Level 28: Bunker Springs
Despite being a hot spring, the air inside the cave was surprisingly dry. Yang Tao and Eric soaked in the pool, enjoying the comfortable leisure time.
"Eric, how's your notebook coming along?"
"I'm adding new information every day, but some Backrooms levels keep changing, so I need to investigate them in person, which is quite time-consuming."
Eric submerged his entire body into the hot spring, leaving only his head visible. His expression was a bit helpless but showed no sign of disappointment.
"I feel like this diary of mine might not be finished until the day I die..."
Yang Tao chuckled upon hearing this, "As long as you diligently record, perhaps your diary will improve again and become a guide with accurate information."
"By then, no matter who gets the diary, they'll be able to survive better in the Backrooms."
With that, Yang Tao stood up from the Bunker Springs and said to Eric, "You can't soak in this Bunker Springs for too long. I'm leaving first; you should head back soon too."
Eric looked at Yang Tao's retreating figure and nodded slightly.
Summoning a wooden door, Yang Tao, instantly dressed, returned to the Overworld. He smiled and nodded at the M.E.G. staff maintaining order at the transfer station, then walked directly outside.
Arriving before a wooden door with no sign hanging on it, Yang Tao muttered to himself, "Let it be a normal world... let it be a normal world."
He reached out and pushed open the wooden door.
An abandoned gas station appeared behind the wooden door. Yang Tao stepped out and gazed at the dilapidated city in the distance.
The surroundings were desolate, with no signs of life.
Sparse green plants grew on the barren land, giving him a sense of the American West.
However, the Chinese characters on the abandoned gas station left him utterly confused.
"Is this a post-nuclear world? Radiation? Cyberpunk 2077? Or just a pure apocalypse?"
Yang Tao walked inside the gas station, hoping to find some useful information. In the dark room, various sundries were scattered everywhere, the once neat shelves were now askew, and only a few goods remained on them.
Yang Tao reached out and picked up a can of cola, glancing at the date on it.
2016.3.12
"2016?"
A black clock appeared in Yang Tao's hand, but it quickly turned golden, though its hands were spinning madly backward.
He then took out a dark matter pedestal, placed it on the ground, and put the Watch of Flowing Time on it.
He inserted Acceleration Torches beside it, specifically ensuring that only the Watch of Flowing Time was accelerated.
One, two, three...
13 × 4 × 4 × 4...
After finishing all this, Yang Tao walked to a chair behind the counter and sat down. He took out an unopened pack of cigarettes from the counter, then a smile appeared on his face as he quipped, "A gas station selling cigarettes, this is a strong alliance between oil and tobacco, the two big players..."
He tore open the package, pulled out a cigarette, felt in his pocket, and took out a lighter. With a click, an orange-yellow flame emerged.
He took a puff.
No green particle effects appeared from his body. He now possessed 'Bezoar,' immune to all poisoning effects below the rule level.
A mere cigarette was naturally nothing to him.
Time passed minute by minute.
A few minutes later, the originally messy room suddenly changed. The shelves, which had been toppled over, were rearranged by the power of time, and the sundries scattered on the ground floated into the air.
Yang Tao got up and walked out from behind the counter, putting the Watch of Flowing Time and Acceleration Torches into his backpack.
"More than 4 minutes... so this disaster only happened a month ago?"
He picked up a can of cola from the counter and opened the tab. Regardless of whether time had flowed backward or not, the cola hadn't expired.
"Warm cola is damn hard to drink..."
Yang Tao squeezed the cola can in his hand flat and then threw it into the trash can in the room. Looking at the shelves in the room, a thought suddenly popped into his mind: 'If no disaster had struck, opening a supermarket would actually be quite nice...'
Just then, the sound of an engine came from outside the door. Yang Tao walked to the doorway and looked out. In the distance, a motorcycle was driving on the empty road.
[World Exploration Value 0.6221%]
Huh, is it a plot character?
But the exploration value given is too little, isn't it? Could it be an insignificant cannon fodder?
The other party wasn't driving the motorcycle fast. After two minutes, the other party slowly stopped at the entrance of the gas station.
The person riding the motorcycle was a woman, a tall, beautiful woman with a poker face and a cold demeanor. Her long, wine-red hair added a touch of exoticism to her.
She wore black jeans and a red leather jacket, looking like someone not to be trifled with.
In reality, she was indeed not to be trifled with.
HP 200 / 200 (32100 / 32100)
The other party looked like an ordinary human female, but unexpectedly possessed such powerful strength.
"What's with this HP display? Is the first number current HP? Is the number in parentheses her true strength?"
The other party parked the motorcycle next to the gas pump, then opened the fuel tank cap and inserted the nozzle.
Then she looked at Yang Tao.
"Why are you here? Why didn't you evacuate with the main group?"
"I just arrived a while ago and haven't figured out the situation yet."
Yang Tao was truly helpless; he was telling the truth. He didn't even know where he was right now.
"Where is the main group you mentioned? I'll go check it out later."
"I'm also going to find the main group later. I'll take you there after I fill up."
The other party walked directly past Yang Tao and into the gas station's convenience store. Seeing the neat and clean shelves, she frowned slightly.
Given the dilapidated state outside, the inside shouldn't look like this.
"Did you clean this up?"
"Sort of. It was messy and a bit dirty before, so I tidied it up casually. By the way, my name is Yang Tao. What's your name?"
"You can call me Qiangwei."
Yang Tao nodded slightly, then saw the other party reach out and lightly brush the shelf. A spatial wormhole appeared, and all the intact goods on the shelf were loaded into it.
"Spatial ability?!"
This move truly astonished Yang Tao. He hadn't expected a random 'cannon fodder' to possess spatial ability.
This meant that the HP above the other party's head had to be recalculated. This was definitely a burst damage dealer; even an existence with over ten thousand HP could be instantly killed by the other party's spatial ability.
"That's right, it's spatial ability. Let's go. We need to find the main group as soon as possible so you can be safer."
With that, Qiangwei walked out of the room without looking back. Yang Tao watched her retreating figure with a smile on his face.
'It seems this world is quite interesting...'