Chapter 23: Setting Twenty-Three

Setting Twenty-Three: Monster Hunter (Part 5)

Shan Ziwei walked downstairs while checking the panel on his wrist.

The Multi-Function Panel was dead again. This thing couldn’t be turned off or put on standby—it just stupidly drained batteries until they were empty. He didn’t bother reactivating it. Right now, his priority wasn’t finding the little monster wandering the hospital with a tuft of his white hair—it was regrouping with Xiao Shuai, Sha Polang, and the others.

Sha Polang was in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiao Shuai in Internal Medicine, Guo Guoqing in Surgery. Shan Ziwei chose the nearest—Internal Medicine. He searched the surgical ward and didn’t see Xiao Shuai or his “aunt.” A nurse told him Xiao Shuai had taken his aunt to Guo Guoqing’s location in Internal Medicine.

Just from the nurse’s description, he could picture Xiao Shuai’s teeth-gritting, jealous expression. Shan Ziwei sighed at the vitality of youth, got directions, and headed toward Internal Medicine.

He passed by Traditional Chinese Medicine and looked in—no sign of Sha Polang or her “grandfather.” Likely, like Xiao Shuai, she’d taken her relative to find Guo Guoqing.

After a long trek, he finally reached the farthest department—Internal Medicine. But he searched everywhere and found no trace of Xiao Shuai, Guo Guoqing, or Sha Polang. No one he asked could tell him where they’d gone. Shan Ziwei thought that after the three had regrouped, they might have gone to Gynecology to look for him—so he retraced his steps. But on his way up, he was stopped.

“The corridor upstairs is sealed off?”

The nurse blocking his way held a medical chart, looking uneasy. “Yes, there’s been some trouble up there. No one is allowed up right now.”

Shan Ziwei thought of the chaotic ward and felt a pang of guilt—the hospital must have discovered Maria’s remains. He confirmed with the nurse that no one was upstairs, then decided to search elsewhere for the elusive trio.

For the next hour, he practically turned the hospital inside out. This particular sufferer was utterly exhausted—had his teammates already written him off as dead?! Not only had they not come looking for him, they hadn’t even left a message!

Finally, he found the three at the hospital entrance. He couldn’t blame himself for overlooking it—from inside the hospital, you couldn’t see the green barrier or the people in front of it. The moment he spotted Xiao Shuai, Guo Guoqing, and Sha Polang, he had the impulse to mark each of them with a shot—serves you right for running off!

Seeing him returning alone and unharmed, all three looked surprised. They stood before the green barrier, each accompanied by a “relative.”

“You’re okay?” Sha Polang peered behind him. “Where’s your ‘wife’?”

“…Dead. I found the monster in my ‘wife’ Maria’s ward.” Shan Ziwei omitted the details—he had a feeling it wasn’t good for them to know the monster had been born from his “wife.” “I couldn’t kill it alone, so it got away. Maria died.”

At his words, the middle-aged woman beside Xiao Shuai gasped, exclaiming “Oh my, oh my”; the elderly man Sha Polang supported shook his head, muttering “What a tragedy”; and the blond man in Guo Guoqing’s wheelchair went pale, clearly frightened.

“There are still 40 minutes until the monster’s second evolution. I’ve already marked it—we can find it immediately.” Shan Ziwei swapped batteries in the Multi-Function Panel as he spoke. “Now that you’ve found your relatives, you can go complete the mission—”

“Unfortunately, we can’t.” Sha Polang cut him off, shrugging helplessly and gesturing toward the old man beside her. “At least I can’t take ‘Grandpa’ to chase a monster—the old man can’t handle that kind of excitement.”

Shan Ziwei froze. “Take ‘Grandpa’…?”

“It’s Setting 4.”

At that, he read Setting 4 carefully. Since he’d been focused on hunting the monster rather than finding his relative, he’d practically ignored it.

[Setting 4: You are worried about your wife in the hospital and have personally confirmed her safety.]

Worried… personally confirmed… Shan Ziwei stared at that word—personally—and his mind exploded with WTF.

