This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Back on the battlefield, Rita hid herself at the base of a flying stone statue, waiting until the nearby Wigeon Sparrows moved away before slipping out.

By now, the battlefield was in chaos. The Rabbits were hunting other players of the five remaining forms, the Neck-snakes were killing each other and the Ginger Bears, the Ginger Bears and Snail-scorpions were in a constant brawl, and the Wigeon Sparrows occasionally dove to the ground to finish off Snail-scorpions and Mango Puddings.

The concept of Match-3 eliminations was now in full view.

As the players who had been slow to realize the situation turned into stone statues, Rita estimated there were around 3,000 players left. The presence of stone statues seemed to have stabilized the area, with the number of players continuing to decrease but the size of the battlefield remaining the same.

The Mango Puddings, which had started with the smallest number, were now on the verge of extinction. Only about 200 remained, and half of them were out of her shooting range. The remaining half was spread out and hard to hit, meaning they had plenty of time and space to evade.

Her elimination of the Mango Pudding players in the last round had been a struggle, and now, with just 19 minutes left in the game, if Rita wanted to successfully eliminate three more Mango Puddings, she had to leave the safety of the flying stone statue.

[If you can kill me] had finished its cooldown, and using it in combination with [Mysterious Power] would give her a good shot at success. But with all the chaos around her, she couldn't make up her mind about what to do.

After two minutes of observation, she saw that the Mango Pudding players had decreased by another 30.

Without the ability to scan health bars or use [Midnight Exile], Rita couldn't even attempt to steal kills from other players.

At 06:45, the game notified the players again.

[In 5 minutes, stone statues will block all attacks.]

This meant that the players still in the game would no longer hold back. Previously sealed AoE skills and ultimate abilities would now be fully available.

The difficulty of the game had exceeded Rita's expectations. She immediately abandoned her plan to use [Mysterious Power] and also let go of her attempt to become a "High-Class Customer."

There were simply too many strong players in the field. Using [Mysterious Power] would only delay her inevitable demise.

At 06:50, all the stone statues turned dark.

Rita dashed to the head of a flying stone statue, shooting while secretly pulling out B8017913. She carefully placed the electronic pet into a corner of the stone statue and pushed it tightly into place, effectively trapping it.

By leaving B8017913 out in the open, it could help her keep track of movements around her. Even if it couldn't scan the entire battlefield, just monitoring the density of players in a small area would provide valuable information.

Once this was done, Rita glanced at the ground battlefield one last time, then returned to the most concealed part of the flying stone statue. She transformed into White Boat.

When she transformed, she felt a twinge of regret.

If only she had brought [Midnight Exile] and [Absurd Story] with her.

If she had, she wouldn't be limited to only hunting Mango Puddings; her efficiency in doing so would be far higher.

That day, when she faced Rabbit 3's calm questioning, Rita had been filled with anger and frustration at being misunderstood. But for some reason, after every game ended, a voice would echo in her mind.

The voice asked:

— You could have had more, moved faster!

— You don't lack the courage to start over after losing everything, so why didn't you go all in?

— You missed the chance again.

The questions kept crashing against her heart like waves, impossible to calm or shake off.

It made the passion and pride she had in that moment seem like a joke.

She shared her feelings with her two pets and couldn't help but ask: "Did I really make a mistake?"

They both asked her similar questions in return.

Nivalis asked, "Ah? If you could forget these game rules and just keep the feelings you have now, would you add those two skills to your arsenal?"

B8017913 also asked, "If you could reselect your skill icons next round, would you add all of them?"

As soon as the questions came, Rita knew her answer—No change at all!

The regrets and self-doubt she felt weren't because she thought she was wrong, but because her greed was overpowering her natural restraint.

Greed and restraint played a balancing game in her soul.

Realizing this, Rita laughed in the dark space. She laughed at her greed and laughed at her self-restraint.

B8017913 watched as Rita spoke of her feelings and mentioned "Rabbit 3," leading to three anonymous gods arriving, and for the first time, it understood the emotions of "speechless" and "irritated."

Who are they?! What are they doing?!

It was bad enough they were spying on their private moments, but one of them even issued a pop-up warning!

— "Do not remind her that calling Rabbit 3 or similar nicknames will attract the gods' attention."

B8017913: "Okay, got it, smile."

— "Take back that smile."

B8017913: "Okay, got it, thumbs up."

— "."

At 06:53, B8017913 reported:

"Oh no, a Wigeon Sparrow has picked you up."

"The other Wigeon Sparrow saw it and started fighting it."

06:54:

"The second Wigeon Sparrow killed the first one, and now you've been knocked out and are falling."

06:55:

"You're being carried away by a Neck-snake!"

06:56:

"Eight players have given up on Match-3 to fight for you."

06:57:

"Now there are twelve."

06:58:

"One event gift pack questioned it, saying 'This doesn't look real.'"

"It grabbed you and punched you a few times."

Rita looked at her health, now at only 10%, feeling nervous.

B8017913:

"A Neck-snake grabbed you back and put you in its backpack!"

"It got killed, and you've been knocked out again."

Rita wasn't panicking, but B8017913's reports were making her nervous.

07:00! The game is over!

Her [Disguise] skill was forcibly deactivated.

In the previous second, Rita had been nervously sitting in the dark room, tugging at her hair. Now, she returned to her original form, and the world became bright again, but a shadow still loomed over her.

She raised her eyes slightly and saw a group of players, along with several Rabbits, surrounding her, staring at her ominously.

Uh, besides the Rabbits, the players included:

Nuclear Flash NightFury, Furious Bike, Nuclear Flash Guava, Tingo Autumn Deer...

Such a familiar lineup, as though she had seen them somewhere before.