Andre's gaze as he looked at Bai Liu was unmistakable. It was filled with hunger.
Andre laughed. "I haven't eaten enough. If a fish here tries to overturn my boat in the middle of the night, I'll pick it up and eat it." He was clearly talking about killing and eating a mermaid, but his eyes kept drifting to Bai Liu's neck. It was as if he were talking about eating Bai Liu instead.
Bai Liu's thoughts had become sluggish. It was probably the effect of his declining mental value. Only then did he realize that a strong fragrance was emanating from Andre's body. For a moment, he even wanted to bite him. And in Andre's eyes, a mermaid with a significantly higher degree of alienation would be even more delicious.
Bai Liu wanted to eat himself.
However, Bai Liu's physical strength, intelligence, and even reaction speed had all dropped sharply. His panel attributes had begun to glow, and his mental value was already on the verge of 60 points. If Bai Liu were at sea while Andre was fully alienated, he would definitely die in a fight.
There had to be some way to deal with Andre, but all the information in Bai Liu's mind seemed to be covered by a translucent veil. He could vaguely sense those plans, yet he couldn't recall them. He remembered that he had prepared a countermeasure against Andre, but he couldn't remember what it was.
Bai Liu blinked again, swayed slightly, and whispered to himself.
The group of people in front of the small TV saw Bai Liu stagger, and their hearts leapt into their throats.
Wang Shun had followed Bai Liu all this way and knew he was an extremely talented player. He had watched many people play Siren Town, but he had never been this nervous before. Wang Shun held his breath without blinking. His hands clenched tightly, and he lowered his voice in front of the small TV. "Bai Liu has been alienated, and his mental value is about to drop below 60. He'll start seeing hallucinations."
A large crowd had gathered around Wang Shun, and they also lowered their voices. A player who had been here before with Wang Shun spoke in a complicated tone. "His mental value is 60. He's at the life-or-death threshold."
A mental value of 60 was the dividing line between reality and illusion. Above 60, players were only fighting monsters. Once it fell below 60, they had to fight their own hallucinations.
It was harder than fighting monsters.
Monsters had weaknesses that could be explored, and there were patterns to follow. Meanwhile, hallucinations were generated by oneself, and you would never know the weakness of your own illusion—or whether what you were seeing was real or false.
This was why players with high mental values had huge advantages in the game, and why Bai Liu had previously attracted so much attention.
Players who were easily frightened or easily contaminated by the monsters' spiritual influence could quickly fall below 60 points. After that, most players' death rates would increase step by step. Many players were scared to death by their own hallucinations. Therefore, a mental value of 60 was called the "life-or-death threshold" among players.
The audience's regretful words said it all.
"It was impressive. He lasted so long before dropping under 60."
"Without an item to restore mental value, it'll only keep falling. I think his life is hanging by a thread."
"The survival rate for newcomers in the Siren Town game is only 1%. They haven't watched the clearance strategy and haven't purchased the corresponding mental-value protection items. This game is basically unsolvable for them."(TL: Remember, the 51% survival rate applies to all players, while for newcomers it is only 1%.)
"It isn't unsolvable, right? Didn't the last batch of newcomers also clear the instance?"
"Haha, out of the last batch of 100 newcomers, only one cleared Siren Town. He came out of the game with a mental value of 25 and went insane afterwards. What's the point of that?"
"This newcomer will probably go crazy in a moment."
"Let's go. I don't want to watch if he's stupid."
"Mm, I still like it when he plays calmly. Once it drops below 60… emmmm, forget it."
[7 new people liked Bai Liu's small TV.]
[17 new people have saved Bai Liu's small TV.]
[0 people have charged Bai Liu's small TV]
[0 people have downvoted player Bai Liu's small TV.]
[There are 20 people currently watching player Bai Liu's small TV. You have lost 300 viewers in just one minute. What kind of disappointing antics did the player perform~?]
[Player Bai Liu's popularity has fallen to the bottom, and you have earned the title of 'Inferior Clown.' Perhaps now, only your death can entertain the public and make the audience laugh~]
The sailors on the ship were in good spirits. They prepared two small boats for Andre and Bai Liu and lowered them into the deep sea. Bai Liu seemed confused by the situation and stood blankly beside the railing. He even asked a sailor for an extra quilt, saying he might get cold on the boat at night.
