Back in her room, Gu Jiu didn’t go to rest.
She grabbed the two mermaid dolls clinging to her boots like ornaments, lifted them up, and placed them on the sofa.
The sofa, half-devoured earlier by the two angry mermaid dolls, had miraculously restored itself along with the room, looking no different from its original state.
The two mermaid dolls glared at Gu Jiu with a mix of vigilance and rage, their eyes practically oozing venomous hatred.
Unbothered, Gu Jiu suddenly asked, “You must know where the ‘Sea God’ is, right?”
The mermaid dolls’ response was to bare their tiny fangs and claws at her in fury. Yet, Gu Jiu noticed that this time, their anger wasn’t directed at her, but at the so-called “Sea God.”
“So, you’ve got a grudge against the Sea God,” she concluded confidently.
The mermaid dolls’ faces remained livid with rage. Strangely, if you ignored their faintly visible sharp fangs, their puffed-up doll-like faces were rather adorable. Honestly, no matter how fierce or grotesque something might be, when shrunk down and turned into a doll, it always becomes irresistibly cute.
Though the mermaid dolls carried a hint of spooky doll vibes, they still had a touch of charm.
“Tell me your story. What’s the grudge between you and the Sea God?” Gu Jiu asked with great interest.
The two mermaid dolls continued to glare furiously, remaining silent.
Gu Jiu slapped her forehead and said half-heartedly, “Oh, I forgot you can’t talk in this form. My bad! Never mind, I’ll just keep guessing.”
She pulled up a chair and sat down.
Lu Ji sat beside her, his dark, deep eyes staring at the mermaid dolls. Instantly, the dolls didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.
From Gu Jiu’s pocket, five little paper figures climbed out, hopping onto the sofa and surrounding the mermaid dolls in a formation that looked distinctly like they were preparing for battle.
The mermaid dolls, already simmering with anger, looked ready to explode again.
Gu Jiu couldn’t help but laugh. “Why are you two always so temperamental?”
The mermaid dolls continued glaring, their faces filled with indignation as if deeply insulted.
Propping her chin in her hands, Gu Jiu said leisurely, “You two ended up like this because of the Sea God, didn’t you?”
The mermaid dolls’ furious expressions froze slightly.
Then they heard the human before them say, “So it’s true. You two are pretty useless, huh?”
Useless.
So useless.
Utterly useless!
Realizing they were being mocked again, the two mermaid dolls finally snapped and lunged forward, only to be effortlessly subdued by the five paper figures. No matter how much they flailed their tiny hands or thrashed their tails against the sofa, they couldn’t break free. Frustrated, they resorted to grappling with the paper figures.
Gu Jiu watched the chaotic tussle between the seven non-human creatures with amusement, treating it as light entertainment.
Once the mermaid dolls were pinned down by the five paper figures, Gu Jiu added fuel to the fire, saying, “Look at you two. You can’t even take on five little paper figures. How do you expect to defeat the Sea God? Even if the Sea God isn’t at full strength right now, you’re still no match. Am I wrong?”
The mermaid dolls slumped on the sofa, their expressions filled with utter defeat.
Their pride was immense, and they were petty and vindictive. Whoever crossed them, they would retaliate against. But being humiliated like this—how could they possibly feel anything but miserable?
If it weren’t for their lack of strength, they would have exacted revenge on Gu Jiu long ago.
Unfortunately, human nature thrived on pushing boundaries. Humans wouldn’t hold back just because you were weak. Instead, they became increasingly brazen.
“Oh, by the way,” Gu Jiu said, leaning forward slightly, “the Sea God’s missing body parts—those are your doing, right?”
The two mermaid dolls glanced at her, a reaction that all but confirmed her suspicion.
Gu Jiu’s lips curled into a faint smile.
She pieced together the clues she had so far and could already form a rough picture of the truth behind this game world.
However, she had one last question. “So, do you know where the Sea God is hiding?”
The two mermaid dolls remained silent, lying motionless.
