Mikkel Meinhof's smile carried malice; anyone could tell at a single glance.
Amelia held tightly onto the hem of Chen Mo's jacket; her trembling alone told Chen Mo everything about her fear of the towering man before them.
"How about this..." Mikkel continued speaking before even allowing Chen Mo a chance to answer his previous question. Mikkel raised an empty palm, waved it lazily, and summoned one end of a thick nylon rope out of thin air.
The nylon extended outward, then eventually branched into two, connecting onto two women's throats. More specifically, two slaves, Mikkel's slaves. They were both blindfolded, and worse, completely naked. The nylon rope spiralled and webbed around their bodies, with clear intentions to restrain as much movement as possible, as well as to hold their breasts up for purely aesthetic purposes.
"I'll give you these two, for her." Mikkel jerked his chin towards Amelia, who was hiding everything except her head behind Chen Mo. "It's a goddamn steal, if you ask me."
"That's impossible." Chen Mo shook his head without even the slightest hesitation. There was rage simmering within his mind, watching the psychopathic and oppressive Mikkel, but none of it showed on his face.
No fear was visible either, unlike Amelia. Not because Chen Mo suppressed that emotion, but because Chen Mo wasn't afraid at all.
"Listen, Psychopathic Psychiatrist." Mikkel called Chen Mo by his character title, "You're new, you don't understand how slaves work yet, clearly. After a while of fucking the same girls, you'll get bored of them and start seeking new junk. Two will always be better than one."
"The answer's still no. Please kindly leave." Chen Mo stood his ground firmly, unmoving.
Theodon also decided to leave, choosing not to involve himself in the conflict. Before he left, Chen Mo received a system message:
[WillowTheodon followed your streams!]
[EleanorLmAo followed your streams!]
"I'm just passing by." Eleanor held both hands up before retreating, quickly scampering behind Theodon.
Sean remained behind Chen Mo, but he wasn't about to speak for him.
The Lawless Executioner was A+ tier in strength, and belonged to the 12th strongest guild in-game: Aryan Supremacy.
The Nazis weren't an enemy worth making. Sean would've preferred it far more if Chen Mo had simply given up Amelia, but that clearly wasn't happening.
Mikkel decided to close the distance between them. Their height difference was more than apparent; Chen Mo was practically staring into his chest if he didn't tilt his head upward.
Mikkel bent his knees slightly until their eye levels aligned. "E rank. Ha... Hahaha..." he laughed under his breath. "I don't believe you have the right to say all of that to an A+ rank. Are you not afraid I would just..."
Mikkel's palm, larger than Chen Mo's entire face in his current goth girl form, reached forward and hovered dangerously close to his throat.
"...kill you right now?"
"If you can." Chen Mo calmly analysed, his tone steady and unshaken. "That would mean violence is tolerated by the system even in the lobby. If that were the case, there wouldn't even be a tournament; there would just be a purge."
Mikkel's hazel eyes, resembling those of a predatory tiger, glared fiercely into Chen Mo's lifeless brown ones.
Then—
"Haha... HAHAHA..." Mikkel suddenly pulled away, bursting into loud, unrestrained laughter. He slapped his knee as he laughed. "Bold, but stupid. I can't attack you right now, sure, but I can just camp you for the next time you enter a game. You do know you must enter multiplayer games, right?"
Chen Mo didn't know, but he had already assumed that to be the case. Otherwise, half the players who survived their first game would simply quit forever. He asked the system internally and received an immediate answer:
[Every player must enter a minimum of one minigame every month, and one multiplayer minigame every year.]
[Mikkel_Meinhof_MM followed your streams!]
"Are you sure this is a fight you want to be in?" Mikkel's arrogant smile remained deeply etched onto his lips.
Chen Mo didn't flinch. "Yes. There's nothing more for you to do now. Please leave instead of wasting your time."
"Hmm... Haha..." Mikkel continued to find the entire situation amusing. An E rank challenging an A+ rank... "Okay. We'll meet next game, Xiao Bai the Psychopathic Psychiatrist."
The ropes and his slaves suddenly vanished, teleported back to his Personal World. Before the Lawless Executioner left, he shot Amelia one last suggestive, invasive smirk.
Amelia trembled badly; her legs shuddered violently, failing to keep her standing upright. She collapsed, but Chen Mo caught her.
"Urghh..." But Chen Mo's strength was only level 2. He himself began trembling slightly with Amelia leaning against him.
"Sorry." Amelia quickly got off, breathing heavily in an attempt to steady herself. "Sorry..."
"Don't worry about it." Chen Mo reassured simply, his tone calm.
Amelia adjusted her long, lustrous silver hair, clearly wanting to say something, but ultimately choosing not to.
