This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

By the end of May, Rita had accumulated 90 pounds of durian flesh since late February. As anything related to luck value was selling for high prices, she listed the durian flesh at 19 silver per pound. Since she had also stocked her vending machine with the same item, she didn't bother to remain anonymous.

Leaving no trace wasn't her style—hiding everything would just make people more suspicious of her.

It turned out there were plenty of coins in the world, and these bad-luck-inducing durian pieces were snapped up almost immediately, with buyers opting for the buyout price instead of bidding. Even the durian meat in her rooftop vending machine was likely to sell out fast, producing a steady income of 19 silver per pound each day.

As the saying goes, even the smallest fly is still meat. Rita wasn't complaining about the money.

After dealing with the durian, Rita moved on to processing the various items and artifacts she had collected from her cat den over the past few months. There were poison-making tools, items to promote plant growth, gadgets to change the color of equipment, and even one that could store sunlight.

In total, she had 12 different items, averaging about one discovery per week, though most of them were somewhat useless. She kept the poison-making tools out and categorized the rest for storage.

So far, none of the items had directly increased her power—nothing even remotely as useful as the **米字架 (Rice Cross)**. But she wasn't disappointed; after all, she'd only had the cat den for three months.

It was likely that someone on the roof had noticed Rita stocking new items in her vending machine in the middle of the night, as half an hour after restocking at 1 AM, it was empty again. She restocked it a second time, and after a quick midnight snack, it was empty once more. Finally, she decided to check and refill it every half hour.

Once she confirmed that the White family had located the instance, Rita stopped meddling. Now, all she had to do was wait for the minotaur shaman to summon the young prince's soul and begin hunting down the White family.

It was a pity that Rick wasn't on good terms with the White family—otherwise, dragging him into the mess would have made the plan even more perfect.

Having finished this business, Rita had a particularly good week ahead. She began tackling the level-10 instance in her apartment. Currently, fully equipped in level-3 blue gear, with an average attribute value exceeding 28 across the board, her stats were comparable to those of a level-17 player.

Add to that her three S-tier and one A-tier **Divine Gifts**, and if she couldn't solo a level-10 instance, she might as well just give up.

With the bonus experience from fighting higher-level monsters and not having to share the experience with others, she gained 10% of a level's worth of experience from just a third of the instance. By the time she had cleared half the instance, she had shot up from the 70s to within the top 40 of the ranking board, after having been stagnant for three days.

Then, Rita stopped grinding. Even though she occasionally paused to practice cooking and alchemy, her leveling speed was already fast enough to catch attention. It wasn't long before **Shadow.Q** came sniffing around.

**[Shadow.Q]**: "Selling?"

Two simple words, straight to the point, skipping any fake pleasantries. Rita appreciated that kind of direct communication.

**[Rita]**: "Not for now."

**[Shadow.Q]**: "If you do sell, contact me first. I'll guarantee a good price!"

**[Rita]**: "Sure."

Rick also came sniffing around.

**[Rick]**: "Sis~ sis~ sis~~ where'd you strike gold?! Can you help your little brother level up too?"

**[Rita]**: "Bring your heavy weapons and engineering tools and solo a level-4 instance. You can do it too. While there's a bonus for team play, soloing yields far more experience since you don't have to split it."

Rick relayed this advice to Zoey and the others nearby.

Zoey frowned. "Solo?"

The Lopez family was well aware that soloing earned more experience, but it was less efficient and more costly. Five people could kill ten monsters in five minutes, while one person might take half an hour to kill the same amount. Plus, the cost of healing potions and food multiplied several times over...

While Zoey could afford these expenses, the bigger problem was the increased risk of injury or even death when soloing.

After reporting back to the group, Rick continued chatting with Rita. He didn't even have to ask—Rita sent him the information he wanted.

**[Rita]**: "**[Advanced Landmine]** and **[Wolfbane Explosive]**, plus a rocket launcher for backup."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

**[Rita]**: "You can check the materials in the details. Prepare them, and I'll help you craft the items. With those, you can solo instances too."

