This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

While Rita was sizing herself up, Quiet Mountain Foolishness also took a moment to look at the player holding the Foolishness Game.

A Vineborne’s Vine.

The golden sword at her waist, paired with celestial lightning.

And that unnaturally pale complexion, faintly reminiscent of the undead.

Quiet Mountain Foolishness asked, "How many special bullets have you obtained for this gun?"

Rita answered: "Four. Foolishness, Arrogance, Romance, Brilliance."

For the first time, Quiet Mountain Foolishness’s gaze lingered on her for more than three seconds.

"What’s your name?"

Rita mirrored her posture, sitting cross-legged on the grass. She answered whatever was asked.

"Chaotic Starsea. BS Rita."

Copies and originals could differ wildly in personality, but some core traits always remained.

From past encounters and what she’d seen in Divine Instruction, Rita had already formed a rough understanding of Foolishness.

Foolishness didn’t actually dislike casual conversation.

People unfamiliar with her might assume she preferred efficient, concise exchanges. That wasn’t wrong, but it was more like a threshold.

If you were too stupid or talked too much nonsense, she would lose interest instantly.

But once you crossed that threshold, it was a different story.

In fact, Foolishness had a bad habit.

She loved analyzing people she found interesting.

It was like there was a system in her head that would shock her if she didn’t analyze at least one person a day.

During conversations, she would automatically dissect the other person’s personality and motives.

But all of that depended on one thing.

You had to make her curious.

If she got curious about you, she’d keep talking to you no matter what. You couldn’t shake her off even if you tried.

And if the conversation satisfied her, she could probably die smiling.

Rita had experience with that.

Right now, after hearing about the four bullets, Foolishness had clearly taken the bait.

"This gun, you really took it from Foolishness and then she forced it back into your hands?" Quiet Mountain Foolishness asked.

This time, Rita only nodded and didn’t elaborate.

Two seconds passed.

Quiet Mountain Foolishness continued, "How many ways do you know to obtain special bullets?"

Rita’s eyes lit up. She sensed an opportunity.

She held up one finger, then explained in detail,

"As long as I get all the gods to watch me, I can obtain one special bullet."

Quiet Mountain Foolishness said, "Tell me about Starsea Foolishness. Show me those four bullets. In exchange, I’ll tell you a method you don’t know."

Rita couldn’t help thinking that the two versions of Foolishness weren’t all that different at their core.

Unlike with Byme, she didn’t hesitate or demand the answer first.

She directly took out the four bullets and tossed them over.

Since the bullets and revolver were a set, she could recall them at any time.

Just as she was about to start explaining her encounters with Starsea Foolishness, Quiet Mountain Foolishness extended a finger and tapped the air toward her.

"Dustfire’s trick was interfering with our conversation."

Rita opened her mouth again and realized the negative effect from Let It Die was gone.

She could speak normally now.

"Dustfire is from your era?" she asked, then corrected herself, "Did Dustfire also go to Quiet Mountain back then?"

Quiet Mountain Foolishness replied simply, "It specializes in curses."

Rita immediately followed up, "So the luck effect on me was removed too?"

Quiet Mountain Foolishness gave a faint, ambiguous smile.

"Do you enjoy placing everything on something as intangible as luck?"

Rita smiled back.

"I just ate Dustfire’s lucky bento and became the luckiest person in the world. That’s how I happened to run into you right after you woke up."

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?

She had already decided. From now on, she’d eat one of Dustfire’s bentos every day.

Quiet Mountain Foolishness: "......"

Even B80 frowned.

Rita blinked.

"I’m just stating facts. Why are you both looking at me like that?"

"BS Rita. I’ll remember that name," Quiet Mountain Foolishness said, scanning her up and down with a slight frown. "Maybe it’s your appearance and aura."

When she wasn’t speaking, she seemed calm and distant.

But the moment she started talking and smiling, something about her just felt... off.

Strange.

The small robot beside her hugged the Gacha Machine and nodded vigorously.

Their Mechanoids had plenty of experience with this. Many had fallen victim before.

Rita took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"...Let’s get back to business."

She dropped the topic of luck. Whether it was gone or not, there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

"Go on," said Quiet Mountain Foolishness.

"Foolishness noticed me very early on. Back then, I was still..."

Rita started from Chaotic Blocks, focusing on the part where Foolishness relentlessly hunted her down.

Halfway through, she suddenly paused.

Some details had grown fuzzy.

She took out her coin and spun it on the ground repeatedly, trying to retrieve the memory.

After spinning it tens of thousands of times, she realized something.

When she strongly wanted to recall a specific memory, or subconsciously focused on a target, the coin would play the relevant memory for her.

A gust of cold wind passed by.

Rita noticed that Quiet Mountain Foolishness, who had been sitting several meters away, was now right beside her.

She was staring at the coin with clear curiosity.

"What is that?"

Rita pocketed the coin and explained, "A memory coin I made myself. After combining several items, it became a Starsea relic."

Seeing how interested Foolishness looked, Rita couldn’t help asking,

"You’re really interested?"

That wasn’t an empty question.

Since the moment she appeared, Rita had openly displayed at least half of her items.

Wrathful Moon and Cat’s Ideal floated nearby.

Her Player Relic hung visibly around her neck.

Even the Gacha Machine on B80 was in plain sight.

And yet, Quiet Mountain Foolishness had only shown interest in two things.

The Foolishness Game.

And My Sigh.

As for what those two had in common...

My Sigh had fused with Soul Catcher.

And the core game inside Soul Catcher, Truth or Dare, Truth and Truth or Dare, Dare...

Had been designed by Foolishness herself.