Chapter 3

The living room was already devoid of Carl's presence. Andy washed his face in the bathroom, took a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator, and drank several gulps. The icy, slightly sweet spring water invigorated him.

He walked into the study, turned on the computer on the luxurious desk, and sat in the comfortable executive chair, quietly waiting for the computer to start up.

He pulled out a piece of paper from the desk drawer, opened the Montblanc fountain pen, and began to list the names that came to mind in Chinese.

Putting down the pen, he looked at the list and exhaled softly.

"It seems that many of them can't be used, and there aren't many options. 'The Bourne Identity' has probably already been filmed, 'Prometheus' is a prequel to the 'Alien' series, so I don't have the right to write it, but 'Inception' could work."

"'Kingsman: The Secret Service' is great; I can definitely incorporate the 007 series stories I've seen into a new big IP!"

"'Frozen' and 'The Huntsman: Winter's War' can be combined into a dark fairy tale collection. When I add a few more fairy tale adaptations, I can publish a book and make a fortune just from the movie rights."

"'National Treasure' has probably already been filmed, 'Now You See Me' can work, 'The Hangover' and 'Ted' can only be written as movie scripts."

Andy Smith used the fountain pen to make notes on the paper after his thoughts. There were only a few movies, but what made him happiest were the three novels: 'The Hunger Games,' 'Divergent,' and 'The Walking Dead.' Although they were in Chinese, he could translate them back into English and reproduce them.

What frustrated him the most were the few American TV series listed on the paper. Only 'Under the Dome' had a first season, and the others were incomplete. 'Person of Interest' had a beginning and an end, but it was missing one season.

Further down were some songs, a few in Chinese, a few in Korean and Japanese, and the rest in English. Some were old songs with no value.

He opened Google and typed in 'The Bourne Identity,' hoping for a butterfly effect, a luxury he had been spoiled by various web novels.

"Ah! The web novel gods didn't lie; there really is a butterfly effect. No 'Bourne' movies, no 'National Treasure'! Damn, 'Alien' is there, wait, calm down, stay calm, let's see if 'The Hunger Games' books are there. Ha, they're not, of course, the heavens still favor me!"

Excited, he clutched the paper with only a few crossed-out items and laughed, jumping around the study.

After calming down a bit, Andy sat back down, his fingers trembling as he clicked the mouse, browsing through all kinds of news—domestic, international, entertainment, and finance. He carefully checked each one, but nothing had changed; the world's trends had not been altered by his arrival.

"The Daoist ancestor was right, major trends cannot be reversed, but minor ones can be changed!"

Right, the 2008 subprime crisis. Perhaps my dream of becoming a millionaire isn't too far off.

He rubbed his face, which had stiffened from excitement, took a deep breath, and his heart raced with excitement.

"The future belongs to me!"

Andy clenched his fists and waved them in the air, excited.

The excitement lasted for a long time. Gradually calming down, he pulled out a new piece of paper, picked up the fountain pen, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused all his attention. It felt as if a black hole in his mind was sucking his soul in.

In his consciousness, he opened his eyes and saw his grayish-white soul, sparkling with electric sparks, entering a tunnel of images, sounds, and text. He could freely browse through the content.

He quickly gathered the information from the web novels that contained future details, and his physical body immediately responded, the sound of writing filling the study.

His consciousness returned, and Andy slowly opened his eyes, seeing a drop of nosebleed on the white paper. He shook his head and smiled bitterly; his soul was too powerful for his body to handle. It seemed he couldn't enter the memory tunnel again until he strengthened his body.

He wiped away the nosebleed, picked up the paper with only a few lines, and read it carefully.

"Signs of the subprime crisis appeared in March 2007, and the second-largest subprime mortgage company in the U.S. went bankrupt in April, exposing the risks of subprime mortgage bonds. In August 2008, the stock prices of the two major U.S. mortgage giants plummeted, triggering a global economic crisis."

Neither Andy nor Song Dawei were very knowledgeable about finance, but with the timeline, they could find a team of financial experts to operate, and the profit would be exponentially high.

"Money, money, the key now is U.S. dollars. To have an impact in this economic crisis, I need to get a large amount of U.S. dollars!"

After memorizing the content of the two papers, Andy muttered about U.S. dollars, but his hands didn't stop. He opened the paper shredder and watched the two papers turn into confetti, but he still wasn't reassured. He found a stainless steel bowl in the kitchen, threw the confetti into it, and lit it with a lighter.

After the confetti burned completely, Andy lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and exhaled, watching the smoke drift and slowly dissipate. There was less than a year left, and it should be enough time to gather a substantial amount of money.

If he mortgaged or sold his house and added the funds in the bank, he could easily get five million U.S. dollars. The current stock market was doing well, and it would break 12,000 points in the next few months, so he could make a fortune.

He wasn't sure about other stocks, but as someone who dealt with phones, Song Dawei was very familiar with Apple. Except for the 2008 economic crisis, Apple's stock price had risen from a few cents in 2003 to $429 in 2012, a 63-fold increase.

He found Apple's stock price on Google, which was a little over $53, though it had slightly dropped. He knew it wouldn't be this low again for the next ten years.

The most prominent feature of the future world economy was the fan economy. Whether it was Apple fans, celebrity fans, or internet celebrities, they would do anything to become famous, as these fans could be converted into huge wealth.

This was Hollywood, the capital of movies. Gaining influence here wasn't easy.

Although Andy was a young writer who had published two books and had some exposure, he hadn't released any works for a long time. In Hollywood, a world famous for fame and fortune, becoming famous was quick, but being forgotten was even quicker. Fortunately, Andy's various outrageous actions over the past year had been reported by several gossip tabloids, even if it was mostly ridicule and criticism, which made him secretly pleased.

In the future, in China, internet celebrities would do anything to become famous. They wouldn't mind being criticized or even cursed by thousands, as long as they became famous. It would just take some time to clean up their image.

He opened Google's Blogger and entered the account and password from memory. The last update was three months ago, and he had several thousand followers. He casually browsed the blog content, but there was nothing useful. The comments included ridicule, encouragement, and envy.

He still had a lot of followers. Before Facebook and Twitter, blogs were the most fashionable and popular. It was essential to manage this space well.

Twitter was founded in March 2006, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was even earlier. In the future, Zuckerberg would use his checkbook to acquire almost any company that could threaten Facebook.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and frowned, "What should I write?"

Thinking of Weibo in China, a smile slowly spread across his face. "I'm so stupid, motivational quotes, or if that doesn't work, toxic quotes. As long as they're original."

The sound of the keyboard and Andy's slightly evil, satisfied laugh echoed in the study.

"Another day has passed. How was your day? Is your dream any closer?"

"Stones don't shine no matter where they are."

"You just need to watch others shine; the heavens have other plans for you."

Andy lit a cigarette, feeling quite pleased, and tapped the armrest of his chair. "Writing for 'Seventeen' magazine should be good too! Venting and sharing all kinds of emotional garbage can be meaningful. Hehe."

He looked at his Cartier watch, shaking it a few times in a very showy manner. "Time flies, it's already noon. I need to go out and find a luxurious restaurant to indulge myself. After all, I'm a rich man now, I can't neglect myself."

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