Jumping out of the ward, gravity flipped 180 degrees again, but Yang Tao was prepared and landed steadily on the ground.
"This mental hospital is quite interesting…"
A smile appeared on Yang Tao's face; in reality, he knew that for levels like this hospital, the greatest danger was not the Entities, but the level itself and the omnipresent mental hazards.
It would be illogical for a mental hospital to not have some mental illness.
'I wonder what kind of mental effects ordinary Wanderers experience in this level—are they hallucinations or special sounds?'
Being immune to mental interference, he also lost the ability to understand the true situation of the level.
If he could choose, he would definitely choose… to continue being mentally immune; he liked excitement but wasn't looking for death.
"Hehe…"
The Smiler's laughter brought Yang Tao back to his senses.
"Smiler, your laugh is tasteless, but I like it. Let's go."
Just as he was about to ride the Smiler, the entire hallway trembled. Yang Tao cautiously observed his surroundings, ready to run at any moment.
Rumble… the world was falling apart.
The light rain outside the window was replaced by white snowflakes, and with the vibration, white glaciers rose from the ground at an astonishing speed, too fast to keep up with.
The mental hospital he was in was also rapidly rising; he didn't need to think to know that glaciers must have appeared beneath the hospital as well.
The tremor lasted for more than ten minutes. The original tropical rainforest disappeared, replaced by a world of ice and snow, cloaked in silver.
A biting cold wind howled past.
"From Africa to the Antarctic?? If a Wanderer doesn't die, they'll be crippled…"
The Backrooms were simply too chaotic, with various dangers following one after another. It was incredibly difficult for Wanderers to survive in a place like the Backrooms.
After everything stabilized, Yang Tao also descended from the air.
Looking at the Smiler, which was as steady as an old dog, Yang Tao asked, "Does the outside often change?"
The Smiler nodded.
After this period, the Smiler's delay seemed to have improved; this wait time was shorter than before.
Having received the answer, Yang Tao also had a good idea of the situation.
The man and the Entity continued walking deeper into the hallway. As they went deeper, the environment of the hallway didn't undergo any special changes, but peculiar phenomena appeared in the wards.
Yang Tao pushed open the half-closed ward door, entered the room, grabbed a Faceling that lunged at him, and threw it directly to the Smiler outside the door.
Pfft…
Crispy, chicken-flavored.
Grayish-white wall paint peeled off the walls, and the perfectly good walls became mottled. Both the hospital bed and the cabinet in the room were covered in rust.
It was as if this place had been abandoned for more than ten years, forming a strong contrast with the brand-new hallway outside.
He picked up a bottle of Almond water, already covered in dust, from the table.
"Space is unstable, and time is unstable… This mental hospital is worth exploring. I wonder if there's a so-called director."
Besides this bottle of Almond water, there was nothing else of value in the room. Yang Tao casually put the hospital bed and cabinet into his backpack to convert them into energy points, then turned and left.
He glanced at the Smiler.
"You've gotten stronger?"
If he remembered correctly, the Smiler's health bar seemed to have increased by ten points. The Smiler nodded, confirming that he hadn't guessed wrong.
Getting stronger by eating didn't seem to be a problem.
Traveling through one hallway after another, led by the Smiler, Yang Tao arrived at the stairwell.
"Up?"
Shake head.
"Down?"
Nod.
"Understood. You go ahead, and I'll cover your back."
There was nothing unusual inside the stairwell; the only problem was that the level information above the so-called first basement floor was '2F'.
As soon as they reached the second floor, a figure was walking towards his position. The person's body was abnormally swollen, and some disgusting pale yellow liquid seeped from him. His white T-shirt clung tightly to his body as if it had merged with him.
It was a human undergoing the late stages of the Wretch cycle. Yang Tao was not in a hurry to act because the health bar above his head was neutral white, not hostile red.
"Wan… Wanderer…? I… might… not… make… it… Can… you… kill… me?"
The person's voice was intermittent, and it was painful to hear him speak, but it was clear that he still retained some remnants of sanity.
It was the first time Yang Tao had encountered a human caught in the Wretch cycle.
"Friend, I'll try to save you. If I can't… I'll give you a quick end."
He took a bucket of milk from his backpack and aimed it at the Wretch, intending to use it.
Suddenly, the person lay on the ground without a word, his body twitching incessantly. Even without a sound, Yang Tao could feel that he was enduring immense pain.
With the person's body swollen like that and a large amount of skin shedding, it would be strange if removing the mental effects of the Wretch cycle didn't hurt.
Under extreme pain, humans are unable to make a sound.
A bottle of instant healing potion was thrown at the person, and his swollen body instantly returned to normal; even the shed skin regrew.
However, the effect of one bottle of instant healing potion was still limited, so Yang Tao threw another bottle of healing potion at the person.
In about ten seconds, the person returned to the appearance of a normal human, but his lost hair and eyebrows did not regrow. His bald head reflected the light from the hallway.
"How do you feel?"
The person's face was bloodless, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat; he clearly hadn't recovered from the pain he had just endured. Hearing Yang Tao's voice, he finally looked up and said weakly:
"Thank you…"
Suddenly, he showed a terrified expression.
"Be careful, there's a Smiler!"
Smiler: "..."
My face is so bright, and you're just seeing me now???
"It's okay, it's very well-behaved and won't hurt you. Well, at least not when I'm around."
He took a bottle of Almond water from his backpack and handed it to the person.
"Tell me about the situation here…"
…
Through the person, Yang Tao gained some understanding of this level.
This mental hospital causes mental harm to people, and this harm makes Wanderers suffer from mental illnesses similar to schizophrenia.
At this time, Wanderers will experience hallucinations, and the anomalous properties of Level 16 itself will begin to increase.
People may lose gravity control and float randomly in the air, Entities may spawn randomly, and Level 16 itself will distort in various ways. At this time, the Wanderer's sanity will also rapidly distort, eventually leading to suicide or becoming a Wretch or a Faceling.
However, in Level 16, there are still some bases and outposts. The people who stay on this level have adapted to the harsh environment and strange characteristics of this floor.
The person he saw earlier was a member of the 'Normal People' organization.
Unlike other Wanderers, they were indigenous residents of the mental hospital. When the mental hospital entered the Backrooms, a group of staff members remained normal and were not converted into Facelings.
They were extremely wary of anyone and would not communicate with any person or organization.