This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 1133 Divine Game: Quiet Mountain 16
QM Mistblade leaned back against the sofa, eyes closed, thinking about how to take the Order Badge back.
SS Rita’s stealth and escape skills were exceptional. If not for that stripping skill earlier, she would never have been able to follow the faint trace of skill fluctuation and locate her.
Even this time, she had not sensed her presence at all.
The only good news was that the Order Badge could not be bound and could only be used within Quiet Mountain.
She still had options. Before retrieving the Order Badge, she could borrow one from SmokeTune to enter a game once and extend the erasure countdown.
QM Mistblade’s brow tightened further. Irritation rose as she opened her eyes and looked at QM Rita, who stood above her, looming so close that she nearly filled her entire field of view. A few curled strands of black hair brushed against Mistblade’s cheek, and the red gemstone earrings swayed slightly, grating on her nerves.
"What do you want?"
QM Rita said, "You betrayed me eighteen times in the Demon Game. Second only to Maple Syrup."
QM Mistblade had no interest in explaining that those were assigned tasks, nor did she bother mentioning that she had pledged loyalty to her twenty one times. She simply returned the words QM Rita herself had used earlier.
"So?"
QM Rita switched topics without warning.
"What did you write in that diary of yours?"
"Cursing you to die alone in madness as soon as possible."
"Oh."
That was the right attitude. QM Rita seemed satisfied and turned to leave.
She left behind only one sentence.
"I like that blessing."
...
The fourth day of the game.
Rita synchronized all the information she had extracted from the diary regarding the Demon Game rules, along with details about the Order Badge, into the battlefield chat channel. Her contribution points surged by two thousand.
Yet she herself did not enter the Demon Game at sunrise, nor did she rush to destroy the badge. Instead, she set off toward Forest Sea.
She needed time to think about the other version of herself and her motives.
Was it to lure her into the Demon Game and kill her there?
Or to make her experience the suffering of the Demon Game firsthand?
And what exactly was her own nightmare?
Forest Sea was not far away. It lay in Domain Twenty Two, right next to Snowfield. Rita set out at four in the morning and, traveling at full speed, arrived outside Forest Sea City by three in the afternoon.
Perhaps it was the magic of diaries. She found moonbear standing in an alley on Lizi Street enjoying afternoon tea as early as four o’clock. That was a loophole she had not expected. Druid forms could actually bypass the main city’s anti disguise rules?
Maybe it was because the three druid forms, like the Vineborne’s vines or the Celestialkin’s climate, were considered part of a living being.
Rita immediately switched into panda form, walked up to moonbear, and patted her fluffy round belly.
"Good afternoon, Teacher. Let me see the diary."
Ash Cinders, who had just taken a bite of warm honey cake, froze.
"..."
Ash Cinders slapped Maple Syrup’s diary over.
"Look at the Order Badge."
The black and white bear scratched her ear.
"That might not be appropriate. This one is QM Mistblade’s diary. We should respect privacy."
Ash Cinders: "???"
Then what did you take?
Moonbear held her honey cake in one hand and pressed the other down on the panda’s head.
"Look."
In the end, unable to win the argument, Rita took it out. They agreed beforehand that they would not read the diary contents, only check the item information.
Ash Cinders: "......"
She understood immediately.
"This diary records a lot about QM Rita, doesn’t it?"
Rita did not deny it. After Ash Cinders finished probing the diary with various skills, Rita put it back into the gacha machine and recounted all the information she could safely describe, deliberately omitting everything related to the nightmares of QM Mistblade and QM Rita.
Ash Cinders guessed as much and did not press further.
In fact, Quiet Mountain Maple Syrup’s diary also contained related details.
Ash Cinders asked, "Should we respect Quiet Mountain Maple Syrup’s privacy too?"
Rita, who had already hidden Quiet Mountain Maple Syrup’s Diary One, replied solemnly.
"Teacher, choose your words. At a time like this, you are still talking about that?"
Moonbear slapped her once. Rita hopped away to dodge it.
Two bears walking through the forest wind of Forest Sea looked perfectly natural. Furry creatures in Domain Twenty Two favored settling in Forest Sea.
After several days of living in Quiet Mountain, the teacher and student had learned their lesson. They tried to keep their expressions gentle and harmless, blending in with Quiet Mountain’s inhabitants.
Moonbear, who had already been here for nearly four days, led her apprentice to a safe area. Only then did the two of them sit down.
As usual, they first checked the battlefield chat channel.
Ever since Rita had explained the basic rules of the Demon Game, aside from occasional tangents when new intel appeared, the discussion had been entirely focused on the Demon Game.
"Lania Kaia Fat Goose": "What kind of miserable life is this? Does suffering more than you make me stronger than you?"
"BS Crab": "Did you sneak a look at BS comics again?"
"Lania Kaia Fat Goose": "Yeah. Wind Scythe smuggled them over from BS."
"BS Crab": "Do they seriously have zero sense of urgency?"
"Lania Kaia Raccoon Cub": "We do. I am literally in the game right now. What are you yelling for?"
"BS SmokeTune": "Quiet Mountain SmokeTune came to see me just now."
"DawnCicada": "Did she hit you?"
"BS SmokeTune": "No. She just asked me whether I wanted my vine to bloom. I said I was not in a hurry, so she used her vine to scratch out the sentence tattooed on the back of my hand, then took it upon herself to lecture me about not avoiding war and death, saying that doing so would only get teammates killed. Rita, is this her nightmare?"
"BS Rita": "Yes. That is her Demon Game nightmare. As long as she avoids it, her allies and the Vineborne she cares about will suffer disasters."
This was the conclusion Rita had pieced together from fragments in the diary. She had not mentioned it in the group before, but since SmokeTune brought it up herself, she explained it.
"DawnCicada": "Then what is QM Cicada’s nightmare?"
"BS Rita": "QM Rita."
"DawnCicada": "Do you really think I would not dare kill you after The Bell Tolls?"
"BS Rita": "I am not joking. Remember my current contribution points."
"BS Rita": "Based on the intel I found, during Winterveil, the apostles of the gods gather to celebrate and hold events. One year, QM Rita took first place, and QM Cicada even gave her a prize."
"BS Rita": "Check it. Did my contribution points increase by two?"
"BS Rita": "Anything else you want to say?"
Seeing that DawnCicada stayed silent in the chat for a long time, Rita let out a satisfied snort and closed the channel.
Moonbear asked from the side, "What was the event called?"
Rita said, "...Teacher. That is private."
...
When QM Rita entered the prison, she saw BS SmokeTune staring at her with an astonished expression. She walked to the bone chair in front of the rack and sat down, resting her elbow on the armrest. Two fingers bent slightly, propping against the side of her mask as she asked calmly,
"What is it?"
BS SmokeTune said, "I heard that you apostles hold events during Winterveil. And one year you got first place, and QM Cicada even gave you a gift?"
QM Rita said, "...That did happen."
BS SmokeTune, fearless of consequences, asked, "What kind of event was it?"
QM Rita replied without changing her expression.
"Who Is the Emperor of Quiet Mountain."
BS SmokeTune: "?"
