Chapter 29: Setting Twenty-Nine

Setting Twenty-Nine: Monster Hunter (Part 11)

As the lime dust settled from the air, the monster’s massive body and fearsome form became increasingly vivid and distinct. It looked like a mutant plant growing out of the hospital building—its pinkish-white core resembling lychee flesh tinged with blood. Two spindle-shaped crimson tentacles grew from the base of the core, thick and fleshy like the petals of a succulent, their purplish-black veins pulsing with dread-inducing intensity.

Shan Ziwei’s chin rested against the slightly firm “flesh.” He could see that on the lawn below, besides Sha Polang, there were four others dressed in tactical vests and camouflage—their faces hidden by protective masks, identifiable only by build: three men and one woman.

The woman was clearly Hongchen. Among the three men, one was tall and burly, one short and lean, and one medium—neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin. From the voices he’d heard earlier, Chunqiu had a robust, commanding tone, fitting the tall, imposing figure. Tianya sounded young, matching the lean, underdeveloped build. Shan Ziwei’s gaze fell on the last one—the medium build. Who was that?

Chunqiu hadn’t called that person’s name, nor had that person spoken. If Shan Ziwei hadn’t seen them with his own eyes, he’d have thought there were only three reinforcements.

Now the two groups—one above, one below—stared at each other. It was Sha Polang who broke the standoff.

“Fanzi—” She waved and shouted. “Are you okay?”

Shan Ziwei was silent. He honestly didn’t know if being used as a headpiece by the monster counted as okay or not. He craned his neck with difficulty to glance behind him—though the angle was limited, his peripheral vision caught sight of the “weapon” pinning him down: a shockingly large tentacle rose high in the air, its tip drooping in a gentle arc, the basin-sized end pressing against his back. The whole gesture was as casual and easy as someone holding down a hat about to be blown away by the wind.

Shan · Hat · Wei: “Help…”

Even Sha Polang, his most loyal companion, was at a loss when faced with this scene. She didn’t like overthinking, so she turned to the impressive-looking Chunqiu.

“What do we do?”

Hongchen shot Sha Polang a glare, but it had no effect through the protective mask. Chunqiu asked calmly, “So that’s Fanzi? He seems very close to the monster.”

“Does he?” Sha Polang said. “Maybe it’s because they were trapped together in that gap just now—a bond forged through adversity?”

“…”

Being held high atop the monster, Shan Ziwei couldn’t hear what Sha Polang and the others were saying below. All he could do was watch them interact, counting heads in lonely silence. Soon, he lost the energy to count. The group below heard a pained cry from above.

“Holy cr—!”

The rest of the word was cut off. They all looked up just in time to see the monster lower the tentacle that had been “holding down the hat.”

The monster was no longer worried about its “hat” flying away—because it had now “sewn” it onto its head with bloodlines.

This particular sufferer was now tightly bound to the core’s surface by bloodlines that had emerged from within. The moment he saw them, he instinctively clamped his mouth shut. Below, Sha Polang reflexively raised her gun: “Bang!”

The monster’s tentacle hadn’t fully retracted; it curled back, wrapping snugly around Shan Ziwei and blocking the bullet. This seemed to poke a hornet’s nest. The monster, which had been ignoring the “ants” on the grass, grew enraged. It raised its other tentacle and brought it crashing down on the group below like a mountain falling.

Faced with that sky-darkening, earth-shaking descent, everyone’s expression changed. In the chaos, they couldn’t possibly escape the tentacle’s strike zone. Chunqiu was the first to act—he produced a stone statue, quickly drew a rune on it, and tossed it upward.

The statue grew larger in midair. It had barely reached three meters and hadn’t fully extended its limbs when the massive tentacle came roaring down.

“BOOM!”

The ground shook three times. The stone giant knelt on one knee, its hands—more crushed beneath than supporting—holding the tentacle on its shoulders. Cracks spread across its body, pebbles falling continuously as it crumbled.

