Rita slipped the third mahjong tile into her dagger-space, glancing suspiciously at the three shadows trailing her—Pine Bloom, Mistblade, and Crab. Three silent tagalongs, no explanations offered.

She didn't need one. It wasn't hard to guess why they were sticking to her.

They'd noticed it too—the effect of her newfound "luck."

Two of the four remaining players were from Lania Kaia, and since the start of the round, Mistblade and Pine Bloom had wordlessly teamed up to target her. Even if direct attacks were forbidden, there were countless ways to interfere: nudging her puppet into the line of the laser cannon, speaking lightning-fast to trigger emotional backlash right as she blinked out of the shadow realm, anything to throw her off balance.

But no matter what they tried, she always slipped through unharmed.

That wasn't just a lucky streak—it was something far beyond her normal [Fortune 12] buff. It had to be tied to whatever strange, almost divine "blessing" she was under now.

So why follow her?

Rita couldn't imagine what they hoped to gain by tagging along behind the universe's luckiest person, unless—perhaps—there were game houses out here so punishing that even her enemies would rather orbit her than risk going in alone.

Crab and Mistblade, she decided, were trying to figure out how to exploit her fortune.

As for Pine Bloom… did she realize it back during "Turtle Race," and had simply come along for the amusement? Or was she genuinely curious to see how long Rita's ridiculous luck would last before collapsing under its own absurdity?

Of all the Lania Kaia rulers—Maple Syrup, Mistblade, Pine Bloom, and Fat Goose—Pine Bloom was the hardest to read.

Her ideals weren't as obvious or radiant as Maple Syrup's, and her personality was even harder to pin down.

Most of what Rita knew about her came secondhand—from Lidian.

Her lasting impression of Pine Bloom was simple: she wanted the best of everything. Always.

And judging from the "Card Swap" incident, that habit went way, way back.

Was it competitiveness?

Not exactly. Pine Bloom never showed frustration when she lost. She laughed freely, even at her own defeats, laughed harder than anyone when something genuinely amused her. That wasn't the mark of a sore loser.

So maybe perfectionism? Or just some compulsive need for "better"?

Rita thought of her Divine Game title—Masquerade.

Why that title?

The thought stuck with her as she moved, though she didn't slow down.

With three stalkers in tow, she decided not to chase them off. Pointless, really—and besides, if she truly was "the luckiest person alive," then surely whatever happened next was destined to work in her favor.

Still wary of ambushes outside, she shifted into the shadow realm before leaving the last game house, sprinting across the floating stones in a blur. Only after she slipped into the next whale-cloud home did she surface back into the real world.

The noise hit her instantly. No—"noise" wasn't the word. The place was chaos. Players were screaming, not shouting—voices strained with fury, despair, and absolute meltdown.

Rita had a bad feeling.

[Game: Move Your Pig Brain!]

[Required Players: 2 (partners assigned randomly)]

[Game Time: 12 minutes]

[You and your partner will take turns describing and guessing.]

[Each round, the guesser's backboard will display a complete skill name and description.]

[You must describe the skill's effects verbally to make your partner guess the skill's name.]

[Four total questions, three minutes each.]

[Guess at least three correctly, and both players will receive their respective World Graveyard.]

[For each failed question, both players will lose one personal skill whose level matches the question's difficulty. The lost skill will be chosen at random from the top 50 most-used skills.]

[Do not use any words from the skill's name or description, or any numbers. Skill-assisted cheating is prohibited.]

Rita immediately understood the shouting. And why this house dared to assign random partners.

Fail, and you both suffered. Together. Losing a skill from your top fifty wasn't just painful—it was catastrophic.

Who in their right mind would grief their own teammate? Even enemies wouldn't Backstab under stakes like these.

The house was huge—ten game zones divided by glowing magical borders. Each zone was a five-meter-long rectangle, with two circular light-rings marking where players stood, and a transparent barrier running down the middle.

So that's what the barrier was for—probably to keep teammates from physically attacking each other halfway through.

Every zone was full, but no one was waiting in line. She only needed to get paired with her teammate and the next spot would open.

A white triangle icon flickered above her head—her matchmaking marker. She scanned the crowd for another white triangle and locked eyes with the last person she wanted to see.

Pine Bloom.

A white triangle was glowing above her head too.

Perfect. Found her pig brain.

Behind them, Crab and Mistblade's heads lit with matching black squares—they'd been paired together.

By the time Pine Bloom finished reading the rules, a game zone cleared. Rita darted inside and waved her over.

Pine Bloom, half-grinning, half-dreading, muttered as she walked into the light-ring, "So… your luck still hasn't run out?"

The moment she stepped into place, the countdown appeared, spinning and glowing between them.

Then, on the wall behind Pine Bloom, lines of text appeared—visible only to Rita.

[Watch Ad to Earn Resources] (SSS): Choose one target. You will be forced to watch a five-minute video extremely boring to you. Upon completion, you will randomly gain one of that target's achievements from the past 24 hours. This skill can be used up to ten times on the same target, costs 2000 mana per use, and has a 10-minute cooldown.

Several words were highlighted in red—banned phrases for description.

Rita stared blankly for a few seconds. Ads? In Forest Sea and Lania Kaia? Seriously?

Her hesitation dragged a little too long.

"Come on, Aba Aba!" Pine Bloom barked impatiently. "Don't waste time!"

Rita sighed. Fine. She started speaking slowly, forcing her brain to translate through the ridiculous filter.

"Aba Aba… It's similar to [Low-Risk Investment]."

"Aba… Aba ba ba…" "If I use it on you, there's a chance I'll… obtain something that belonged to you within a certain timeframe."

"Aba… Aba…" "It's like Low-Risk Investment but longer term. Smaller returns, but it needs a… prerequisite condition first."

Her tone was calm at first—composed, professional, even.

But one minute in, she realized exactly why the transparent barrier existed: to keep players from strangling their teammates halfway through the game.

Pine Bloom: "[Choose Over Effort]?"

Rita: "…"

Pine Bloom: "[Low-Cost Ascension]?"

Rita: "…"

Rita pointed emphatically at her own eyes, trying to hint at the key clue.

Pine Bloom's eyes widened as if struck by revelation. She clapped her hands together, triumphant. "Ah, I know! [I Saw You Steal My Stuff]?"

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