Horror Game

Volume 1 Central Hall-Chapter 13: Siren Town

The caretaker stood silently at the door, watching them walk away. Behind him, countless faint silhouettes of waxworks slowly emerged from the darkness, revealing their marble faces devoid of expression, like fish surfacing from the sea.

[Main Quest: Explore the Siren Wax Museum - Reward Points 50]

"Currently, your point balance is 81. Would you like to purchase any items?"

"Ah... 81..." Chu Qiu stroked his chin and inquired, "Do you have high-concentration alcohol?"

【Open Shop - Yes, there are a total of 218 different types of special quality alcohol, of which 18 can be purchased in this instance】

"What's the cheapest one?"

[9 points, 25L] Friendly reminder: The alcohol in the game is not the same substance as the alcohol in real life. After system modification, its efficacy may vary. Players are advised to read the instruction manual before purchasing. ] (Note: The original text appears to be an incomplete or incorrect input. Please provide a complete and correct input for me to translate.)

[System suggestion: It has been detected that the player's points are sufficient. It is recommended that the player purchase the Flame Torch item in this dungeon, as it provides better and safer effects.]

Chu Qiu seemed to be lost in thought as she read the instruction manual for the alcohol prop

The system panel instantly popped open, revealing a stack of panels with over a dozen pages of instructions densely packed on them. The tiny font size, resembling ants, made it painful to even glance at for more than a few seconds.

Chu Qiu opened a page of the instruction manual without any surprise and began to read it slowly.

The item sales in this game follow a pattern: the cheaper the item, the longer the description page. Conversely, the descriptions of popular items displayed in the promotional section are simple, straightforward, and tempting, directly highlighting their benefits. This makes players who are eager to survive want to buy them at first glance.

As a salaryman with limited funds, Chu Qiu always tries to find the most practical and affordable products amidst the overwhelming marketing campaigns of e-commerce platforms during every shopping festival. He is all too familiar with this routine.

The cheaper and more convenient something is, the more obstacles you encounter when purchasing it.

One of them is to provide extensive descriptive text for inexpensive items, making it difficult for people to understand their practical use at a glance, prompting them to skip and purchase other items instead.

Therefore, few people have ever purchased these inexpensive items, resulting in extremely low sales volumes, with some even reaching single digits. It is estimated that not many people have carefully read the user manuals for these items.

Chu Qiu squinted and looked at the words after "Flaming Torch" and "3D Projector" on the menu bar - "Prices of some items have changed".

"Flaming Torch has reduced the price of 'Siren Town' to 17 points."

"The price of the 3D projector 'Siren Town' has been restored to its original price, with one point costing 6 credits."

Both of the props he had noticed before have had their prices changed.

[Strong light flashlight] and [Flaming torch], which are commonly used and effective props in horror games, seem to have higher prices.

However, it seems that after Chu Qiu used certain props, the prices of these props underwent some changes, and he knew that he was in a live streaming system

Chu Qiu speculated that the number of players purchasing these items had changed during his game play, which had led to a change in the prices of the items.

He leisurely read through all the instructions for the alcohol products and ultimately settled on the cheapest one.

Chu Qiu was very generous: "I'll take them all."

"Nine bottles of high-concentration alcohol have been placed in player Chu Qiu's shopping bag. We welcome your next visit."

Wang Shun, who was in front of the small TV, slapped his thigh in a hurry when he saw Chu Qiu: "Oh! What's this newcomer doing?"

"Are you planning to use alcohol to burn the waxworks? Although these waxworks are sensitive to light, they are not afraid of fire! Once the outer wax is melted, the monsters inside will come out! Why did you spend all your points at once? Are you stupid?"

Some players were whispering to each other nearby:

"What's up with this newcomer? He spent all his 81 points on the cheapest alcohol. Is he a heavy drinker? No player has ever bought this stuff before."

"You must have taken it for granted that mermaid waxworks fear both light and fire. There have been newcomers who made this mistake before, using torches to burn instead of illuminating the mermaid waxworks. As soon as the torchlight dimmed, they were all burned to ashes."

"Dismissed, dismissed. I thought he was so impressive, but it turns out he just got lucky..."

"The value of the central screen is getting lower and lower. Even newcomers can get on. The group from before, like Mushen, was really impressive..."

……

"0 new people have liked Chu Qiu's mini TV, 2 new people have collected Chu Qiu's mini TV, 166 new people have downvoted player Chu Qiu's mini TV, and no one has charged player Chu Qiu"

【1447 new viewers are currently watching Chu Qiu's small TV show, and over half of them have thumbs downed it. Player Chu Qiu has been given the title of 'Misleading', which is really not flattering. Everyone hopes you die soon~】

"The promotional position of player Chu Qiu at the edge of the central screen has expired."

【The total number of steps is rising too fast. Player Chu Qiu has entered the (Death Comedy) sub-screen. Use your comical deaths and gaming skills to entertain everyone!】

Wang Shun watched helplessly as the small screen on the edge of the central area flickered, and Chu Qiu's small TV went dark.

He adjusted his glasses and hesitated for a moment, thinking about the information on the god-level wandering NPCs that he had yet to collect. Amidst the pity and ridicule directed at Chu Qiu, a newcomer, he rose and made his way to the screen for the death comedy section.

