The museum keeper stood silently at the entrance, watching them leave.
Behind him, the indistinct silhouettes of countless wax figures slowly emerged from the darkness, pale and expressionless faces jutting forward like fish breaking the surface of the sea.
[Main Task: Explore the Siren Wax Museum — Completed. Reward: 50 points.]
[Current Point Balance: 81. Would you like to purchase items?]
“Eighty-one points, huh...” Bai Liu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. [Do you have high-concentration alcohol?]
[Opening Store — Yes. There are 218 types of special-grade alcohol available. Eighteen may be purchased in this instance.]
[Which one is the cheapest?]
[9 points for 25L. Friendly reminder: alcohol in-game differs from alcohol in reality. System modifications may increase or decrease its effectiveness. Players are advised to read the instruction manual before purchasing.]
[System Recommendation: Based on the player’s current point balance, we recommend purchasing the “Blazing Torch” item for this instance. It is safer and more effective~]
Bai Liu considered it for a moment.
[Show me the alcohol item manual.]
A dense stack of system panels instantly unfolded before him, more than a dozen pages packed with tiny text that made one’s eyes ache after only a few lines.
Completely unfazed, Bai Liu casually selected a page and began reading.
The game’s item sales strategy worked exactly like this: the cheaper the item, the longer and more tedious the manual.
Meanwhile, the expensive items featured in the promotional section had short, direct descriptions with flashy effects clearly listed—designed to tempt desperate players into buying them at first glance.
As an underpaid corporate worker, Bai Liu had spent countless online shopping festivals digging through mountains of aggressive marketing to find the most practical cheap products. He knew these tactics all too well.
The more useful and inexpensive an item was, the more obstacles were placed between the buyer and the purchase.
One of those obstacles was overwhelming the player with walls of text so dense that most people would lose patience before understanding what the item actually did, skip over it entirely, and buy something else instead.
As a result, these ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) cheap items sold terribly—some barely reaching single-digit sales. Most likely, no one had ever seriously read their manuals.
Squinting slightly, Bai Liu glanced at the text beneath [Blazing Torch] and [3D Projector] in the menu bar.
[This item’s price has changed.]
[“Blazing Torch” price in “Siren Town” reduced to 17 points.]
[“3D Projector” price in “Siren Town” restored to original price: 6 points each.]
Both item prices had changed since he last checked.
In horror-game instances, commonly used survival tools like [Powerful Flashlight] and [Blazing Torch] normally carried extremely high prices.
But after Bai Liu used certain items, their prices seemed to fluctuate accordingly.
Since this game operated within a livestream system...
Bai Liu guessed that while he was playing, shifts in player purchasing behavior had affected market prices in real time.
After calmly finishing every alcohol manual, he finally selected the cheapest option.
Bai Liu was unexpectedly generous.
[I’ll buy all of it.]
[9 bottles of high-concentration alcohol have been added to Player Bai Liu’s shopping bag. We look forward to your next visit.]
***
Standing in front of the small television, Wang Shun smacked his thigh anxiously.
“Oh no! What the hell is this newcomer doing?!”
“Is he trying to burn the wax statues with alcohol? Sure, those things are afraid of light, but they’re not afraid of fire! Melt the wax layer and the monsters inside will come out! Why would he spend all his points at once? Is he insane?!”
Nearby players were already whispering among themselves.
“What’s wrong with this newbie? He spent all 81 points on the cheapest alcohol? Is this guy an alcoholic or something?”
“Probably nobody’s ever even bought that stuff before.”
“He’s oversimplifying things. Just because the merman wax statues fear light doesn’t mean they fear fire. A newbie tried that before—used a torch to burn them instead of using it for illumination. The second the fire weakened, he got ripped apart.”
“Forget it. I thought he might actually be interesting, but turns out he just got lucky.”
“The quality of the Central Screen keeps dropping. Even this kind of newbie can make it on there now. Back when God Mu’s batch came through—that was different...”
...
[0 users liked Bai Liu’s Small TV.]
[2 users bookmarked Bai Liu’s Small TV.]
[166 users disliked Player Bai Liu’s Small TV.]
[No users rewarded Player Bai Liu.]
[1,447 new viewers have entered Bai Liu’s Small TV livestream. More than half disliked the stream.]
[Player Bai Liu has obtained the title: “Unworthy of the Name.”]
[Your performance was painfully disappointing. Everyone hopes you die soon~]
[Player Bai Liu’s promotional slot on the edge of the Central Screen has expired.]
[Due to the rapidly increasing dislike ratio, Player Bai Liu has been transferred to the “Death Comedy” sub-screen.]
[Please entertain the audience with your miserable death and pathetic gameplay!]
Wang Shun watched as Bai Liu’s screen flickered once before vanishing from the edge of the Central Area.
He adjusted his glasses.
After hesitating briefly—and remembering he still hadn’t gathered enough information on that God-level roaming NPC—he stood up amid the surrounding ridicule and headed toward the Death Comedy section.
