After reading through Li Gou’s history, Wang Shun felt for the first time that his [All-Knowing] skill—the ability to investigate the pasts of other players—wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Only people with overwhelmingly intense desires could enter this game.
And because of that, the game was never short of monsters.
On the contrary, it was the perfect battlefield for them.
Many high-level players had blood on their hands.
Wang Shun looked worriedly at Bai Liu’s small television screen and let out a long sigh.
You haven’t even logged out of the game yet, and there’s already a butcher waiting outside for you.
Bai Liu... you really are a walking disaster.
————
[126 people liked Bai Liu’s small TV, 675 people bookmarked Bai Liu’s small TV, 0 people charged Bai Liu’s small TV, and 378 people disliked Bai Liu’s small TV.]
[Player Bai Liu gained 3,000 viewers within one minute, but the like ratio is less than one-tenth. Most viewers seem to be here purely to spectate and enjoy the drama~]
[High-level player Li Gou is currently watching Player Bai Liu’s small TV. Congratulations to Player Bai Liu on obtaining his first high-level player viewer!]
[Li Gou has given Player Bai Liu a dislike. Sniff sniff—it seems this high-level player doesn’t like you very much.]
————
Bai Liu remained alone at sea until dawn.
Not long afterward, the large ship that had departed the previous night finally returned.
Jeff and Lucy stood together at the bow.
Jeff appeared to be comforting Lucy, one hand resting gently on her shoulder. Lucy looked utterly devastated, burying her face against his chest while Jeff softly coaxed her. Every so often, he would lower his head and kiss the side of her tear-streaked face with tender pity.
Lucy didn’t resist.
Instead, she leaned against him with unmistakable dependence.
Watching the scene, Bai Liu lifted an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.
It seemed that overnight, not only had Bai Liu’s “Ship of True Love” safely reached shore, but Jeff and Lucy had boarded their own little boat of romance as well.
(T/N: You’re telling me Jeff fell for the woman who watched Andre beat him half to death on a regular basis and never once stopped it? Jeff... please find some self-respect.)
But the moment the ship approached and Jeff and Lucy saw Bai Liu wrapped in a quilt as though he had spent the night sleeping peacefully, Lucy immediately shrieked in shock and shoved Jeff away, clutching at her chest.
Jeff looked equally horrified.
“You—Bai Liu—you’re okay?!” he blurted out before hurriedly correcting himself. “No, I mean... are you alright?”
Bai Liu calmly grabbed the rope ladder lowered from the ship and climbed aboard.
His gaze drifted meaningfully between Jeff and Lucy before he smiled pleasantly.
“I’m fine. Good morning, Jeff. Lucy.”
“I had a rather enjoyable night. Judging from appearances, it seems the two of you did as well?”
Lucy hurried forward as though trying to grab Bai Liu’s arm, but Bai Liu silently sidestepped her.
Immediately, Lucy began crying in grievance.
“No! Jeff told me last night that both you and Andre were probably dead already! I was terrified! I thought it was all my fault!”
“He was only comforting me!”
Bai Liu merely smiled faintly without exposing her lie.
Instead, his attention shifted elsewhere.
Lucy’s face was pale to the point of translucence. Her movements carried an odd stiffness, and whenever her skin shifted, it gave off the same thin, brittle texture as the Mermaid Wax Statues in the ship’s hold—a fragile paraffin-like sheen, almost like eggshell.
Even the heavy fishy odor surrounding her had disappeared.
Jeff also hurriedly explained himself, his eyes flickering nervously.
“Yes. Lucy was scared something happened to you and Andre, so she stayed with me all night. There’s nothing between us.”
He forced out a stiff smile.
“I know she’s your girlfriend. I wouldn’t do something like that. You’re my best friend, Bai Liu.”
Bai Liu remained noncommittal.
“You stayed at the Siren Wax Museum last night, didn’t you?”
Lucy gasped.
“How did you know?!”
Then she immediately began complaining.
