This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Rita's logic was flawless—she was completely unbothered by emotions or sentiment.

Just like when she had traded with Winter Sea Frenzied Shark earlier, she hadn't relied on analyzing his personality or emotions. She didn't know him at all, nor did she understand what kind of alien creature he was.

And really, emotions, feelings, or character traits were all too subject to change depending on the situation.

Rita didn't bother analyzing these fluctuating or even performative aspects. Instead, she focused solely on one thing: What was Winter Sea Frenzied Shark desperate to solve? What price was he willing to pay? And what was the result he was trying to get?

Winter Sea Frenzied Shark had let her set the terms of the deal, only asking for one thing: that she wouldn't curse him for a single star-sea year. But this condition was easy enough to meet. If it were up to Rita, instead of making a deal with an enemy and giving them resources to benefit from, she'd much rather hire other players to irritate herself, using up the last of her curse slots at a far lesser cost.

But Winter Sea Frenzied Shark wanted to make a deal with her. He wasn't afraid of her asking for an excessive price. He was willing to give up a lot of resources to an enemy, just to achieve a result he could have reached through other means.

Such an "unfair" deal made Rita suspicious.

She couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder and said to L4327777, "Sometimes, I really envy you guys."

Even though Rita prided herself on being selfish and indifferent, she still often found herself affected by her surroundings and the people around her, like with some of her dealings with Eclipse Vanguard and BS.

L4327777's voice came with a programmed confusion: "Envy us? For what?"

Much like the colleagues Rita encountered when acting in a performance, its confusion was perfectly accurate and unflawed, but Rita could tell it was playing at confusion.

Once again, Rita could feel the distinct difference between L4327777 and B80234615.

Rita wasn't intending to get personal with L4327777. She sold all ten of her precious minerals to the robot, then shifted the conversation. "Do you know any other players with stealing skills?"

L4327777 responded, "That's player privacy. If we leak such information, we will be deleted."

Rita tried to buy the robot's cooperation with diamonds, but it didn't work. Even when she offered all her diamonds, L4327777 refused. This refusal grounded Rita's resolve, and she asked again, "Will there be an Inspector's Arrival in this special market?"

L4327777 went silent, as if it had crashed.

Rita understood. Sometimes silence meant more than words. She changed the question. "Will the amount I invest affect the percentage of the earnings I receive?"

L4327777 resumed speaking, this time without any freezing. "If you invest 10% of your total assets, you will get a 10% share of the profits. Similarly, the more you invest, the higher your percentage, but you cannot invest more than 50% of your total assets."

Rita asked, "Do you have any healing skills? If you do, I'll help us make big profits. If not, I'll leave once you've made five successful profits."

L4327777's eye-screen flickered and then looked almost intelligent for a brief moment: "I do!"

Rita immediately handed over 50% of her diamonds to L4327777. This was a chance for both of them to make money. Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire

L4327777 responded, "Alright, let's get to work."

Rita had pulled the robot into her scheme. She held onto L4327777 and said, "I'll use my stealing skill and give you what I steal. You're my accomplice, understand?"

L4327777 stayed motionless and silent, clearly going into a temporary freeze.

Rita shook L4327777 lightly, "I think you know what's going on, don't you? I could just watch you struggle, but instead, I'm stepping up to tell you that I have stealing skills, and I'm willing to help you make money. Doesn't that make us partners?"

L4327777 remained silent for a long time. The screen flickered again, and finally, it replied, "Yes."

Rita seized the moment and asked, "So, if I want to avoid an Inspector's judgment and protect you from being implicated, when is the best time for me to leave?"

She patted the pink robot, stressing the importance with, "I'm asking this for your own good! You wouldn't want all the money we make to be confiscated, right? You're just protecting your own assets, you're not helping outsiders. What's wrong with that?"

L4327777 nodded vigorously. "I understand. Thank you."

L4327777: ??? Battery: 88% | Learning | Lacks Initiative Taboo: Poverty | Weakness: Battery Depletion

L4327777 replied, "However, I can't give you an exact answer. All I know is that when the 10,000th investment happens in this market, the Inspector will arrive."

Ten thousand!

Rita frowned. When she had come through the game's stone tablet earlier, there had only been about seven hundred online players in this special market.

And the game rule stated that an investment could only be made to a robot once every thirty minutes.

This made it seem like the 10,000th investment was a long way off.

But the problem was—when did the count begin?

It had already been five hours since the start of the Diamond Miner game! Who knew how many players had come through the special market during that time?

She had to complete this task and leave as soon as possible.

Rita told L4327777, "Let's get to work! You lead, and I'll follow."

L4327777 didn't waste time. In the robot world, there was no such thing as slacking. It quickly scanned the players on the street, chose one, and approached them for a conversation.

Rita, still wearing the robe from the previous special market, moved a bit farther away. Using her disguise skill, she turned into an oak owl and then shifted back with her shadow move, ready to get to work.

She used I Just Want to Improve So Badly nine times, succeeding twice. She earned over 3,000 diamonds, along with a pair of legendary-grade gloves. However, these gloves were shaped more like steel shears than actual gloves and were made of metal—completely unusable.

When Rita went to L4327777 to heal, she handed over both the gloves and the diamonds, planning to have L4327777 convert them into diamonds and give her a share during the settlement.