Chapter 12 - The Vanished Mermaid (Part 5)

The cloak was torn off, revealing a man with wild black hair and eyes filled with madness and love. In stark contrast, the eye on his arm was clear and innocent.

The crowd seemed oblivious to the eye on the man’s hand. They assumed he was trying to harm the mermaid, and the people of Water City would not allow such a thing. They surged towards the man, beating him in a frenzy of anger.

“I love… you…” The man struggled to raise his arm with the eye high above, his fingers long and bent at an odd angle. His broken voice spilled out, “Idia… I love you!”

The mermaid heard its name and looked at the man.

This was a cry of pain and love intertwined, a tone the mermaid was not accustomed to hearing. So it leapt into the water, swimming towards the outstretched hand.

A punch landed on the man’s temple, and his eyes turned red.

The mermaid placed its hand on the glass, still gazing curiously at the man with an innocent expression.

“Love you… love you… love you…”

The voice echoed softly, repeatedly.

Not far away, the doll watched indifferently as the hand with the eye finally fell limp. He said, “Let’s leave this place.”

Guan Cheng nodded. Xia Lang, unable to bear watching any longer, turned his head and asked, “Is he dead?”

“If he’s human, he will die,” Luo Yiran replied.

“He looks human, though his clothes are a bit tattered. He looks just like a normal person.”

Luo Yiran paused, “Didn’t you see the eye?”

Xia Lang and Guan Cheng both looked up, “Eye? What eye?”

It seemed only he had seen it. Luo Yiran twirled his fingers and said, “We’ll talk about it back at the hotel.”

Xia Lang, always obedient, nodded and then glanced back, “I wonder if there are any police… Oh my!”

Guan Cheng was startled, “What’s wrong?”

Before Xia Lang could answer, Luo Yiran turned to look. He saw the mermaid swimming to the top of the water tank, its thin veil clinging to its skin. The mermaid’s beautiful eyes were so watery they seemed ready to spill tears at any moment.

In its hand, a handful of smooth, white pearls glimmered faintly in the sunlight.

The mermaid shed tears, and the pearls were scattered towards the crowd.

One pearl flew straight towards Luo Yiran, who stood outside the circle of people. He wanted to dodge, but inexplicably, he reached out his hand.

A pearl, as large as a doll’s head, landed gently in his hand full of ball joints.

There was no impact. Though it had been thrown from a distance, it felt as if the mermaid had gently placed it in his hand.

Luo Yiran looked at the mermaid, which was crying with its eyes downcast, not caring who had caught the pearl it had thrown.

“Ranran…” Xia Lang looked worriedly at the pearl.

Luo Yiran had the magician store the pearl on him, “It’s okay, I’m not the only one who received one.”

The mermaid had thrown about ten pearls. Luo Yiran had quickly scanned the area and saw that, besides the NPCs, two other players, a man and a woman, had also caught pearls. There might be more players who got the mermaid’s pearls in places he hadn’t seen.

“We should head back,” Xia Lang said, uneasy about the mermaid.

Luo Yiran shook his head, “We can’t.”

Guan Cheng chimed in, “Exploring the game’s background is important. The score you get after clearing it will be higher.”

Xia Lang’s philosophy had always been to survive, and scores were just fluff, like passing a test. As long as you passed, it was fine. Guan Cheng used to share this philosophy, but now he suddenly wanted to explore the game’s background… Xia Lang cast a puzzled look at Guan Cheng.

Guan Cheng didn’t explain much, just emphasized, “The score is important.”

Luo Yiran wasn’t fully familiar with the game’s rules, but Xia Lang had told him about the scores after clearing it. However, the reason Luo Yiran said they couldn’t go back wasn’t just to explore the instance’s background. He added, “The hotel might be dangerous now. We can’t go back.”

Xia Lang was stunned, “What?”

“Two players are dead!”

Someone suddenly stood up and shouted in Central Square.

The large number of participants in this game made it clear to many that many players would be eliminated. However, this task was clearly a long-term one, and generally, long-term tasks were safer at the beginning. So the fact that two people had been eliminated so soon after the game started was indeed surprising.

“The screen has gone black. Did anyone see how they died?”

“It was that hotel! The one where players are supposed to stay. Those two players went in and got shot!”

“So we can’t enter the hotel now? But I didn’t see any warning saying we couldn’t… And the game has just started. How did two people die already? What’s the difficulty level of this instance?”

“I don’t know. Instances related to Water City are rare…”

The surroundings were incredibly noisy. The Shamate¹, who had been mumbling about not being able to see the doll’s mouth movements, silently wrapped himself tighter in his leather jacket. From the beginning, he had been watching Luo Yiran’s display panel, so he naturally heard the doll mention the potential danger at the hotel. The Shamate smirked, shivering slightly as if he were cold, “Interesting.”

