Horror Game

Volume 1 Central Hall-Chapter 7: Siren Town

Lucy sat at the dining table, looking as if she hadn't slept well, yawning lazily and leaning towards Chu Qiu.

Jelf had been dozing off all morning, and now he had dark circles under his eyes, his skin was pale and grayish, and his eye sockets were sunken.

Moreover, whether it was Chu Qiu's illusion or not, he felt that Andre's pupils had shrunk a bit compared to yesterday. He had an uncomfortably nervous and agitated aura, and his body emitted a faint fishy smell.

Chu Qiu took out a coin and swiped it at Andre.

【NPC Name: Andre (Spiritual Value Decreased, Alienated)】

At this moment, Andre seemed to have a voracious appetite, devouring the hotel's buffet breakfast in large plates, as if he was pouring it down his throat.

Because this hotel is located by the sea, most of the breakfast consists of various fried and boiled fish dishes. The fish soup is rich and smooth, and the fish steaks are crispy and golden, looking appetizing.

Chu Qiu, however, detected a pungent fishy odor akin to rotten fish tails, reminiscent of the flies swarming around dead fish he had smelled in the garbage dump where fishmongers discarded their fish at the market. The moment he approached these seemingly bright and shiny fish dishes, he began to feel nauseous, let alone swallowing them.

But both Jelf and Lucy showed expressions as if these things smelled very fragrant.

Chu Qiu took out a coin and swept it. As expected, these two people also displayed [Alienation], which should be related to the mermaid statue in the room.

Not to mention Andre, his way of eating made Chu Qiu feel a little uneasy. Andre chewed with big mouthfuls, and the wet, slippery, and black fish tail slapped against his mouth as he chewed. Often, before he had finished eating the one in his mouth, he would use a fork to spear the next one and stick it into his mouth.

Lucy cut the fish steak with a knife and fork, looking at Chu Qiu with a slight surprise and saying, "Aren't you eating, baby? The fish steak here is really delicious. Even if I'm on a diet, I couldn't resist eating two!"

"You've really found a pretty good seaside hotel!" said Lucy, about to lean over and kiss him.

But Chu Qiu was choked by the strong fishy smell coming from Lucy's mouth, and subconsciously pushed her away. Thinking better of it, he pulled away the plate in front of Lucy and said in a pretense of seriousness, "Baby, your body is just right now. I won't allow you to lose your beauty for a fish. Let's have some vegetable dishes. The fish steaks here are just so-so."

Lucy was delighted by the coaxing. Although she still couldn't bear to part with the fish steak, she obediently ate quite a lot of vegetable salad.

Chu Qiu pretended to prepare quite a few salads for Jelf and Andre, making them eat.

Jelfe ate absent-mindedly.

Andre, however, looked at Chu Qiu as if he were a freak, mockingly saying, "Could it be that our wealthy friend is short of money? Before coming here, he boasted that we would have all our meals and accommodations covered. Now, he can't even afford to let us have a fish steak."

"Lucy, look, this is your stingy boyfriend!"

Lucy immediately cursed angrily, "Andre! If it weren't for Chu Qiu, do you think you could afford to eat such high-end fish steaks in this hotel? You wouldn't even be able to get in! Look at how much you've eaten. If Chu Qiu doesn't pay the bill for you, you won't be able to leave this hotel!"

"Lucy!" Andre roared, but Lucy stared at him with her head held high, refusing to budge.

Andre couldn't do anything about the woman he liked, so he turned around and unleashed all his anger on Chu Qiu.

Amidst Lucy's screams, as Andre's broad palm was about to lift Chu Qiu's collar, Chu Qiu still took his time to wipe his mouth, looked at Andre, and smiled, saying, "If you still want me to pay the bill, you'd better not touch me."

Andre's hand suddenly stopped in mid-air, his nostrils expanding and contracting like those of a bull, breathing furiously.

He looked at Chu Qiu with bloodshot eyes and threatened ferociously, "If you can't fulfill the bet we made for tonight, I will definitely make you, this puny piece of trash who can't even get laid, suffer!"

Andre's eyes were filled with bloodshot, as if he had been overwhelmed by the anger surging through his brain. However, he couldn't do anything to Chu Qiu, as he was still counting on Chu Qiu to pay the bill.

At this moment, a piece of broccoli accidentally rolled out of Jelf's plate, which was being eaten with his head bowed, and landed on Andre's shoe.

Andre was like a balloon that had been inflated to its limit and then pricked. Before Jelf could even utter an apology, he slapped Jelf's back of the head, knocking his head directly onto the plate and causing him to vomit everything he had eaten that morning.

"You've ruined my shoes! You disgusting creature!" Andrei seemed to find it amusing when he saw Jerf vomiting, and he let out a snort of laughter from his nose, as if he had found some kind of psychological balance. Then he kicked Jerf again.