“Get it?” Seeing his expression, Sha Polang shrugged. “We have to make sure our relatives are safe right now. If we leave them, we OOC.”

“OOC?” Shan Ziwei repeated automatically.

“Short for Out Of Character—it means violating your setting and losing SP. You didn’t know?”

“…I know.”

As a frequent netizen, Shan Ziwei certainly knew OOC—but he’d only ever seen it in fanfiction contexts, referring to deviating from a character’s original personality. It was surprisingly fitting for this game—and catchy too.

“Turns out you were right.” Sha Polang sighed regretfully. “Should’ve gone with you to hunt the monster.”

“He got lucky—the monster happened to be with his wife, so he found both the monster and his wife without violating Setting 4.” Seeing Guo Guoqing’s expression sour, Xiao Shuai quickly retorted. “We’ve already talked to that bald guy. Our relatives will be able to leave the hospital safely soon, so we won’t have to worry about them anymore. There’s still nearly 40 minutes until the next evolution—waiting a bit won’t hurt.”

Hearing that, Shan Ziwei finally understood why they were all gathered here. Setting 4 only said “in the hospital”—as long as they got their relatives out of the monster-infested hospital, they wouldn’t have to worry anymore.

He glanced outside the green barrier. The bald black man was nowhere to be seen—just a row of heavy weapons aimed coldly at them, as if anyone crossing the barrier would be shot full of holes. According to Sha Polang, the bald man had gone to contact their superiors. In principle, everyone emerging from the hospital was to be shot, but since they were hunters on a mission, he’d offered to submit a request to let their relatives leave—only the relatives, of course. The hunters still had to finish the job.

More than twenty minutes later, the bald black man finally showed up, grinning broadly at them through the barrier.

“You’ve got good news—higher-ups have agreed to let your relatives out.”

Before anyone could celebrate, he followed with a “but”—hanging their hopes in suspense.

“Your relatives have to undergo a full-body examination before they can leave, to make sure the monster hasn’t done anything to them.” The bald man checked his watch. “The examination team is on its way—should be here in about two hours.”

By the time your examination team gets here, it’ll be too late! Shan Ziwei wanted to laugh in the game developers’ faces. The system was deliberately stalling them so the monster could evolve!

Xiao Shuai, Guo Guoqing, and Sha Polang’s expressions also flickered. They exchanged glances, then Xiao Shuai let out a dry laugh.

“Two hours later… what stage will the monster be at?”

“…Bishop.” Guo Guoqing’s face was deathly pale—she hadn’t expected this endless string of delays. “If you add the examination time, it might even reach Castle-rank…”

The three fell silent. In a previous Chessboard, they’d had the misfortune of fighting a Bishop-rank Chess Piece. Though they’d gotten it down to a sliver of health, the cost was a full team wipe—sent back to their personal spaces. A Bishop-rank could wipe them out. A Castle-rank was beyond that, and King- and Queen-ranks were unthinkable.

As if to add insult to injury, Xiao Shuai’s aunt let out a screech like a stuck pig, pointing upward and trembling before fainting.

Shan Ziwei followed her gaze—his heart lurched. That was exactly where they’d seen the tendons before—the window of Maria’s ward.

Guo Guoqing screamed a second time. Even Sha Polang let out a startled “Ah!” Shan Ziwei looked up and saw his mind flooded with WTF.

Countless tendons, like sea anemone tentacles, reached out from the window and slithered slowly down the hospital’s exterior like serpents. One crawled to the top, coiling around the hospital’s red sign. From a distance, it looked like an “S” had been added in front of “R Hospital.”

R Hospital — Slaughter Hospital. That blood-red name seemed to herald their grim future.

Guo Guoqing broke. With a flash of blue, the delicate girl vanished—she’d logged out entirely. Shan Ziwei stared at where she’d been, his internal WTF escalating to new heights. In his despair, Xiao Shuai said “Uh…” and, with a hasty “I’m going after Guo Guo,” logged out to comfort her.

