Ethan Li had always believed he was invincible. Not because he was born into money—he wasn't. Not because he was some child prodigy—he wasn't that either. He'd earned everything through grit, long nights, and a ruthlessness sharpened by survival. From a cheap university dorm to the top floor of a glass empire, he'd built his legacy brick by brick.
But now, it was all crumbling.
He was on the floor of the boardroom he'd designed himself, where he once stood as the youngest CEO in the city. His blood seeped into the white marble tiles, the same ones he'd personally chosen for their symbolism—clean, bold, impossible to ignore. The irony wasn't lost on him. He was dying in the center of his own success.
Above him, faces stared down. Familiar faces. Trusted ones.
Lucas. His right-hand man, best friend since college.
Sophia. His fiancée, who had once whispered dreams of building an empire together.
Jared, Helen, Victor. Board members he'd handpicked for their loyalty—or so he thought.
No one helped.
Only Lucas moved, stepping closer and crouching beside him. He had the nerve to smile, cold and measured.
"You should've seen this coming," Lucas said quietly. "The company's future needed new leadership. Someone less... controlling."
Ethan tried to speak, to raise a hand, but his body was giving up.
"And don't take it personally," Lucas added. "It's just business."
That line hit harder than the pain in his chest.
The lights above him blurred. His breathing grew shallow. Cold crept through him like water pulling him under.
This was it. Not in some alley. Not in a war zone. But in a boardroom, surrounded by people who once applauded him.
He'd worked too hard to end like this.
But fate, it seemed, wasn't finished with him yet.
Just as everything faded to black, a blinding flash tore through his mind—sharp and white-hot, like lightning without sound. A voice—not human, not machine, but something in between—spoke inside his head.
> [System Activation: God-Tier Business System booting... Welcome, Host.]
Then silence again.
Ethan's eyes flew open.
He jerked upright, gasping, as though breaking the surface after drowning. His lungs ached, his heartbeat thundered in his ears, and his hands trembled against cotton sheets.
Not tile. Not cold marble. Sheets. A bed.
He blinked rapidly, taking in the room. Ivory walls. A chipped wooden desk. A stack of old business textbooks. The faded poster on the wall that read: "Work until your idols become your rivals."
His breath caught in his throat.
He knew this room.
This was his dorm room.
Ten years ago.
Before the first investment pitch. Before the startup. Before the long nights, the deals, the betrayals.
He stood slowly, moving to the mirror. He looked younger. His eyes were brighter. His skin smoother. The faint scar on his chin from a bike accident was there—hadn't he had it removed years ago?
His phone buzzed. He picked it up with shaking hands.
October 2nd, 2015.
He nearly dropped the phone.
This wasn't just a dream. This wasn't some vivid hallucination.
He had been brought back.
> [System Notice: Rebirth Successful. Host has returned to age 22.]
[Mission Available: Prevent Future Betrayal. Reward: +10 Strategic Talent, +$50,000 Starting Capital.]
He sank into the old desk chair and stared at the screen, letting the words settle.
Rebirth? A system?
He wasn't a man who believed in fate, destiny, or divine intervention. But the memory of Lucas's face—of Sophia standing silent as he bled—made the idea of a second chance feel like justice.
> [God-Tier Business System: Guiding host to build an unstoppable financial empire, eliminate threats, and dominate global markets.]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Investor's Intuition.]
Investor's Intuition? Ethan didn't know what that meant yet, but his brain was already turning. If this system was real—and based on how detailed it felt, it had to be—he had a ten-year advantage. Not just over Lucas, but over the whole world.
He remembered every market shift, every competitor's mistake, every company that would rise and fall. He had the power of hindsight. The kind that couldn't be bought.
He stood up, his mind racing faster than his pulse. He had seven days before the first betrayal began to take shape. Seven days before Lucas got his first taste of power through the company's founding shares.
This time, Ethan wouldn't give him the chance.
He knew who to avoid, who to partner with, which ideas would explode and which would crash. He wouldn't waste time pitching to the wrong investors. He'd build smarter, faster.
And he wouldn't make the mistake of believing anyone blindly again.
He opened his old leather notebook. Blank pages. So much yet to be written.
He flipped to the first page and scrawled a single sentence at the top:
"No one gets a second chance. Except me."
Then he underlined it. Twice.
He let out a breath, slow and steady. Then he laughed—a low, controlled sound, like the rumble of a storm just beginning to build.
"I died a king betrayed by dogs," he whispered to himself. "This time, I'll rise a god."
Outside, the campus was just waking up. The sounds of early morning students filled the air—footsteps, conversation, someone playing music on a speaker.
Inside his room, Ethan Li was already mapping out his comeback.
His first investment. His first acquisition. The network he would build. The threats he would eliminate before they had a chance to grow.
The world thought he was just another ambitious college student.
They had no idea.
Because this time?
There would be no mercy.