“Looks like you don’t know,” Gu Jiu said, her tone laced with disdain. “Useless!”
The mermaid dolls glared at her indignantly. But the hateful human looked down at them, her voice gentle yet piercing.
“Am I wrong? If you were useful, would you be reduced to this state—neither human nor ghost?”
The mermaid dolls: “.…” Furious, but unable to claw her to death!
After extracting the story behind the mermaid dolls, Gu Jiu lost interest in them. She yawned and climbed into bed to rest.
By evening, she was woken up by the commotion coming from the villa.
“Ah Ji, what time is it?” she asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.
“Almost six in the evening,” Lu Ji replied.
He gently tidied her messy hair, tucking a stray strand behind her ear, revealing her rosy, sleep-flushed cheeks. His fingers lingered, brushing against her flawless skin, savoring the warmth unique to humans.
As the noise from downstairs grew louder, Gu Jiu gradually woke up fully. “What’s happening downstairs?”
“No idea,” Lu Ji said indifferently, subtly moving his hand behind his back. His fingertips rubbed together lightly, as if savoring the sensation from earlier.
Yawning again, Gu Jiu slowly got out of bed.
After splashing her face with water to wake up, she heard an urgent knock at the door.
Lu Ji opened it to find Ruan Yuan and Lu Haidi standing outside, their expressions heavy.
“Ah Ji, where’s the young miss?” Ruan Yuan asked anxiously.
“I’m here. What’s going on?” Gu Jiu walked over.
“Two players have escaped,” Ruan Yuan explained, her tone serious. “Those two burly tattooed guys—they took advantage of a moment of carelessness from the guards and used an item to escape. We couldn’t stop them…”
By the end, even Ruan Yuan sounded helpless.
Who would’ve thought that those players, brainwashed into love-struck fools by the sashimi, would actually use items? Or rather, for C-level players, items weren’t abundant and typically saved for emergencies. No one expected the two to resort to using them now.
They had underestimated the brainwashed players, assuming they’d lost all sense of player instinct. Who would’ve guessed that when push came to shove, they’d still know how to use their tools?
When Gu Jiu heard the news, she simply responded with an indifferent “Oh,” her expression calm and unbothered.
Her nonchalant attitude seemed to affect the anxious Ruan Yuan and Lu Haidi, who gradually relaxed. They asked, “Miss, what should we do?”
“What can we do? We’ll just wait for them to come back,” Gu Jiu replied casually as she walked out of her room and headed downstairs.
The two were taken aback. “They’ll come back?”
“Why not?” Gu Jiu smiled. “Don’t forget, we still have the Sea God’s bones here. If the Sea God wants to reclaim its bones, it will definitely show up.”
That made sense.
The pair finally stopped worrying so much and followed Gu Jiu down to the first floor.
In the hall, the aftermath of a struggle was evident. Furniture was overturned, and the room bore the marks of battle.
Several players were resting on the sofa, their bodies bearing traces of blood. The injuries they sustained during their attempt to stop the two escapees had been treated promptly, but the wounds weren’t healing quickly.
Qi Yuheng and Ge Guang were also present, sitting in a corner. The other players subtly kept their distance—not from both of them, but specifically from Qi Yuheng.
Everyone harbored secrets they didn’t want revealed. Qi Yuheng’s innate skill, rumored to be something like mind reading or heart insight, made them wary. Whatever the actual ability, none of them wanted their innermost thoughts exposed to others.
Qi Yuheng, however, remained indifferent to this subtle ostracism. His cold, aloof demeanor added an air of composure and superiority.
Ge Guang, on the other hand, was used to it. Every time Qi used his skill, the Questioning the Heart Technique, in front of others, this kind of avoidance inevitably followed.
Gu Jiu shifted her direction and walked toward Qi Yuheng, taking a seat across from him.
Lu Ji, ever the silent shadow, followed her and claimed the seat beside her without hesitation, asserting his place as her constant companion.
Seeing this, Ruan Yuan and Lu Haidi didn’t hesitate either, taking the remaining nearby seats and filling the area completely.
