November 8, 2025 — 12:23 pm

Chapter 4: Other Players Have Returned Too?

The clock hands in the corridor pointed to 12. The hospital was unnaturally quiet. The on-duty nurses and guards had vanished, and the empty corridor stretched out from under their feet, disappearing into the darkness.

“Tap, tap, tap!”

Urgent footsteps echoed, something was running, perhaps a terrified human, or perhaps something else entirely.

“Tap, tap…”

Qin Xian’s steps were as steady as his expression. He even had the leisure to glance into the rooms as he passed.

Most of the beds in the wards were empty. The rooms were dark and unoccupied, indicating the culprit’s abilities were limited, unable to pull too many people into their domain. This should make dealing with it relatively easy.

But it was only easy for him. For other living people, it was entirely different.

The suspect who had been admitted to the hospital woke from a nightmare to see the red-glowing light tubes above him. The surroundings were silent, but he could hear countless whispers mingling with his own heartbeat. The whispers were from men, women, old, and young. At first, they were unclear, but gradually, the groans of suffering became more distinct. They cursed, pleaded, and screamed, eventually unifying into shrieks that seemed to tear their vocal cords.

The man immediately struggled to sit up, only to find his hands cuffed to the bed frame. The handcuffs clanged against the sturdy iron frame. The man grabbed the chain and pulled desperately, but it didn’t budge. As if disturbed by his commotion, the surrounding whispers and screams suddenly ceased. The man froze as if paused, holding his breath. But it was too late. Countless gazes from the darkness turned towards him.

‘You look… so healthy. Give us your body…’

The paused movement abruptly resumed. Ignoring the potential for his wrists to break, the man pulled on the handcuffs with all his might, making them clang. But they remained firmly attached to the bed frame.

“Ahhh! Let go! I’m not healthy! Can’t you see my face is all withered? Don’t come for me! Damn it!!”

The light above grew dimmer and redder. In the faint light, the surrounding walls began to darken rapidly from the corners inwards. Something was covering the entire wall. Then, this black membrane began to bulge, with human heads, screaming, pushing against the membrane, their facial contours clearly visible.

“Damn it! Ha, damn it!!!” The man shifted his position, attempting to kick the iron bars with his feet. But this was clearly a foolish move. The sudden intense pain silenced him instantly. He hunched over, seeing stars, and took several seconds to recover. In just those few seconds, dozens of human torsos had emerged from the wall, pushing the black membrane into uneven bulges. Their outstretched fingers seemed on the verge of breaking through the membrane.

But the black membrane didn’t rupture. Several pairs of black hands suddenly gripped the bed rails. The bed frame began to shift, its metal legs scraping against the floor with a sharp sound.

“Ahhhh!!!” The man screamed as he was pulled towards the head of the bed, but the handcuffs kept him rigidly in place. He could only watch helplessly as countless hands drew closer, almost touching his eyeballs.

“Bang!”

The ward door was suddenly blasted open with immense force. The entities on the wall, their bodies half-emerged, froze and collectively turned their heads towards the doorway. Their sunken eyes, covered by the black membrane, seemed to be able to see, staring intently at the newcomer.

The man on the bed, having narrowly escaped, collapsed in exhaustion, his chin hitting the hard bed surface, aggravating an old injury. Tears streamed down his face from the pain, but he still suppressed a cry and looked towards the door. Due to the swelling and injury to his face, he could only make out that the newcomer was a tall man wearing a black trench coat, holding a pale object in his hand. For some reason, he found the object somewhat familiar.

‘You’re so healthy, you’re even healthier!! Give us your body!!!’

The black-membraned humans on the wall suddenly shouted in unison, moving rapidly across the wall. Their arms stretched like rubber, reaching for Qin Xian.

Qin Xian stood still, without fear. He even casually tossed the femur bone upwards. The bone spun twice in the air before he caught it and brought it down in a chop. The first three or four ghost hands rushing forward bent sharply at an acute angle.

‘Ahhh! It hurts, it hurts! I’ve broken a bone, broken a bone! I don’t want bone setting, I don’t want plates, it hurts!!!’

Screams echoed. These eldritch entities were mostly composed of the lingering resentment of the dead. Those who experienced the pain of a broken bone cried out with particular ferocity.

‘You’ve injured me! You pay! You pay me for medical expenses and lost wages!!!’

The eldritch entities, still screaming, extended more of their bodies and lunged at Qin Xian. Qin Xian silently raised the bone.

The black figures paused collectively, but soon their bloodthirsty instincts took over, and they continued to charge. Qin Xian sneered, hefting the bone and beating the ghosts, not targeting their vital spots, but the most painful ones. Kneecaps, noses, chins, finger joints. The screams turned the entire ward into something resembling the eighteenth level of hell.

The man chained to the bed trembled at the sound. Who was this powerful figure who had suddenly arrived? Surely one of the top players on the game clearing list? But which of those few used a club? He strained his eyes, but could only vaguely see that the person wore a mask, his appearance completely obscured. In just a few seconds of thought, Qin Xian had beaten the black-membraned entities back into the wall, with only a few daring to poke their heads out and bare their teeth at him.

