This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist
Chapter 680 - 680: 680: Divine Game – Chaotic Blocks 71

The number of Abyss-tier players in the maze had already surpassed a thousand. At this point, Rita had to reactivate Mysterious Power every twenty minutes just to stay alive. When she couldn't hold out, she relied on Unchanged Fate to hang in there for five more minutes—then used Yes, I'm Fish Belly, What About It? to buy another round of Unchanged Fate.

It was a nonstop cycle of patchwork survival.

She had already used Unchanged Fate and Phoenix Seat early on. At her most desperate moment, she even activated Absolute Freedom to flee the maze for ten minutes, only returning once Owl Got Lost came off cooldown.

There were at least three players in the maze capable of disabling magic. She knew this because she had nearly died—three separate times.

Each time, she had to escape differently: sometimes using Master Thief Dragon, sometimes rewinding with Wrathful Moon, and other times disappearing entirely with Cat's Ideal.

Her current rotation involved using Phoenix Seat to wipe all cooldowns, then transferring Phoenix Seat's own cooldown with Owl Got Lost.

This method was the most efficient. Every time she used Phoenix Seat, she could also activate Clock Reversal one more time.

With ten minutes left until 5 PM and another wave of players about to enter, Rita had already planned to stop. Now, with the divine system stepping in to "force" her to stop, and offering her compensation and achievement rewards? It was perfect.

After losing her pursuers, Rita quickly chose her reward—Universal Fragment.

The achievement reward, halving the resource cost of a skill or item, was harder to pick.

Lonely Antenna Baby or I Just Want to Improve So Badly?

Both had their advantages. After a moment's thought, she chose the latter.

That skill's cost had always bothered her—each use consuming 10% of her health. It was too high, and even with a reward that could modify divine-grade skills, it might not have been enough to reduce it in one go.

Sure, reducing the cost of Lonely Antenna Baby would solve immediate problems, but as her stats continued to grow, even its drain of 2,000 MP per second would eventually become trivial.

In fact, after she used Blocks Exchange earlier and got thousands of Blocks, her stats and values had spiked significantly. Even now, they were still gradually rising. Her mana had already exceeded 35,000.

It was probably because players who had lost their Blocks were now returning to the starting room, triggering those lost stats to reflect back onto her.

This also confirmed her earlier theory: players who hadn't yet returned to the starting room would eventually be penalized for their lost Blocks—the only difference was how harshly.

Meanwhile, relics and items had one critical flaw in this game: they could be lost. Divine talent skills, on the other hand, almost never disappeared.

Five o'clock. The wind blew through.

Rita checked her inventory and found that the item she lost this time was one of the 47 three-piece fragments she'd bartered with grilled meat. Perfect.

After No Logic's effect faded for the second time, some sharp players started to suspect she had a skill that could manipulate perception.

But that wasn't an issue. She knew that once she used such a skill, smart players would eventually figure it out.

Once enough people caught on, she could simply flip the narrative—convince everyone that she had already manipulated something else entirely. Reverse deception.

Some more paranoid players even started speculating that Verdant Whisper · Windrush or whoever truly had Cat's Ideal was the one manipulating perception all along.

Whatever the case, the maze remained pure chaos. Players attacked on sight.

By now, Rita had resumed her feline form.

Compared to grilled meat sales—which required direct interaction—slinking through the maze as a cat was far less risky.

At least she didn't have to activate Mysterious Power every twenty minutes anymore.

If things got hairy, she could always escape using There's a Cat Here.

"Meow~~"

With a chorus of "meow meows" echoing behind her, Rita fled another chaotic skirmish.

She ducked into a corner and began inspecting her Star Pirate Ship.

During one of her escapes, she'd felt her speed suddenly increase. At first, she thought it was a stat boost from Blocks Exchange, but upon retrieving her ship, she realized the source was a new game reward.

After nearly four hours of delivering takeout in the maze—four hours of "getting attacked by a customer, customer realizing she couldn't be killed, deciding to buy grilled meat instead, then chasing her again out of spite trying to kill her with chip damage"—something had changed.

The Star Pirate Ship now had a new feature:

[Blocks & Me · March Star Pirate Ship]: Game reward. Cannot be traded, dropped, or damaged. No special effects or attribute bonuses. Can be miniaturized into an accessory. (Belongs to: BS-Rita)

[Trait] Chased Treasure: "The thrill of being hunted day and night by the powerful—what a rush! When you possess a treasure that all living beings crave, your Agility increases by 20%. This effect activates as long as you carry the Star Pirate Ship."

The trait seemed linked to the ship. She wondered whether the Bumper Car and Ferris Wheel had their own traits, and how they might be unlocked.

Rita popped the ship into her mouth and swallowed it for safekeeping.

She messaged B8017913:

"Check the Star Pirate Ship entrance. Did they post a leaderboard for top 10 players?"

B8017913, too big to take other jobs now, replied promptly:

"They posted it half an hour ago. You're still ranked first on Star Pirate Ship. Bumper Car dropped to third. Ferris Wheel's leaderboard hasn't been posted yet."

Rita relaxed. She didn't need to stay on top until the very end—just long enough to keep the ship.

She resumed her fishing-for-Blocks operation across the Month Theme Park, trading Attribute Blocks for three-piece game fragments.

If Verdant Whisper · Windrush wasn't in a hurry, neither was she.

But she still had her suspicions.

Could Verdant Whisper · Windrush really hide Cat's Ideal that completely?

When she'd tried probing during the Plush Collar trade, she'd found nothing.

Chavez Pocket Watch was just an item—its skill couldn't be enhanced by secrets.

Fishing Master couldn't even reveal what divine talents a target had.

She still didn't fully understand how the "Asset Transfer" reward worked.

Her plan was to wait until that effect wore off before using The Free Stuff Always Costs the Most to bait out Verdant Whisper · Windrush.

…

"Did she file an appeal?"

"Nope. She actually looks pretty pleased."

"Huh. Smart move, then."

"Weren't you the one saying she was too cautious earlier?"

"Was I? You must've misheard. What I said was, restraint is more valuable than greed."

"Hah. Admit it—you're just obsessed with BS-Rita because your sharp tongue finally found its match."

"Whatever. I'm heading in."

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