GHG: Chapter 5

Bai Liu stood quietly with his back to the door and covered himself with a white cloth.

He could hear the sound of marble colliding with the door and the doorknob also moved twice. The door was locked and the doorknob was vigorously twisted by the merfolk statue outside the door, making the fragile metal crack. It sounded like it was going to be scrapped soon and even the door started to shake.

This thing seemed to really want to come inside. The dead white eyes searched around Bai Liu’s room and didn’t seem to find anyone. Then the room became quiet inside and out. The doorknob didn’t move for a long time and the other party seemed to have left.

Bai Liu still held his breath. He remembered that when this thing moved around, it would make a very dull noise. It was wrong that there wasn’t this sound. The merfolk statue didn’t leave at all and was quietly guarding his door.

This thing was deceiving him and inducing him to come out. Bai Liu’s eyes narrowed and he found that the peephole, which had been restored to the color of the carpet, suddenly turned white again.

That thing was still there! It hadn’t given up after waiting a while. It still wanted to come in. The doorknob abruptly twisted into a protruding, broken shape and was about to slide down from the door. The merfolk statue outside was coming in!

Some of the viewers in front of Bai Liu’s TV couldn’t bear it and closed their eyes.

“It is rare to see a seeded player… what a pity.”

“The main reason is that the Siren Town instance is too disgusting. This isn’t at the difficulty of a novice instance at all. It is completely meant to kill newcomers.”

“What is going on? I am still very optimistic about him. A talent with 100 points in mental value!”

“So what if it is 100? His other attributes are very ordinary. I didn’t know much about the Siren Town instance when I first entered, let alone newcomers. The veterans here are bound to die if we didn’t know the weaknesses of the merfolk statues. How much adversity will the newcomers have to face before they can pass the instance…”

Bai Liu’s brain was spinning quickly as he slowed down his breathing.

The game clearly told him that these monsters had weaknesses and players could use the weaknesses to escape from the hands of the monsters. So the current way to clear the game was to find the weakness that restricted the movement of this thing.

Bai Liu closed his eyes as he recalled everything that happened tonight.

It was a game so it must be solvable. Games that were unsolvable were the worst trash. Bai Liu had been making horror games for many years and he was extremely sure there must be something that suggested the weakness of the merfolk statue.

What exactly was it…?

Bai Liu calmly started to comb through all his encounters with the merfolk statues.

The first time was the fountain outside the hotel. Jeff exclaimed that he saw the mermaid statue moving. The movement was silent and it was when the car turned. The mermaid statue didn’t look directly at them but was watching the water.

The second time was in the hotel lobby. There were a large number of various merfolk statues watching him without moving.

The third time was in the hotel room. Apart from the huge mermaid statue with the mirror, the other statues had looked directly at Bai Liu. Once Bai Liu fell asleep, these statues started to move. The mirror mermaid moved the fastest. Then once Bai Liu woke up, these statues stopped moving.

Obviously, Bai Liu staying away wasn’t a condition to restrict the movement of the merfolk statues since the one outside the door was ready to break in. The game wouldn’t have an unbreakable situation. He must have something that could limit the merfolk statues’ movements.

If it wasn’t something in the room or in the hotel then it must be something he brought with him. It was because the things in the hotel and the rooms couldn’t restrict the movements of the statues. This was proven when the statue freely entered and exited from Jeff’s room

What exactly was it?

Mirror… water… gathering at the bed… looking!

Bai Liu knew what it was!

Bai Liu stood up sharply. He opened the door and looked directly at the merfolk statue.

The statue outside the door was so close that they were almost face to face. From Bai Liu’s point of view, the face of this lifeless merfolk statue seemed to be stuck to the tip of his nose. Its hand was still on the doorknob and its pure white eyes were looking through the peephole to the lower right corner—it was right where Bai Liu had been hiding.

No wonder this thing tried to come in. It must’ve seen Bai Liu hidden in the lower right corner behind the door. All its movements had frozen. The fishtail touched Bai Liu’s toes and it stood still in front of the door at the last moment before entering Bai Liu’s room. Bai Liu sighed with relief. It was true that the secret weapon to stopping this thing was the human eye.

The crowd in front of Bai Liu’s TV was stunned.

