This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

—"Why do you think she\'s been gone so long?"

—"She must be hunting food for us."

—"Meow, this food is so delicious!"

—"Such good food must be hard to get. Maybe we should bring her a gift next time."

—"What should we bring? Mice? She\'s such a great cook, she probably wouldn\'t eat mice."

—"I don\'t know either. I just feel like I should give her something."

—"Same here, meow~ I feel the same~"

—"How strange~"

Rita smiled, her heart lightened. It seemed the cats in her yard might indeed mutate.

After relaxing for half a day, Rita went on a search for cockroaches to use as surveillance, but after searching the entire villa, she couldn\'t find any. Eventually, she went to a pet market, bought two small spiders, and killed them to use the rarely utilized skill **[Only the Dead Will Listen]** to control them, placing them as her new surveillance tools in the safe room.

The next day, Rick picked her up and brought her to the Lopez family estate. Oddly, he hadn\'t brought Scarlett or Samuel along. At the Lopez mansion, not only was Zoey present, but also Mateo, Theodore, and a few of Zoey\'s cousins.

Rita kept a polite smile. Even though she already knew these cousins were notorious influencers who had been involved in scandals, she didn\'t lose her composure.

However, when they subtly began probing about where she had been recently, Rita opted for blunt honesty. She had learned that the best way to deal with the Lopez family was head-on: "I can\'t tell you. I signed a contract that would literally mute me if I tried. Also, my first **Divine Gift** skill now has to be made into skill stones and given directly to the authorities."

Zoey and the others exchanged glances, clearly feeling that Rita had been naive and disrespectful for not first informing the Lopez family about something this big.

Rita hadn\'t seen their glances, but she could guess their thoughts with her eyes closed. In her previous life, once a player joined the Lopez family\'s group, it was difficult to leave. If the family wanted to keep you and you still wanted to go, they\'d put on a friendly front, but their underhanded methods were ruthless.

Zoey sighed, her words tinged with reproach: "Had I known you had this connection, I wouldn\'t have bothered introducing other opportunities to you."

Rita knew this was a subtle jab—Zoey felt they had extended goodwill by offering her business opportunities, but in turn, she went to work with the government. From a certain perspective, it wasn\'t entirely wrong. But Rita understood that had she stayed any longer under the Lopez family\'s control, her **Divine Gift** would have been treated as their property.

Even after a few collaborations, there were already signs of that.

Moreover, Zoey\'s complaint didn\'t hold up to scrutiny. The Lopez family hadn\'t been helping her—they were using her as a resource to curry favor with others.

Feigning ignorance, Rita smiled and said, "I didn\'t want it to go this way either. I was hoping to make big money off of this, but the government stepped in. I couldn\'t exactly refuse them, and honestly, 20-80 is a pretty good deal."

Zoey exchanged glances with the others again, feeling even more exasperated. Rita seemed unambitious. She tried a different approach to reel Rita back in: "If you\'d partnered with us, we could have split fifty-fifty." The Lopez family already had moles within the government. Even though critical information couldn\'t be shared due to the contract, they knew how valuable luck stats were.

From the information they had, Rita\'s **Divine Gift** had been rated as a 7 in importance, equivalent to an A-ranked **Divine Gift**.

Rita shook her head, wearing a satisfied expression. "I can\'t protect too much on my own."

Zoey pressed on with authority: "Our family can protect you." She met Rita\'s eyes, voice firm. "You could work with us."

The implication was clear: the Lopez family wanted Rita to break her contract with the government and work for them. It was an unreasonable demand.

Rita, however, had grown used to Zoey\'s strong-arm tactics. With a wry smile, she explained, "The authorities did the same. They wouldn\'t let me leave unless I agreed. They even dragged me along," *and called me "sis,"* she thought with an internal sigh.

"They threatened me, saying if I walked out the door, I shouldn\'t expect to come back." *Because Shadow.Q would chase me down,* she added in her head.

"And they made me sign a contract with the official government seal, recognized by the game itself."

"I can\'t afford to break the contract. The penalties are too severe; it would be like killing me."

Her tone was calm but serious.

Throughout the conversation, the butler standing behind Zoey hadn\'t poured Rita a drink, indicating that she wasn\'t lying. This realization finally cooled Zoey\'s anger, though she still couldn\'t fully let go of her frustration. "You should have come to us first."

This wasn\'t how you treated a partner in a business deal. Rita highly doubted that if Zoey failed in a negotiation with another partner, she would turn around and blame them for not reaching out sooner.

Rita remained silent. She wasn\'t going to grovel for the Lopez family. She wasn\'t about to tolerate this level of disrespect either. Sitting here explaining herself was already testing her patience.

Sensing the tension, Mateo raised his glass to break the ice. "Sorry, Zoey didn\'t mean it that way. We just regret that we didn\'t establish this partnership with you first. We see you as part of the Lopez family."

*Oh, so now I\'m family, huh?* Rita thought, maintaining a friendly smile she had perfected in her entertainment industry days. "Maybe so, but I think I\'m better off as a part of the nation. Even though they take a cut, they\'ve promised to protect me. Plus, if I die, they\'ll use a cause-and-effect **Divine Gift** to hunt down my killer and avenge me."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

The three Lopez siblings felt slighted by Rita\'s blunt refusal, but more than that, they were shocked by the terms of her contract. It meant they couldn\'t resort to extreme measures if they couldn\'t get what they wanted from her. Not only that, but it confirmed how significant her **Divine Gift** was if the authorities were offering this level of protection.

They regretted not pulling Rita into the family sooner.

Rick, however, felt nothing but satisfaction. The Lopez family had never cared for the Wilson family, but now he envied Rita. Her **Divine Gift** might be B-ranked with no combat utility, but it was valuable, and she had leverage.

Rita\'s assertiveness made the Lopez family rethink their approach. They were beginning to realize that she wasn\'t someone who would give up her principles to cling to their power, nor would she cower in fear of them. More importantly, she now had the backing of the government.

The younger generation of the Lopez family, though arrogant, weren\'t stupid. They were quick to adjust their attitudes when they sensed Rita\'s stance.

Even Zoey, despite her frustration, concealed her anger. For now, they had no choice but to be civil. With only one **Wheel of Fate** in existence, they needed to tread carefully until they fully understood why this skill was so important.