Rita arrived back in Los Angeles on the morning of the 13th.
The moment she left the airport, she headed straight for the hospital.
The old man was still lying there.
As for Rick, he was no longer bedridden. His wedding was only a few days away, and Zoey had dragged him off for rehearsal practice.
It was Rita's first time hearing that weddings needed rehearsals.
When she got to the hospital, she stuffed two bottles of beginner healing potion into Samuel's hands.
Samuel just stared blankly at the ceiling.
Scarlett pried open his mouth and poured the potion down his throat, but he barely reacted.
Rita watched coldly from the side. For a second, she honestly thought the old man had become a vegetable.
She pulled Scarlett aside and quietly asked what had actually happened.
Scarlett hesitated awkwardly, clearly unsure how to explain it.
They had hidden this matter from their daughter for so many years. Bringing it up now would obviously hurt feelings.
In the end, she only muttered that she did not know either.
Rita was not actually concerned.
The real reason she had come was to use Insight on their Divine Gifts.
In her previous life, she had never owned any kind of Insight equipment. Everything she knew came either from her own observations or from what people chose to tell her.
Back then, Scarlett had claimed her Divine Gift was related to cooking.
Food she prepared supposedly had a chance to increase attributes, though only at a 5% probability.
At the time, Rita had even joked that mother and son really were alike. Both their Divine Gifts revolved around cooking.
But now, after checking again, Scarlett's Divine Gift was actually fire-related.
The more she talked, the more damage her fire skills gained.
The buff reset daily.
Rita understood almost instantly.
In her previous life, Scarlett had constantly invited her home for meals. And every time she arrived, the food was already prepared.
Those dishes never tasted exceptional, but the ingredients were always extremely high-end.
And Rita had always been the kind of person who returned at least half the goodwill shown to her.
So every time after dinner, she would leave behind gifts or resources for Scarlett and Samuel.
No wonder...
This entire setup had probably existed solely to support Rick's [God of the Culinary Arts] Divine Gift.
Premium ingredients guaranteed decent food ratings.
But mediocre flavor meant the scores would stay average.
As long as the score never exceeded 80, the bonus effects would never critically trigger. Rita would never associate the dishes with Rick, and she would never suspect attribute increases.
So the meals could make her feel touched and grateful, encouraging her to repay the family...
Without actually giving her any real benefits.
And on top of that, she had unknowingly paid portions of her own luck to Rick as "meal payment."
Thinking back now, every time she ate at home, she would experience a streak of bad luck afterward.
At the time, she had even joked that her hometown must be cursed against her.
Meanwhile, Rick had not completely lied to her either.
He had claimed his Divine Gift doubled the effects of food.
And technically, the effects she received really had doubled.
Sometimes Rick had even specially created custom dishes for her personally, guaranteeing doubled effects every single time.
Yet after eating his food for two years, she had never gained a single attribute point.
Amazing.
Perfectly exploiting the limits of multiple abilities.
Winning her trust while constantly calculating against her.
And never letting her gain any meaningful advantage.
Rita had to admit...
She learned a lot from him.
Honestly, she did not find it strange that Rick coveted her luck.
She had always been lucky growing up.
Her starting Luck stat in the game had been 8, already higher than most players.
Although...
She still did not understand why someone with such good luck had missed all three beta tests in her previous life.
Wait.
The first beta had been because Amelia set her up.
But what about the second and third?
What had she been doing on June 6th and October 10th in her previous life?
It had been too long ago.
Normally, Rita should not have remembered details that clearly.
But those dates were special.
Not only were they beta test dates, they were also extremely close to Rick's engagement and wedding.
Very quickly, fragmented memories resurfaced.
She could not remember exact details, but she remembered periods of time.
A few days after Rick's engagement, he had suddenly called her one morning and said he had used the Lopez family's connections to arrange an opportunity for her.
He wanted her to meet someone.
She remembered that when the Lopez family driver picked her up, the sky had only just begun to brighten.
And before Rick's wedding, he constantly asked her to accompany him to rehearsals.
Later, he even begged her to help supervise the wedding venue every single day.
Even though the entire event was being managed by Lopez family staff already. There had been absolutely nothing for her to do.
Back then, she had been extremely irritated.
Because she had to stay there wasting time all day.
And every time she tried to play on her phone to kill boredom, someone from the Lopez family would drag her away to inspect decorations or arrangements.
Rita stood in the hospital bathroom, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white.
So he had been scheming against her that early?
The hatred that had partially faded after stealing Rick's Divine Gift surged violently back to life.
Why?
Why refuse to tell her anything...
And deliberately make her miss every single beta test over and over again?
She turned off the faucet and calmly stared at herself in the mirror.
Why waste time trying to understand why her enemies hurt her?
There was no point.
No meaning in it.
All she had to do...
Was return everything in full.
Rita said goodbye to Samuel lying in bed and left.
Samuel's Divine Gift was called [Liar].
Every lie he told increased his attack power by 0.1%.
Reset daily.
He could also detect lies.
At least that part matched what he had told her in her previous life.
Surprisingly, he had not lied about that.
But the highest form of deception was sometimes the truth itself.
Samuel had never needed to fight anyway.
How many lies had he told Rita over the years?
How would she even verify them?
This whole family...
Rita walked out of the hospital and into the sunlight, yet still felt coldness seeping from deep inside her bones.
How was she biologically related to these people?
Then again...
Considering her own behavior lately...
She was not much better.
A whole family of manipulative schemers.
Samuel, the old snake.
Scarlett, the dumb snake.
Rick, the little snake.
And her.
The beautiful snake.
Especially Scarlett.
What an idiot.
Forget it.
Might as well continue pretending to be one big happy family.
On the 15th, Rita accompanied Rick to the wedding rehearsal venue.
From a distance, she watched him carefully.
He was smiling.
Not a trace of pain showed on his face.
No despair.
No rage.
No grief.
But the more composed he looked, the happier Rita became.
The better someone suppressed their emotions, the better.
She herself was exactly the same.
Every time she smiled at Rick and the others, her retaliation afterward only became harsher.
She was looking forward to the day he finally exploded.
After enjoying Rick's performance and carefully crafted mask long enough, Rita pulled Zoey aside into a corner and whispered mysteriously:
"I have a wedding gift for you. Something from the game. Where can I give it to you privately?"
Zoey immediately looked interested.
Game-related items were still extremely rare at this stage.
She pulled Rita into the dressing room.
Rita waved for Rick to come over too.
Once inside, Rita took out the bed.
The bed.
The one that instantly turned people's thoughts filthy the moment they saw it.
Unbound game items revealed their information the instant someone touched them.
Zoey thanked her calmly, expression unreadable.
But her eyes visibly lit up.
Rick also relaxed.
Sure, it was embarrassing...
But this thing...
Yeah.
This gift hit directly where it mattered.
He needed it.
Desperately.
After days of suffocating misery, Rita had finally brought him the only piece of good news he had received lately.
Rick looked at Rita gratefully.