So, I tagged along with this crew and ended up at their other hideout. There was this massive iron gate in the barbed wire fence. After they opened it, we all walked in super carefully, and then someone locked it up tight from the inside. As I got closer, I noticed that besides this fancy European-style house, there was also an old power station. Once we were inside, everyone chilled out a bit. They slung their guns over their shoulders and plopped down on the sofa. The guy who seemed like the leader of this ragtag group motioned for me to sit down too. After I did, one of them grumbled, "Oh, damn it, the power station's acting up again." I only caught the "Oh" part...
Honestly, when I first got to the Backrooms, I was so freaked out that I didn't even think about the language barrier. I'd met a few foreigners before, and they all spoke Chinese, so I just assumed everyone would. But nope, this bunch was speaking straight-up English. "Maybe they know Chinese?" I thought, holding onto a sliver of hope. So, I asked them, "Do you speak Chinese?" All of a sudden, the whole group stopped chatting and looked at me. One guy, who seemed to know a bit of Chinese, replied in broken Chinese, "I only know a little Chinese." Great, just great. But then, they all started laughing. One of them suddenly spoke to me in perfect Chinese, "Don't sweat it. Even if we don't speak the same language, we can still communicate." That's when I noticed he had this red lip balm in his hand, right by his mouth. He saw me noticing it and just handed it to me, then pulled out a new one and put it by his mouth. I copied him, put the lip balm by my mouth, and tried to say, "I can understand you because of this lip balm?" "Yep," he nodded, "This is the Babel Lip Balm. It lets the listener get what the speaker's saying, so no more language barriers." A vagrant's note on the Babel Lip Balm. Then he asked me, "How'd you end up here?" "I opened a door in level 5 and got zapped here. Can you tell me about this place?" I asked. "Sure," he said, "This is the tenth level of the Backrooms, level 9, with a danger level of 5." Hearing that, I froze. I'd been dumped in the most dangerous spot in the Backrooms? Everyone knows the highest danger level is 5, and it's the scariest place around. Even though there's a Dead Zone above level 5, you hardly ever see vagrants there. It's super hard to get into the Dead Zone, so it's way less of a threat than level 5. The vagrant noticed my shock and a bit of fear and reassured me, "Don't worry. The Unbound Explorers Alliance will get you out of level 9 when the time's right." "The Unbound Explorers Alliance?" I was a bit stunned. I thought they were M.E.G., but turns out it's the Unbound Explorers Alliance. I'd never heard of them before. The guy nodded, kinda proud, and said, "The Unbound Explorers Alliance is a pro team that walks the path of war to pave the way for the future. Our main gig is chasing safety and happiness. We've got specialized squads that handle high-risk entities in high-risk environments."
He paused and went on, "We're part of the Edgecliff Guerrillas, specifically tasked with hunting entities and gathering supplies in Level 9. My code name's Nine. The other four are Five, Six, Qi, and Eight."
56789...
"Such unique code names..." I thought to myself, "Do you have a team called 01234 as well?"
Just as I was thinking that, Nine suddenly said, "Hey, Chinese friend, even though you've met us, don't pin your survival hopes on us. We can't even guarantee our own safety. You've gotta rely on your own strength to make it."
Hearing that, I sat up straighter and replied, "Got it. I won't be a burden. If there's anything I can do, just let me know."
Nine and the others nodded, and then Nine said, "There's a spot for you right now."
"Eh..." I was taken aback. I'd just gotten back. Did we have to go out and fight again?
Nine saw my confusion and said seriously, "After we rest up, we need to fix the power station. In Level 9, most entities are scared of light. Without it, our base will be overrun by entities in no time. And in Level 9, it's always night. Only the power station can give us a bit of light, so we've gotta fix it."
Even after hearing that, I still didn't quite get it. What did fixing the power station have to do with fighting entities? Wasn't the power station in their base?
So, I asked my question.
Nine replied, "When the power station is fixed, it's gonna make this loud, constant noise. That noise is gonna draw in a ton of nearby entities. So, we gotta protect the power station from getting wrecked by those entities until the noise stops. Once the noise dies down and the lights come back on, those entities will just take off on their own."
I nodded to show I got it.
Even though it was risky, I had to go with them to fend off the entities. Not just because I needed their help right then, but also because they'd saved me.
After I agreed, Nine turned to the others and said, "When I saw this kid bolt out of his hiding spot without a second thought to join us, I knew he was braver than your average wanderer. See, I was right, wasn't I?"
Then he turned to me and said, "Later, slap on that Babel Lip Balm. It'll still work, but it'll last anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours."
Since we were gonna fix the power station, we all started to recharge.
After running for so long, I was starving, and my sanity was in the gutter.
I pulled out a bottle of almond water and downed it in one go.
Back in Level 5, Ronide taught me that almond water works best when you chug the whole bottle. And before drinking, it's best to sprinkle in a bit of fire salt to make it boil.
That's because you can't be sure if the bottle's been messed with; and in some levels, drinking almond water might give you cyanide poisoning, but boiling it can stop that.
But I didn't have any fire salt, so I drank it straight.
Just as I finished the raw bottle of almond water, Nine saw it and handed me a small bag of fire salt and another bag of some unknown white gelatin-like stuff. I looked at him, kinda shocked. He shrugged and said, "A bag of fire salt and a royal ration for a temp team member. Not a bad deal, huh?" I smiled and took the stuff from Nine, feeling a bit touched. Since I'd just had a bottle of almond water, I didn't use the fire salt to disinfect but opened the "royal ration" Nine mentioned. The look of the royal ration. I took a bite, and a slightly sweet, fragrant taste spread on my tongue. I was sure I'd never eaten anything so good. Even more amazing, after just one bite, all my hunger vanished. Something this precious, of course, I didn't wanna finish it all at once. So I put it back and stashed it in my backpack. But just that move made Nine and the other four team members look at me like they'd seen a ghost. Nine stammered, "You... you... you didn't finish it in one go? How's that possible?" "Uh..." I was totally confused: "Do I have to finish it all at once?" "Not exactly," Nine said, still shocked: "The special thing about the royal ration isn't its effect, which is that eating any amount gives you the energy of three meals, but that once a wanderer has a bit of royal ration, they'll be desperate for more." He paused and continued, still shocked: "Everyone, when they first try the royal ration, will frantically look for a second piece after finishing the first, but it's not addictive. If you wanna compare it, the royal ration for wanderers is like catnip for cats." "And you're the only person I've ever seen who can stash it after just one bite." "Uh, maybe I'm just special?" I didn't know why I was different. When Samantha asked for my help, I had a feeling, and now that feeling was even stronger. But what made me different? I still wasn't sure. By then, everyone was ready. Nine told me about some of the entities we might run into in Level 9, and then we headed out to fix the power station. At that point, Nine asked me, "Can you handle a gun?" I shook my head. I'd never even seen a gun in the front hall, let alone knew how to use one. Nine thought for a moment and handed me a pistol, showing me how to load it and hold it. Then he gave me a trident and a beetle statue, telling me to take good care of the beetle statue because it could save my life in a pinch. Then he started assigning the areas we were responsible for guarding. I was in charge of the southwest area of the power station. I didn't know why they trusted me so much on my first day to guard that spot. I was just a newbie who'd just arrived in the Backrooms... At that moment, I was standing alone in the southwest area of the power station. Even though there was a barbed wire fence in front of me—our first line of defense against entities—it still couldn't stop the fear in my heart. Because Nine said that barbed wire fence had been rebuilt eight times, and today might be the ninth...