Godmode: My Infinite Game Odyssey

Liam could hear the sharp, metallic sound as the force outside rattled the marble door handle. Even though the door was locked, the mermaid wax statue outside was twisting the handle with such strength that it made a faint, crackling sound as though the metal might snap at any moment.

It seemed that the statue was trying to enter. Its pale, lifeless eyes scanned Liam's room, but after a moment, it appeared to realize it was empty. The door handle stopped moving, and the silence outside suggested that the statue had moved away from the door, possibly leaving.

But Liam held his breath. He remembered that these statues moved with a heavy dragging sound. The absence of that noise meant something wasn't right.

The statue hadn't left. It was likely still standing quietly outside his door.

Liam's suspicion grew. The statue was trying to trick him, luring him out. He glanced at the peephole and noticed something unsettling—what had returned to its normal carpet color was now bright white, resembling an eyeball staring back at him.

The statue was still there.

After waiting a while, the statue seemed to renew its attempt to enter. The handle was twisted again, this time with even more force as if the statue was trying to break through. It made a disturbing sound as the handle twisted, about to fall apart.

The statue was coming.

Liam's audience on the small TV was a mix of empathy and disbelief.

"Man, I thought we'd lose a strong player here… what a shame."

"This Siren Town quest is way too nasty. It's not even a newbie-level challenge; they're trying to kill you immediately."

Liam's mind worked quickly, his breathing steadying.

The game made it clear that these creatures had weaknesses, which players could use to escape. The key now was to figure out how to stop the statue from moving.

Liam closed his eyes and thought back on the events of the night.

If this was a game, there must be a solution. Liam had spent years designing horror games—he was sure there had been hints of the statue's weakness along the way.

What was it?

He began to retrace his encounters with the mermaid wax statue methodically.

The first time had been by the hotel fountain. Gerald had shouted that the statue had moved, but it had done so silently, only shifting slightly behind the car. The statue had been staring into the water, not looking at them.

The second time was in the hotel lobby, where dozens of statues stared at them, unmoving.

The third time, in the hotel room, the only statue that didn't directly look at him was the giant staring into the mirror. All the others were directly watching him. After Liam had fallen asleep, the statues began to move, but the mirrored statue moved the fastest. But when Liam woke up, all the statues froze again.

Staying awake wasn't the key to stopping their movement since the statue outside his door was about to break in.

The game wouldn't set up an unsolvable situation—there had to be something on him that could stop the statue's movement.

It wasn't the objects in the room or anything in the hotel. It had to be something Liam had brought with him. The fact that the statues could freely enter and exit Gerald's room suggested it wasn't the room itself stopping them.

What could it be?

Mirror… Water… Sleeping… Direct eye contact!

Liam realized it. He knew what to do.

He quickly stood up, walked to the door, and opened it, meeting the mermaid wax statue's gaze.

From Liam's perspective, the statue was so close that its lifeless face was pressed against his nose. The statue's hand was placed on the door handle, and its blank white eyes looked through the peephole, focusing on the lower corner where Liam was hiding.

No wonder the statue was so intent on getting in—it must have seen Liam hiding just behind the door.

The statue paused, its fishtail brushing against Liam's foot. It stood motionless, frozen in place, just before entering the room.

Liam breathed a sigh of relief. It worked—the statue stopped moving the moment he made eye contact.

The viewers on Liam's small TV were utterly shocked.

"Oh my god!! How did he figure that out?! He opened the door without hesitation!"

"Most new players would never think of this, and even if they did, they wouldn't dare open the door. They'd only look through the peephole, which is just asking for the statue to break in."

"Holy crap, when he locked eyes with the statue, I got chills!"

"Who is this guy? He's amazing… how is he doing this?"

The crowd around Liam's small TV grew, captivated by his quick thinking.

[168 people watching Player Liam's small TV screen, Player Liam achieves Newbie Slayer achievement]

[102 people liked Player Liam's small TV screen, 143 saved it, and 3 charged it, giving Player Liam 3 points]

Liam didn't react to the newfound attention. His expression remained calm, as though he hadn't done anything extraordinary.

Figuring out that eye contact could stop the mermaid wax statues from moving wasn't hard.

When Liam fell asleep, the statues started moving, but when he woke up, they immediately stopped. The only difference was that his eyes were open, meaning the human gaze restricted their movement.

But there was a trap: simply looking through mirrors or similar reflective surfaces would only partially slow down the statues. To stop them completely, they had to feel directly watched by a human.

The mermaid wax statues outside the hotel fountain were looking into the water, so when Liam looked through the water, it limited their movement, but not entirely. The mirror statue in the room was the fastest-moving one because it was looking at itself in the mirror, restricting the movement just enough for it to be fast.

Earlier, the mermaid wax statue was looking through the peephole, which meant it could still move. Liam realized that looking through the peephole wouldn't fully restrict its movement.

At this close distance, using the peephole was ineffective. If the statue made it through the door, it would trap Liam, and losing direct eye contact would leave him vulnerable.

But Liam also knew something most players wouldn't: he had the courage to verify his theory, even if it was risky. Most would have panicked and not dared to open the door.

Liam looked at the small TV screen, realizing his calmness had left an impression on others.

