This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 313: High Tower · So What?

Before they parted ways, Sanchez added her as a friend.

Sanchez took a few steps, then turned to wave at her, still visible from a distance, showing her bright white teeth as she smiled. "Go on back, Pinebloom, no need to see me off!"

Rita’s heart tightened. I just… wanted to be left alone here, not to send you off!

Nivalis fluttered her wings above Rita’s head, looking as if her tiny brain was about to explode. She almost thought she had become a part of some uncomfortable massage chair.

Once Sanchez disappeared from their sight, Nivalis pecked at Rita’s head, squawking, "Go on back, Pinebloom, no need to see me off."

Rita sighed in exasperation. "You can go back to your pet space now."

Nivalis grumbled, "Actually, now I don’t want to. I’m afraid if I go in and play a game, when I come out, you’ll be having dinner with her. I won’t be able to keep track of who’s who and what’s going on."

Rita’s eye twitched. "…If you keep saying such things, you’ll regret it!"

Nivalis: ·ࡇ·

But as for Sanchez, well, after Rita calmed down and thought it over, meeting Sanchez was actually one of the best outcomes for her right now.

Because her emotions toward Sanchez were the most complicated.

She had a grudge against Sanchez, and she had already taken half of her revenge, but the other half of the grudge had been wiped out by Jameson. It was just like in the past life when Sanchez had relentlessly sent people to kill her, but she ended up dying at the hands of The Lopez Family instead—it was a strange kind of stalemate.

The emotional complexity she felt for Sanchez was something Zoey could never understand. Hatred, regret, inner conflict, and bittersweet feelings—these emotions quickly brought her back to reality.

Still, it was a bit overwhelming.

She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Sanchez during her time in prison, to make her so excited and happy when she saw Rita…

Or perhaps, this was the real Sanchez.

The one Rita had never seen before.

Not the god-tier assassin who fought battles for <71%>, <Wildfire>, or <Shuffle>, and not the one who constantly had to jump in front of the others in The Lopez Family, The White Family, or The Taylor Family alliances, nor the "spicy beauty" who used her anger to "express feelings" when seeing Rick. All those roles and labels weren’t Sanchez. She wasn’t a stamp or a tool of beauty.

The real Sanchez… well, fine. She was still dumb and still bad. Sometimes, she was so dumb that even Nivalis was speechless.

——

"Pinebloom! When we last met, didn’t Nivalis say that the one called Pine Thorn bullied you?! Don’t worry, I killed her last night!"

As Sanchez said this, she pounded her chest with a self-satisfied grin, as if saying, "Don’t be too touched!"

After all this time since her rebirth, Rita finally felt a sense of suffocating helplessness. She pressed her hand to her chest, leaning against a tree, breathing faintly. "Do you know who she is?"

Sanchez blinked, confused. "Who? The one who bullied you? Didn’t Nivalis say she took all your work, stole your credit, and called you an inferior owl unworthy of the Pine name? She said she should be sent to work for the Moon Fox as a mule?"

Nivalis dramatically covered her chest with her wings, pretending to choke up. "…She’s Pinebloom’s older brother’s most beloved youngest daughter."

Sanchez looked even more confused. "So what?"

Rita pointed at herself. "And I, Pinebloom… am the fifth granddaughter of Pinebloom’s grandfather’s second brother’s third son."

Sanchez suddenly understood. The difference between distant relatives and close family. She assumed Rita was just worried about being hunted down, but she thought Rita was just being overly cautious, making her life far less enjoyable than it could be!

Sanchez wasn’t truly dumb. She was very careful when she killed, and she had rarely wanted to be kind to someone. When she did try, Rita didn’t seem to appreciate it.

Sanchez was a bit upset, ready to snap, her brows furrowing, but then she remembered Rita’s help to her family and the warnings from Jameson and Ariana. She swallowed her anger and patiently explained, "Don’t worry. When I erased her, I was very careful. They won’t be able to trace it back to us."

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Rita raised an eyebrow. "Blood, hair, skin flakes?"

Sanchez grinned confidently. "I wasn’t injured."

Rita: "Your face and body shape?"

Sanchez smirked. "I used a backstab; she didn’t see me!"

Rita: "The skills you used?"

Sanchez: "I used my Divine Gift and skills. I forgot to mention it, but I’m a Water God, S-rank. Do you understand the significance of that?"

Rita understood, but she was more concerned with whether Sanchez would leave traces of her skills or the method of death that could be divined. To be honest, Rita didn’t trust Sanchez’s ability to clean up after herself. The main reason was that she wasn’t sure whether Sanchez had skills to block divination.

What was worse, backstabbing was even more dangerous. Owl wings were the source of their power, not just for flight. She had seen all kinds of bizarre wing-based skills. Just a feather brushing something could leave a trace.

And if the owls ever found "Sinsoo," they could track her recent interactions with "Pinebloom."

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Sanchez laughed at Rita’s cautiousness, but Rita couldn’t help but laugh at Sanchez’s overconfidence. The difference between them was stark. If they both had to burn a house down, Rita would first scout the location, create an alibi, ensure the ignition tools were untraceable, investigate the power behind the target to see if she could handle it… and then, when everything was in place, she’d set the fire one quiet night and never speak of it again.

Sanchez, on the other hand, would say, "Hey, let me finish this cappuccino, put on my mask and sunglasses, and drive over. I’ll toss a torch in and leave, blowing on the wind as I go, and later post about how cool I am on social media."

Sanchez: "By the way, Pinebloom, you’re so experienced at this!"

Rita: "…" No more conversation.

She gave up. Whatever, she had been planning to defect anyway; it was just a matter of doing it sooner.

After parting ways with Sanchez, she immediately used her current status to get some fruit with various uses. She also crafted several mid-level healing potions and mana potions with her available tools. Fortunately, she had a decent position now and had a 12-slot backpack, which was just enough to carry everything.

In addition, she had exploited her authority to seize some good equipment and several B-level skill books: Wind, Fire, Ice, Water, and Thunder. These were all guided attack skills that could be cast while moving.

The skills weren’t as powerful as A-level ones, but they made her combat abilities more diverse.

Skills and attribute points were different. Skills followed the soul, meaning she could use them even after leaving the tower, which was a valuable resource within the tower! Once she got them, she immediately learned them.

Unfortunately, she was just an edge member of the Pine family. Her Divine Gift was weak, and she had only just arrived, with no time to climb the ranks. Right now, she was managing only a Level 4 treasure vault, which had little of value.

On the fifth day, the arrest order from the Owls arrived.