This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Chapter 149 Oh Well, I Already Hit It

Rita's movements were even better than those of the elite squads. Every time an attack from the distant enemies exploded near the ranged group, she seemed to anticipate it. With a subtle sidestep or a small backward movement, she avoided the attack with ease. And despite her evasions, she continued to shoot arrows, each one hitting its mark.

Zoey never once saw her miss a shot during the entire time she observed her.

All of this was the result of Rita's meticulous planning. After the game invasion, she had quickly leveraged her *Wheel of Fate* talent to gain resources. She never slacked off, taking fighting lessons, later joining the Special Affairs Bureau training camp, and consistently selling items from the rooftop instance. Rita maximized every bit of her resources and abilities.

Her offensive skills might not have been numerous, but Zoey was certain—she couldn't defeat Rita in her current state.

Rita claimed her dragon was acquired by luck, but Zoey believed it was the result of Rita's relentless efforts.

There were even online rumors that Rita's dragon must have been gifted to her by a man. Ridiculous! If any man managed to get a dragon, 99.99% of them would probably marry the dragon on the spot. No way would they give it to a woman! The remaining 0.01% would likely be husbands bound by some contract.

Zoey knew she could have taken a similar path. She could have done even better. But her stubborn pride, unwilling to bend, had left her stagnant for too long.

Her *Hope's Anthem* was worthless if it couldn't be converted into a resource that made her stronger. It was as cheap as her self-respect.

She had been wrong. She admitted it. But everything could still change. She wouldn't fall behind anyone.

---

Rita was unaware that she had become an important catalyst for Zoey's change.

It was still early—around 7 p.m.—and Rita planned to rest a bit before heading to Lania Kaia to discuss matters with Apache regarding the Moon Fox tribe.

Nivalis initially wanted to tag along but retreated when she heard Rita was going to visit the undead alchemist. The young dragon didn't dare roam Lania Kaia alone; despite being level 14, she was still very much a child. And Lania Kaia was a dangerous place for a young dragon to wander.

After transforming into her goblin form and using *Phantom Cloak* for invisibility, Rita crawled under her bed, and with a flash of light, the invisible goblin emerged from behind a tombstone. She immediately used *Phantom Shift* to teleport and started running towards the Undercity, her little goblin legs moving swiftly.

She even used her *Chávez Watch* ability, *I'm in a Hurry*, to speed up her travel.

Since she had been warned against turning into an animal lately, time was precious.

When she barged into the alchemy shop, Apache was sitting in the corner, reading a book. Find adventures at empire

Rita greeted the little undead assistant before sitting across from Apache, asking about the customs and taboos of the Moon Fox tribe.

That night, Rita didn't rush to bed. The next day would be the eleventh day since her last post, meaning she could once again sell the dragon instance's location. Over the past days, the replies to her post had continued to grow. Despite her setting a minimum level requirement to comment, there were still tens of thousands of replies.

She was even starting to worry about how she would find Zoey's people in the sea of comments.

At midnight, Rita opened the forum thread again.

She scrolled through the replies, skipping over any familiar Lopez or White family names.

Then, a familiar name caught her eye.

**Meow.Q:** "Hello, would you be willing to negotiate? I'd like to buy out your information. My sister is Shadow.Q. You can find her photo on the Special Affairs Bureau's official website."

Rita paused, unsure who was behind this message.

She quickly ruled out the Special Affairs Bureau. But she wasn't about to ask Shadow.Q directly—too suspicious. That woman would sniff it out in no time.

**Anonymous:** "What, is your sister on the national most-wanted list?"

**Meow.Q:** "..."

Meow.Q turned to Shadow.Q, "Sis!"

Shadow.Q rubbed her temples, clearly exasperated. "Just offer a price."

**Meow.Q:** "You can enjoy one *Hope's Anthem* boost every ten days until our team successfully contracts the dragon."

**Anonymous:** "What's the chance of success?"

**Meow.Q:** "13%."

*Hope's Anthem* had a 15% chance, but based on that alone, Rita couldn't confirm whether this was Zoey's *Hope's Anthem* or not. If Meow.Q was indeed someone Zoey had sent through Shadow.Q, they wouldn't be foolish enough to give the exact probability.

**Anonymous:** "Alright, we'll test it tomorrow at noon, but no more than five people can be present. Write the location on a slip of paper and send it via a donation. If it's legit, we can trade every ten days."

Rita decided to observe from a distance. If it wasn't Zoey, she would just ghost them.

As for the other offers in the thread, none could beat this one. Most were offering gold or equipment, or occasionally real-world assets like houses or cars. But based on what Rita knew about Zoey, if Zoey was determined to secure the dragon, she wouldn't be stingy. She would offer something irresistible.