Horror Game

Volume 1 Central Hall-Chapter 9: Siren Town

The car fell into silence, and everyone's faces turned strange.

Lucy awkwardly laughed twice, and Andre sneered. It was obvious that these two people didn't believe the driver's words.

The driver burst out laughing, "Just kidding. How could we eat mermaids? The sea fish here are our local specialty."

The driver drove the car smoothly and steadily to a building: "We've arrived at the wax museum. Let's get off."

After everyone got off the bus, the driver said, "You can take a tour first. Just call me in the evening, and I'll pick you up to watch the mermaid fishing activity."

After he finished speaking, he drove away.

Chu Qiu got off the car and looked around. In front of him stood a building so tall that he had to tilt his head back until it was parallel to the ground to see the top. There were several English cursive letters on the top, which were the English name of the "Siren Wax Museum".

[System prompt: Scene unlock - Siren Wax Museum]

The entire wax museum is bathed in a deep, ocean-like hue, with its roof supported by several thick granite columns. Standing at the entrance, Chu Qiu can see many silhouettes of mermaid waxworks, faintly displayed inside.

The interior decoration of the Siren Wax Museum looks quite new, but the exterior walls, made of red bricks, appear somewhat dilapidated.

There were also many old newspapers with missing person notices pasted on the wall, which were blown onto Chu Qiu's face by the wind.

Chu Qiu took off the old newspaper from his face and saw a bold notice in black font.

[Police Notice: Twelve people have gone missing in Siren Town this month. Please report to the police immediately if you have seen any of the missing persons published in the following missing persons photos. Tourists are advised to pay attention to safety when visiting Siren Town, avoid playing with large fish, and be cautious of falling into the water.]

Below the announcement, twelve black-and-white photos were published, showing people with joyful smiles as they had just arrived in Siren Town for tourism. However, the smiles of the people in the newspaper, seen through the yellowed and worn newspaper, gave Chu Qiu an indescribable sense of strangeness.

After carefully reading the entire newspaper, Chu Qiu prepared to put it away in her bag. After folding it twice, Chu Qiu suddenly felt that the folded paper felt a bit too stiff.

As a newspaper, even if it has been dried and crisped by the sea breeze, it shouldn't have such a hard texture... It seems like it's not just a piece of paper.

Chu Qiu looked over at the cross-section of the newspaper.

The cross-section indeed appears thick, yet there are no signs of multiple sheets. This is mainly because the newspaper has been compacted by the wind, making it difficult to discern even if there are multiple sheets.

Chu Qiu tucked the newspaper into his arms and decided to find some warm water to soak it after entering the wax museum, to see if the newspaper had multiple layers and if they could be separated.

[Trigger side quest - Find the hot tub in the wax museum, separate the stuck newspapers, and earn 10 points as a reward]

The caretaker of the Siren Wax Museum is an elderly gentleman who has cataracts. His eyes are cloudy and white, but surprisingly, he seems to have no major problem seeing people.

As soon as Chu Qiu and his companions walked in, the elderly man quickly turned his head to look over. The caretaker's eyes were vacant, but his aged face wore a polite smile that seemed formatted. His rapid approach towards them made Lucy let out a small exclamation of surprise.

The caretaker looked peculiar and sighed, "It's been a long time since anyone came here... Since the series of incidents last month, no tourists have visited the Siren Wax Museum, and it's been a long time since any new mermaid waxworks were brought in."

Hearing this, Chu Qiu asked, "Why haven't any new mermaid waxworks been added to the museum for a long time? Is it related to the lack of visitors?"

"Of course, there are." The caretaker's tone began to get agitated. He even waved his somewhat stiff old arms and legs. "Without tourists, we rarely carry out large-scale activities like mermaid fishing, which are time-consuming and laborious. Without catching mermaids, we have no way to..."

He suddenly stopped there and remained silent no matter how the question was asked later.

"Does the Siren Wax Museum constantly receive new mermaid waxworks?" Chu Qiu immediately changed the question, "The capacity of this wax museum is limited, right? If new waxworks are constantly being added, there won't be much room for them."

"No!" The curator wore a peculiar smile as his white and round eyeballs shifted in his eyes, aiming at Chu Qiu with a mysterious tone. "As many new waxworks arrive at this wax museum, as many old waxworks leave."

"The Siren Wax Museum is a bottomless pit."

Chu Qiu raised her eyebrows subtly and continued asking, "Where did these mermaid waxworks go after they left the wax museum? Were they thrown back into the sea?"

The caretaker stopped talking, as if he had said something inappropriate.

Chu Qiu keenly pressed on with his question: "What will happen after the tourists arrive?"

"Nothing will happen," the caretaker muttered to himself. "You'll have a pleasant vacation in Siren Town and then leave here."

When asked further, the custodian refused to speak again no matter what.

After asking where the hot water was in the museum, Chu Qiu gave up the formalities and walked into the Siren Wax Museum with his ticket and the group behind him.

Upon entering, Chu Qiu saw a majestic golden lacquer waxwork of a middle-aged man standing at the entrance. This waxwork, dressed in a suit and hat, was distinctly different from the mermaid waxworks Chu Qiu had seen before. It had no fish tail, was covered in golden paint, and wore an official smile as it waved to the incoming tourists.

The lighting in the wax museum was dim, and the light falling from the ceiling cast an indistinct shadow on the face of this waxwork, making the polite smile on its face seem eerie.

Some brief information about the waxwork was engraved on the black stone platform. Chu Qiu leaned over to take a look - it was the waxwork of the mayor of Siren Town, which was completed during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Siren Waxworks.

The stone platform also highly praises the mayor's contributions to the town of Siren in some exaggerated tones, such as how he vigorously developed tourism after salvaging mermaid skeletons, and supported the construction of a very ornamental Siren wax museum, making the entire backward coastal town of Siren flourish.

The stone platform is also engraved with the words: "Mayor Harris has an unconditional deep love for every villager in Siren Town, just as he does for his own children.".

Chu Qiu was reading attentively when Jelf, who had been silent the entire journey, suddenly leaned in and whispered to her, "Do you believe in mermaids? Do you think what it says about the town of Siren is all true?"

Of course, I won't believe everything.

The exhibits in this specially built curiosity-driven wax museum, aimed at promoting tourism, may appear quite serious, but they are mostly fictionalized information created locally to be hyped up as gimmicks to attract tourists. It would be generous to say they are only three-quarters real.

But this is a horror game.

Chu Qiu: "I think it's true."

Andre folded his arms and let out a heavy snort, seemingly mocking the unwavering trust of Jerf and Chu Qiu. However, he didn't say anything and followed Jerf into the wax museum.

Chu Qiu and Lucy were originally planning to go together, but Chu Qiu wanted to find a hot water room to separate the wet newspapers, so he asked Lucy to go shopping alone first.

After expressing her regret, Lucy said she would wait for Chu Qiu in the exhibition hall and went to explore on her own. Chu Qiu, on the other hand, headed towards the hot water room mentioned by the museum attendant.