Chapter 5 — Awakening from the False Crown
The sound of applause shattered into dust.
Shen Mo's eyes snapped open.
No boardroom.
No kneeling enemies.
No contracts soaked in blood and victory.
Only a cheap dormitory bed, a flickering tube light, and the smell of instant noodles.
His heart pounded violently.
"Haa… haa…"
He sat up, sweat soaking his shirt.
Outside the window—
University students laughed, scooters passed, life moved on.
It felt real.
Too real.
He clenched his fists.
"shitty dream… all of it…"
A dream.
A future that had not yet happened.
The revenge.
The crushing of Zhou Kai.
Lin Xue's fall.
All of it—just a warning, not reality.
Shen Mo leaned back, staring at the ceiling.
"So… heaven showed me the ending," he murmured,
"but didn't give it to me for free."
A slow, dangerous smile formed.
"Fine."
"If revenge isn't ready yet…"
"I'll build the road to it—step by step."
---
Chapter 6 — The University Where Fate Began
Huaxia Finance University, Shanghai.
This place looked ordinary.
But Shen Mo knew the truth.
> This is where monsters are born.
And fools are buried.
He walked through campus calmly, observing faces.
Zhou Kai—still poor, still ambitious.
Lin Xue—still innocent-looking, still calculating.
They laughed.
They joked.
They didn't know that the man walking past them
had already died once.
"Enjoy your peace," Shen Mo thought.
"You won't have it forever."
But revenge needed capital.
And capital required money.
Not tomorrow.
Not years later.
Now.
---
Chapter 7 — First Blood: Money Without Background
Shen Mo sat alone in the library, notebook open.
Not class notes.
Future memories.
He remembered:
Which startups would explode
Which stocks would crash
Which industries would quietly rise before anyone noticed
But there was a problem.
> I'm 18.
No capital.
No background.
He exhaled slowly.
"Then I'll start where everyone looks down."
That night, he took three jobs:
Online freelance coding & financial modeling
Night-shift data entry
Campus tutoring for rich second-generation kids
Sleep became a luxury.
While others chased love,
he chased time.
While others partied,
he calculated profit margins.
Money came slowly.
Painfully.
But steadily.
After one month—
¥18,000
After three months—
¥70,000
Not much.
But Shen Mo smiled.
"This," he whispered, holding the bank receipt,
"is the first brick of my empire."
---
Chapter 8 — The First Investment
In a dim internet café, Shen Mo logged into the stock platform.
His hands were steady.
He remembered this date clearly.
A small tech company.
Ignored. Mocked.
Three months later—its value would triple.
"This is not gambling," he said quietly.
"This is fate correction."
He invested everything.
No hesitation.
No fear.
As the confirmation message popped up, his phone vibrated.
A message from his mother:
> Mo'er, don't forget dinner. I made your favorite soup.
His eyes softened.
"Soon," he replied,
"I'll give you a life where hospitals don't scare you."
---
Ending Line of the Chapter
That night, Shen Mo stood on the dorm balcony.
Shanghai's lights stretched endlessly.
He didn't want fast revenge anymore.
He wanted absolute control.
"Last life," he said to the wind,
"I lost because I climbed too fast."
"This life—
I'll rise slowly…"
"…and when I reach the top,"
"I'll make sure no one can push me down."
---