If everyone is reborn, who will work for capital?

Chapter 1 Reborn at a Roadshow

"Hey, don't pull my belt!"

He didn't know how long he had been asleep in the darkness, nor how difficult it would be to open his eyes. When he woke up from his daze, he felt someone trying to pry his fingers open.

"Did a passerby find tools to break open the car door and save me?" His survival instinct made him frantically pull on the "emergency mechanical handle" again.

He clearly remembered that the car seller had said that in the event of a power outage, the emergency mechanical handle could be manually pulled to open the car door and escape.

"Let me go! You're upright, not crooked!" A male voice, a mixture of embarrassment and despair, pierced my ears again.

Geng Zhi finally opened his eyes, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, but was instantly stunned.

The expected wreckage did not appear, and this was not a hospital, but a brightly lit...academic lecture hall?

He looked down blankly at what he was clutching tightly in his right hand—a leather belt that was clearly ripped out of shape.

Geng Zhi subconsciously let go of her hand.

It wasn't that I was upset about the belt, but rather that the deep marks on my right fingers from the belt caused a sharp pain.

"Hoo—" He let out a long breath, as if he had just escaped from a long and suffocating dream, and for a moment he could not tell whether this was an illusion or reality.

His gaze slowly shifted to the round face beside him, flushed with emotion. After a moment's thought, he asked hesitantly, "You are... Ma Baoguo?"

"My surname is—Niu! Niu, Bao, Guo!" The fat man practically spat out the words through clenched teeth, staring utterly devastated at his fellow villager who seemed to have lost his soul. "You changed my ancestral surname in one nap?!"

Whether you're a cow or a horse, it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Geng Zhi twitched the corner of his mouth and patted Niu Baoguo's broad shoulder reassuringly: "Sorry, Da Niu, I just had a nightmare. The house I bought with a loan was abandoned, and I went to fight the developer's boss. I might have grabbed his belt during the fight."

"This is a Hermes bag, it costs several thousand..." Niu Baoguo muttered softly, checking the wrinkles on his belt with a pained expression.

Geng Zhi didn't reply, and his final memories flooded back like a tide:

Exhausted after get off work in the early morning, I drove my new energy vehicle onto the elevated highway and activated the intelligent driving mode. The system failed to recognize the construction road sign, and by the time I realized what was happening and jerked the steering wheel, it was too late.

The dazzling moment, the fleeting flame streaking across the sky, the passersby unable to open the car door and unable to provide assistance—these became the last images in my mind…

I must have been... reborn, right?

A complex torrent suddenly washed over his nerves—three parts absurdity, three parts relief, and the remaining four parts resentment and hatred.

In his previous life, after graduating with a PhD in Computer Science from Jiangcheng University, he joined Chrysanthemum Factory as a programmer through campus recruitment. Ever since the company was "strangled" by the other side of the ocean, the performance of his department plummeted.

When his eight-year contract expired and the company did not renew it, he faced a mid-life crisis and had no choice but to leave with less than 40 N+1 severance pay.

At that time, short dramas were just emerging as a trend, and unwilling to remain silent, he decisively made a bet and started producing short dramas for overseas markets, determined to feed the American people some "spiritual fast food" with "Chinese-style domineering CEOs" and "reverse sons-in-law".

Unfortunately, the industry was too murky, and this honest man with a technical background almost drowned.

After cutting their losses and exiting in time, they were fortunate enough to catch the next wave of AI growth.

Seeing that generative AI significantly reduced costs and increased efficiency in the gaming industry, he decided to bet everything he had, mortgaging all his properties, and partnered with two classmates to establish a studio, plunging headlong into the overseas gaming market to develop SLG mobile games.

I thought that making games was all about the product and didn't require worrying about personal relationships, but reality quickly beat me up, and I stumbled into pitfalls that made me question my life choices. The company was on the verge of going under.

Just when the funding chain was about to break, they were fortunate to encounter an angel investor – Qitong Investment.

