Everyone looked at the diary with grave expressions.
"Hm, was the village chief forced into cooperating with the hospital, or what?"
"It probably wasn't forced, but if it were the village chief from our side…"
Saiki ignored the others. He turned his head absentmindedly, looking at the dilapidated office, his mind replaying what had just happened.
Actually, the "director" who wrote that diary—Saiki had already met him earlier.
He had explained a ton of things to Saiki, though most of it was nonsense.
But Saiki stayed still for the time being and listened. Until the director got arrogant, stopped babbling, and tried to make a move…
That was when Saiki wrecked him.
That huge noise from earlier was the commotion Saiki caused, but in the end the director was still rescued.
Because two figures appeared. Saiki froze for a second at first sight, and in that instant they took him away.
Saiki couldn't forget the appearance of those two people he had just seen—they looked exactly like Aki and Fuyu, the patients he had been taking care of.
Saiki reached into his pocket, pulled out a small pocket watch, and glanced at the time.
(About time to wrap this up. Although what I ran into earlier was pretty interesting. Those two definitely weren't Aki and Fuyu—the aura alone made that clear. Not them, but they looked identical. And earlier Aki and Fuyu had mentioned they once had two older sisters, so…)
[Hey, you guys have chatted enough, right? It's already past 5 a.m.~]
"Ah, already?!"
Lin Fan: "Saiki, you disappeared for a whole day yesterday. If you go back now, it should be fine, right?"
[No problem with that. Because I'm not staying here anymore. I'm leaving.]
"?"
Xiao Chen: "You mean leaving the hospital?"
[Yeah. The five days are up, and there's no reason for me to stay. I already found out everything I wanted to know. Time to say goodbye.]
(I've had enough of this hospital long ago. And there are still so many weird things in this place that haven't been uncovered. I don't want to stay here any longer.)
(It's already seriously off track. This was supposed to be the beginner's village, so why did we end up running to a hospital? Sigh…)
"So soon!" The blue general still hadn't adjusted. His own task wasn't even finished yet, and Saiki was already leaving.
To be honest, although he wasn't lacking confidence and could probably complete the task alone, being with Saiki always gave him this feeling that no matter how wildly he acted, nothing bad would happen.
He had completely forgotten that just a few days ago he had already used one revival card.
"How about staying a few more days?"
Saiki didn't reply. He just looked at him with the expression one uses for an idiot.
What would be the point of staying now? To tour a monster hospital? He wasn't some curious bear kid obsessed with weird hospitals. He wasn't going to hang around here forever.
Yao Yao and Akiyuki walked up to Saiki and asked, "Are we going back to the village now? Should we at least say something to the nurses before leaving the hospital…?"
[Too much hassle.]
Saiki shook his head.
[Just put your hands on my shoulders. We're leaving.]
"On your shoulders?"
Although still a bit puzzled, the two obediently did as told, placing their hands on Saiki's shoulders—one on each side.
[By the way, you guys can go ask the patients I was taking care of about the situation. You'll probably get some useful information.]
Saiki tossed the pocket watch in his hand to Lin Fan and said,
[Alright. Keep that diary safe. Anyway, you guys aren't leaving that quickly. So, see you.]
Before the words even finished, Saiki vanished from the spot along with the two girls behind him.
"Dis—disappeared. Is he even human anymore?" The blue general stared in surprise at Saiki vanishing on the spot. He knew Saiki probably had some special abilities and was very strong, but seeing it still felt exaggerated.
Xiao Chen patted Lin Fan's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Lin Fan looked puzzled at the clock and diary in his hand. No matter how he thought about it, something felt off. He shook his head. "Let's just take the elevator back first!"
"…"
…
Whoosh
Saiki brought the two girls to a room. The house looked very familiar—it was the small house Saiki had stayed in when he first arrived in the village.
"We're—we're back!"
Akiyuki looked at the scene of instantly returning to the village and thought of a certain superpower. She looked at Saiki and asked, "Is this teleportation?"
[No need to say so much. Go find the village chief, that Zhao Gao, and that… anyway, bring those three here. I have something to say.]
"Oh." Seeing that Saiki didn't answer directly, Akiyuki didn't press. She simply agreed obediently, gave the two of them a meaningful glance, and left.
After Akiyuki left, Yao Yao tilted her head and asked, "Saiki-kun, is there something you want to say? Is it really okay for us to leave the hospital so quickly? Didn't we still not find Medusa?"
[What are you talking about?]
Saiki pulled a special eye mask from his pocket. Before Yao Yao could react, he placed it over her and said,
[Medusa is you, right!]
"Wh—what are you saying!"
The moment Yao Yao spoke, the eye mask released purple lightning that scorched her entire body black.
