B80234615: "Even if my calculations indicate that I might harm you, is that still acceptable?"
"As long as the benefits outweigh the risks in your calculations, then yes." Rita answered decisively. "This is your test. You only have three chances."
B80234615: "Understood."
Rita: "Don't use any skills or tricks on my soul."
B80234615: "You're so wary, yet Nivalis still likes you. Why is that?"
Rita: "I'm this wary, yet why are you following ?"
B80234615 fell silent.
Rita sighed. "Being a people magnet is my fate. I know."
B80234615: "Ugh."
Rita: "So emotions don't need to be simulated when unnecessary."
B80234615: "I didn't simulate that just now. My emotional pool fluctuated on its own. I followed you precisely for this mont."
Rita had the distinct feeling that B80234615 was being sarcastic, yet its tone was as serious as a news anchor.
She gave up on bickering with a chanical race—especially since the countdown to entering the ga had only two minutes left.
She reminded it, "All my skill panels and divine blessings are disabled, right?"
B80234615: "Yes."
Rita had no intention of using disguise skills. A person's na carries weight, and in the World Battlefield, she had already made a na for herself—though not necessarily a good one.
Thanks to Maple Syrup, every player knew that she possessed the Ancient Curse, an unspoken deterrent. No one wanted to provoke soone who could stab them in the back with a curse, especially when they couldn't completely wipe her out. Even if they managed to kill her temporarily, she could retaliate the mont she left the battlefield. It simply wasn't worth it.
So in Divine Ga, as long as she wasn't committing so universally condemned atrocity, keeping her real identity would be more beneficial than harmful.
However, there was sothing else she needed to disguise.
She turned to B80234615. "Can you change into another form?"
B80234615: "Why?"
Rita: "There might be others besides Pine Bloom who recognize the chanical race's chip technology. Your cube form is too distinctive. Change it."
Upon hearing this, B80234615 transford into an orange-red earring, perfectly matching Rita's Orange-Red Light Wings.
Rita: "Like this, if we run into another chanical race chip, will they recognize you?"
B80234615: "No worries. I've blocked my signal. Unless I initiate contact, other chips won't detect ."
Only then did Rita feel at ease.
When the countdown hit the one-minute mark, she entered the ga early.
She landed directly inside an open-air kitchen.
To her left, a long table was lined with all kinds of cookware, utensils, and appliances. So she recognized, so she didn't, and others she could roughly guess their functions just by their appearance.
To her right, another long table housed a sink, a refrigerator, and a trash bin.
It was a perfectly standard open kitchen.
A long serving table acted as a partition, separating the kitchen from the bar-style front counter.
Standing in the middle of the back kitchen, Rita could see the deep blue starry sky outside. A hundred ters away, an entire street of identical open-air restaurants stretched out in neat rows. The street itself shimred with a soft pink starry glow, illuminating the entire area.
Outside, there was a mix of sounds—footsteps, the flapping of wings, conversations—suggesting that players who had arrived earlier were already exploring.
On either side of her were identical restaurants, seemingly copy-pasted.
Rita quickly flew over to touch one of them, only to find an invisible barrier in between.
Above the kitchen, three glowing white data projections hovered.
[Cleanliness]: 100%
[Mischief Score]:
Black SpringMud Bears - 0 Marmang-Crab - 0 BS Rita - 0 ?
An Autumn Bear and a crab.
Great. Both were ingredients.
She had interacted with Marmang-Crab before. Whether he was friendly was debatable, but at least he hadn't attacked her on sight. He probably had his own ga-specific rules.
Logically, being placed on a team with a Stage 17 Marmang-Crab and a Stage 15 Black SpringMud Bear was already bad luck.
But the last player was a wildcard.
That uncertainty kept Rita on edge—what if the ga decided to throw her an even bigger headache?
That being said, stronger players like Marmang-Crab and Black SpringMud Bears had deeper reserves and had likely entered earlier.
So theoretically, the final player—who was cutting it close to the start ti—shouldn't be too overpowered... right?
With 32 seconds left before the ga officially started, Rita flew out of the restaurant to scout the area.
She circled as fast as possible and found that this place was nearly identical to BS's food street—if not more simplistic.
All the restaurants lacked banners or signs, likely because players had to decide what to sell before naming their establishnts.
The street stretched endlessly into the distance. No way to tell just how many restaurants there were.
Rita opened the leaderboard and checked the player count.
Over 60,000 players were online in this ga.
As the final 10 seconds approached, a loud countdown echoed across the sky for all players to hear.
Rita spotted Marmang-Crab sprinting toward her on his crab legs from the far end of the street.
She imdiately flew back inside.
The countdown ended, and their last teammate arrived.
A massive pair of erald-green wings unfurled, like a Forest Sea descending—
Lania Kaia Pine Bloom!
But Rita wasn't focused on Pine Bloom's breathtakingly beautiful face.
There was only one thought in her mind: I'm screwed.
B80234615, already aware that Lania Kaia Pine Bloom had also taken a chanical race chip, spoke to Rita internally:
"Oh, you two ended up together, huh?"
Rita: "Great. Double the bad luck. I wonder if this restaurant will even last three Starsea days."
B80234615: "Uh... shouldn't you be worrying about yourself first?"
Rita: "Worst case scenario, I'll just kill myself and leave the ga!"
B80234615: "This type of managent ga only lets you leave if you go bankrupt. Even if you die, you'll just respawn and keep working. And the revival cost still applies."
Rita: "?!?!! Where the hell was that in the ga description!?"
B80234615: "Oh, it's there. Just wait a sec—"
Rita waited.
And then the ga notification echoed in the sky.
Just as B80234615 had said, in this special managent ga, death wasn't an escape. If a player revived, they would be forced back into the restaurant to continue working until the three Starsea days were up. Only then would the ga end.
Rita: "Fantastic. First I escaped a black-market mine, now I'm trapped in a black-market restaurant."
B80234615: "There's an even better piece of news."
Rita: "What?"
B80234615: "Lania Kaia Pine Bloom is looking at you."
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