Chapter 3: The small town of Siren

Bai Liu followed Jeff's line of sight and saw that the wax figure of a mermaid was still looking into the water, unmoving, with her eyebrows lowered.

Andre was taken aback by Jeff's shout and he punched him hard: "The wax figure is not moving! It hasn't moved at all! If you keep acting like that, I'm going to rip your voice box out of you and throw it on the ground and stomp on it!"

Jeff covered his punched head, looked at Andre with some fear, curled himself into a ball and whispered to himself, "She moved, she really moved ......"

Lucy, who was also a bit freaked out by Jeff, forced a smile, " Jeff, how can you be so sure that it wasn't your eyes but the wax figure of a mermaid that moved? This mermaid doesn't have eyes, so how do you know she's looking at you?"

It was a creamy white wax figure of a mermaid, made of cold wax, with a strange translucent texture and some half-melted droplets on its face.

The wax figure has carved eyes but no black eyes, its entire eye is pure white, as if it were some soulless dead being standing in front of the hotel.

"Haven't you guys noticed?" Jeff's voice was getting lower and lower, and a little shaky, "No matter where we drove, our car was being looked at directly by this wax figure, and her eyes were definitely moving ......"

"That's ...... what I thought it was ......" Lucy was visibly relieved and finally laughed out comfortably, "It's the same as that Mona Lisa's Smile' portrait, right? No matter what angle you look at it, you think the person in the portrait is looking at you."

"No, this situation where the person on the portrait is looking at themselves at any angle can only be created in two dimensions, not three, which means that it is impossible for a wax figure to appear that way." Bai Liu calmly refuted Lucy, "Jeff is right, the wax figure's eyes do keep moving on us."

It was the same with the townspeople who started staring at them as soon as they entered, as if they were looking at prey that had entered their hunting area.

This thing is supposed to be a monster of some sort.

The coin on Bai Liu's chest vibrated abruptly just as this thought fell upon him, bringing up a brand new panel that took the form of a heavy, antique medieval book that slowly flipped open in front of Bai Liu.

[Congratulations to the player who found the first game monster and unlocked the monster book - Siren Small Town Special (1/4)]

A photograph appears on the page, the pale face of a mermaid wax figure submerged in the murky waters, her face only half exposed, her uncarved eyes gazing wordlessly at Bai Liu, as if about to crawl out of the picture.

[Monster Name: Mermaid Wax Figure (Nymph Status)

[Attack Value: ????? (Unknown not unlocked, unlocked after battle)]

[Attack Method: ?? (unexplored)]

[Weakness: ?? (unexplored)]

The question marks are covered with what looks like wet moistened ink and stains, and it is impossible to read the exact words, with explanations floating behind them in fluorescent script.

A line of explanatory text below the weaknesses reads

[Note: Exploring to complete the information of this monster book page can get corresponding point rewards and special rewards, collecting all the monster book pages of a game copy can take away the most precious things of a certain monster in that game copy]

The monster book in Siren has four pages and the next page, Bai Liu, won't turn, showing unlocked monsters from other copies of the game.

It's a bit like fighting a monster and then getting a reward, the higher the danger level of the monster, the better the [stuff] you can end up with.

But looking at the quest conditions, and even the combat, it's totally encouraging players to go out and provoke monsters to death ......

Bai Liu, a scum with the combat power of a high school girl's book bag, rubbed his chin deeply.

Lucy clasped Bai Liu's hand in some panic: "...... Is she really moving?!"

"How can that be?!" Andre seemed infected by Bai Liu's rhetoric, a momentary look of fear appeared on his face, but it was quickly suppressed as he mocked at Bai Liu, " Bai Liu, you coward! If you're scared for your life and you're making up these excuses to run away, you can run! When you get back you'll automatically give up Lucy and get down on your knees and lick the piss off my shoes!"

This would have been the bet between Bai Liu and this Andre.

The driver moved strangely, but finally teased as if it were normal, "It's late, you're mistaken, aren't you? There's no such thing as a moving wax figure, is there? If there were, our town would have protected it and used it as a tourist attraction! There's a lot of money to be made there! We produce wax in our town and the wax figures of mermaids are just a feature of our town, they are everywhere, nothing special."

"Here we are! You guys get off the bus! Get a good night's rest tonight and get up in the morning and have a good time!" The driver opened the door and escorted them out of the car.

Bai Liu glanced back at the wax figure of the mermaid in the fountain, which, from a distance, was still facing them, its head meekly bowed, gazing at the water, and did not seem to be watching them.

But Bai Liu vividly remembers that the front of the mermaid wax figure was not facing the entrance of the hotel when their car first pulled in, but the entrance.

Two wax figures of mermaids were also placed at the entrance to the hotel, left and right, holding sceptres in their hands and with strangely twisted smiles at the corners of their mouths, as if they were pretending to be waiters to welcome them, but with a look as if they were forced to stand there.

When they walked into the hotel, they found wax figures of mermaids of all sizes all over the place inside, even behind the cashier's desk there was an equivalently sized wax figure of a mermaid with money in her hand, as if she was taking the checkout.

As the driver said, mermaid wax figures seem to be the hallmark of Siren Town and are everywhere, but that's a bit too much, from the floor lamp's mermaid wax decoration to the carved mermaid pencil holders on hand at reception, it's not just everywhere, it's inseparable.

These wax figures of mermaids have one thing in common - Bai Liu finds himself looking directly at them wherever he goes in the house.

