Free Web NovelIt was no wonder the side quest [True Love’s Boat] rewarded a full hundred points. Its danger level was far beyond the other quests.
Andre could no longer control his appetite. He lunged forward and snatched the sandwich straight from the driver’s hand.
“Give me a bite!”
He devoured the sandwich with astonishing greed, barely chewing before swallowing. After every mouthful, he pounded heavily against his chest.
The driver made no attempt to take it back.
Instead, he looked at the hunched-over Andre with a strangely pitiful expression, like someone feeding a starving stray animal.
“Eat, child. Eat.” The driver sighed. “You’re starving, aren’t you? You haven’t eaten enough. Enjoy your dinner.”
Bai Liu glanced over and commented calmly, “This is already his second dinner tonight.”
The first had been the meal Andre stole from Jeff.
Jeff twitched the moment those words were spoken. freewebnoveℓ.com
Head lowered, face partially covered, the skin near his ears suddenly split into faint gill-like textures. For a brief instant, the gills flared violently with rage, while his teeth sharpened into dense rows resembling a shark’s.
The sight lasted less than a second.
By the time Bai Liu looked over properly, Jeff had already returned to his usual timid posture, head lowered as though nothing had happened.
Only the corner of his eye remained fixed unnervingly on Bai Liu’s reflection in the rearview mirror.
[Jeff’s Bloody Plot — Side Quest Progress: 50%]
Bai Liu frowned slightly.
Why had the progress increased again?
The previous jump had likely occurred when Jeff decided to retaliate against Andre.
But what triggered this second increase?
***
When they arrived at the harbor and stepped out of the vehicle, Bai Liu remembered that the driver’s trust level toward him remained extremely low.
Since the driver was most likely connected to [Jeff’s Bloody Plot], Bai Liu still wanted to improve his relationship with this key NPC.
So, under the guise of thanking him for the ride, Bai Liu handed the driver a tip while getting out of the van.
The driver stared gloomily at the money still remaining inside Bai Liu’s wallet.
Then, finally, he broke into a grotesque grin, kissed the bills Bai Liu handed him, and waved cheerfully.
“I wish you a pleasant evening.”
[Jeff’s Bloody Plot — Side Quest Progress: 80%]
Bai Liu silently concluded that the townspeople truly did possess bandit-like instincts.
The moment they saw money, their eyes lit up green.
Pretending not to notice the driver’s greedy stare lingering on the cash still in his pocket, Bai Liu kept his wallet deliberately exposed and smiled politely.
“We will.”
***
The designated viewing point for the mermaid fishing event was aboard a massive ship.
The enormous vessel slowly departed from the harbor beneath the cover of night.
Silent sailors moved methodically across the deck, while the smaller boats tethered alongside the ship carried those fish-like fishermen.
By the time Bai Liu and the others boarded, darkness had completely swallowed the sea.
The fishermen below kept their eyes fixed unwaveringly on the group standing above them on deck.
The sailors aboard the ship differed noticeably from the fishermen onshore.
Most importantly, they still resembled humans.
Their faces lacked the strange marble-like markings, and there was no fishy stench clinging to them. Their skin was merely unnaturally pale, much like the hotel receptionist who had claimed to suffer from albinism.
Bai Liu quickly noticed another issue.
The ship sat unusually deep in the water.
It was definitely carrying something extremely heavy.
Yet there were surprisingly few people aboard for such a large vessel.
Using a ship this size for fishing alone felt absurdly wasteful.
The sailors continued moving across the deck expressionlessly, behaving as though Bai Liu’s group did not exist.
Occasionally, Bai Liu noticed several sailors standing together in dark corners, secretly observing them.
They whispered to one another before exchanging strange, satisfied smiles.
The ship continued deeper into the sea.
Midnight waters stretched endlessly around them, calm and black.
The bow’s searchlight illuminated only a tiny patch of ocean ahead. Beyond that lay a darkness so vast it felt capable of swallowing the entire ship whole.
The sound of waves gently brushing against the hull echoed through the night.
The sailors continued their work in silence while the fishermen below cast their nets into the sea.
The ship sailed farther and farther into the bottomless darkness.
***
Wrapped tightly in her cloak, Lucy stood beside Bai Liu.
The cold wind had drained the color from her lipstick, leaving her lips a dark purplish shade. Shivering, she pressed closer to Bai Liu for warmth.
“How can it be this cold, Bai Liu?”
She rubbed her arms uneasily.
“I asked the sailors earlier. They said that in order to catch mermaids, the ship has to sail to the exact sea where the first mermaid was discovered.”
“They call that place ‘Siren’s Gift.’ Apparently there’s some kind of legend behind it.”
Bai Liu turned slightly.
“Siren’s Gift?”
“Yes.” Lucy tightened her cloak further around herself. “God, it’s freezing. It feels like we’re sailing straight into some ghost-filled hell. Only a place like that could have wind this cold.”
Bai Liu, however, felt no cold at all.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
He flipped a coin and scanned Lucy.
