Chen’s heart was beating very fast.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
The overly rapid heartbeat also made Chen feel a slight sense of oxygen deprivation.
Deep breaths, deep breaths…
After slowly adjusting his breathing, Chen began to think of a strategy.
Because he could clearly hear the monster standing still right outside his door.
That low, guttural wheezing sound made Chen imagine Wildmutt from Ben 10 (a large, eyeless canine alien).
He had no doubt that this monster was currently eyeing the white safety door covetously, drooling, waiting for him to come out.
He had been careless this time; the assimilation rate trick was too underhanded.
Chen hadn’t calculated that this thing would screw him over at a critical moment.
Looking at the joint of his left hand, there was no flesh hanging there anymore; it had become a skeletal arm.
But Chen didn’t feel anything unusual.
“Damn, am I about to turn into a skeleton soldier?”
Although the damn system said that an increase in assimilation rate wouldn’t cause anything to happen, he was now almost changing classes into a skeleton soldier; his race was even about to change.
After cursing the system under his breath, he leaned against the safety door and silently chanted in his heart: “System, system, do I still have a way to live?”
There was no response.
“Hmm?”
“System, check current status.”
Still no response.
“No way, did the system disappear?”
Hurriedly looking at the control panel, Chen discovered that the system was still usable, but there was no sound.
“No way, did the system fall asleep?”
Gazing at the situation below the balcony, Chen made a move to jump down, receiving a system prompt:
“Warning, jumping down will enter a special zone: The Void.”
“The Void?”
It sounded like a super terrifying place; it felt like if you gathered seven people, you could summon a dragon.
“System, where is The Void?”
No response.
Chen finally understood that the system had returned to its previous state as an ownerless tool.
But why?
He couldn’t figure it out.
Listening to the movement outside again, there was no sound now, but Chen felt that this jerk was blocking the door.
Once he went out, he would be bitten frantically and turned directly into a pile of minced meat.
Checking the system inventory again, he found that the almond water column was still gray, but items like the compression cube and weapons had returned to a retrievable state at some unknown time.
“Oh?”
With a thought, a metal cube quietly appeared in Chen’s hand.
“It really works!”
Before Chen could be happy for long, he remembered that the note said the monster could not be defeated.
“Wow, I’m really tired. Fourteen pieces of meat is so much. Can I just cut off a few chunks of my own to make up the number…” Chen complained casually, and then he realized something. New chapters come out on novelping . com first.
Taking out the piece of meat collected in his backpack, Chen examined it carefully; it was still bright red meat wrapped in yellow fat.
That was it; it was indeed human flesh.
Chen had felt strange the first time he saw this piece of meat, and just now he remembered, isn’t this damn thing human flesh?
Could it be that letting me cut my own flesh is also a way to pass the level?
Calculating the size of that piece of meat in his mind and whether cutting himself 13 times would turn him directly into Peking roast duck, Chen still gave up on this dangerous idea.
Cutting slices of his own flesh sounded just too disgusting.
But he couldn’t go out now, and Chen was out of ideas.
Taking out the Consequential Cube to fiddle with it, the Rubik’s Cube was still a single whole, which meant Chen was still in the range of Level 14.
Before, when the damn system asked him to take out the Consequential Cube, the Consequential Cube could actually rotate, so Chen felt there must be something to it.
He looked through everything that could be taken out of the system inventory.
Except for food, Chen could take out everything else.
“Do you dare let me take out the almond water? Are you taking the bet? If I can’t take it out, Old Feng from the Field Hospital will fly away directly.”
Muttering unknown words, Chen found a comfortable position and lay down.
At this point, he might as well sleep first.
Chen was truly out of ideas; he used his backpack as a pillow and transformed himself into the King of Sleep.
A gust of cold wind blew, and Chen shivered.
It seemed a bit cold.
Forget it, good night for now.
Chen forced himself to fall asleep.
It was strange to say, but the moment Chen’s head touched the backpack, he was fast asleep the next second.
…
“Where is this?”
Chen’s eyes suddenly opened, and looking at the situation in front of him, he let out a confused cry.
In front of him was a single room with white walls all around, a chandelier on the ceiling, and a white door to his left; other than that, there was nothing.
Where did he end up this time?
Chen remembered he was sleeping on the balcony outside the safety door, right?
Could it be like last time, where he fell into a dead zone while sleeping?
Trying to bump into the wall, Chen discovered with horror that it didn’t hurt.
Is there a problem with the level, or is there a problem with me?
No, after thinking for a moment, Chen thought of another possibility.
Chen slapped his own handsome face hard, but the pain he imagined didn’t come.
That was it.
Chen realized he was dreaming.
But he was very clear-headed right now, clear-headed enough to take a college entrance exam.
Could it be a lucid dream?
“Stop guessing blindly; you are in a dream.” The system’s voice came through.
The system’s voice could now be heard with rich emotions, even though it was a cold, electronic sound at the very beginning.
Chen just wanted to make a couple of snarky comments about whether the system had reached puberty, but the damn system seemed to know what he was going to say and interrupted him in advance:
“Don’t worry about this or that for now, I have to tell you something serious.”
“What is it? Did I sleepwalk into The Void?”
The system let out a long, drawn-out syllable.
“No way, I really fell in? Wow, I’m really tired.” Chen was speechless; did he fall while dreaming?
“No, but the situation is a bit worse than that.”
“Is there anything worse than me falling into The Void?”
“Yes.”
“What the?”
The system paused and let Chen look at the surrounding environment.
“Do you know where this is?” the system asked.
“Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?”
“Mickey Mouse my foot, this damn place is Level 363, you cheated.”
“What the hell?” Chen was completely confused.
“The story has to start from when I helped you unlock the items in the system inventory.”
Then the system began to tell Chen that after Chen failed to pull out items from the system inventory, the system felt strange; was there actually a rule that could override the system?
Then it tried to secretly unlock the restrictions on the system inventory items, but it ended up being caught by the will of Level 363.
“Level 363, this level is the overseer level of The Backrooms; it monitors all deviant behaviors in The Backrooms.”
“Overseer?” Chen immediately thought of a certain 1v4 asymmetrical competitive game.
The system continued to explain:
“Whether you are clipping in or out, using teleportation items, or exploiting bugs in The Backrooms, these behaviors will all be judged as violations, and it is possible to be caught and brought into Level 363.”
“As you can see, Level 363 is a room with nothing in it. All methods of clipping out will fail here. Once you enter, you will be trapped here for a lifetime, sentenced directly to permanent imprisonment.”
After the system finished speaking, it paused:
“My system, as an outsider, originally avoided the detection of the Level 363 will for some reason, but the previous attempt to violate the rules of The Backrooms was detected.”
“You mean I also have to be trapped here for a lifetime?” Chen was speechless.
He wondered if committing suicide here would teleport him back to Level 11.
Seeing through Chen’s thoughts, the system ruthlessly told Chen that it wouldn’t work; the use of disposable backtracking devices was prohibited here.
It was over.
Chen spread his hands and simply expressed that he was tired.
“Don’t be anxious yet. Because I reacted quickly and stopped in time, the 363 will didn’t lock onto me immediately, but I also have to be honest for a while; I can’t be discovered by it again in the short term.”
Chen understood; it meant the system was courting death, and now it had messed up and been caught by the overseer, so now it had to play dead to lie low.
“Then how come the other modules of my system are still usable?”
“Those are functions independent of my consciousness and won’t be discovered by 363,” the system said confidently.
“In short, you mean you want to play dead for a while and let me fend for myself, right?” Chen looked speechless.