This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Auntie Wang looked horrified, as though Rita had just confessed to a heinous crime. "Young lady, you need to go home and apologize to your mom immediately! This is no small matter!"

The older man across the table nodded solemnly. "It's practically the same as slapping your mom in the face."

Even the proprietress, who had come over to bring water, joined the conversation. "You know, there are three major forms of disrespect to your parents, and breaking up their pure-color hand is one of them."

The woman on Rita's right sighed and shook her head. "If I were dead and my son burned me 11 matching tiles with a red dragon to complete the set, I'd claw my way out of the ground just to beat him up."

Auntie Wang thought for a moment, then added, "Do you young people play Ludo? Imagine your plane is about to reach home, and someone knocks it back to the start. How would you feel?"

Rita suddenly understood. The first time she ever punched Rick as a kid was because he knocked her plane back to the start in Ludo when it was just one square away from home.

The older man noticed Rita's grave expression, as if she'd been sentenced to death, and asked, "Was it your biological mom?"

Rita hesitated. "…No."

Auntie Wang, the older man, the woman on her right, the proprietress, and even a few eavesdropping patrons from nearby tables gasped in unison:

"Then you're doomed!"

Are they rehearsing for a choir? Rita thought. That was way too synchronized!

Rita had left home at 3 PM and arrived at the mahjong parlor just before 5. Her initial plan was to learn the rules, play a few rounds, and head back. But one round turned into an all-nighter.

Everyone here was a player, many at high levels, so staying up all night was effortless.

At one point, an irate Nivalis came storming in, demanding to know when Rita planned to go home. But before she could drag Rita away, another table short on players pulled her in.

By 10 AM the next day, Shadow.Q arrived at the mahjong parlor, silently walking over to Rita's table.

By then, Rita and Nivalis had joined forces at the same table. To play properly, Nivalis had even transformed into a human-sized version of herself, about 1.7 meters tall, with a lollipop dangling from her mouth. Both had cups of iced milk tea by their sides, exuding the aura of seasoned players.

Rita frowned as she handled her tiles, her thumb rubbing against the surface as if in deep contemplation. Finally, with a dissatisfied expression, she discarded a tile.

"Three characters!"

Shadow.Q stood in silence, horrified. It's over. The future of the US is over.

Shadow.Q cleared her throat. "Rita, have you eaten yet?"

Rita glanced up. "Why are you here? I have. Have you?"

Shadow.Q pressed on. "Did you check the messages I sent you? Game mail or texts?"

Rita shook her head, still focused on her tiles. "Not yet. I've been busy. Why? Aren't we scheduled for the afternoon class at 3?"

Shadow.Q hesitated before delivering the news. "Since 8 AM, your mahjong game with Nivalis has been livestreamed."

Rita's hand froze mid-motion. No wonder she'd felt eyes on her earlier; she'd assumed someone was sneakily filming her and had even adjusted her posture.

Shadow.Q struggled to maintain a straight face. "Yes, and it includes everything—your false wins, cheating to stop Nivalis from taking the tiles you needed, discarding winning tiles by mistake, and then trying to bribe other players to pretend they didn't notice. It's all out there. Everyone's saying your mahjong ethics are like grey-tier gear…"

Rita: "What about my mahjong skills? Am I a natural born mahjong god?"

Shadow.Q was momentarily stumped. "…They're saying that you can talk about skills when you stop arranging your tiles into little trains."

Next to her, Nivalis discreetly slid her mahjong "train" back into a proper grouping.

Rita solemnly set down her tiles. "Very well. I announce my retirement."

Her table companions and Nivalis glared at her murderously.

Nivalis growled, "You're just saying that because you can't win!"

Rita scoffed. "Ridiculous! Continue! Shadow.Q, find and shut down that livestream."

Shadow.Q chuckled. "I already handled it when I arrived. But the footage that's already been broadcast? We can't remove it unless we blacklist you."

Rita: "…Thanks, but no thanks."

Shadow.Q eventually dragged Rita and Nivalis out of the parlor for lunch.

Post-Mahjong Reflection

Over the meal, Rita found herself regretting selling the Four Characters tile to Mistblade. If she still had it, she could've used it to complete a sequence with the Three Characters and Five Characters. Maybe then she could uncover more information about it.

But at the time, she hadn't had many options. Besides the Three Characters and Five Characters, she'd only had a Six Circles tile she'd swiped from Mistblade. Her character tiles always ended up split anyway.

Shadow.Q watched as Rita's expression grew increasingly serious, as if pondering the meaning of life over her bowl of rice.

Pouring her a glass of wine, Shadow.Q asked, "Are you under a lot of stress?"

Rita, unable to stop thinking about Mistblade and the pure-color hand, nodded. "A bit…"

Rita hadn't dared to inspect Mistblade's Divine Gift—or Lucia's, for that matter. Anytime the thought crossed her mind, a sense of foreboding stopped her.

But Mistblade was level 120. The only reason Mistblade hadn't killed her that day was because she had the mahjong tiles. If Mistblade were serious… taking her out would be effortless.

It felt like she had provoked the game's final boss fresh out of the starter village.

Though she had pinned the blame on Rick, he wasn't in Lania Kaia. If he were, she'd happily throw him to Mistblade to defuse the tension.

Since Mistblade had detected the dragon scent on her, she'd been on edge. She even avoided selling dragon dung in Lania Kaia for fear of drawing attention.

If only I could spread the dragon scent across all of Lania Kaia… Wait, why not?

Rita's eyes lit up with inspiration.

She turned to Shadow.Q. "Does the Special Affairs Bureau have anyone who specializes in perfume-making?"

Shadow.Q didn't even need to check. "Yes, one of our colleagues played as a moonfox during the beta. He learned a lot and continued his studies after the beta ended. Why?"

Rita hesitated, then explained. "Can they make perfume from someone's body scent?"
Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire

Shadow.Q checked and soon replied, "Yes, but the fragrance only lasts three hours."

Perfect. Rita's plan was to incorporate the perfume into widely used potions and sell them at the Lania Kaia auction house. Meanwhile, she'd find ways to mask or alter Nivalis's scent.

If nothing else, the perfume could serve as an escape tool, disorienting pursuers.

Not one to delay urgent matters, Rita dragged Shadow.Q to meet the perfume specialist immediately after lunch.

After confirming his Divine Gift was legitimate, Rita outlined her request. "I need a semi-finished perfume. When I decide whose scent it should replicate, I'll add their sweat, tears, or saliva to complete it. Can you do that?"

The young man nodded. "Yes, but it's a more complex process, so it'll be pricier."

Rita immediately ordered 100 bottles. Instead of paying in gold, the perfumer requested that Rita adjust his luck stat every day during her upcoming week of classes.

For Rita, this was even better than paying outright. She agreed without hesitation.