This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After unlocking [Mysterious Power], Rita began searching the new version of the map fragments in earnest.

The maze had become far too dangerous. More and more players were entering, and relying on Verdant Whisper · Windrush was becoming unrealistic. She had to figure this out herself.

Right then, B8017913 sent an update:

"There are a total of 167 players in the maze. Your [Don't Ask Me What Potions Are] fragment isn't in the Exchange. Neither the owl nor the game console have been listed either."

If this were a real company, B8017913 would be the kind of employee every boss dreams of—gathering exactly the right info, even without direct instructions.

If the fragment wasn't in the Exchange, then it had to be with Verdant Whisper · Windrush.

Yet [The Free Stuff Always Costs the Most.] hadn't been triggered.

So the game rules and rewards must count as a kind of invisible agreement?

That made sense. If items dropped on death could trigger the skill, then Seahorse wouldn't have needed to bait and switch outside the maze.

As she pondered this, Rita's paw froze. Behind a wall of flowers, she had brushed up against something. She pulled it out—it was a dandelion: a [Spring Labyrinth Map Fragment].

She placed the dandelion into her Magician's Wisdom Tooth. While continuing the search for more fragments, she opened the battlefield chat panel and dragged it to the bottom-right of her screen, keeping an eye out for any useful chatter.

The chat was in chaos, with players demanding to know who had [Cat's Ideal]. Others were asking who had killed her and looted her corpse.

After considering, Rita decided to clarify in chat.

Even though players had once used chat clues to track down a player's location, everyone now knew she was in March Theme Park, so it didn't matter. Besides, she could relocate instantly if needed.

Her only real concern was whether someone could deduce her current disguise from the battlefield chat.

But turning into a cat wasn't exactly rare. Some races looked exactly like cats anyway. This would be a good chance to test the limits of [There's a Cat Here].

[BS-Rita]: Verdant Whisper · Windrush used the game rewards "Common Prosperity" and "Asset Transfer" on me. Any game Blocks fragments I lost went directly into her hands.

[BS-Rita]: Verdant Whisper · Windrush?

[BS-Rita]: Say something, Verdant Whisper · Windrush.

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: I didn't receive anything!!

[BS-Rita]: Sigh.

[Marmang · Crab]: Sigh.

[Red Orange · Juicy]: Sigh.

[Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark]: Sigh.

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: …Will someone hurry up and kill her already? Have none of you eaten?!

[BS-Rita]: Pine Bloom, you there?

Rita waited two minutes. So did Pine Bloom, silently watching the chat.

[Lania Kaia · Pine Bloom]: What is it?

Rita, satisfied, closed the battlefield chat. Just six more "sales" and she could visit Lichou.

Knowing she might miss something important in chat, she asked B8017913 to keep monitoring and ping her if anything relevant popped up.

Just then, a player spotted her, and Rita took off running.

While dodging attacks, she kept sneaking glances at the chat.

Pine Bloom: ???

A few minutes later, Pine Bloom smiled faintly.

The player fighting her—Juicy Mango—jumped back in fear, thinking she was about to go full burst.

Pine Bloom was unfazed. She told herself, maybe BS-Rita just died.

…

12:15

[No Logic] wore off.

All players resumed their hunt for BS-Rita.

Rita kept lurking in cat form, weaving through the crowds.

When her HP dropped near zero, she found a quiet spot, canceled the old [Mysterious Power], munched on a few whole-wheat buns, got her HP back over 1%, and activated a new [Mysterious Power].

That was the trick with Mysterious Power—whittle her down to 0.01%, then start the cycle all over again.

With a Divine Relic on her now, Rita could no longer use [Survive Until the End] to turn into an item.

Before, she didn't care—getting left behind in someone's inventory only meant getting crushed once she canceled the transformation. Worst case, she'd die once.

Now? Death wasn't an option.

Other players were just as anxious, but no one could track her down—no mark, no curse, no tag would stick.

[Emerald Crane Gale]: Did she turn into a map fragment and one of you is carrying her around?

[Marmang · Crab]: If you hit someone and only the first strike lands—after that, they take no damage—that's BS-Rita.

[Red Orange · Juicy]: If we could scan her HP bar, why not just inspect her directly?

[Marmang · Crab]: Heh. That just means you can't.

Clearly, Tier 17+ players had their own tracking tools. But with BS-Rita in March Theme Park, none of their skills would reveal the current location of [Cat's Ideal].

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: How did you mark her last time—with the spotlight and music?

[Emerald Crane Gale]: Bought a drop of BS-Rita's blood from the Exchange.

[Ghost · Sang Cup]: Me too.

[Marmang · Crab]: Who listed it?

[Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark]: The Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark from "You Think I'm Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark or Lania Kaia Pine Bloom?" listed it.

[Lania Kaia · Maple Syrup]: Sigh, Pine Bloom…

[Lania Kaia · Peach Crown]: Sigh, Pine Bloom…

[Lania Kaia · Fat Goose]: Sigh, Pine Bloom…

[Lania Kaia · Mistblade]: Sigh, Pine Bloom…

Strangely, Rita felt… calm.

The battlefield chat had turned into a roast session about her, like a private enemy group chat. She didn't even know where to chime in. At least she wasn't the one being trolled the hardest—yet.

As for the blood—easy enough to guess where it came from. During the bunny brawl last game, it had been splattered across Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark's head. The mystery was how he brought it into the maze.

And as for why tracking skills failed—Rita thought about the line in [There's a Cat Here]: "You cannot be marked. You cannot be tracked."

That felt similar to [Away from Home, Identity is Self-Assigned]—but maybe even stronger.

She also recalled the description of [Cat's Ideal]:

"Mysterious feline—no entity may glimpse your past, present, or future."

Did that mean she couldn't be divined anymore, even without [Chavez's Pocket Watch]?

The watch was S-tier and blocked any divination under SS-tier. But this was a Divine Relic.

And if both past and future were obscured, what about the present? Did that mean even her current information was locked away from anyone trying to peek in?