the ocean in this lifetime.”
Sitting here blankly for a while, Chen felt it wasn’t solving anything.
Although the system hadn’t refreshed with detailed information about Level 7, Chen remembered that there seemed to be several exits here, one of which was not far from this room.
As long as he walked one hundred and twenty steps west after leaving the room and then dove vertically, there was a high probability of finding an underwater pipe and a door.
Passing through it would lead to Level 9: The Suburbs.
Also, it seemed that if he dove in headfirst and blacked out, he could end up in Level 83.
Level 83 – “The Sunken Submarine”
Survival Difficulty:
Class 0.
Safe.
Secure.
Passive entity.
Consists of a sunken nuclear submarine named the USS Ace of Spades (SSN 744) in the middle of what seems to be an endless ocean.
However, that seemed a bit dangerous.
After thinking about it again, Chen decided to put on the diving equipment he had found and slowly entered the ocean.
A sea breeze blew by, and Chen closed his eyes to enjoy it.
“I know the taste of the sea.”
Slowly wriggling through the water, about 150 meters away from the room, Chen vaguely saw a circular structure beneath the sea.
Is this the entrance?
As he slowly dove, the scene underwater became clearer.
Chen saw a circular platform composed of numerous underwater pipes, and an abrupt wooden door in the center of the platform.
This strange architecture made Chen chuckle.
It wasn’t very clear from where he was, so Chen continued to dive.
At about 100 meters underwater, he saw a terrifying shadow swimming around.
The deep blue underwater environment added a layer of horror.
The object, which looked like both a fish and a human, was swimming extremely fast, but it didn’t seem to have noticed Chen; it was just circling nearby.
After swimming a few more laps, it wiggled its way back to the side of the circular platform he had just seen and lay down.
It seemed to be resting.
It was having a good time, but it had blocked Chen’s path.
Chen’s heart skipped a beat.
Could this be the “Little One” mentioned in the document?
Entity 20: “The Thing on Level 7” aka “Little One”
The combined ferocity and physical prowess of the entity have left the entire rest of the ocean completely uninhabited.
It has shown to limit itself to the Daylight and Twilight Zones, whereas the Thing makes its home in the Midnight Zone and upper Abyss.
Holding his breath and not daring to make any big movements, Chen looked at the Little One before him, and his hands felt itchy again.
Should he “de-materialize” it?
After all, he had a rather unconventional master ball in his hand that could catch an Entity 100% of the time, though it might accidentally kill the Entity in the process.
The “Little One” in front of him should count as an Entity, right?
Thinking of this, Chen’s heart stirred.
Quietly taking out an ice salt grenade, he pulled the pin and dropped it directly above the “Little One.”
The grenade slowly descended, and then it smashed onto the Little One’s head.
Following this was a special effect similar to an Ice-shroom explosion, along with the Little One’s angry cry.
It then suddenly rose, teleporting in front of Chen at a speed he couldn’t react to.
Looking at its hideous appearance, Chen felt his Sanity drop significantly.
And as the Little One opened its bloody mouth, Chen felt like he was going to die again.
Why were his hands so itchy?
However, the scene of his head falling off that he had imagined didn’t happen.
Chen saw the Little One smear an unknown substance on its mouth, and then he heard strange Chinese.
The accent was a bit strange, and it said angrily:
“Hey buddy, are you the only one swimming in this ocean? You got that damn ice salt grenade all over my face!”
???
Chen seriously suspected he had misheard, or even wondered if he was still in the residential area of the M.E.G.
Base and hadn’t woken up yet.
After a moment of silence, he tentatively spoke:
“Brother, look at how this turned out. I really didn’t mean it. How about this, I’ll give you these royal rations as an apology.”
After speaking, Chen quickly pulled out the white gelatinous jelly.
According to the system, this stuff was delicious.
Upon hearing this, the Little One suddenly rubbed the back of its head: “Oh my, since you’ve called me brother, what more is there to say? We’re all buddies, no worries.”
After saying that, it scratched its head again, “Little brother, you look like an Explorer to me.”
Chen was shocked.
Wasn’t the intelligence of this Little One a bit too high?
Just as he was wondering how the Little One knew, it seemed to read Chen’s thoughts and waved its hand: “Explorers? I eat them all the time.”
???
So you were just pulling my leg?
After all this, I’m still going to die.
However, the Little One added: “Don’t worry, I’m full today; I don’t need you.”
Then, the Little One seemed to notice that Chen wanted to go to the wooden door below and asked if he wanted to enter it.
Chen was silent for a long time, then nodded.
The Little One then said that since they were buddies, it had to give him a lift.
Huh?
And then it literally gave Chen a ride, taking him to the wooden door.
“Brother, I’m going now?” Chen asked with an awkward expression.
“Don’t worry, little brother. Explorers are guaranteed to be eaten once they go inside,” the Little One said confidently.
…
Chen pushed open the wooden door, feeling somewhat speechless, and heard the system prompt:
“Warning: Entering this will lead to Level 9: The Suburbs.”