This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Chapter 18: Desperate for Money

Rita smoothly infiltrated the Lopez estate, relying on her phasing potion to navigate through the mansion. Following the memories of her past life, she found the entrance to the vault in the study of the main building. From there, she descended into the depths, passing through various high-tech security systems along the way.

She was mentally prepared for the possibility that heat sensors might detect her and was ready to make a dash for it, grab whatever she could, and escape. But fortunately, magic was her answer—only magic could defeat magic.

She felt like she had descended several meters, passing through three doors, before alarms suddenly blared around her as she reached the last door. Looking down at the tiles beneath her feet, she clicked her tongue, instantly realizing there must be pressure sensors installed.

Without hesitating, Rita drank another phasing potion, passed through the ornate, ancient door, and entered the vault.

The vault was as vast as the mansion above, with sections dedicated to books, jewelry, antiques, and gold.

Rita sprinted through the vault until she was nearly blinded by a room filled with golden bricks neatly stacked inside a small glass enclosure. Each gold brick was slightly smaller than a smartphone but about half a finger thick. Having handled so much gold recently, Rita quickly estimated that each brick weighed about 10 pounds.

Whoever said wealthy families lacked liquid assets clearly didn't consider the possibility that they hoarded gold instead of cash!

She quickly entered the enclosure and began stuffing the gold bricks into her spatial backpack.

Thankfully, she had bought new bags, leaving her with 44 empty slots out of 72.

In other words, if she filled them all, she could carry 44 stacks of 99, totaling 4,356 gold bricks.

She could have packed even more by taking the time to place the bricks into storage boxes, but there wasn't enough time.

Soon, she heard movement outside—the sound of doors opening, guns being loaded, and footsteps getting closer. Rita practically threw herself onto the pile of gold bricks, frantically loading them into her bag.

Just as the large group of guards stormed in, Rita abruptly stopped, leaving 20 slots still empty. Without hesitation, she left the room full of gold, downed another phasing potion, and sprinted out.

Rita was greedy, but she knew when to stop.

As she reached the final door, the guards—following the orders of the Lopez family head—began firing into the gold storage room. They didn't care if they damaged the gold or the decorations inside.

Sparks of electricity danced across the floor outside the door, making Rita stop dead in her tracks. She quickly pulled out ten packets of homemade explosives, lit a few, and threw them down the hallway ahead of her. Then, she took cover behind the door. Five seconds later, a series of explosions rocked the corridor, leaving nothing but blackened debris.

She continued her escape.

While the phasing potion only lasted 15 seconds per use, it had a short cooldown of just 30 seconds. Fortunately, the Lopez family seemed to trust technology more than their guards. The initial group that stormed the basement was likely their most trusted men, with no significant reinforcements following.

Rita didn't flee the estate immediately but instead headed for Zoey's room.

Upon entering, she found Mateo, Theodore, and Zoey sitting in the bedroom playing a game. Despite the chaos below, they remained unfazed, either trusting the Lopez family head's ability or too engrossed in this life-changing game to care.

Without hesitation, Rita cast **[Sleep Spell]** three times.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

One by one, all three collapsed.

As they fell unconscious, Rita thought about checking their phones, but the devices went dark as well.

It made sense—the game connected to a person's mind. Otherwise, how could the skills she learned in the game synchronize with reality?

Unexpectedly, two bags appeared in front of Zoey.

Ha! A pleasant surprise! Rita quickly grabbed the two bags and stuffed them into her own inventory. Although there were only two bag slots on her waist, much like equipment slots, she could carry more bags on her person, even if only two would be active at a time. It was like wearing multiple vests, but only one would be functional.

Zoey's bags could be worn, but Rita couldn't access their contents.

Initially planning to hide out in the room for a while, Rita changed her mind after getting Zoey's bags. She never expected bags to drop this way. Even with her **Thief God** talent, she could only steal one item from a person's bag or equipment, possibly even a bag itself, but she couldn't steal the bag they were currently using.

She could knock someone out and forcibly strip them of their equipment, but to obtain a bag someone was wearing required killing them; otherwise, it would just be empty air.

Rita pulled out a hatchet, tested its weight, and approached the three unconscious figures.

Sanchez had paid with an arm as interest—what should these three give her?

An ear, perhaps? Since Zoey believed everything Rick said, taking an ear wasn't too much, was it?

Rita took out the butcher knife she had bought and squatted beside Zoey. As she brushed aside Zoey's hair, she noticed the blue diamond earring on her right ear.

Ha! Rita's eyes lit up. She quickly grabbed the ear and sliced it off. The intense pain snapped Zoey out of her slumber, causing her to scream and clutch her bleeding ear.

But she couldn't see anyone around her.

Rita, who had already downed an invisibility potion and a phasing potion, made a swift exit, carrying the severed ear and diamond earring. She removed her bloodstained gloves, packed them along with the ear and earring, and continued her escape.

Rita sprinted all the way to the nearby Taylor estate, slipping into a maid's room in the estate's secondary building. The room was empty; after all, it was 11:35 AM, the busiest time for the maids.

Unsure whether the maid's room had surveillance, Rita, familiar with the setup, crawled under the bed and lay flat.

This place still felt the safest.

And it was a sunroom, which was even better.

12:12 PM.

At exactly 12:12, Rita, lying under the bed, logged into the game. Disguised as a goblin, she ran to find her goblin mentor.

She had 22 slots filled with gold bricks and one slot holding 15 bricks—totaling 2,193 gold bricks or 21,930 pounds of gold.

She approached her goblin mentor and requested to exchange all of it for gold coins. The goblin fell silent for a few seconds.

A dialogue box popped up with the goblin's response: *"I don't have that many gold coins, my friend."*

Rita was genuinely angry. After all the effort she'd put into making money, he was now telling her he didn't have 60,000 gold?

*Idontcare:* "You don't have even 60,000 gold?!"

*Goblin:* "...Do you?"

Rita: *Are you being sarcastic?*

*Idontcare:* "Then how much do you have, my friend?"

*Goblin:* "20,000."

*Idontcare:* "Don't you have any friends?"

The goblin went silent again.

*Say something, darling!!!*

After a long pause, the goblin finally responded: *"I'm not trading anymore."*

*Idontcare:* "I'm your most loyal friend!!!"

*Goblin:* "That's disgusting."

*Idontcare:* "Let's start with 20,000 gold then."

*Goblin:* "Fine, my disgusting friend."

Rita swallowed her frustration.

She then sought out the goblin engineer to exchange more gold, but he ignored her.

*Idontcare:* "Teacher?"

The goblin was focused on hammering a copper pipe.

*Idontcare* moved closer: "Teacher?"

It wasn't until the third time she called him that the dialogue box finally popped up with a response.

The little goblin on the screen exploded in rage: *"I have no money!!! I have no money!!! Asking, asking, asking, didn't you see I was ignoring you? I've spent all my money on research! If you really consider me your teacher, give me more tuition! If you don't have any, go find that bastard Bill!"*

Rita: *"... Sorry to bother you."*

Ten minutes into the game, Rita, cursing under her breath, took her 20,000 gold and rushed to the auction house.

Her first move was to spend 10,000 gold to buy the SS-class skill **[Phantom Shift].**

Then, she went on a shopping spree.