Chapter 3: Siren Town

Bai Liu followed Jeff's gaze. The mermaid was still looking down at the water, motionless.

Andre was startled by Jeff's yelling and then viciously punched Jeff. "Fuck! Where did it move? It didn't move at all! If you surprise me like this again then I'll pull out your vocal cords. Then let's see if you can scream!"

Jeff clutched his head and glanced at Andre with some fear. He curled up in a ball and muttered to himself, "She moved, she really moved..."

Lucy was also a bit scared by Jeff and smiled reluctantly. "Jeff, why are you so sure it wasn't your eyes but the statue moving? This mermaid statue has no eyes. How do you know she is looking at you?"

This was a milky white marble statue of a mermaid. The eyes might be carved but there were no blacks of the eyes. The eyes were entirely white. Yes, it was like a dead, eyeless creature standing at the door of the hotel.

"Didn't you discover it?" Jeff's voice became lower and he was still slightly trembling. "No matter where our car drives, the statue is staring directly at us. Her eyes must be moving..."

"Uh... why is this..." Lucy was obviously relieved and finally smiled comfortably. "It is the same as the portrait of Mona Lisa right? No matter the angle, you think the person is looking at yourself."

"No, a situation where the person in the portrait keeps looking at you can only be produced on a two-dimensional plane. It can't be reproduced on a three-dimensional plane. In other words, it is impossible to have this happen with a statue." Bai Liu calmly retorted Lucy. "Jeff is right. The eyes of this statue are indeed staring at us like all the townspeople."

It was the same as the townspeople who stared at them as soon as they entered. It was like looking at prey who entered their hunting area. This should be a monster.

He just had this thought when the coin against Bai Liu's chest shook abruptly. The brand new panel popped up. The game panel turned into a thick and old medieval book and slowly opened in front of Bai Liu.

[Congratulations to the player for discovering the first monster in the game and unlocking the monster book— 'Siren Town' Special (1/4)]

A photograph appeared on the page of the mermaid statue. The pale face of the mermaid statue was immersed in deep water. Half of the face was exposed and the carved eyes stared silently at Bai Liu as if crawling out of the photo.

[Monster Name: Merfolk Statue (Pupa State)]

[Attack Value: ??? (Unknown. Unlocked after battle)]

[Attack Method: ??? (Unexplored)]

[Weaknesses: ?? (Unexplored)]

The places with the question marks were like wet ink stains. The specific writing couldn't be seen. The explanation appeared after it in fluorescent writing.

Below the weakness was a caption:

[Note: Explore and complete the monster page information to get corresponding points and special rewards. Collect all the monster pages in a game instance and you can take away the most precious thing of a monster in the instance.]

The monster book of Siren Town had four pages. Bai Liu couldn't turn to the next page, showing that it wasn't unlocked. It should be another monster in the instance. It was a bit like fighting monsters and getting rewards. The higher the danger level of the monster, the better the things that one could eventually obtain.

However, looking at the exploration conditions, there were even battles. This was entirely encouraging players to be proactive against monsters. As a weak fighter with the combat power of a high school girl with a schoolbag, Bai Liu stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Lucy held Bai Liu's hand in a panic. "...Did she really move?"

"How is it possible?" Andre also seemed infected by Bai Liu's plausible rhetoric and a look of fear appeared on his face for a moment. Then it was soon suppressed and he mocked Bai Liu, "Bai Liu, you coward. If you want to make up this reason to escape because you are greedy for life and afraid of death then you can run away! After you go back, you will automatically give up Lucy and then kneel down to lick the urine on my leather shoes!"

This should be the content of Bai Liu and Andre's bet.

The driver's expression became strange but then he smiled as usual. "It's too late. Did you see incorrectly? How can there be any moving statues? If they can move, our town would've long protected them and used them as a sightseeing feature! This can make a lot of money! The mermaid statues are just a feature of our town. They are everywhere and they're nothing special."

"We're here! Get out of the car! Have a good rest and get up tomorrow morning to have fun!" The driver opened the door and sent them off.

Bai Liu watched the mermaid statue in the fountain. From a distance, the statue was still facing them with her head lowered docilely. She stared at the water, seemingly not watching them. However, Bai Liu clearly remembered that when their car drove in, the front of the statue was facing the entrance of the gate rather than the hotel entrance.

There were also two merfolk statues on the left and right of the hotel entrance. They held scepters and had a strangely twisted smile on their faces. They seemed to be pretending to be staff welcoming them but their expressions made it seem they were forced to stand here.

The group walked into the hotel and found there were large and small merfolk statues everywhere. There was even a merman waiting behind the cash register with money in his hand, as if he was a cashier.

It was just like the driver said. These merfolk statues seemed to be a feature of Siren Town and could be seen everywhere. However, this was too much. It was from the merfolk statue floor lamp to the merfolk carving pen holder on the front desk. This wasn't just everywhere but was inseparable from the town.

These merfolk statues had a common feature. Bai Liu found that no matter where he walked, these merfolk statues would give him the feeling they were looking directly at him. In addition, none of these merfolk statues had pupils. Logically speaking, statues without pupils couldn't give people the feeling they were being watched yet Bai Liu had this feeling.