“They wouldn’t let us go back to the hotel! They said it was some local custom. Anyone who participates in the mermaid fishing activity has to spend a night in the Siren Wax Museum to cleanse the ‘karma of killing’ and wash away the smell of blood.”
“That place was terrifying. It was full of wax statues. At night, it felt like they were moving around. No matter where Jeff and I went, there would always be wax statues blocking the path.”
Jeff maintained his strained smile.
“Bai Liu... where’s Andre?”
Bai Liu chuckled lightly.
“He should already be at the Siren Wax Museum waiting for us.”
Jeff glanced uneasily toward Andre’s small boat drifting across the sea.
The boat was smeared with blood as dark and thick as oil paint. Torn strips of fabric—presumably from Andre’s clothes—still clung to its surface.
At the sight of it, satisfaction flashed briefly through Jeff’s eyes.
He lowered his head at once, but not before Bai Liu caught the relieved, predatory smile curling across his face.
Andre’s death clearly pleased him immensely.
A moment later, however, Jeff forced a puzzled expression and pointed toward the boat.
“But Bai Liu... Andre’s boat is still here. There’s no way he could’ve gone back ashore...”
Jeff looked timidly at Bai Liu, shrinking his neck back at just the right moment as if afraid to continue.
Lucy inhaled sharply again and covered her mouth.
“Oh my God... Andre isn’t actually dead, is he? Bai Liu!”
She stared at him in disbelief, her expression filled with disappointment.
“You killed Andre? You didn’t push him into the sea, did you?”
She probably wanted to cry.
Unfortunately, her eyes remained completely dry.
Well, Bai Liu thought absently, wax statues can’t shed tears.
Jeff also looked at Bai Liu with fabricated sorrow.
“You really shouldn’t have done something like that. Even if Andre wasn’t a good person, he still deserved the chance to live.”
Bai Liu let out a quiet laugh and met Jeff’s eyes directly.
“I think those words suit you far better than they suit me.”
Jeff’s expression tightened warily.
Bai Liu merely shrugged and smiled brightly at the accusing Lucy.
“You’ll see Andre once we reach the wax museum. I’m not lying to you.”
“If I am lying,” Bai Liu added cheerfully, “then let’s break up.”
Lucy hesitated.
Her gaze instinctively flicked toward Bai Liu’s trouser pocket—the one where he kept his wallet.
After recalling how expensive this vacation had been, she finally shut her mouth.
At last, Bai Liu had pieced together the final ten percent of the side quest [Jeff’s Bloody Conspiracy].
He realized now that he had overestimated the “humanity” built into this game’s NPC settings.
The game hadn’t given him a single teammate with genuine goodwill.
Back when Bai Liu designed games himself, his superiors were always forcing him to praise friendship, truth, kindness, and beauty. At the very least, they insisted on including one purely “good” companion character, because games like that passed censorship more easily.
But this game operated on a completely different philosophy:
Everyone here was rotten.
Andre loved violence.
Jeff appeared submissive, but deep down he was vicious and resentful.
Lucy seemed gentle on the surface, but she was only interested in Bai Liu’s money and could betray him at any moment.
A setting where not a single person was truly good...
Bai Liu found that he genuinely liked it.
The corners of his lips curved upward slightly.
Once he escaped the mental trap of assuming that “an NPC like Jeff, who understands mermaid lore, must be someone important who should survive until the end,” the remaining ten percent of the quest became easy to figure out.
No wonder Jeff had constantly guarded himself against Bai Liu.
No wonder the progress bar for the conspiracy quest had jumped twice so strangely before.
From beginning to end, the people Jeff wanted dead had always been both Bai Liu and Andre.
The driver’s task hadn’t merely been to kill Andre.
It had also included killing Bai Liu.
Possibly robbing them too and splitting the profits afterward.
Looking back now, the entire trip to Siren Town had been suspicious from the start.
According to the character setting, the player was supposed to be a coward who nearly cried just boarding the bus to Siren Town. Someone like that would never willingly choose a horrifying place like this for some stupid “courage challenge.”