The other party was extremely optimistic about their innovations and, with a wave of their hand, injected real money instantly, severely diluting the equity of the three founders.

With ammunition in hand, Geng Zhi worked even harder, living and working at the company, pouring all his energy into that game.

Hard work pays off. After the game was launched, its data skyrocketed, and it quickly rose to the top of the overseas mobile game revenue chart.

Geng Zhi secretly calculated that, at this rate, he could go from being a "millionaire in debt" to a "multi-millionaire" in less than a month, and achieving a small goal within six months would not be a dream.

The game's unexpected popularity not only brought in huge profits but also attracted the covetous eyes of giants.

Previously, a Fortune 500 company had sent representatives to contact them, offering two possible paths, both overt and covert:

Either accept their strategic investment and be content to "sell yourself," or face a full-scale copying and encirclement of their studios' "micro-innovation" products.

How could a child raised with such care and dedication be so easily let go and exploited?

As a result, he had a big argument with the second largest shareholder, Dongqitong Capital, who was advocating for the "sale," thus sowing the seeds of conflict.

He never expected that Qitong Capital would instigate his two partners to convene a shareholders' meeting and board meeting to remove him from his board seat and CEO position.

As the founder, he not only lost control of the company, but also the amount of dividends he would receive in the future became uncertain.

What shocked him even more was that he later learned that Qitong Capital was actually a front for Tencent!

My dream of financial freedom has been shattered; half a lifetime of hard work has benefited others.

"My dream of financial freedom... Penguin, a gentleman doesn't leave a grudge unavenged!" he muttered unconsciously.

"Huh? Old Geng, who are you looking to take revenge on?" Niu Baoguo, who was standing next to him, caught the key words and his round face showed genuine worry.

"It's nothing." Geng Zhi quickly composed himself and made up a story. "I just remembered what Lao Tzu once said: 'A gentleman does not leave a grudge unavenged.'"

"Ah...didn't Lao Tzu advocate 'repaying evil with good'?" Niu Baoguo scratched his head, trying hard to recall his textbook.

"Really?" Geng Zhi added without changing his expression, "That's because I got it mixed up; it was Mr. Lu Xun who said it."

Niu Baoguo opened his mouth, but realized he couldn't prove that Mr. Lu Xun hadn't said that, so he gave up and asked curiously, "Then what was that 'goose' you were muttering just now?"

"I said, it's getting cold, your Hermes belt would be a perfect match for a Canada Goose down jacket." He replied casually, his mind racing.

"That makes sense! I need to ask my dad for more living expenses!" Niu Baoguo was indeed swayed, patting his beloved "Ma's" belt with a smug look, his gaze unconsciously drifting towards the girl on his right.

"Can you two be quiet for once!" A low but angry female voice came from the right, seemingly not caring at all about "Hermes" or "Hermes brand".

A pretty girl leaned halfway over Niu Baoguo, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, and glared at the two of them: "It'll be our turn to go on stage soon!"

Go on stage?

Upon hearing the voice, Geng Zhi turned his head and blurted out a name: "You're Ma Dongmei!"

"You son of a bitch! My name is Ma Chunmei!" The girl almost lost her voice, her chest heaving with anger, and she glared fiercely at Geng Zhi.

She was nervously memorizing her speech when the two men's constant chatter annoyed her. Now, even their unremarkable names were being mispronounced by this guy, which only fueled her anger.

Geng Zhi said "Oh," thinking to himself that there was no difference. Winter was here, but spring couldn't be far behind.

He had no time to argue with her. His gaze passed over her and settled on the red banner hanging behind the stage in front of him—"Shanghai Jiaotong University 'Young Eagle Program' Entrepreneurship Competition Roadshow".

The fragments of memory are slowly being pieced together.

It must be 20...2009, on the eve of the postgraduate entrance exam. I was dragged here by Niu Baoguo to "support" the roadshow project of his long-time crush, Ma Dong...Chunmei.

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