Free Web NovelAfter Bai Liu disembarked, the sailors insisted that, according to local [Folklore], he had to remain in the wax museum until evening. Only after cleansing himself of the “sin of killing” from witnessing the merman hunt could he be redeemed and allowed to leave.
Lucy and Jeff went with him.
The wax museum in the early morning was dim and dull, drained of luster. The sailors delivered Bai Liu to the entrance, warned him not to leave before evening, instructed the museum keeper to keep an eye on him, and then departed.
Lucy huddled behind Bai Liu and whispered, “Why is this wax museum still so terrifying even during the day?”
Merman wax figures stood everywhere, looking down at Bai Liu and the others. Their faces were even more lifelike than the ones Bai Liu had seen the day before.
Bai Liu noticed that the fishtails of two wax figures had shortened. Only the parts below the knees still remained fishlike, while the thighs had already transformed into ordinary human legs.
He tilted his head and studied the faces of the two figures whose fishtails were regressing.
They bore a faint resemblance to Lucy and Jeff.
The wax figures wore eerie smiles, staring straight at Bai Liu and at Lucy and Jeff behind him.
Just as Bai Liu had guessed, Lucy and Jeff, who had spent the night here, had indeed been [sacrificed] and turned into [Merman Wax Figure Amulets]. Meanwhile, the merman wax figures that had consumed those [sacrifices] were gradually transforming into “Lucy” and “Jeff.”
At present, the wax figures should have been in the middle of the [Breaking the Cocoon into a Butterfly] transformation state.
The [Butterfly] inside the merman wax figure had not yet fully hatched, while the [Cocoon] that was meant to be broken—Lucy and Jeff—still retained a sliver of its right to linger.
Bai Liu had no intention of letting Jeff and Lucy complete the transformation.
Not because of any saintly desire to save everyone, but because once the transformation succeeded, he would have two more powerful [Butterfly]-type monsters to deal with.
Thinking this, Bai Liu took out his flashlight, preparing to repel the merman wax figures. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
As a result, the instant he switched it on, the first ones to go mad were not the wax figures, but Lucy and Jeff.
They let out miserable shrieks. Jeff, in particular, lunged forward like a lunatic, trying to snatch the flashlight from Bai Liu’s hand.
Bai Liu dodged in time and turned the flashlight off. Only then did the two of them collapse to the floor and gradually calm down, panting harshly.
Lucy slumped weakly on the ground. She looked up at Bai Liu, a trace of malice in her eyes.
“Your flashlight is too bright, Bai Liu. Are you trying to blind us?”
Jeff leaned against a wax figure and warned him hysterically, “You’d better never turn that thing on again!”
Bai Liu spread his hands, not sounding particularly sincere. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were so sensitive to light.”
In truth, Bai Liu naturally knew.
Once Lucy and Jeff began to “waxify,” they would inevitably become photophobic. But he didn’t care whether these two were hurt.
He simply hadn’t expected them to react so violently that they would try to steal his flashlight.
These two were different from actual merman amulet wax figures. They could move, and they were no slower than Bai Liu. If they went crazy and tried to snatch the flashlight every time he turned it on, then Bai Liu would have no way to use the light at all.
His use of props had been restricted.
It seemed that now that the plot had developed to this point, the game was clearly using Lucy and Jeff to limit the player’s use of the flashlight—the tool for repelling merman wax figures.
In other words, there would most likely be a chase sequence involving the merman wax figures later. To make that sequence more exciting and effective, the game had banned the player’s high-intensity light prop in advance.
Bai Liu often did the same thing when designing games.
For example, if a “demon-revealing mirror” could repel monsters, then in order to preserve the horror effect of monsters scaring the player, Bai Liu would give the mirror a cooldown period.
During that cooldown, players would be forced to hide and scramble around to avoid being found and killed by the monsters, greatly increasing the game’s horror.
Although Bai Liu had always been very happy when designing such malicious mechanics, he was not quite as happy when he encountered one himself.
Going with the flow, Bai Liu put away the flashlight and raised both hands to indicate that he would not turn it on so easily again.
At that moment, his peripheral vision instinctively swept toward the entrance of the wax museum.
The area was already guarded by wax figures, and they were still steadily approaching him.
In this situation, turning on the light would make Lucy and Jeff attack him.
But if he did not turn on the light, he had no way to repel the merman wax figures.
If Bai Liu had to wait here until evening before being allowed out, he would certainly die.
Not only because these merman wax figures would possess him, increase his alienation degree, and turn him into an amulet wax figure, but also because of one extremely important point—
Bai Liu flipped the coin in his hand, and a panel popped up.
