Novel Bin Chapter 21: Siren Town
The sun rose and the sky brightened. The merfolk who were afraid of the light gradually dived under the surface of the sea and disappeared without a trace.
Bai Liu confirmed that there were no merfolk around and he opened the panel. He had not looked at it before because he was too busy fighting against the merfolk. Now Bai Liu saw the information and he couldn’t help narrowing his eyes.
[Side task — Jeff’s Bloody Conspiracy, 90% progress.]
Andre had been killed and the driver was burned to death by Bai Liu yet there was still 10% progress left for this side task… how to achieve the remaining 10% for this bloody conspiracy?
[The current points balance is 684. Do you wish to purchase items?]
Bai Liu was stunned. He stared at his points that suddenly soared before opening the panel to check the details. He found that more than 500 points were from ‘charging’.
In other words, he struggled all night yet more than 80% of his points weren’t earned from the game system for completing tasks. It was from the audience who gave rewards. Bai Liu thoughtfully fiddled with the coin against his chest. In other words, he could earn a lot more points from the audience than the game.
This wasn’t reasonable. If the rewards for the game were lower than the rewards outside the game, this would make players passive in the game. They would make choices to please those outside the game or directly use gimmicks to attract the audience instead of playing the game.
In particular, these points could be used to purchase items. If the points earned by charging were sufficient then Bai Liu could purchase a large number of items and forcefully pass the instance so that the game had no experience.
Bai Liu wouldn’t design such a game and he didn’t think the system would either. There must be some type of reward in this game which could balance the rewards system inside and outside the game, so that players would want to get rewards from the game more than outside the game.
Bai Liu’s fingers repeatedly flipped the coin. All the rewards for the tasks in this game were instant. In other words, he could get the points directly after completing the task. There was only one exception.
That was the monster book.
The rewards obtained from collecting all the pages of the book would only be issued after clearing the instance. Generally speaking, the rewards should be very large. Now Bai Liu looked at the reward points and felt he had underestimated the weight of the monster book.
He now felt that the rewards given by the monster book might not only be large but also very precious. They were the type that couldn’t be easily purchased with points, so as to balance the rewards mechanism inside and outside the game.
Bai Liu opened the monster book and read every page for a while. Finally, his eyes stopped on the Siren King page that didn’t have anything unlocked and he paused.
[Siren Town Monster Book – Siren King (2/4)]
[Monster Name: Siren King]
[Weaknesses: None (the player isn’t required to explore the monster’s weaknesses)]
[Attack Method: ??? (Unexplored)]
[Note: For the god-level wandering NPC, the danger level is very high. Player, please explore carefully.]
This was to explore the attack method… based on the previous few monsters, exploring the attack method was to let them launch an attack. Then the player would complete the exploration. However, if a monster at the level of the Siren King launched an attack then Bai Liu felt it would be GG.
It was just that Bai Liu knew there was such a big, fat reward. It wasn’t the style of this miser to leave it alone.
If Bai Liu knew how ferocious this NPC was and heard the deeds of this bug-like NPC in the rumors then he might’ve given up. After all, the thing he feared most in games was bugs. Bugs were hard to crack. They weren’t part of the game itself and there was no logic. Therefore, players couldn’t fight against bugs.
However, Bai Liu didn’t know this. Not only did he not know it but Bai Liu also regarded this NPC as a guard boss. He felt that if he defeated the opponent, the rewards must be great. Moreover, this game must have solutions. No matter the boss, there must be a way to fight.
Bai Liu stared for a while before chuckling softly and closing the monster book. He opened the game shop. “I want to buy items.”
[What items do you need? Recently, there has been a price reduction promotion for the water bubble. Do you need it?]
Bai Liu took a look. Sure enough, the water bubble item had dropped from 70 points to 40 points. Next to the water bubble in the popular items bar, the high concentration alcohol was added. This was what Bai Liu bought before. It had changed from 9 points per barrel to nearly 13 points per barrel.
Bai Liu looked at this price change and showed a sly and triumphant smile.