***
Inside the game, night had fully fallen.
The van rolled slowly through the dark streets as the streetlights flickered on one after another.
Fishermen wandered the roads carrying nets and curved blades, their dull, stagnant eyes following the van as it passed.
These were the townspeople participating in tonight’s merman hunt.
Under the dim lights, blue-black marble-like patterns spread densely across their faces. Mucus dripped from parts of their bodies.
At night, they looked far more horrifying than they had during the day.
Their eyes glowed faint green in the darkness.
The driver warned them again.
“These townsfolk are dangerous. Fishing’s been bad for a long time, and nobody’s making money anymore. When you watch the merman hunt later, stay on the assigned boat and don’t interact with them. One look is enough to tell you’re outsiders. Easy targets for robbery.”
As he spoke, the driver took another huge bite of his sandwich.
Again, fish meat scraps spilled from the corners of his mouth.
The nauseating stench of rotting fish instantly filled the van, making Bai Liu want to vomit, yet nobody else seemed bothered by it.
Andre was practically drooling as he stared at the sandwich, scratching irritably behind his ear.
Lucy swallowed unconsciously.
“That sandwich smells amazing...”
Andre snapped irritably, “What kind of garbage did we even eat tonight? I’m starving.”
As he spoke, he shot Bai Liu a vicious glare.
Earlier that evening, they had eaten at the wax museum restaurant. Bai Liu had deliberately ordered the cheapest fully vegetarian set and refused every fish dish available.
Not only Andre, but even Lucy had been stunned.
Still, Bai Liu was the one paying.
If he said no fish, then nobody ate fish.
Andre had exploded immediately.
“If you’re too broke to play, then stop dragging people into your cheap-ass games! Go home and drink your mommy’s vegetarian milk!”
Back then, Bai Liu had merely smiled.
“If Andre wants meat so badly, he can pay for it himself.”
Then he calmly canceled Andre’s meal.
Food in the wax museum was absurdly expensive. Andre couldn’t afford it alone, and if Bai Liu refused to pay, there was nothing he could do about it.
He didn’t dare openly provoke Bai Liu, either. Bai Liu still had to pay for their hotel tonight, and Andre had no intention of sleeping outside in a town like this.
But Jeff was another matter entirely.
Andre snatched Jeff’s vegetarian meal and even punched him several times for good measure. Since then, Jeff had remained curled silently in the corner, clutching his stomach.
Now, smelling the sandwich, Jeff’s Adam’s apple bobbed repeatedly.
A suppressed hunger burned in his eyes as he stared at Andre with bloodshot intensity.
[Jeff’s Bloody Plot — Side Quest Progress: 30%]
Bai Liu glanced briefly at Jeff, who still kept his head lowered.
Driven half-mad by hunger and the scent of food, Andre scratched violently at the skin behind his ear.
Bai Liu noticed something strange.
The reddened skin suddenly split open and shut again.
Several curved folds appeared beneath the flesh, expanding and contracting like fish gills.
The movement lasted only an instant before the skin flattened once more.
But the flesh there continued pulsing faintly.
Like the gills of a fish struggling to breathe on land.
Bai Liu flipped a coin and scanned Andre.
[NPC Name: Andre (High Degree of Alienation)]
Ever since leaving the wax museum, Andre’s alienation level had worsened.
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Andre, did you touch the merman wax statues back at the museum?”
“So what if I did?” Andre snarled viciously. “Bai Liu, tonight we’ll find out which one of us should be going home to drink milk.”
The moment he spoke, a low growl escaped his throat.
In the dim light of the van, the gills on both sides of Andre’s neck opened fully. Bai Liu could clearly see fin-like structures trembling violently behind his ears.
The driver immediately barked a warning.
“Hey! No fighting in my car!”
Andre reluctantly withdrew the gills, though his hostile gaze remained fixed on Bai Liu.
“As requested,” the driver continued, “I found a place for your duel—or your little bet. Remote beach. Two wooden boats.”
He paused before adding casually:
“Try not to drown. If you die out there, I’m not taking responsibility.”
Then he chuckled quietly to himself.
“Though after staying here this long... you probably already know how to swim.”
Bai Liu’s expression stilled.
He didn’t know how to swim.
The people in this town were becoming fish-like monsters.
And even their group, after only one day here, was gradually changing as well—developing cravings for fish, carrying faint traces of a fishy odor...
Fish are born knowing how to swim.
Naturally, they wouldn’t drown.
Except for Bai Liu.
Unlike the others, he had never eaten the strange fish meat.
Nor had he allowed the merman wax statues near him at night.
Bai Liu suspected those two conditions were the reason the others were slowly transforming.
But because he alone resisted assimilation, the danger he faced at sea would be far greater than everyone else’s.
After all—
Who knew what lurked beneath the ocean?
And who knew whether Andre might turn into a monster and overturn his boat midway through the bet?
