The poses of these mermaid statues reminded Liam White of when he used to play Red Light, Green Light. Suddenly turning around, he would see the people behind him unable to control their expressions and postures. Back then, he found it a bit funny and amusing, but now, looking at these eerie, cold-white statues poised to rush out from behind the door, Liam White felt no urge to laugh.

When these humanoid marble statues were stacked together like this, the sense of oppression was even stronger, because their eyes were densely fixed on Liam White in such a confined space. This made Liam White feel very uncomfortable—or rather, anyone would feel uneasy being stared at by so many pairs of lifeless eyes.

Liam White closed the bathroom door. He no longer cared about these statues, nor did he bother tying them up.

Because it was pointless.

These things were breaking free faster and faster. If he couldn’t find more weaknesses to control them, constantly covering and tying them up was a very inefficient approach. It might even train the statues to escape faster.

The moment Liam White opened the door to his room, a new prompt popped up on the panel:

[Player Liam White has completed the main quest—spending the night in the house without being assimilated. Reward: 20 points.]

[Current balance: 23 points. You can purchase items. Would you like to buy something?]

Liam White opened the shop. He was pitifully poor now, and the things he could afford could be counted on one hand. Liam White bought a powerful searchlight flashlight for 15 points, leaving him with 8 points—he pondered for a moment.

...He wondered if there was a 3D holographic projector.

[Yes, 4 points each. There’s a promotional sale: 3 for 8 points. Would you like to buy 3?]

Without hesitation, Liam White nodded: [Yes!]

As a broke office worker, two of the words he could never resist in his life were “discount” and “promotion.”

After buying them, he happily started playing with the 3D projectors he’d just purchased. The quality of these discounted projectors was actually pretty good. After inputting his own character model, the projection was so lifelike that Liam White couldn’t help but marvel repeatedly—there was no sense of cheapness at all. The colors were vivid, the figure looked alive, and in the interplay of light and shadow, at a glance, it was almost indistinguishable from a real person.

Liam White was quite satisfied with his purchase, but his audience was not. They gathered in front of the small TV, gesturing and sighing.

“A newbie is a newbie after all—got stunned by the game, huh? So clueless, buying all this junk. The flashlight is barely acceptable, but the projector is just nonsense. There’s no monster that can be hurt by a projector, okay? What a waste of such a good start—he must have gotten lucky with the first main quest…”

“They actually sold him a discounted projector. What is this player thinking?! It looks fancy, but it’s completely useless! Even at one point each, no one would buy this unsellable junk!”

“...Yeah, the projector was on sale when I joined, and after all these years, it’s still on sale…”

“Ugh, got scammed by the shop, huh? I got scammed too during my newbie period, bought a bunch of high-tech-looking stuff that was totally useless.”

“Damn, 23 points—the highest score in the newbie area so far—and he wasted it all, didn’t buy a single useful thing! Is he out of his mind?!”

Suddenly, a player in front of a small screen shouted excitedly, “Come here! There’s a newbie who bought a Flame Torch! That thing counters mermaids—he’s set!”

The crowd immediately left Liam White’s small TV and gathered around the newbie who supposedly bought the right item, nodding in approval.

“Yeah, that’s the standard item for clearing the level. This newbie’s thinking is solid.”

“The Flame Torch can be used three times. If he uses it well, he’ll probably be the only one among the newcomers to clear the stage.”

...

Only a handful of people remained in front of Liam White’s small TV.

[34 people are watching Liam White’s small TV. 167 people have left.]

[50 people have unliked Liam White’s small TV, 44 have removed it from their favorites, 17 have downvoted it, and no one has charged Liam White’s small TV.]

...

After playing with his new items, Liam White left his room and first went to Jeffrey Howard’s room to wake him up.

It was obvious that Jeffrey Howard hadn’t slept well last night. His complexion was pale, and there were dark circles of exhaustion under his eyes behind his round glasses.

Liam White estimated that the number of mermaid statues in Jeffrey Howard’s room was about the same as in his own. But unlike the ones in Liam White’s room, which he had locked up, these statues were all quietly placed where they were. Liam White wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the statues in Jeffrey Howard’s room looked noticeably more lifelike than those in his own, and their faces had even become subtly similar to Jeffrey Howard...

Beneath the pale marble surface of the mermaid statues was a layer of opaque rosy color. Their eyeballs looked as if they could move at any moment, and their expressions were relaxed and natural, like fish that had absorbed plenty of water, with the scales on their tails all spread out. There was even a faint fishy smell beginning to permeate the room.