"Wait, Glass Queen—" Sean couldn't articulate the final word completely; the sudden blackout of the cinema hall startled him.
The neon-lime system shone for all to see: [XiaoBai's stream has reached thirty downvotes! Stream can now be found in Disliked Streams, Hall 44.]
Sean was shocked to see the name 'Glass Queen', perhaps even a little frightened, whereas Eleanor was completely in the fog. "Who is she? What the heck?"
"How long have you been in this game, bro?" Sean shrugged, but his eyes weren't on Eleanor. They were scanning the crowd, alive with controversy.
"She's there," Theodon commented as he jerked his chin towards a tall corner of the hall.
Next to the exit, where flocks of players were leaving with sighs, were two towering men in suits, bodyguarding the Glass Queen in between them.
Due to the lack of light, Sean could only see her silhouette. It was the silhouette of a flawless feminine hourglass figure, dressed fashionably, with a demeanor so aloof and detached that it could be felt even without facial expressions.
"Sooo, who is she?" Eleanor tilted her head curiously.
"..." Sean pressed his lips before parting them again. "Only the leader of the third-strongest guild in-game."
The dark figure that was the Glass Queen then ambled away casually.
———
Chen Mo was weirded out by the crowd's sudden switch-up on him. Nonetheless, he received 180 Sapphires, and donations clearly couldn't be regretted, as he'd be keeping those 180 Sapphires.
Whoever the Glass Queen was, and why her influence was so vast and instant, those were worries that Chen Mo would deal with once he completed the final task:
[Final task: Escape the school!]
Can't be that easy, Chen Mo thought.
Amelia and he had already sauntered all the way to their last hallway, at the end of which lay the exit.
Chen Mo halted his footsteps. The heavy dufflebag, stuffed with a lot of random items, slid off his shoulders. He didn't have enough strength to lift it back up there himself; Amelia would help, as she questioned, "Why are we stopping?"
"We've been smooth criminals for the entire night. Why not continue the trend?" Chen Mo pitched with a grin.
"What are you suggesting?" Amelia was all on board.
...
They would rip off all the curtains from Jack's classroom, then the classroom next to it, then hug them in clumps, carrying them painstakingly to their next destination: the rooftop again.
They would return to the fourth floor, albeit without fireworks this time; that had long since ended. The two would tear the curtains up, tie them back together again, then pull to make sure they were tight and secure.
Chen Mo was planning to make a harness, then lower both of them down from the rooftop as their method of escape.
And he had his reasons.
He would tie one end of the long rope of curtains onto a pipe, then ask Amelia, "Let's pull on this together to make sure it's secure."
"Ah! Sure." Amelia was more than elated after the enchanted experience the two of them had shared beneath the blossoming flames.
The two played tug-of-war against the pipe, utterly losing it, just the way they wanted.
"Nice," Chen Mo muttered quickly before picking up the free end of the rope.
Before he hurled it down, however, he'd sneak a peek.
Below were two graphite-skinned apparitions, looking up from the grass field beneath.
Their heads were tilted all the way up until their faces were parallel with the ground. Their eyes were normal in shape and colour, but abnormal in their excessive size.
Neither had mouths, but their death stares were enough to indicate hostility towards Chen Mo.
Chen Mo checked their profiles:
[Jack's Mother]
[Threat: B rank]
[Jack's Father]
[Threat: B rank]
Chen Mo wasn't the one they were glaring at; it was Jack, who had followed Chen Mo the entire time after their 'friendship' was formed.
Chen Mo had a rough guess that the final task of a game wouldn't be as easy as just walking out of the venue. He anticipated a threat, a final boss, and if this final boss weren't in the school, then it was definitely outside.
"What's wrong?" Amelia joined Chen Mo, looking at the two ghosts below. This time, she could actually see them. "Oh my god... What do we do?"
However, she didn't seem to recognise them as dead, just like Mrs. Smith.
