Chapter One: Back in Time
"Do I really not fit for this job? Was my initial choice really wrong?"
Chen Wei sat in front of his computer, his eyes vacant, staring at the bright red number (388) on the screen, feeling utterly defeated.
Driven by boundless passion and dreams, disregarding his family's objections, he had resolutely entered the field of intraday trading in the U.S. stock market, hoping to soar to great heights. But reality mercilessly struck him down.
Over a year had passed, and those who had joined the company with him had all been promoted. Some were now earning tens of thousands of dollars a month, while he was still wearing the intern's hat.
The most he had earned in a month was less than eight hundred dollars.
In recent months, his losses had been continuous!
More than half of this month had already passed, and he hadn't earned much. Today, he lost another $388. If things continued like this, there was no hope of promotion this month.
According to company policy, only those who earned over two thousand dollars in a single month could be promoted.
"Wow, Zhou Ge, you're amazing! You've crossed a thousand again tonight!"
A crowd gathered around Zhou Yi's desk, showering him with compliments and envy.
Hearing this, Chen Wei felt even worse.
Zhou Yi had joined the company six months after him. In fact, when Zhou Yi first joined the company, Chen Wei had even mentored him for a while, making him somewhat of a mentor. But now, Zhou Yi had already been promoted, and this month, he was expected to earn over ten thousand dollars!
During a recent company meeting, even the CEO had singled out Zhou Yi for praise.
"What's wrong with you, Chen Wei? How did you lose money again? Didn't I tell you to trade cautiously?"
Chen Wei was lost in thought when someone approached him and reprimanded him coldly.
It was Zhao Yang, the supervisor of their trading team.
"The stock I was holding plunged at the end. I accidentally got caught in it."
As soon as Chen Wei saw Zhao Yang approaching, he quickly explained.
He had actually done quite well tonight, earning over two hundred dollars. But the sudden plunge at the end caught him off guard, and he lost over six hundred dollars in the blink of an eye.
"Don't give me excuses! It's been over a year, and you still haven't reached the level for promotion. You graduated from a prestigious university with a degree in finance, yet you're not as good as Zhou Yi, who graduated from a third-rate university! Let me tell you, Chen Wei, I'm thoroughly disappointed in you. If you can't get promoted this month, then get out!"
After Zhao Yang finished speaking, he ignored Chen Wei and patted Zhou Yi's shoulder, saying, "You're doing great. Keep it up, and I'll give you more privileges later!"
"Thank you, Zhao Ge!"
Zhou Yi replied joyfully.
The more privileges he had, the more he could earn.
Chen Wei felt even more bitter watching this.
After Zhao Yang left, the group around Zhou Yi began to gossip sarcastically:
"I say, Zhou Ge, if it doesn't work out, why don't you mentor Chen Wei? Didn't he mentor you when you first joined? With Zhou Ge's skills, just mentoring him a bit should be enough for Chen Wei to graduate, right?"
"That's for sure. Look at Zhou Ge's skills! But then again, it's been over a year, and he's still losing money all the time! I don't know what some people are thinking. If it were me, and I couldn't get promoted after a year, I'd definitely change careers. It's embarrassing!"
"Don't you get it? That's called perseverance! If one day he accidentally makes a big profit, won't he graduate then?"
"Hey, it might take forever to stumble upon a fortune!"
"Alright, let's not talk about it. Chen Wei graduated from a prestigious university, much better than us! He's just unlucky. Maybe one day, his luck will change, and he'll make a fortune in one go!"
"Come on, prestigious or not, Zhou Ge didn't graduate from a prestigious university, but he still earns tens of thousands a month. Nowadays, education doesn't equal ability!"
"That's a valid point."
...
Chen Wei, with a cold face, ignored everyone's mockery, shut down his computer, and left the office without saying a word.
Behind him, the group continued their uninhibited ridicule.
The U.S. stock market closes at four o'clock in the morning, so it was barely past four thirty.
Walking on the somewhat deserted street, Chen Wei felt frustrated.
So what if he graduated from a prestigious university?
His parents were ordinary farmers, without any background or connections. He had to rely on himself for everything!
He had interviewed at several major companies before, but none of them gave him a result!
Now, he couldn't even get promoted in stock trading! Was he doomed to work for small companies and earn a meager salary?
He couldn't accept it!
Chen Wei looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.
After a year of day trading, to be honest, Chen Wei had gained a lot of experience.
Normally, he could have earned a decent amount. But whether it was because he was incompatible with stocks or just having a run of bad luck, he often encountered unexpected situations.
Like tonight's sudden plunge at the end of trading. Anyone else in his shoes would have lost money too.
And this kind of situation had happened countless times over the past year.
As Chen Wei sighed and stared at the sky in frustration, suddenly, a very bright star appeared in his field of vision.
"A shooting star?"
Just as Chen Wei had this thought, everything went black, and he passed out.
Before falling into complete unconsciousness, Chen Wei vaguely heard a voice in his mind: "Activate the lodging program!"
...
"Hey, wake up, handsome!"
It was unclear how much time had passed, but Chen Wei, groggy and disoriented, heard someone calling him.
He blinked in confusion and saw a beautiful woman in front of him.
She had her hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing sportswear, and there were fine beads of sweat on her forehead.
It seemed like she was out for a jog.
"Hey, are you okay? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"
The woman asked kindly when she saw Chen Wei waking up.
"Oh, no need. I'm fine, thank you."
Chen Wei shook his still dizzy head and got up from the ground, politely thanking the woman.
But as soon as he finished speaking, he froze!
In his mind, there appeared a clear interface, similar to a gaming interface!
In the middle was a dial, somewhat grayish, with a red pointer on it, and a circle of red numbers from 0 to 4320.
In the upper left corner of the interface were several lines of text:
"Skill Name: Time Rewind"
"Skill Level: Level 1"
"Skill Effect: Can rewind 10 seconds"
In the upper right corner of the interface were also several lines of text:
"Skill Description: The cooldown time for the skill is twelve hours. Within twelve hours, the skill can be used three times. Each time, the minimum rewind time is ten seconds, and the cumulative effect of the three skills cannot exceed the maximum rewind time. The system will calculate the experience points based on the extent to which the host directly changes past events. When the experience points reach a certain condition, the skill level can be upgraded."
Directly above was a row of numbers: "00:00:00"
Below, there was an experience bar, and at the end of the experience bar, it showed: 0/100.
Chen Wei stared blankly at this interface in his mind, completely puzzled by what it was!