"It's been a long time since I last saw a Smiler; I never thought I'd see one here..."
After calming his startled emotions, Yang Tao walked into the ward with a smile. Fortunately, the door had blocked it, so this Smiler hadn't been kicked to death by him. However, its current situation wasn't much better.
The health bar above its head was still continuously decreasing.
He subconsciously wanted to count the number of its teeth, but seeing the teeth scattered all over the floor, Yang Tao dismissed the idea.
"Consider yourself lucky, you met me!"
Little did he know, if it were any other ordinary Wanderer, it would have had a full meal today.
He took out Instant Healing II from his backpack and smashed it onto the Smiler's head, throwing several bottles until its health bar was pulled above the safe line.
After regaining consciousness, the Smiler let out its characteristic laughter, struggled to get up from the ground, and opened its gaping maw to bite Yang Tao.
"You f******..."
He slapped the Smiler away, sending it crashing into the ward wall and then onto the floor.
Yang Tao walked over, took out another bottle of Instant Healing II, and smashed it onto its body, watching the Smiler continue to struggle, trying to get up.
One hand held a new Instant Healing potion, while the other was ready to strike.
This Smiler continued to open its wide mouth, intending to swallow his head in one bite. Seeing this, Yang Tao unhesitatingly extended his hand and gave it a big slap, its favorite.
Bang!
The Smiler flew out again.
Then came the sound of the potion bottle shattering.
Yang Tao greatly admired the Smiler's persistent spirit. He opened his backpack and glanced at the various weapons inside.
'No, the damage is too high, I might kill it...'
Suddenly, seeing the hospital bed crushed by the Smiler's body, Yang Tao walked over, grabbed the steel pipe on the side of the bed, and pulled hard, detaching it from the bed.
He tapped it twice in his palm, nodding with satisfaction.
"Not bad!"
Thump... bang... thump... bang...
The crisp tapping sounds mingled with the shattering of healing potions, and the Smiler's laughter became increasingly pained.
"Taste this Number One Dragon Fruit Combo!"
Bang... bang...
The ward floor gradually became sticky, and a large amount of transparent liquid flowed out from the Smiler's body. However, exposed to the air, it quickly turned translucent.
The blood-red border turned white, and Yang Tao threw the completely deformed steel pipe in his hand to the ground.
With the smile of an abuser on his face, he said, "Phew, your head is quite tough! Frowny was much more sensible than you."
He recalled that back then, he had only knocked out a few of Frowny's teeth, and it had immediately transformed from a Smiler into a Frowner. But this guy had been beaten by him for half an hour, and it had only changed from a red frame to a neutral white frame.
He took out a golden apple and stuffed it into the Smiler's mouth.
"Can we communicate now?"
The Smiler nodded slightly and let out a few characteristic laughs, but its knocked-out teeth hadn't grown back yet, making its voice sound airy.
"Are there many Smilers on this level? Nod if there are many, shake your head if there are few."
Seeing that the other party couldn't speak, Yang Tao directly chose a compromise method of communication.
The Smiler's clearly clear eyes stared at Yang Tao, and after a long moment, it nodded.
"Do you know where the nearest human settlement is?"
Again, after a long moment, the Smiler nodded, emitting an incomprehensible laugh.
'Did I make it stupid? Why does it seem to have a delay? I should have known not to hit its head...'
However, the only things that could be observed on a Smiler were its glowing eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth; if he didn't hit its head, he couldn't find any other part.
"Let's go, take me there..."
Following behind the Smiler, they exited the ward. The Smiler didn't like overly bright places. It hesitated slightly at the ward door before stepping out into the hallway.
A Faceling in a patient gown was wandering in the hallway. Upon seeing Yang Tao, it, like before, dashed towards him.
"Go, bite it to death!"
Slow...
It wasn't until the Faceling was about to rush past Yang Tao that the Smiler beside him finally reacted, opening its gaping maw and biting directly at the adult Faceling.
The Smiler, which was like a toy in Yang Tao's hands, finally revealed its ferocious side when facing the Faceling.
Pfft...
The Faceling's head disappeared into thin air, and crimson blood spurted from the neck of its headless body.
Crunch, crunch.
The Smiler chewed on the Faceling's head while looking at Yang Tao. Yang Tao, like training a puppy, patted the Smiler's invisible body and praised, "Good job, next time it would be better if your reaction was a bit faster."
The death of this hostile Faceling didn't affect him at all.
Enemies who dared to attack him deserved to die.
"Let's go, take me to the human settlement."
Thus, the Smiler walked in front, with Yang Tao following closely behind it, occasionally opening the storage cabinets embedded in the walls to see if there were any special supplies.
However, it seemed due to the hospital setting, many of the supplies spawned on this level were medical supplies.
Among them, the most common were various medicines.
Yang Tao accepted everything, stuffing them into his Sophisticated Backpack, just in case they might come in handy someday.
As they walked, the white walls began to show some changes. Blue patterns started appearing on the walls, and as they continued deeper, the patterns on the walls increased, even forming incomprehensible designs.
Soon, a corner appeared at the end of the hallway. After turning, it was also a corridor, but this one only had a wall on one side, while the other side had transparent windows.
The scenery outside the window was familiar to him; it was the rainforest of Level 16. Looking at the sparse drizzle outside the window, Yang Tao frowned slightly.
This corridor seemed endless, completely different from the size of the building seen from the outside.
However, this thought only flashed through his mind. There were too many special levels in the Backrooms; internal and external discrepancies were not at all unusual.
Just then, a ward door opened.
A person wearing a white coat walked out of the ward.
That's right, a black person with facial features and a rather delicate appearance.
Upon seeing Yang Tao, he showed a wary expression, but seeing the smiling face floating in mid-air, he opened the door without a word and slipped inside.
Bang.
The door was slammed shut forcefully.
Yang Tao: "..."
"A black doctor?"
He walked to the ward door and looked inside, but he didn't see the black person he had just seen. To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Yang Tao reached out and knocked on the door, patiently saying, "Hey, friend, I mean no harm, I just want to know some information about this level."
There was no response from inside the room.
He asked twice more, but there was still no sound from the ward.
Yang Tao placed his hand on the ward door and pushed hard. With a bang, the originally locked ward door was violently pushed open by him.
He walked into the ward.
"Hey, friend!"
He called out twice, but there was no response from the ward. Only after he walked in did he realize that there was another door inside the ward.
This was completely illogical...
Because that door led to the hallway he had come from, and if he remembered correctly, there was nothing at that spot in the hallway...
The black doctor must have run out through this door.
"And here I was thinking of explaining..."
Yang Tao shook his head.
Just then, the world suddenly spun. His body suddenly turned 180 degrees, flying up from the ground and finally landing on the ward ceiling, easily dodging the hospital bed that was thrown at him. The originally tidy ward was now a mess.
Various items and instruments were scattered everywhere due to the change in the room's gravity.
"Heh heh, I didn't expect an unexpected performance..."
Looking at the Smiler peeking into the hallway, Yang Tao understood that the entire level hadn't been inverted; it seemed only his ward had become unusual.