As Bai Liu was about to be devoured, the audience grew frantic, transforming into a chorus of agitated voices shouting at the small television:
"Wake up! Get up and fight the monsters!"
"Can't you sleep after you get out? Is this one hour of sleep really worth your life? Didn't your mother ever teach you not to go AFK in a game?"
"I've watched so many game streams, but I've never seen someone throw a match like this. He could have won, but he's just giving it away."
Amid the uproar, Bai Liu on the screen seemed to be roused by the commotion, his eyes fluttering open in a haze between sleep and wakefulness.
He gazed at the fishermen, their half-fish heads breaking the surface as they swam toward his boat. Beneath the water, their legs had transformed into eel-like tails, undulating and twisting with serpentine speed as they closed in on him.
Not far away, Andre's boat was now little more than a bloodstained skeleton, scraps of flesh clinging to the white bones. The lower half of Andre's skeleton had begun to fuse, taking on a piscine form, while the tattered remnants of his clothing hung forlornly from the boat, drifting on the sea—a testament to the ferocity of these merfolk.
Yet, in this moment of mortal peril, Bai Liu moved only sluggishly, dipping his blanket into the sea before draping it over the entire boat, curling up beneath it and trembling as if in retreat. This turtle-like act of self-preservation only further incensed the onlookers.
Even this simple motion was slow and laborious, as though his body were succumbing to the cold. Marble-like patterns began to creep across his once-pale fingers.
He had entered the same state as Lucy before him—his body temperature plummeting, his limbs and mind growing sluggish, as if he were slowly turning to stone. The uncontrollable shivering was the only thing he could manage.
Bai Liu glanced at the items in his inventory—several barrels of alcohol—and issued a command: [Retrieve one barrel of alcohol.]
[System prompt: Retrieved.]
A heavy barrel of alcohol materialized on the boat, weighing it down and making the audience's anxiety mount.
The monsters were nearly upon him!
Bai Liu fumbled in his pocket for a box of matches, his hands trembling as he tried several times before finally striking one alight.
His expression remained calm. Once the match was lit, he lifted a corner of the blanket, stood up, climbed atop the barrel, and with great effort poured the alcohol over the sea.
The audience could hardly bear to watch:
"Pouring alcohol into the sea… Did he come up with this because his sanity dropped too low?"
"Well, you can burn high-proof alcohol on the surface for a few minutes, but it's a drop in the ocean. And it doesn't even work on these merfolk—they're not afraid of fire."
Bai Liu tossed the match onto the alcohol-soaked water, and instantly, flames roared to life. Cloaked in his damp blanket, he sat amid the blaze, his eyes serene as he watched the merfolk draw near, as if he had been waiting for this moment all along.
A bonfire blazed atop the dark, frigid sea. The merfolk circled the small boat, their tails flicking greedily as they swam around it. Bai Liu sat at the heart of the flames, his gaze reflecting both fire and water.
The fire and alcohol cast a strange hue over his eyes, making him appear less like a victim and more like a siren risen from the abyss, his altered features exuding an uncanny allure.
The ravenous merfolk, as they surfaced, were instantly engulfed by the flames, their flesh sizzling and popping. They shrieked in agony, bellies up, writhing on the water's surface.
The scent of roasted fish wafted through the air, and the merfolk who had been closing in on the boat now turned to devour their scorched brethren. The air was filled with the grisly sounds of bones and flesh being torn apart.
The thick stench of blood and fish filled Bai Liu's nostrils, transforming into a strange, mouthwatering aroma. He licked his lips, though his face remained impassive.
Surrounded by feasting merfolk, Bai Liu sat quietly, his pallid, otherworldly features now flushed with a healthy glow from the fire. He glanced at Andre's empty boat and, for some reason, smiled.
It was a smile of satisfaction, of having received a reward—a smile eerily similar to the merfolk's as they gorged themselves, yet somehow even more chilling.
Bai Liu whispered hoarsely, "Good night, Andre."
[Side Quest—True Love's Ship: Player Bai Liu has won the wager against Andre. Quest complete. Reward: 100 points.]
[Side Quest—Jelf's Bloody Conspiracy: Progress 90%.]
[Main Quest—Participate in the Mermaid Fishing Tournament: Complete. Reward: 50 points.]
['Siren Town Monster Book' Update—Mermaid (4/4)]
[Monster Name: Mermaid (Larval State)]
[Weakness: Fire, light; relatively fragile, similar to humans.]
[Attack: Biting, scratching; does not trigger transformation, low intelligence, cannot use tools.]
[Mermaid (Larval State): All entries collected. Keep up the good work.]
A cascade of rewards and achievements filled the screen, leaving the audience before the small television utterly stunned.
After a long silence, the viewer who had earlier accused Bai Liu of throwing the match finally uttered a single expletive: "Damn!"
That word was like a snap of the fingers, jolting everyone from their stupor. Suddenly, the chat exploded:
"What just happened?!"
"Throwing the match, my ass! He just won by doing nothing—what a move!"
"I'm speechless. Off to the forum to ask Mu God what's going on!"
"How did that alcohol not dissolve in water?!"
"I found the brand he bought—guys, you won't believe this. Buried in the manual, it says it's a permanently oil-based, semi-solid alcohol, specially modified to be insoluble in water. How did this newbie even find it?"
"Did he read every single manual?"
"Mu God replied! He said the mermaid statues and merfolk sailors aren't afraid of fire, but the larval mermaids are—those without amulets are vulnerable to fire."
"And Bai Liu was clever—he must have realized that cooked mermaid flesh is irresistibly attractive to these monsters, so he roasted some of the larvae. The merfolk stopped attacking him and turned on the cooked meat instead…"
[2,300 people have liked Bai Liu's stream, 2,670 have bookmarked it, and 499 have tipped him, earning Bai Liu 499 points.]
[Player Bai Liu has received over 2,000 likes in one minute; reputation is soaring!]
[Congratulations, Player Bai Liu, on earning a featured spot in the solo game section. Your viewership is skyrocketing…]
Bai Liu sat idly on the boat, chin in hand, watching the merfolk tear into each other, his damp blanket shielding him from the flames.
Whenever the frenzy subsided, he would pour out more alcohol and set it alight.
The allure of roasted mermaid flesh far surpassed that of Bai Liu himself, so the merfolk ignored him, and he became a kind of self-service chef, calmly grilling mermaids for the monsters.
As he barbecued, Bai Liu made a rough calculation—four or five barrels of alcohol would see him through till dawn, costing only 45 points, a mere fraction of the 140 points needed for two Water Bubbles.
And he still had five large barrels left.
The reason Bai Liu had bought the alcohol was because the curator of the Siren Wax Museum had told him that mermaids could be cooked—grilled, even—and that everyone loved to eat them.
If they could be barbecued, then fire was effective, and cooked mermaid flesh would surely be highly enticing to their own kind.
Just look at Andre's craving for fish steaks—he ate far more of them this morning than he did raw fish tonight.