The Hub's pretty special. Basically, if you've got enough "level keys," you can hit up any level you want.
When I stepped into the Hub, it felt like I was in this tunnel with a bunch of locked doors on both sides.
Some wanderer left a note about the Hub.
I figured these must be the gateways to different levels.
Right then, Bantianyi pulled out a key. I noticed it was kinda vibrating.
Then, Bantianyi led our three teams to a door and unlocked it.
I knew this was the door to Level 3.
Bantianyi gestured for us to go in and went first.
I took a deep breath and followed him through the door.
With that familiar falling sensation, I was cut off from the Hub.
Once the falling stopped, I felt solid ground under my feet.
I quickly got up and checked out my surroundings.
I was in a dark corridor with dusty brown brick walls.
The corridor was narrow and closed off, with a rusty big iron door beside it.
Level 3 after brightening.
I tried pushing the iron door. It creaked like it couldn't handle the weight.
Behind the door was another long corridor. It was pitch black, but if you looked closely, you could see shadows moving.
I stood there, feeling pretty anxious.
According to Bantianyi, after entering Level 3 from the Hub, we'd likely end up in the same area, and the M.E.G. base was supposed to be here.
But obviously, M.E.G. wouldn't set up base in such a narrow, long corridor, and there was no sign of Bantianyi and his team.
So I guessed I might have been randomly cut to some unknown area.
I sighed. In the Backrooms, the biggest danger is "change."
One second you're safe in Level 1, the next you're in Level 9 with entities everywhere; one second you're relieved to escape danger, the next a scarier entity might jump out to chase you.
Just like now, I thought I'd be directly cut to the M.E.G. base, but instead, I was thrown into an unknown area and separated from my teammates.
I gripped my pistol tightly, crouched down on the dusty floor, and moved forward cautiously.
Before coming, I'd skimmed some info about Level 3.
Level 3 is a series of dark, winding corridors. Its structure is similar to Level 0, both made up of randomly divided spaces without a specific pattern.
In these corridors, almost every step you take, you'll run into entities lurking in the dark. The most common one is the hound.
There was a constant hum of machinery noise everywhere. It was hard to rely on my ears to tell if any entities were approaching.
I widened my eyes, holding the gun in one hand and the flashlight in the other, shining it forward.
Finally, I saw a turn ahead.
But just then, a person's head slowly emerged from the wall at the turn.
The head had long black hair. After staring at me for a second, it suddenly jumped out from the wall and ran towards me.
It was on all fours, like a primitive beast, pouncing towards me.
This was a hound!
I quickly raised the flashlight and shone it at the hound's head.
As the light hit it, the hound's body froze for a moment, emitting a wailing sound like a baby's cry, and slowly backed away.
I knew the retreat was only because the hound hadn't reacted in time. Once it adapted to the light, it would pounce at me even faster.
Seizing this opportunity, I wanted to shoot, but halfway through pulling the trigger, I suddenly hesitated.
Everywhere here are narrow corridors. Once a gunshot rings out, it's likely to be heard within several hundred meters, which will surely attract many entities nearby. I quickly pulled out my dagger, preparing to fight this hunting dog with my bare hands. I had some experience dealing with hunting dogs because I had killed quite a few of them in the suburbs of Level 9. I originally thought that hunting dogs were easy to handle, but when it pounced on me, I realized I had underestimated it. Although it looked small, it was very powerful. The moment it knocked me down, the huge impact force made me stagger. Almost at the same time it hit me, its huge mouth full of sharp teeth bit towards my neck. I broke out in a cold sweat. In a panic, I held the flashlight in front of its mouth while the hand holding the dagger quickly stabbed into its neck. I stabbed it several times in a row until it fell to the ground limp. Only then did I sit down, gasping for breath. At this point, the flashlight had been bitten to pieces, and I didn't even notice that my arm and abdomen had been scratched by its claws. Due to the rapid surge of adrenaline, I didn't feel the pain at first, but now that I had relaxed, the scratches on my arm and abdomen began to burn. At this moment, I suddenly understood why I could kill so many hunting dogs so easily in Level 9. The entities' hatred in Level 9 was all drawn to the noise from the power station. If you didn't provoke them, they wouldn't attack you, which is why I was able to shoot them so smoothly. But now it's different. This hunting dog's hatred is all on me, so the battle is naturally very troublesome. Looking at the broken flashlight in my hand, I felt a chill: If that bite had hit my neck, what would my neck be like now? After sitting on the ground for a while and rinsing the wounds with almond water, I began to explore again. Now I have only two choices: either exit or find M.E.G. The best choice at the moment is to find M.E.G. Since the flashlight is broken, I can only follow the wall and feel my way in the dark. After walking in the dark for a few minutes, I saw a prison-like iron fence on the side. For some reason, when I got close to this iron fence, I always felt as if there were eyes watching me from behind. I tried to look behind the fence, and vaguely saw a black figure. A strong sense of fear and unease came over me, and I shivered. I quickly moved away from the iron fence. But just then, a black hand suddenly stretched out from the wall behind me and grabbed my backpack. Instantly, a strong force hit me, and my body almost uncontrollably hit the wall. The hand seemed to have come out from behind the wall and was now desperately pulling me towards it. At this moment, I felt that the hand lifted me up against the wall and began to move, and the direction of movement was towards the end of the corridor ahead. Fortunately, the monster grabbed my backpack. I quickly took off the backpack from my shoulder and let it fall to the ground away from the wall. The monster also felt that its prey had escaped and threw the backpack away, retracting its arm. At this moment, I seemed to faintly hear an angry roar from behind the wall. My scalp tingled. After waiting for a while in place, I was about to pick up the backpack and leave. But what I didn't expect was that the moment I reached out to get the backpack, the monster's hand stretched out again and grabbed my arm. I was immediately terrified. Before this, I had deliberately waited for several minutes, hoping to wait until the monster left before picking up the backpack. But that monster seemed to know that I would definitely pick up my backpack, and just stayed there waiting for me like a rabbit waiting to be caught!
After that monster grabbed my hand through the wall, it pulled me rapidly towards the corner of the corridor.
That monster was extremely strong. It held my hand and dragged me along, and I resisted with all my might, but the monster's speed wasn't affected at all. It still dragged me quickly.
At this rate, it would take less than ten seconds for the monster to drag me to the corner, and on the other side of the corner, there was no doubt that was the monster's main body.
My brain was working at top speed, trying to find a solution, but before I could think of one, that monster hand had already dragged me to the corner.
At the corner, another monster appeared before my eyes.
Its exterior was dark gray, and its shape was similar to a human, but it was almost tens of centimeters taller than a normal person.
What surprised me the most was that the arm that was holding my arm was over a meter long at this moment!
It held my arm with one hand and slowly lifted me up, not knowing what it was going to do.
I wanted to fight back with everything I had, but the hand gripping me was like an iron cage—no matter how hard I struggled, it didn't budge an inch. It held me up with one hand and slowly reached the other toward my injured abdomen... I felt a wave of despair crash over me.