[Siren Town Monster Book Updated]

[Monster Name: Mermaid Wax Statue (Cocoon State), Protective Charm Wax Statue (Chrysalis State)]

[Weakness: Human Eye Contact (1/3)]

[Attack Method: Incubation]

Liam stared at the updated monster book. He had unlocked more information about the creature, but this was just the beginning. He now understood the weakness, but there were more layers to uncover in Siren Town. The game had only begun to reveal its actual dangers.

The mermaid wax statue's eyes drooped slightly, its head tilted just a little to the lower right, and the corners of its mouth subtly curved into a faint smile. Its tail was elegant, its body pristine and flawless, exuding a mysterious, almost divine beauty that was indescribable.

Once the wax figure froze in place, the eerie, spine-chilling aura that once dominated the room disappeared, leaving behind a statue of remarkable aesthetic value. At midnight on the seaside, it stood silently before a stranger's door.

[Player Liam Watson has earned 3 points for viewing the player charge and unlocking the in-game shop.]

[Insufficient points, unable to purchase any items. Please try again!]

Liam understood that the "3 points for viewing the player charge" meant someone had tipped him, while the unlocked shop only displayed black-and-white items with the status "Unavailable for purchase."

He quickly glanced at the shop, noticing it sold everything from daily essentials to weapons, alongside bizarre items like [A Perfectly Intact Heart] and [Love Potion]—oddities with exorbitant prices.

Liam recalled the words when he entered the game: "Points can buy anything you desire."

He closed the shop and stared at the unmoving mermaid wax statue.

Now, still, he couldn't possibly stay up all night staring at it. After the recent incident, Liam had gained a new understanding of its destructive potential.

He glanced at the stainless steel door handle, just about to fall off.

From the wax statues' previous behavior in his room, he knew they had tremendous destructive power but seemed to rely only on their vision to pinpoint their target. They couldn't track him down if covered with a cloth, even if they were in the same room.

In other words, the mermaid wax statues seemed to lack hearing and smell.

Otherwise, with so many wax statues in the same room, they could quickly locate Liam by hearing his breath and disassembling him like the door handle, without the need to remove the cloth to find him. With the strength to twist off door handles, they shouldn't still be stuck in the closet, unable to get out.

…What a hassle. There are so many of them; it's becoming quite a burden.

Liam squinted, an evil thought forming in his mind—what if he experimented on the wax statue? He could test its weaknesses, like trying to burn or smash it with a stick.

[Tip: If the player directly attacks the monster and it doesn't die, the monster's hatred value will be permanently on the player, causing it to attack the player and reduce survival chances continuously.]

Liam thoughtfully stroked his chin and smiled, a harmless dimple appearing on the right side of his face.

"Attacking it directly would make it hold a grudge, right?" Liam muttered to himself. "But if it happens to fall on its own, then it's not my fault."

Liam wrapped the mermaid wax statue in a bed sheet and tied it shut with rope, then, with malicious intent, placed the statue by the hotel stairway.

When the mermaid wax statue couldn't see, it would wander around aimlessly, and Liam placed it there to make it fall down the stairs.

With a hatred value, Liam wouldn't directly destroy the statues. If he could smash them outright, it would be fine, but it would undoubtedly cause trouble if he couldn't.

Given the number of mermaid wax statues, they were a significant risk. Liam had only one pair of eyes, and if they surrounded him in an entire 360-degree perimeter, his field of vision would be limited to 188 degrees horizontally, meaning he couldn't see them all. If they surrounded him, he would surely be dead.

Liam preferred high-return actions. Although the game suggested using weaknesses to escape the monsters, he wanted to see if there was a way to destroy these wax statues.

Or, perhaps, if they had other fatal weaknesses.

He wouldn't risk smashing them directly. After all, nobody knew what might crawl out if the cocoon or pupa shattered.

But if the mermaid wax statue happened to fall because of poor vision, then it would have nothing to do with him.

Liam retreated into his room to experiment and see if the statue could be smashed.

Soon enough, the mermaid wax statue moved again. Liam pondered—he was still watching the statue, but with its head covered in a cloth, it couldn't know he was staring, so it began to move on its own.

This confirmed that [direct visual contact] was only a condition for the statue to stop moving when it "felt" it was being watched.

There were too many statues in his room for him to maintain constant visual contact. They had already stopped moving before he could even look around after waking up.

So, as long as the mermaid wax statue "felt" it was being observed, it would cease movement.

The statues had some self-awareness, confirming that they were living creatures, albeit with limited intelligence.

The statue at the top of the stairs struggled, scraping along the edge of the stairs before tumbling down, covered in the cloth. It crashed to the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Liam stood at the top of the stairs, looking down, brushing the dust off his hands, clicking his tongue in slight disappointment. He looked at the statue, which was unscathed, only slightly curled, with not a single crack on the marble.

...It really can't be broken... Physical attacks are ineffective...

Unbeknownst to Liam, other players watched his villainous-like actions on the small screen, leaving them in disbelief.

"Is this guy a newcomer? He wrapped the mermaid wax statue in a sheet and threw it down the stairs... Was he a kidnapper or a terrorist before joining?"

"I was just worried about him, but now I feel sorry for the mermaid statue. It fell and got its tail twisted... How tragic..."

"...Does this guy even consider himself a player?"

"Most players want to survive the monsters, but this one? He doesn't want the monsters to survive at all..."