This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist
Chapter 679 - 679: 679: Divine Game – Chaotic Blocks 70

"When does the vote on the maze update end? Who hasn't voted yet?!"

"If we don't change the rules now, she'll be selling grilled meat all the way to the end of the Divine Game."

"Still waiting on two sleeping demons. The captain said Maangmaang's already gone to wake them."

"Huh? Maangmaang's actually taking initiative?"

"Maybe because BS-Rita used something they said—'Six is a magic number'—as her grilled meat slogan."

"Uh, so how did Maangmaang vote?"

"...Neutral. For changing the rules, but with some compensation for her."

"What, they like BS-Rita that much?"

"Ahem. Not necessarily. Everyone's just being... fair."

"Even the Captain and Deceitful Bloom voted neutral."

"Honestly, we don't even need those last two. The vote result's basically final already..."

…

Rita had just handed over another bundle of Attribute Blocks to B8017913 when the bot gave her some good news:

"I just got a prompt—I've completed the hidden achievement 'Sigh, Capitalism!'"

She glanced at the now 2.3-meter-tall B8017913. By the look of it, it was holding well over 5,000 Blocks. Even though some smart players who joined the maze later brought their own food, demand far outstripped supply. Grilled meat practically sold itself.

Even with her "one-per-player" rule, many players simply changed identities to buy a second helping.

She asked, "Are the rewards still the same? The 80% discount coupon, forced recall, or It's Time?"

B8017913: "Yep."

Rita: "Go with the discount coupon. You keep it for now."

B8017913 made the selection and tucked away the "80% Discount Coupon" Block with care.

It was worth noting that during this round of deliveries, Rita had finally bought back the [Plush Collar] fragment from Verdant Whisper · Windrush—at the steep cost of two full orders of grilled meat.

No choice. The moment she tried to buy it back, she exposed how important it was to her. If she didn't offer that price, Verdant Whisper · Windrush wouldn't have sold it at all.

Even if Windrush wanted to buy meat from her, they could easily disguise themselves and do it anonymously.

Her [Chavez Pocket Watch] was no longer sufficient when dealing with high-tier Abyss players.

As she encountered more of them, Rita found herself questioning even her most reliable tools.

She couldn't even fully trust the weaknesses revealed by [Fishing Master] anymore—if she could spoof data, why couldn't they?

While reflecting on all the game rewards piling up, Rita pulled out her final-use trial of [Double Recall].

But instead of recalling the [Plush Collar], she chose to recall something else—[Sleeping Dragon Horn Fragment].

Ever since that fragment landed on the World Battlefield, she hadn't been able to sense Whitebone Black Jade anymore.

She still wasn't sure if "recall" sent items back to their original locations, but it was worth testing.

As the horn fragment vanished, Rita closed her eyes and focused.

Moments later, she felt Whitebone Black Jade's presence again.

They were still running dungeons. She "saw" the teammates around them glance over, clearly reacting in surprise.

Their mouths moved, but Rita didn't know lip reading. She didn't care what they were saying—as long as she could sense Whitebone Black Jade, that was enough.

Feeling relieved, she opened her eyes just as B8017913 handed her an owl fragment.

"One of the arcade machine pieces went up for sale," the bot reported, "but it's marked 'only accepts Blocks from the October Theme Park.'"

That was a dead end. Even if Rita had been outside, she couldn't have bought it. She took the owl fragment and said,

"No problem. Keep an eye on it. If you can grab it, do. If not, leave it. Also, no more grilled meat runs."

B8017913: "Switching to something else?"

Rita: "Nope. I'm done. No more sales."

She grabbed five servings of grilled meat and the owl fragment, then, after cloaking the helm with Teletubby Blocks, rotated the helm to return to the maze.

The moment she landed, before she could even pull out her ride, a skill slammed into her, shaving off 0.004% of her health.

Rita didn't even bother dodging—this was just routine by now.

If players could snatch the meat, they wouldn't bother buying.

Every player who saw her had to try. Only after realizing she couldn't be killed and the meat couldn't be stolen would they settle down and buy properly.

After sending off her latest customer, Rita turned her attention to the owl.

With the fifth piece now in hand, the owl unlocked its third skill:

[Skill 3] The Owl Got Caught

Select a target and transfer the cooldown of one of your own skills to them. The recipient skill is randomly chosen from any skill the target has used in the past 12 hours.

Each skill may only be transferred once per Starsea day.

Costs 1000 Mana.

Cooldown: 1 hour (this cooldown is absolute and cannot be reduced by any means).

While flying past a battlefield, Rita decided to test it before selling more grilled meat.

First, she tried targeting [I Could Just Steal It]—a skill that could only be used once in a lifetime.

When the transfer failed, she reluctantly selected [Phoenix Seat] instead and dumped the cooldown onto a random player.

After pulling her little stunt, she raised her meat packets high.

"Anyone hungry for grilled—"

Before she could even finish her sales pitch, the system's voice echoed across the maze.

[An instability has been detected. All Month Theme Park maze games are now being rebalanced.]

[New Rule 1: Every kill inside the maze restores 5 stamina points.]

[New Rule 2: Holding map fragments will restore 1 stamina per piece per minute.]

Every player who had paused mid-fight turned at once to stare at the so-called instability.

Instability · Rita: …

At the same time, a few private prompts popped up in her mind:

[Due to the mid-game rule change and its impact on gameplay, Player BS-Rita may choose one of the following compensations:]

- Block Exchange

- Block Duplication

- Universal Fragment

[Achievement Unlocked: This Can't Go On]

[This Can't Go On: Trigger a divine rule change mid-game without exploiting any actual bugs.]

[Reward: Choose one skill or item—its cost will be permanently halved.]

Rita cast a glance, both regretful and indignant, at the Abyss players around her, then turned and flew off in a huff.

But deep down? She wasn't angry at all. In fact, she was relieved—and thrilled about the reward.

The announcement couldn't have come at a better time.

She'd already told B8017913 to stop the grilled meat deliveries.

Honestly, the rewards she'd raked in from this maze had already surpassed what she was prepared to handle.