This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Ever since their stats and equipment were stolen, Zoey and Rick had been paranoid, suspecting everyone around them. They even collected every strand of hair in their home and had it tested to rule out any foreign traces unrelated to the Lopez family.

Naturally, Rita had also been under suspicion, especially by Rick, whose paranoia was growing. He couldn't shake the feeling that his Divine Gift had been stolen along with his attributes. After all, if someone could steal stats, why not Divine Gifts too?

But after extensive testing—whether it was the hair samples collected from the Lopez house or the surveillance footage—Rita was always cleared of suspicion. Any foreign hair could be immediately compared to Rick's, ruling out Rita, and the surveillance footage provided further proof.

In many cases, she had an alibi, but even in situations where she didn't, the circumstances only further absolved her of guilt. Sometimes, being too perfect raises suspicion, but Rita's actions felt so natural that no one questioned her.

For Rick, his biggest concern was the third closed beta test. But on that day, Rita had been in Jiangcheng. He even had the Lopez family check the local surveillance footage—from the airport to the hotel, Rita hadn't left the city.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

In truth, the investigation into Rita was more of a precaution. Deep down, neither Rick nor Zoey considered her a real suspect. After all, Rita had been the one to share the game with Rick after participating in the second closed beta—she had even tried to share it with Zoey. This solidified the belief in their hearts: *Rita would never hurt us.*

During the dungeon run, Rita allowed the group to use **Insight** on her, pretending not to notice. With her **Disguise** ability, thanks to her watch, her stats were masked 24/7. No matter who used **Insight**, they would only see her normal, slightly elevated attributes.

They finished the level-4 instance in just three hours, and each person gained 3% experience. Soloing would have earned more, which explained Rita's rapid level gains. Her speed was terrifying, but the cost was high—50 gold worth of landmines and explosives had been used up. No one else could afford such an expense at this stage.

When they exited the instance, Rita explained to the group, "This method is only for occasional use. It's the first time I've tried it. It's only worth it when you're rushing levels; otherwise, it's not very cost-effective."

Zoey, being generous, gave her 50 gold to cover the cost. She wasn't one to nitpick over small matters like this.

Rita gave Zoey all five pieces of gear they had obtained in the instance—not that it was a big sacrifice. The total value of the gear would only fetch about 5–6 gold at auction.

Zoey did a quick calculation of the costs and benefits and decided it wasn't worth it. Two runs per day would cost at least 90 gold, and after three days, she'd be broke.

Since Rita needed to keep a low profile while manipulating things behind the scenes, she couldn't afford to consistently refuse the main characters' requests. Doing so might make them suspicious. So, instead of rejecting their first request outright, she agreed to help, then subtly dissuaded them from asking again. By the look on Zoey's face, Rita knew she wouldn't be bothered by them for a while.

...

After parting ways with Zoey and the group, Rita returned to her alchemy classes on Rania Kaiya Star.

She had now taken on the role of supplying Apache with cigarettes, alcohol, offline gaming consoles, and various entertainment facilities—on top of cooking for him.

But she didn't mind; she was more than grateful that an alchemy master was willing to teach her. Even the Special Affairs Bureau couldn't get a single word out of Apache. Rita constantly worried that one day Apache might lose interest in these earthly pleasures and stop teaching her.

She also treated the little undead spider well, always bringing food and games. It only cost her a bit of time and money.

Rita suspected that both Apache and the little undead knew she was from Blue Star, but they pretended not to. Naturally, she didn't feel the need to come clean—better to keep the charade going.

After her alchemy class, she transformed into a cat and snuck into a kitchen to secretly learn cooking techniques. The chef had grown accustomed to seeing the little cat watching him cook and even occasionally set aside a portion of food for it.

Once she had eaten her fill and the **Disguise** cooldown ended, she ran out of the kitchen and transformed into a goblin. Her plan was to visit a main city she hadn't been to yet and exchange gold with the local goblins.

Rita had made up her mind to visit every major city and trade with each goblin clan. As for her deals with the Special Affairs Bureau, she wasn't worried about cheating them. Every main city had goblins, and there were also smaller towns near each city with scattered goblin communities. The Special Affairs Bureau just needed to find them.

Once she informed the Bureau about exchanging gold, they would likely scour 80% of Rania Kaiya Star's goblins within six months. Once the goblins had traded all their gold, they wouldn't exchange gold for anything else, even with players from Blue Star. That way, the Lopez family's stash of gold would become a dead asset.

Gold that couldn't be exchanged for coins would be no different from other assets, and unlike other investments, gold wouldn't generate any income.

It would be even more entertaining if the White family had also converted their assets into gold. Given their close monitoring of the Lopez family, they likely followed suit. If that were the case, things would get very interesting...

...

After spending most of the day on Rania Kaiya Star, Rita returned to Blue Star and saw some good news on the game forum:

- **"Shocking: Minotaurs Post Bounty on the White Family"**

- **"What Did the White Family Do to Anger an Entire Race?"**

- **"Blue Star's First Incident: A Local Faction Bounty from a Foreign Race"**

- **"Analysis: Could It Be Related to the Minotaur Prince?"**

Rita hesitated but ultimately decided not to fan the flames. Doing too much could backfire. If the sacred relic was revealed too soon, the entire situation would seem premeditated.

Plus, the White family didn't know about the relic yet. If she exposed it now, it would give them a chance to explain or cover their tracks. It was better to wait a bit longer—by then, the White family wouldn't be able to talk their way out of it.

She had a part to play tomorrow anyway. Rita went to bed early and, the next morning, managed to gain another 14% experience. Unfortunately, all the gear she looted was level 10 or higher, so she set it aside. Still, her luck wasn't too bad—she found a sewing pattern, which she immediately learned. She planned to make items and sell them at auction for some extra income.

In the afternoon, nearly 30 hours had passed since the dungeon run with Zoey and Rick. Rita messaged Rick, casually probing for information about where Zoey had used the stolen stat and gear-stealing skill stones.

Rick immediately caught on to why she was asking. He had noticed the previous day that two pieces of his equipment were missing. He and Zoey checked their attributes and inventories daily—so much so that they had written it on their hands as a reminder—so they always knew when something was missing.

Now that Rita was asking, it was clear that she had also lost stats or equipment! This realization left Rick with mixed feelings—he was both terrified by the relentless thief and oddly comforted by the thought that he wasn't the only one suffering.

What pleased him even more was that Rita suspected Zoey but didn't suspect him...

Of course, Rick never considered using the skill stones on Rita. There were too many detestable people in the Lopez family to steal from first—Rita didn't even make the list.