Instead, Sean spoke up. "You shouldn't have done that, bro. Like, arghh... He's like... he's the ace fighter of the Nazis. You mess with him, you're messing with the whole guild. And damn it! You're E rank. Just him alone would be enough to kill a hundred of you!"
"Hmm..." Chen Mo stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think so."
"Tch." Sean crossed his arms. "Now I'm not even sure if I want to stay your fan. Since... mm, you're about to die, bro."
"Hmm... I don't think so." Chen Mo denied flatly once again. "Speaking of which, can I ask why you're my fan?"
"I don't know..." Sean scratched his head awkwardly. "Well... I do know. An E rank beating School of Apparitions at record accuracy — that's one in a million. More like one in a billion... I don't think you fluked that."
"Thanks." Chen Mo grinned faintly.
"Funny enough though, hehe, out of the new batch of players, you don't even hold the highest accuracy for beginner minigames." Sean remained relatively carefree; Mikkel hadn't even acknowledged his existence at all.
"Who did?" Chen Mo's curiosity was piqued immediately.
"Well, come." Sean began pacing ahead of Chen Mo. "Our tour starts with the leaderboards, then your Personal World... then I guess we'll be finished. Oh wait, no, the Store too."
"I don't think I need a tour for the Store." Chen Mo hadn't started moving yet.
Sean halted after noticing Chen Mo standing still. "Oh no, you definitely want it, trust me. Are we going, or not?"
Chen Mo turned around to check on Amelia. "Are you okay?"
"Uh..." Amelia was caught off guard. Her eyes still trembled with lingering fear, slightly welled with tears. "I-I'm fine..." Her voice quivered as well.
"I'll send you back to my Personal World, then meet you there later." Chen Mo stated.
With just a mere thought, both Amelia and the dog collar attached to her disappeared instantly, leaving behind an incomplete echo of "Thank—"
"Oh right, I forgot about her." Sean slapped the back of his neck. "Well, come on then. Leaderboards await."
"Okay." Chen Mo followed.
...
They travelled atop the glass floors — a complete nightmare for anyone with acrophobia. Along the way, Chen Mo noticed players constantly entering and exiting minigames, or even leaving the game entirely. The similarity between each teleportation was that they all passed through identical blank white doorways.
Soon enough, the two arrived at the leaderboards section. There were hundreds of different leaderboards, varying in size and detail depending on their significance.
The largest, most imposing leaderboard was painted deep red, adorned with claw-like engravings resembling those of a dragon. That was, of course, the ranking of every player's power.
The second largest, and most visually eye-catching leaderboard, was painted in a starry lilac hue, decorated with patterns of stars, galaxies, and all things celestial. That was the guild ranking.
Even from a distance, Chen Mo could clearly see the top three of both leaderboards, as they were prominently highlighted.
He observed the individual power ranking first:
[1st: Ace♠of♠Spades (Blind Duelist/Fighter-Class) - Z Rank (Power: 5013)]
[2nd: Christopher2nd (Murder Professional/Marksman-Class) - SSS Rank (Power: 4774)]
[3rd: V.Violet (Bringer of Nightmare/Fighter-Class) - SSS Rank (Power: 4759)]
V.Violet?
That was the abbreviation for the Violent Violet, who was a vigilante roaming the nights of the city Chen Mo lived in: Caciress.
He had appeared two or three months ago, if Chen Mo remembered correctly. The Violent Violet was an allegedly superpowered vigilante who served justice to criminals who had escaped the police. The name came from his violet outfit and his brutally violent beatings. He never killed, but he still instilled fear into the night.
Superpowered...
Now Chen Mo understood where that came from. It had to be because of this game.
Moving on to the guild leaderboards:
[1st: Fair Hand (Leader: King♠of♠Spades)]
[2nd: The Golden Syndicate (Leader: William_Gold$)]
[3rd: Phoenix League (Leader: 玻璃女王)]
Although far less informative than the individual rankings, this one felt far more familiar to Chen Mo.
The Golden Syndicate was something else from Caciress. It was supposedly the world's largest underground organisation. There was evidence of illegal drug smuggling, manufacturing, and distribution tied to them, and even rumours that they operated the largest sex trafficking ring in the entire world.
Yet, they were still active, still thriving, serving as a prime example of how the justice system had failed, and why someone like the Violent Violet had emerged.
Even the name William Gold was familiar. He was practically a celebrity billionaire, with a public image so fake that anyone with half a brain could tell something was off.
However, what stunned Chen Mo the most wasn't the Syndicate. It was the Phoenix League.
Its leader was called 玻璃女王, which was Mandarin for the Glass Queen.
The leader of the third strongest guild had made time just to downvote Chen Mo, a complete newbie's stream.