This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Chapter 64: The Cast-Iron Pot

The next morning, as Rita was about to head out to buy more wine—her recent supply had depleted rapidly—she planned to stock up. Additionally, she wanted to collect some cocktail recipes to gift the **Undead Alchemy Tutor**, hoping for more rewards.

Just as she was about to leave her neighborhood, she received a message from **Rick** asking if she was home, claiming he had something good to deliver to her.

Rita turned back and waited. Soon, Rick arrived with a belt to gift her. Amused, Rita recognized it immediately—it was one of the belts she had sold the day before. It was a belt with 4 attribute points, one of the rare ones from the batch of 1,000. Only fifty or so belts in that lot had 4 attributes; the rest had 3.

Rita wasn't surprised. The Lopez family operated in predictable patterns—when they acted human, they seemed genuinely kind, but when they weren't, they were utterly ruthless. She played the role of a loving sister, thanked Rick warmly, and gifted him three **Lesser Healing Potions** she had made herself before sending him on his way.

Rick, used to this dynamic, left satisfied. He knew Rita always reciprocated when given something, so not only did he feel he had strengthened their bond, but he also believed he had come out ahead. Ever since facilitating the deal for the 1,000 pieces of green gear, he had gained some sway in the Lopez household. Things that once happened without him even knowing now included him.

Moreover, knowing that the healing potions Rita gave him fetched a high price—each sold for 250 grams of gold—he felt even more victorious.

As for the ambush that followed yesterday's transaction, where several Lopez family members were killed—well, that wasn't Rick's concern.

After Rick left, Rita quickly reset her **Spider Silk Traps** and hurried out for the day. She didn't return home until the afternoon, but instead of immediately heading to the alien world of **Ranaya Kaya**, she focused on setting up her safehouse.

Rita had been collecting weapons, antiques, and miscellaneous items for months, and she decided it was time to remove them from her in-game inventory and store them in the safehouse. She wasn't sure what caused objects to mutate, but she suspected the in-game storage might block whatever forces led to those changes.

Even things she had picked up for fun, like old polaroid cameras and **durian shells** from a previous trip to Thailand, were placed in the safehouse.

Every day, she meticulously inspected the traps around her home. Every step you took near the safehouse landed you in a **Spider Silk Trap**, with the webs soaked in poison.

- **Corrosive Potion**: Contact with it causes a target to lose 10 HP per second, lasting for 3 minutes.

This was the most potent poison Rita could craft with her **Intermediate Alchemy** skills, capable of killing a player in just 6 seconds.

After ensuring the safety of her setup, Rita headed back to **Ranaya Kaya**, bringing wine for the undead tutor. She attended a 50-minute lesson and returned, knowing she had a big night ahead.

While selling the belts to the Lopez family had netted her valuable gold and successfully planted seeds of discord between Rick and **Zoey**, Rita wasn't satisfied. She knew the Lopez family had likely started making moves to convert their wealth into gold after two consecutive orders demanded payment in that form. This would give her an opportunity to strike.

Overall, her scheme was a success—she had scored valuable gold, driven a wedge between Rick and Zoey, and potentially forced the Lopez family into a vulnerable position if they started converting their assets into gold. But the fact that the Lopez family now possessed 1,000 pieces of green gear left her restless. She needed to balance the scales.

The Lopez family was vast, with holdings in real estate, pharmaceuticals, dining, and new energy batteries. While their performance in the stock market had been poor recently, hinting at struggles, the game's invasion had given them a new opportunity. One particular restaurant owned by Zoey had a large **cast-iron pot** in the kitchen that had been in use since the restaurant opened.

After the game's invasion, the pot underwent a mutation, and any food cooked in it was elevated in quality. Initially, the Lopez family hadn't noticed, but when the restaurant's business started booming with nothing but ordinary dishes, it was eventually revealed by players that the pot had special powers. The pot later ended up in **Rick's** hands.

Though she wasn't sure of its exact level, Rita knew that if the pot had become Rick's personal cooking tool, it had to be something special.

She had avoided taking it earlier for fear of disrupting the timeline. Unlike the **cat house**, which simply attracted cats when left alone, pots required care and use to maintain their luster. Rita's schedule had been so packed that she hadn't had time to tend to a magical pot. But now, with February 10th approaching, it was time to retrieve her rightful cookware.

It was still early in the day, around 4 PM, but Rita needed to scout the location in advance if she wanted to use **Phantom Shift** later. She picked up **Samuel** and **Scarlett**, using them as cover to visit Zoey's restaurant—reservations were needed in advance, after all.

After placing their orders, Rita excused herself to admire the artwork on the walls, using the opportunity to discreetly explore the layout and identify where the servers were coming from with the dishes. In her previous life, she had dined here, but she had never paid attention to the location of the kitchen.

Once she had a good sense of the area, she returned to the private room, only to notice that **Samuel** looked unwell. Well, to be fair, both the men in the household had been acting morose lately, often looking like they were on the verge of collapsing. But she hadn't done anything to them recently, so what was going on?

"Why the long face?" she asked, curious.

Samuel pressed his lips together, signaling for the server to bring more wine. He wasn't sure where to start.

Recently, he had found a player who could repair the valuable antiques and relics he had collected. While the repair costs were steep, he had managed to secure some of **Rick's** money—being married into a wealthy family had its perks. With the extra cash, he was able to restore several items without touching his own savings.

But when he went to sell some of these restored items yesterday, the appraisers had declared them fakes. His legs had nearly given out right there in the shop.

He had skipped dinner, gathered up all the family treasures, and taken them to three different appraisers, all of whom confirmed the worst—they were forgeries.

Samuel felt like his entire world was crumbling. He drank heavily, filled with bitterness, unable to shake the despair.

The worst part was, he couldn't even confide in **Rita**, as she had never been informed of these valuables in the first place.

He suspected a player had switched out the items during restoration and wanted **Rick** to confront them and get their money back.

Rick, to his credit, accepted the responsibility, knowing he bore 95% of the blame. However, when he tracked down the person responsible, he discovered they were affiliated with the **White family**, which put an end to his plans for retribution. Lopez and White were currently in the middle of a delicate partnership, and making a move against them would cause too much friction.

Seeing that Samuel wasn't willing to talk about it, Rita dropped the matter. If he didn't want to share, she wouldn't push.

As **Samuel** wallowed in his misery, **Rita** found his drinking oddly amusing, using it to liven up her own meal. Meanwhile, **Scarlett** was busy taking photos, posting about her glamorous life on social media.

Scarlett knew about the loss of the billion-dollar treasures but found herself unbothered. Just like the issue of future grandchildren bearing the family name, the loss of these treasures didn't concern her directly. Even if they had been sold, her lifestyle would have barely changed—she would still only spend a few hundred million at most.

In her mind, not much would have been different, so she remained unfazed.

Scarlett prided herself on being the most clear-headed, pragmatic woman in the family.