“CRASH—”

The stone giant was pounded to dust. Fortunately, the group on the lawn had used that moment to escape into another building of the hospital. The crimson tentacle tried to pursue, but though it had grown wider, it hadn’t grown longer. It could only vent its frustration by pounding the ground, sending up a cloud of lime.

Even with masks hiding their faces, everyone could sense each other’s pallor. As the leader, Chunqiu stepped forward to steady morale.

“Don’t be afraid.” Chunqiu said. “A Castle-rank monster may be powerful, but it’s an immobile boss.”

The lime dust settling outside proved the monster couldn’t reach them—which did comfort the nearly-flattened group. Except for Tianya.

“B-Boss Chunqiu, I just used my ‘Omni Eye’ to scan it.” Tianya’s voice still trembled. He glanced at the monster lazily sprawled with its two fleshy tentacles, took a deep breath, and rattled off the bad news in one breath: “The monster’s tentacles are invincible—only the core can be damaged, and it’s completely immune to all ranged attacks!”

A deathly silence spread through the lobby. Then, suddenly, a voice cut in.

“Hey!”

The already on-edge players jumped, all drawing their weapons in unison and pointing them to the right-front. Emerging from the shadows, blending perfectly with the darkness, was the bald black man.

“How did you get in here!?” Sha Polang blurted out.

“You guys made such a racket—you didn’t expect me to come check it out?”

Under the array of weapons, the bald man raised his hands with a pained expression.

“Alright, to be honest—there’s no more ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ now.”

Sensing the group’s confusion, the bald man raised one hand to point at the sky, signaling them to look up.

The blue sky floated with a few white clouds—nothing unusual. It was a bright, sunny day. No one had imagined this day might become the last in human history.

Chunqiu was the first to react: “The green barrier’s gone?”

“Correct.” The bald man nodded approvingly at Chunqiu. “It couldn’t hold the monster anymore, so it was taken down. Armed squads will be arriving soon to assist your assault.”

“Why aren’t we assisting them?” Sha Polang retorted.

“Sure—you can be in charge when they get here.”

Before Sha Polang or Chunqiu’s group could celebrate, a new setting appeared.

[Setting 6: You have received help from the government. Grateful, you are unwilling to see any of their personnel harmed. (00:05:00)]

…Grateful, my foot! These aren’t reinforcements—they’re VIPs that need protecting!!!

The promised help had been rendered useless by a single system setting, and the bald man who’d delivered the news rubbed salt in the wound.

“The armed squads will be here soon. Don’t let the monster evolve again—one more evolution, and humanity is finished. Good luck, everyone!”

Before the players could raise their middle fingers, the bald man spun around, melted seamlessly into the shadows, and made a smooth exit.

Sha Polang and the others weren’t the only ones frustrated—Shan Ziwei, still tied up in a “bondage play,” was even more confused. He stared at the newly appeared Setting 6. Though he didn’t know what it meant, his long experience with being abused by system settings told him this was definitely a trap.

Five minutes passed quickly. Setting 6 activated, and nothing happened from Sha Polang’s side. Shan Ziwei waited anxiously for half an hour—during which the monster even used bloodlines to draw a picture on its core of the two of them tangled together in the gap (omitting several thousand words of internal commentary from this particular sufferer)—until finally, a figure slowly emerged from the building below.

It was Chunqiu.

Shan Ziwei, traumatized in body and soul, felt like he was seeing a long-lost relative. With tear-filled eyes, he watched Chunqiu step onto the lawn—one step, two steps. Just before the third step, Chunqiu stopped. He stood steadily at the edge of the grass, looked up at the monster above, and watched its restless tentacles withdraw.

Shan Ziwei’s heart began to race.

Quickly analyzing a boss’s aggro range and attack radius was the fundamental skill of an excellent MT.

Chunqiu clearly had it down. He stood precisely on the edge of the tentacle’s attack range, then drew several Setting Cards. Blue light enveloped him—first shaping a suit of black-and-yellow armor on his body, then gathering in his hands to form a golden spear and a large shield engraved with a dragon pattern. Shan Ziwei watched enviously.

That was some impressive gear! Chunqiu was definitely an MT!