The sensation of so many staring merfolk statues was really uncomfortable. Even Andre, who had been mocking Bai Liu for being a coward, got goosebumps after coming in and couldn't help rubbing his arms. Jeff shivered and hid behind Andre like he wasn't afraid of Andre hitting him.

Lucy snuggled up to... she clung to Bai Liu's arm, her face like a white rose. She seemed to be startled by the strange hotel decorations.

Meanwhile, Bai Liu calmly communicated with the front desk. "Hello, my surname is Bai. I booked a room previously."

The front desk employee was a young man with a pale, marble-like complexion. He wore a Scottish skirt and it seemed a bit inconvenient to walk. It was hard to tell if he was a statue or a real person when he stood still.

Bai Liu's group leaned over. Once this person moved, Lucy was shocked. She thought it was a statue that moved and she covered her face as she exclaimed, "Oh my god! You are as white as a statue!"

"I'm sorry." The front desk employee looked at them apologetically. "I have albinism and I scared you. I'm sorry! You are Mr Bai? You have booked four rooms a week ago. The fee has been paid and here are the room cards. I wish you a happy stay."

Bai Liu took the room cards and sighed with relief when he heard that he booked four rooms. He didn't want to sleep in a room with Lucy whom he 'didn't succeed' with.

Lucy seemed to understand this as well. The woman who had just been frightened quickly recovered. She had an expression that said 'Oh baby! You're so shy!' as she looked at Bai Liu. Bai Liu's expression remained unchanged. "I would like to ask you something. Why are there so many merfolk statues in your hotel?"

The front desk employee replied calmly, "Sir, the merfolk gave us everything. Siren Town had nothing. Then the corpse of a merfolk was salvaged and more tourists started coming here. We obtained money and everything else. Therefore, we are very grateful to the merfolk. There are many merfolk statues in every household and they are like amulets for us."

Bai Liu pointed to the merman statue behind the front desk. "Your merman statue varieties are very rich. There are all types. The one behind you looks exactly like you and the material seems to be different from the other statues."

In fact, he couldn't blame Lucy for being unable to tell the difference between the person and the statue. The merman statue behind the front desk looked exactly the same as the front desk employee. Even the expression was more vivid than the real person and it could be called somewhat ferocious.

The merman statue's eyes seemed to be staring straight at the front desk employee in front of it. He didn't look away no matter where the front desk employee moved. The statue looked like he would run out with his teeth and claws to tear up the front desk employee that looked exactly like himself. The sight made people shudder. This merman statue looked a bit dilapidated and its texture was more brittle. It wasn't as thick as the other merfolk statues.

"Yes, sir." The front desk employee raised his eyes and stared directly at Bai Liu. "The merman statue behind me is my amulet. We will carve merfolk statues to look exactly like us. Once disaster strikes, the devil will mistake these merfolk statues for us and will bear the disaster on our behalf."

Bai Liu felt it was a bit interesting. This amulet status was obviously different from the other statues.

[The player has gained a new awareness. The 'Siren Town Monster Book' merfolk statue panel has updated.]

[Monster Name: Merfolk Statue (Pupa State), Amulet Statue (Cocoon State)]

Pupa and cocoon? There were two different states of this monster called 'merfolk statue'?

Bai Liu thought about it. Pupa was the state where the insect hadn't broken its shell. The cocoon could be called the shell left behind to protect itself. This was consistent with the front desk employee's statement that the shell could resist attacks...

It was estimated that this merfolk statue had two states, 'pupa' and 'cocoon'. Bai Liu intuitively felt that there should be a state more aggressive than 'pupa' and 'cocoon'. At present, it seemed that the merfolk statues in these states had no intention of actively attacking people. However, it was also possible that the method of attack was one that Bai Liu didn't realize such as mental pollution. He felt that the merfolk statues all over the lobby staring at the players was a type of mental pollution.

Bai Liu distributed the room cards. Lucy pestered him about sleeping in the same room as him but Bai Liu told her, "I haven't proven my bravery. I don't deserve to really be with you yet!" Lucy was extremely moved. Before leaving, she prepared to give Bai Liu a hot kiss goodbye but was stopped by an angry Andre.

'Thank you Andre! I hope you won't have an accident!'

Bai Liu hoped from the bottom of his heart that Andre could live a bit longer or he really wouldn't be able to withstand Lucy.

This woman was enthusiastic, generous and looked to engage in pornographic things. She belonged to the type that would never let go once she entangled around someone. Bai Liu felt that Lucy really wanted to eat him. She had already taken advantage of Bai Liu along the way. She touched all over his arms and legs. This made the miser Bai Liu want to tell Lucy that his body was his private property and she had to pay five yuan for one touch.

Bai Liu swiped the room card to unlock his room. Once he opened it, he stopped walking.

The NPC played by Bai Liu was quite rich and had booked a better room. The decorations in the room were exquisite and meticulous. However, from the table lamp shade to the sculptures on the bedside table, the entire room was full of merfolk. Bai Liu entered and the eyes of the merfolk statues moved, all of them watching Bai Liu.

The panel popped up:

[Activate the main task: Bai Liu must safely spend the night in the room and survive until tomorrow without being incubated. Reward for task completion: 20 points.]

6th Anniversary Event Page (Final Submission Date: 15th November)

Proofreader: Purichan