He had guessed correctly. The game process on his side would be fed back to the audience, causing the audience’s purchase direction to change, just like a livestream. As long as Bai Liu used cheaper items to achieve the same effect, players would rush to buy it. This would cause changes in the price of items.
For example, previously he used the 3D projector and flashlight in the Siren Museum. The conventional solution for that map should be to use the fire torch but Bai Liu easily passed it with a few non-consumable items. It also beat the effect of the consumable item, the fire torch.
At a similar price, players would definitely be more willing to buy lasting items. As a result, the price of the fire torch decreased and the price of the 3D projectors rose. This time, he repeated the same trick in order to reduce the price of the water bubble. This way, he could save some money from the price difference.
Bai Liu smiled. “I want to buy a water bubble.”
[Okay, 40 points have been consumed. Thank you for your patronage.]
Wang Shun rushed all the way from the death comedy division to the single-player game area. He approached the TV in a confused manner. After confirming that Bai Liu really bought the water bubble, Wang Shun fell into a greater confusion. “Why did he buy the water bubble?”
“After this, I remember that Siren Town consists of almost all land chases. There is no place to use the water bubble…”
Next to him was a player who followed him and there was a reasonable analysis. “Now Bai Liu has more points and he doesn’t know there are only land chases left. Maybe he bought one just in case. Anyway, it isn’t expensive. It is only 40 points.”
“He now has over 600 points and spent 40 to buy himself a water bubble. This is equivalent to buying insurance. After all, the risk of alcohol is still too high.”
However, Wang Shun had followed Bai Liu all this way and he already knew the style of the man who liked to spend his points on the knife’s edge.
Previously, Bai Liu would rather take the risk to buy alcohol, choosing the relatively high risk and lost investment scheme over spending more points to buy the water bubble. Now he spent 40 points to buy the water bubble just in case…
Wang Shun felt it wasn’t something that Bai Liu would do.
Wang Shun even had the absurd idea that Bai Liu purposefully only bought the water bubble now. In other words, he manipulated the price through a series of operations in order to wait for the moment the water bubble dropped in price, so he could buy it at this low price and save money.
Wang Shun muttered to himself while thinking. He was so immersed in his own thoughts that his voice volume wasn’t low. His self-talk was heard by the player next to him.
The player couldn’t hold back from retorting. “Are you Bai Liu’s brainless fan? Manipulating the price? He is a newcomer and hasn’t played the game. I admit that he is a bit skilled at playing the game but controlling the price of items is a bit too much.”
The player’s attitude was somewhat perfunctory and casual. “I think he was scared after such a thrilling night. He saw that he had money and immediately bought a few life-saving items. He previously used alcohol. I think this was a huge bet…”
Wang Shun saw the player’s mouth flatten as he whispered, “It is just a gamble and there was nothing great. He actually rushed to the single-player division with this.”
The player had a bit of jealousy in his expression. He seemed to think that Bai Liu might’ve used some of his brains to rise to the single-player division but it was mostly due to luck.
The forum was also enthusiastically discussing Bai Liu’s use of alcohol to kill the merfolk. After the frenzy of praise at the beginning, they mocked Bai Liu for being opportunistic and lucky. Similar to this player who was judging Bai Liu, most of them were disdainful with a sour ‘I can also do it’ attitude.
[What is the point of this operation? After thinking about it, there is a much more secure plan. Why choose the plan with a higher risk?]
[Fuck, he is just pretending to be strange. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen it. Isn’t there a lot of strange actions in the death comedy section?]
[I’m laughing so hard. He bought nine barrels of alcohol and four were used. There are still five barrels left. He isn’t going to use it to raise merfolk, right? For those who are bragging about this plan saving money, I’ll buy you a calculator. 81 points is 11 points more expensive than the original water bubble!]
[Some people just close their eyes and brag right? Apart from the visual effect, his method of clearing the instance is useless. Moreover, after getting the rewards, he immediately bought the water bubble. Isn’t this a fucking confession? He thinks the alcohol isn’t good and the water bubble is better. If he has the ability to continue burning alcohol then I would like to see how he burns it after going on land. The merfolk statues don’t burn at all!]
Proofreader: Purichan