GHG chapter 3: Siren Town

Bai Liu follows Jeffery's gaze. The mermaid statue's eyes are still lowered, staring at the surface of the water motionlessly.

Andrew is startled by Jeffery's cry, he then lands a blow on Jeffery, "Fuck! When did it move?! It didn't move! If you keep screaming for no reason I will rip your vocal cords out and see if you can still scream!"

Jeffery rubs the part of his head where Andrew hit, eyeing Andrew fearfully and curling up. He mumbles, "she moved, she really moved..."

Lucy is disturbed by Jeffery as well, smiling stiffly, "Jeffery, how are you so sure that you didn't hallucinate the statue moving? This mermaid statue doesn't even have irises, how can it look you?"

That is a marble mermaid statue, it doesn't have black irises even though eyes were carved onto it. Its whole eye is pure white as if it is a ghost without irises standing in front of the hotel.

"Didn't you realise?" Jeffery's voice becomes softer and shakier, "no matter where our car went, the statue is staring right at us, her eyes are definitely moving..."

"Oh...I thought it was gonna be something else," Lucy finally feels more at ease and smiled in relief, "it's just like that painting Mona Lisa, right? No matter what angle you're at you'll still think it's staring at you."

        "No, the phenomenon of the painting looking at you no matter what angle you're at is only possible when it's two-dimensional, it won't happen when the object is three-dimensional, which means it's impossible to happen on a statue," Bai Liu refutes Lucy calmly, "Jeffery is right, this statue looks like it's following out movements."

        Just like the inhabitants staring at the moment they came in, it was as if looking at its prey going into its territory.

        This thing is probably some sort of monster.

        The moment Bai Liu's thoughts settled, the coin on his chest suddenly jolts and a new panel pops up,. The panel was turned into a heavy old tome like it was a book from medieval times, flipping open slowly in front of Bai Liu.

        【Congratulations on finding your first monster, unlocking The Book of Monsters -- 《Siren Town》special collection (1/4)】

        A picture materializes on the page. The pale face of the mermaid statue soaking in the murky seawater with only half of its face visible, its eyes that lacks irises stared at Bai Liu silently as if it would crawl out at any given moment.

        【Name of Monster: Mermaid Statue (pupa)】

        【Attack: ??? (Not unlocked. Will be unlocked after a battle)】

        【Attack Methods: ??? (Not discovered)】

        【Weakness: ??? (Not discovered)】

        The spots with the question marks look like ink that was soaked and smeared, glowing inscrutable words floating behind it.

        There are some words beneath Weakness.

        【P.S. There will be points and special items rewarded when the information is discovered. The most precious thing of a monster can be taken away when an instance dungeon's Book of Monsters is completed】

        The Book of Monsters for《Siren Town》has four pages. Bai Liu can't flip to the other pages. It hasn't been unlocked yet, it's most likely the rest of the game's monsters.

        This is like looting from a monster, the more dangerous the monster, the better the【things】that they drop.

        But judging from the conditions for discovering and the fights, it's almost like it's encouraging players to provoke monsters recklessly...

        Bai Liu, whose attack is the equivalent of a high school girl throwing her bag, rubs his chin in thought.

        Lucy hugs Bai Liu's arm anxiously, "...is she really moving?!"

        "Impossible!" Andrew seems convinced by Bai Liu's authentic words, fear appears on his face for a brief moment, but he promptly suppresses as he mocks Bai Liu, "Bai Liu, if you only made up these reasons because you're scared and don't want to prove your love to Lucy, then run with your tail between your legs like the coward that you are! You'll give up Lucy automatically when you get back, then kneel to lick the piss off my shoes!"

        That should be the bet that Bai Liu and Andrew made.

        The driver's face twitched unnaturally, but he recovers instantly and laughs as he usually does, "it's pretty late, y'all probably saw something wrong, how's there gonna be a statue that moves? Even if there is, our town would protect it and use it as a tourist spot! That'll earn us a ton of money! These mermaid statues are just a signature of our town, they're everywhere, nothin' unusual about it."

"We're here, y'all can get off now. Have some good rest tonight, then wake up tomorrow and enjoy your time here," the driver opens the car door, sending them off the car.

Bai Liu turns around to glance at the mermaid statue in the fountain. Even far away, the statue is still facing them with its head lowered meekly, staring at the water. It is not looking at them.

But Bai Liu remembers vividly that when their car drove in, the front of the mermaid statue is not facing the hotel, it was facing the gateway.

The entrance to the hotel has two mermaid statues on both the left and right sides. They each have a wand in their hands, their lips curving into an aberrant smile. They act like they are welcoming them, yet their expressions make it seem like they are forced to be here.

After they entered the hotel, there are different sizes of mermaid statues everywhere. there is even a mermaid statue behind the counter. Its hand is holding some money as if it is waiting to be paid.

As the driver said, the mermaid statues are Siren Town's cultural feature, they can be seen everywhere. But it's too much, from mermaid statues that hold lamps to the pencil sharpener that resembled a mermaid statue. It's not simply just everywhere, there isn't a single spot without them.

These mermaid statues all share a similarity, Bai Liu figures that no matter which part of the house he's in, the mermaid statues that are in various places still give him the feeling that he is being watched. Yet these mermaid statues don't have irises carved into them, logically it's really hard to feel like a statue without irises is watching you, but Bai Liu just felt it.

