This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Almost as soon as Rita turned to head back, the area around Restaurant 2091 erupted with a barrage of explosions and various skill effects of different colors and attributes.

Rita wasn't far from Restaurant 2091; it was just a hundred or so restaurants away. It would take her less than five seconds to fly over, but that was enough time for hundreds of players to rush in...

However, Rita still wanted to give it a try. She couldn't just hope that the Inspector would clear the restaurant she was passing by.

She had considered simply following the fruit Inspector, but after the first round of the game ended, players had figured out the pattern—after every round of eliminations, the Inspectors would change. The fruit Inspector of this round would be just an ordinary customer in the next.

And now, with the new cycle beginning, all Inspectors were new.

By the time Rita arrived, the battle at the restaurant's entrance was still going on. The area in front of the entrance was "filled" with ice sculptures, sand sculptures, and stone sculptures—players who had been frozen or petrified by control skills.

But soon, these players were overwhelmed by a storm of skills.

More precisely, the only entrance to Restaurant 2091 was a mess of continuous skills—dense and overwhelming. Even with Bedtime Tale, Rita couldn't get in. At that moment, at least dozens of different skills were being used.

There were skills from nearby restaurant employees, black-market players, and even those half-employed employees.

Rita wasn't interested in fighting for space, so she stayed away from the center of the battle. She kept an eye on the surrounding area for potential threats while looking for a target—someone suitable to use Repay on, preparing for the next round of combat.

This skill lasted for 5 minutes, and its cooldown was only 3 minutes, meaning it could be used continuously without any gaps.

The only issue was that borrowed skills with long cooldowns could only be used once.

Rita decided to focus on players who had successfully entered the restaurant, hoping to borrow a skill that would help her join. Even if she didn't make it this time, it would prepare her for the next round. Even if the borrowed skills expired when the Inspectors cleared the restaurant, it didn't matter—she'd be prepared for the next time.

Rita was becoming more experienced. This was the first time she'd seen so many control skills in action.

Moreover, B80234615 told her that, in the few seconds she had just observed, there had already been 7 instances of time-based skills being used.

In the densest areas of the battle, there were occasional invisible area-of-effect (AoE) attacks—clearly black-market players striking from the shadows.

Rita's health soon dropped to 35%, and she couldn't afford to get too close—this was far more dangerous than being a black-market player.

But Rita didn't move far away. She flew higher, watching the restaurant inside. Fortunately, the food street restaurants were mostly transparent, with only transparent barriers on all sides, including above.

When she saw a player inside the restaurant, she immediately used Repay on them before retreating. She took out a bowl of salad that could restore health and started eating.

So far, she had no idea how many times she had violated the rules by eating her own cooked meals.

Then, a new skill appeared in her mind.

Targeted Delivery (SSS): Consumes 2% mana to teleport instantly to any location within your line of sight. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Without hesitation, Rita looked at this restaurant. There were already four players inside, so she quickly moved away from the spot.

Three minutes later, a new notification rang out: Restaurant 3035.

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Rita charged forward!

Targeted Delivery was still in effect. If she could reach the restaurant before it filled up, she could enter!

A few seconds later, Rita was inside Restaurant 3035 and was slightly incredulous at how smoothly it had gone.

At that moment, the Cashier job cursor above her head solidified, and she quickly hid behind the kitchen counter, watching the thick wall of skill effects that had gathered outside the restaurant.

Official employees could attack half-employed employees, and the reverse was also true.

Fortunately, the restaurant's décor provided some protection, blocking skills that ignored players.

But Rita didn't sit idly by and wait for things to finish. She crouched behind the kitchen counter, observing the battle outside. After silently counting 30 seconds, she estimated that the outside battle was nearing its peak.

Taking a chance, she poked her head out from behind the kitchen counter, used Family Bucket, and then deployed one of the single-target attack skills she had obtained from killing other players while she was a black-market member.

Grand Opening Special (SSS): Creates an arrow that looks like a cloud. The combined value of your Intelligence and Agility determines the arrow's initial damage. The first arrow shot that day deals ten times the attack power, the second five times, the third three times, and after that, there are no bonuses. No bow or crossbow required. Each use consumes 600 mana. Cooldown: 30 minutes.

After performing a motion as if pulling a bow (without an actual bow), a cloud-like arrow shot out from the restaurant.

Rita didn't aim at anything specific, as she couldn't clearly see what was happening outside. Whoever the arrow hit, it hit.

Since Family Bucket had a cooldown of only 0.3 hours (18 minutes), and she would be staying in the restaurant for at least the next 40 minutes, it would be a waste not to use it.

As the cloud arrow passed through the skill wall, it had already been weakened by half. It ended up skimming the ground and hitting a player's ankle before splitting into 100 arrows, scattering to hit nearby players.

Rita waited for a few seconds for the kill notification but wasn't disappointed when it didn't arrive.

She was surprised that she had gotten in so smoothly.

Two minutes later, after the restaurant's employees were fully staffed and the next restaurant was cleared by the Inspector, the area outside Restaurant 3035 finally cleared.

Rita took a glance at her three colleagues inside the restaurant—two rabbits and one player.

Just as she was about to check the fridge for leftovers, she suddenly turned and looked at one of the rabbits: "You…"

The rabbit spoke in Mandarin: "Silly brat."

Rita: "...Wrong person."

Expressionless, Rita looked away and continued her search.

When a restaurant is cleared by an Inspector, a benefit is that the refrigerator will be restocked with ingredients to help the restaurant reopen quickly.

Rita took out all the ingredients, divided them into four portions, took one for herself, and left the other three on the table.

She didn't discuss it with the other three players—she only took what was hers.

The rabbit was the first to jump onto the counter and kicked the portion that belonged to them: "Make it into a dish, I'll give you 20% as a labor fee."

Rita nodded and slid the dish toward herself: "Sure."

Another rabbit jumped up and spoke in Mandarin: "Same here."

Rita didn't refuse. Why not make a little extra? It was just the difference between making a small or a large portion. She nodded: "Sure."

Finally, a Velociraptor ran over and spoke in Dragon Tongue: "What are you guys talking about?"

Rita replied simply in Dragon Tongue, and the Velociraptor immediately pushed its portion over: "Same here."