“CNN News. We’re coming to you live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas!”

“It’s 2033, the Fourth Global Elite Summit.”

“More than two thousand scientists from over a hundred countries have gathered here, covering computer science, medicine, aerospace, and many other fields.”

“Huaxia is not attending as a nation. Only Mr. Ethan Caldwell is here, in a personal capacity.”

“Ethan Caldwell, dual academician of the Huaxia Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering, chief designer of the J-40 and H-40 programs, head of fifth-generation nuclear technology...”

A blonde reporter from North America was speaking fluently into the camera.

The lens locked onto a man.

He sat in a wheelchair, the corners of his mouth lifting into a faint, relieved smile.

Below the wheelchair, a red light began flashing wildly.

“My love... I avenged you.”

Boom!

A deafening explosion tore through the air.

A blinding white flash and a brutal shockwave swallowed the entire hotel in an instant.

The next second, the global livestream cut to black.

...

“Elaine!”

Ethan jolted awake like he’d been electrocuted.

In an instant, dozens of eyes swung toward him.

Some were annoyed.

Annoyed because he’d made noise in the exam hall and disturbed everyone else.

Some were openly mocking.

Seriously?

Falling asleep during the college entrance exam and then waking up from a nightmare?

What kind of guy does that?

“This student!” the proctor snapped, face dark with anger. “Follow exam rules. Do not disturb other candidates!”

Ethan was completely stunned.

The college entrance exam?

He was in the middle of the gaokao?

So...

He’d been reborn?!

His face was full of disbelief.

In his previous life, he had stood at the absolute peak of Huaxia’s military science world.

That also made him a thorn in the side of hostile nations.

In one assassination attempt, his wife had shielded him with her life.

He survived.

But both his legs were ruined.

And she died right there.

For years after that, he lived in pain and guilt.

From that day on, he could never truly settle down and focus on research again. He looked alive, but inside, he was basically a walking corpse.

In the end, he chose to trade his own life for revenge.

But who would’ve thought...

Right then, while memories of his past life were still crashing through his head, something even crazier happened.

A flood of memories that didn’t belong to him poured in all at once.

Natural science.

Engineering.

Biotech.

Medicine.

Computer science.

Knowledge from every direction, every field, slammed into his mind as if it were being carved straight into his brain with blade and chisel.

And with each field came a different identity.

One after another.

“The knowledge of every scientist at the scene...”

Ethan’s eyes widened.

A long while later, he suddenly laughed.

He really had been reborn.

In his last life, his wife died protecting him. That scene had haunted him like a curse.

And in the end, he dragged his enemies down with him.

But this life—

The enemy nations would be facing someone from more than thirty years in the future.

Someone carrying the combined knowledge of over two thousand scientists across every field.

Of course, this time he would not walk the old road again.

He would never become the kind of military scientist who put both himself and the woman he loved in the line of fire.

“In this life, I will never let Elaine be put in danger.”

“And I absolutely won’t bury myself in research while leaving her all alone.”

“So then...”

Just as he was thinking about what path to take next, a buried memory surfaced.

The gaokao lasted three days.

In his previous life, on the second day of the exam, something terrible happened at home.

That too had become one of the deepest wounds of his life.

The moment that thought hit him, he threw down the blank exam paper, got up, and headed for the door.

“This student—” the proctor barked.

First he slept, had a nightmare, and yelled in the exam hall.

Now he was just getting up and leaving?

What exactly was he trying to do?

This was a national exam site, not his backyard.

“I’m done. Handing in my paper,” Ethan said without slowing down.

“It hasn’t even been thirty minutes—”