Shan Ziwei… Shan Ziwei deeply understood the saying: “Fear not a godlike opponent, but a piglike teammate.” He now missed his companions from the previous Chessboard—even though they’d betrayed him in the end, at least they hadn’t run away at the critical moment!

Disheartened, Shan Ziwei turned to walk out of the green barrier and let the heavy weapons send him back to his personal space. He hated to end this Chessboard this way, but it clearly wasn’t one he could clear alone.

“Where are you going?”

He stopped, looking back in disbelief at Sha Polang—he’d expected her to be the first to chase after Guo Guoqing!

“You didn’t log out?”

“I actually kind of like this vibe~” The short-haired girl grinned, baring her teeth. “Sure, I can’t see Guo Guo scared anymore, but this Chessboard has such a cool atmosphere—how could I miss it?”

Wait—isn’t your character supposed to be Guo Guoqing’s devoted best friend?!

Seeing him stare, Sha Polang raised an eyebrow. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

“Relax—even with just the two of us, we can still give it a shot. My damage output should be pretty high.”

She released her grandfather, grabbed a handful from her tactical vest, and opened her palm to Shan Ziwei. Between her fingers were various types of bullets—impressive.

“I’m a sniper hunter.” She whistled at him. “Want a shot, handsome?”

Catching her energy, Shan Ziwei smiled. “Absolutely.”

“OK. From now on, you’re the strategist, I’m the executer.” She bent down and picked up something invisible, and after a pat, a gray wolf-shaped doll appeared in her hand—small but fierce. “Want to add friends?”

This was his first friend request in the game. A little excited, this particular sufferer followed her example and grabbed his own Toy Box. Little Gaia turned its head to look at him, its mask expressionless.

“Oh, that’s your Toy Box?” Sha Polang could evidently see Little Gaia. “Looks kind of familiar.”

He’d forgotten about that! Shan Ziwei’s heart skipped a beat—he couldn’t tell if he was worried she’d recognize it as “Gaia.” Though Little Gaia was wearing a mask, anyone who’d seen “Gaia” in Toy Town would recognize its outfit.

Fortunately, Sha Polang only mentioned it in passing. She held out the little wolf. Little Gaia stared impassively at the wolf approaching it—extremely aloof. The little wolf whimpered, its gray fur trembling. Under its owner’s command, it reluctantly crept forward and carefully touched Little Gaia’s sleeve with its nose—then tilted its head and vanished from sight.

“…”

Shan Ziwei held Little Gaia up. The silver-haired, black-robed doll wore a stern expression, radiating an aura of “keep away.”

#My Toy Box is very standoffish—what do I do? Online, urgent#

Sha Polang picked up the dejected little wolf with its tail tucked, confused. Her easygoing nature quickly let her move past the Toy Box anomaly, and she turned to discussing next steps with Shan Ziwei: “Alright, let’s talk about what to do now. I’m not as sharp as you—you’ve been on point with your judgments. What should we do now?”

What should they do? Right now Sha Polang was stuck with a “grandfather,” and according to the system, they wouldn’t be rid of that baggage for at least two hours. By then, they’d have no chance at all.

“Read your Setting 4 to me—word for word. Let me see if there’s any loophole.”

Sha Polang responded enthusiastically: “‘You are worried about your grandfather in the hospital and have personally confirmed his safety.’ That’s my Setting 4.”

It was similar to his. Shan Ziwei thought while reading it repeatedly: worried… hospital… grandfather… personally… confirm… safety…

He paused, a strange expression crossing his face. He asked Sha Polang: “Can you carry your grandfather back inside?”

“Even if I carry him in, I can’t fight the monster—I have no doubt it would one-shot him. Oh—I get it! I’m a sniper, so I can provide ranged fire support from a distance.”

Shan Ziwei’s expression grew evasive, neither confirming nor denying. Sha Polang rolled up her sleeves and approached her grandfather, but the old man, terrified, refused to enter the tendon-infested hospital and simply lay down playing dead.

“Uh…”

Sha Polang shrugged at Shan Ziwei in defeat. He looked at the dwindling time, took a deep breath, clutched his precarious conscience, and spoke.

“There’s actually a simpler way…”