"Woohoo!"
The oak boat was picking up speed on the ice, and Yang Tao couldn't help but cheer, knowing that the boat's characteristics meant he didn't have to worry about flying off.
Eric's face was a little pale; this speed was quite thrilling for him, as he hadn't experienced anything like it before.
Whoosh~
The wooden boat glided over a protruding piece of solid ice on the surface, and with the added speed, it flew high into the air before landing heavily on the ice layer.
Eric felt like his overnight meal was about to come up to greet him, but his strong physique allowed him to maintain his composure.
After sliding down from the glacier, they reached a flat expanse of ice, and Yang Tao controlled the wooden boat, gradually slowing it down.
"How was it, Eric?"
"It was alright, just a bit unaccustomed…"
Eric responded, observing the surroundings with a slightly pale face; he hadn't forgotten his job, carefully looking around and taking photos with his camera.
They glided on the ice for more than ten minutes, but there was no sign of life anywhere.
Suddenly, Eric noticed a patch of yellow appearing on the ice.
"Yang, what's that over there?"
Yang Tao, who was steering the boat with his mind, heard Eric's voice and looked in the direction he pointed; a patch of yellow stood out conspicuously on the white snow.
A beautiful drift and tail whip.
The wooden boat carved a perfect arc on the ice, heading towards that yellow patch.
Soon, Yang Tao saw clearly what the yellow was.
An area of yellow sand, about ten square meters.
"Yang, how can there be yellow sand in this godforsaken place?"
"Eighty percent chance it's an exit, but I don't know where it leads."
Yang Tao stopped the boat not far from the yellow sand, and they both got off the boat, approaching the edge of the yellow sand.
"An exit?"
There was nothing special about the yellow sand; it looked no different from the sand in a desert, the only abnormal thing was its appearance in this godforsaken place.
Yang Tao leaned down and plunged his hand into the hard ice layer, easily prying off a large chunk of solid ice and throwing it into the yellow sand.
The solid ice vanished without a trace the moment it touched the yellow sand.
At this sight, Yang Tao immediately knew his guess was correct, and he turned to Eric, who was recording information, and said, "You go back to the Overworld first. I'll go check it out, and if it's safe, I'll come back for you."
Although Eric also wanted to experience the feeling of switching levels, he was a rational person; he only had one life and didn't need to find shortcuts.
"Then be careful…"
Yang Tao nodded slightly and directly took a few steps forward, entering the yellow sand; the familiar scene transition occurred, and the original world of ice and snow instantly transformed into an endless desert.
The sun hung high in the sky, and the scorching air made it difficult to breathe; on the ground beside him, there was a damp mark, clearly from the solid ice he had just thrown.
However, it had now completely melted into water and seeped into the desert.
'It seems the entrance location is fixed…'
The desert was not entirely empty; there were scattered remnants of many buildings, mostly made of stone or earth.
Yang Tao squinted slightly, looking at the surrounding environment, and soon he saw some figures faintly visible in a ruin not far from his location.
'Desert survival?'
There were no traces of any Entity in the vicinity, at least not within his line of sight; he just didn't know if there were any hidden Entities within those surrounding building ruins.
He summoned the wooden door, and as soon as he opened it, he saw Eric waiting at the entrance, Yang Tao smiled and said, "Come on over, there shouldn't be any danger around."
Eric nodded slightly and stepped through the wooden door into the desert; instantly, Eric felt the scorching air rush towards him.
"Shit!!"
Coming directly from a glacier of minus ten or twenty degrees Celsius to this scorching desert, even a person of steel couldn't endure it.
Eric took out a thermometer from his backpack, and the thermometer rose rapidly as if it had taken a blue pill.
61 degrees…
He stuck it into the ground, and it read, 80 degrees…
These readings made Eric's eyelids twitch.
"In this godforsaken place, without protection, an ordinary person wouldn't last even two hours."
After complaining, Eric took out a black parasol from his storage bag and handed it to Yang Tao.
"You use it, I don't need it."
With that, Yang Tao extended his hand and pointed to the ruins where he had just seen people, saying, "Let's go over there and check it out; I saw people there just now. Let's go ask about the situation first."
Eric nodded slightly and followed Yang Tao towards the ruins: "Yang, based on the temperature and environment here, there's a level that matches this place."
"Where?"
"Level 46: Arabian Desert."
Eric frowned slightly, recalling information about Level 46: Arabian Desert, and explained to Yang Tao:
"Level 46 is an endless desert. The environment here is divided into three types: day, night, and dawn."
"However, Level 46 does not follow a 24-hour day-night cycle. Instead, there is a cycle between these three states, and their changes over time seem to be random."
"According to records, daytime has lasted for 6 months, followed by a year of night, then 3 months of daytime, and then a three-year dawn…"
"Then five months of night, and now it should be in the daytime period, but I don't know how long this daytime will last."
Yang Tao blurted out, "Chaotic Era?"
This time it was Eric who was a bit confused and asked, "What Chaotic Era?"
Yang Tao chuckled twice and said, "Nothing, just reminded me of something."
The term 'Chaotic Era' first appeared in Liu Cixin's science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem." It refers to a period where the three stars of a triple-star system undergo irregular three-body motion, causing irregular changes in day, night, and seasons.
"If I'm not mistaken, the ruins ahead should be an M.E.G. outpost, staffed by members of the 'Desert Rose'."
"It seems you were right."
Yang Tao had already clearly seen the figures standing in the ruins; they were wearing thin clothes, but the M.E.G. emblem on their chests was still very clear.
Seeing this emblem in the Backrooms truly brought a strange sense of familiarity. One can imagine an ordinary Wanderer suddenly arriving in this godforsaken place, thirsty and tired, and then suddenly seeing a group of well-equipped, well-supplied comrades; they would surely be too excited to speak.
The two arrived in front of the ruins and were quickly invited inside by the people within.
As soon as Yang Tao entered, he felt the surrounding temperature decrease significantly. He glanced at the thermometer hanging on Eric, and sure enough, the thermometer was rapidly dropping.
At this moment, a man with a veil over his face came up to him, extended his hand, and said with a resounding voice:
"Mr. Yang, welcome to Desert Rose! My name is Derry!"