Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord - Chapter 222: Pope

John Mirage was a young hacker, waiting for his court trial, when he was presented with a choice. Joining a secret ‘fake’ government program, he ended up playing right in a totally unexpected foul play from the future!He found himself travelling into the future, inside a VR game called “Athanasia”, where he gained a Hacker System, lots of abilities, and was facing a grand scheme that ran deeper than anyone thought!The fight between humans and machines in the future wasn’t just brutal and cunning; it also spanned to include the VR game, the real world, and even a totally alien world, with different powers in play, even alien races! And John was standing right in the heart of all this, as the variable and anomaly no one expected!Armed with his system, John will struggle to complete quests, learn new abilities, hack everything, increase his system synchronisation level and upgrade his system to become a powerhouse and an unexpected variable in that war!John will fight on different fronts, against overwhelming odds, and find a way to hack his success through all adversaries!

What did you say?Your mobile phones have eight-core processors? 6G of RAM? 256G of storage? Full charge in an hour and a half?Is that supposed to be impressive?Our mobile phones have sixteen-core processors, 12G of RAM, 1T of storage, and can be fully charged in just ten minutes!What did you say?Your power banks have a capacity of 30,000mAh? They feature bi-directional fast charging?Sorry to break it to you, but our power banks have a 100,000mAh capacity. As for bi-directional fast charging technology... our phones with 10,000mAh large battery capacity can be fully charged in just ten minutes. You want to talk about bi-directional fast charging technology?If others have superior products... I'll provide them at a better price... If others provide a better price... I'll just produce an even better product...Superior electronics, superior cars, superior construction...Ever since Lin Yun acquired the Cosmic Trading System, every industry has started to face fierce disruption...Money is only a minor concern, the real power lies in force!Do you say that Lin Yun's aim is to conquer Earth?No! No! No! You're mistaken, his aim is the universe itself!

D-list celebrity Zhong Ruanxing had been embroiled in controversies over her sultry figure ever since her debut. Smear campaigns and malicious rumors clung to her like a shadow. Years of oppression from higher-ups and sabotage by rivals made it difficult for her to shake off her reputation as a femme fatale, severely hindering her career.

Song Jingxing, CEO of the prestigious Song Group, graduated top of his class and stirred up storms in the business world with his capabilities. An aloof presence at the pinnacle of power, his interpersonal relationships were a mess, with even family keeping their distance. People loathed his attitude.

A freak accident caused these two very different people to swap bodies.

What they thought would be an arduous ordeal turned out to be an unexpected boon. Each found they could easily resolve issues that had plagued the other.

The celebrity living the CEO’s daily life: Greeted his family affectionately, treated subordinates with care, gave employees benefits, complimented his secretary’s new hairstyle—starting the day with vigor!

The CEO as celebrity: Trampled over rivals, tore apart enemies, sent lawyers after antis. Whoever dared provoke him would die! The CEO was whipping the entertainment industry into shape!

Much later, netizens posted:

[Who is Zhong Ruanxing’s backer? Her resources are too good now. From nobody to A-lister, whose thighs did she hug to get here?]

Online influencers hurried to speculate about the magnate behind Zhong Ruanxing.

Until the famously aloof CEO of the Song Group responded: I’m pouring resources into my own girlfriend. Got a problem with that?