Chapter 79: Hopeless Sea (3) Cottage

The players retreated as if facing a formidable foe. After losing its target, the Merman statue lowered its head and remained motionless, its gaze falling upon the marble wings beside its base with sorrow and longing.

Liu Yuhan stared at the statue for two seconds and said softly, “It wants to regain the wings on the ground, but its movements are confined to the area of the base, so it cannot reach them.”

Zhang Hongfeng asked, “Then should we help it put the wings on?”

“Don’t touch it.” Liu Yuhan shook her head. “With wings, it would be able to fly out and harm us.”

The players more or less understood. This Merman statue was just for intimidation, its symbolic meaning outweighing its practical significance. As long as they didn’t get reckless and enter the range of the base, nothing would happen.

Everyone gathered toward the statue again, looking at the stone tablet in front of it. The sentences of the rules were translated into their respective native languages, slowly appearing on the system interface.

After Qi Si finished digesting the written information, he took a step back nonchalantly and quietly stood beside Chang Xu in the crowd, acting as if the two were very close.

It was known that this was an instance divided into factions. The logic of hostility between factions couldn’t be scrutinized too deeply; anyway, the Eerie Game just wanted the players to fight.

In a game with competitive attributes, to achieve final victory, it was imperative to scout out every opponent’s thought patterns and behavioral choices.

Qi Si already knew Chang Xu’s behavioral logic inside out, which was equivalent to holding an inherent information advantage in the game. It would be a waste not to utilize it.

Seeing that Qi Si hadn’t stayed away but had instead approached him, Chang Xu asked out of curiosity, “Si Qi, didn’t you say earlier that you also suspected I was a Slaughter-path player?”

“So what? They all say you’re a good person, and I think so too. Even if you’ve deceived all of us, that’s just my poor judgment, and I’d have to accept my bad luck.”

Qi Si’s smile was very sincere. “Besides, I just entered the official pool and don’t know anyone. The only person I can trust is you.”

Chang Xu thought for a moment and asked, “You haven’t joined a guild?”

Qi Si looked confused. “What guild? How do I join?”

“…”

“Everyone, please be quiet!”

The young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses took a step forward and turned to face the crowd with a beaming smile. “My name is Lu Li. This is my nineteenth new instance—I mean, since becoming an official player.”

“After reading the rules, I have some conjectures. Does anyone here have cash or items related to money? The rules concern everyone, so I hope you will set aside your identities and side quests for now and answer truthfully.”

Without a doubt, he was an experienced veteran player.

If it really was his nineteenth new instance since becoming an official player as he claimed, there was a high probability he had plenty of life-saving items. It was not wise to make an enemy of him.

The players all began searching their pockets. Even those who had checked them once before went through the motions again, turning their pockets out to show their innocence.

“Who carries cash these days? Even if they did, they couldn’t bring it in here.”

“If I’d known, I would’ve exchanged some cash in the mall to keep on me before coming in…”

“Doesn’t this mean we’ve all violated the first rule?”

rule-based horror instances were much simpler than other survival instances because the death conditions followed a pattern, but they were also more likely to trigger unnecessary fear—especially when one suspected they had violated a rule.

Chang Xu stood in the middle of the crowd. Seeing the people around him searching their pockets, he also reached into his jacket pocket.

—Of course, he felt nothing.

He glanced at Qi Si beside him. The latter was composed, squinting at Lu Li by the stone tablet. His dark pupils were sunken in gloom, giving off a dangerous intuition at first glance.

Sensing his gaze, Qi Si leaned in and said in a volume only the two of them could hear, “The background of this instance is clearly not modern times. Even if someone did bring cash into the instance, they likely wouldn’t be able to use it. As a veteran player, he couldn’t have failed to realize that, right?”

Chang Xu’s eyebrows twitched slightly, his eyes flickering.

Even though he had just been suspected by Qi Si and things had been unpleasant, the other was still actively sharing his findings. Was it out of kindness or… deception?

Seeing Chang Xu’s contemplative expression, Qi Si continued, “Lu Li standing up now is an attempt to seize the right to speak. Next, with a little maneuvering, he’ll be able to manipulate people’s hearts and control the situation… Of course, maybe I’m overthinking it.”

By the stone tablet, Lu Li had no idea that a casual question would bring such a heavy accusation down on him from out of nowhere.

He raised his hand in a downward gesture, signaling the chattering players to quiet down. “If no one has cash, it means the main quest of this instance hasn’t started yet, and we are all safe. There might be events later that allow us to obtain cash; everyone should keep an eye out…”

As he spoke, a rustling sound came from behind him. The dense coconut grove suddenly parted to both sides, revealing a path wide enough for only one person. A young woman in a long blue dress walked out.