It's hard to not feel uncomfortable when there are uncountable numbers of marble mermaid statues staring at you, even Andrew who is continuously insulting Bai Liu gets goosebumps from this and rubs his own arms. Jeffery decides to hide behind Andrew as he shivers, forgetting the fear of being beaten up by Andrew for now.

Luck clings to Bai Liu's shoulder like a little hatchling...big hatchling. Her face which was as gorgeous as a rose is now as pale as a sheet of paper, frightened by the unsettling decorations of the hotel.

Bai Liu casually talked to the person at the counter, "hello, my first name is Bai, I booked a few rooms before."

The cashier is a young person with his face as pale as marble stones. He is wearing kilts, walking haltingly as if he has a limp leg. When this young man is not moving, it's really hard to tell whether he is a statue or a human being.

This person moved without a warning when Bai Liu and everyone else made their way closer to him, scaring Lucy as she thought a statue suddenly moved. She covered her face and cries out, "oh my God! You're as pale as a statue!"

"My apologies," the cashier apologized, "I have albinism, I'm so sorry that I scared you. Mr Bai, correct? You booked four hotel rooms a week ago and you booked them for a week. You already paid for the fees, the hotel cards are here. Enjoy your stay."

Bai Liu took the cards. When he saw four rooms, he can't help but feel relieved.

He doesn't really want to be in the same room as Lucy who was【unsuccessful】with her ways. Lucy seems to understand that, quickly recovering from her fright and looking at Bai Liu with a teasing gaze that says 【oh! Babe! You're too shy!】. Bai Liu ignored it completely.

"I want to ask, why are there so many mermaid statues in your hotel?"

The cashier responded unhurriedly, "sir, the mermaids gave us everything. Siren Town didn't have anything, but tourists started flooding in ever since we salvaged a mermaid carcass. We obtained wealth, we have everything, so we are very grateful for mermaids. Here in this place, everyone has a lot of mermaid statues, they are like amulets to us."

Bai Liu pointed at the mermaid statue behind the cashier, "you guys have a big variety of mermaid statues. Like the one behind you, it has the same characteristics as you, its material looks a bit different from the other statues too."

It's actually not too surprising that Lucy can't distinguish between this person and the statues, he looks exactly the same as the statues, and his expression is even more lively, almost like it is writhing.

The mermaid statue's eyes glare straight at the cashier that is right in front of it, no matter where he goes its gaze didn't shift. It's like it might surge out from the statue and lunge at the cashier, devouring the person that shares the same features as it. Though it looks more fragile than the other mermaid statues that are more hefty, seeming a bit aged.

"Yes, sir," The cashier lifts his head, "the statue behind me is my amulet. We would carve our faces onto the mermaid statues, so when disasters are about to befall us, the devil will mistake these statues and us to carry our burdens."

Bai Liu thinks that it is interesting, this 【amulet statue】is clearly different from the other mermaid statues.

【New information discovered -- renewing mermaid statues in 《Siren Town's Book of Monsters》】

【Name of Monster: Mermaid statue (pupa), amulet statue (cocoon)】

Pupa and cocoon? So the monster with the name 【mermaid statue】has two stages?

Bai Liu thought deliberately, a pupa is when a grown caterpillar is going through the stage of metamorphosis, and a cocoon is when the caterpillar has successfully hatched, which is the shell it left behind to protect itself. It greatly resembles the way that the cashier described these statues...

He speculates that these mermaid statues have stages that are like 【larva】and 【butterfly】, and those two stages most likely have a higher attack than 【pupa】and【cocoon】. As of now, it seems that 【pupa】and【cocoon】don't attack people actively, unless their method of attacking has something to do with corrupting his mental state, he thinks that being stared at a bunch of mermaid statues is pretty corrupting anyway.

Bai Liu distributed the cards. Lucy clings to Bai Liu and whines about how she wants to be in the same room as Bai Liu, but Bai Liu uses the excuse of【I haven't proven my love to you yet, so I don't deserve you!】 to reject her. Touched by his words, she returns to her room without another complaint. But before she goes she wants to have a hot make-out session with Bai Liu, but it is stopped angrily by Andrew.

Thank you, Andrew! Praying that Andrew has a safe night!

Bai Liu hopes that Andrew can live longer from the bottom of his heart, or he really doesn't know how to fend off Lucy.

This woman is too zealous and perverted, she is the type that won't let Bai Liu escape from her. Bai Liu really feels like Lucy wants to gobble him up, he was already taken advantage of on the way here. She caressed his hand, then moved to rub his thigh. Being a miser, Bai Liu nearly blurted out that his body is his own private property, and she has to pay five dollars every time she touches him.

Bai Liu opens the door to his with the card in his hand, but he stops right before he enters.

The NPC that Bai Liu is roleplaying is very rich, and the room he booked is more luxurious than usual, embellished with decorations. But in the room, from the lamps to the bedside table are all mermaids. The moment Bai Liu swipes his card and set a foot in, the eyes of the mermaid statues collectively shift toward Bai Liu unnoticeably.

The panel pops out:

【Main quest activated: player Bai Liu has to survive the night and make it till morning without being hatched -- rewards for accomplishing the quest: 20 points】