After wiping the negligible oil stain on his shoes off from Jiefu's pants, Andre added, "I won't argue with a defenseless trash. Wipe it off and get lost."

Lucy helped the dizzy and confused Jelf up and yelled at Andre in a fit of rage, "Stop it, Andre! You're going too far with Jelf!"

Chu Qiu ignored the two people arguing, his gaze fixed on the vomit of Jelf. The golden-crusted fish steak, after being chewed and spat out by Jelf, had turned into a dark green section resembling a dead fish, with something resembling wriggling saprophytic worms sticking to it.

This rotten dead fish is completely inedible for humans. Fishmongers in the wet market use such dead fish to feed larger fish.

Chu Qiu still remembered what a fishmonger had told him: the larger the saprophagous fish, the more they liked to eat dead fish.

The driver came to pick up Chu Qiu and his group after Chu Qiu had breakfast.

[Main Quest: Visit the Siren Wax Museum, Reward: 50 Points]

【Main Quest: Participate in the Mermaid Fishing Festival, Reward: 50 Points】

The Siren Museum and the Mermaid Fishing Festival sound like two separate attractions.

Chu Qiu pondered for a moment and was just about to ask the driver what these two things were when Jelf suddenly darted forward and stood between Chu Qiu and the driver. He lowered his head and didn't speak. His pale and thin cheeks were sunken, and there was bloodstain around his mouth from being hit by Andre. His jaw was clenched tightly and he was slightly trembling.

Chu Qiu raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Jelf had been doing his best to avoid contact between him and the driver since yesterday.

This is not normal.

Chu Qiu's fingers unconsciously spun the coin on his chest.

The coin flipped back and forth on the back of his finger, a common gesture Chu Qiu used when contemplating things. The feeling of control over money in his hands, even a single yuan, made him feel calm and joyful.

Without any other information, Chu Qiu speculated that Jelf's target should be Andre. It was quite normal for Andre to have contact with the driver, as the driver was looking for an opportunity to make a move. Meanwhile, Lucy was an easy character to manipulate, so there was no need to deliberately isolate her.

There must be a reason why Jelf isolates himself from the driver, and after some thought, Chu Qiu believes that the reason should be money.

Jelf's dress and appearance, as well as his daily routine of being bullied by Andre on campus, clearly do not suggest that he is a wealthy character.

Andre was also a bully who was always picking on the weak and fearing the strong. Although he was not sparing with his words towards the wealthy Chu Qiu, he never took any real action. On the other hand, he would often scold and beat Jelf. From this point of view, Jelf's family background should not be as good as his own, or even as good as Andre's.

Last night, Jelf gave the driver what appeared to be a considerable amount of money. Chu Qiu had reason to suspect that Jelf had used the money he had given him to hire a driver and tourists to hire a driver in retaliation against Andrei, which was why he had been so guilty-ridden and avoided contact with the driver.

But last night, Jelf had already paid the driver a sum of money, so logically speaking, the transaction had been mostly completed. Moreover, on the surface, the driver and the tourist had performed their jobs very well, and the driver did not express any suspicion.

Generally speaking, Jelf should be relieved and not have to go to so much trouble to isolate himself from the driver, which would only arouse his own suspicions.

This kind of guilty and cautious behavior doesn't seem like something that hasn't been finalized yet.

But it's also possible that Jelf is just cautious and timid, never letting his guard down until he succeeds. After all, Jelf's side story is called "b****y Plot", a plot that sounds like it involves murder. Chu Qiu can completely understand why he would be cautious.

I'm just not sure when Jelf will choose to make a move on Andre. For now, Chu Qiu still wants to focus on the main quest.

Chu Qiu spoke to the driver, "Driver, are there any scenic spots in Siren Town?"

"Tourist attractions?" The driver thought for a moment and said, "The must-see sights for tourists here are the night fishing and the museum."

After hearing this answer, Chu Qiu thought to himself, "As expected." He raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are the special features of fishing and the wax museum?"

"Of course, we are from Siren Town." The driver turned his head around. It was the first time Chu Qiu saw the driver's face up close in the car. Even with Chu Qiu's high resistance to horror, his expression couldn't help but freeze.

Not because of fear, but because of astonishment.

The driver's appearance is so strange.

This person has a lot of white part of the eye, so much so that the pupil appears only the size of a fly. As he speaks, the pupil moves around restlessly in the white part of his eye, as if he cannot control the pupil that is about to disappear and escape from his eyes.

The driver's skin was so pale that it seemed opaque, like a piece of inferior wax.

He was biting the fish sandwich in his hand while talking and driving.

The cross-section of the fish steak, bitten open, was a putrid greenish-black, resembling that of moldy fish. Yet, the driver ate it with relish, his teeth stained with the greenish-black color. He smiled at Chu Qiu with an unusually wide grin.