This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Though L4327777 couldn't see through Rita's disguise, it was quick to recognize her true identity once it received the diamonds and gloves. The system notification made everything clear.

With the diamonds and equipment in hand, the robot's screen lit up brilliantly, so much so that Rita had to squint, almost blinded by the brightness.

L4327777's voice carried a hint of lively surprise, almost as if it had gained a little more personality: "Money's coming this quickly?!"

Rita's habit of speaking nonsense kicked in, and she casually replied, "Yeah, I'm committing crimes to support you."

L4327777's eye-screen projected a light hologram, scanning Rita from top to bottom. "Alright, BS Rita, we've got a deal."

Rita: ??????

L4327777: ???? Battery: 85% | Learning | Becoming Corrupted | Lacks Initiative Taboo: Poverty | Weakness: Battery Drain

What's going on?! How can a robot "become corrupted"? Aren't you guys supposed to be without morals?!

Before Rita could express her disbelief, L4327777 turned and got back to work, leaving Rita standing there stunned. After a few moments of silence, she slapped her own face, muttering to herself, Well, I did ask for it.

But she shrugged it off—after all, she probably wouldn't run into this robot again. Rita got back to making money. With L4327777's healing abilities supporting her, she felt completely free to go all out.

During this, while Rita was handing over the diamonds to L4327777, someone noticed and managed to catch her red-handed.

Without wasting time, Rita grabbed L4327777's hand and started running through the market.

L4327777's calm voice rang from behind: "Uh-oh, what should we do?"

Rita: "Run! What do you think we should do?!"

The pink robot wasn't very tall—only about a meter—but Rita easily grabbed it and flew upwards, taking it to the top of the market in an attempt to evade the player chasing them.

This wasn't particularly strange in the market—although players couldn't attack each other, they could capture someone and take them to the shop to complain to the robots.

Despite being held in Rita's arms, L4327777 didn't seem concerned about the chase at all. Instead, it stared down at the view below, pointing excitedly at the market: "Wow, the market is this big?"

L4327777 continued, "Look, those are the Fluorine Tribe. They're super rich—richer than the Wind Scythe Tribe!"

L4327777 added, "That's where C9103819 works. He's my friend, I can introduce you to him."

"Is that wind? BS Rita, do you feel it?"

"It doesn't really feel like wind, though… It's something else… So refreshing!"

L4327777 was suddenly chatting a lot.

Rita was utterly helpless. Did I bring you here to go on a date?

Finally, after evading the player's pursuit, Rita and L4327777 hid in a corner and changed outfits before setting off again.

Rita deactivated her disguise skill and returned to her true form. As for L4327777, it simply switched skins, changing its pink exterior for white.

But it kept glancing up at the market's top, making it look far more animated, as if the black-and-white sketch of the robot had been splashed with color.

Rita sighed. "Don't you have any flying skills? After work, you could just fly around yourself."

L4327777 replied, "In my program, flying skills aren't designed for recreation."

Logic told Rita that L4327777 was just a passerby in Divine Game, like B80234615, just another vending machine from KartRider that she would never meet again.

But her mouth had its own ideas and started suggesting things to L4327777. "You could set yourself up for patrol work around the market, or hide an item in the East Corner and go 'find' it as an excuse."

By the end of her suggestions, Rita was thoroughly annoyed with herself. What am I doing, giving advice like this?

Though she was normally stingy with emotions, Rita wasn't a cold-hearted person. Quite the opposite—her emotions were rich and vivid, like the colorful blaze of a soul. So, when it came to L4327777, someone she would likely never see again, Rita allowed herself to meddle, offering a few zero-cost comforts and advice.

L4327777's eye-screen flickered with two waves of color. "Got it, BS Rita. Thanks. We'll keep working. Don't worry, I've already locked the player's info. When they get close, I'll let you know."

Rita let out a relieved breath, no longer pressing the robot about its sudden program glitch.

Luckily, things went smoothly after that, without any further trouble. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

Half an hour passed quickly, and Rita and L4327777 ducked into a corner to divvy up the loot. Rita leaned back against the wall, her long legs angled at a 50-degree angle, allowing her to look directly at L4327777, who had returned to its pink skin.

They'd succeeded 29 times, earning a total of 80,000 diamonds, one piece of equipment, and five precious ores.

After L4327777 calculated the value, it gave Rita 50,000 diamonds.

Adding that to the 30,000 diamonds she had earned from selling the 10 precious ores to L4327777 earlier, Rita now had over 100,000 diamonds. Her ranking on the leaderboard had reached 9,872.

Without wasting time, Rita asked, "I'm leaving now, how do I get out?"

She hadn't been in a hurry before, but during the distribution, she noticed that L4327777's status had changed again…

L4327777: ???

Battery: 85% | Program Malfunctioned | Inflated Ego | Taboo: Hard Work | Weakness: Battery Drain

Rita stared, horrified. What? I didn't even do anything!

She had only made 100,000 diamonds in less than half an hour…

L4327777's screen flickered with static, and it reached out to grab Rita's robe. "Could you not leave? Stay and be my friend?"

Rita couldn't help but rub her cheek. I may have a charm stat of 10, but not to the point of being irresistible to this extent, right?

But before Rita could respond, the static on L4327777's screen cleared up. The pink robot paused for a moment, then released its grip on Rita's robe. "Sorry, there was a program error. I said something outside the program. Don't mind it."

Rita looked at L4327777 in surprise, her lips moving, but in the end, she only said, "…Oh."