The weather was nice today, so for once Rita did not go out to handle serious business.
Instead, she hired a cleaner to deep clean the house. While the woman worked, Rita personally washed the infamous Ten Thousand Cat Slash cat bed.
Throughout the entire process, she repeatedly used Insight on the cleaner to check whether she was a player. She even hid her shadow inside the woman's shadow as surveillance.
Rita felt the paranoia she developed during her years on the run would probably never heal in this lifetime.
She instinctively distrusted everyone who approached her.
But honestly, she loved her paranoia.
Her only regret was not buying a cleaning skill. Then she would not need strangers entering her home at all.
Even though she still did not know what exactly this cat bed would become, the fact that it had evolved into a small faction's foundation in her previous life, and had even reached S rank, already made up her mind.
The moment the game officially invaded reality and the cat bed mutated, she would immediately bind it using a Binding Stone.
One hundred gold was absolutely worth it.
While the cat bed dried in the sun, seven or eight cats sprawled lazily around the backyard basking in the warmth.
In the past, Rita had always been too busy. Even when spacing out in the backyard, she was usually organizing thoughts rather than observing the cats.
She only had a vague impression that cats constantly came and went, with none staying permanently.
But today, she suddenly realized something.
She had definitely seen two of these cats before.
Maybe back in August.
Or perhaps even earlier, when she still lived in the thirty-million-dollar villa.
Either way, she was certain.
One was a chubby tabby with white paws.
The other was a fat black-and-white cow cat.
Silently, Rita memorized their appearances.
The cleaner spent the entire day tidying the villa.
Because Rita disliked having too many strangers in her house, she had hired only one person, but the pay was absurdly generous.
One day's work here paid better than half a month elsewhere.
The entire villa was spotless and perfectly organized by the end.
After checking everything carefully and confirming it was indeed clean, Rita paid without hesitation and escorted the cleaner out.
But she declined the request to exchange contact information.
She also avoided mentioning future appointments.
Next time, she would definitely hire someone else.
Using the same cleaner repeatedly made it too easy for someone to bribe or manipulate them.
The experiences from her previous life were her most valuable lessons.
Just after sending the cleaner away, Rita received a message from Zoey.
The young mistress skipped all pleasantries and got straight to the point.
Did Rita want to make money using her Divine Gift?
Every time she used her Divine Gift to help the Lopez family, they would pay her one million.
Rita was not surprised Zoey had approached her.
Back during the wedding, she had deliberately mentioned her skill because she intended to profit from it eventually.
Money was money.
No reason not to take it.
The economy still had another half year before collapsing anyway.
That said, she had no intention of making enemies on behalf of the Lopez family, nor did she want to become a target herself.
[Rita]: I only accept jobs that raise someone's Luck to 10. I won't take jobs lowering people to 1.
She did not even bother mentioning the values between 2 and 9.
The whole point of this skill was either helping people or ruining them.
Who cared about the middle numbers?
Zoey immediately understood her meaning.
One million dollars was far too cheap for becoming someone else's scapegoat.
She readily agreed and sent over a date and time, saying someone would pick Rita up then.
Rita was not worried about getting cheated.
The Lopez family handled these matters professionally.
The closer someone was to the family, the more generously they paid.
Even if they later suppressed or manipulated people behind the scenes, that was a separate matter.
Business was business.
Anyone who worked for the Lopez family received proper compensation.
They would never behave so cheaply that insiders felt becoming one of their people somehow made them poorer.
Rita deliberately cleared half a day from her schedule.
At the agreed time, a Lopez family car stopped outside her residential district.
After getting in, she discovered Zoey was inside too.
During the drive, Rita carefully laid down some groundwork.
"Even though I can modify Luck, Luck isn't destiny. There are plenty of things Luck alone can't change."
Zoey nodded calmly.
"Don't worry. I understand."
After all, she herself had once dropped from Luck 10 to Luck 8.
She understood the subtle difference better than anyone.
Her life had not dramatically worsened.
Everything still went smoothly.
But it no longer felt effortless.
If quantified, it was like this:
Before, if she wanted 1, she ended up with 1.5 or even 2.
Now, if she wanted 1, she simply got 1.
She wanted to believe it was all psychological.
But once Luck became quantifiable, self-deception became impossible.
Their destination was a private dining room in a restaurant.
After entering, Rita maintained a perfectly calm expression, as though she neither recognized nor cared who sat inside.
Even though in her previous life, one of the women present had repeatedly used sparring sessions as an excuse to grind Rita's face beneath her shoe and humiliate her.
Zoey pointed toward a buzz-cut young man seated beside Sanchez and instructed Rita to use [Wheel of Fate] on him.
Rita asked nothing.
Cared about nothing.
She simply extended five fingers toward the young man and closed her eyes.
A few seconds later, she said softly, "Done."
The buzz-cut man glanced at his status panel, saw his Luck had become 10, and nodded slightly toward Sanchez.
Rita merely smiled politely at everyone in the room before preparing to leave.
Zoey did not try to keep her.
She personally walked Rita to the door and arranged for someone to drive her home.
The moment Rita entered the car, the transfer notification arrived.
While riding home, she once again felt someone attempting to divine information about her.
Still the same buzz-cut man.
Rita sneered inwardly.
So the White family and Lopez family had joined forces?
...
The White family and Lopez family had indeed begun cooperating.
Not long after Zoey's wedding, the two families held a secret meeting.
The Lopez family was shocked that someone had infiltrated the White family and severed half of Sanchez's arm.
Meanwhile, the White family was even more shocked.
Because not only had the youngest daughter of the Lopez family's third branch lost an ear, but massive quantities of gold bars had also been stolen from the Lopez family vault.
Which made the whole situation extremely awkward.
When the White family first arrived, no matter how rational they tried to be, they still harbored some resentment.
Perhaps the Lopez family had offended someone, and that person intentionally attacked Sanchez in order to frame the Lopez family through the White family.
But now?
Well.
The Lopez family clearly had not escaped unharmed either.
The Lopez family's feelings were equally complicated.
Yes, Zoey had been injured.
But ultimately she had only lost one ear.
Her hearing was affected somewhat, but nowhere near as severely as losing half an arm.
With proper styling, nobody could even tell she was missing an ear.
As for the gold bars, while painful, the Lopez family's enormous wealth meant the loss was not truly devastating.
Normally, families hid their scandals from outsiders.
But although the White family came under the pretense of discussion, the reality was simple.
If the Lopez family could not provide a reasonable explanation, then based solely on Sanchez claiming she had seen Zoey's eyes, the White family had enough justification to pressure them openly.
The two families sat facing each other.
Silence filled the room.