Candace's POV
After hearing what Queen had expressed about how she felt towards her stalker, I was in a dilemma.
Among the four of us, I would say that Queen is the youngest and most delicate. As the only child, she was pampered by her parents. Spoiled. But not in a rotten bratty way.
She may not know but her parents had talked to me and my sister before they allowed her to live with us. Mr. and Mrs. Yamada wanted to keep her identity hidden from their competitors at least for now. They want her to enjoy and have freedom before she will take over the responsibility of her family's legacy.
Yes, that's right. Queen will take over the YGC or Yamada Group of Companies when she reaches 18. My dilemma is whether to tell her parents about the incident or not.
A soft sigh escaped from my lips. "How about we tell your parents about this, Queen?"
"No way!" her prompt response was already within my expectation.
"We have to take this matter seriously. I will hire a private investigator and see who is this stranger." I pat her shoulder while she nods her head.
"Your parents need to know, Queen..." Lorraine said from behind.
"I don't want them to be worried about me. Worst, they will ask me to go back home. I don't have anyone at home. That house is huge but it felt so empty." Queen whispered with a pleading tone. She even glanced at the floor and avoided eye contact.
I looked at her with empathy. My parents are the same. No, Queen's parents are better than mine. At least they call Queen regularly.
As for me and my twin sister Kate, our parents have totally buried their time on making money that it felt like they have forgotten us.
Kate's defense mechanism is traveling in which our parents had fully supported her. While the online game becomes my defense mechanism to cope with the feeling of emptiness. But we didn't blame our parents for their lack of attention. We just tried to keep ourselves occupied and get used to it.
"Let's play." I decided to break the silence before it gets awkward.
"What is the goal of this quest, Ace?" I heard Lorraine asked while staring at the progress bar on my screen.
"We will collect candies, Raine. Candies are tricky NPC. They will be everywhere. We need to catch them." I responded while waiting for my character to be transported on the map.
"Oh, what are our rewards, Ace?" Lorraine eagerly added.
"This is a team ranking competition system. The candies will appear at 1 pm and will end at 3 pm. Whoever gets the top 5 highest number of candies will get either in-game items or real-life voucher discounts." I quickly said as my character started running in the Vast Plains.
"Oh, where are the candies?" Queen said with confusion.
"That's the trick. Find and catch them. Let's teleport to the Grand Mansion. I don't think there will be a candy in the Vast Plains." I said and we voted to transfer to another map
As our avatars arrived at the Grand Mansion, hundreds of players are already inside. The map is PVP and the scene in front of us is a battle royal!
"Activate your speed boost and follow me!" I said and clicked my speed boost skill.
"There are no candies here too..." Queen commented.
"No, the candies are already on the players. We arrived late. We will steal!" I said as we run forward towards the staircase of the mansion.
"Good to see you, honored guest! Welcome to the second floor of the Grand Mansion! May I check your access pass?" A mansion guard immediately appeared as we arrive at the last step on the staircase.
I took our access pass in my inventory and clicked used. The mansion guard immediately disappeared.
"Where are we going, Queen?" Lorrain asked as our in-game character continued our way to the upper floor.
There are 10 floors in the Grand Mansion and the first 5 floors require an access pass. While the 6th to 10th floor requires diamond currency.
"Activate your invisibility and invincibility..." I instructed them after we are almost on the 6th floor.
There are no guards on the 6th to 10th floor but the door requires payment to be open.
After our payment, the door was immediately unlocked. Then a ball of fore was flying in our direction.
It was an attack!
As the fire hit us, our invincibility had already been activated. Then our character had gone invisible.
After a few seconds, we arrived on the 10th floor. Two characters are already inside.
TYPHOON and Thunder98
A private chat notification appeared on the screen. I clicked the open button and read TYPHOON's message.
TYPHOON: Wait 10 minutes before 3 pm.
I quickly sent him a confirmation reply.
STORM: Okay.
"We will wait until 10 minutes before 3 pm and get the candies in one go! We just stay our characters here for now." I said.
It was still 1:20 pm. The time is still long. "We don't do anything, Ace?" Queen asked.
"Not yet..." I responded as I open my tab for my inventory.
"Guys, prepare all your grenades and bombs..." I said and put the items in my bag.
After the long minutes of waiting, I received another private chat.
TYPHOON: Let's go!
"Okay, all the bombs and grenades... throw them down!" I announced.
"This is so brutal!" Lorraine mumbled bit still managed to throw her items.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A series of a loud explosion sounded. The players do not even have time to shout before they died.
"Okay, let's harvest the candies!" I said and teleported to the ground floor of the mansion.
As we casually walked my character suddenly stepped a gummy liquid on the floor.
"Be careful!" typhoon's voice rang through my ears as I saw an arrow going towards my direction.
Our invincibility had already worn down long ago and I did not expect any survivor from the blast.
CLANG!
Luckily, I have a maximum dexterity level. My character managed to block the attack despite unable to move due to the sticky trap on my feet.
"Ah, truly worthy of your title as the best duo!" a voice from my left side sounded.
An avatar wearing a red cloak emerged on my left corner. It was an archer!
"Hmmph... I didn't expect you to be alive, PeerlessShooter!" I said as we came face to face.