GHG chapter 9: Siren Town

Everyone falls silent, and their expressions twist.

Lucy lets out an awkward laugh, and Andrew scoffs, the two obviously don't believe what the driver said.

Jeffery still has his head lowered. Only Bai Liu's expression remains calm.

The driver drives the cat to the front of a building and stops, "we're at the museum," after everyone has gotten off, the driver says, "y'all can look around, just call me again when it's night, I'll fetch y'all to the mermaid fishing event."

He drives away after he finishes. Bai Liu looks around after getting off the car. In front of him is a building so tall that he has to raise his head until it's paralleled with the ground. There are a few cursive English words on top of it, Bai Liu translates it to 【Museum of Siren Town】.

【Scenery unlocked -- Museum of Siren Town】

The colour of the whole museum is as deep as the sea, supported by a few cylinder granite pillars. Bai Liu can see various kinds of mermaid statues, lining up inside the museum.

The furniture of the museum looks fairly new, but the outer wall looks a bit worn. The walls are built with bricks, stuck with many newspapers of missing people. One of them flies into Bai Liu's face when the wind blows.

Bai Liu takes the old newspaper off his face, and what comes into his sight is a bolded sentence on it -- 【Warning from the police: there are 12 missing people in Siren Town this month, please contact the police immediately if you see the people on these notices. Please stay safe when travelling, do not play with big fishes and be mindful not to fall into the waters】

There are 12 black-and-white pictures listed in the lower half. The joy of arriving at Siren Town for the first time is displayed on them, but the smiles that fall into Bai Liu's eyes through the yellowing newspapers have an unspoken sense of uncanniness.

After reading everything in the newspaper, Bai Liu tries to fold it and put it into his pocket. But he notices that something is off about the newspaper after folding it two times, it's a bit too stiff.

        Bai Liu looks at the side of the newspaper. The paper looks thick from the side, but it doesn't seem like there are a lot of pages. It's mainly because the paper has been outside until it's stuck tight, even if there are a lot of pages it can't be spotted easily. Bai Liu frowns and puts them in his pocket, deciding to find some warm water after entering the museum to see if there are more pages that he can separate.

【Activating Side Quest -- find the hot tub in the museum to separate the stuck newspapers. The reward is 10 points】

The guard of the Museum of Siren Town is an old man with cataracts in both eyes, his pupils are pure white. Though it is weird that it seems that he doesn't have trouble seeing, his head lolls rapidly in their direction as soon as they enter. The guard's eyes are dazed, and his wrinkled face has a robotic politeness to it. The sudden movement of his head causes Lucy to let out a small gasp.

Wonder lingers on the guard's expression, "it's been a while since someone came here...there are a lot of accidents happening to people last month, no tourists are coming into the Siren Town's museum, it's been a while since there are new mermaid statues, too."

When Bai Liu hears it, he asks the guard, "why has it been a long time since new statues are moved in? Is it related to the lack of tourists?"

"Of course it is." The guard's voice races, he even starts waving his stiff arms, "if there aren't any tourists, we aren't going to be hosting mermaid fishing activities a lot when they cost so much money and strength. Without mermaids being fished, we won't be able to make new mermaid statues to put in the museum."

"Are mermaid statues endlessly moved into Siren Town's museum?" Bai Liu instantly realises a problem, "there's a limit to this museum right? If statues kept being moved in here, it wouldn't be able to contain all of them."

"No." A strange lopsided smile hangs on the guard's face, his white pupils roll around before directing toward Bai Liu, he then says mysteriously, "these mermaid statues will leave this museum. The Museum of Siren Town can never be filled because after new statues enter, the old ones will leave."

Bai Liu raises his brow, continuing to ask, "After these mermaid statues leave the museum, where do they go? Would they be thrown back into the ocean?"

The guard closes his mouth, seemingly realising that he had said something that he shouldn't. Though Bai Liu follows up sharply, "what happens after these tourists come?"

"Nothing happens," the guard murmurs, "you will experience a happy holiday in Siren Town and leave this place."

No matter what he asks later, the guard refuses to open his mouth again. Bai Liu gives up pestering him when he finds out where the hot tub is located, grabbing the tickets and leading the people behind him into The Museum of Siren Town.

Right after they enter, Bai Liu sees a gilded statue at the entrance. It is a statue of a person wearing a suit and a hat, it is largely different from the mermaid statues that Bai Liu had seen. It doesn't have a fishtail and it's shimmering with gold, its face has a professional smile. It is a statue of an imposing middle-aged man standing on a black stone platform, waving at tourists with respect.

The lights in the museum are dimmed, and the lights cast shadows with blurry outlines on the statues' faces, causing the smile on the faces to have an eerie sense to them.

the stone platform has an explanation of the statue engraved on it. Bai Liu leans toward it to take a look -- this is the mayor's statue of Siren Town, it is made at the ribbon cutting ceremony of The Museum of Siren Town.

Besides that, a lot of exaggerated words are used to compliment the sacrifices that the mayor has made for Siren Town, something about how he used everything to invest in the tourism industry, or something about how he supported the construction of the very important Museum of Siren town, greatly posting the economic status of Siren Town.

What is carved on the stone platform is -- 【Mayor Harris loves Siren Town's villagers unconditionally as he loves his children】

As Bai Liu is reading the words intently, Jeffery who was quiet the whole trip suddenly approaches Bai Liu, "Do you believe that mermaids exist? Do you think the things it says about Siren Town are all true?"

Of course he won't believe everything.

The bizarre things that are said in a museum built for the tourism industry sound authentic, but almost only thirds of them are real, the rest are just false stories made up by the locals to blow up in the media in order to attract tourists.

But this is a horror game.

Bai Liu says, "I think it's real."

Andrew crosses his arms and lets out a loud scoff, seemingly laughing at Bai Liu and Jeffery for believing it without doubt, then follows Jeffery to enter the museum.

Bai Liu and Lucy are originally going to be stuck together, but Bai Liu wants to find the hot tub to separate the newspapers, so he tells Lucy to explore without him.

After Lucy expresses disappointment and tells Bai Liu that she will be waiting at the exhibition hall, she starts strolling around with interest. Bai Liu then makes his way to the location of the hot tub that the guard told him about.