Data retrieval in progress…
Level 11, “The Endless City”
“Survival Difficulty: Class 1”
Safe
Secure
Minimal Entities
Seeing a human city after such a long time, Chen couldn’t help but feel a sense of daze; it was so realistic.
Level 11 was practically a piece of The Frontrooms brought inside.
The surroundings were buzzing with voices, pedestrians bustling about, and Chen could even see many groups recruiting Newcomers.
“Home-style Hotel accommodation discount! Two nights in a premium room only costs one bottle of almond water or an equivalent item! Wanderers who are short on cash can also apply for free admission to the bungalow!”
“Amber Camp provides free food and lodging for Newcomers!”
“Maltose Market has received a new shipment; come take a look and buy now!”
These solicitations made Chen feel a familiar sense of peace, as if he were back in The Frontrooms.
However, Chen didn’t go to look at these places carefully for the time being; he still needed to find the M.E.G.
Beta Base located near the center of “The Endless City”.
This was the fourth major base of the Explorer General Administration; as for the first three…
he would talk about them if he encountered them later.
Passing through the large crowd, Chen saw someone ahead wearing clothes printed with parrots, shouting:
“Welcome to join F.O.J.! We will provide you with the best environment! The only condition for joining is to touch Jerry once.”
Entity 7 – “Jerry”
A small bird with a resemblance to the hyacinth macaw parrot.
Its habitat is mainly Level 1, but it is occasionally spotted in Level 2.
Can be tamed using sunflower seeds or Almond Water.
Otherwise, it is safest to avoid Jerry at all costs.
Survivors that make physical contact with Jerry will be affected by his “indoctrination abilities”.
This basically makes the victim worship Jerry like a god.
This level is home to Jerry’s “home”, known as level-274, where Jerry and his followers are often found.
Do
Steer clear of Jerry if you cannot tame him
Keep a bottle of almond water or a packet of sunflower seeds if you intend to tame him.
Brace for sudden noclipping if you manage to escape
Don’t
Approach Jerry without the intention of taming him
Speak negatively of Jerry in the presence of his followers
Allow yourself to become indoctrinated by Jerry
An interesting person.
Chen shook his head with a smile; he couldn’t comment on such performance artists.
After bypassing three streets, Chen finally saw a rather imposing building, as well as guards at the entrance armed with live ammunition, with the M.E.G.
logo printed on their chests.
“This is M.E.G. Beta Base. Entry requires registration or showing your Explorer credentials,” the guard said in a serious tone.
“Hello, I am a Wanderer who just clipped into The Backrooms, and I would like to register my identity here,” Chen said politely.
“Alright, security check is here.”
After the guard led Chen through the security check, he kindly pointed out the location of the Explorer identity registration department.
Heading all the way up, Chen turned several corners before arriving at a large hall.
There were many Wanderers in the hall, men and women of all ages, with slightly more foreigners.
These all seemed to be Wanderers who had come to register.
After a long wait, it was finally Chen’s turn.
“Wanderer Chen, which level did you clip in from?” the staff member asked routinely without even lifting their head.
“Uh…”
“?”
Not receiving a response, the staff member raised their head in confusion to take a look.
“Level 0.”
Chen didn’t dare to report that he had clipped in from Level 150.
According to the data, people coming out of Level 150 would be marked by M.E.G.
because there had been cases in the past where people, after having their memories tampered with, joined terrorist organizations and caused serious destruction.
Moreover, those who had their memories tampered with did not really identify with their status as Wanderers.
With an “oh,” the staff member continued to bury their head in registration.
After some relatively simple questioning, and after Chen expressed his desire to become an Explorer of levels in M.E.G., the staff member handed Chen an ID card.
On it was written Chen’s identity information:
“Apprentice Explorer Chen.”
“Go explore more. The results of your exploration will help other Wanderers survive better in The Backrooms. At the same time, the merits accumulated from exploration can also allow you to be promoted, and you will receive better resource provisions.”