The sailor looked at Bai Liu mockingly and placed two or three thick quilts on his boat before saying meaningfully, "I wish you a good night. Good night, Mr Bai—if you can wake up."
Bai Liu smiled. "I will."
There were many small boats on either side of theirs. These boats carried fishermen who looked like deep-sea fish. They bore a strange resemblance to Andre. In the dark night, only small lamps lit the boats. In the dim glow, the fishermen's eyes emitted a faint green light.
They stood on boats swaying with the waves, yet remained eerily motionless. They stared directly at Bai Liu, who was holding the quilts. Their gills opened and trembled slightly, as if they were watching prey.
Andre stood in another small boat not far from Bai Liu. Saliva pooled in his mouth, and his eyes glowed with the same green light as the fishermen. He stared at Bai Liu and whispered hoarsely, "Bai Liu, take your stupid quilts and go to the bottom of the sea to sleep."
The large ship slowly sailed away. One of the sailors told them that the ship would return the next morning to pick them up.
Bai Liu looked around. Apart from Andre, many fishermen in the small boats had not left with the ship. Instead, they gradually moved closer, surrounding him.
Even though Bai Liu's mind was currently dizzy, he understood very clearly that he was the weakest "larva" here. The fishermen had already handed all the mermaids over to the sailors, and he would be spending the night with these starving fishermen. He feared he would be torn into pieces and devoured in less than half an hour.
With Andre watching him from nearby, and stranded on the open sea in the middle of the night, Bai Liu was completely helpless.
He might have been partially alienated, but jumping into the sea to escape wasn't a good option. He was only in the early stages of alienation. Bai Liu could feel that he could still breathe through his mouth and nose, while the gills near his ears had no breathing function. It was unknown whether those gills could breathe underwater. Even if they could, Bai Liu definitely wouldn't be able to outswim these highly alienated fishermen and Andre. Jumping into the sea would only mean the difference between dying above the water and dying beneath it.
Bai Liu also had the True Love Ship task. In this seemingly hopeless situation, he had to survive on the boat all night and defeat Andre. It sounded impossible.
Wang Shun slowly put down the pen he had been using to record everything and sighed sincerely. "Unfortunately, the best item to win this bet is the Water Bubble."
"This item can repel the fish. If you buy two and use them three times, you can survive until dawn. It's a bit expensive at 140 points, but it's worth it. If Bai Liu hadn't spent his points so carelessly, it would've been easy for him to get through this."
The player watching beside him nodded in agreement. He folded his arms and shook his head helplessly. "After all, he's a newcomer. It's normal if he doesn't know how to play well. This Bai Liu occasionally shows brilliant performance, but he's always messing around. It's a common problem for newcomers."
"It's obvious that the Water Bubble is a high-popularity item, yet he didn't buy it. Instead, he bought alcohol. What can alcohol do at a time like this? Disinfect himself and serve himself up to the fishermen as clean rations?"
The remaining scattered audience began to disperse.
At that moment, Andre's boat suddenly shook violently on the screen. A man—no, a mermaid—landed on it and opened his mouth, grinning at Andre with sharp teeth. The audience members who were about to leave abruptly stopped.
Wang Shun pushed up his glasses and leaned forward sharply. "What's going on? Shouldn't the fishermen and Andre be attacking the player? Why are they attacking Andre?!"
The mermaid on Andre's boat was extremely ferocious. Soaked from the sea, he had climbed onto the defenseless Andre's boat and viciously bit into Andre's neck. Andre let out a scream, and the gills on both sides of his head trembled in pain.
Foul black blood sprayed across the boat, some of it splashing into the sea and blending with the dark water.
The smell of blood quickly spread across the surface of the sea. All the fishermen made strange gulping sounds, and their eyes slowly shifted toward Andre's boat.
Andre now exuded an irresistible scent of food. The boats that had originally been approaching Bai Liu changed direction and gathered around Andre instead.
An eerie chewing sound filled the air. Andre's boat was soon swarming with hungry mermaids. He panicked and tried to jump into the sea, but his ankles were grabbed, and he was dragged back. The mermaids flooded his boat. Andre raised his hand and let out a muffled cry of pain, completely submerged beneath the small mound of mermaids tearing into him.