[NPC Name: Lucy (Alienating)]
Bai Liu reached out and touched her hand.
Her skin felt cold and slick, like freshly hardened wax.
Lucy smiled at him.
She seemed to be trying to raise her eyebrows flirtatiously, but the muscles in her face had become stiff and unnatural, making her expression resemble a distorted Picasso painting.
Even her voice had changed—dry, hoarse, and strangely feverish.
“Your hands are so warm,” she murmured. “Can I kiss you?”
Bai Liu declined politely.
“No.”
Then, after a brief pause, he added:
“There are too many people here.”
Lucy wasn’t cold because of the sea wind.
Her body temperature itself was dropping.
***
At some point, Jeff had quietly appeared beside Bai Liu.
Staring fanatically into the dark ocean ahead, he muttered in a low voice:
“Yes... Siren’s Gift.”
“According to legend, this sea was bestowed by the Siren King himself. It possesses the power to return the dead to life.”
“When tourists accidentally fall into the sea and drown here, the Siren King grants them rebirth. They become mermaids and return to the human world.”
“That’s why mermaids can be caught in these waters.”
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes slightly.
The Siren King had already been captured long ago and sealed inside the wax museum.
So why were mermaids still appearing in this sea?
More importantly—
It was only after the Siren King had been captured that the sea began endlessly producing mermaids.
And the story itself sounded ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) less like a blessing and more like some twisted cult curse.
In Bai Liu’s mind, the logical conclusion formed naturally:
The drowned tourists transformed into mermaids.
The fishermen caught them.
Then they sealed them inside marble and turned them into wax exhibits for tourists to admire.
Some were even processed into food and eaten by the townspeople.
Eventually, the mermaid statues began retaliating.
Tourists started disappearing one after another.
This was no “Siren’s Gift.”
It sounded far more like a mermaid’s revenge.
***
A sailor suddenly approached them.
“We’re about to enter the Siren’s Gift sea zone,” he said flatly. “Please do not wander around the ship. We will not be responsible for any accidents.”
After delivering the warning, the sailor turned and left.
Bai Liu immediately noticed something unusual.
All the sailors were heading toward the lower deck.
Before long, the upper deck had become completely deserted.
Narrowing his eyes, Bai Liu casually circled the ship once before quietly following behind one of the sailors.
The sailors all descended into the ship’s lowest cargo hold.
Expressionless, they climbed down the wooden ladder one after another before eventually reemerging.
As they left, Bai Liu caught fragments of whispered conversation drifting upward:
“Mine’s fine...”
“...Need to make sure these are intact...”
“A few broke before, but it doesn’t matter. Once tonight’s four newcomers are eaten, we’ll have replacements.”
The sailors appeared to be inspecting something extremely important.
After finishing their checks, they gradually departed one by one.
Hidden in the shadows, Bai Liu narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Just as he suspected—
The cargo hold contained something both incredibly heavy and extremely important.
He already had a rough idea what it was.
What he didn’t understand was why the sailors insisted on bringing those things with them even during fishing trips.
***
After the last sailor left, he seemingly forgot to lock the cargo hold behind him.
The padlock dangled loosely from the door, swaying gently with the rocking ship.
It practically seemed to whisper:
Come investigate me~
Come investigate me~
Without hesitation, Bai Liu opened the door and descended.
A long, narrow wooden staircase stretched downward into darkness below.
Every step creaked loudly beneath his feet.
The structure resembled a damp underground cellar. No lights illuminated either side.
Bai Liu didn’t immediately descend all the way.
Instead, he switched on his flashlight first, intending to confirm whether the hold contained what he suspected.
The moment the beam illuminated the darkness below—
Even Bai Liu’s breathing paused slightly.
The cargo hold was packed wall-to-wall with mermaid wax statues.
Countless pale figures crowded together so densely that there was barely space to walk between them.
The entire hold was filled with bone-white wax bodies.
And the instant the flashlight landed on them—
Every single statue simultaneously lifted its head and stared directly at Bai Liu with blank white eyes.
Bai Liu immediately noticed that the area surrounding the staircase contained significantly more statues than elsewhere.
The mermaid statues resembled a school of sharks drawn toward blood in the water.
Several had already begun climbing the stairs toward him.
The moment the flashlight beam struck them directly, they retreated backward into the darkness.
But the flashlight could illuminate only one area at a time.
From the unlit corners of the hold came endless rustling noises—the sound of wax scraping slowly against the floor.
More and more mermaid statues gathered around the staircase.
Tilting their heads upward like fish staring at bait on a hook, they watched Bai Liu motionlessly.
Yet Bai Liu did not retreat.
Instead, he calmly studied them for several seconds.
Then—
He lowered the flashlight.
And stepped downward into the darkness.
Reaching out his hand, Bai Liu attempted to touch the statues directly.
Watching from in front of the Small TV, Wang Shun nearly exploded.
“WHAT THE HELL?!”
