This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Through the screen, Rita could feel Mistblade's speechlessness, but how did it end up being her who got dragged into it?

And why were there players still doubting that Lania Kaia Maple Syrup could have done such a thing? That was too sloppy—she had to make sure everyone got the juiciest gossip.

Without even blinking, Rita reached out and turned on her left turn signal. She then proceeded to nod furiously at all the players who were driving around the track, as if she had a message to convey.

Maple Syrup stretched out her hand and pressed down on Rita's head, stopping her from nodding. Clever Nivalis took over, and began nodding vigorously in Rita's place—after all, Rita told her everything!

Maple Syrup: "..."

Rita whispered comfortingly to Maple Syrup in Owl language, "It's fine. We don't know anyone here. Just keep this to ourselves, and it'll be okay."

Maple Syrup stared at her quietly for a few seconds. Rita was baffled by the gaze, but Nivalis understood.

Having spent so much time in High Tower, Nivalis had become fluent in Owl language. She heard every word and quietly whispered in Dragon language to Rita, "You don't know anyone, but Maple Syrup does. She's been here for so long, and she's ranked so high—everyone definitely knows her."

Rita whispered back in Dragon language, "…I know, I'm playing dumb."

Maple Syrup, who could understand Dragon language, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She sighed, thinking to herself, whatever, let it go. For the sake of her wings and [Ancient Curse], she'd just smile and move on.

For the next ten minutes, Rita felt like she was participating in a prank rather than a game about truth and lies. It seemed like the game stone knew everyone's secrets but was cleverly avoiding the core ones. Instead, it was fixated on trivial gossip. Strangely enough, it even seemed to connect players from different races, making Rita and Nivalis exclaim "Wow," "Oh my god," and "No way" over and over again.

They had truly gained some insight. It was like being at a village square rather than a battlefield.

Not only that, but the parking lot had turned into utter chaos, a true bumper car arena. Everyone was driving their karts, attacking each other, trying to destroy at least a hundred other players' karts to ensure they wouldn't end up on the inevitable 100-player death list. Meanwhile, they were also busy sharing gossip in the battlefield chat channel.

Nivalis drove in serpentine patterns to avoid being hit, while Rita focused on attacking. She was determined to eliminate those 100 players first—otherwise, leaving early would be suicide.

Having already recovered her 30% reduced strength from soul shocks, and with [Absurd Story] and [Midnight Exile] in hand, Rita was no longer the helpless weakling she had been when she first entered the world battlefield.

Every player who tried to attack her was met with 100% reflected damage!

They tried to dodge or use skills like Thunder Web to reduce damage, but if an attack landed, Rita was protected by a blood shield. Whenever she sensed something was wrong, she'd activate the SSS-tier divine skill [Bedtime Tale], which cost 3 skill points.

She couldn't be killed—not unless she was instantly destroyed.

As long as Rita wasn't killed outright, Nivalis could heal her. Both of them had their own special skills, so their healing never stopped.

Moreover, every player who attacked Rita seemed to be in pain, as though they were the ones being hit, not her.

But Rita didn't just blindly tank hits. Even with [Bedtime Tale], if the damage came in too densely, she could still die.

Although she hadn't brought a pocket watch into the game, she had checked the leaderboard while Nivalis was looking for the exit. With her physical stats upgraded to 200 in intelligence, Rita could now memorize everything in a glance. So even without the pocket watch, she could quickly identify which players' skills she could test and which ones she had to avoid, blocking them entirely.

The skills these players brought into the battlefield weren't too varied, and the strongest skills were saved for dealing with higher-level players. Most were just left to fight at lower levels.

On the other hand, Rita would focus on taking out one player at a time. If the first shot didn't kill them, that was fine—under the passive effect of [Midnight Exile], the second shot would do 5 times the damage, and the third shot would deal 25 times the damage.

Most players who were hit by her second shot would flee from her in fear.

Even more impressively, Nivalis had stolen a kart coin from someone's kart without realizing it!

After quietly telling Rita, Nivalis and Rita began circling the edge of the battle zone, avoiding direct combat but not straying too far from the battlefield. Rita used her skills to cover Nivalis, while Nivalis focused on stealing kart coins.

During this time, Rita accidentally violated the game rules twice.

She was punished by the gods twice: first, she lost 5 points in agility, and then, in a more severe punishment, she randomly lost an B-level skill—[My Deafening Silence]!

She immediately used 2 skill points to activate [Master Thief Dragon], but it was useless. The punishment remained, and she broke the rules again, losing 6 points in strength.

Rita was heartbroken. Losing attributes was bad enough, but losing a skill was much worse. She had only lost a B-level skill once in High Tower, but here, for no reason at all, she lost it without any special action.

For a moment, she even suspected that she wasn't in a world battlefield but a scam zone.

No matter what, she decided to stick it out until the end and see what the final rewards were!

As for the gossip revealed by the game stone during the game, Rita always made sure to turn on her left turn signal.

Finally, when the 38th round of the game began, Rita turned the wheel without hesitation, activated the left turn signal, pressed the accelerator, and began to withdraw.

Rita had earned 21 kart coins from the game, stolen 17 kart coins, and increased her fuel capacity by 17%.

However, her kart had taken quite a bit of damage. It rattled and creaked as it moved, with 32% damage and only 50% fuel left!

This battle zone was toxic—it felt like the more she played, the more she lost!

Nivalis shouted at Rita, "Look at the pets outside! Look at that pig-headed one! Can it even drive?! If you get me, you'll be laughing so hard!" Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

Rita nodded vigorously, "No way, none of them can. Their legs can't even reach the accelerator or the brakes. None of the weirdos outside are as good as you!"

Nivalis frowned, "Are you throwing shade at me?"

Rita quickly responded, "No! Absolutely not! You better step lightly! I'm not wearing any gear!"

Not many players were chasing Rita, and before the 40th round began, she successfully left the battle zone.

She had to pay a parking fee of 5 kart coins.

A few minutes later, she received the "Real and Lies" game end notification. She didn't get a rule analysis and didn't die.

After starting the track again, Rita noticed there weren't as many players on the road as there had been when she first started, but clearly, this track wasn't the same one. To the left were mountains, and to the right, the sea—both were replaced with an endless desert. She had only driven for a few seconds before starting to sweat from the heat.

She took a moment to check the leaderboard.

Her mileage was 97km, and she was surprised to see that she was ranked over 8,000. There were over 20,000 players in this game!

She keenly realized she had an advantage in this round.

Not only was Nivalis a top driver, but many of the other races were likely unfamiliar with kart racing. Her one-minute head start gave her a huge advantage. At least she had avoided the chaotic starting point brawl.