Lucy sat at the breakfast table, looking as though she hadn't slept a wink, listlessly yawning as she leaned against Bai Liu.
Jelf, for his part, spent the entire morning nodding off, dark circles shadowing his eyes, his skin tinged an unhealthy gray-blue, his eye sockets sunken.
And perhaps it was merely Bai Liu's imagination, but he thought Andre's pupils had shrunk since the previous day, and the man now exuded a raw, nervous agitation that set one's teeth on edge, a faint, elusive scent of fish clinging to him.
Bai Liu took out his coin and scanned Andre.
[NPC Name: Andre (Sanity Decreasing, Undergoing Aberration)]
At this moment, Andre seemed ravenous, shoveling plate after plate of the hotel's buffet breakfast into his mouth, as if he were pouring it straight down his throat.
This seaside hotel's breakfast was dominated by all manner of fish—fried, boiled, grilled, and stewed. The fish soup shimmered with oil, the fish fillets were fried to a golden, crisp perfection, all of it looking irresistibly appetizing.
Yet Bai Liu caught a stench, sharp and putrid, like the rotting tails of dead fish—just as he'd smelled in the refuse heaps behind the fishmongers' stalls at the market, where flies circled the discarded carcasses. The closer he drew to these seemingly sumptuous dishes, the more his stomach rebelled; the very thought of swallowing a bite made him retch.
But both Jelf and Lucy wore expressions of delight, as if the food's aroma was utterly enchanting.
Bai Liu scanned them with his coin, and as expected, both displayed [Undergoing Aberration]—no doubt a result of the mermaid statues in their rooms.
Andre, needless to say, was eating in a way that made Bai Liu's skin crawl. He chewed voraciously, the slick, black tail of a fish slapping against his lips as he gnawed, often forking another piece into his mouth before he'd finished the last.
Lucy, slicing her fish fillet with knife and fork, looked at Bai Liu in mild surprise. "Aren't you eating, darling? The fish here is simply divine! I couldn't help myself—I've already had two, even though I'm supposed to be dieting!"
"You really did find us a wonderful seaside hotel!" she exclaimed, leaning in to kiss him.
But Bai Liu recoiled instinctively, overwhelmed by the pungent fish stench on her breath. He pushed her away, then, thinking better of it, slid her plate aside and said with feigned seriousness, "Darling, your figure is perfect as it is. I can't allow you to sacrifice your beauty for a mere fish fillet. Let's have some vegetables instead—the fish here is nothing special."
Lucy, thoroughly charmed, reluctantly set aside her beloved fish and obediently ate a generous helping of salad.
Bai Liu, still playing the part, served Jelf and Andre large portions of salad as well.
Jelf ate in a distracted daze.
Andre, however, shot Bai Liu a mocking look. "What's this, our rich boy running out of money? You boasted about treating us to an all-inclusive stay, and now you begrudge us a single fish fillet."
"Lucy, look at your stingy boyfriend!"
Lucy immediately snapped, "Andre! If it weren't for Bai Liu, do you think you'd even set foot in a place like this, let alone eat such fine fish? You couldn't even get a room here! And look at how much you've eaten—if Bai Liu didn't pay, you'd never make it out the door!"
"Lucy!" Andre roared, but Lucy stood her ground, glaring at him defiantly.
Unable to vent his anger on the woman he liked, Andre turned, ready to unleash his fury on Bai Liu.
As Lucy shrieked, Andre's broad hand shot out, about to seize Bai Liu by the collar. Bai Liu, unhurried, dabbed his mouth with a napkin, looked up at Andre, and smiled. "If you want me to keep paying your bills, you'd best keep your hands off me."
Andre's hand froze midair, his nostrils flaring like an enraged bull, breath hissing through them.
His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Bai Liu, his voice a guttural threat: "If you fail our bet tonight, I swear I'll make you pay, you useless little wretch who can't even please a woman!"
Andre's eyes were shot through with crimson, his rage clouding his mind, but he dared not act—he still needed Bai Liu to foot the bill.
Just then, a piece of broccoli tumbled from Jelf's plate and landed on Andre's shoe.
Andre, like a balloon stretched to bursting and then pricked, lashed out before Jelf could even stammer an apology, striking him on the back of the head and slamming his face into his plate, making him vomit up his breakfast.
