Chapter 13: Siren Town
Chapter 13: Siren Town
The keeper stood quietly at the door and watched them leave. Behind him was the faint silhouettes of countless statues. In the darkness, the marble expressionless faces appeared slowly like fish protruding from the sea. The man in the museum stood still with his pupil-less eyes. At night, he could hardly be distinguished from the faintly moving statues behind him.
[Main task: Exploring Siren Museum has been completed. 50 points have been rewarded.]
[The current points balance is 81. Do you wish to purchase items?]
81 points… Bai Liu touched his chin and asked: [Is there any high concentration alcohol?]
[Opening the store. Yes, a bottle of 6L is 9 points.]
6L. There was so much in one bottle. It was too cheap. A strong flashlight cost 10 points while 6L of alcohol was only 9 points. Last time, three projectors cost 8 points while Bai Liu remembered that the fire torch cost 20 points despite being a consumable.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the words behind ‘fire torch’ and ‘3D projector’ on the menu bar: [The price of the products has changed.]
[The fire torch has lowered the price to 17 points.]
[The 3D projector is restored to the original price of 6 points each.]
Both of the items he noticed previously had price changes.
Bai Liu was thoughtful. The strong flashlight and fire torch were commonly used and effective items in horror games and seemed to be more expensive. Then after he used some of the items, the price of these items changed to a certain extent. He knew it was a live broadcast system so Bai Liu guessed that during the period of his game, the number of players buying these items changed. This resulted in a change in the price of the item.
In other words, the pricing of these items wasn’t directly linked to practicality but was linked to market demand. This meant that expensive items might not be better to use.
This was different from the concept of items in the horror games developed by Bai Liu. The more expensive the item, the better they were to use. He hadn’t expected this game to be priced using supply and demand.
Bai Liu was completely relieved. There was no need to pursue high priced items to clear the game. This would save him a lot of points.
Bai Liu was very generous. [I want to spend all my points on it.]
[Nine bottles of high concentration alcohol have been placed into player Bai Liu’s shopping bag. We welcome your next visit.]
Wang Shun watched Bai Liu anxiously and hit his legs. “Oh! What is this newcomer doing? Are you going to burn the statues with alcohol? The statues might be light-sensitive but they aren’t afraid of fire! In addition, you spent all your points at once. Stupid!”
Some players whispered beside him.
“What is wrong with this newcomer? He spent all 81 points on alcohol. Is he an alcoholic?”
“I’m still looking forward to it. This newcomer’s operations are too crazy. Is he playing the game with his eyes closed?”
“Why is he buying so much alcohol? Monsters are only afraid of their weaknesses. The merfolk statues are light-sensitive but they aren’t afraid of fire. Moreover, the brightness when alcohol is burned isn’t enough to drive back the merfolk statues. Buying so much alcohol is useless.”
“He took it for granted and thinks that the merfolk statues should be afraid of fire because they are afraid of light. There have previously been newcomers who committed this error. They used the torch to burn instead of shining light on the merfolk statues. As a result, they died once the light of the torch dimmed.”
“It’s broken. I thought he was awesome but it turned out to be luck…”
“The gold content of the central screen is getting lower. This type of newcomer can actually enter here. The previous batch with God Mu was withdrawn…”
[0 people liked Bai Liu’s small TV, 2 people have saved Bai Liu’s small TV, 766 people stepped on player Bai Liu’s small TV, no one charged player Bai Liu.]
[1447 people are watching player Bai Liu’s small TV and more than half of them stepped on player Bai Liu’s small TV. Player Bai Liu has won the title of ‘Not Worthy of the Name’. Your play is really bad and everyone hopes you will die quickly~]
[Player Bai Liu’s edge of the center screen promotion has expired.]
[The total number of people stepping on Player Bai Liu’s small TV is rising too fast. Player Bai Liu has entered the Death Comedy screen. Use your funny death and game skills to please everyone!]
Wang Shun watched the small screen on the edge of the central area flash and Bai Liu’s TV went dark. The players behind him were laughing about how this newcomer fell from the central area to the death comedy area. Only Wang Shun sighed. He pushed up his glasses and thought about how he hadn’t collected the information of the god-level wandering NPC yet. He hesitated for a moment before getting up and heading to the death comedy screen area.
Night fell.
The driver drove the van through the darkened streets. The street lights on both sides flickered. On the street, there were fishermen dragging fishing nets while holding machetes. They looked at the van passing by with a dull expression.
They were all fishermen who were going to the merfolk fishing activity tonight.
