I’m A Little White Flower In An Escape Game ☆ 13

Arc 1: 《Mermaid Village》 Ch2-ch14

After Gu San had finished speaking, Ruan Bai appeared to have had an epiphany and tentatively asked, "Are you intending to negotiate with the villagers using these bones?"

The bones were too heavy and inconvenient to carry. Nevertheless, they could hide them somewhere else and use them as a bargaining chip to gain control over the situation.

"Smart," Gu San exclaimed as he snapped his fingers and chuckled. He went straight to the corpse lying on the ground without further ado. After a brief search, he found Du Wen Shu's skull and stored it in his backpack. As for the other bones, Ruan Bai and Gu San discovered a relatively hidden spot, dug a hole, and buried them while making an inconspicuous mark.

Ruan Bai followed Gu San to the village after that. Along the way, she recalled Wang Wen Wen's identity and brought it up to Gu San, "Wang Wen Wen is the mole. We still need to find a way to control her."

"No problem. After I discovered her identity last night, I informed Qin Yu and the others. They will handle the matter," Gu San said calmly. "In exchange, they showed me Du Wen Shu's notebook."

Ruan Bai was initially curious about how Gu San had managed to survive the night, but she wasn't concerned about him. Being a seasoned player, she believed he had plenty of ways to protect himself. Gu San seemed to have spent the night with Qin Yu and the others.

"After you disappeared, two villagers appeared," Gu San said, breaking the silence. "They were very cautious, and I was led to another place by them. When I noticed you were gone and tried to find you again, it was too late."

Night had already fallen, and the mermaids would soon emerge. Gu San gave up with no other option and sought refuge with Qin Yu and the others. He guessed that the mermaids' primary target would be the villagers, so he helped restrain the house owner, sacrificing the man to allow them to escape unharmed.

"It doesn't matter. I'm alive," Ruan Bai said, surprised that Gu San was even bothering to explain. From her perspective, Gu San had no obligation to save her. After all, they were strangers.

"You can continue telling me about what you found out," she quickly added. "I don't mind hearing about it. You've already taught me so much, and I'm grateful."

"Sure thing." Gu San nodded without being overly dramatic and explained his findings to Ruan Bai.

"I took note of the contents in the notebook and found a plethora of intriguing information," he said. "Du Wen Shu was an exceptionally talented individual, with a strong fascination for the surreal. Upon arriving in the village, he noticed a subtle yet sinister aura surrounding the area. He suspected that the villagers were up to no good and had caused grievances to many, but rather than being afraid, he ardently researched the mermaids and their goddess for an extended period of time." He continued, "In order to test his hypothesis, he intentionally approached the mermaid and won her favor."

Du Wen Shu had always been fascinated by mermaids. When he discovered their appearance was linked to their goddess and that there might be some magical force behind it, he naturally wanted to investigate it thoroughly. He used various tactics to make the unsuspecting mermaid fall in love with him.

"If my deduction is correct, he initially suggested eloping with the mermaid, but intentionally leaked the news. His objective was likely to test the relationship between Mermaid Ah Ma and the other mermaids. Unfortunately, his callousness enraged Mermaid Ah Ma, leading to his death at her hands, and causing the mermaid to commit suicide," said Gu San.

"Mermaid Ah Ma killed Du Wen Shu?" Ruan Bai was deeply shocked. "I assumed the villagers were responsible..."

Gu San shook his head. "The villagers remain tight-lipped about his death, shrouding it in taboo. If they had murdered him, they would not need to keep it a secret. Furthermore, after questioning the villagers last night, I discovered the origin of the mermaid bell in your possession--"

Gu San explained the origin of the bell. It was made from the heart of the Mermaid Ah Ma, responsible for Du Wen Shu's death. The villagers, fearing her possible revenge had taken her heart out of the statue, ground it into powder, and imbued it with Taoist symbols. Despite their precautions, how could they not feel the resentment emanating from the Mermaid Ah Ma? Even after thousands of years of worship, they had no guarantee that she would spare them.

Ruan Bai remembered discovering the bell, carefully stored in a black box with great talismans. Without the bell's sound on the first night to save them, she would have never thought to search for it. Looking back, it was clear that the Mermaid Ah Ma had deliberately manipulated them all. She held a deep grudge against outsiders and had no reason to protect them. Using the sound of the bell, she successfully lured the mermaids away from the village, leading them to the Taoist temple to investigate. In the end, she skillfully used Ruan Bai's hand to break the seal of the bell. She was all unwittingly abusing them!!

As Ruan Bai pieced everything together, the system prompt chimed. 【Ding! Congratulations, host, one of the mission objectives, 《Investigate the Secret of the Mermaid Village,》 has been completed!】 Though Ruan Bai was slightly stunned by this achievement, she couldn't bring herself excited.

Gu San solemnly said, "At the end of the day, the mermaid's killing spree must have been orchestrated by the mermaid goddess. When the mermaid goddess's heart was sealed, she lost all her powers and had no choice but to use the mermaid to turn them into vengeful spirits through their killings. In this way, she could exact her revenge. Now that you've removed the mermaid bell from its seal, she will undoubtedly take action."

Ruan Bai's mind went blank upon hearing everything. "What should we do then? Why is the B-level world so complicated? These NPCs are too calculating!" She had previously thought the mermaid bell was a life-saving tool, but now she realized it was a death sentence!

The mermaid goddess's power must have come from her heart; otherwise, she would not have disappeared completely after the mermaid bell was sealed. To get the mermaid bell back, the mermaid goddess would send her mermaid daughters to attack them.

"The game doesn't have a clearly defined difficulty level," Gu San said calmly. "The only thing that's been graded is the level of danger." He paused for a moment, glancing at Ruan Bai, perhaps understanding the difficulty of being a newcomer, and whispered, "You don't have to worry, I have a way to clear the game."

The game had hinted to them that if they could uncover the secrets of the mermaid village, they might find a way to survive. In games, there was never an absolute dead end for players.

The mermaid had turned into a vengeful spirit. She hated. She hated the villagers because she mistakenly believed they had prevented her from being with Du Wen Shu and ruined their future together. However, she didn't know that Du Wen Shu had died at the hands of the mermaid goddess.

Gu San noted, "This is something we can use." Before delving into Du Wen Shu's notes, he meticulously observed many details, particularly about the mermaid girl.

Du Wen Shu utilized a variety of methods to pursue the mermaid girl. Unfortunately, as a researcher, he lacked the skills of a playboy. After presenting her with flowers twice, he ceased his attempts. He was not one for singing, nor did he possess the gift of sweet talk. However, he frequently regaled the mermaid girl with tales of the books he had read. His favorite was Stendhal's 《Le Rouge et le Noir/The Red and the Black》.

In the book's conclusion, the protagonist, Julien Sorel, perished on the platform of a guillotine. His lover, Mathilde, held his head and fled into the deep mountains, never to be seen again.

——— Translator's Notes ———

"The Red and the Black" refers to the French novel "Le Rouge et le Noir" by Stendhal, which tells the story of a young man's rise in society and his love affair with two women. The protagonist, Julien Sorel, is executed for attempting to assassinate a noblewoman and dies on the scaffold. The woman he loves, Mathilde de la Mole, disappears into obscurity.

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