The irritating hum of the incandescent lights filled the air as Subaru observed his surroundings.
The entire space gave him an extremely unsettling feeling, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly why.
"You can get stronger here?"
"Of course, but you need to be careful about some things."
Subaru, with the unique innocence of an 18-year-old, looked at Yang Tao and asked, "What things? Is it dangerous here?"
"Of course, how can you train without danger?"
Yang Tao looked forward and explained with a smile, "Dehydration, hunger, sensory deprivation, and psychological trauma caused by loneliness can all kill you here."
"And there are also monsters in this level."
Subaru felt that something was amiss, and his expression became solemn: "What kind of monsters? Can they be killed?"
"Yes, but I think it's a bit difficult with your current strength. Alright, now prepare to run for your life! Remember, change is a good thing."
With that, Yang Tao instantly turned invisible.
Subaru looked at the spot where Yang Tao had just been standing, and he felt completely distraught.
"Hey, Yang Tao, you're just leaving like that???"
Just then, a miraculous roar echoed, and Subaru quickly tightened his grip on the short sword in his hand, looking in the direction of the sound.
A humanoid creature, seemingly composed of black Electric Wire Twitcher, was now rushing towards him, its slender legs flailing wildly.
"!!!"
"What kind of monster is that?!"
Cold sweat immediately broke out on Subaru's back, and without another word, he turned and ran.
The characteristic of Backrooms monsters is their terrifying nature; even the simplest Electric Wire Twitcher can make one feel uncomfortable.
This is humanity's instinctive fear of the unknown.
Subaru quickly discovered the Electric Wire Twitcher's weakness.
'This monster is relatively slow… I can shake it off!'
His feet, treading on the unknown carpet, accelerated again. Subaru forced himself to calm down and carefully observed his surroundings, but he soon realized it was pointless.
The spaces here were all similar, so remembering them was useless.
However, the good news was that the sound of the monster behind him gradually diminished until it disappeared.
Subaru slowed his pace, confirmed that the monster hadn't caught up, and then leaned on his knees, panting heavily.
"Bastard..."
After a low curse, Subaru straightened up. The electrical hum from the incandescent lights around him made him incredibly irritable; he could only constantly tell himself to calm down.
"What in the world is this place?"
Walking to the wall, he reached out and touched the pale yellow wallpaper. Suddenly, he heard a peculiar tapping sound.
'Is there something behind the wall?'
Subaru pressed his head against the wall; he wanted to hear the sound from the other side. Yang Tao, who was invisible, sighed at this.
He took out a wand from his backpack, preparing to revive Subaru.
'Here… curiosity really kills the cat.'
Just as this thought arose in Yang Tao's mind, who was watching the show.
A dark gray hand reached out from within the wall and directly grabbed Subaru's arm.
"Damn it..."
Subaru wanted to struggle, but the other party gave him no chance.
It pulled his body directly into the wall, and a powerful crushing force came. After passing through the wall, Subaru's body was as broken and tattered as an old rag doll.
Looking at the tall, gray humanoid creature, Subaru's face showed pain and terror. The creature had no facial features but possessed extremely long arms.
'Not dead?'
Yang Tao appeared and directly struck the head of this 'The Duller' with his wand, a one-hit kill. The victim didn't say a word.
"Life Sanctuary."
Subaru, who was originally severely injured and on the verge of death, immediately became lively and energetic under the effect of the Life Sanctuary.
The effect was truly immediate.
Yang Tao looked at Subaru, who was lying on the carpet, unable to recover for a long time, and walked over with a smile, kicking his body: "Hey, you're not giving up, are you?"
Hearing Yang Tao's words, Subaru's eyes finally focused. After recovering, he looked at Yang Tao and said with some collapse, "What... what in the world is this place?! Why are there such strange monsters?"
The fear of impending death and the pain of injury made Subaru somewhat distraught.
Yang Tao, however, smiled brightly at his current reaction.
"Subaru, this is reality. I think after being ambushed by this the Duller this time, you will definitely become more cautious."
"This is also why I brought you here. However, I am here to train you, not to watch you die in various ways... So, I'll deprive you of 50% of your pain perception."
Yang Tao stretched out his hand and extracted something from Subaru's body.
"Oh, and your 'Return by Death' ability doesn't work here. It's like your currency in your original country; you can't spend it in another world."
With that, Yang Tao became invisible again.
His disappearance made Subaru momentarily lost in thought. Recalling Yang Tao's words, he propped himself up from the ground, picked up the iron sword that had fallen beside him, and his previously fearful eyes became firm again.
He reached out and clasped his hands, feeling his body, which had completely recovered, and whispered:
"I can do it!"
Subaru might not be good at other things, but he was incredibly stubborn!
Yang Tao also greatly appreciated this.
'However, since it's about training his mental fortitude, I should go easy on him. I don't want him to turn into a Wretch; that would be a joke.'
Time passed, and because Yang Tao was present, Subaru's experience in Level 0 was exceptionally exciting.
While ordinary Wanderers in Level 0 might never even encounter Bacteria and the Duller, Subaru would barely escape one chase before being seamlessly pursued by another.
From initially panicking and fleeing to later resisting, Subaru's courage and reaction capabilities were rapidly increasing.
Only...
Subaru reached out and touched his abdomen, his expression becoming extremely grim.
"The biggest danger in this damned place isn't those monsters after all..."
With an iron sword, facing Bacteria and the timid the Duller, surviving was simple. If he had some more skill and strength, counter-killing wouldn't be a big problem either.
"This damned place doesn't even have any food..."
What he had to face now was the overwhelming hunger. He had been pulled into this damned place in the morning before he had even eaten anything.
The high-intensity physical exertion had long since consumed everything he had eaten yesterday.
Suddenly, a door appeared on a distant wall.
Seeing this, Subaru's face lit up with surprise, and he immediately grabbed his sword and ran towards the wooden door.
He pushed open the door.
In this not-so-large room, there were more than a dozen people. As he opened the door and walked in, over a dozen pairs of eyes all focused on him.
Subaru: "Σ(ﾟ∀ﾟﾉ)ﾉ"
'So... so many people? How come I ran for so long before and didn't meet anyone?'
"Newcomer? Come here, there's an introduction you can look at."
A man in a M.E.G. uniform, seeing his shocked expression, immediately understood that he was a newcomer. He waved at him and handed him a stack of documents.
Subaru: 'The other world speaks English! I don't understand, what should I do? Waiting online, it's urgent!'