Moreover, none of these wax figures of mermaids have eyes. It is logical that a wax figure without pupils can hardly give the impression that it is gazing at you, but Bai Liu has that feeling.

Even Andre, who had been yelling at Bai Liu for being a coward, got goose bumps when he entered and rubbed his arms, while Jeff shivered and hid behind Andre, as if he wasn't afraid that Andre would hit him.

Lucy was holding Bai Liu's arm in a small ...... bird-like manner, a delicate rose-like face flushed with a tragic white colour, and seemed to be frightened by the bizarre hotel decor.

And Bai Liu calmly communicates with the receptionist: "Hello, my name is Bai and I have a previous reservation."

At the reception desk is a young man with a ghastly marble complexion, wearing a floor-length kilt underneath, walking with a lurch and seemingly limited mobility. When the young man stood still, it was difficult to tell whether he was a wax figure or a real person.

Bai Liu's group leaned over and when the man suddenly moved, it even startled Lucy, who thought the wax figure had moved and covered her face and exclaimed, "Oh my God! You're so white you look like a wax figure!"

"I'm sorry." The receptionist looked at them apologetically and said, "I have albinism and I'm sorry for scaring you! Mr. Bai, is it? You booked four rooms a week ago, the reservation was made for a week, the fee has been paid, the room card is here, have a nice life."

Bai Liu took the room card and he was actually relieved to hear that the booking was for four rooms.

He didn't really want to share a room with Lucy.

Lucy seemed to get it too, and the woman, who had just been in shock, quickly recovered with an [Oh! Baby! You're so shy! She looked at Bai Liu with a flirtatious look that Bai Liu ignored without changing her face.

"I'd like to ask, what is it about this hotel of yours that so many people fish wax figures?"

The receptionist replied in a calm tone, "Sir, the mermaids have given us everything, the town of Siren had nothing and since the recovery of the mermaid's remains, more and more tourists have come here, we have gained money, we have everything, so we are very grateful to the mermaids. Here, there are many wax figures of mermaids in every house and it's like a talisman for us."

Bai Liu pointed to the mermaid wax figure behind the receptionist: "You have a wide range of types of mermaid wax figures, too, all kinds of them, and the one behind you, which looks exactly like you, it seems to be made of a different material from the others as well."

It's not that Lucy couldn't tell the difference between the man and the wax figure, but the wax figure of a mermaid behind the receptionist looked exactly the same as the receptionist, even with a more vivid expression than the real one, which was a bit grim.

The mermaid's eyes stare straight at the receptionist standing in front of it, and no matter where the receptionist goes, he does not look away, as if he wants to run out of the wax figure with his teeth and claws and tear the receptionist, who looks exactly like him, apart and eat him.

The other mermaid wax figures look a little melted, but this one does look a little more translucent and new, not as thick and dusty as the others.

"Yes, sir." The receptionist raised her eyes to look directly at Bai Liu, "This mermaid wax figure behind me is my amulet, we will have the mermaid wax figures pinched to look like us and when disaster strikes these mermaid wax amulets will be mistaken for us by the devil and melt away in our place to bear the disaster."

Bai Liu found it a bit interesting that this [amulet wax figure] is obviously different from the other fish wax figures.

[Players gain new awareness - Siren Small Town Monster Book Mermaid Wax Panel Refresh]

[Monster Name: Mermaid Wax Figure (Chrysalis Status), Amulet Wax Figure (Cocoon Status)]

A chrysalis and a cocoon? This monster called [Mermaid Wax] also has two different states?

Bai Liu slowly muses that a chrysalis is the state in which the adult insect has not yet broken its shell, and that a cocoon is the state in which the adult hatches successfully, or the shell left behind, so to speak.

The point about protecting one's shell is consistent with this front desk's claim of a shell that resists attack ......

It is estimated that this mermaid wax figure also has two states, [Bug] and [Butterfly], which Bai Liu intuits should be more aggressive than [Chrysalis] and [Cocoon].

At present, it seems that the mermaid wax figures in the [Chrysalis] and [Cocoon] states have no intention of actively attacking people, although it is possible that the [attack] is of a type that Bai Liu is unaware of, such as mental contamination or something like that.

He felt that a hall full of wax figures of mermaids staring at players all the time would be quite mentally polluting.

Bai Liu handed out the room cards. Lucy tried to share a room with him, but was dismissed by Bai Liu with the excuse that [I haven't proved myself brave enough for you to really have you! He was dismissed with the excuse that "I haven't proved myself brave enough for you to deserve you!

Lucy goes back, touched, and hotly prepares to kiss Bai Liu goodbye before being stopped by an angry Andre.

Thank you Andre! I hope nothing happens to Andre tonight!

Bai Liu wishes from the bottom of his heart that Andre could have lived a little longer.

This girl is warm and generous and very fond of him, the type of girl Bai Liu doesn't handle well.

Bai Liu used his room card to swipe open his room, and once he did so, he stopped in his tracks.

Bai Liu plays this NPC with money and booked a better room with beautifully detailed furnishings, but the room is actually full of mermaids too, from the table lamp shape to the wax figure on the bedside table, which glows with an oily texture in the dim light.

As soon as Bai Liu swept in, the eyes of the ghastly white mermaid wax figures seemed to move imperceptibly and looked at Bai Liu in unison.

Panel pops up at.

[Activate Main Quest: Player Bai Liu survives the night safely in the house until tomorrow and does not get hatched - Quest Completion Reward: 20 points]