When Bai Liu was browsing items, he noticed a popular one called Water Bubble, which allowed players to breathe and float inside a bubble for two hours. It could also repel fish and prevent them from getting close.
The item's function was decent, but it cost more than seventy points, could only be used twice, and was a consumable.
To Bai Liu's discerning eye, the only real value of this item was the ability to breathe underwater. Pricing it at over seventy points was pure extortion; anyone who bought it was paying an IQ tax to the game shop.
Of course, this had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he didn't know how to swim and had no desire to jump into the water. It was simply because, as a cheapskate, he would naturally never do something so wasteful or follow a game-design route he found utterly unattractive.
Bai Liu looked up at the warehouse door. Right on cue, it began to creak, as if someone were returning to lock it.
A normal player would have panicked at this moment and rushed to flee from this ghastly pile of old wax figures.
But Bai Liu calmly switched off his flashlight, stepped into the group of wax figures, found a dark corner, unbuttoned his shirt, wrapped his lower limbs with the gray cloth scattered on the floor, and pretended to be a wax figure, remaining completely still.
The cocooned mermaid wax figures, whose eyesight was far from excellent, searched blankly for Bai Liu and eventually stopped when they couldn't find him.
The warehouse door swayed a few times before slowly opening. Two sailors descended the stairs carrying a dim yellow lamp, whispering to each other in hoarse voices.
"Count the number of wax figures…"
"I've counted several times. Can't be wrong…"
"After tonight, there'll be four more wax figures here. Let's send these four to the wax museum first. The ones over there have been guarding the Siren King for too long—it's time they got out and about with their talismans…"
"Keep a close watch on the Siren King. Don't let him wake up and return to the sea, or we'll all have to—"
The two sailors stood on the steps above the warehouse, holding old-fashioned oil lamps as they walked down, their gazes fixed ahead. In this extremely dim environment, Bai Liu couldn't immediately tell whether the two men in sailor uniforms were wax figures or living people.
They were pale—so pale it was a lifeless, impermeable white. Even at such close range under the lamplight, the veins on their faces and hands were invisible.
Sure enough, they weren't human.
Bai Liu subtly shifted his gaze and observed the two sailors more closely.
Still, something felt off. They were clearly in human form, yet the Monster Book listed them as [Mermaid Sailor]. Bai Liu frowned imperceptibly as a sense of unease slowly crept into his heart.
One of these sailors had earlier warned Bai Liu and the others not to wander around the deck. His eyes were lifeless, so stiff they seemed incapable of moving.
"Are the amulets all intact?" he muttered. "If they're fine, lock them up properly so they don't break when a wave hits the ship. The last time I smashed an amulet, that sailor's still in the sea and can't come ashore."
The two sailors walked up to the group of wax figures and immediately began securing them with chains.
Holding his breath, Bai Liu fixed his eyes on the open warehouse door and slowly inched closer.
One of the sailors suddenly paused, as if he had heard a wax figure speak. He frowned, turned his head toward the figures, and muttered to himself, "You said you just saw a tourist come in here?"
Bai Liu's expression darkened.
It was a mistake. He hadn't expected these sailors to be able to communicate with their own amulet wax figures.
It seemed a chase was inevitable—but that was still better than being on the deck. After all, there were only two sailors here.
Bai Liu's mind raced as he quickly calculated his options. With his terrible physical fitness, he would definitely die in a chase. He had wanted to avoid it altogether, but this place was a dead end, like a looping card—whether he stayed or left, he would be forced into pursuit.
He couldn't run, and he couldn't go upstairs. If he went up, there would be even more sailors waiting. That wouldn't be a chase—it would be a group assault, leaving only one option.
Jump into the sea.
Bai Liu didn't want to jump into the sea. Remaining calm, he thought, What should I do?
The sailor approached the wax figure and suddenly seemed to hear something extremely amusing. He let out a low laugh that echoed through the warehouse below.
"I didn't expect a distinguished guest to arrive ahead of time," he said softly. "Please don't worry—sooner or later, you'll come to this place."
As he spoke, the sailor circled with the oil lamp. The dim light struck his chin, making the smile on his face appear even more eerie. "…Please come out quickly. The night's fishing is about to begin, and the mermaid is waiting for you in the sea."
Bai Liu's thoughts raced. These sailors were clearly more dangerous than the wax figures. They, too, were monsters—but what was their weakness?
In just a few seconds, the sailor was already standing in front of him. Bai Liu decisively pulled out his flashlight and aimed it straight at the sailor's face. Unfortunately, the sailor merely raised a hand to block his eyes, then lowered it as if nothing had happened. The smile on his face grew increasingly inscrutable.