[Warning: The God-level wandering NPC, Siren King, will awaken in seven hours. Please clear the game before then.]
The moment this warning appeared, the new viewers in front of Bai Liu’s small TV let out a collective gasp.
Even Li Gou stood up, dragging his knife as he narrowed his eyes and moved closer to the small TV. A few seconds later, he burst into loud laughter.
“It’s actually a real God-level wandering NPC! This guy’s going to get fucked to death by the God-level NPC before I even get a turn at him. Serves him fucking right for stealing my spot.”
The other viewers were also lamenting.
“This section was originally meant for the player to play hide-and-seek across the entire wax museum map, survive until evening, get released, and then trigger the nighttime Great Escape from the merman wax figures. Escaping Siren Town counts as clearing the game. But with a God-level NPC here, this guy won’t even survive until evening.”
“But escaping Siren Town only gives a Normal End. The evaluation and rewards aren’t high.”
“I heard God Mu achieved the True End. Supposedly, you have to return the Siren Banshee’s remains to the sea and seal the ghosts of the entire town. But damn it, in Bai Liu’s case, the banshee directly turned into the Siren King. Once the Siren King wakes up, it’s instant GG. How the hell is he supposed to play this?!”
“Both routes are blocked. This newcomer is dead.”
Wang Shun’s heart rose into his throat.
He had never expected Bai Liu to actually go to the wax museum so obediently.
If Bai Liu had run off halfway and directly triggered the chase sequence to escape Siren Town, he might still have had a slim chance of survival.
But now that he had entered the wax museum and trapped himself in this dilemma, it truly was a dead end.
Wang Shun sighed inwardly with regret. Objectively speaking, he admitted that Bai Liu was a player with immense potential, perhaps not inferior to Mu Shicheng.
But Bai Liu was just a little too unlucky.
—————
Bai Liu walked toward the central exhibition hall, with Lucy and Jeff following behind him.
In the center of the hall, the Siren King’s body floated in a sluggish transparent liquid, sealed inside a glass display case.
Fine bubbles drifted like snowflakes through the Siren King’s long hair and pale eyelashes, making him look as though a thin layer of light snow had settled over him.
Bai Liu walked up to the Siren King’s display case and looked closely at the merman corpse that had not yet fully decomposed.
The merman’s face was excessively beautiful, carrying a strange, soul-stirring wonder.
It felt as though, in the very next second, this merman would open his eyes, shatter the bulletproof glass coffin with his long and powerful fishtail, slaughter everyone present, and return to the sea.
Lucy looked around and asked, “Bai Liu, you said Andre is here in the wax museum. Where is he?”
Without turning his head, Bai Liu kept his gaze on the Siren King inside the display case and said calmly, “Didn’t you already pass him when you came in? Jeff even leaned on him for a while.”
“I leaned on him?” Jeff pointed at himself in confusion. “Bai Liu, there’s no one else in this wax museum besides the three of us.”
“That’s right,” Bai Liu said casually. “When did I ever tell you that Andre is still human?”
Lucy hugged her arms and rubbed them, shivering as she took two fearful steps back.
“Bai Liu, stop joking. Where exactly is Andre?!”
Bai Liu seemed to hear the dull sound of wax figures dragging themselves across the floor. His ears twitched slightly, and he turned around.
A hideously distorted merman wax figure of Andre stood menacingly behind Jeff and Lucy, looking as if it were about to attack them.
Bai Liu curved his lips into a relaxed smile.
“Lucy, Andre is behind you.”
Lucy and Jeff instinctively turned around.
Then they erupted into an unprecedentedly intense duet of male and female screams.
Having anticipated this, Bai Liu had already covered his ears.
Andre’s skeleton had been taken away by those mermen last night.
Since the Siren Wax Museum had obtained two fresh sacrifices—Lucy and Jeff—two merman wax figures from the museum could logically leave by possessing the sacrifices. As a result, Andre’s skeleton would naturally be made into a new merman wax figure to fill the vacancy in the museum.
That was why Bai Liu had said earlier that Andre had gone to the wax museum.
However, although the wax figures possessing Lucy and Jeff had not yet left, the merman wax figure made from Andre had still been placed here.
Behind Andre was a dense mass of wax figures trying to move inward, packed tightly at the entrance of the hall.
All of those wax figures had begun to bear a faint resemblance to Bai Liu’s face.
Clearly, they wanted to possess Bai Liu.
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly and dodged Lucy as she tried to grab his arm while wailing.
These wax figures posed no danger to Lucy and Jeff, because the two of them were essentially wax figures now as well. It was only a matter of time before they were fully “waxified.”
The real problem was Bai Liu.
