Top left, the number next to the red dot now displayed '36'.
———
Aside from Sean and Theodon, the thirty-four others were here, crowding the cinema hall because they had read the in-game Wikipedia's latest article about the unprecedented route of School of Apparitions.
It didn't attract as many people as Sean would've expected for three reasons. One, the guild itself may be popular, but Theodon as a writer was obscure. Two, new routes appearing is breakfast for long-time players. Three, Sean himself heavily overestimated Chen Mo's scheme to beat the second level.
In truth, Chen Mo didn't really do too much to impress in the second level. Most of the thirty-four weren't here because they thought the player had potential, but because they thought the player fluked a new route. Thus, they're now actively praying for Chen Mo's downfall.
"Third level." Sean scratched his hair. "Two known routes. One, fight the B rank Mrs. Smith. Two, hide until morning."
"There's a third." Theodon corrected with a proud smirk. "Mrs. Smith also targets bullies — in other words, the pool apparitions. Top players would use a smell bomb to force Mrs. Smith into the pool. One B rank versus six C ranks is a fair fight. Fifty-fifty, but either way, Mrs. Smith would be greatly weakened."
"Okay, smartass." Sean crossed his arms. "Actually... wait, Mrs. Smith shouldn't even be a threat to Xiao Bai, should she? Xiao Bai hasn't exorcised a single apparition unlike every other player; that means Xiao Bai isn't a murderer or a bully."
"That's why I'm the smartass and you're the dumbass." Theodon adjusted his glasses with a side-eye shot at Sean.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!" Sean roared, but Theodon didn't flinch.
"Jack's following Xiao Bai, and Jack's a murderer." Theodon calmly analysed.
"So? Just let Mrs. Smith eat Jack then!" Sean argued with clear impatience and frustration.
"That'd be a betrayal of their friendship." Theodon had thought everything out. "Jack would turn on Xiao Bai and kill him before Mrs. Smith could even touch them, since he is F rank after all. Xiao Bai has to work to keep Jack safe and hidden to preserve their friendship."
"Ah, fuck, I hate how much sense you make." Sean looked away exasperatedly, his fingers squeezing the cushioned handle tight.
"The smell bomb plan could absolutely still work. Let's see." Theodon calmly nodded, then returned his gaze to the big screen ahead. "Oh, he's hiding."
———
Chen Mo had pulled Amelia with him down into the pool, diving all the way down to the concrete slab, where all the apparitions were as well.
They weren't smiling anymore; those smiles had been turned upside down, their backs pressed against a wall, scared for their lives.
Chen Mo and Amelia did the same, and to prevent his NPC from doing anything stupid like back in the janitor's room, Chen Mo clasped Amelia's lips shut. Nonetheless, a bubble of breath still floated up.
The door creaked open right as the bubble surfaced and popped.
To avoid further slip-ups, Chen Mo lifted Amelia up underwater and placed her between his legs. He squeezed her tight to himself, one arm around her collarbones and a palm shutting her up.
With graphite skin and white-ink eyes, Mrs. Smith entered the swimming pool area. A towel on the floor caught her attention — it was the turban previously wrapped around Amelia's head.
There were two things different about Mrs. Smith compared to the pool apparitions. First, her mouth wasn't white ink; instead, it was a crack in her skin — a gap bleeding red, with no end in sight.
Second, she had an inflated, round stomach; she was pregnant when she passed in the school shooting.
She shone her flashlight onto the towel, walked up, and picked it up.
Chen Mo was just praying now; he had not expected Mrs. Smith to show up so soon, so he hadn't planned much at all, not nearly enough.
Mrs. Smith continued her advance until her feet were at the edge of the pool. She shone her flashlight onto the water's surface.
For Chen Mo, Amelia, and the apparitions hiding down below, it looked like a helicopter's searchlight.
The beam first scanned the centre of the pool, then went to the top right, tracing the edge until the top left.
Mrs. Smith searched attentively, but she never thought to search right beneath her own feet.