The woman’s long, golden, wavy hair was draped over her back. Her fair face shimmered with the luster of pearls, and her azure eyes reflected the sky.

She was so beautiful she didn’t seem real. From every angle, she even had a ghostly suspiciousness about her, yet she didn’t evoke any ill will. Instead, she brought to mind beautiful legends about elves.

While the players were dazed, the woman approached, dragging her skirt. The sequins on her long dress reflected shimmering spots of light.

She curled her lips into a kind smile and gestured with her hands.

“Welcome to Sea God Island. My name is Yuna.”

Under the influence of the Eerie Game, the players could easily understand the woman’s sign language.

Qi Si stared at the woman with interest. He saw a large patch of fish scales embedded in her snowy-white, slender neck. On closer inspection, they looked like feathers, situated exactly where her vocal cords would be. He wondered if this was the reason she couldn’t speak.

The woman didn’t mind Qi Si’s undisguised scrutiny and continued gesturing: “You were brought here by the storm, whether by my Lord’s guidance or revelation. I will provide you with lodging and food, if you need it.”

Lu Li smiled and said, “Thank you for your kindness. If I didn’t have urgent matters to attend to, I would certainly love to spend a vacation on this beautiful island. Now, we’d like to set off as soon as possible and continue our journey. Unfortunately, our ship was damaged in the storm. Are there any usable ships on the island?”

The woman calling herself “Yuna” showed a look of regret: “There are no ships on our island. Some travelers like you built a wooden boat before, but they left on it and never returned.”

Did this mean the players had to build their own boat?

Lu Li pondered for a moment and asked, “Besides taking a boat, are there any other ways to leave the island?”

“I don’t know.” Yuna shook her head. “Maybe you can go to the Altar in the center of the island and ask the Sea God.”

It sounded like there were other options, so that was fine.

The players all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, these days, not many people knew the craft of shipbuilding.

Even if someone did, building a ship capable of crossing the sea would take a lot of time.

And in an Eerie Game instance, the longer things were dragged out, the more dangerous it became.

“It seems we’ll have to stay on the island for a while. Thank you for your hospitality.” Lu Li adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and smiled politely. “Yuna, are there any facilities like hotels on the island? Do we need to exchange for some of the island’s currency?”

Yuna seemed to finally remember something and shook her head with some frustration. “I almost forgot. The Sea God said to give every traveler who comes to the island a certain amount of money so that everyone can experience our local customs.”

This was a completely unexpected development. Not only did they not charge money, but they also gave it out. Was this Sea God really this good?

A player spoke up and asked this directly. A formulaic smile appeared on Yuna’s face: “Please believe that the money you receive corresponds to your own value.”

She fumbled around her person for a while and pulled out stacks of oddly styled banknotes from somewhere, stuffing them into the players’ hands.

The banknotes felt very greasy to the touch, with a certain viscous dampness that reminded one of freshly peeled dead fish skin.

Qi Si stuffed the stack of banknotes given to him into his pocket and counted them blindly with his fingers. Ten in total.

He pulled one out and examined it under the sunlight.

The banknote was made of an unknown material that shimmered with bright light. Its design was similar to the currency Qi Si was familiar with, with a denomination of “100” written on the left and a giant fish head with wings printed on the right. It was hideously ugly.

After Yuna finished distributing the money, she gestured: “I’ll take you to my inn. The shore is very dangerous.”

Without waiting for the players’ answer, she pulled her arms to her sides, turned around with dignity and grace, and walked slowly but steadily toward the depths of the coconut grove.

As she walked, whether because of her posture or something else, her skirt trailing on the ground wriggled across the sand, giving the illusion of a mermaid’s tail.

Qi Si turned his head to look back. The white waves were gently lapping the beach, no different from an ordinary beach in reality. He didn’t know where the danger came from.

But since the NPC had spoken, no one dared to dally. The players followed the lead and formed a line according to their proximity, stepping onto the forest path one by one.

The girl with long hair kept looking at the distant Clock Tower and asked timidly, “Yuna, can you tell us the story of the angel carved on that Clock Tower? She looks so sad, so sorrowful…”

The players’ identity was that of travelers, and Yuna had also said she wanted them to experience the local customs. It was perfectly reasonable to ask about the island’s features.

Unexpectedly, Yuna turned around with a look of confusion on her face. “There is no angel on the Clock Tower. The angel is not at the Clock Tower.”

Her confusion didn’t seem feigned. The girl wouldn’t give up and opened her mouth to ask more, but she was pulled back by the slightly chubby young man beside her and desisted.

