Bai Liu was lying sideways across the last row of seats in a van.
The rear compartment was cramped to the point that even turning over felt difficult. As he shifted slightly, something slipped out from beneath his shirt.
A necklace.
The clothes he wore were exactly the same as before entering the game: a white dress shirt and black trousers, the standard uniform of an exhausted office worker. The necklace, however, had not been there before.
Its pendant was a one-yuan coin with a hole drilled through the center.
The moment Bai Liu touched it, the familiar game panel appeared before him. It looked exactly the same as before, without any new information.
So this was probably some kind of in-game interface device.
Bai Liu tucked the necklace back beneath his shirt. He disliked seeing currency deliberately damaged like this.
He leaned forward from the back seat to examine his surroundings.
The vehicle was a seven-seater van. Aside from Bai Liu in the very back, four other passengers sat ahead of him. The instant he poked his head out, someone turned toward him with obvious delight.
“Bai Liu! Hey, sweetheart, you’re finally awake!”
Everyone else in the car appeared distinctly foreign. The speaker was a tall girl with wavy brown hair, dark red lipstick, and amber-brown eyes. She wore hot pants and a camisole, exposing long, toned legs.
As soon as Bai Liu looked at her, the coin against his chest activated again.
A panel appeared.
NPC Name: Lucy
Character Biography: Your classmate. She is very attracted to your type, though you become painfully shy around Lucy due to her passionate personality and the fact that she is ten centimeters taller than you.
Bai Liu’s gaze lingered on the words “painfully shy” for two full seconds before he calmly looked away.
Then he began thinking.
It seemed the game only revealed NPC information after direct visual contact. Like hovering a cursor over a character in an online game.
In other words, the player’s eyes functioned as both the mouse and controller.
Interesting.
Which also meant one thing:
At the very least, losing one’s eyesight in this game would be catastrophic.
Lucy winked at him playfully.
“What’s wrong, babe? Did I tire you out too much? You slept the entire ride.”
Bai Liu, who had been single since birth, fell briefly into complicated silence.
“...”
Apparently, he had somehow escaped bachelorhood without realizing it.
He decisively changed the subject.
Looking out at the increasingly isolated scenery beyond the rain-streaked windows, Bai Liu asked, “Where exactly are we going? This place looks incredibly remote.”
A mocking male voice came from the front row.
“Looks like our coward wants to back out again.”
The speaker was an enormous man wearing tight jeans and a sports shirt stretched taut across his bulky frame. He looked like a professional football player.
Arms folded across his chest, he sneered down at Bai Liu.
“Too late now, Bai Liu. Even if you want to run away, we’re already on the road to Siren Town.”
The panel appeared again.
NPC Name: Andre
Character Biography: Your romantic rival. He likes Lucy, but she rejected him, causing him to become openly hostile toward you. Earlier, you made a reckless bet with Andre: to prove your love for Lucy, you would protect her in the most dangerous place in the world. As a result, this group is now heading toward Siren Town. Before departure, you regretted your decision and cried loudly enough that Andre forcibly dragged you into the van.
Bai Liu ignored the mockery entirely.
This was now the second time he had seen the name “Siren Town.”
“What kind of place is Siren Town?” he asked.
Andre let out another cold snort, clearly preparing to ridicule him again, only to be interrupted by a quiet, nervous voice muttering from nearby.
“Siren Town is the only place in recorded history where traces of a Siren were supposedly discovered...”
The speaker pushed up a pair of absurdly thick glasses as he spoke.
“Over the years, many people have claimed to hear merfolk singing from the sea at night. Some even say they saw Sirens sitting atop black reefs, feeding on human corpses beneath the waves...”
“Jeff!” Andre snapped irritably. “That’s all tourist trap bullshit made up to attract visitors.”
Even so, a fleeting trace of unease flashed across his face.
The bespectacled young man shrank slightly at the outburst, clutching the book against his chest tighter. He seemed intimidated by Andre, but still forced himself to continue quietly.
“Then how do you explain the disappearances? Twelve tourists vanished in Siren Town last month alone. The police searched everywhere, but nobody ever saw them leave town...”
Bai Liu glanced at the panel.
NPC Name: Jeff
Character Biography: A passionate enthusiast of supernatural creatures such as merfolk and sea monsters. After learning Lucy’s group planned to visit Siren Town, he insisted on joining them. He possesses extensive knowledge regarding the town’s folklore and legends.
Andre scoffed.
“They probably fell into the ocean and drowned. People die at sea all the time.”
Jeff shook his head stubbornly.
“The police dragged the water for an entire month and still didn’t recover a single body. Even if they drowned, that still isn’t normal...”
