Chapter 25 - The Vanished Mermaid (Part 18)

It’s hard to imagine, but he was in perfect sync with the magician.

He was a civilized person, clueless about fighting, but all he needed to do was to maneuver the magician to the right positions.

The magician could handle the fighting on his own.

The coordination lay in the fact that he could position the magician precisely, and if the position wasn’t ideal, the magician could quickly adjust the moment the doll’s control slackened.

Luo Yiran watched the group of black cloaked men who couldn’t get close to him and suddenly thought it was probably the magician’s own skill, giving him the illusion that they were perfectly coordinated.

“Catch one for me first,” the doll spoke.

He was genuinely curious about which faction the prison people belonged to. So far, he had only encountered one “person” without any follow-up.

“Sure~”

The magician lowered his knife, tripping a black cloaked man with his long leg and swiftly stabbing the man’s shoulders with two knives, rendering him unable to resist. Then, he kicked the man towards the base of the cabinet where the doll was perched. “Here you go.”

The man’s black cloak had fallen off, revealing a disheveled figure who seemed never to have taken care of himself. His filthy arms were covered in chaotic black lines, and his body was extremely emaciated.

Blood spread from his shoulders onto the ground, and the black cloaked man trembled all over, his gaze unfocused. “Kill… kill… Idia.”

Luo Yiran looked at the black lines on the man’s arm and suddenly remembered the blue eye on the arm of the black cloaked man who had rushed to the mermaid’s water tank yesterday. That eye was also clear and innocent, but unlike Idia’s eyes, it was deeper, as if its owner had experienced more…

“Idia isn’t here,” he said. It was Artel who was here now.

The black cloaked man’s nose twitched, and his murky eyes turned to Luo Yiran, filled with ferocity. “He was here… he was here! Have you seen him?!”

Luo Yiran was watching the black cloaked man out of the corner of his eye, his main focus still on the magician. “He’s already gone.”

“Why do you want to kill Idia…”

Luo Yiran’s words abruptly stopped because he was grabbed.

A hand reached up from below and grabbed him.

The doll’s control paused, releasing his hold on the magician. He looked down at the one who had grabbed him. “Artel?”

“Artel” smiled slightly, his blue eyes like a shallow, rippling sea, beautiful and full of a sense of inclusiveness.

These were not Artel’s eyes.

Nor were they Idia’s eyes.

Mermaid Hotel.

Via and Li Qi Feng were covered in blood, pushing all the mermaid monster corpses out of the room.

The door to Li Qi Feng’s room had been violently broken. The two exchanged a glance and decided to head to Via’s room.

“…I feel like our situation might be similar to the doll’s,” Via said with a wrinkled face. “I had a bad feeling when the front desk said the main door was broken when we came back.”

“It’s okay,” Li Qi Feng reassured him while staying vigilant. “At least there are no prison people in this hotel.”

Via was still angry. He didn’t like to think too much, so the current chaotic situation made him feel even worse. “Just mentioning the prison people pisses me off. They keep saying Idia is a thief and a fake and that he must be killed, claiming they follow the real mermaid… Then tell us who the real mermaid is! Where is he?!”

A mermaid monster came running around the corner. Via, still fuming, sneered and charged forward with his knife.

Li Qi Feng habitually raised his gun to cover Via.

With a few swift cuts, Via severed the mermaid monster’s tail from its body. He wiped the blood splattered on his face and kicked the corpse twice after standing up.

Then he looked ahead at the empty space, a cold smile on his round face. “A live broadcast, huh? Who’s afraid of your broadcast? Just watch our strength closely. Anyone looking for trouble, bring it on!”

A live broadcast! Broadcast my foot!

Why are there so many annoying things! Via was so angry he felt wronged.

“Via,” Li Qi Feng called out to him helplessly. “Don’t be mad. I’ll think about it.”

Via pouted and turned around silently.

The two continued towards Via’s room. Li Qi Feng said, “Idia is more likely to be the real mermaid, but it’s not certain yet. If it comes to it…” Li Qi Feng looked up. “We’ll kill the mermaid leading the prison people too.”

“But I’m worried this instance might have a restriction or something that forces us to choose one,” Via said, recalling a previous instance they had encountered. “Like making us identify the mermaid first, and if we kill the wrong one, we fail the mission.”

“There will be hints,” Li Qi Feng said, not too worried. “Tomorrow at dawn, we’ll go to the lower class area. It’s the only place we haven’t been to yet.”

Via paused slightly, a thought occurring to him. “The lower class area… Are they from Water City or affiliated with the prison?”

“They should be neutral, like onlookers,” Li Qi Feng glanced back, noticing something. “The hotel seems to have quieted down.”

Via frowned.

A faint buzzing sound began, causing a tingling sensation on their skin. Li Qi Feng’s expression changed, and he grabbed Via. “Let’s go, they’re all coming!”

“Damn it.”

Via cursed.

Central Square.

“Hey, that little lunatic’s mouth…” Someone in the square laughed. “We don’t want to see your strength; we want to see you running around in panic.”

“Hahaha!”

The square erupted in laughter.

Shamate, however, sighed as he watched Luo Yiran’s display panel.

The girl sitting next to him tilted her head. “What’s wrong? The doll’s progress is pretty fast, and he gathered a lot of information in the lower class area during the day. If he clears this instance, he might get a lot of points.”

“The problem is whether he can clear it,” Shamate said, starting to like this doll because he was bold and decisive.

“Surviving five days and killing the mermaid both seem like long shots to me,” Shamate clasped his hands together. “But he’s already met the last key person. If he can figure out why there are two different people in Artel’s body, he’ll be closer to the goal.”

The girl was silent for a moment, then spoke with confusion. “Big brother, you… seem to know a lot about this instance.”

Shamate paused, then broke into a huge smile.

“Really… it’s a beautiful little thing.” His hand brushed over Luo Yiran. “Artel” was about to say something when he felt a cold blade against his neck.

The magician had approached unnoticed, his voice colder than the knife at “Artel’s” throat. “It’s not nice to mess with other people’s things.”

“Artel” wasn’t afraid of this body dying, but he still released the doll. “Don’t get excited; I like him too.”

He placed the doll back on the cabinet and introduced himself. “Hello, I don’t have a name, but everyone calls me… the mermaid.”

“Sweetie, you can call me that too.”

The doll paused, looking up. “Hello, this is our second meeting, right?”

“My name is Luo Yiran.”

The black cloaked men at the door, who had been shouting to kill Idia, stopped. They removed their hoods, all looking at “Artel” with admiration.