Blossoming Path - Chapter 18: Calm Before the Storm

[WPC#270 - Silver Place Winner]

In the age of superheroes, Miao Xiaomao was one of the mediocre commoners, who had no superpower. Xiaomao and his senior cat died in an accident. But when he came back to his sense again, Miao Xiaomao found himself regressing to the past.

Using his knowledge from the future, Xiaomao invested in the VRMMO game early to prepare for the new age - The Age of Superhuman and Cultivators. He would soon find himself integrating with his in-game character to awaken his superpower and become one of the superhumans.

What about his character's choice? A cat dad like him couldn't possibly play a normal game character!

“I'M A SUPERHERO, MUNYA!”

(Immortal Cultivation+Meeting a Perfect Match+Shura Field+Invincible Flow+Upgrade Flow+Playing the Pig and Eating the Tiger)—What is cultivation? When I think back to the past, cultivation was, as a baby, kicking my legs over and over again—kicking on the bed, kicking on the ground, kicking every single day. Cultivation was, as I grew older, swinging my sword again and again—slashing here, cutting there. Cultivation became, as I matured, the repeated harmony of yin and yang—busy tonight, and busy again tomorrow night. … My name is Xu Ming. I have never cared about the stipends given to me by those sect masters, noble ladies, or princesses.I said to her, “Can you give me a room closer to yours? I need to report my work to you at any moment.” Even if I accomplish nothing every day, I just want to watch how she cultivates. I…

Title: Trillionaire Student: The Art of Corporate WarfareGenre: Cyberpunk Corporate Drama / Tech RomanceSetting: Near-future Shanghai (2045) where blockchain dynasties and AI oligarchs dominate global finance.Protagonist:· Ye Chen: A 22-year-old financial prodigy with military-grade neural implants. Orphaned and self-made, he accidentally inherits trillion-yuan assets tied to a cryogenically preserved heiress.· Su Ning: A “frozen elite” heiress resurrected from cryostasis. Her trauma-encrypted mind holds the keys to her family's blockchain empire.Core Plot:When Ye decrypts suicidal patterns in Su's neural data, their forced partnership to upgrade her emotional firewall exposes:1. Corporate Espionage: Rival tech giants weaponize celebrity scandals as NFT commodities.2. Family Conspiracy: Su's mother audits her memories like hostile mergers.3. Hidden Protocol: A blockchain ledger tracking physical intimacy as corporate liability.Key Westernized Elements:· Boardroom duels in holographic Hunger Games-style shareholder arenas· Romance through shared neural hacking of trauma encryption· Memetic warfare where viral tweets manipulate stock marketsThemes:· Capitalism 2.0 (emotions as crypto assets, SEC-regulated marriage contracts)· Cybernetic identity (childhood trauma rebuilt as AI firewalls)· East-West fusion (Tang poetry as quantum encryption keys)Cultural Bridges:· “Black Swan Fund” → “Quantum Contingency Fund”· Neural interface battles styled as The Matrix meets Game of Thrones· Food metaphors: Xiaolongbao dumplings as encrypted data carriers

Seven billion humans living on the Earth time-traveled together after they had woken up one morning. They all heard a synthesized female voice.