These wax figures, along with Lucy and Jeff, were all on the opposing side.
He was restricted from using the flashlight, and alcohol could not burn these wax figures.
The resistance of these wax figures was much stronger than that of the merman larvae.
The only method Bai Liu currently had to counter them was [Direct Human Eye Contact].
However, [Direct Human Eye Contact] had one enormous flaw when used to restrict the movement of wax figures.
Humans had to blink.
Jeff and Lucy could no longer be considered human, so their direct gazes were useless against these wax figures.
Only Bai Liu’s eyes were effective.
Every time Bai Liu blinked, he could feel the group of wax figures getting closer.
In the dim room, merman wax figures of all shapes began melting slowly. Their faces became strangely blurred and unrecognizable, yet subtly similar to Bai Liu’s.
The wax figures wore strange, satiated smiles.
Their long fish # Nоvеlight # lips split open, revealing rows of white, razor-sharp teeth. The scales on their fishtails began to peel away and disappear like scraps of debris.
The fishy smell in the air grew thicker and thicker.
Lucy and Jeff pressed tightly against Bai Liu on his left and right.
If Bai Liu took out his flashlight now, these two would definitely go crazy before he could even repel the merman wax figures.
Of course, it was not that Bai Liu had never considered simply killing Lucy and Jeff.
But after killing these two merman amulets, the corresponding merman wax figures would instantly go berserk, and the museum would gain two more “merman sailor”-level monsters.
Those things moved terrifyingly fast.
Bai Liu’s current stamina panel was still flashing red. If he encountered them without a geographical advantage like the ship’s hold, it would be total GG.
Seeing this, Wang Shun closed his electronic recorder.
With a sigh full of mixed emotions, he prepared to leave.
Many viewers were doing the same.
Almost no audience member was interested in watching a game video with a predetermined failure.
But before leaving, Wang Shun glanced up at the small TV.
He froze.
Then he stopped in his tracks and murmured in disbelief, “Bai Liu... why is he smiling?” freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Bai Liu lowered his head and slowly curved his lips into a smile.
He felt that the game’s development had become rather interesting.
It was a decent game.
It had been a long time since he had played a horror game with such high “playability.”
His fingers rapidly flipped the coin, and panels popped up one after another so quickly that the audience in front of the small TV felt dizzy just looking at them.
Some viewers leaned curiously closer to the screen, trying to see what he was doing.
“Is he panicking? Struggling before death?”
“Item Shop, Monster Book, quest panel... Wow, he opened all the panels. What is he doing? Spending all his points for one last thrill before he dies?”
Wang Shun said nothing.
He watched Bai Liu on the small TV with bated breath and took out his electronic recorder once more.
He could clearly see that Bai Liu was processing the situation before him at extreme speed.
It was nothing like what the other viewers were saying. Bai Liu was not panicking.
He was simply processing information so quickly that his actions looked random.
At this point, even Wang Shun began to feel nervous.
He started looking forward to seeing whether this miraculous newcomer named Bai Liu could achieve yet another impossible comeback.
Bai Liu processed calmly.
[Item Shop, I need a pickaxe capable of smashing bulletproof glass.]
[17 points. Deal.]
[I need a mobile cart around two meters long, capable of transporting the carcass of a giant animal.]
[7 points. Deal.]
[System, open the pages for Merman Wax Figure and Merman Sailor in the Monster Book.]
[Understood. Opening “Siren Town Monster Book” for the player—opening complete.]
————
[“Siren Town Monster Book” — Merman Wax Figure (1/4)]
[Monster Name: Merman Wax Figure (Pupa State), Amulet Wax Figure (Cocoon State)]
[Weaknesses: Direct Human Eye Contact, Strong Light (2/3)]
[Attack Method: Hatching]
————
[“Siren Town Monster Book” — Merman Sailor (3/4)]
[Monster Name: Merman Sailor (Butterfly State)]
[Weaknesses: Fear of Strong Light, Amulets (2/3)]
[Attack Method: Biting and Scratching. There is a certain probability of triggering alienation after being scratched.]
————
[Your first and third pages are each missing only one weakness before completion. Player, please keep up the good work!]
Bai Liu’s rapid actions stunned the players in front of the small TV.
The players who had been mocking him earlier all fell silent.
Everyone watched with rapt attention as Bai Liu’s smiling face moved effortlessly between panel after panel at astonishing speed.
The light from the different colored panels reflected across Bai Liu’s face, cutting it into shifting blocks of color.
His ease was too convincing.
Anyone could tell that Bai Liu was not acting randomly.
Several players asked weakly, “What exactly is he trying to do...”
