But Rita no longer felt the need, nor the desire, to pretend.
There was no longer any reason for her to keep forcing herself for Rick.
She could barely remember why she even needed Rick's trust in the first place.
Oh, back then, she was too weak, worried about him turning things around again, worried that he might once again try to unite the Lopez Family, the White Family, and the Taylor Family. She had to keep an eye on him, trying to get involved in the contract beast events to ensure he would be contracted by Black Jade, using the Food God skill to transfer negative emotions from others onto herself…
It was just like how, back then, when she got dozens of blue-grade equipment at once, she saw it as a small fortune. At that time, Rick, Zoey, and the others seemed like untouchable giants to her.
But as she gained the [One-Person Party] skill, those concerns began to fade away.
Now, every day on her way to and from school in Lania Kaia, Rita used [I Just Want to Improve So Badly] on every alien she passed by. Most of the time, she got equipment from it, but her average stats were already above 115.
Health: 6500/6500 Mana: 7725/7725 Strength: 116 Constitution: 110 Intelligence: 113 Agility: 123 Assignable Points: 32
Rita allocated the 2 points she got from listening to the Holy Hymn on November 3rd and December 4th, and the 30 points from killing Miyaas and leveling up, all into Agility, pushing it to 155.
And these stats were without any equipment. With her gear, she could easily defeat Nivalis within five minutes, no need for any combat tricks—just pure overwhelming power.
The skill crystals she got today made her no longer underestimate Eclipse Vanguard—though she had never really done so—but she thought, even if the whole world knew she didn't care about Rick's fate, so what?
Would people still blame her for not taking care of her brother for Rick's sake?
Eclipse Vanguard wasn't that enthusiastic, and neither was the world.
Didn't anyone notice the discrepancies in her past life? But no one ever stepped forward to defend her. Rick never spoke for her, either.
Rita chuckled and shrugged. "I can't do much. Our parents are in B City and aren't coming back. What else can I do?"
Shadow.Q also smiled before casually changing the subject.
On December 11th, Rita touched the cat bed one last time and found two peace charms. They were the most common ones on the market, but these were made of cat fur.
Cat's Peace Charm: A hope for the loved ones and little dragons to return home safely. No effect, just an ordinary item, but Rita hung one around her neck next to her pocket watch, and sewed the one she got from Nivalis onto her small cloak.
She then went to the backyard to pat the cats one by one before packing up the cat bed.
On December 12th, at 11:00 PM, the 9 members of the Tower Climbing Squad, along with Rita and Nivalis, stood before the teleportation portal inside the Special Affairs Bureau. There were only these ten people present—no leadership, no senior members from Eclipse Vanguard, not even Landon.
It wasn't that they were being ignored, but rather that they were being respected too much.
Everyone here, whether they were sacrificing themselves for Blue Star or looking for an opportunity to gain merit, had volunteered. They weren't "assigned" the mission and had no need for anyone to express their gratitude. The people who should be thankful weren't any individuals.
In this era, when strength rules, people no longer bow to power.
Some of the Eclipse Vanguard members gradually formed a circle. Rita, Zoey, and Sanchez stood on the outside, not participating.
Rita didn't care about joining the Eclipse Vanguard team-building game, and Zoey obviously felt the same. Nivalis stayed by Rita's side, as always.
But suddenly, Shadow.Q stepped out of the crowd and took something small from the corner. When she passed by Rita and the others, her lips didn't move, but her mouth formed a few words with ventriloquism: "There are cameras."
The two of them exchanged a look, and Rita immediately stepped forward to join the Eclipse Vanguard group. She suddenly realized—this was US. Zoey quietly followed behind.
Sanchez, who had been in a daze, hesitated for a few seconds before sliding over as well.
The ten of them formed a circle. Nobody knew who extended their hand first, but one by one, everyone placed their hands on top of each other. It was all quite cliché.
By the time it was done, Rita realized she was sandwiched between Zoey and Sanchez, their hands pressing her in the middle. She felt like yelling in frustration: You two just had to stick together, didn't you? This is so annoying!
No, wait, why was it getting tighter?
Looking down, she saw the little dragon's claw pushing Sanchez's hand downward.
Noticing Rita's gaze, Nivalis looked up at her and shyly smiled.
Rita: Her fist has hardened... this little dragon is growing more mischievous!
At exactly midnight on December 13th, the group used the skill crystals they had been given earlier.
"I'm No Longer Human" (S Rank): Allows you to transform into an animal. Other beings cannot perceive your thoughts or soul. Requires a few strands of the animal's fur to use. Duration: 7 natural days. No cooldown. You can still use equipment, items, and skills while transformed.
"Fake ID" (A Rank): After using this skill, you can modify your character panel. For the next 7 natural days, no skill can detect your disguise. Once the effect ends, you will enter a "consequence" state, and for the next 30 days, your real information cannot be altered by any means.
The best transformation target for "I'm No Longer Human" was naturally the Windscythe Tribe. With current player stats and body control, transforming into a meerkat wouldn't affect combat.
Everyone took a few strands of meerkat fur and a Windscythe scythe from Shadow.Q. One by one, they transformed into meerkats, their bodies tiny, around twenty centimeters tall—small even for the Windscythe Tribe.
Once everyone had transformed, Shadow.Q pulled out a kaleidoscope and took pictures of each of them. Depending on how long the kaleidoscope was aimed at each person, their sizes varied. Rita grew to about 70 cm before it stopped.
After putting Nivalis back in the pet space, Rita took the kaleidoscope from Shadow.Q and aimed it at her as well.
Everyone began adjusting their gear and modifying their race information. Rita didn't need to use "Fake ID"—it wasn't necessary. After all, using it would be equivalent to a confession once the skill ended. She could just use her pocket watch for this.
There were only two royal families in the Windscythe Tribe—one named Li and the other Wa. As long as Rita avoided these surnames when changing her ID, everything would be fine. Thinking of Wolf Fortress, which had occupied her thoughts for days, Rita decided to name herself "Spicy Fortress".
The teleportation portal had been set up near the Eternal Night Fortress's tower, inside a wooden hut. As they passed through, it was already crowded with the Windscythe Tribe.
The 51 Windscythe Tribe members didn't exchange any words but looked at each other briefly before heading out in groups, carrying their scythes and following their teams toward the distant tower.
Rita followed the S team, planning to enter the tower at the same time. She would join the battle as soon as she was inside. Each team had a mission plan, and on the 15th, they would launch six assaults.
As Eclipse Vanguard's investigations deepened and their information grew more comprehensive, everyone realized that the various alien tribes had a nuanced attitude toward the tower. They weren't entirely opposed to it. While the high-ups had explicitly prohibited entering the tower, they didn't seem intent on actively hunting down anyone who did.
The guards at the tower only did a symbolic check before letting everyone through. The tower had always been more lenient about entry, and even for those disguised, it wasn't a significant loss for the Oak Owl.
The oak doors of the tower were open. Despite the moonlight and street lamps illuminating the city outside, the interior of the tower was pitch dark. On the ground, there was a threshold made of light particles. The guards said that crossing this threshold would mean entering the tower.
Without hesitation, Rita stepped forward, entering the tower with the S team.
The moment her second foot crossed the threshold, the darkness instantly vanished.