When the lightning faded, Yao Yao's body had changed. Her hair had turned into numerous small writhing snakes.
Her lower body had completely become a snake's tail. Her clothes and style had also changed, and strange patterns appeared on her face.
The appearance instantly made it obvious she looked extremely similar to the Medusa from the main story.
Medusa lay weakly on the ground, gasping for breath as she asked, "When… when did you figure it out?"
[This? If we're talking confirmation, it was probably when you took me to see that statue and the mural.]
"You knew from that moment?!"
[Suspicion started on the first day, probably.]
"Wh—what?"
Drool dripped from the corner of Medusa's mouth onto the ground. Her hands clenched tightly. She had never imagined she would be exposed so early.
"Was my acting not good enough? I appeared in the same place as you players from the very beginning!"
[Who said that people who appear in the same place and receive tasks together can't include a traitor?]
(Though to be fair, it was that Akiyuki who gave me the hint.)
Saiki closed his eyes and lifted the system's gag order from his mind.
The moment the ban and restrictions were lifted, the system rushed out and shouted loudly, "Why did you mute me?!!"
[Because you're too noisy. It interferes with what I'm doing.]
System: "I was just giving you a little suggestion! Later on I didn't even care when you used so many superpowers, did I?"
[That's because you couldn't control me anymore.]
System: …
"In fact, you didn't have to rush. You could have stayed in the hospital one more day. After all, there are still things about that hospital you don't know, right?"
[That has nothing to do with me. The three of them will investigate the truth in the hospital. That's not my task. And…]
"And what?"
[It's been too long.]
[Way too long.]
[It's already been 30 chapters—ah… no, it's already been 6 days. I don't want to stay here anymore.]
After dealing with the system, Saiki found a stool, sat down, crossed his legs, and coldly looked at Medusa as he asked,
[So, what do you have to say? You should have something to say, right?]
Medusa gritted her teeth and spat out a few words. "That village chief is not a good person."
Saiki's mind recalled the mural Medusa had once taken him to see.
[Can you tell me?]
Medusa shook her head.
[You don't want to say?]
Medusa's body trembled. She raised her head slightly, her dazed eyes looking toward Saiki. Although the eye mask covered her, a vague shadow of her eyes could still be seen through it.
"Saiki-sama, you're back!"
Bang!
The door was suddenly flung open. Akiyuki had already returned with the village chief and the other three. But outside the door, several rows of villagers had also come along.
[So many people.]
"Because the village chief was discussing these matters with the villagers, so they all came together."
While answering, Akiyuki glanced sideways at the person in front of Saiki.
After seeing clearly who it was, Akiyuki frowned, walked behind Saiki, and asked, "This is Medusa?"
[Yes.]
Zhao Gao said happily, "Amazing, Saiki-sama! I've believed in you since we were kids. You really did it!"
(Since we were kids… huh?)
"Now we can go home." Li Ming's body trembled. He was now wearing villager clothes. Back in the hospital, he had almost given up. He never expected Saiki would really succeed.
Everyone's expressions were filled with joy—except Su Sheng. Su Sheng looked dazed at Li Qing, whose fingers were interlocked with his.
Akiyuki scanned the surroundings. Not seeing Yao Yao from earlier, she thought for a moment. A flash of clarity passed through her eyes. She looked nervously at Saiki and asked, "This Medusa… is Yao Yao?"
Saiki's face remained calm. From the corner of his eye, he secretly glanced at the village chief and nodded.
[Didn't you suspect it long ago? So why are you still nervous now that you know?]
Akiyuki gave a bitter smile. "Suspecting is one thing, guessing is another. Seeing it in reality… it's still a bit…"
"What? Yao Yao is Medusa?!"
"But she was with us the whole time."
"I never thought… something like this could happen. I really didn't expect it!"
Zhao Gao and the others looked utterly incredulous. They genuinely never imagined there would be an undercover among them—one who had been there from the very beginning.
"Young man, well done."
The old village chief smiled with relief. "You must be tired after all this time. This monster has troubled us for a very long while."
[Then, village chief, take a look now. Is this the monster that's been affecting your lives?]
Saiki reached out, grabbed Medusa's arm, and step by step walked toward the village chief.
Medusa's body went limp as she was dragged by Saiki to stand in front of the village chief. The moment the village chief touched Medusa's face and hand—
Medusa's originally exhausted expression turned fierce again. As if sensing the village chief's presence, the snakes in her hair began writhing wildly.
But the village chief showed no fear. He nodded and said, "Yes, it's her."
At the same time, that cold system voice rang out once more.
"Congratulations on completing the main task: Go to the Beginner's Village, investigate how to survive, and within 7 days capture 'Medusa' and hand her over to the village chief."
"You have one hour remaining. At that time, you may choose to stay or take your rewards and return to reality."