[{"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-1387":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},1533198,1991,"Chapter 1387 Doesn’t She Hate That Name?","this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1387",1387,"\u003Cp>The hardest painting surprisingly was not BS.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita completed that one in a single uninterrupted session.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It depicted the moment she dragged BS out of the invasion sequence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the centerpiece, BS, was finished, the entire illustration had reached its halfway point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And time itself had reached halfway too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recently, players from every faction kept sitting beside her asking whether she had finalized the rules for the Adjudicator game yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita always gave the same answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Almost. Almost.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, for once, she was not painting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, she sat in her usual spot, gazing toward the distant main city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the best location on the entire ship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From here, she could even see Smoke Tune, Quex, and Fat Goose squeezed together on a motorcycle as they headed into town to buy things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though all four of them could fly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though teleportation was faster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They still preferred traveling like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And today there was an extra vehicle beside them too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A little bumper car built from toy blocks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside sat Nivalis and Sea Pony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes they tagged along with Smoke Tune’s group whenever they went shopping in the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Cicada frowned every time she saw Smoke Tune hanging around those three players, Rita also got headaches whenever she saw Nivalis and Sea Pony together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She withdrew her gaze and looked toward Deceitful Bloom, who sat nearby painting seriously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the seventh year, Deceitful Bloom had started learning to paint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Rita was the teacher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita rested her chin on one hand and watched quietly for a while before suddenly asking,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why didn’t you go learn from gods you’ve known longer?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Graffiti, the god most skilled at painting, admitted that BS Rita had already developed her own artistic path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strictly speaking, Rita herself was mostly self taught.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her formal foundation had only lasted a few years during Moonlight Marsh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, she learned countless artistic styles by experiencing other people’s memories through World Sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What truly shaped her art was the thousand years she spent wandering through timelines, practicing and understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deceitful Bloom glanced at her with smiling eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’ve been doing this for decades and you’re only asking now?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Rita had enjoyed teaching her all this time too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Caught red handed, Rita simply looked away in silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deceitful Bloom’s leisurely voice drifted into her ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Among all your teachers, I’m the only one who is both your teacher and your student.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The only one who helped you, used you, manipulated you, and even became your enemy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Think about it. Isn’t that true?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stack enough qualifiers together and she practically won by default.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deceitful Bloom still looked focused on painting, yet her vines spread happily around her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes Rita truly had no idea what to do with her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her thoughts were often so strange and unpredictable that no one could follow them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At times Rita felt impossible to understand her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At other times, she felt Deceitful Bloom was easier to read than anyone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Deceitful Bloom was right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita did enjoy teaching her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if painting was the only thing she could really teach, there was something undeniably pleasant about the way the Vineborne listened so attentively while she spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita withdrew her gaze again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her fingers lightly brushed the half completed illustration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back when she reached the two thousandth puzzle piece, she had already begun vaguely sensing the painting’s abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that it was halfway done, the feeling had become even clearer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She suddenly asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Aren’t you curious about the Adjudicator game?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deceitful Bloom paused her brush.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She turned to look at BS Rita.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several seconds of silence, she asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You want all the gods to participate in your Adjudicator game?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vineborne really were frighteningly smart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita asked back,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then do you want to play?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is it far away?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A little.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then of course I’ll play.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The final game should include all of us.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After night fell over Quiet Mountain, everyone returned to their own homes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once Rita packed up her art supplies, she rode Nivalis back through the portal toward BS.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While passing a certain manor, she patted Nivalis lightly, signaling her to stop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The former Lopez Family estate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later it had been used to imprison Black Jade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Black Jade died, it became abandoned once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now it housed Little Bear Cookies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This year marked the fiftieth year since Zoey ran away from home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the thirty seventh year since Maple Syrup moved to BS.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after Zoey disappeared back then, Maple Cang had also worked desperately to reach BS by contacting the BS players \"grinding levels\" in Lania Kaia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once Maple Cang left, Maple Burn naturally followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, what difference was there between \"visiting BS\" and permanently relocating at that point?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had long grown tired of living in Lania Kaia anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, Rita had mocked Maple Syrup with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I heard your family listens to you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maple Syrup had replied painfully,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Can we not discuss this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The forcibly relocated Maple Syrup actually became busier than she had been during wartime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every day she attended lessons in Quiet Mountain, returned to Lania Kaia afterward to handle official matters, then used the pass Rita provided to teleport back to BS.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, the owlfolk did not settle in Pine Bloom’s Four Seasons City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, they moved into the new home Zoey purchased inside BS.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long ago, while everyone ate together aboard the ship, Rita had curiously asked Maple Syrup,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So what do you call her now? Zoey or Maple Mu?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Obviously Zoey,\" Maple Syrup answered matter of factly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Doesn’t she hate that name?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the topic came up, Maple Syrup’s expression twisted dramatically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hate it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She loves it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t even know where she found a family genealogy book, but she secretly wrote all our names into it and changed our surname to Su.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Has she completely lost her mind?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remembering Maple Syrup’s utterly broken expression while telling that story, Rita could not help laughing softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nivalis tilted her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What are you laughing about?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita happily retold the entire story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I thought she hated the surname Su,\" Nivalis said in confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita analyzed Zoey’s feelings almost like she was telling a bedtime story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She never hated the surname.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She just hated that the Lopez Family wasn’t hers to control.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Now she genuinely doesn’t care what surname she uses anymore.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She simply wants to become family with Maple Syrup and the others.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So she secretly found a genealogy book and secretly wrote everyone’s names inside.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As Zoey.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She quietly stole Maple Syrup, Maple Cang, and Maple Burn away from Maple Mu for just a little while.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And then carefully claimed them as her own.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What did Maple Syrup mean by \"secretly wrote our names down\"?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Obviously Maple Syrup had secretly peeked at what Zoey was doing herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who knew Maple Syrup was that kind of person?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rita was absolutely going to laugh about this for the rest of her life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But Maple Syrup didn’t seem genuinely angry though.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course not.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She only discovered it because she snooped through Zoey’s privacy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zoey never openly asked for any of this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So how could Maple Syrup possibly expose her after secretly peeking?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The person who once declared that she would gladly become a second rate fool as long as she could stay beside Maple Syrup and Maple Cang...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had finally gotten her wish.\u003C\u002Fp>",1237,"2026-06-06T06:15:33.929Z",1,"novelbin.me","7cad0b3054e683ec351f7c71d7274c959400b287b02d2d77d40fd145fba927d6","this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1388","this-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-chapter-1386",1404,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthis-life-i-will-be-the-protagonist-cover.jpg"]