“What’s interesting?” the girl next to him asked casually. She had initially been put off by his Shamate appearance but had returned because his unique look made his surroundings the quietest.

The Shamate hugged himself and asked, “How many people are left in this instance?”

“About twenty-five,” the girl counted the display panels.

The Shamate extended his hand, making a gun gesture and pressing it to his temple. His lips, painted purple, curled into a grin, “Now we can mourn these twenty-five people.”

His voice was so certain that the girl instinctively grasped the cross hanging around her neck-mourn? Were all the players in this instance doomed?

“I said, the hotel might be dangerous,” Luo Yiran repeated, then pointed to where the cloaked man had fallen, “That man came from the direction of the hotel.”

Hotel?

Guan Cheng was also taken aback, “Is the hotel in that direction?”

“We saw a signboard at the place where we got off. It had a simplified map of Water City,” Luo Yiran pointed in the direction the cloaked man had come from, “That direction has the hotel we’re supposed to stay in, a large shopping mall, and…” Luo Yiran paused, then suddenly laughed, “And a prison.”

“What a bizarre layout,” Xia Lang commented. After his remark, he realized, “A prison? Is the one in the cloak an escaped convict?”

Luo Yiran was still laughing, answering casually, almost dismissively, “Not sure.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Nothing, just saw a player…” Luo Yiran’s words trailed off as he noticed Guan Cheng’s frown and Xia Lang’s confused expression. He slowly asked, “Weren’t you the ones asking why I was laughing?”

Despite the warm sunlight still on him, Xia Lang felt a chill run up his spine. His hands and feet went cold, “Ranran, we didn’t say anything.”

Luo Yiran raised his hand, loosely covering his ear, “I know, the voice is off.” He turned his head to look at the silent magician.

Xia Lang felt unsteady, and Guan Cheng quickly supported him, then looked at the doll, “Is it that pearl?”

“Yes,” Luo Yiran released his hand, his eyelashes lifting.

“Then throw it away!” Xia Lang urged, tense.

“It’s already too late to throw it away,” the doll said nonchalantly.

Xia Lang’s scalp tingled. He stared at the magician’s pocket where the pearl was stored, “Why? Just take it out and throw it away!”

The magician chuckled softly, “It’s not with me anymore.”

“It’s here.” Before Xia Lang could ask further, the doll turned his head. His hair didn’t cover his earlobe, so the two saw a white spot on Luo Yiran’s earlobe.

“It’s grown on my ear,” the doll stated.

By the side of the mermaid parade route, a few newly constructed buildings stood, their walls adorned with bright graffiti. Via had changed into a blue tie-dye T-shirt and white shorts with colorful graffiti. He sat by a fifth-floor window, where a casual glance wouldn’t easily spot him.

“So far, it seems we can only confirm that those two players chose task two and aren’t planning to act against the mermaid now.”

“Of course, they won’t act now,” Li Qi Feng, shrouded in shadow by the window, lifted his eyelashes slightly, “Otherwise, they’d end up like that cloaked man.”

“Task two is really tough,” Via pouted, but then he brightened up, “But watching the drama of those who got the pearls is fun too. They’ll likely be the first sacrifices.”

“If Ranran dies, will he leave a body? I really like his appearance,” Via mumbled.

“The order of receiving pearls is the reverse of our getting off the bus,” Li Qi Feng leaned against the cold wall, “Luo Yiran was far from the mermaid, but he was the first to touch a pearl.”

Via’s eyes widened in surprise, “If this is a countdown to death, we’re really lucky!” They were the first and second to get off the bus. If it followed this order, they’d be the last to receive pearls.

“But death won’t just come through the pearls,” Li Qi Feng tightened his trench coat, his tall, slender figure becoming even more pronounced, “And this instance is odd. After issuing the task, there have been no further prompts.”

Via eyed his physique and asked, “Did we bring too few weapons?”

“They’re enough,” Li Qi Feng moved slightly closer to Via, half his body protruding from the window. He lowered his gaze to the departing water tank, where the mermaid sat on the edge, its fish tail lazily slapping the water.

He stared for so long that Via followed his gaze, teasing, “Uncle, are you smitten? This mermaid is even more beautiful than in fairy tales.”

Li Qi Feng skillfully smacked Via on the head, then watched as the water tank with the mermaid slowly turned a corner and disappeared from the street, finally speaking, “That’s not a mermaid.”

Via was stunned.

Footnote:

1. 1. Shamate(杀马特):Shamate is a transliteration of a Chinese subculture term referring to young people, often from rural areas, who adopt flamboyant, exaggerated hairstyles and fashion inspired by Western punk and goth styles. The term is sometimes associated with rebellion, individuality, and a desire for self-expression despite societal judgment.