This was the first MT Shan Ziwei had encountered in the game, so he naturally studied him closely, looking at Chunqiu like a baby craving its mother’s milk.

For the first time, Shan Ziwei was grateful to be on top of the monster’s head. It was the perfect vantage point—he could clearly see Chunqiu crouch slightly, let out a battle cry, and charge.

“RAAAH—!!!”

The monster showed no mercy to this intruding little mouse. Its two massive tentacles coiled into spirals and stabbed viciously at Chunqiu.

BOOM—

When the tentacle struck the shield, it made a sound like thunder. Chunqiu’s feet sank deep into the stone floor, pushed backward by the tentacle’s force, carving a trench. White light flickered repeatedly around him—someone was healing him. Even as it seemed he might collapse at any moment, blood seeping from his armor, he still held one tentacle at bay.

Shan Ziwei could barely breathe. But the monster had more than one tentacle—the other was about to smash Chunqiu to pieces—when he shouted again from behind his shield:

“ATTACK!!!”

Bang, bang, bang…

Gunfire erupted from all sides. But everyone firing knew—a Castle-rank monster was immune to all ranged attacks. The monster wasn’t their target.

The monster was immune to ranged attacks. Shan Ziwei was not.

When the first bullet pierced his shoulder, he didn’t immediately register what the burning pain meant. All he felt was pain—and instinctively tried to roll aside to avoid the next volley.

He couldn’t move. He was still bound to the monster’s head by bloodlines. In that pause, two more bullets tore through his body. Then two flashes of white light landed on him—cleansing the damage and the pain.

Cleanse and Soothing.

He recognized that healing feeling. He reflexively looked down—just in time to see Chunqiu glance up toward the fourth floor in confusion.

“World?”

From a window on the fourth floor, the nameless player stood in silence, raising a hand to continue healing Chunqiu.

So that one’s called World. Shan Ziwei unconsciously let out a breath of relief—at least it wasn’t a string of English letters. The interruption snapped him fully back to his senses. Without even time to be angry, he started thinking about how to use the bullets hitting him to break his restraints.

Before he could figure it out, the bloodlines binding him spontaneously loosened. He blinked—then a shadow fell, flesh walls closing in from all sides. The monster abandoned Chunqiu entirely, quickly retracting a tentacle to shield Shan Ziwei completely.

“It actually worked.”

Hongchen murmured, swapping out her spent magazine. Her admiration for Chunqiu grew. The plan had seemed insane when she first heard it, but now she was amazed—the monster was acting exactly as Chunqiu had predicted.

“Of course—Boss Chunqiu is always wise and mighty.”

Beside her, Tianya puffed up with pride. He rose and headed for another room, cracking his knuckles. “My turn now.”

Surrounded by tentacles, Shan Ziwei’s feelings were complicated. The players were attacking him—but the monster was protecting him. Just then, he heard a strange sound—gurgle, gurgle—and perked up his ears, trying to identify it. Amid the chaotic gunfire, he heard something like mud and stones churning—thick and heavy.

Tianya stood at a fourth-floor window. Behind him, an intricate magic circle gleamed brilliantly. Outside, a stone bridge materialized out of thin air, extending from one building toward the half-collapsed one across from it. In no time, the fourth floors of both buildings would be fully connected. The monster hated that bridge reaching toward its core—it tried to swing a tentacle and break it, but found the tentacle wouldn’t move.

The shield in Chunqiu’s hands glowed with golden light. The dragon on its surface came alive in the radiance, coiling around the massive tentacle pressed against the shield. The monster couldn’t pull it back for the moment—and its other tentacle was needed to block bullets. So when the stone bridge was fully built and dozens of figures charged across with swords drawn, the monster’s tentacles were still locked in stalemate.

“Dragonsblood, high-grade earth spirit stones, mithril thread… Boss Chunqiu even used the Dragon-Subduing Shield, the Black-and-Yellow Armor, and the Golden Spear.” Tianya, running at the front, counted off the resources with a pained heart, glaring fiercely at the monster now within reach. “With all those goodies, we’re definitely taking this thing down!”