This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 291: Why Does This Look Like Trash?

Rita stared at the line on her character panel:

"A free soul is never trapped by thorns disguised as virtue. We need no thrones nor righteous facades. We are thieves in the shadows. Recognize yourself, and revel without restraint."

For a moment, she felt lost in thought.

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Gently, she reached out and brushed her fingers against the glowing words on the screen. After a long pause, she exhaled softly and let out a quiet laugh.

One-Person Party.

She loved it.

The new Divine Gift was a mix of gains and losses. The biggest downside was that she could no longer repeatedly steal the same target’s attributes or equipment without limits. Additionally, the stolen items would no longer be passively forgotten by their original owners. However, the two new skills were incredibly powerful, easily compensating for these limitations.

After some thought, Rita realized that this change wasn’t necessarily bad.

The former [I Want This, That, and That] skill was particularly useful for targeting people like Rick. The new [I Really Want to Improve] had a cap of ten successful uses per target but removed the restriction on attacking weaker opponents. The success rates were also higher, and the skill consumed less. Plus, it could now steal secrets—an invaluable upgrade.

If the new Divine Gift were ever exposed, the potential backlash from [One-Person Party] wouldn’t be nearly as severe or fear-inducing as the original [Thief God].

The evolution from [Thief God] to [One-Person Party] elevated the Divine Gift’s rank, but the language in its description became noticeably more humble. To Rita, this wasn’t a sign of weakness or cowardice—it resonated deeply with her personality, her methods, and her mindset.

It was as the voice had said:

"Arrogance is the prelude to destruction. Ascending the throne is the beginning of the fall."

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Rita used her watch to once again hide the Divine Gift behind [Fate’s Gears], maintaining the ruse.

Her chat list was constantly lighting up. Acquaintances and strangers alike sent messages. Even Rick, Zoey, and Jameson had sent congratulatory notes.

After quickly replying to those, she opened Shadow.Q’s private messages. The materials left in the scene were a mix of damaged components from various professions. She intended to sell a portion of them to the Special Affairs Bureau, along with her apartment instance.

She was desperately short on funds. It had been a long time since she was this broke—down to just a few dozen gold coins. At this rate, she wouldn’t even be able to afford the transport fees to Lania Kaia.

[Shadow.Q]: Congratulations.

[Rita]: Just picking up scraps with Nivalis, nothing special.

[Shadow.Q]: Got anything I can buy?

[Rita]: Maybe a few things.

[Shadow.Q]: Where are you? I’ll pick you up.

[Rita]: Sending my location. Be here in 30 minutes. I’ll clean up the site first.

[Shadow.Q]: No rush, boss. Take your time. I’ll pretend I don’t know anything and come in an hour.

[Rita]: ???

Rita frowned. Was Shadow.Q overworked again?

She and Nivalis began sorting through the scene, categorizing items for sale. As they worked, Rita made sure to lavish Nivalis with praise for her stellar performance earlier. Baby dragons thrived on encouragement, especially clever, capable ones like her.

The amount of water from the whale alone was staggering. It had neither seeped into the ground nor evaporated, and the frozen mass now stood like a miniature mountain. Rita ordered several large water tanks online and had them delivered through the game’s mail system.

Four towering tanks, each three meters tall, were barely enough to contain it all.

When thawed, the game displayed a simple description: [Complex Seawater].

Pointing to the mess of items left behind, Rita told Nivalis:

"If you like anything here, take it."

Nivalis immediately flopped onto the giant whale hide, rolling around gleefully.

"Can I have this?"

Rita didn’t even blink.

"Sure. Have fun with it."

She knew the whale hide was exceptional—it had taken a battering during the fight without a single scratch. But for Nivalis, Rita didn’t mind giving it away.

She collected all the herbs and engineering components. Most of the herbs had withered or charred, losing their potency, but they were still worth researching. The engineering components, too, had potential uses.

After carefully inspecting each piece, she packed them into a box. These materials were relatively straightforward, meaning they’d be safe to sell.

The magical runes and symbols, however, had dissolved into the water—unsellable and too dangerous to consider otherwise. The leather and parchment that carried the runes were less significant during the ritual, often scattered or blown about by the water. She decided these were safe enough to sell.

When she finished her assessment, she realized: Perfect. Everything here is sellable! Of course, it all needed a good cleaning first.

As for Miyaas’ ashes, she divided them into three portions.

One portion went into a storage box to vanish after 72 hours. A second portion would be discarded into a hidden corner during her next [Wrathful Moon] journey, where it would dissolve into temporal chaos after 48 hours. The final portion she planned to scatter into the Pacific Ocean to feed the fish.

If Miyaas could resurrect after this, she’d concede defeat.

Despite claiming she’d come in an hour, Shadow.Q messaged Rita within thirty minutes, announcing her arrival.

Shadow.Q entered the apartment and glanced at the instance portal in the living room, smirking knowingly.

"I figured you’d have another one stashed away."

When she saw the three large crates of materials Rita had assembled, Shadow.Q fell silent for a long time. Finally, she asked:

"Where did you even find this? Why does it all look like trash?"

Rita’s jaw dropped. What?! This was premium-grade loot! Special Affairs Bureau agents used to clamor for low-grade food! Now they had standards this high? Who else could she sell to? She launched into an enthusiastic sales pitch.

Shadow.Q, uneasy under Rita’s fervor, reluctantly took photos and sent them to the research department. After confirming the items’ quality, she bought the entire lot for 300 gold.

Though the materials were rare and valuable, their core essence had been consumed during the Divine Gift upgrade. Selling them for 300 gold was more than fair.

Rita, now flush with funds, counted her coins multiple times before storing them.

Seeing this, Shadow.Q couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy. Has it come to this? She’s down to counting pocket change?

"Hey, want to join Eclipse Vanguard? The salary’s excellent."

Rita waved her off.

"Nah, dumpster diving suits me just fine."

Next was the apartment and its Level 10 instance.

"500 blank skill crystals," Rita offered. "And it’s yours, permanently."

Shadow.Q didn’t hesitate for long. Though the price slightly exceeded her expectations, it was still within reason.

Truthfully, Eclipse Vanguard owed Rita a massive favor ever since she practically gave them the legion command item. This was a small way to repay it.