"You've soiled my shoes, you disgusting wretch!" Andre sneered at Jelf's retching, as if finding some perverse satisfaction, and kicked him again.
After wiping the negligible grease from his shoe onto Jelf's trousers, Andre added, "I don't bother with weaklings who can't fight back. Clean it up and get lost."
Lucy helped the dazed, reeling Jelf to his feet, then turned on Andre, screaming hysterically, "Enough, Andre! You've gone too far!"
Bai Liu ignored their quarrel, his gaze fixed on Jelf's vomit. The golden-crusted fish fillet, once chewed and spat out, revealed a cross-section of corpse-like, greenish-black flesh, crawling with what looked like writhing parasitic worms.
Such rotten fish was unfit for human consumption; at the market, fishmongers used it to feed the largest scavenger fish.
Bai Liu recalled one telling him: the bigger the carrion-eater, the more it craved dead fish.
After breakfast, the driver arrived to collect them.
[Main Quest: Tour the Siren Wax Museum. Reward: 50 points.]
[Main Quest: Participate in the Mermaid Fishing Festival. Reward: 50 points.]
The Siren Museum and the Mermaid Fishing Festival—these sounded like local attractions.
Bai Liu pondered for a moment, about to ask the driver for details, when Jelf suddenly darted between him and the driver, head bowed, his pale, gaunt cheeks hollow, a smear of blood at his lips from Andre's blow, jaw clenched, trembling.
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow. From yesterday until now, Jelf had been doing everything possible to keep him from interacting with the driver.
It was odd.
Bai Liu's fingers unconsciously spun the coin at his chest—a habitual gesture when deep in thought. The sensation of money under his control, even a single coin, always brought him a sense of calm and satisfaction.
With no further information, Bai Liu surmised that Jelf's true target was Andre. It made sense for Andre to interact with the driver—after all, the driver needed an opportunity to strike. Lucy was easily distracted, so there was no need to keep her away.
Jelf's insistence on keeping him from the driver must have a reason, and Bai Liu suspected it was money.
Judging by Jelf's attire and the way Andre bullied him, he clearly wasn't wealthy.
Andre, for all his bluster, never actually acted against Bai Liu, the rich one, but abused Jelf at every turn. This suggested Jelf's family circumstances were worse than his own, perhaps even worse than Andre's.
Last night, Jelf had given the driver what looked like a substantial sum. Bai Liu had reason to believe Jelf had used the money Bai Liu gave him to hire the driver and tourists, paying the driver to take revenge on Andre—hence his guilty efforts to keep them apart.
But since Jelf had already paid the driver, the transaction should be complete, and the driver and tourists were performing their roles well. Bai Liu had no reason to suspect anything.
Normally, Jelf should be relieved, not so anxious to keep him from the driver—such behavior only aroused suspicion.
This kind of nervous caution didn't seem like the actions of someone whose plan was already in motion.
Then again, perhaps Jelf was simply timid, unable to relax until the deed was done. After all, his side quest was called [Bloody Conspiracy]—a name that all but promised murder. Bai Liu could understand his caution.
He just wondered when Jelf would make his move against Andre. For now, though, Bai Liu intended to focus on the main quest.
He addressed the driver: "Driver, what attractions does Siren Town have?"
"Tourist spots?" The driver thought for a moment. "Visitors here never miss the night fishing and the museum."
As expected, Bai Liu thought, arching an eyebrow. "What's special about the fishing and the wax museum?"
"Oh, plenty," the driver replied, turning to face him. For the first time, Bai Liu saw the driver's face up close in the daylight, and even he, with his high tolerance for horror, was momentarily taken aback.
It wasn't fear, but astonishment.
The driver's appearance was bizarre.
The whites of his eyes were so pronounced that his pupils seemed no larger than a fly, darting restlessly as he spoke, as if they might vanish from his sockets at any moment.
His skin was so pale it was almost opaque, like cheap wax.
He spoke, drove, and gnawed on a fish fillet sandwich all at once.
The cross-section of the fish was a moldy green-black, as if made from rotten flesh, yet the driver ate with relish, his teeth stained the same sickly hue, grinning at Bai Liu with a smile stretched unnaturally wide.