“F*k! How did he think about it?! There was no hesitation as he opened the door!”

“The average newcomer player wouldn’t be able to think of it at all. Even if they do think about it, they won’t dare open the door. They will just look through the peephole. However, if you do this then you will definitely die. It is because the movement of the merfolk statues will only be partially restricted if you look at it from such a close distance through the mirror image of the peephole. This is sufficient for it to break in.”

“Wow, he just confronted the merfolk statue. I have goose bumps!”

“What is his name? This newcomer is so awesome…”

A crowd gradually gathered around Bai Liu’s TV.

[168 people are watching player Bai Liu’s small TV. The player has achieved the 100 viewers novice achievement.]

[102 people liked Bai Liu’s small TV, 143 people have saved Bai Liu’s small TV, 3 people have charged Bai Liu’s small TV and player Bai Liu obtained 3 points.]

Bai Liu’s expression on the small TV was still calm like he didn’t think he did anything extraordinary. It was quite simple to infer that the human eye restricted the movement of the merfolk statues.

It was because after Bai Liu went to bed, the statues started to move. Then they stopped the moment he woke up. The only difference before and after he went to bed was that he opened his eyes. This showed that ‘human eyes’ could restrict the movement of these statues.

However, there was a trap here. Looking at it through a mirror-like object would only weaken part of the merfolk statues’ movement speed. One had to look directly at it to completely stop the movements.

There were two types of statues that had moved under the direct view of the human eyes. It was the fountain statue at the entrance of the hotel and the mirror mermaid statue in the room.

The mermaid statue fountain outside the hotel was looking into the water. This meant people were looking at the mermaid through the water. The mermaid statue might be restricted and unable to move fast but she could still move slowly and rotate. Out of all the statues in Bai Liu’s room, the mirror mermaid moved the fastest. It was because she was looking in the mirror and people looked directly at the statue through the mirror. The limiting force was limited by the mirror so the mirror mermaid moved the fastest.

The merfolk statue just now was looking at Bai Liu through the peephole. If Bai Liu looked directly at it through the peephole, there might be certain restrictions but it could still move.

Such a close distance through the peephole was definitely not enough to stop the merfolk from breaking in. If it was allowed to enter, the player would be pressed under the door and the condition of ‘view directly with the human eyes’ would be lost. The player would soon die.

It had to be said that in this case, there were indeed very few new players who could open the door and face the statue. Most of them panicked. Even if they inferred the condition of ‘view directly with the human eyes’, they would have no courage to do so. Only Bai Liu, who wanted money but not life, could show this type of calmness even if he wasn’t 100% sure that his inference was correct.

[The ‘Siren Town Monster Book’ merfolk statue panel has updated.]

[Monster Name: Merfolk Statue (Pupa State), Amulet Statue (Cocoon State)]

[Weaknesses: The human eyes looking directly at it (1/3)]

[Attack Method: Incubation.]

The merfolk statue’s eyes were drooping, the head was slightly tilted to the lower right, the corners of the mouth were raised in a slight smile, the fishtail was graceful, the body was white and flawless and the posture revealed an indescribable beauty and divinity. Once frozen, the statue’s chilling desire for occupation was gone and it became a statue with a great aesthetic value, standing silently in front of the door of a stranger at midnight on the seashore.

[Player Bai Liu has obtained 3 points from the recharge of watching players. The game merchandise store has been unlocked.]

[Your points are too low to purchase any items. Players should please continue their efforts!]

The players had recharged 3 points. Bai Liu understood a little bit. Someone should’ve given him a reward. In the unlocked merchandise store, all the merchandise were grey and had the display status of ‘unavailable to be purchased.’ He glanced through briefly and found that it had everything from daily necessities to weapons. There were also many messy things such as ‘intact heart’, ‘potion of love at first sight’ and other items that sounded incredible. However, the prices of these items were very high.

Bai Liu finally understood the words ‘You can buy anything you want with points’ that he heard when entering the game. Bai Liu closed the merchandise store and stared at the statue standing still in front of him.

This thing currently wasn’t moving but Bai Liu couldn’t stay up all night and stare at it. After this incident, Bai Liu had gained a new understanding of its destructive power. He glanced at the stainless steel doorknob that was about to fall off his door.

