No wonder the "True Love's Boat" side quest was worth a hundred points—its level of danger far surpassed that of the other tasks.
Andre, unable to restrain his hunger, lunged for the driver's sandwich. "Give me a bite!"
The sandwich was devoured in a few ravenous gulps, Andre eating with a ferocity that bordered on animal, barely chewing before pounding his chest and forcing it down.
The driver made no move to reclaim his meal, only watched Andre's hunched, feeding form with a look of pity, as if he were feeding a beast. "Eat, my child, eat. You must be starving, haven't eaten much, have you? Enjoy your dinner."
Bai Liu glanced over and remarked, "That's his second dinner tonight." The first had been the one Andre stole from Jerf.
Jerf, whose meal had been taken, flinched at the words, lowering his head and covering his face. Gills, like those of a fish, appeared at his ears—flaring open for a moment in anger, his teeth sharpening to a shark-like fineness.
But the grotesque scene lasted only an instant. When Bai Liu looked over, Jerf was cowering, face hidden, as if nothing had happened, though the corner of his eye lingered eerily on Bai Liu's reflection in the rearview mirror.
[Jerf's Bloody Conspiracy—Side Quest Progress: 50%]
Bai Liu frowned almost imperceptibly—why had the quest's progress just jumped again? The first increase must have been when Jerf resolved to target Andre, but what triggered this second surge?
————————
They arrived at the harbor. As Bai Liu disembarked, he recalled the driver's low trust level and suspected the driver was likely involved in "Jerf's Bloody Conspiracy." Wanting to raise this important NPC's trust, Bai Liu offered him a tip as a token of thanks. The driver, however, gazed darkly at the rest of the money in Bai Liu's bag, then gave a twisted smile, kissed the tip, and waved them off. "Have a good time."
[Jerf's Bloody Conspiracy—Side Quest Progress: 80%]
Bai Liu mused that the townsfolk truly had the instincts of thieves—their eyes lit up at the sight of money.
Feigning ignorance of the driver's greedy gaze, Bai Liu left his bag open for all to see, wearing his usual easy smile. "We will."
The site for observing the mermaid hunt was a massive ship.
The great vessel slipped from the harbor into the night, its deck bustling with silent sailors, while the smaller boats below were crowded with fishermen whose features were disturbingly piscine.
They boarded after nightfall, and the fishermen below stared up at them with unblinking, predatory eyes.
There was a fundamental difference between the sailors on deck and the fishermen below: the sailors looked human, with no bizarre markings or fishy stench—just unusually pale skin, much like the hotel receptionist who claimed to have albinism.
Bai Liu observed that the ship was oddly underpopulated for its size—why use such a massive vessel for a fishing expedition? It seemed wasteful.
There was something else amiss: the ship rode unusually low in the water, as if weighed down by something heavy.
The sailors moved about the deck with blank expressions, ignoring Bai Liu's group. Occasionally, a few would watch them from the shadows, whispering among themselves before breaking into satisfied, unsettling smiles.
The ship set out.
The midnight sea was calm, the prow's searchlight illuminating only a small patch of water, the rest swallowed by darkness deep enough to devour the ship. Now and then, the sound of water lapping against the hull could be heard, while the sailors worked methodically, and the fishermen below cast their nets.
The ship pressed on into the fathomless night.
Lucy, wrapped in her cloak, stood shivering beside Bai Liu, her lipstick-blushed lips turned purple by the cold. "Why is it so cold, Bai Liu? I asked around—they said to catch a mermaid, the ship must sail to the very spot where the first one was caught. Only there can mermaids be found. They call that place 'The Siren's Gift.' There's some kind of legend about it."
Bai Liu turned. "'The Siren's Gift'?"
"Yes." Lucy pulled her cloak tighter, trembling. "God, it's freezing. I feel like we're heading into a ghostly hell—only such a place could have winds this cold."
Bai Liu didn't feel cold. Suddenly, he thought of something and scanned Lucy with his coin.
[NPC Name: Lucy (Undergoing Mutation)]
He reached out and touched her hand—her skin was icy and slick, like freshly set wax.
Lucy smiled at him, trying to arch her brows, but her facial muscles were stiff as a corpse's, making her expression look like a Picasso abstraction.
Her voice was hoarse, tinged with a strange fervor. "Your hand is so warm. May I kiss you?"
Bai Liu declined, "No." He offered an excuse, "There are too many people here."
Lucy wasn't cold from the wind—her body temperature was dropping.
Jerf, who had appeared at Bai Liu's side, stared feverishly at the sea. He murmured, "Yes, the Siren's Gift. Legend says this sea is the Siren King's blessing, a place of resurrection."
"When tourists fall overboard and drown here, the Siren King grants them new life—they return as merfolk. That's why fishermen can catch mermaids here."
Bai Liu thought to himself: the Siren King had long since been dredged up and put on display in the wax museum. Why did this sea still produce mermaids?
And it was only after the Siren King was caught that mermaids began to appear in abundance…
The idea that the dead returned as merfolk to rejoin the living hardly sounded like a divine blessing—it was more like a curse, a heretical myth.
Bai Liu mentally filled in the logical gaps: the dead, transformed into merfolk, were fished up, poured into marble, and made into wax figures for tourists, or else served as food for the townsfolk. Eventually, the mermaid wax figures began to stir, and tourists started vanishing one after another…
This was no "gift" from the Siren, but a merfolk's revenge.
A sailor approached. "We're entering the Siren's Gift. Please remain on deck. We are not responsible for any accidents."
With that, the sailor left, and Bai Liu noticed all the sailors heading below deck, leaving the deck suddenly deserted.
Bai Liu narrowed his eyes, circling the ship and casually trailing one of the sailors.
They all descended to the lowest hold—the cargo bay. One by one, the sailors, faces expressionless, climbed down the wooden ladder, then emerged again, whispering:
"Mine… is fine."
"…We must make sure these things are secure."
"A few broke before, but it's fine. After tonight, once these four are eaten, we'll have new ones to put in."
They seemed to be checking something important, then filed out.
When the last sailor left, he forgot to lock the hold. The lock dangled from the door, swaying with the waves, as if beckoning Bai Liu: Come explore me~ Come explore me~
Bai Liu opened the door and descended a long, narrow wooden staircase, creaking with every step, leading into darkness like a cellar. He didn't go all the way down, but switched on his flashlight to see if the hold contained what he suspected.
When the beam cut through the gloom, even though he'd expected it, Bai Liu's breath caught.
The hold was packed with mermaid wax figures, crammed so tightly there was barely room to stand—an endless sea of pale statues.
All the mermaid wax figures craned their necks upward, their white eyes fixed on Bai Liu. He noticed that the figures clustered thickest around the stairs.
They gathered like a school of fish drawn by blood, two already climbing the steps toward him, only to retreat when caught in the flashlight's beam.
But the light could only illuminate so much. In the darkness beyond, the sound of wax scraping against wood echoed, and more and more mermaid wax figures crowded the stairs, staring up at Bai Liu like fish waiting for bait.
Yet Bai Liu did not retreat. He stared back at the wax faces for a moment, then lowered his flashlight and stepped down, reaching out as if to touch them.
Wang Shun, watching from his little TV: "!!!!"