This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Of course, even though the Jones family's elder brother and sister-in-law had rented out the instance mirrors, it wasn't impossible for them to get part of it back, but that would require a divorce to split the assets.

Nova wasn't worried—aside from the portion in the prenuptial agreement, she would still profit after a divorce. Isaac wasn't worried either, as fate had smiled upon him—out of the 27 instance mirrors he owned, 20 were his from before the marriage, so Abigail could only claim 7, and he could even get a share of her assets.

Besides, they were confident that even if things escalated, Wyatt and Abigail wouldn't get divorced. Both had three children, making a total of six kids, and the inheritance hadn't been divided yet. Ezra was practically a common enemy to all six of the children. As long as they didn't want to alienate their own kids or have the six children gang up on Ezra, Wyatt and Abigail wouldn't dare to act.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

As for the so-called "big picture" or "the Jones family's future"? To two people who had been triple-betrayed and starving for decades, that was all nonsense!

Naturally, Wyatt and Abigail quickly sensed something was off with their spouses' sudden, large-scale actions. Their first thought was that Ezra's secret had been exposed, but by the time they realized, Nova and Isaac had already wrapped up everything in less than a week.

Almost immediately after reclaiming the instance mirrors and signing contracts with the Special Affairs Bureau, they publicly revealed Ezra's true identity. Along with that, they also leaked photos and chat records of Ezra and Aaron together.

To top it all off, they even released Ezra's medical report.

On May 17th, the top ten trending searches were all about Ezra and Aaron.

Ezra and Aaron's emails were leaked, filled with nothing but hate.

Ezra was kicked out of his team. Even though everyone's bodies had become digitized, people were still terrified of such an incurable disease.

Aaron's situation was slightly better. Zoey had used an Insight item confiscated from Rick to check Aaron's stats, and when she didn't find any signs of a curse, she was a bit disappointed.

After all, Rick and Zoey had the disease as well.

**Aaron**: "Please believe me, I don't have it!!!"

**Rick & Zoey**: "Heh heh heh, what a coincidence, but we do."

The only one who seemed uncomfortable was Lincoln, but he didn't want to leave the team. Not only was the leveling speed fast and the drop rate high, but he also got to enjoy various benefits by staying close to the Lopez family's eldest daughter. Besides, as long as he was careful, he figured he'd be fine—just make sure to heal any injuries quickly and keep Aaron at a distance.

So, Lincoln didn't show any signs of concern. On the contrary, he even tried to comfort Aaron, saying that even if he had the disease, it might not be a big deal. Maybe with higher levels and a stronger constitution, it could even heal on its own.

Aaron's face turned red with frustration. He didn't have the disease!!!

But neither he nor Lincoln noticed the looks of approval Rick and Zoey gave Lincoln—there was a hint of admiration and even a bit of surprise.

The two exchanged glances: Why hadn't they thought of increasing their constitution? Lincoln, who had focused on boosting his constitution, could no longer be harmed by ordinary weapons. If they increased their constitution enough, could it cure their disease?

Of course, boosting constitution would affect their magic-based skills' attack power... but then again, what was the point of increasing intelligence if it just ended up getting stolen?!

Even though Aaron was trembling with anger, all he could do was repeatedly claim he didn't have the disease, a statement he had made countless times on various platforms, to no avail.

Yet, he didn't dare leave Rick's team—not just because the leveling was fast, but also because he was afraid to return to the Jones family...

Just as he had feared, both he and Ezra had been abandoned.

Even the family patriarch didn't stand up for him.

Forget divorce—Wyatt and Abigail would probably kneel before Nova and Isaac to apologize. Whether for the sake of the Jones family's stability or for their own children, they could never forsake the three children they had raised, to speak up for a diagnosed illegitimate child.

And Aaron? Caught up with an illegitimate son and infected with a disease?

Even the once doting patriarch and matriarch of the family started pretending to be ill, terrified that Aaron would come home asking for their help.

Aaron and Ezra were completely abandoned.

But instead of worsening, their relationship rekindled.

Ezra explained, "The reason I broke up with you was because I discovered I had this disease and didn't want to infect you."

Oh, how touching...

But Aaron wasn't a fool.

"You say you broke up with me because you found out you had the disease? That doesn't add up. We were together during that time, and I never caught it. If we were that close, I'd have been infected by now. So, where did you catch this disease while we were together?"

Oh, you must've cheated, right?

**Ezra**: … Did this guy go get a "remove romantic brain surgery" after the breakup?

This was clearly a trick question.

**A.** Admit to cheating.

**B.** Dodge quickly.

Ezra chose **B**.

**Ezra**: "I'm sorry…"

**Aaron**: "Heh, so you've been enjoying yourself after we split up, huh?"

Though Aaron was sarcastic, once he learned that Ezra's talent was S-rank, he let it go.

He even recommended Ezra to Rick, suggesting that he join their leveling team and promised that Ezra would keep his distance from everyone.

Rick found the situation extremely odd, as did Zoey.

But there wasn't much to fear.

It was like when no one cared if your body was left on the street after death—the ones who should be scared weren't them.

After learning about Ezra's talent, they immediately brought him into their team. With nowhere else to go and being hunted down by disgruntled fans, Ezra had no choice. The Lopez family's territory wasn't a place anyone would dare to intrude.

However, the 16 melee fighters Zoey had recruited weren't having any of it! The experience was great, but their lives mattered more. How could they fight monsters without shedding blood?

Zoey decisively disbanded the team, giving the 16 people access to another instance and telling them to fight on their own. After all, even when they were filling the team slots, the group still experienced theft—just less of it. They hadn't lost any attributes or equipment recently, so there was no need to fill all 20 slots for instance fights anymore.

When Rita learned about this, she immediately entered the instance and stole 4 points of Ezra's strength and two pieces of equipment.

The next day, when Ezra realized he was missing 4 strength points and two items, he was furious.

What the hell happened?!

The whole team fell into an awkward silence.

**Aaron**: "Oops, forgot to warn Ezra how cursed this team is…"

The group finally explained why they, despite being strong enough to grind solo, had previously insisted on filling the team slots with 15 or more players.

**Ezra**: …

Damn, isn't this even scarier than AIDS?!

If he had anywhere else to go, Ezra would've bolted.