Judging from the performance of the statues in his room, this thing might have great destructive power but it could only rely on its eyes for positioning or it was only sensitive to vision. Once covered with a white cloth, there was no room to find Bai Liu even when in the same room.

In other words, the merfolk statues didn’t seem to have hearing, smell and other senses.

Bai Liu had been in the same room with so many mermaid statues. They just needed to detect Bai Liu’s vision and they would be able to easily locate him and twist his head like the doorknob. There would be no need to pull off the white cloth and look for him. The ability to twist the doorknob off meant they wouldn’t stay locked in the bathroom and closet.

It was so troublesome. It was really a burden to keep such a large quantity.

His eyes narrowed slightly and a bit of an evil thought occurred. Currently, there was a motionless statue in front of him. Could he do some experiments on it to determine its weaknesses? For example, burn it with fire or smash it to death with a stick…

[Tip: If the player directly attacks the monster then it will cause the monster’s hatred value to remain on the player for a long time. As long as the monster doesn’t die, it will continue to attack the player, reducing the player’s survival rate.]

Bai Liu thoughtfully touched his chin and smiled, showing a harmless little dimple on his right cheek.

“Attacking it directly will cause it to hate me and want revenge on me…” Bai Liu murmured to himself. “Then it can’t blame me if something happens to it on its own.”

Bai Liu repeated his old tricks and wrapped the mermaid statue in a bed sheet and rope. Then he unkindly put the mermaid statue onto the stairs of the hotel and returned to the room. The merfolk statue would walk around like a headless fly when it couldn’t see. Bai Liu put the statue in this place so the statue would fall down the stairs by itself.

Under the premise that it might provoke endless hatred, Bai Liu wouldn’t take the initiative to break these statues. It would be nice if he could break them directly but if it didn’t work, it would obviously cause some trouble for himself.

It was just that such a large number of merfolk statues was a big hidden danger. Bai Liu had only one pair of eyes. The horizontal viewing angle of the human vision was only 188 degrees. If he was surrounded by statues on all sides then Bai Liu wouldn’t be able to look at all of them and he would undoubtedly die.

Bai Liu liked to do more cost-effective things. The game said that it was enough to use the weaknesses to escape from the monsters but he wanted to know if these statues could be destroyed directly in some way or if they had other weaknesses.

The risk was too great if he took the initiative to break or beat the merfolk statue. However, it had nothing to do with him if the statue fell off the stairs because of its poor eyesight. Bai Liu wanted to try a little experiment to see if it could be smashed.

Soon after, the statue really moved. Bai Liu was thoughtful. In fact, he was still watching the statue but it was covered by a white cloth and didn’t know Bai Liu was looking at it. This proved that ‘view directly with the human eyes’ was just an objective condition. The statue had to subjectively feel it was being looked at before it stopped moving.

There were so many statues in Bai Liu’s room that he couldn’t look at them one by one. The moment Bai Liu woke up and looked around, they actively stopped moving. Therefore, it was only when the merfolk statues ‘felt’ they were being looked at directly that they would stop moving. This level of self-awareness meant they were indeed living creatures and ones with a certain degree of intelligence, although it seemed the intelligence wasn’t high.

The statue on the stairs struggled a bit and fell from the side of the stairs. It fell covered in white cloth and made a loud noise while dust rose. Standing on the stairs, Bai Liu looked down condescendingly. He patted the dust off his hands and made a regretful sound. The statue was unscathed after falling down the stairs. There wasn’t even a crack in the marble. As expected, it wasn’t broken. Physical attacks were ineffective…

Bai Liu didn’t know that this villainous appearance caused the group of players around his small TV screen to be stunned.

“Damn! Is this person really a newcomer? Covering it with bedsheets and dropping the statue down the stairs… what type of villain is this? Was this newcomer a kidnapper before he came in?”

“Just now, I was nervous and afraid for him. Now I am sympathizing with the statue who knocked on the door. It is too miserable…”

“I am the same. He looks like a villain standing at the stop of the stairs like this. He feels scarier than the statue…”

“A reversal. It was the merfolk statue that just wanted to kill him and now he wants to kill it. Does this person really think of himself as a player?”

“Other players are trying to survive the monsters while he doesn’t want the monster to live…”

“Is this the world of a bigshot?”

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Proofreader: Purichan