This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

When Rita returned to Earth, it was already 9 PM. She forced herself to prepare a few more bowls of the meat stew she stored in her game backpack for the cats in the backyard. After washing up, she collapsed into bed and quickly fell asleep.

"Studying is a hundred times more exhausting than fighting monsters," she always said.

When she woke up the next day, Rita felt a bit disoriented. With her days and nights completely flipped, she checked the time and realized it was already the 24th. She opened her friends list, ignoring requests from strangers, and clicked on the messages from Shadow.Q. Despite her quirks, Shadow.Q's messages usually contained important information, so Rita didn't want to miss them.

**Shadow.Q**: Can you still exchange for gold coins? We still need them, and you'll get the usual 1% commission.

**Rita**: Nope, no more exchanges.

At the time, she thought trading 36 major cities for 200,000 gold would be more than enough, but in reality, even goblins had limits. Bill was already the wealthiest of the goblins, but even their ability to mint coins had its restrictions, just like the alchemy process she learned.

If Rita hadn't offered such a favorable exchange rate with the profit margin from the gold price difference, the goblins wouldn't have even considered it.

To get the 200,000 gold, Rita had nearly run herself ragged, visiting 25 cities and negotiating with nearly a thousand goblins. Including the Undercity and Blood Moon City, she had already exhausted 27 cities' goblin resources, leaving only 7 cities untouched. Running around to them would be a waste of time, and she had other things to focus on—like keeping an eye on the Lopez family.

The undead spider she left behind to spy on them had overheard that they were stockpiling gold, which presented a perfect opportunity to stir up some trouble.

Plus, in the future, she would need her own gold reserves. Once the remaining goblins were drained by the Special Affairs Bureau, where would she go for gold? Sure, she could demand a higher commission, but 1% was already pushing it. Any more would cause trouble. While Rita was greedy, her greatest strength was knowing when to stop.

**Rita**: That's the limit. Even if you offered me 10% or 20%, I couldn't get more right now. As per our contract, in a year, I'll share the exchange method with you all, and then you can handle it yourselves. But for now, I really can't get any more.

Shadow.Q read Rita's message aloud to the others in the meeting room before saying, "It seems she's hit her limit."

A middle-aged man sitting across from her frowned. "Could she be withholding the coins? After all, she could just exchange them herself."

Shadow.Q responded, "That's possible. She did earn a batch of gold early on using her **Divine Gift**, but it wasn't much. She only really started stockpiling gold afterward."

Another person at the table chimed in, "Could she be the one holding the top spot on the wealth leaderboard?"

The top spot on the wealth leaderboard was the most outrageous—it belonged to someone with over 30,000 gold coins, more than the entire treasury of the Special Affairs Bureau. While the speaker doubted this was the case, he thought it worth asking. Read new chapters at empire

Shadow.Q thought back to Rita's frugal tendencies. "Unlikely."

The middle-aged man persisted, "Ask her if she's willing to sell her gold."

To an individual, 200,000 gold was an unimaginable fortune, but for the entire Chinese region, it was a drop in the ocean.

**Shadow.Q**: Are you willing to sell your gold?

**Rita**: Do you have something more valuable than gold?

**Shadow.Q**: The government's trust.

**Rita**: ...

**Rita**: If you keep this up, I'm blocking you.

**Shadow.Q**: Really not selling?

Rita could feel Shadow.Q's urgency. Clearly, the pressure on the Special Affairs Bureau had ramped up since the game's arrival.

She pulled out her storage box and rummaged through it, eventually finding the items she'd made while grinding engineering skills.

**Rita**: I used all my gold to level up my professions. Here's what I've got: 400 **Precision Rifles**, 383 **Dynamite Packs**, 500 **Scopes**, 700 **Crude Rifles**, and 1,000 **Mines**.

The scopes could be mounted on firearms to increase accuracy, and the mines and dynamite packs were great for area-of-effect damage. As for the rifles, the **Precision Rifle** required level 2 to use, while the **Crude Rifle** was usable at level 0—both were products of her initial engineering grind, each taking a mere second to craft in the game but half an hour in the real world.

**Rita**: Interested? I'll sell them in a bundle. For the sake of national trust, I won't even charge you gold.

**Shadow.Q**: Why is the number of dynamite packs not a round figure?

**Rita**: Don't ask!

**Shadow.Q**: Fine. How much for the whole lot?

Although they were low-level weapons available in the auction house, not needing in-game currency to buy them made the offer quite tempting.

**Rita**: Pay what you think is fair.

Rita wanted to test the Bureau's sincerity. If they took her supplies and handed her a vague promise of "government trust," she'd think twice before working with them again. Rita understood the Bureau's need to milk resources from players for the greater good—she could empathize with that. But outright taking things for free? That crossed a line.

If the Bureau handled things fairly, there'd be future collaboration. If not...

After sending the items, Rita waited. Though they were low-level items, in the 0-2 level range, selling them all in the auction house would still net her at least 600 to 700 gold.

Shadow.Q, despite handling valuable items worth hundreds or even thousands of gold coins, didn't dismiss Rita's bundle as junk. Quite the opposite—this was exactly what they needed. After handing the crates to a colleague, she sent something to Rita in return. The other people in the meeting room had no objections.

Rita's talents were already well-known, and her attitude toward the Bureau had been amicable so far. It was only right to reciprocate.

Rita looked down at the small dragon-shaped coin in her hand—a **China Contribution Point**. It was the size of a fingernail and made of some unknown material, clearly impossible to counterfeit. She tipped out the rest of the coins from the pouch, counting five in total.

She'd heard of contribution points in her past life but had never seen one. These were supposedly used as currency within the official organization. Whenever their teams raided high-level dungeons and looted legendary gear or items, they could only bid using contribution points—no gold was accepted. Moreover, these points were non-transferable, and each one was logged in the official records.

Rita had heard that the Lopez family had cooperated with the government a few times, but when they couldn't buy anything good with their gold, they stopped. Rick had even complained about it, saying the Special Affairs Bureau lacked vision.

Any organization that Rick complained about was surely a good one.

While she wasn't sure how useful these coins would be, Rita stashed them away carefully.

Next, she pulled out a few large storage boxes filled with food she had made while leveling her cooking skills. Most of it was rated around 65 points—neither boosting effects nor increasing attributes—and wasn't worth much. Few players on Lania Kaia bothered buying food from the auction house since there were plenty of restaurants in the main cities.

In the real world, it was even more unnecessary. Most people didn't have much money, and even if they did, they'd prioritize potions or equipment over food.

She kept the dishes she and the cats liked, then sent the rest to Shadow.Q.

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