Chapter 138 - 16: The Slaughter of the Merfolk

Chapter 138: Chapter 16: The Slaughter of the Merfolk"How about it, lad, wanna buy some?" Xiao Jie glanced at the prices, which were indeed reasonable, with the salted fish at 20 copper per fish, and the mysterious dried fish just 50 copper a piece. Considering its special effects, it was already very cheap. Xiao Jie bought five salted fish and four pieces of the mysterious dried fish, spending a total of 300 copper. He had a habit when playing games; whenever he encountered anything unusual, he liked to buy some just in case it came in handy later. I Want to Be Immortal also bought some, and no sooner had the two finished their purchases than a hoarse voice came from inside the thatched hut. "Granny—water." Just then, the straw curtain of the thatched hut was lifted, and a sickly-looking youth walked out. The boy wore coarse clothes, his complexion deathly pale, and looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old. As soon as he stepped out, he asked for water. "Coming, coming." Granny Li hurriedly scooped up a large ladle of water from a nearby water tank and handed it over. The boy chugged it down in one go, his face finally regaining a trace of color. Then he turned to look at the two of them with a surprised expression. "Granny, who are they?" "Ah, they are returnees, here to help us kill the merfolk. This is my grandson, Li Bao," Granny Li introduced, her gaze constantly lingering on the boy, showing her deep concern for him. Xiao Jie greeted him, "Hey there, young man." He had already decided that he needed to get some information from this youth. With only these two NPCs in this little fishing village, the key to the River God adventure surely lay with them. Li Bao looked surprised. "You’re a returnee? I’ve read about you in books, never thinking I’d have the chance to see you with my own eyes. They say you’ve come back from the outside, is that true? You must have been to many places, can you tell me what it’s like out there?" The boy’s tone was very eager, but Granny Li’s face darkened upon hearing this. "Bao’er, they still have to kill the merfolk. Don’t pester them with endless questions. Have you forgotten the ways of a gentleman that your father’s books talk about?" Li Bao immediately nodded helplessly, "Yes, Granny." Xiao Jie had a vague feeling that there was something not quite right between the old woman and her grandson, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. After exchanging a few pleasantries, suddenly a splashing noise came from the lakeside. "It’s the merfolk, they’ve come again." Granny Li’s face showed annoyance but quickly turned to a pitiable expression. "Two brave warriors, can we entrust the task of these monsters to you? And don’t let those creatures hurt my grandson." "Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll take care of this!" I Want to Be Immortal readily agreed. Xiao Jie called out, and the two of them headed towards the lakeside, only to see two merfolk crawling ashore from the water. One level 12, the other level 13. The dead merfolk were indeed unsightly, but the living ones crawling on the shore were even uglier, their bodies covered in blue-black scales, with a fish-like tail for the lower half, struggling to wriggle on the sand and mud. The upper half of their bodies was vaguely human with arms, yet covered with scales and fins, their features a mixture of human and fish that looked quite odd. In their hands, they carried weapons made of coral and shells. Xiao Jie remembered Mr. Ramen’s warning: these creatures were formidable in water, and it would be best not to fight them near the water’s edge, lest he get dragged into the lake, which would spell trouble. Fortunately, it seemed the merfolk’s aim was merely to reach the shore. They crawled directly out of the water, and once on land, their speed was noticeably slower. This presented a great opportunity for the duo to attack. Switching to bow and arrow, he fired a quadruple shot straight at the merfolk, which were struggling to move forward with their wriggling tails. Continuous Arrow! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! In an instant, the arrows peppered the body of the merfolk. Full Moon Shooting! Phut! An arrow pierced another merfolk’s body and continued into the lake behind it. The two merfolk screamed in pain but had no solution, only managing to wriggle towards them in a serpentine path. Continuing to shoot arrows while slowly retreating, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, the two merfolk were shot full of arrows like hedgehogs and succumbed one after another. System notification: Killing a Merfolk Pearl Seeker, you gained 275 Experience Points. System notification: Killing a Merfolk Pearl Seeker, you gained 286 Experience Points. "Eh, that was easy?" Looking at the two bodies on the ground, I Want to Be Immortal expressed his surprise. Xiao Jie thought indeed it was a bit too easy. These creatures were practically sitting ducks and did not have the strength you’d expect from level 12 and 13 monsters. However, the Experience Points were not an issue. After pondering for a moment, Xiao Jie came to a conclusion. "If a monster is underwhelming in many aspects, then it must be incredibly strong in one area, just like the Disease Zombies that appeared sluggish, but once within range, they would possess some extremely disgusting Skill," he thought. And if a monster is particularly strong in some respects, then it must be very lacking in others. This is a principle of game balancing; it’s impossible to design a monster without any weaknesses. This Merfolk must be similar, the stronger it is in the water, the more useless it becomes ashore. This explains it, normally Merfolk hide in the water to ambush players. The fish present here must have had some reason that they couldn’t avoid coming ashore, making them easy prey. He went over to check the corpses. Shells ×26. Huh, why did it drop so many shells? The other one dropped Shells ×19, plus one fat-headed fish. [Fat-Headed Fish (Ingredient) Item Introduction: A fresh fat-headed fish just caught from the water, extremely lively.] This... Xiao Jie had a feeling that these shells might very well be the internal currency of the Merfolk, which is why they dropped in such large quantities, much like mountain bandits dropping copper coins. There will probably be even more shells dropped by killing Merfolk in the future. He had just finished collecting the items when more Merfolk showed their heads above the lake water. "Feng, be careful." "I see them," Xiao Jie said as he quickly retreated, and they began to shoot arrows again. For some reason, these Merfolk kept rushing towards the shore in groups of three or two, wave after wave, one after another. At first, they were quite easy to deal with, but as their numbers increased, it became gradually harder to cope with them. The two men shot arrows frantically, retreating while shooting, making Xiao Jie wonder why these Merfolk didn’t chase after them but instead headed straight for the hut where Granny Li was located. To say they rushed wouldn’t be as apt as to say they crawled toward it. The two men stood to the side, like they were performing stationary output, madly harvesting targets, as their Experience Points steadily increased. Eventually, they even ran out of arrows. Xiao Jie simply activated the Gale Saber Technique and started to slash wildly. The Merfolk’s resilience wasn’t very high, which allowed him to chain hits together. "I Want to Be Immortal" also switched to a Battle Axe and began chopping away wildly. Then the Merfolk finally began to fight back, but their sluggish movements made their attacks utterly non-threatening. Xiao Jie dodged with ease, and "I Want to Be Immortal" tanked comfortably. The more they killed, the more exhilarated they became, slashing and chopping in unison, every cut biting into flesh, every axe breaking bone. In less than half an hour, they had raised their Experience Points by a full 15%, with the riverbank covered in Merfolk corpses. It wasn’t until the last Merfolk fell that the two men could finally relax. "Man, that was refreshing," Xiao Jie couldn’t help but exclaim. Since entering the game, he had encountered monsters that were more difficult than the last, and it had been a long time since they’d killed so effortlessly. If only all the monsters in this game were this easy. He quickly signaled "I Want to Be Immortal" to join him in looting the bodies, but alas, they were just Little Monsters, and besides a large quantity of shells and fish, they dropped nothing of significance. "Wow, I found a pearl," exclaimed "I Want to Be Immortal" suddenly. [Pearl (Material) Item Introduction: A translucent and lustrous pearl, a precious material used in jewelry making and sometimes in medicine.] This thing must be worth some money, Xiao Jie thought. High Luck is so satisfying, even looting Little Monsters can yield good items. He wasn’t as lucky, finding nothing but fish. Well, that’s fine. He could grill them and at least gain some Cooking experience. Looking at his Experience Bar, Xiao Jie couldn’t help but think that regardless of the rewards the unexpected quest might offer, the leveling efficiency alone was quite impressive.