My capital is quite large.

The snow was falling heavily. Li Feng huddled by a roadside barbecue stall, the baijiu burning his already ailing stomach, his heart beating weaker and weaker as if it were being submerged in ice water.

As a 39-year-old middle-aged man who had been laid off from a major company, failed in his business, and couldn't even afford to pay his rent, at the last moment of his life, his mind was not filled with flashing memories, but with deep-seated regret.

He had thought countless times what if he hadn't acted like a hothead and slammed his fist on the table at that meeting eighteen years ago? What if he had known to tone down his temper and gracefully handed over the blockbuster game proposal to his direct supervisor?

Would that mean I wouldn't be targeted? Would that mean I wouldn't be fired in the summer of 2008? Would that mean I could live a stable, mediocre, but financially secure life with stock options from a big company?

"The so-called 'don't underestimate a young person's potential' is all a lie... A small-town student with no connections is nothing in the face of the tide of the times."

"If...if I could do it all over again, I would definitely bow my head, I would definitely bow my head to the dust..."

With that humble sigh, Li Feng closed his eyes and plunged into boundless darkness.

……

"despair."

The crisp click of the mouse, accompanied by the hum of the projector's cooling fan, suddenly forced its way into my ears.

Li Feng gasped and opened his eyes.

The dizziness made him instinctively grab the table in front of him—not the greasy folding table from a barbecue stall, but a cold, smooth solid wood conference table.

He stiffly raised his head, his gaze passing through the spacious conference room and landing on the curtain directly in front of him.

A PowerPoint presentation is being projected onto the screen.

The title boldly reads: "Feasibility Report on Domestic Agency and Localization Operation of Project D (Dungeon & Fighter) by Neople Company of South Korea".

The man standing in front of the curtain, speaking eloquently, was a man in his early thirties with slicked-back hair.

He was holding a laser pointer, pointing at the data model on the PowerPoint presentation, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement:

"Mr. Lin, fellow bosses. The data on the market share of internet cafes in South Korea that I just presented, along with the analysis of the underlying code, are conclusions I reached after sacrificing all my weekends over the past three months of dedicated research."

"I'd stake my entire career on this: this 2D side-scrolling fighting game will absolutely become a super cash cow, filling the gaps in our company's current game product line!"

boom--

Li Feng's mind went blank, and his blood rushed to the top of his head.

This man is Zhao Peng, and he was Zhao Peng's direct supervisor when he first joined Tencent.

Every word, every data model, and even the player feedback that was meticulously reviewed and proofread from page by page on Korean forums was the result of Li Feng's tireless efforts over half a month, including countless cans of red beef liver!

Aside from changing "Author: Li Feng" to "Author: Zhao Peng" on the cover, Zhao Peng didn't change a single punctuation mark!

Li Feng glanced down at his phone on the table—a bulky Nokia N73.

屏幕上显示着日期：2007年11月15日，下午14:30。

I was reborn.

He really was reborn, and by some unfortunate twist of fate, he was reborn back to the turning point in his life that had haunted him countless times and caused him unbearable pain—the triumph-grabbing report meeting that determined his destiny!

Memories of my past life flashed through my mind.

On this day in my previous life, I was twenty-two years old, a recent graduate, and with the unique arrogance and black-and-white folly of a small-town exam-taker, I lost control in this conference room.

He stood up, pointed at Zhao Peng's nose, and berated him for plagiarism. He excitedly pulled up his own computer's source files, wanting to prove that he was the real culprit.

The results of it?

Sitting in the main seat, Vice President Lin of the business group merely frowned and glanced at him, coldly saying, "The company pays you to get things done, not to argue. Young man, have a broader perspective."

Subsequently, Zhao Peng casually remarked, "Xiao Li did help with the data collection for this report, and I understand that young people want to show off," thus completely branding him as a troublemaker who "does anything for personal gain and disrupts team harmony."

After that, Zhao Peng rose rapidly through the ranks and became the director.

Li Feng was transferred to a peripheral department, where he was assigned all the dirty and tiring work, and his performance was always the lowest.

Six months later, on the day DNF became a huge hit during its open beta, he was kicked out of the company like trash for "insufficient ability and insubordination," thus beginning eighteen years of wasted and impoverished life.

The memory abruptly ended.

"Very well said."

At the head of the conference room, Vice President Lin, who held the power of life and death, nodded with satisfaction and put down his pen. "Zhao Peng, this report is very detailed, especially the analysis of the localization pain points in the Korean market. It shows your expertise. You've done a great job independently breaking down such a massive amount of data."

Zhao Peng immediately put on a humble yet polite smile and bowed slightly:

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Lin. As the project manager, this is what I should do. Of course, in order to meet the deadline, I also had some of the new people under my command participate in some basic data entry and formatting work, just to train the team."

At this point, Zhao Peng changed the subject, his gaze suddenly sweeping across the long conference table and landing on Li Feng at the very end.

A barely perceptible warning and a hint of control flashed in Zhao Peng's eyes, but his face remained smiling.

"Xiao Li, thank you for helping me organize these documents these past two weeks. Mr. Lin just praised this report, and as his assistant, you're also benefiting from that. Come on, tell Mr. Lin and the other leaders what you learned while helping me complete this report?"

Swah——

In the conference room, the eyes of seven or eight senior executives and directors all followed Zhao Peng's gaze and converged on Li Feng, who was sitting in the far corner.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

This is Zhao Peng's open scheme.

He wanted to completely tame Li Feng, this potentially biting little wolfhound, into a lapdog who would fetch his slippers, in front of all the big bosses.

If Li Feng were to nod now and admit that he was merely an assistant, then this tremendous achievement would be firmly in Zhao Peng's credit.

In his final moments, Li Feng swore countless times to the void: If I could do it all over again, I would definitely back down and hand over all the credit.

Now, God has truly returned this choice to him intact.

Just nod.

All it takes is forcing a fawning smile.

All you have to say is, "It's all thanks to Brother Zhao's excellent guidance; I only did a small part."

He could then avoid the fate of being sidelined, expelled, and ultimately dying a rotten death on the streets in his previous life.

Li Feng slowly stood up.

His legs were numb from sitting for so long, and his palms were covered in cold sweat.

Mr. Lin, sitting at the head of the table, picked up his thermos and casually looked at the young man, waiting for a meaningless compliment.

A victorious smile had already appeared on Zhao Peng's lips.

"I……"

Li Feng opened his mouth, his voice a little hoarse.

Looking at Zhao Peng's hypocritical face, and at the high-ranking executives around him who held the power of life and death over him.

He heard his own heart pounding, and he also heard the cowardly last words he uttered before dying in his previous life.

If taking a step back truly opens up a vast expanse of sky, then what are those eighteen years of suffering in my past life?

but……

Will bowing down to test-takers in small towns bring about fairness?

All eyes were on Li Feng's back, awaiting his answer in this life.