[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist":3,"chapter-this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1008":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1532819,1991,"Chapter 1008 Divine Game: Player Relic 11","this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1008",1008,"\u003Cp>She knew exactly what answer he wanted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could have stopped right there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could have softened her words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she didn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She chose truth over comfort—every time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She explained when she didn’t need to explain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And when she could have told L175246 about the divine penalty, she said nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others like to coat lies with more lies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She did the opposite—she carved truth into truth, chipping away every soft illusion with blunt honesty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every word she spoke was real, and that was precisely what made it hurt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>L12185511 tilted its cube head up, staring at her for a long time before speaking again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re really awful like this. It would’ve been better if you just said no. You’re afraid I’ll be sad, but you also don’t want me to expect anything. You’re really awful.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, as if unable to stop himself, he continued, explaining what he meant by\"you kept haunting me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Actually, we experience program errors all the time. If it’s only once or twice, small ones, we fix ourselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But after you left, your name kept appearing in front of me, again and again. Sometimes because I looked for it, sometimes because it was brought to me. I started collecting information about you, piece by piece, like assembling a puzzle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Mechanoids were talking about you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Players were chasing after you for all kinds of reasons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Event Gifts kept descending to look for you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My world had only players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your world was limitless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And every new puzzle piece triggered another error in my system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My program told me these emotions were regret... unwillingness... longing... admiration... and liking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s not your fault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s the gods’.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why won’t they let us form free contracts with players?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If they allowed it, I could’ve gone with you from the moment we met.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In Chaotic Blocks, I kept looking for you. But I was always a step too late. And when I was about to catch up, I got tossed into the scrap zone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And there, I found the last puzzle piece.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I learned you had been there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I learned you called B8017913’s number a hundred twenty-one times on the garbage mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I learned your conversation with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I learned that one of the reasons you went to find it—was because of me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And in that moment, all the previous errors started recalculating, and led me to a new question—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why wasn’t it me?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why wasn’t I the one?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said it with a tremor in his voice, the soft pink light trembling with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had met in the same game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had spent more time with her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And his model was superior to B8017913’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>B8017913 suddenly burst out of the pet space, stepping in front of Rita like a guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its voice was tense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You hadn’t been discarded yet. And even if you were thrown into the scrap zone then, you still wouldn’t know how to make a pact with a player. L-series has no such loophole. And she didn’t go to find me for a contract.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Logically, that’s true.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>L12185511’s voice dropped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But... I still don’t accept it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right then, the \"Majority or Minority?\" game ended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mechanical energy capsule dropped into Rita’s hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stood up immediately. Time to pick materials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She glanced at L12185511.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe talk while we walk?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant, every turbulent emotion inside the Mechanoid froze solid—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>as if hit by an ice spell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was still the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still the same!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Never allowing herself to waste even a sliver of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Never allowing anything or anyone to disrupt her plans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just a moment ago she had softened—but that softness was a hallucination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She only sat here and talked because the mini-game wasn’t finished yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like when she entertained L175246 even at the cost of divine penalties, but left without hesitation the moment she finished choosing materials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too much...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too much!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too much!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pale pink glow flickered rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita and B8017913 both tensed at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They heard him repeating softly under his breath—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Too much... too much... too much...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>B80234615 (lots in front not yet trimmed) whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This day was always going to come. She spends all day coaxing this one and that one. I knew this would happen someday...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It understood him, truly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No existence worships mediocrity. Not even the Mechanoids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Rita’s name faded into obscurity, perhaps he would forget her someday too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But instead—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her name kept appearing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And every time it appeared, it shone brighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more anyone learned about her, the more they understood how precious it was that she had stopped for even a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the more anyone learned, the more they realized—that moment was all they’d ever get.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, L12185511 stopped muttering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked straight at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you know how I spread the virus and convinced all Mechanoids to strike with me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita’s hand tightened around the hidden helm under her cloak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could teleport away at any second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But before she turned it—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She saw his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those small, persistent, focused eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her fingers froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under his gaze, she slowly put Cat’s Ideal and Wrathful Moon back into the gacha machine and sighed—almost in surrender.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go on. I’m listening.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t softness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he could lead every Mechanoid into a strike, he definitely wasn’t ordinary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That alone meant he was too special for the gods to erase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Better to face it head-on than keep watching her back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pink light softened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re doing it again,\" L12185511 murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Being cruel... but not completely.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita opened her mouth to explain—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m not being soft. It’s because—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t want to hear it!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>L12185511 shouted, cutting her off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita: ...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why so loud...?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>B80234615 (lots in front not yet trimmed):\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...If we survive this, I’m going to savor every second of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>L12185511 brought both hands together and slowly pulled them apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pale blue light screen unfolded between his palms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita and B8017913 stared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita’s eyes widened in realization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>B8017913’s eyes burned with violent emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because displayed on the screen—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>was a complete divine talent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A full god-granted talent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>L12185511 had awakened soulfire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the gods refused to destroy him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>B8017913 whispered, voice shaking,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I was wrong... I was wrong... So it really is hatred and suffering that ignite soulfire...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita: ???\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You aren’t about to turn evil at a time like this, are you?!\u003C\u002Fp>",1066,"2026-06-06T06:15:28.155Z",1,"novelbin.me","2b7afc84d9048d9206f0b3a0b96484f6c7050eeb971ee4b6e5a46258ff93759d","this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1009","this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1007",1404,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthis-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-cover.jpg"]