No, firearms are a bit dangerous.
Melee combat?
Chen felt his physical combat skills weren’t that high.
Well, it seems there aren’t many options left.
“I choose you, Compression Cube!”
First, he gauged the distance to the Smiler, then Chen pulled a square object out of his crotch, activated it in a specific sequence, and threw it hard.
The object Chen threw rapidly expanded into a large metal box upon making contact with the Smiler.
The Smiler was locked inside.
To be precise, it was crushed.
Chen saw that the Smiler had been crushed out of shape.
“Good grief, this compression cube works really well.” After releasing the Smiler, Chen retrieved the now-shrunken compression cube.
This compression cube was like a weaker version of a master ball; the good news was that it could be reused, the bad news was that it could also contain him.
So, one must be cautious when using it.
Looking at the Smiler that had turned into a pile of flesh, Chen fell silent for a moment and decided to go upstairs to search.
Because he wasn’t sure if any camping Entities were lurking, Chen carefully searched every spot in the house.
Very good, no one’s here.
Time for Rat to eat!
After quickly gathering all the useful supplies in the room, Chen moved to the next room.
It was the same familiar routine: quickly clear out the resource point and then move on to the next one.
In about an hour, Chen had scavenged dozens of houses.
Needless to say, he didn’t lack almond water, but he had gathered many more bottles, achieving temporary freedom from want.
He also found quite a lot of other food supplies.
They were a motley assortment, but Chen collected them all; they might be useful later.
In the bedroom of one of the houses, he even found some items that clearly didn’t belong to Level 9.
“Power of the Nine Dragons: After injection, you will become a super muscle warrior, and your stamina and equipment proficiency will briefly become S-rank. The side effect is that your brain will become chaotic, and the top of your head will become pointed.”
This was a syringe-like item Chen found in the bedroom drawer.
As soon as he touched it, it automatically appeared in Chen’s inventory.
It left Chen dumbfounded.
Looking at the effects, it was undoubtedly very strong, but the side effects were also significant.
A pointed head sounded like a super unacceptable change.
Use with caution.
Silently evaluating the item, Chen began to sort through his haul.
He had cleared quite a few resource spawn points; Rat, this knife-running scavenger, was full.
This should be enough to support my long-term exploration.
After tallying his loot, Chen prepared to leave. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Because he was cautious and good at using tools, he hadn’t caused much of a stir, and he hadn’t encountered any of those mini-bosses.
His luck in Level 9 was unexpectedly good; he had only encountered a small number of Smilers, Limb Clusters, Death Moths, and so on.
Chen had avoided or dealt with these without any dangerous incidents.
When luck hits E-rank, things are different; even a guy like me gets to eat well.
Thinking this with satisfaction, Chen began to consider how to evacuate.
A standard evacuation point in Level 9 is to follow the road signs for over a hundred miles, which will lead to Level 11.
However, the downside is that there are dogs (Entities) blocking the evacuation point.
Other evacuation points were difficult to reach or would simply noclip people into even more disgusting levels.
A slightly better “drop-off” evacuation point was to find a sports field and climb into a pipe with an inner window emitting white light.
This would bring you to a level with a Survival Difficulty of Class 3, Level 283.
It seemed the standard evacuation point was safer.
Chen thought so too.
After lying outside the window listening for information and confirming that there were no Entities outside for the moment, Chen quietly went out to the street.
Sure enough, there was a bright road sign on the street.
Well, now he just needed to follow the road.
It seemed the situation was developing in a very harmonious atmosphere.
“Awoo!” A burst of ghost-like howling broke the eerie silence.
Immediately after, four or five crawling creatures with ugly human faces appeared on the road not far away.
It was a pack of Hounds; they seemed to be hunting for prey.
No way, are there Bloodhound-type Entities in The Backrooms?
Chen was speechless.
His backpack only had some low-tier blue and purple items, not even many gold ones—could he really be targeted by bloodhounds for this?
Can’t take it anymore, just blow them up!
Just as Chen was about to do so, he noticed the Hounds suddenly running forward.
It seemed they had found prey.
Hmm?
Isn’t the target me?
Strange.
Out of curiosity, Chen quietly crept forward.
Sure enough, after circling two streets, these Hounds discovered their target.
In the corner of a house, a man and a woman saw the Hounds slowly closing in on them, feeling somewhat desperate.
“Damn it, my flashlight is out of power!” the man said through gritted teeth.
“Brother, mine is out of power too,” the woman said with a helpless tone.
“Damn it, these Hounds have really sharp noses. I only accidentally scratched a small wound a few minutes ago.”
Shaking his head, the man felt his waist and pulled out a pistol.
Because it was a pistol and an emergency shot, the rate of fire and accuracy were quite limited.
After a display of “human-outline drawing” (missing everything), the Hounds didn’t retreat but advanced, continuing to close in.
Chen felt confused seeing this situation.
Because he recognized the woman.
It was Tina, whom he had met before in Level 219.
Logically speaking, she should have successfully evacuated from the Diurnal Art Gallery.
How could she appear here?
Forget it, might as well ask her later.
Watching the Hounds wanting to swarm them, Chen took out his flashlight and quickly shone it at several of the Hounds.
Howls rose and fell.
Most Hounds are photophobic; clearly, these were no exception.
After a few howls, three Hounds retreated two steps, but one of them, after briefly shielding its eyes, actually wanted to advance again.
Oh?
Got guts.
Seeing this light-defying Hound, Chen inwardly praised it and took out the compression cube, throwing it forward.
With a thud, the light-defying Hound was contained with lightning speed.
Seeing their Hound brother sacrifice itself at lightning speed, combined with the continuous suppressive points from Chen’s flashlight, the remaining Hounds fled in defeat, quickly disappearing into the vast night.
Looking at the two who were still shaken, Chen brushed the dust off his body.
After retrieving the compression cube, Chen pulled up the man who was slumped on the ground.
Shaking his hand, the man said gratefully:
“Thanks, brother!
I am Sean from the Wolf Pack Squad under the M.E.G.
5th Investigation Corps.” As he spoke, he pointed to the girl next to him, “This is my little sister, Tina.”
The girl looked at Chen with an indescribable expression.
“Hello, I am an Elite Explorer of M.E.G., Chen.” After casually handing them two bottles of almond water and showing his credentials, Chen said.
“Elite Explorer?!” Brother Ye Chen exclaimed in surprise.
Most Explorers are in the lower three tiers (Trainee, Official, Senior); very few reach Elite Explorer or higher, and they are basically people who have made significant contributions to M.E.G. in exploring the wilderness and new levels.
And this young man in front of him was actually one of them?
Plus, he had just saved the siblings’ lives; thinking of this, Sean was filled with respect.
After his exclamation, just as Sean wanted to say something, he suddenly remembered that the name “Chen” seemed a bit familiar.
Chen…
Chen…
Isn’t this the one his little sister had mentioned to him before?!