……

In-game.

Night falls.

The driver drove the van on the darkening street, with street lamps flickering on both sides. Fishermen dragging fishing nets and machetes walked along the street, gazing at the van passing by them with a kind of dull stare.

These are all the fishermen who will participate in the mermaid fishing activity tonight.

Under the dim streetlight, the marble-like dark and blue lines on their faces were densely intertwined, and some mucus dripped off their bodies.

These townspeople looked even more terrifying than they did during the day, with their eyes emitting a dark green glow in the darkness of night.

The driver warned again, "These townspeople are very dangerous. They haven't had any income for a long time. You just wait and watch the mermaid fishing from the designated boats. Don't approach them. You look like outsiders, and you're easy prey for robbers."

As the driver spoke, he chewed the sandwich in his hand with big bites.

This person also had a sandwich for dinner, and the minced meat from the fish steak fell from his mouth. Chu Qiu smelled the rotten fish smell that made him want to vomit, but no one in the car seemed to find the smell unpleasant except for him. Andre even kept swallowing saliva and anxiously scratching behind his ears while watching the driver's sandwich dinner.

Lucy couldn't help but say, "This sandwich smells so delicious."

Andre was extremely irritable: "What did we have for dinner? I'm starving!" He said, glaring at Chu Qiu behind him with a look of resentment.

The group had dinner at a wax museum in the evening. Chu Qiu ordered the cheapest all-vegetarian feast, avoiding all fish dishes. Not only did Andre get angry, but even Lucy was taken aback. However, since Chu Qiu was the one who paid the bill, he said that if he didn't want to eat fish, everyone would have to accompany him.

"If you can't afford it, don't play adult games," Andre cursed. "Go back and drink your mom's all-vegetarian milk!"

Chu Qiu just smiled slightly at that time: "In that case, Andre, if you want to eat meat, order it yourself."

He took down Andre's all-vegetarian meal set, and all the meal sets in the wax museum were very expensive, which Andre couldn't afford at all. But Chu Qiu said that if he didn't give it to him, he wouldn't give it to him.

Andre didn't dare to cause trouble for Chu Qiu, as Chu Qiu still had to pay for his hotel bill for the night. He didn't want to end up sleeping on the streets in this small town.

But Jelf didn't mind, so Jelf's all-vegetarian meal was snatched by Andre, who even punched him a few times. Jelf kept huddled in the corner, clutching his stomach and not uttering a word.

Now smelling the aroma of the sandwich, Jelf continuously moved his Adam's apple up and down, his eyes revealing suppressed longing, and then his gaze at Andre turned red as if blood was about to drip.

"Jelf's b****y Plot - Side Quest Progress 30%"

Chu Qiu gave a glance at Jiefu, who was bowing his head.

Andre was incredibly irritated by hunger and the aroma of food, and he couldn't help but scratch his itchy behind his ears vigorously.

Chu Qiu noticed that the patch of skin behind Andre's ear, which he had pinched until it turned red, suddenly stretched and contracted, forming several curved folds, resembling the breathing gills of a fish. However, this lasted only for a moment, and soon the skin returned to its original position.

That patch of skin seemed to be alive, pulsing slightly.

It flutters slightly, just like the closed gills of a fish on the shore.

Chu Qiu swept Andre with a coin.

【NPC Name: Andre (Highly Alienated)】

After leaving the wax museum, Andre's alienation intensified

Chu Qiu raised her eyebrows slightly and asked, "Andre, did you touch those mermaid waxworks in the wax museum?"

"So what if I touched you?" Andre turned his head and said in a vicious tone, "Chu Qiu, tonight we'll see who's the one who should go home and drink milk!"

At that moment, Andre was growling in anger, his cheeks flaring on both sides in the dimly lit carriage. Chu Qiu could clearly see the fish fin-like structures behind Andre's ears quivering violently.

The driver suddenly let out a low whistle, "Hey, guys, don't fight in our car!"

Andre instantly retracted his gills, but his eyes still fell on Chu Qiu fiercely.

Driver: "I've found a place for you to duel, or rather, to bet, as you requested. It's a remote beach with two wooden boats tonight. Please take care of your own safety. If you drown, I won't be responsible."

After a while, the driver chuckled to himself, "But you've been here for so long, you probably won't drown... You should all know how to swim."

Chu Qiu's face turned pale; he couldn't swim.

The residents of this town are all like this kind of fish, including their group who have only been here for a day. They are gradually becoming more like fish, enjoying eating strange fish meat and emitting a subtle fishy smell from their bodies

Fish are born to swim, so of course they won't drown.

Except for Chu Qiu.

What sets him apart from others is that he neither consumed any of those bizarre fish or meat, nor allowed any mermaid waxworks to approach him at night.

Chu Qiu speculated that these two factors had caused the others to be transformed into fish, but Chu Qiu was not subject to the same transformation. Later, when Chu Qiu went to Shanghai to fulfill a bet, his danger level would definitely double.

Who knows what lies in the sea? Who knows if Andre might turn into a monster and overturn his boat later?