Yang Yi had a nightmare.
In the dream, he saw three stunning women forming a circle, silently staring at him.
Suddenly, the scene shifted violently. One woman pulled out an object and began gnawing at it, chewing slowly as blood trickled from her mouth.
Yang Yi was initially confused, but upon closer look, realized it was his own right arm!
He also noticed their appearance: human upper bodies, but scales starting at the waist, tapering into fish tails.
His arm was broken, a searing pain jolting through his skull.
"Fuck!"
Yang Yi jolted awake from the pain, naked and lying on a slimy floor.
Dim light revealed a cave-like space. Walls and ground were coated in glowing mucus, like trails left by crawling mollusks.
His body was smothered in the stuff; one whiff was enough to nauseate him for days.
He snapped his head to the right—thankfully, his arm was intact.
The pain came from a woman sinking her teeth into his forearm, leaving deep marks as he grimaced.
"Let go! Are you a dog? What the hell!" Yang Yi snarled.
She released him, leaving two rows of teeth marks on his shoulder.
"Awake finally? I thought you were a goner."
Her crimson eyes glowered, half-annoyed, half-relieved.
"I'm sitting up, aren't I?"
Yang Yi rubbed his arm, wincing. He studied her: delicate Asian features, sun-kissed skin, slender but gaunt, tied up in tangled seaweed with obvious crawl marks on the floor—she'd struggled to reach him.
"Who are you?" he asked, head pounding.
"You were enchanted by sea sirens. I saved your ass."
He quickly checked his activity log—dozens of charm alerts. His sanity hovered at a precarious 51/100.
"Unbelievable they kept you alive three days. Must think you're a pet," she said, eyeing his naked form.
It clicked. "I've been their prisoner for three days?"
"Yep."
"More than one?"
"Three. Social predators—use song to lure men as... mates and meals."
Yang Yi shuddered, noticing his tattered pirate uniform and rusted flintlock nearby.
"Legends made real. They're just as nasty as the stories."
She rambled on about sirens, clearly fascinated, but Yang Yi's blood ran cold. He yanked on his clothes and grabbed the gun.
[Wearing blood-stained pirate garb: A莫名寒意 washes over you, sanity -1.]
Now at 50/100—one step from madness.
"This mucus is revolting. Why do they secrete it?"
"Marine mollusks use mucus for protection. Sirens adapted it—glows in the dark, lures prey like anglerfish bait. Shows off their 'assets' to charm victims."
Her clinical explanation grated on him.
"You're a player. Why here?" he snapped, eyeing her crimson irises—identical to the nightmare women's.
"Suna. Passing through, got caught. Emergency rations, I guess."
"But you said they target men."
She nodded to a corner. "Had a partner. They ate him. You? They kept alive. Go figure."
Yang Yi followed her gaze to a rotting male corpse—abdomen split, organs missing, limbs mangled. Nearby, picked-clean skeletons proved the sirens' brutality.
Did Suna know him? Doubtful. She'd fabricated the story to explain her presence. Truth: she'd followed Yang Yi, obsessed with observing sirens, only to be ambushed by two. The corpse was a random victim, unknown to her.
He believed her partially, but stayed wary.
"Three days, no hunger?" He checked his status—full stamina, empty sanity.
She pointed to a dead sailfish, its spear-like jaw broken, body gnawed. His sustenance, apparently.
"What about water?"
He had no memory of the past days, like a fugue state.
Suna grew agitated. "Untie me! They'll be back in 30 minutes. We miss this window, we're dead!"
Bound and蠕动 like a caterpillar, she'd spent three days studying their routine to time this rescue attempt.
Yang Yi's gaze hardened. She was too composed, too strategic—exactly like the nightmare version that aimed a gun at his head.
He couldn't kill her, but trust was impossible.
Decision made, he leveled the flintlock at her chest.
"Three reasons not to pull this trigger. Now."
Suna's pupils shrank. "Are you insane? They'll eat us both!"
"I have the gun." He twirled it, voice cold. "That's one. Two more."
Silence. Her face paled, then flushed with panic.
"I'll give you all my supplies! Weapons, food—everything on my ship!"
"Not good enough. I take it all if you're dead."
She swallowed, sweating. "I can provide nautical charts. My ship, the Astrology, maps nearby waters. You'll navigate safer."
Ah, so that's why.
"You led me here," he said, pulling a tattered blueprint from his pocket. "Ship schematics. Kill the owner, salvage their vessel's abilities. Why shouldn't I take yours?"
Color drained from her face. She knew he wasn't bluffing—the pirate ship he'd boarded earlier? He'd likely killed its owner too.
"You'll burn for this," she hissed, closing her eyes.
Seconds passed. No gunshot. She peeked open an eye.
He tossed aside the gun, knelt, and pried a sharp bone from the skeleton pile.
"Half your ship's supplies. One month of charts. Then I cut you loose."
Realization dawned—he'd been bluffing. Her rage flared.
"And if I refuse?"
"I have a gun in my hand. You have to agree!"
Yang Yi flicked the gun again and struck a victorious pose.
Suna could do nothing about it.