Andre clearly knew nothing about Siren Town.
Lucy had never visited before either.
The only person familiar with the town—the only one who would actively recommend it—was Jeff, who had researched mermaids obsessively for years.
Which meant the reason a cowardly player like Bai Liu’s character ended up here in the first place was probably because Jeff deliberately pushed him toward it.
And Jeff’s motives were painfully obvious.
He had studied Siren Town thoroughly.
He knew about the townspeople’s predatory nature.
He knew the police rarely solved cases here.
He knew countless people had disappeared without a trace.
And from all of that, Jeff had reached a simple conclusion:
There was no better place in the world to dispose of corpses than Siren Town.
The setting of “Jeff knows about mermaids” had never existed to help the player clear the game.
It existed so Jeff could murder the player.
[Side Quest—Jeff’s Bloody Conspiracy progress: 100%. Completed. Reward: 50 points.]
[Hidden Character Status Unlocked—Jeff Who Hates Everything.]
Bai Liu flipped a coin and scanned Jeff.
[NPC Name: Jeff (??? Status)]
[Character Background: An enthusiast obsessed with supernatural creatures such as mermaids and sea monsters. Upon learning Lucy and the others were traveling to Siren Town, he actively requested to join them. He possesses extensive knowledge regarding the legends of Siren Town.]
[Hidden Character Background: After enduring years of violent bullying from Andre during school without ever being able to resist, Jeff developed a deep hatred for everything around him...]
[...After accidentally earning your trust °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and becoming your friend, Jeff became intensely jealous of your beautiful girlfriend and wealthy family. He resented you for never standing up for him and viewed you as nothing more than a hypocrite. He wanted to take everything from you and even manipulate you into killing Andre for him.]
[When the opportunity presented itself through the bet between you and Andre, Jeff was tempted... He knew of the perfect crime scene. The ones who would kill you and Andre wouldn’t be him—but the mermaids he adored so much. He decided to use the thing he loved most to end both your lives...]
[Warning issued after unlocking this side story—Jeff’s trust toward the player is extremely low. There is a high probability he will attack the player directly. Please prioritize your safety.]
Watching from outside the game, Wang Shun suddenly understood.
“So that’s what was going on...”
“I always thought it was strange that Jeff kept trying to get the player killed during the chase sequence on land. Even Mu Shicheng nearly got caught because of him.”
The surrounding viewers also erupted into complaints.
“Fuck! So Jeff was actually this kind of person?!”
“With all that mermaid knowledge, I thought he was one of those critical NPCs you absolutely couldn’t let die! When I played this instance, I saved him several times during the chase. I almost got myself killed because of it!”
Just as the crowd’s praise for Bai Liu began growing louder, Li Gou suddenly slammed his machete downward with a bang.
The entire viewing area instantly fell silent.
Li Gou crossed his arms and stared coldly at Bai Liu’s screen.
“It’s just one side quest,” he sneered impatiently. “I thought it was something impressive. The forums are already hyping him up as the next Mu Shicheng?”
He scoffed.
“Are the people praising him idiots who’ve never seen real promotion slots before? Him? The next Mu Shicheng?”
“Is he even worthy?”
Wang Shun opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it again helplessly.
Inexperienced?
Out of all the Siren Town streams Wang Shun had watched, the only players he knew who had managed to complete nearly the entire side quest line were Mu Shicheng... and Bai Liu.
Mu Shicheng’s Siren Town gameplay record was stored in the system’s VIP archive. Just watching it required forty points.
That price alone proved the value of the information inside.
The side quests Mu Shicheng could trigger weren’t things ordinary players could casually complete.
And if Wang Shun remembered correctly, even Mu Shicheng himself had failed to finish the final ten percent of [Jeff’s Bloody Conspiracy].
Back then, Mu Shicheng had already possessed a Luck stat of 56.
Yet Bai Liu—
At least within this particular game instance—
Had undeniably surpassed him.
