This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

At 17:07, Rita's skills wore off, and she became a Black Account again.

She flew to a spot between two restaurants, a place where battles rarely took place, and took a moment to evaluate her recent progress, especially with Easter Egg #5's reward – the ability to see the true identity of players.

There might be hidden mechanics she was unaware of, or perhaps this was tied to the third day of the game.

B80234615 suddenly spoke up: "100 times."

[Time Distortion II]: The flow of time in this area has been disturbed frequently. It is very displeased. During this period, players who use time-related abilities will face stricter penalties. Please respect time as you would respect fate.

Rita recalled the suggestion from the little rabbit and asked, "What was the most frequent disruption of the time stream in the past?"

B80234615 replied, "Right before and after the sixth round of elimination."

Rita thought for a moment, realizing the little rabbit hadn't been lying. But now, she wasn't sure if missing it was a good or bad thing. Regardless, the tangible rewards and resources she had gained were real.

Both Fourfold Spring and Spring Scenery & Flowers were available again, and Rita activated them, resuming her blind fighting strategy.

After having experienced the Black Account playstyle before, Rita had honed some skills. She now knew where low-power players liked to hide and where they most frequently used their powerful abilities. Although this didn't significantly change the outcome, it did minimize her risks a few times.

As the game entered this round, the weaker players without self-defense were already eliminated.

Some players hid in restaurants, trying to avoid being killed and becoming Black Accounts, while others, emboldened by their Black Account status, risked joining forces to seize positions during critical moments. Only players of Abyssal King level or above dared to do this.

Rita hadn't received any ultimate SSS-level skills in the past few rounds of kill rewards. This was because, since becoming a Black Account, she hadn't received any upgrade notifications like she had when she killed Sakura·Oolong. Without Midnight Exile, Rita couldn't pick up the scraps of stronger players; she just wasn't able to do it.

But that didn't mean she'd given up.

Rita favored targeting half-employed players. After borrowing strong single-target attack skills through Repay, she used Family Bucket to release them. With 100 attacks, and Fourfold Spring's effect, Rita's health was instantly replenished after each Family Bucket use.

Even though Family Bucket could only be used once every 18 minutes, after every use, Rita made sure to quickly copy the split skills and use I Just Want to Improve So Badly for four or five seconds while targeting 100 different enemies.

Her health loss was insignificant compared to the speed at which it was replenished.

At 17:50, Fourfold Spring expired, and I Just Want to Improve So Badly no longer had the best support.

Yet, in the meantime, Rita had stolen 13 dishes, 1 Rabbit Fur Replica, and 2 skill icons.

But something terrifying happened: one of the skill icons she had just stolen was recalled immediately.

Not only was it recalled, but the skill icon had dragged the adjacent skill icon with it…

She couldn't hold onto it—what she touched was just an illusion.

Rita stood there, dumbfounded, as the stolen skill icon suddenly sprouted a tabby cat tail, coiled the adjacent icon, and flew away.

This caused a huge shock for Rita, who was used to starting from scratch.

Even getting hit by a flying hammer hadn't fazed her as much as this.

For the first time, Rita didn't just fail to steal something—something she had stolen was taken from her.

She had invited trouble, but luckily, it was a rare occurrence. The adjacent skill icon was one of the 3 icons she had previously stolen while in the Black Account state, and it was a good SSS-level skill, though not one modified as much as Family Bucket.

Thankfully, the second skill icon she stole afterward was great—perfect for setting up ambushes.

[Focusing Success] (SSS): Select a target, and for the next 10 skills you cast, they will all automatically hit that target, regardless of distance or whether you can see them. This effect lasts for 10 minutes, costs no mana, and has a cooldown of 5 minutes.

The phrase "all skills will definitely hit the target" was quite intriguing.

If paired with Family Bucket, this meant… could she make a target endure 100 of the most powerful single-target attacks?

She wasn't sure about the priority system, though.

Furthermore, according to the description, would group attack skills also land entirely on that target?

If Family Bucket was best for group attack situations, Focusing Success was ideal for single-target setups.

Rita loved such special skills!

At 18:00, the eleventh round of elimination began.

At 18:10, Spring Scenery & Flowers expired.

Rita immediately found a spot with the least players and hid.

This hour, Rita only completed two kills, earning two SSS-level skills.

Nivalis was tagging along, getting skills, but without Bedtime Tale, she died once more. By now, Nivalis had died eight times, so Rita sent her back.

Although Rita had told Nivalis she could stay out until her ninth death, she always liked to leave one more card to play before reaching her limit.

With 50 minutes remaining in the Cooking Adventure, Rita wasn't about to take any more risks.

Like Nivalis before, she used I Just Want to Improve So Badly on passing half-employed players, healing herself once her health dropped below 70%, never letting her guard down.

As for being a Black Account, that couldn't be helped—it was the best option she had right now.

While players came and went on Food Street, Rita casually asked her electronic pet in her mind, "Can the gods hear us talking?"

B80234615: "Generally, no."

Rita: "Hmm… so they did hear us at a certain time, right?"

B80234615: "It's complicated."

Rita thought of some legends and asked, "Does mentioning someone's name disturb the owner?"

B80234615's voice trembled noticeably: "Yes!!!"

Rita glanced at the lemon passing in front of her. She quickly changed her question, "Is there a god named Lemon?"

B80234615: "...No!"

There was definitely someone or something she had just summoned…