Chapter 3: Siren Town (1/2)

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.