Rick compared the materials with what was available at the auction house. When he calculated the costs, he found that just the materials for an advanced landmine would cost 5 gold, and the wolfbane explosive would set him back 8 gold for a single batch.

**[Rick]**: "Sis, you're richer than the Lopez family!"

The jealousy in his tone was palpable, even through the game interface.

**[Rita]**: "You could go gather the materials yourself instead of buying them. I spent days gathering ingredients and trading potions to get the materials."

Rick had a revelation—it made sense now. If you wanted good things, you either had to spend time or money.

Zoey then instructed, "Ask her if she could take us through an instance."

Rick hesitated for a moment, thinking, *It's one thing for her to take me, but why should she take you guys?*

Still, he followed Zoey's instructions and messaged Rita.

**[Rita]**: "Sure, but my materials take time to gather. Since you're my brother, I'll take you for free, but the others will have to split the material costs."

Zoey frowned upon hearing Rick's response but refrained from saying something as foolish as *why do we have to pay to join you*. That would be beneath her. Plus, Rita's distance from the Lopez family had always been clear—she neither used their name to get things done nor took advantage of them. In fact, it was the Lopez family that often sought out Rita for cooperation.

Before Zoey could say anything further, another message from Rita arrived.

**[Rita]**: "The cost of running an instance is about 50 gold. How many people are you bringing?"

Ezra, who had been listening in, couldn't help but ask, "Where did she get so much money?"

Though Rick liked competing with Rita and didn't enjoy seeing her surpass him, when it came to outsiders, he had a different attitude. After all, Rita's strength indirectly boosted his status.

He replied, "She's an alchemist and an engineer. She has vending machines at the entrance to her instance, and she makes about 10 gold a day from them. Plus, her **Divine Gift** can modify luck. The items she gets from instances are at least as good as ours, but she doesn't have to share them. All that loot can be sold for a lot of money."

These were things the Lopez family had discovered about Rita, so Zoey knew it, and naturally, Rick did too. That's why neither of them doubted Rita's ability to fund her own solo runs.

Still, Zoey insisted on having Rita take them through an instance. She wanted to see just how efficient Rita's methods were.

Rita didn't mind. She had already planned to team up with the Lopez family for one run. First, she wanted them to **Insight** her stats again—of course, after **Disguising** them. She also wanted to create the illusion that some of her stats had been stolen too.

She had the landmines, wolfbane explosives, and a rocket launcher ready. As for the instance, the Lopez family could provide that!

With Zoey's high status—thanks to her **Holy Light** Divine Gift—she had the third-highest authority within the Lopez family. She was also the only young person allowed access to the Lopez family's treasure vault. Any instance under their control was hers to enter at will.

They scheduled the run for the next day, and within ten minutes, Zoey had secured a level-4 instance and sent the location to Rita, along with 50 gold.

The next day, Rita treated the group to a VIP instance run. She handled the run as if she were taking a boss client on a dungeon tour.

Rita had them wait at the entrance while she went in to plant landmines. Then, she lured the monsters to them, using a combination of landmines, wolfbane explosives, and a rocket launcher to clear the instance. The only hint of her personal power was her impressive footwork and high damage from her archery, which aligned with her agility being her highest attribute.

Just as Rita had expected, the moment she arrived, Rick and Zoey simultaneously used **Insight** items on her. Zoey used Rick's A-tier item, while Rick used Zoey's discarded monocle. These two really had a toxic kind of synergy at times.

What they saw was that Rita's stats were higher than a typical level-4 player, but still within a reasonable

range. Zoey couldn't remember Rita's exact stats from before the game invasion, but even now, her highest stat—agility—was only 24 points.

It was an impressive number, but not outrageous. They figured she must have found a way to boost her stats, likely through some method connected to the Special Affairs Bureau.

Throughout the instance, Rick and Zoey privately discussed Rita, analyzing her performance.

Their final conclusion: for the third time, they ruled Rita out as a suspect.