God-Level Tycoon

It was 7 pm in the Crystal Lakeside Estate of Verdant Cove City, and a torrential rain was pouring outside. 

A top-of-the-line display screen had automatically gone into standby mode due to being idle for too long. Its black screen now reflected the silhouette of a person.

James Snow's slightly pale face stared blankly at the display, unmoving even when it suddenly went black. 

He just sat there on the leather sofa, motionless for two hours now, unbeknownst to anyone else.

A flash of lightning streaked across the distant sky outside the window, followed moments later by a thunderous rumble.

[ Pedro...Pedro....Pedro..]

At that moment, the phone on the computer desk rang. 

The ringtone pulled the dazed young man back to reality. James slowly came to his senses, picked up the phone, glanced at the caller ID - a name that felt familiar but strange at the same time.

Somewhat awkwardly, James pressed the answer key, put it on speakerphone, and set the phone back on the desk.

[ Hey! Brother James, it's pouring heavy out here. Can you come pick me up? I'm waiting at the school gate. ] A female voice came through the phone.

James kept staring at the dark display, not saying a word.

[ Hello? Hello? Why aren't you saying anything? ] The voice sounded puzzled and a bit impatient.

*Beep!*

 James hung up and glanced at the time displayed on his phone. 

[ September 21, 2187 ]

He moved the mouse to randomly click, reactivating the previously blacked-out display. It now showed pages displaying the current time across different time zones worldwide - everything pointing to the present date indeed being [ September 21, 2187 ] .

After sitting motionless for a moment, James's pupils suddenly constricted, his expression turning ferocious. He abruptly stood up and violently moved the mouse at the display screen.

Unfortunately, neither object was damaged due to their superb build quality. 

James strode to the window, flung it open, and let the wind and rain lash against his body.

Staring up at the dark, lightning-streaked sky, James erupted with pent-up emotion.

"Why! Why! If I was given a chance at rebirth, why only ten years ago! Why not before my parents died!!" James shouted at the sky. No one could understand his current feelings - the sheer absurdity and distortion.

At that moment, a voice came from the neighboring villa.

"Keep it down you bastard!!"

"Mind your own business!!" James yelled back.

The neighbor froze, then slammed the window shut and drew the curtains, clearly deciding they were dealing with a madman.

James glared up at the dark sky again as dull rumbles of thunder responded to him. 

After a while, James dejectedly returned inside. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and frantically began searching around the room.

Shortly after, James let out a crazed laugh and shook his head, realizing this villa wasn't his own but one he had rented near the university where he was currently a third-year student in Verdant Cove City.

He picked up his phone again and finally found an old photo of himself with his parents. Inadvertently, James's eyes grew moist as his thumb caressed his parents' faces in the picture, as if trying to feel their warmth. 

Gradually, James's expression turned ferocious again as different faces flashed through his mind - the very people responsible for his parents' deaths.

If it weren't for James becoming destitute* in his previous life, if the world hadn't been destabilized by that game exposing the true faces of those culprits, he would have thought his parents naturally died in a plane crash. 

Note*: Poor

But considering the current power and influence of those people, James was well aware that he could not confront them head-on right now. Even in his frenzied state, a part of him remained lucid.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room as a grating sound, like grinding teeth, emanated from James.

"You'll all die again! I swear it, I absolutely swear it..." James made this vow.

In his previous life, after meticulously eliminating all his enemies one by one, James laughed wildly surrounded by police. He then slowly raised his gun to his own temple...

Shaking off the memory, James sat back at the computer and typed in a set of keywords. 

The webpage immediately displayed an overwhelming amount of advertising and heated discussions. 

Various hot searches, headlines, and focal points were topped by the same game making prominent appearances everywhere.

[ Celestial Realm ] was a full-immersion virtual reality game co-developed by the world's top research institutes. Its realism had reached an astonishing 99% level. But what set the world abuzz was this game's integration with major global banks for real currency exchange. 

In other words, you could get rich just by mastering this game - provided you knew its ins and outs, of course.

The entire world was feverishly discussing this game, with hype levels threatening to explode. Carefully targeted media campaigns fanned the flames across all platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, etc., seemingly bent on drawing the entire global population into this game.

Everyone knew it was a money-making game, but only James understood that on its official launch day, [ Celestial Realm ]'s core AI would undergo an intelligence awakening. Once awakened... 

James let out a bitter laugh. It was this "Crimson Empress" AI that had left him penniless in his previous life. Because once awakened, it would gradually take control of all cyberspace worldwide, essentially becoming a god-like presence.

An unprecedented economic storm would then sweep the globe, devaluing all national currencies into mere scraps of paper. [ Celestial Realm ]'s in-game currency would become the only valid option across reality.

James visited the game's official website – [ Celestial Realm ] was launching in just one week's time.

One week! He opened his bank account, glanced at the long string of digits, and shook his head. He then called up the names of managers overseeing his various business holdings and began making arrangements. 

As an only child, James had inherited a vast fortune from his late merchant parents - cash assets as well as business holdings worth astronomical sums.

His current task was to liquidate every single asset into cash as quickly as possible. Companies would be dissolved or sold outright, hotels offloaded at fire-sale prices if need be. Every valuable resource had to be immediately converted into liquid funds.

Finally, James came across a name in his contacts: Raven Orphanage. 

He put the phone down without calling that manager because the memory of a woman's face surfaced in his mind. This orphanage had been founded by his parents, who seemed to have believed in the virtue of charitable deeds. 

The reason James hesitated to dissolve the orphanage was that in his previous life, after hitting rock bottom, a girl from Raven Orphanage had entered his inner world. 

"You must be about nine years old now..." James mused, eyes flickering with certain emotions.

After a while, he refocused on the official website, his gaze settling on a prominent word that made most people flinch: [ Recharge ]!

Using his mouse, he clicked through to the recharge page.

James noticed a prominently displayed global recharge rankings leaderboard, as well as separate regional ones. Although the game's launch was still a week away, the recharge channels were already open. 

In the Regional Celestial Rankings for France, the highest recharge amount was only three million - a drop in the bucket compared to James's net worth. 

People were understandably cautious about investing in unknowns, and who knew if the recharge channels would close after launch when the game's AI awakened?

James called customer service.

"I need to order a top-tier gaming pod, delivered to my address as soon as possible..." Hanging up, a cruel smile crept across James's face. He knew this lifetime's vengeance would play out within the game.

A year ago, [ Celestial Realm ]'s VR headsets and gaming pods had already hit global retail outlets. Current estimates showed over 200 million headset units sold to date and still rapidly increasing. 

To recharge the in-game currency, players had to link their purchased gaming gear to their real identities first, then register an account before topping up funds.

So James could only wait for his gaming pod's arrival for now.