Horror Game

Volume 1 Central Hall-Chapter 11: Siren Town

Four intense beams of light shone fiercely at the mermaid waxwork from four directions, momentarily making Chu Qiu's small TV screen much brighter than the one next to it. The pure white light was so glaring that it was impossible to look directly at.

Under the intense light beam, the mermaid waxwork stiffly and haltingly raised its hand, preparing to shield its own eyes.

The eyes of the waxworks were even blinded by the strong light of the flashlight. They began to retreat and curl up, like pitiful criminals cornered by the police, shrinking into a ball in the center of the bright light. Some mermaid waxworks even tried to bury their heads in their arms.

Chu Qiu squatted in front of the group of waxworks like a tyrant, smiling and saying, "I guess I was right. You really are afraid of light."

The onlookers in front of the small TV: "..."

The player who had just commented on Chu Qiu was so irritated by this scene that he blushed and yelled, "Impossible! How can that discounted projector fully reproduce the light of a high-intensity flashlight? This doesn't make sense!"

"Hey, this is really funny. You came here to find science? How many of the props in this are scientifically designed?"

"… Emmm, I just checked the manual of this projector, and it says it's an optical projector. It's pretty useless in other aspects, but it works wonders on reflected light, at least preserving 80% of the original."

"I'm a bit speechless that someone would just randomly step on newcomers without reading the instructions provided by the system..."

"I couldn't help but buy three 3D projectors while I was watching..."

The player on the side screen, who had just been lavishly praised for choosing the right prop, was now frantically waving a torch to fend off the mermaids, while trying to read the newspaper in the hot water pool, looking extremely flustered.

The mermaid waxwork continued to approach menacingly, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws. The player was being relentlessly pushed closer, as if they were about to be defeated in the next moment. The scene was incredibly thrilling and exciting.

It was a scene that could have stirred the hearts of countless people, but just a glance at Chu Qiu's side made it subtly uninteresting and dull.

Chu Qiu had his three projections surround the mermaid waxwork like the police with flashlights, while he himself unfolded a newspaper by the hot tub and read it leisurely, as if he were on vacation.

The mermaid waxwork, pitiful and helpless, huddled in the middle of the encirclement, motionless.

The contrast is simply too great!

"347 people have liked Chu Qiu's small TV, 355 people have collected Chu Qiu's small TV, and 21 people have charged Chu Qiu's small TV. Player Chu Qiu has gained 21 points."

[Player Chu Qiu has received over 300 likes in just one minute, with his reputation soaring rapidly!]

Congratulations to player Chu Qiu for obtaining a promotional slot and entering the edge area of the game screen in the central lobby. Viewership is rapidly increasing

Someone looked at Chu Qiu's small TV screen in a daze and said, "…Wow, this is the first time I've seen a player from the Newcomer Zone get promoted to the central game lobby screen, even though it's just the edge zone."

"It seems like I'm witnessing the rise of a new star in the big league..."

————————

"Mermaid Waxwork Panel Refresh in 'Siren Town Monster Book'"

【Monster Name: Mermaid Wax Figure (Pupa Stage), Amulet Wax Figure (Cocoon Stage)】

【Weakness: direct gaze, strong light exposure (2/3)】

【Attack method: Incubation】

"Player Chu Qiu is just one weakness away from completing the monster book for the 'Mermaid Waxwork' page. Once completed, the game will end and corresponding rewards will be unlocked."

Chu Qiu had long guessed that one of the weaknesses of the mermaid waxwork was its fear of strong light.

It's actually quite easy to guess.

The driver mentioned earlier that large fish are only caught at night to avoid the light, and since mermaid fishing activities are held precisely at night, it can be inferred that large fish like mermaids are also creatures that avoid light.

However, Chu Qiu had not yet drawn a conclusion on whether there was a commonality between the mermaid waxwork and the mermaid in terms of avoiding light.

So Chu Qiu observed for a while and found that there were almost no mermaid waxworks displayed on the streets of Siren Town during the day.

Both the hotel and the Siren Wax Museum have relatively insufficient lighting, and there are many mermaid waxworks. Based on his previous deduction, he concluded that mermaid waxworks, as creatures, lack hearing and smell, but their vision is exceptionally sharp, thus endowing them with a strong ability to perceive light.

The answer is almost right in front of us. Mermaid waxworks are sensitive to strong light.

After deducing this, Chu Qiu attempted to pursue the ultimate cost-effectiveness that he could exploit through this weakness

-- Just how strong a light can force back the mermaid waxworks? What is the impact of strong light on the mermaid waxworks? How long can it affect them? If the mermaid waxworks form a circle of encirclement, can strong light directly help them break out?

So, Chu Qiu conducted an experiment. He deliberately lured these mermaid waxworks into a surrounding circle, and then tried to break out using strong light and a 3D projector.

Of course, there's a possibility of failure, but Chu Qiu doesn't like to do things hesitantly.

Based on his deduction, if this action had a success rate of over 10%, Chu Qiu would not hesitate to take a gamble.

"Failing is part of the game. Without risk, there can be no reward. This is quite normal. Playing games is a process of taking risks, and making games is no different.".