She lowered her voice and muttered to herself, “I’ve read some psychology books. A Clock Tower symbolizes internal defense mechanisms, things in the subconscious that one is unwilling to remember. Could Yuna have suffered some kind of psychological trauma?”

Yuna stopped in her tracks and looked at the girl with a smile.

The young man beside the girl had a bitter face. “My lady, please stop talking. She’s an NPC, not deaf…”

After this little interlude, the players didn’t dare say anything more. The group followed Yuna in silence.

Qi Si stuck his hands in his pants pockets and trailed at the very end of the line, maintaining the maximum distance from Yuna.

Chang Xu followed him silently like a ghost and asked gloomily, “Si Qi, ‘Rose Manor’ was your first instance. What was your second?”

“‘Screaming Amusement Park.’ I remember I even posted a guide on the Forum.” Qi Si turned his head to look at him, showing a teasing smile. “Officer, are you going to interrogate me?”

He used the lines of the deceased. A faint light flickered in Chang Xu’s eyes before quickly returning to darkness.

Qi Si sighed. “Look, you’ve already preset the answer, yet you still go through the motions of asking me for confirmation. Don’t you think that’s hypocritical? Have you ever thought that with my strength at the time, it was impossible for me to kill anyone other than myself?”

“Justice built on the foundation of a presumption of guilt is nothing more than collective violence. And you, biting onto me like a hyena and refusing to let go, just want to satisfy your own simple sense of justice—quite boring behavior, isn’t it?”

Correct premises leading to a wrong conclusion; an argument that’s ninety percent true and one percent false is the most deceptive tactic.

Switching concepts, placing himself in the position of a victim, and belittling the other’s character—Qi Si was very familiar with these routines.

He chuckled sarcastically. “It was the same six years ago. Just because both my parents died and my relatives died one after another, making me the biggest beneficiary of the inheritance, you all thought I was the killer… Clearly there was no solid evidence, and the conclusion was clearly absurd and laughable.”

The bells of the distant Clock Tower boomed. Eight chimes echoed one after another, the surging sound waves blurring his words, making them sound as jumbled as a rock song played backward.

Qi Si raised his hand to cover his face, his palm happened to hide the huge smile on the lower half of his face. “So, what I hate most is the presumption of guilt, and the second thing I hate most are fools who take a hypothetical answer and try to fit the process of the question to it.”

‘He’s an old acquaintance the Security Bureau has been watching for a long time. His background is cleaner than most Investigators’. They watched him for six years and couldn’t find a single piece of evidence that he broke the law.’

Chang Xu remembered what Mu Dongxu had told him and slightly furrowed his brows.

No one would feel good being suspected for no reason, let alone being inexplicably monitored for six years… He clearly should have known this. When he was in the orphanage, being monitored and rejected as a monster, he still remembered that feeling today; it was very uncomfortable.

Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you. He should not have treated someone as a criminal without solid evidence… Seeing Chang Xu clearly falling into self-doubt, Qi Si believed that after this bout of verbal maneuvering, the past was settled.

He understood the principle of proceeding step by step and knowing when to stop. He pursed his lips and said no more, quickly catching up with the player group ahead.

Before him, the lush green coconut grove stretched out in layers on both sides, seemingly endless. The broad, fan-shaped branches and leaves intertwined as they reached toward the sky, filling every gap and almost blotting out the sun.

Beneath his feet, the soft white sand was spread out like a carpet, sucking at his toes and heels, muffling the sound of the approaching footsteps.

Mingling in the crowd, Qi Si looked as innocent and harmless as a herbivore, nonchalantly moving his gaze to observe his surroundings.

Something seemed to be hidden in the gaps between the leaves, giving him the illusion of being bathed in the gaze of many.

Like a traveler on a rainy night wandering into an ancient Graveyard, welcomed by the cold tombstones of spirits who had long since reincarnated, he felt in a trance that countless eyes were peering from the shadows without emotion or desire.

The top of his head was clearly blocked by branches and leaves, yet he could see the distant Clock Tower in a way that defied visual laws. The tall angel relief lowered its eyelids and curled its wings, as if imprisoned within and unable to stretch out.

It was indeed as the long-haired girl had said: very sad, very sorrowful.

A huge feather appeared before his feet, showing half a root canal. Qi Si brushed away the sand with his foot, and what came into view was a giant fish bone. The spine was soft and the fish bones were dense; at first glance, it really would be mistaken for a feather… Never mind.

He used his toe to move the sand again, reburying the fish bone. He didn’t forget to stomp on the edges a few times to ensure the sand was packed tightly and wouldn’t be blown away by the wind.

After walking for another distance, the field of vision ahead suddenly became open. The trunks thinned out, and a two-story wooden Cottage revealed itself amidst the shade of the coconut grove.

They had reached the inn.