After what felt like an eternity without oxygen for Chen Mo, the light vanished.
Amelia was squirming to surface, but Chen Mo held her down. Not yet. Not until she returned that towel to the female locker room and left.
Their duffle bag was in the male locker room, so it wasn't exposed when Mrs. Smith hung the towel in its rightful spot in the female restroom.
Chen Mo couldn't hear footsteps or doors creaking while he was submerged, but that's fine; the apparitions' faces were doing the job of reporting Mrs. Smith's status.
The second their smiles returned, and their eyes went back onto Chen Mo and Amelia, he knew Mrs. Smith was gone.
He still didn't let go of Amelia while paddling up to air. Amelia would gasp, and he didn't want that to happen.
———
"He did it." Theodon commented. "He hid. But hiding until morning has its drawbacks."
"Policeeeeeee..." Sean answered a question never asked.
"Yes. There will be students and teachers the next day. If Xiao Bai is caught and sent to the police station, that counts as a failure for this minigame." Theodon nodded. "A smell bomb is still necessary to create an area everyone will avoid, an escape route."
"Hiding really wasn't a good play at all, bro..." Sean's eyelids drooped, disappointed in his streamer. "Most hiders don't make it out. I mean, he now has to avoid people in broad daylight the next day, while fighting the boss."
"Mmhmm. Hiding is widely considered to be suboptimal. Even fighting Mrs. Smith might be better than dealing with roaming humans." Theodon agreed as he watched Chen Mo and Amelia emerge out of the pool.
They had to dry themselves in the locker room again. Amelia had to tie the turban again.
Then, Chen Mo purchased something in the Store. It was a pair of walkie-talkies for 10 Sapphires.
"Bad play." Theodon noted. "He probably figured out to let the apparitions fight Mrs. Smith. He's planning to use the transceivers to lure Mrs. Smith into the pool, but transceivers don't work underwater. A smell bomb is the only way, by making the outside atmosphere so unbearable that Mrs. Smith must dive in to escape it."
"No, no, no." Sean disagreed, the slight curve on his lips suggesting that he was giddy to finally know something Theodon doesn't. "This is a viable solution. Using the walkie-talkie to first lure her to the edge of the pool, so that not much aiming is required when using the smell bomb."
"Then why didn't he buy a smell bomb?" Theodon still countered effortlessly.
"..."
"Wait!" A young girl, with her pink hair tied up in two high buns, joined their conversation from a row behind. "The mission is to get Mrs. Smith off their tail, not to exorcise her. Why not just... leave the pool area now?"
Extending her profile revealed her name to be Eleanor and her age to be sixteen. No guild. Control-class player. D rank.
"You're clearly inexperienced, dumbass number two." Theodon's contemptuous downward gaze was maintained. "Mrs. Smith in this level paces around the door of the pool area. There's no leaving it."
"You either exorcise it, or wait until morning when she rests." Sean added. If he can't be smarter than Theodon, then goddamn it, he will be smarter than this sixteen-year-old.
"Well, why not just do that?" the sixteen-year-old girl in question gestured to the screen.
Chen Mo had planted a walkie-talkie in the male locker room, then repositioned himself and Amelia to the female locker room.
He had turned the decoy transceiver to max volume; now all he had to do was scream.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!" He imitated an annoying laugh, the kind that teenagers make after a successful prank.
The decoy parroted the laugh louder, far louder, until Mrs. Smith came bursting back into the pool area.
She had already checked the female locker room when she returned the towel, and the noise was indubitably from the male side; it made no sense not to check there.
Meanwhile, Chen Mo and Amelia emerged from the female locker room, subsequently exiting the pool area.
"Goddamn it." Sean wasn't even excited that his streamer found a new way to beat the level; he was just frustrated that sixteen-year-old Eleanor had won the argument.
"No." Theodon shook his head suddenly.
Sean and Eleanor both turned their gaze upon the In-game Wikipedia writer.
"No, it's not over. System hasn't confirmed that the task was completed." Theodon squinted into the screen.