However, his current attention was still on the newspaper that had been soaked soft in the pool.

After grabbing the newspaper, Chu Qiu gently tore it apart with both hands on the back of the paper.

As expected, this is no ordinary newspaper.

"Player Chu Qiu completed the task of separating newspapers in the hot water pool, earning a reward of 10 points."

[Charging points: 21, current points balance: 31, do you want to purchase items?]

Chu Qiu nodded, then continued to look down at the newspaper.

Chu Qiu touched the two separated newspapers, and noticed that their thicknesses were obviously different, with one being much thinner.

He furrowed his brows slightly, picked up the thicker one, and tore it again - it separated once more.

Chu Qiu raised an eyebrow. He was almost fooled by the prompt indicating the completion of the task. There were actually newspapers stuck together underneath. If he hadn't taken a second look, he might have thought he had already gathered all the information in this place.

This game is quite good at scamming people.

Chu Qiu tore it open seven or eight times, and the washbasin behind him was already filled with soaked old newspapers. After confirming that there were no hidden layers between the newspapers, Chu Qiu quickly glanced at the content on the newspaper.

All the headlines on the nine old newspapers in his hand were "Missing Persons Notices" issued by the police regarding the disappearance of tourists. The total number of missing persons... well, it's quite a significant number.

The earliest case of a tourist going missing dates back to last year, around the time when the Siren Wax Museum had just opened.

At first, there were not many missing tourists, and there were obvious signs of property robbery.

It's not a big deal for one or two tourists to go missing every month at popular tourist attractions. Such places with high pedestrian flow are always prone to crime. And being by the sea, whether it's falling into the water or being kidn*pped and robbed, is quite normal. These incidents obviously need to be reported and registered

However, judging from what Jelf told Chu Qiu, before last month, no one outside knew that so many people had disappeared here, and the tourism industry was still booming.

It wasn't until the number of tourists coming here and the number of missing tourists gradually increased, coupled with the frequent occurrence of strange events, that the incident gained widespread attention. Last month, there were twelve registered missing persons in Siren Town alone, which led to the news being reported widely.

If Chu Qiu's guess is correct, the previous incidents of tourists disappearing were all suppressed by Mayor Harris, who loves his citizens like sons, in order to continue developing tourism. It was only when the situation became unbearable that the truth was revealed.

From the information in the newspaper, it seems that the residents here are really good at committing crimes.

Chu Qiu put away the newspaper and projector, and held the flashlight to shine in reverse on the mermaid waxworks. After the mermaid waxworks remained motionless, Chu Qiu came out from the corridor and headed towards the central exhibition hall of the Siren Wax Museum where Lucy and the others were.

The central exhibition hall is said to house only one mermaid skeleton, which is kept in a heavily locked bulletproof glass cabinet. It is the intact mermaid skeleton that the driver mentioned they had caught, and it was also the starting point of everything.

This skeleton, like a gift from the sea to the town of Siren, brought wealth to the town, but also brought misfortune. However, everyone only saw the wealth it brought, and no one realized that their current misfortune also stemmed from it.

Chu Qiu paused as soon as he walked in.

The central exhibition hall is circular, with a crystal-coffin-like glass cabinet standing in the very center. Inside the glass cabinet, a dazzling white LED light shines 360 degrees, illuminating the mermaid [skeletal remains] inside. Chu Qiu, with a rare expression of surprise, examines this mermaid corpse known as the [skeletal remains].

This cannot be called a skeleton, at least not according to Chu Qiu's standards.

Lucy looked at the mermaid in the glass case with a fascinated expression and said, "He's really beautiful. I've never seen such... perfect looks before, even computer-generated ones don't come close."

Jiefu seemed to be greatly shocked. The boy with thick glasses looked up at the mermaid in disbelief, not knowing how long he had been standing there.

Andre, as always, held an absolutely dismissive attitude towards this creature: "You've all been deceived. It's just a trick to find a fish tail, sew it onto a person, and put them in a glass case to attract people's attention..."

After he finished speaking, he gazed at the skeleton for a while, lost in thought, and then said, "But it's indeed well-crafted."

The mermaid's body was soaked in a glass container, with its right hand to shoulder being white bones, while the rest of the body was covered with flesh and skin like that of a real person.

The muscular lines are elegant and sharp, with symmetrical muscles wrapping around the slender bones. Bubbles slowly rise in the deep, dark blue liquid, entwining and floating through the mermaid's long, dark brown hair, eventually embedding like a pearl in its long, light-colored eyelashes.

His eyes were closed, and his face was exquisite and delicate beyond belief. Some slightly curly long hair fluttered across his thick and beautiful cheek in the water, revealing a pair of ears that were strikingly different from those of ordinary people.

Its left ear is a fish fin made of shell mica, shimmering with a colorful luster in the water waves, while its right ear is a fish fin resembling white bones, emerging from its long, wet hair.

The serpentine and curly fish tail resembled a bright silver-blue ribbon being washed in seawater, hanging down on the glass cabinet. The inverted triangular scales shimmered under the light, and the translucent fleshy membrane between the fingers of the right hand overlapped with the white-boned left hand wrapped around the chest.