The staff member said some perfunctory official words, but she also reminded Chen that exploring levels was not a simple matter and needed to be treated with caution.
Chen agreed and received a portable mobile terminal through his Apprentice Explorer proof of identity.
This was an early smartphone that could connect to the internal M.E.G.
database; it seemed to have been modified inside and required a connection to The Backrooms’ Wi-Fi to be used.
Through the phone, Chen connected to a garbled Wi-Fi named 114514ysxb and logged into the internal M.E.G.
Library.
He checked Level 150 and Level 10 that he had reached before.
The content was similar to what the system gave him, but simpler, and it seemed to be missing a part.
At least he didn’t find specific information about the Corpse Lake, only stating that it was a restricted area for humans and that one should not approach.
It seemed that higher clearance was needed.
After noting this down, Chen casually claimed his Apprentice Explorer supplies, which were a few bottles of almond water and two pieces of fire salt.
It was said that there was bottled lightning (aka Lightning In a Bottle ) in stock, but Apprentice Explorers were not qualified to claim it.
Object 42 – “Lightning In a Bottle”
Bottles containing an electrical current estimated at 1 billion joules.
If broken or opened, the bottles will direct their powerful electric charge toward the nearest conductive object, including the person opening the bottle.
Variant Lightning In a Bottle
Blue Lightning is the most common.
That can be found in backrooms.
Artificial Lightning is created by transferring electricity into a bottle used by other forms of Bottled Lightning.
While not as powerful, it is useful for transferring energy into batteries without them being destroyed.
Black Lightning is a rare form of Bottled Lightning ten times stronger than Blue Lightning, and much more dangerous.
It also has a strange property of being able to repair broken objects.
Slowly leaving the Beta Base, Chen wanted to rest.
After all, he didn’t get a good spawn point at the start and saw a high-risk level, so he was indeed feeling mentally exhausted now.
Right, Chen remembered the Home-style Hotel advertisement he heard earlier; perhaps he could go there to rest.
After finding a very obvious hotel building, the waiter at the entrance led Chen into the Home-style Hotel (No. 2).
The headquarters seemed to be on Level 5; he would explore it if there was a chance in the future.
After spending a bottle of almond water to check into a premium room, Chen finally lay down on the large bed in the hotel.
Eating a bite of the free meal provided by the hotel, Chen felt a deep sense of relaxation.
Refreshing!
It felt like returning to The Frontrooms.
After being full of food and drink, one gets sleepy.
Right, Chen suddenly remembered something.
Previously, exploring the interior of Level 150 had rewarded him with a one-time rollback device.
Taking it out to examine it, he found that this device looked like a proper rectangular body.
It actually looked a bit like a compression cube.
After setting the anchor point on Level 11, Chen took out his phone again to read the data in the library.
Although the system could perform level detection, having sufficient knowledge in his mind always made people feel at ease, and what if there was an emergency?
After reading the introductions to several dead-zone levels, Chen finally fell into a deep sleep.
Due to falling into extreme relaxation, he slept very well, sleeping directly until the sunlight shone on his face.
How peaceful, isn’t it?
Chen’s sense of comfort lasted until he discovered his surroundings.
After crawling out of bed, Chen realized in confusion that this didn’t seem to be the hotel he was staying in.
This was a small bedroom.
Chen’s first reaction was: Can I even clip out just by taking a nap?
My luck is truly terrible.
Where did I clip to this time?
However, it was at least still a room, and it looked quite tidy.
There shouldn’t be any danger, right?
Chen first took out his phone and then discovered that there was Wi-Fi here!
It didn’t seem too bad.
Although the Wi-Fi signal was a bit poor, at least it indicated that this place wasn’t bad.
Because when Chen was looking at the Wi-Fi data before going to sleep, it stated that most levels with Wi-Fi were quite safe.
However, just to be safe, Chen still summoned the system to perform a level detection.