“Qi Yuheng,” Gu Jiu began, “are the mermaid dolls still in your room?”
Hearing this, everyone present turned to look at them. Even the players pretending not to pay attention pricked up their ears.
Earlier, news had spread among the players about Gu Jiu using the mermaid dolls to help her find the Sea God’s bones. Upon learning that the dolls were not actually allied with the Sea God, many players deeply regretted their actions.
Despite searching their rooms thoroughly, those who had chased away their own mermaid dolls couldn’t find a trace of them. Perhaps they had used items on the dolls earlier, or maybe last night’s floodwaters had drowned them. Either way, the dolls were gone.
Qi Yuheng glanced at Ge Guang, who reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out two tightly bound mermaid dolls.
The mermaid dolls looked ferocious and furious, their mouths opening in silent roars. The faint glint of razor-sharp shark-like teeth sent a chill through everyone who saw them.
Even in their current doll form, their teeth were so sharp. If they weren’t restricted to these forms, how terrifying would their combat abilities be?
Looking at the two dolls, Gu Jiu couldn’t help but laugh.
Her amusement only served to redirect the mermaid dolls’ fury toward her.
Under the glaring, angry eyes of the mermaid dolls, Gu Jiu leisurely pulled out two more mermaid dolls from her pocket, along with the five small paper figures pinning them down.
The sight of the four subdued mermaid dolls left everyone unsure which pair had it worse.
These were the last four remaining mermaid dolls in the villa.
Ge Guang scratched his head as he glanced at them. “What exactly are these mermaid dolls? How did they end up like this?”
He asked casually, not expecting an answer. To his surprise, Gu Jiu spoke up. “They are the Sea Gods.”
“What?”
The players in the room looked at her in shock, their faces filled with astonishment.
The only ones who remained composed were Qi Yuheng and Lu Ji. Qi Yuheng had already suspected as much. As for Lu Ji… Ruan Yuan stole a glance at her and realized that ever since she’d met her, her face had shown nothing but indifference and detachment.
She began to suspect Lu Ji lacked facial nerves, making it impossible for her to display any other expression.
After a brief silence, Chen Younian blurted out, “How do you know that?”
Gu Jiu pointed to the mermaid dolls restrained by the paper figures. “They told me.”
The players followed her gesture, their expressions growing strange. If they remembered correctly, these mermaid dolls weren’t capable of speaking, let alone communicating with players, right?
Gu Jiu didn’t bother explaining further. Instead, she continued, “The Fish-Faced Monster stole their powers and turned them into mermaid dolls, taking over this sea region as the new ‘Sea God.’ But the dolls didn’t lose entirely. In the chaos, they managed to remove some of the Fish-Faced Monster’s organs and hide them on Love Island.”
“The loss of its organs weakened the Fish-Faced Monster significantly. However, because the organs were hidden by the mermaid dolls and affected by a special interference, the monster can’t locate them on its own. Instead, it developed a cult under the guise of the ‘Sea God,’ drawing in followers and inviting outsiders to help recover its lost organs.”
“We are the outsiders it invited, here to help it regain its strength…”
In just a few sentences, Gu Jiu laid bare the truth of the game world.
The players were struck with sudden clarity. All the previously confusing details now clicked into place. The mermaid dolls turned out to be the key to this entire scenario.
Thinking about the mermaid dolls that had disappeared from their rooms, the players felt a pang of regret. If they’d known earlier, they wouldn’t have been so quick to attack the dolls at the butler’s instigation.
Who would have thought the NPCs would deliberately create conflict to mislead the players?
Of course, some of the blame lay with the mermaid dolls themselves. With their eerie, ghost-like aura, grudge-bearing personalities, and petty tendencies, they didn’t exactly come across as dignified or godlike.
Gu Jiu casually remarked, “Maybe the mermaid in this world are just that kind of species—petty and vengeful.”
Everyone: “…”
The mermaid dolls puffed up their cheeks, furious at such slander. They were about to explode in anger!