"We're not like those things," he said softly. "We're not afraid of the light."
So light wasn't their weakness. Their reaction to intense light was no different from that of ordinary humans.
Bai Liu's mind raced. Almost the moment he lowered the flashlight, he grabbed the barrel behind him and smashed it forward. The barrel crashed into the sailor's body and burst apart into splintered wood.
The two sailors clearly had solid physical forms, completely unlike the fragile mermaid wax figures. It was as if they had shed a cocoon and been reborn.
The sailor stared straight at Bai Liu in the dark warehouse, reached out to seize his wrist, tilted his head, and gave him a strange smile. His teeth were neat—and sharp.
"Come, guest," he said. "Let's go watch the fishing—beneath the surface."
Bai Liu met the sailor's gaze directly.
The sailor appeared to have no weaknesses, but he wasn't a weakness-free monster like the Siren King. The system hadn't labeled him as such, which meant there had to be a way to fight back. Otherwise, there would be no point in playing this game at all.
Yet these sailors were strangely resistant—both physically and to light—which didn't make sense. Based on Bai Liu's earlier reasoning, mermaid sailors and mermaids alike should be photophobic; otherwise, they wouldn't restrict their activities to nighttime.
His logic wasn't wrong. The mermaid wax figures' fear of strong light had already proven it. And yet these two sailors could stare directly into bright light without hesitation.
Something was shielding their weakness.
The front desk had mentioned earlier that amulets could help them resist damage.
Bai Liu's gaze flicked across the wax figures. He quickly found one with a faint crack at the top of its head, as though it had once been struck by a wine barrel. The wax figure's expression had shifted from tenderness to pain, its hands raised in front of its eyes as if light had pierced them directly.
Bai Liu's eyes narrowed.
He kicked out diagonally, his gaze locked on the sailor's wax figure behind him. With force, he knocked it over and drove his foot into the mermaid's face.
The mermaid wax figure collapsed instantly, shattering into pieces. Rancid black blood spilled out, and the sailor gripping Bai Liu's wrists let out a shrill scream—a high-frequency cry like that of a fish—that stabbed painfully into Bai Liu's ears.
The sailor's body began to crack and shed lime-like fragments, as if an outer shell were breaking apart and exposing what lay beneath.
Bai Liu didn't hesitate. He seized the other sailor's wax figure, grabbed it by the head, and slammed it against his knee, smashing it to pieces.
Compared to the sailors' powerful bodies, their wax talismans were as fragile as eggshells. No wonder they were stored deep in the lower compartment for protection.
Both sailors shrieked. The pure white of their skin faded into a bluish-black hue, and their eyes slid outward, eventually settling on their temples.
Reeking of fish, their lower bodies transformed into wet, curled, eel-like tails. Jagged teeth filled their mouths as they crouched low and scuttled toward Bai Liu on their bulging arms like geckos.
Bai Liu snapped his flashlight up and aimed it straight at the other sailor.
This time, the sailor convulsed violently and let out an even more piercing scream.
After the talismans protecting them were destroyed, the light finally worked.
Bai Liu stood on the stairs and slowly retreated, keeping his flashlight focused on the two sailors crawling along the ground like geckos. They pressed themselves flat, shrinking back from the light, letting out unwilling neighs and hoarse roars as they tried to close the distance.
With his back to the door, Bai Liu exited the bunker, then swiftly shut the warehouse door behind him and locked it.
Even after sealing the door, he could still hear the sound of fish tails dragging across the floor from deep within the warehouse, like a nest of snakes writhing below. The door shuddered violently as something slammed against it from the inside.
[Siren Town Monster Book Updated — Mermaid Sailor (3/4)]
[Monster Name: Mermaid Sailor (Butterfly Status)]
[Weaknesses: Fear of Light, Amulet (2/3)]
[Attack: Biting and Scratching — scratches have a certain probability of triggering Alienation Status]
Bai Liu calmly adjusted his collar and walked up the warehouse stairs.
Lucy spotted him immediately. She rushed over and clutched his arm, her tone carrying a hint of complaint. "Where were you? They said the fishing is about to start."
"We've already reached that sea area," Lucy added with a smile. Fish-scale patterns had already spread across her face, and in the darkness her eyes glinted with a scaly sheen. Her grip on Bai Liu's hand was oddly rough and slippery.
Bai Liu removed her hand without a word. "Really?"
"Yes." Lucy let out a low, hoarse laugh. "The mermaids are here."