This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Once again, when Samuel and Scarlett came over for a meal, Rita casually mentioned Rick's fast leveling progress to Uncle Den and Benby, suggesting they keep an eye on him. "Lopez family likely has plenty of retirees like you and Dad, who are too scared to fight monsters themselves. They might have a team dedicated to leveling these people up. It's the Lopez family, after all.

How could a solo player like me compare?"

She then turned to Samuel and said, "I know you don't want to trouble Rick, but times have changed. Now, whoever is stronger has more power. Look at me—because I can use my connections to help Zoey and her team get good items from time to time, Zoey even calls me 'sister' now."

"Once my level went up, they all treated me with respect. Why do you think I push myself so hard?"

"You two should do the same. Ask Rick to get you into the Lopez family's leveling squad. Once your levels are up, I can get you some gear, and that'll give Rick more confidence, won't it? Why should distant relatives of the Lopez family get in on this, but you can't?"

"Rick is already in the top 100 on the leaderboard. He should have some say, right?"

"And besides, leveling up and adding to your Constitution is better than any health supplements or skincare products."

Samuel and Scarlett were moved by this. In fact, they had been intrigued by leveling up for a while. Why else would they have been convinced by a few words from Rick to come to Rita and ask her to help them level up?

Exactly—why should Lopez family's distant relatives get leveled up, but not them? If the Lopez family really had a dedicated leveling team, it had to be safer than Rita taking them out solo, right?

And with that, Rita kicked these two balls right back to Rick.

She wasn't worried about Rick not handling it. After all, the Lopez family did have a "Golden Years Leveling Squad." The Wilson family only had two elderly members, but the vast Lopez family had at least a few dozen old-timers. They were rich, constantly using the latest technology for health maintenance, and many of them lived well into their 70s or 80s.

These were the elders of the Lopez family—there was no way the family would abandon them.

In fact, all the big powerhouses had similar squads.

In her past life, Rita had even worked part-time for such a "Golden Years Leveling Squad." These jobs were in high demand because they involved babysitting a few elderly folks. No need to line up for dungeons, you could level up quickly, and the loot was all yours. The only downside was some of these old geezers had stubborn and irritable personalities—super annoying.

Scarlett and Samuel hadn't been part of such a squad in their past life. Rick's subordinates had scrambled to level up Samuel and Scarlett just to curry favor with him. Thinking back, it was so obvious. If those people were willing to level up Rick's parents, why wouldn't they have wanted to level up her as well? No one had ever offered. Rick must've been up to something behind the scenes.

After Samuel and Scarlett were passed back to Rick, he didn't throw them back to Rita. Instead, he smoothly placed them into the Lopez family's "Golden Years Leveling Squad."

Rick's level had increased considerably—though no one knew his attributes were as weak as a level 0 player. When he joined Zoey's team for dungeon runs, they got great rewards. He now had seven offensive skills, most of them F-rank, but they looked impressive enough, right? Stay connected via empire

Plus, his jewel crafting was highly regarded within the Lopez family for its top-tier stats. His status had risen significantly. Before, people treated him like he was invisible; now, they saw him as Zoey's husband.

That was progress, wasn't it?

From living off a woman, to living off a woman and enjoying it—how could that not be considered progress?

As for being locked up by Zoey and whipped every night? Don't ask. It's just a kink!

Sending his parents to the leveling squad was as easy as giving a heads-up.

Not only had Rick's influence grown, but Aaron's status in The Jones Family had also risen sharply. Rick and Zoey knew how to play their cards. While they kept the best loot for themselves, they shared the leftovers with Aaron and Lincoln based on contribution. After all, Aaron was a key DPS and Lincoln was their tank, so they needed to keep them close.

Aaron's discarded gear piled up, and whenever he visited The Jones Family, he would bring seven or eight pieces of equipment. In contrast, The Jones Family's five-man team could spend an entire day in a dungeon and only get one piece, if that. Aaron's generous haul naturally earned him greater respect within the family.

Everyone was doing great—except for one person: Julian.

He had thought that once Aaron recovered, their studio would finally flourish. With Rick's luck and Aaron's S-rank Divine Gift, and the backing of the Lopez and Jones families, it seemed like he had boarded a rocketship to success!

But after Zoey visited the studio, Rick disbanded it. If Rick had just gone back to live it up with the Lopez family, Julian could have accepted it. But how could Rick take only Aaron and leave them behind?!

Julian sat fuming, gripping his contract figure tightly, with two other studio members sitting across from him. They all knew—Rick had abandoned them.

It was inevitable. In the previous life, Rick had the **God of the Culinary Arts** skill. Although he couldn't cook attribute-boosting dishes right away, the potential was there. Even if he didn't give them anything directly, his food's buff effects were doubled, which was enough to make people follow him willingly.

Those whose talents weren't particularly outstanding would even give Rick good items in return, just for the chance to stay in his team.

But this time, things were more "normal." Rick didn't really have any personal charisma. How could he expect people to follow him blindly without offering something in return? He had invested quite a lot in Julian and the others.

But after joining forces with Zoey, he had no time or energy left to build his own team. All the loot and money he earned now had to go to Zoey first. Whatever was left, he would keep for himself. Why bother with starting his own venture when he could go back and focus on living off his wife?

As for Julian, Rick had considered bringing him along since he had an A-rank talent, and with a contract pet, he could be powerful. But that useless figure of his, with its crippled hand, wasn't even good as a tank. It was ugly too—just looking at it made Rick's skin crawl like something was about to grow on him...

Rick didn't want to waste his time, energy, or luck on Julian, so he kicked him to the curb.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Still, Rick had done enough. He didn't want Aaron thinking he was too heartless, so before leaving, he left Julian and the others with some money and allowed them to keep the small apartment.

Rick told himself he had a clear conscience.

The little spider Rita had placed in the apartment quietly observed everything.

As she chopped vegetables, Rita watched the scene play out in her mind, silently rooting for them: **Come on, turn to the dark side! Don't let this slide!**

Julian stubbed out his cigarette, his voice low and steely. "We can't let this slide."

One of the others held his face in his hands and mumbled, "What else can we do? It's the Lopez family..."

The last guy still had some sense of reason. "Honestly, he doesn't really owe us anything." Like a company going bankrupt and laying off employees, Rick didn't actually owe them anything...

But even though they said this, none of them were satisfied. They watched as Rick climbed into the top 100 on the leaderboard, while Aaron, who had started leveling up two weeks late, had already reached level 2 on their friends list. What did this mean? It meant those two had left them behind to advance on their own!

It was like a company promising grand success before going public, only to optimize them out once it actually did. Who could tolerate that?

Julian gritted his teeth. "Then why did he take our dungeon with him?"

The other two fell silent.

What really got under their skin was that now they had to line up with the common players, using their IDs to queue for dungeons. Getting into a dungeon once a day was considered lucky…

Unlike before, when they had their own studio dungeon and could farm whenever they wanted.

But after Rick left, Zoey's people came and claimed the dungeon, staking their territory. The old Zoey wouldn't have been so ruthless.

Her previous self would have left them ten hours a day to farm and level up. A dungeon destined to be phased out eventually, used to make a few connections with players with potential—why not?

But they weren't dealing with that version of Zoey anymore. They were dealing with Zoey in berserk mode.

Zoey didn't even bother with making connections. The fact that she wasn't taking out her anger on these people was a sign that her mood was relatively stable.

Rick, who had been whipped to below 10% health by Zoey every night recently, thought: **Oh yeah, nobody's more stable than you.**