Somewhere in San Francisco

At midnight, when most of the lights in a commercial building had already been shut off, one small office was still powered on. Inside, a young man with a face smeared in grease and deep dark circles under his eyes sat numbly at the computer, typing away at the keyboard.

From his skin tone, it was obvious he was Asian. Judging by the densely packed code on the screen, he was clearly a young programmer whose liver and kidneys were still full of vitality. Judging by his complexion, he could probably keep grinding like this for at least another five years...

There were many young Chinese programmers like him in San Francisco. Among the most cost-effective majors for international students were accounting and computer science, especially the latter, which was almost universally recognized as a shortcut to a "gilded" future. Every year, around 25 percent of those studying abroad chose majors related to IT.

An Shunwang was one of the many programmers who had gone overseas to gild themselves. However, this path was not easy for an ordinary family. At Stanford University, his tuition alone cost four hundred thousand Federation Currency a year. Including food, lodging, and various other expenses, what he spent in one year was equivalent to buying a 120-square-meter house in his hometown!

In other words, after three years of study, he had essentially spent the equivalent of three houses. That did not even include his expenses after graduation. Such consumption was obviously difficult for a family like his to bear, so he had already taken on a huge amount of debt before graduating.

What could he do when he owed money? Of course he had to work hard to pay it back...

The high price had brought him a decent return. Right after graduating, he found