As he spoke, his voice lowered into something darkly fascinated.
“Unless the Sirens ate them.”
“That would explain why nothing was ever found.”
Andre finally exploded.
“You shut the hell up, four-eyes!”
He struck Jeff violently across the head.
Jeff slammed sideways into the edge of the seat before stumbling against Andre himself. That only made Andre angrier. He grabbed Jeff and slapped him several times in succession so hard that one of Jeff’s teeth flew loose.
Jeff lowered his head silently and picked the tooth up from the floor.
Then he looked at Andre.
Only for a moment.
But in that brief glance, Bai Liu caught something viciously hateful hidden beneath the fear.
Jeff mouthed something under his breath so quietly nobody else noticed.
Unfortunately for him, Bai Liu’s hearing was excellent.
“The merfolk will tear you apart and swallow you whole, Andre.”
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing.
The dynamics within this group were more complicated than they first appeared.
Andre’s abuse toward Jeff clearly wasn’t a one-time occurrence, and Jeff, meanwhile, seemed to have developed certain fantasies involving revenge through these so-called “merfolk.”
The driver was a local hired by Bai Liu.
From Lucy’s conversations, Bai Liu pieced together that his in-game identity was apparently that of a wealthy second-generation heir. He had paid for the group’s entire trip, including lodging, transportation, and the local driver currently taking them to Siren Town.
The van drove deep into the night before finally arriving.
According to the driver, Siren Town had originally survived through fishing and salvaging shipwrecks from nearby waters. It had remained poor and isolated for generations until a newly elected mayor began aggressively marketing the town’s mermaid legends as a tourist attraction.
Tourism had transformed the town almost overnight.
Then, one month ago, tourists began disappearing.
Not drowning.
Disappearing.
Some vanished before ever reaching the shoreline. One tourist reportedly checked into a hotel at night, only to be gone by morning. The room had remained locked from the inside. The bed was still warm.
But the man himself had vanished completely.
As a result, what should have been peak tourist season now felt eerily ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ abandoned.
Many inns and hotels had already shut down.
Siren Town itself looked old and weather-worn. Fishing nets hung from crooked fences, while dried seaweed, shells, and muddy silt covered the roads. Only the tourist establishments appeared remotely modern.
By the time Bai Liu’s group arrived, it was already close to midnight.
And yet the streets were still full of people.
At first, the townsfolk all seemed to be walking toward the sea in silence.
Then Bai Liu’s van entered town.
Every single one of them stopped.
Simultaneously.
They turned their heads in perfect unison and stared directly at the vehicle.
Lucy shivered.
Being watched by so many silent strangers in the middle of the night was deeply unsettling. She gave a frightened squeak and instinctively buried herself against Bai Liu.
Or rather—
Because she was taller than him, it looked more like Bai Liu had buried himself against her chest.
Bai Liu: “...”
He turned toward the driver instead.
“It’s already midnight. Why are they all heading toward the sea?”
The driver shrugged.
“Tourism’s dead now. Fishing’s the only way people here can survive again.” He spat out the window before continuing. “Fish with real value avoid bright light. Best catches happen at night.”
The townspeople continued staring at the van as it passed.
Under the darkness, their eyes reflected an eerie green sheen like those of stray cats. Their expressions looked strange—almost smiling, except their lips barely moved, twitching stiffly at the corners instead.
Some carried fishing nets.
Others held hooks.
Several carried oil lamps that emitted pale, milky light.
Every head turned with the movement of the van.
Watching.
Following.
As if they might suddenly rush forward and smash the vehicle apart.
“You should be careful around these people,” the driver warned quietly. “Money’s been tight lately. And you...” He glanced at Bai Liu through the mirror. “You look rich.”
Thanks to Bai Liu’s generous spending, the driver ultimately brought them to the best hotel in town.
The building stood out sharply from its surroundings.
A lavish five-star hotel in the middle of a crumbling fishing town looked almost absurdly out of place. There was even a fountain at the entrance.
At the center of the fountain stood a mermaid statue sculpted from white wax-coated limestone.
It was disturbingly lifelike.
Moonlight glimmered across the statue’s skin with an almost human softness. Long hair cascaded down over full breasts, while an enormous fishtail rose elegantly from the basin below.
The mermaid’s lowered eyes carried an expression of sorrowful compassion.
In her hands she held a tilted pitcher overflowing with imitation pearls and flowing water. The fountain’s endless stream sounded eerily similar to waves crashing against distant rocks.
The driver circled around the fountain before parking near the hotel entrance.
Suddenly, Jeff screamed.
“She moved!”
He pointed frantically at the mermaid statue.
“She was looking at me just now!”