Qin Xian raised the femur bone and swept it towards these emerging figures, but the bone passed through the black human bodies. This was the characteristic of the eldritch entities before him. They were condensed resentments from a large number of deceased humans. When gathered, they could manifest physical attacks. But after being beaten, they could revert to incorporeal forms. At this point, physical attacks were useless against them, making them troublesome without other means.

“Tsk, annoying little bugs,” Qin Xian no longer bothered with these low-level eldritch entities. He turned and looked at the information on the bed, asking, “Your name is Xun Dawei?”

The man on the bed quickly nodded, “Yes, my name is Xun Dawei! Brother, please save my life!!”

“I’m not that kind of kind,” Qin Xian replied coldly.

Xun Dawei bowed even lower, almost prostrate on the bed, asking, “Uh, Brother, what do you need me for? I’ll tell you everything!”

Qin Xian asked, “How did you get out?”

“How did I get out, what do you mean…” Xun Dawei suddenly faltered, then tremblingly pointed a finger at Qin Xian, saying, “I know, I know who you are! You know about that world, but you don’t know our escape method. You’re Huang E! Right?!”

Qin Xian’s expression was indifferent, even though the man amusingly mispronounced his title of “Xian” as “E”. He said coldly, “Answer my question.”

“Hahahaha!!” Xun Dawei laughed heartily, “You must be surprised. Surprised that the Main God said only the first place could leave, and you worked desperately to get first place, only to find that we failures also came out. I won’t tell you why, unless you take me to a safe place and help me hide from the police!” He shouted incoherently, the bandages on his face oozing blood again.

Seeing this, Qin Xian turned around, stepped back a few paces, and stood at the head of the bed. He said to the black membrane on the wall, “My body is not for you. But this person has no further use, so I’ll give him to you.”

‘Really? Give him to us?’

The black membrane on the wall stirred, and several figures emerged again, reaching towards Xun Dawei on the bed.

Xun Dawei struggled violently, “Don’t you want to know the answer!? Xian, I’m going to… You think you’re so great, huh? You’re just a normal person now! But some players are different. If they find you, you’ll die a terrible death… Ah! Don’t eat me! Xian, I’ll tell you how we left, get them away!”

Qin Xian sneered, “The Main God promised you something, right? For example, you can leave, but you must bring the eldritch entities back with you.”

Xun Dawei suddenly faltered, his mouth agape, not knowing what to say.

“As expected. The darkness of human nature is well exploited by the Main God.” Qin Xian took a step forward, approaching Xun Dawei. The eldritch entities, about to devour him, all stopped moving. Their eyeless heads turned to follow Qin Xian. They didn’t understand Qin Xian’s intentions and dared not act rashly.

Qin Xian continued, “You resent that only I could return, and you resent ordinary people living safely here. Why should only you be unlucky? Even if it means becoming a traitor to humanity, you’re happy to bring the eldritch entities into this world, aren’t you?”

“You… you, so what! What you said is right, but I’m not wrong either! Is it wrong for me to want to live!?” Xun Dawei retorted, his face flushing with excitement.

Qin Xian snorted, “Who cares about you? Tell that to the police.”

Before Xun Dawei could understand, he saw a pale bone swing towards his head again.

“Don’t! The ‘seeds’! I’ll tell you about the seeds!”

The bone stopped just in time. Qin Xian asked, “Seeds?”

Xun Dawei stammered, “Powerful eldritch entities cannot directly enter this world. They transformed into seeds and were brought over. I don’t know anything else… Damn!”

Before he could finish the curse, he was knocked unconscious by Qin Xian’s blow, falling headfirst.

Author’s Note:

———————-

Pre-order 2: Title: “Everyone Around Me is My Summoned Beast!?”

Synopsis: Shen Rui transmigrated into a Western fantasy world and became a newly enrolled summoner. Magic is difficult to learn, and summoned beasts cannot be summoned. Shen Rui felt his days were exceptionally hard. Sitting in class, he imagined: The beautiful and gentle teacher on the podium looks like a cat with heterochromia. The academic ace next to him looks like a wise Golden Retriever. The arrogant second-generation heir looks like an enraged hamster. In his last assessment before being advised to withdraw, Shen Rui casually waved his staff and chanted a spell, successfully summoning a beautiful cat with heterochromia. The cat looked confused and clumsy, falling with a thud. Shen Rui quickly scooped up the cat and kissed it: You’re my first summoned beast, don’t get hurt. Then, he summoned the confused Golden Retriever, the squeaking hamster, the sharp-eyed falcon… It’s just that these summoned beasts look more and more like the people around him?

—

Mini-Theater:

Xavier: We need a mount. What kind of mountable creature do you think the principal looks like?

Shen Rui: The teacher!?

A funny, pet-filled story.

The seemingly honest and well-behaved but dark-hearted summoner gong x beautiful, elegant, and even darker teacher shou. The shou has a playful personality.

The Shou can summon people he knows after transforming them into animals, including some cannon fodder and villains.