HBWnovel Chapter 67 Can He Be Stronger Than His Wife?
Chapter 67 Can He Be Stronger Than His Wife?
February 22nd was a special date. In Rita's previous life, many people had anticipated it would mark the start of the fourth game beta. At that time, although Rita was still unaware of the game's existence, she knew about Rick's major moves—he had gathered a few people and established a small studio, composed of both players and well-connected non-players.
One of these non-players was **Aaron**, a wealthy second-generation heir with a privileged background.
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Just two days before the game's official invasion, Rick had brought a group home for dinner. At that point in Rita's life, her career had been completely destroyed, and the resources Rick had introduced through the **Lopez** family were hardly beneficial. She spent most of her time at home, and she was there the night of that dinner. Among the guests were **Julian** and **Aaron**.
Judging by the timeline, it was probably around now.
With less than a week left before the invasion, Rita's schedule was packed. She couldn't care less about attending this dinner.
She used **Phantom Cloak** and **Phantom Shift** to arrive near Rick's small apartment. As a small bird, she flew to his window and peered inside. Sure enough, several people were huddled around their computers. She recognized **Julian**, **Aaron**, and a few other familiar faces. They weren't playing games—the screens displayed chat windows and forums.
It was clear that Rick was already in the process of building his team.
Rita didn't even wait for nightfall. She flew to the apartment's restroom and activated **Disguise**, taking on the appearance of a **White** family member she had seen before. After donning a mask and gloves, she calmly stepped out and walked right up to Aaron, who looked confused. Without hesitation, she grabbed his throat, swiftly pulled out a knife, and gouged out both of his eyes.
The nerve connections snapped with a satisfying sound, and once the eyeballs hit the floor, she stomped them into a mushy pulp.
She released the screaming Aaron, pocketed her knife, and turned away calmly. As she moved to leave, her gaze fell on a familiar figurine in the cabinet—it was the same one she had mutilated before by snapping off an arm and shaving its head. Either Julian had repaired it or bought a new one. She couldn't resist.
Throughout the day, as Rita leveled up, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She even made a trip to the **Treehouse Outpost** to trade gear, planning to gather a full set of agility-boosting equipment. Once she had it, she could rely on her high attack and agility to solo dungeons. Meanwhile, she set aside her constitution-boosting gear for group play.
She didn't bother hiding her newfound ability to teleport freely between **Earth** and **Ranaya Kaia**. **Shadow.Q** already knew how much gold she had, so it wasn't a big deal to buy a **Portal** skill. As for others who might be curious, Rita felt no need to explain. After all, when had a truly powerful person ever felt the need to justify their strength?
She preferred to keep some tricks up her sleeve, but that didn't mean she was afraid of anyone.
Once her **Disguise** skill had cooled down, Rita attended another lesson with her **Undead Mentor**. Following the lesson, her mentor suggested she buy a few old notebooks and alchemy texts, which cost Rita a small fortune in gold. Rita suspected the mentor was exploiting her, but she had no proof.
Still, with over 30,000 gold and 2,000 pounds of gold at her disposal, Rita didn't mind the expense. As long as it helped her grow stronger, she was happy to spend. After all, earning gold was easy, but opportunities to improve her strength were rare. Over time, she noticed that the mentor only seemed to offer lessons to her; other suspected players in the shop never received the same attention.
Evening came, and when Rita returned home to the Wilson estate, she noticed three missed calls from **Scarlett**. There were no messages in the family group chat, so she called her mother back while preparing dinner.
"Where have you been?" Scarlett scolded. "I tried calling you!"
"One of your brother's colleagues had his eyes gouged out. Oh, it was awful—right in broad daylight!"
"Your father and I rushed to the hospital. I just left, and I'm heading home now. That person seems dangerous. Your father thinks they might come after your brother next, but Rick wasn't even there at the time. Why blame him?"
Rita stifled a laugh as she reassured her mother, "Mom, no one's stronger than the Lopez family. Don't worry, everything's fine."
Scarlett seemed to agree. If her tone on the phone was any indication, she wasn't all that worried. She sounded more like she was gossiping than fretting. "You're right. No matter how strong they are, can they really be stronger than his wife?"