Chapter 1418: 1418 Adjudicator Game: Game Invasion 23

As more and more summons were accepted, Rita began moving.

The process felt strangely similar to one of those mining games she used to play.

She picked a direction and kept going.

Only when she could no longer find any Divine Game players nearby did she begin deploying her own forces into the prison.

She carefully calculated distances and divided the massive prison cube into countless smaller sections.

Her plan was simple.

Every Starsea player would gradually take control of more and more cells.

By the time the final stage arrived, the number of Starsea players required to manipulate the entirety of Prison 8017 would be dramatically reduced.

Thus, under the stunned gaze of countless Prisoners, Rita casually pulled living beings out of a book.

One after another.

Then another.

And another.

The scene looked utterly absurd.

Still, she did not rush to issue missions.

Her authority was growing, but it remained limited.

The restrictions were still significant.

For now, she merely sent a notification to every Starsea player, warning them not to act recklessly.

Rita moved with astonishing speed.

Mounted on Nivalis, who had shrunk to the size of a pony, she raced through the cube.

As the number of arriving Starsea players increased, the ratio of blue flames within the cube displayed in World Sigh continued rising.

The symbolic meaning was obvious.

Her authority was expanding.

More than two million players had now arrived.

Rita could feel it.

The rules she could quietly manipulate had increased considerably.

After placing the final player into a cell, she opened World Sigh and immediately began writing.

Line after line appeared across the pages.

Soon, every Starsea player currently on alert received a mission notification.

[War Game: Rise of the Guards]

[Defeat the Prisoner before you to officially obtain Guard status and seize control of the cell.]

[Guards may place their own mark upon occupied cells.]

[Defeated Prisoners will become your soldiers.]

[Guards may move freely between cells.]

[After each cube rotation, Guards may choose whether to participate in prison games.]

[Victory grants prison rewards.]

[Defeat carries the risk of erasure.]

[Choose carefully.]

[After gaining control of a cell, Guards may determine that cell’s orientation.]

[Players may continue conquering additional cells.]

[Each player may control a maximum of 8 cells.]

[Every Order Day, Ash Prison will provide Guards with either 3 soul fire or 1 skill slot as wages.]

[Every Order Day, Guards must contribute 1 soul fire to Starsea Adjudicator to maintain this Adjudicator Game.]

[Contributing an additional soul fire allows Starsea Adjudicator to create a Save.]

[Upon death, the great Starsea Adjudicator will Load that Save.]

Every rule took effect.

And the Watcher’s Eye floating in the void remained closed.

Rita’s suspicion was becoming certainty.

This prison’s games also operated through soul fire.

And that soul fire most likely originated from Prisoners erased after failing their games.

Satisfied, she closed World Sigh.

Now she intended to investigate the boundaries of Ash Prison itself.

Just as she patted Nivalis on the head and prepared to leave, a voice called out behind her.

"Thank you."

Rita froze.

That voice sounded familiar.

Turning around, she finally realized who her last deployed player was. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Zoey.

Why was Zoey talking to her all of a sudden?

Perhaps she had been moved by Rita’s generosity and magnanimity.

After all, Rita had allowed her to participate in the Adjudicator Game.

A thank-you wasn’t unreasonable.

Rita had fully intended to continue their cold war until one of them died.

But Zoey had spoken first.

And the gratitude in her eyes looked completely sincere.

Rita wasn’t rude enough to ignore that.

Just as she was preparing a polite response, Zoey continued.

"I never would’ve guessed it."

"You’re actually the one who decided to break the ice first."

"I honestly thought you’d never speak to me again for the rest of our lives."

Rita: ??????

For perhaps the first time in a very long while, the battle-hardened Adjudicator stared at someone in complete disbelief.

When exactly had she tried to reconcile with Zoey?!

Nivalis blinked.

"When did that happen?"

"How come I don’t know about it?"

"What a coincidence," Rita said stiffly. "Neither do I."

Maintaining an expression of absolute seriousness, she added,

"I think you’ve misunderstood."

"I sent invitations to every player ranked in the top ten thousand."

Zoey paused.

The smile on her face faded slightly.

Yet somehow the amusement in her eyes deepened.

Looking genuinely puzzled, she asked,

"I’m not talking about that."

"I’m talking about the fact that you let me choose whether I wanted to fight for BS or for Lania Kaia."

"Thank you for asking whether I wanted to go home."

Rita: ...

That was because Zoey had both human blood and Oak Owl characteristics.

She also held an official position within Lania Kaia.

The system hadn’t known which affiliation to assign her.

That was why the extra selection window appeared.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

Rita wanted absolutely no part in this heartwarming misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, Zoey wasn’t finished.

"You’re very thoughtful."

"..."

At this rate, Rita genuinely felt she might cough up blood.

She raised a hand.

"Stop."

Then she rubbed her forehead.

"That pop-up was generated automatically by the game rules."

"It wasn’t something I specifically arranged for you."

Zoey nodded thoughtfully.

An expression of sudden understanding appeared on her face.

"Oh."

"I see."

Then she asked,

"So are we still doing the cold war thing?"

Rita: ...

If she answered yes, wouldn’t that sound absurdly childish?

How old were they now?

Who still talked about cold wars at their age?

Before she could respond, Zoey smiled.

"That’s okay."

"Next time I’ll be the one to break the ice."

Rita: ...

After finally escaping that cell with an expression of absolute indifference, Rita turned to Nivalis.

"She’s gotten worse."

She wasn’t blind.

Zoey had clearly figured out the truth and then deliberately kept teasing her anyway.

Nivalis scratched her cheek.

"Well..."

"To be fair, if you’d just punched her once, she probably wouldn’t be this bold."

Rita frowned instinctively.

"But she’s too weak."

Nivalis immediately gave her a look.

The exact look that said: I knew you’d say that.

Rita had always looked upward.

She admired strength.

More importantly, she hated using force against someone significantly weaker than herself without a good reason.

She found it embarrassing.

There was a saying from Foolishness that most people secretly agreed with.

Sometimes BS Rita was astonishingly arrogant.

If someone was close to her in strength, or surpassed her in a field she respected, provoking her would absolutely earn a reaction.

Because she acknowledged them.

Because she considered them worthy opponents.

But if someone was too weak...

So weak that she could crush them effortlessly...

Then she became strangely tolerant.

A deeply buried arrogance.

A difficult-to-describe mercy.

Creatures that weak simply couldn’t provoke her anger.

Why would a god kill an animal merely because it bared its teeth?

Rita never saw the look Zoey gave her retreating figure after she left the cell.

But Nivalis did.

Zoey had wanted Rita to get angry.

Unfortunately...

Rita hadn’t.

Nivalis still remembered something Rick had once said about Zoey.

"The affection of the weak disgusts her."

"The affection of the strong wounds her pride."

Then what about the tolerance of the strong?

What was she supposed to do with that?