Bai Liu was oblivious to all the discussion swirling around him; his attention was quickly drawn elsewhere—he had spotted Jelf.
Jelf was lurking beneath the stairs, whispering with someone. After their conversation, he turned and headed back.
Jelf had snuck out in the dead of night, and now, curiously, he was returning. From his vantage point on the stairs, Bai Liu saw that someone was following Jelf—someone whose height and attire matched the driver who had brought them to Siren Town.
The two seemed to be conferring in hushed tones. Jelf handed the driver a bundle of colorful items, then gave him a few final instructions.
If Bai Liu wasn't mistaken, the items Jelf gave the driver were this world's currency.
[You have triggered a hidden side quest for a story character—Jelf's Bloody Conspiracy.]
[Complete the entire side quest for a reward of 50 points. Current completion: 15%.]
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes, slipping a hand beneath his collar to touch the holed one-yuan coin, focusing on the driver. A panel popped up:
[NPC: Driver]
[Profile: Your driver, hired by Jelf to bring your group to Siren Town. He is said to know the town well, and has a criminal history of arson and robbery.]
As expected, this was no ordinary NPC.
Bai Liu had never interacted directly with the driver before. During the journey, the driver had remained up front, while Bai Liu sat in the back row, unable to see his face. When they arrived, the driver hadn't gotten out, so Bai Liu had never gotten a good look at him, and thus hadn't triggered his information panel.
He hadn't thought much of it before, but now he realized that Jelf had always, intentionally or not, kept him from interacting with the driver—sitting between them, or causing a distraction whenever they disembarked…
What secret were these two hiding from him?
Based on what he'd seen, Bai Liu surmised that Jelf was paying this criminal driver to do something for him—most likely, to take revenge on Andre.
When they first entered the town, the driver had warned them that many locals had lost their livelihoods and were desperate for money, so they should be careful.
At the time, Bai Liu had taken it as a simple warning, but now it seemed more like a smug, predatory declaration—a way of marking out his hunting ground.
He was warning Jelf: without his cooperation and protection, Jelf would be easy prey for the other townsfolk.
Of course, as a resident of Siren Town, the driver was also desperate for money, and might well turn on Jelf's group for the right price. He was clearly no stranger to taking money to do others' dirty work, and his greed was obvious—he'd been making veiled threats since they arrived. No wonder Jelf had felt compelled to pay him off in the middle of the night.
If he didn't pay up, who knew what the driver might do?
Before Jelf could spot him, Bai Liu slipped back to his own room, thoughtfully closing Jelf's door behind him.
As Jelf passed Andre's room, he hesitated, then bent down and placed something dark on the floor. Through the peephole, Bai Liu saw it was—a large chunk of fish.
Almost immediately, a cluster of pale, sinister mermaid wax statues gathered at Andre's door.
A chorus of muffled, creaking wax echoed down the corridor.
For safety, Bai Liu covered his peephole with a white cloth to prevent the mermaids from peering in, then braced the door with a cabinet, hoping the noise would wake him if anything tried to break in.
His stamina was depleted. After these precautions, Bai Liu lay down and closed his eyes.
He slept dreamlessly through the night.
————
The next morning, Bai Liu awoke to find the wardrobe and main door still closed, but the bathroom door was nearly open.
Inside, the mermaid wax statues he'd bound and covered had already wriggled free, contorted into grotesque, overlapping poses as they crawled toward the door. Some had already reached the handle, just a step away from escaping.
Their twisted postures reminded Bai Liu of playing "Red Light, Green Light" as a child—turning suddenly to catch his friends frozen in awkward, half-formed expressions.
The sight of these cold, white statues, all jostling to escape, was deeply unsettling.
The pressure of so many marble eyes, densely packed in a small space, was almost suffocating. Anyone would feel uneasy under such a gaze.
Bai Liu closed the bathroom door and left them be. There was no point restraining them any longer.
They were breaking free faster and faster; unless he found more weaknesses to exploit, tying them up was a waste of effort—he might even be training them to escape faster.
As he opened his door, a new prompt appeared:
[Main quest complete—survived the night without being assimilated. Reward: 20 points.]
[Current balance: 23 points. You may now purchase items. Would you like to buy something?]
Bai Liu opened the shop. He was still painfully short on funds, with only a handful of affordable items. He bought a high-powered flashlight for 15 points, leaving him with 8.
…He wondered if there was a 3D holographic projector.
[Yes. 4 points each, currently on sale: 3 for 8 points. Would you like to purchase three?]
Bai Liu nodded without hesitation: [Yes!]
As a penniless office worker, "discount" and "sale" were two of the most irresistible words in his vocabulary.
He immediately began experimenting with his new projectors. The quality was surprisingly good for a bargain item—after scanning his own image, the projection was vivid and lifelike, nearly indistinguishable from a real person in the shifting light.
Bai Liu was quite pleased with his purchase.
His audience, however, was not. In this game, once a newcomer earned their likes, follows, and views, expectations rose accordingly.
A crowd gathered around his mini-screen, sighing and criticizing.
"Is this rookie really going to use a projector to fake out the mermaid statues? The monster book says their weakness is direct human gaze—this will only fool them for a moment, if at all."
"He actually bought the discounted projectors? They look fancy, but they're useless! That's why they're always on sale—no one ever buys them! What is he thinking?"
"Yeah, those projectors have been on sale since I started playing, and years later, they're still on sale…"
"Damn! He had 23 points—the highest in the rookie zone—and wasted it all! Didn't buy a single useful item! Is he out of his mind?!"
Suddenly, a player shouted from another screen, "Come quick! This rookie bought a flaming torch! That's the real counter to the mermaids—he's got this!"
The crowd immediately deserted Bai Liu's screen, flocking to the player who'd bought the "right" item.
"Now that's a proper strategy. This rookie's got a good head on his shoulders."
"The flaming torch has three uses—if he plays it right, he'll be the only one to clear this round."
…
Bai Liu's audience dwindled to a handful.
[34 people are watching Bai Liu's mini-screen. 167 have left.]
[50 likes removed, 44 bookmarks canceled, 17 downvotes, no new tips.]
…
After testing his new gadgets, Bai Liu left his room and went to wake Jelf.
Jelf looked haggard, with dark circles under his eyes behind his round glasses.
Bai Liu counted the mermaid statues in Jelf's room—about the same as in his own.
But unlike Bai Liu's, which were all locked away, Jelf's statues stood quietly in place. Or perhaps it was just his imagination, but they seemed more lifelike, their features subtly resembling Jelf's.
Beneath their pale waxy shells, a faint flush glowed, and their eyes seemed ready to move at any moment. Their expressions were relaxed, almost content, like well-fed fish, their tails' scales fanned out.
The room was beginning to smell faintly of fish.
Bai Liu checked Lucy and Andre's rooms as well, comparing the statues. In both, the mermaid statues looked even more human, both in color and texture, and their features were beginning to resemble the room's occupant.