This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

"Of course, the creators of the game—gods and demons."

Rita didn't share this information with Octopus Bucket and the others; this was obviously confidential, and she had no intention of sharing it.

She handed a few bowls of seafood soup to Sea Pony to give to Marmang-Crab and Octopus Bucket, keeping one for herself. She drank half of it, saving the rest for later, after the closing time started.

Naturally, she violated Rule 19: You may only eat dishes made by your teammates and lost 7 health points.

She asked B80234615, "Won't the gods and demons destroy you if they find out about you?"

She didn't think B80234615's existence would be able to go unnoticed by the creators.

B80234615: "No, if you take me with you, you are paying the corresponding price. Anything that the gods and demons do not allow will never happen."

Rita: "Alright then, here, have a dip in this bowl of soup and lick Sea Pony's feet."

B80234615: "When I left the Garbage Mountain with you, I never thought I'd be in such a situation."

She prepared another bowl, poured some seahorse foot wash water into it, and dipped her earring into it.

Ding—Ding—

When the clock chimed again, there was a loud noise outside the restaurant, as if the world had suddenly unmuted. Countless languages and sounds rushed into her ears.

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Rita immediately finished the remaining half of her seafood soup.

Then she flew to the restaurant door and looked outside.

She saw countless players and cosmic wanderers fleeing down the street. Many would quickly glance at the rules posted at the entrance of the restaurant as they passed.

Some players chose to rush into the restaurant, but others kept running, looking less like they were seeking refuge and more like they were avoiding something.

Naturally, many players were attracted to the restaurant's entrance, but none dared to enter.

Marmang-Crab whispered, "Do you think the dining time we set is too short? Are they trying to hide overnight?"

It sounded like a question, but there was relief in Marmang-Crab's voice. Luckily, they had set a dining time.

No matter what those players were hiding from, the fact that several cosmic wanderers were fleeing meant that whatever they were running from wasn't a simple existence.

Rita curiously asked B80234615, "Even Marmang-Crab has been here for so long. Doesn't it make you wonder if the gods and demons will join the game themselves?"

B80234615: "If I didn't say anything, would you dare to imagine it?"

Rita fell silent for a moment, trying to imagine herself fighting alongside low-level players with her suppressed power.

But here, the gods joining the game would be like a chess player joining the game and playing with the toy pieces. Moreover, if the goal was to have fun, the gods and demons might even suppress their power. For what? Were they that bored?

Rita confirmed, "They'll suppress their power for fun, right?"

B80234615: "Of course."

That explained a lot. The consequences of suppressing power might even cause them to "flip the board."

Who would have imagined that in the world battlefield, "death" could come from the gods and demons themselves?

A few minutes later, the street grew quiet again, returning to silence.

The nearly 5-Character beings that had filled the streets earlier had hidden. Some entered the restaurant, using the restaurant's rules as protection, while others hid using skills.

Ding—!

The final bell rang.

Immediately, countless white spheres of various sizes rained down from the sky on Food Street. Once they hit the ground, they stretched out and opened like clever creatures.

Marmang-Crab gasped, "Game loot boxes!"

Rita blurted out, "Rabbits?!"

In a reflex, she spoke in English, and Sea Pony asked, "What are you talking about?"

Rita stared at the rabbits that, after landing, started sniffing the ground and scattering in different directions. She explained, "These... look like an animal from BS."

She then asked Marmang-Crab, "What game loot boxes?"

Marmang-Crab pointed outside the restaurant. "These."

Just as she finished speaking, she saw a rabbit, at least 1.8 meters tall, walking upright, passing by the restaurant door.

Seeing Marmang-Crab hadn't explained further, Rita asked her personal assistant, B80234615, "Do their forms always change randomly?"

B80234615: "Yes."

No wonder the players hadn't thought about the gods and demons at all. Rita asked, "Are there any differences between gods and demons? Is this something secret?"

B80234615: "It's an open secret. Demons are actually gods, but gods are not demons. You can think of demons as deliberately distancing themselves from gods due to different ideologies. They don't want beings to associate them with gods."

Rita understood, "A rift then, why?"

B80234615: "Demons believe gods are too hypocritical. To maintain fairness, they harm the fun of the game. They think there should be high, middle, and low-level stages in Divine Game rather than suppressing the strong and forcing them to play house with the weak in the same pool."

Rita couldn't say who was right or wrong. If she followed the demon's way, she never would have accessed [Midnight Exile] so early. And the "fairness" and "balance" in the world battlefield gave her a lot of protection but also placed many limits on her.

B80234615: "In the demon's view, no being should be restricted. Limiting the advantage of certain players is inherently unfair."

Rita nodded repeatedly. The demons were right!

B80234615: "But since the demon faction is weaker than the god faction, the main planner of Divine Game is still the gods. However, many special plots have the shadow of demons."

Rita: "I see now. No wonder sometimes it feels like I've been stabbed in the back while playing."

B80234615: "Looks like you favor the gods."

Rita: "When my cheats were banned, I favored the demons, but when I'm targeted by the big shots, I favor the gods."

B80234615 sharply commented: "As long as there's milk, you'll pick a side."

Rita: "..." Well, that's not wrong.

As they spoke, the street outside became lively again, but this time, the sounds of battle came from every corner.

Rita poked her head out to take a look and just in time saw a rabbit, no bigger than a kitten, leap high into the air. With a kick from its rabbit leg, it easily deflected a skill that looked extremely powerful.

The air spun—switching legs—and the other foot smoothly kicked the player's face, sending that player flying over ten meters before collapsing, motionless.

Rita's head followed the trajectory of the flying player from left to right, and then she asked, "Are you sure they suppressed their power?!"

B80234615: "Yeah, they're using their legs personally. Isn't that suppression?"

Rita: "How touching! What's the difference between game designers coming in with full cheats and beating the paying players senseless? I want to quit the game!!"

B80234615 changed the subject abruptly and said, "Every time the gods descend, they bring a lot of good things. Many veteran players, although unaware that these are gods and demons, refer to this spectacle of powerful beings descending in large numbers as 'game loot boxes.'"

So this was what Marmang-Crab meant by "game loot boxes."

Recalling the phrase "What the gods disallow will not happen," Rita caught on: "You mean? This is a gift from the gods? And I can get my hands on it in my own way?"

B80234615: "Maybe."