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"Upgrade!"
As Yang Tao's words fell, 160,000 energy points instantly vanished.
"Keep upgrading!"
Another 320,000 energy points were cleared, and the mist that had always covered the Overworld's sky now dissipated, replaced by a square orange sun.
"It's like going back to square one; all the energy points I saved for so long were cleared in one go…"
Yang Tao looked up at the blocky sun hanging in the sky; he finally felt like he was in Minecraft.
Even though it was a Superflat world.
"Now there should be diamonds and Redstone underground…"
He needed a considerable amount of Redstone to craft the Block Breaker from his arbitrary creations. As the name suggests, the Block Breaker would destroy blocks in front of it. If there was a storage container behind it, the dropped items would go into the container; otherwise, they would drop directly onto the ground.
For Yang Tao, it wasn't that complicated. He only needed to make a simple piston-driven forward-moving device, and the rest would just involve assigning a Villager to follow behind, carrying an Sophisticated Backpack to pick up items.
With this alternative 'tunnel boring machine' device, the speed of collecting energy points would definitely increase several, even dozens, of times.
Level 0: Am I free??
The crafting materials for the Block Breaker were simple: just cobblestone, an Iron Pickaxe, and a Redstone Torch.
Simple, durable, and powerful!
…
Two days later.
Inside Backrooms Level 0, an Asian woman dressed in black yoga attire walked through the beige space with a look of despair.
She had been in this cursed place for a long time, let alone finding a way out.
It could be said that apart from the buzzing of electricity and her own breathing, even her footsteps were absorbed by the damp carpet beneath her feet.
Huff… Huff…
Her exhausted body made her collapse onto the ground. Tears? Her tears had long since dried up; she didn't even have the strength to speak now.
Leaning against the wall.
Despair filled her eyes.
Thump thump thump thump…
'What's that sound… Is it my imagination?'
Thump thump thump…
A look of astonishment appeared on the woman's face. She stretched out her hand, propped herself up, and stared at the wall behind her.
Thump thump thump…
She finally confirmed that she wasn't hallucinating; the sound was coming from the wall behind her.
The sound grew closer and closer.
In just a few minutes, the sound had become incredibly clear.
"What's… what's behind me?"
The thumping sound was like someone tapping a table with their fingers, but now each tap felt like it was hitting her heart.
The tapping stopped, and she wasn't surprised, as there was always a two- or three-second interval after each series of taps.
Suddenly, the sound resumed, and at the same time, cracks made of small black squares appeared on the wall in front of her. The entire wall was covered in dense cracks, enough to make someone with trypophobia faint on the spot.
But before she could even make a sound—
"Ah~"
An extremely sharp shriek came from a distance. The woman's body trembled slightly, and she turned her head to look towards the sound. Unbeknownst to her, a completely black monster, seemingly made of electrical wires, had appeared in a room a hundred meters away from her.
The creature was now opening its trumpet-like mouth, waving its slender limbs, and rushing towards her.
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed directly onto the damp carpet.
"Mon… monster…"
She had no strength left to run, and even her voice was incredibly hoarse.
The tapping sound disappeared.
However, she didn't notice this, because in her line of sight, the black monster had already reached her.
She finally saw the monster clearly: a body as thick as a wrist, struggling to support a basketball-sized head, and tentacle-like arms reaching out to her. With no other choice, she could only despairingly close her eyes.
Pfft…
A faint sound rang out, and the monster's scream abruptly stopped. She cautiously opened her eyes and saw the headless monster falling towards her.
Beside it, a 'door-panel' sized saber, thicker than her waist, stood upright in front of her. The 'monster's' head rolled twice on the damp carpet and then became completely still.
This scene left her mind blank; she didn't even pay attention to the 'monster's' corpse so close to her.
She just stared blankly at the incredibly sharp 'door-panel'.
The next moment, the 'door-panel' disappeared from her sight, and at the same time, a shadow covered her body. Collapsed on the ground, she looked up and only saw a pair of crimson glowing eyes before her own eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
…
"Brave One, Villager number three found a human!"
Yang Tao, who was holding a Digimon and checking the operation of the 'tunnel boring machine', looked up in confusion when he heard the Villager's report: "A human?"
He hadn't expected to find a wild human in Level 0. According to Level 0's isolation effect, it was impossible for two humans to meet in Level 0.
Originally, he thought that he and Eric being able to explore Level 0 together at the beginning was because they started together.
But now it seemed.
Level 0 apparently didn't consider him human at all…
"Where is he?"
"He was carried back."
What the Villager meant by 'back' was the Overworld. Yang Tao nodded slightly at this, glanced at the 'tunnel boring machine', and said, "Okay, I understand. You go back to your work."
The Villager nodded gently and turned to leave.
'Now that the collection speed has increased, and we're starting to pick up people… It seems it's time to contact the M.E.G.'
His place wasn't a containment facility. Without special abilities, staying with him would only make them mascots. It would be better to send them to the M.E.G. so they could contribute to humanity in the Backrooms.
Yang Tao took out a new car steel frame from his backpack. Although called a car frame structure, it was actually extremely simple, even crude.
Apart from an office chair picked up from Level 4 in the very center, there was only a simple electric vehicle system.
A steering wheel, four tires, a motor, and a large battery.
He took out the Block Breaker from his backpack, stood in front of the frame, and assembled each Block Breaker onto the frame.
Soon, a new type of tunnel boring machine, fully equipped with Block Breakers, appeared in Level 0. This extremely illogical structure showed no signs of tipping over; the Block Breakers, once installed on the frame, seemed to become weightless.
Yang Tao nodded in satisfaction. After more than ten tests and improvements, this 'tunnel boring machine' could now be said to be very mature.
He stretched out his hand, summoned a wooden door, and shouted inside: "Come, Driver!"
"Me, me!"
"Brave One, I was born to be a driver!"
"I am."
Yang Tao glanced around and then pointed to the Villager at the very front, saying, "you!"
The selected Villager immediately ran excitedly to Yang Tao's side, looking at him eagerly.
Yang Tao smiled, took a Golden Sophisticated Backpack from his backpack, and handed it to the Villager, saying, "Pay attention to your surroundings. If you encounter danger, come back immediately, understood?"
"Understood!"
He waved towards the door, and two Mutated Iron Golems, their bodies covered in blue patterns, carrying a door-sized chopping blade made of Manyullyn material, came through the wooden door from the Overworld to his side.
Mutated Iron Golem
Health 220 / 220
The blue patterns indicated that the Mutated Iron Golem's body contained Cobalt Ore from the tinkers' construct mod. This not only increased the Iron Golem's offensive and defensive power but also gave the Iron Golem the 'Lightweight' property of Cobalt Ore.
"You two, protect him well."
The two Iron Golems nodded, following the Villager one on each side.
Yang Tao nodded gently and turned to return to the Overworld; he wanted to see which unlucky soul had fallen into the Backrooms.
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