Under the gloomy street lights, the marble-like grey and black lines on these people’s faces seemed to be interacting and slimy liquid slipped from them. It was like watching… a fish shave off its scales. After that, the slippery skin underneath was more terrifying than what was seen during the day. Their eyes glowed with a dark green light in the darkness.
The driver warned again, “These townspeople are very dangerous. They haven’t received any income for a long time. You can watch the merfolk fishing on the designated boat later but don’t make contact with them. You look like outsiders and it is easy for you to be robbed.”
The driver ate the sandwich in his hand as he spoke. This man also ate sandwiches for dinner. The minced meat of the fish steak fell from his mouth and Bai Liu wanted to vomit. It was the smell of rancid fish but no one except him seemed to smell it. Andre was even gulping as he watched the driver’s sandwich dinner.
Lucy couldn’t help murmuring, “This sandwich smells so good.”
Andre was grumpy. “What did we have for dinner? I’m starving to death!” His eyes were looking at Bai Liu.
They had eaten at the museum in the evening. Bai Liu ordered the cheapest vegetarian banquet and didn’t want any fish. Not only was Andre angry but Lucy was also taken aback. However, Bai Liu was paying for everything. He said he didn’t want to eat fish so everyone had to listen to him.
Andre cursed. “Don’t come out to play adult games if you can’t afford it. Go back and drink your mother’s milk!”
Bai Liu just smiled slightly. “I feel the same way. Andre, if you want to eat fish or meat then order it yourself.”
He had paid for Andre’s vegetarian meal. All the museum packages were so expensive that Andre couldn’t afford it at all. Even so, Bai Liu didn’t buy it for him.
Andre didn’t dare find Bai Liu to make trouble. After all, Bai Liu still had to check out of the hotel. Andre didn’t want to sleep on the streets in this type of town. However, he didn’t care about Jeff so Jeff’s vegetarian meal was stolen by Andre. He was also beaten by Andre several times and kept shrinking back in the corner, clutching his stomach without making a sound.
Now that he smelled the sandwich, Jeff’s Adam’s apple kept sliding up and down. His eyes showed suppressed desire and then killing intent when he looked at Andre.
[Jeff’s bloody conspiracy – 30% progress.]
Bai Liu glanced at Jeff whose head was lowered.
Andre was completely irritated by hunger and the smell of food. He couldn’t help scratching his itchy ears. Bai Liu noticed that the red skin behind Andre’s ears were opening and closing. Suddenly, several arc-shaped folds appeared like fish gills. It was only for a moment before the piece of skin returned to normal.
This piece of skin seemed to be alive as it moved slightly. It was like the slight stirring of the closed gills of a fish on the shore.
Bai Liu swept the coin toward Andre.
[NPC Name: Andre (highly alienated)]
Andre’s alienation had increased since coming out of the museum.
Bai Liu slightly raised his eyebrow. “Andre, did you touch any of the merfolk statues inside the museum?”
“So what if I touched it?” Andre turned his head and smiled wickedly. “Bai Liu, tonight we will see who should go home and drink milk!”
Andre growled angrily and both sides of his cheeks swelled in the dim car. Bai Liu could clearly see the gills behind Andre’s ears shaking violently and grey-black lines like fish scales appeared around his eyes. The pupils in his eyes shrank and a subtle fishy odor radiated from his body. His sweat became like slime gliding on his bare skin.
The driver suddenly warned, “Boys, don’t fight in my car!”
Andre instantly retracted his gills but his eyes still fell viciously on Bai Liu.
The driver continued, “I have followed your request and found a place for your duel or your bet. There will be two wooden boats placed at a secluded beach tonight. Pay attention to your safety. If you drown then I’m not responsible.”
Then the driver seemed to laugh to himself. “However, you have been here for so long. You probably won’t drown… you should all be able to swim.”
Bai Liu’s face changed. He couldn’t swim.
The residents of this town were all fish-like things. This group of people had been here for only a day and were gradually becoming like fish. They liked to eat strange fish and exuded the subtle smell of fish.
Fish were born to swim and definitely wouldn’t drown. Bai Liu was the only one who would drown.
The difference between him and the others was that he didn’t eat those strange fish or let the merfolk statues approach him at night. Bai Liu speculated that these two things caused the others to be transformed into fish but Bai Liu hadn’t assimilated and evolved. This meant that while carrying out his bet, his risk would double.
Who knew what was in the sea? Who knew if Andre would become a monster and topple his ship?
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