"Don't worry," Chen Mo reassured.
Seeing as how his parents were dead, it was logical to assume Jack didn't like his parents. Thus, hurting them wouldn't cause trouble.
Chen Mo had decided to escape through the rooftop for this reason: high ground against the final boss.
He took his sweet time, carefreely taking a seat on the rough concrete floor, then sorting the apparatuses he had pocketed into the dufflebag.
A retort stand held the boiling flask in place, and the Bunsen burner was positioned directly beneath it.
"What are you doing?" Amelia asked curiously.
"Making something that will drive them away," Chen Mo answered.
He added plain drinking water into the flask, then lit the Bunsen burner. Before the water boiled, he was reminded of something. "Oh. Uhh..."
He retrieved the two wet towels they had used to dry themselves earlier from the dufflebag, then handed one to Amelia. "Cover your nose and mouth. You don't want to breathe this in."
"Since when were you good at chemistry? I thought you failed every test," Amelia teased, but did comply with his instructions. She wrapped the wet towel across her face, then tied an elegant knot by her nape to keep it firm.
Chen Mo did the same.
The water began boiling.
Chen Mo already had red phosphorus in his hand, but he wasn't willing to add it in just yet. He removed the flask from the assault of the fire, then brought it all the way to the balustrade.
The flask of boiling water was carefully positioned above the two apparitions.
Then, with a deep breath, Chen Mo bit open the cap of the bottle of red phosphorus. He closed the distance between the mouths of the flask and the bottle.
He sharpened his focus to the maximum, then, in one swift motion, he poured all of the red phosphorus into the boiling water—
Tsk! Tsk! Tsktsktsk!!
—and dropped the flask from his grip before too much phosphine gas escaped.
The reaction sizzled vigorously from start to finish. That finish being—
CRACK!!
The boiling flask shattered on the ground right between the two B rank monsters. Steaming water splashed everywhere, but that wasn't the main threat to the apparitions.
It was the phosphine gas: the colourless, fishy, toxic gas that was being emitted constantly.
Apparitions have a strong sense of smell. Chen Mo capitalised on that. He had saved the phosphine gas rather than using it on Mrs. Smith because he had predicted a final boss like this.
The two apparitions' expressions turned from menacing to frightened in a second. They scrambled, their hands covering their non-existent noses, escaping the vicinity with uncoordinated footsteps.
But their escape was futile. After only a few steps, the mother dropped unconscious, and the father followed not long after.
Only now did Chen Mo hurl the rope of curtains down. "I'll go first, in case the gas underneath hasn't dispersed." Chen Mo climbed atop the balustrade, gripping the rope firmly. "It shouldn't matter anyway, since we have the dampened towels, but nonetheless—"
"Thanks," Amelia cut him off. "It's really nice of you, Xiao Bai."
Every time Amelia called Chen Mo by that nickname, in her sweet, innocent voice, it was the greatest symphony to tickle his ears. He smiled involuntarily as he readied himself for the descent.
...
With slow, careful progress made, the two intruders of the school would eventually complete the climb all the way down.
Chen Mo's feet touching the ground didn't trigger the system, whereas Amelia's did.
[Final task completed!]
[Reward: 60 Sapphires. 5 Rubies.]
[Congratulations! You have completed the School of Apparitions (NPC secured) (99.8% accuracy)!]
[NEW: Harem unlocked!]
[Amelia Cunningham became the first member of your Harem!]
[Congratulations! You have been awakened!]
[NEW: Arcane Abilities unlocked!]
[NEW: Game Lobby unlocked!]
[NEW: Personal World unlocked!]
[NEW: Spectator Halls unlocked!]
[Teleporting player to Game Lobby...]
Chen Mo's vision blurred — that was the most apparent of all the senses that were gradually fading away. With time, all of them became stark, until Chen Mo returned to that numb darkness he had encountered right before entering the game.
Then, the next second...