From that day on, the protagonist lived the life of a homeless person, scavenging for food in garbage bins.

Sometimes his shoes would be stolen, and he had to walk barefoot. Sometimes he would be robbed and would fight back. No police would care about disputes among homeless people.

But even so, he always remembered his mother’s teachings: to be a good person, not to harm others, so that the lucky stone would continue to work and protect him.

Until that day, when two homeless men mistakenly thought the stone the protagonist wore was something valuable and joined forces to steal it. The protagonist pursued them relentlessly, all the way to the underpass, and killed both of them in the fierce fight.

Since then, he joined a gang and desperately completed every mission, gradually making a name for himself.

He didn’t know if the lucky stone would still bless him, but he still kept it close to his body at all times.

The film then used a montage technique to show the protagonist’s activities at different stages.

That is, through a series of related or unrelated shots placed together to build juxtapositions, thereby showing the protagonist’s behavior across different time periods.

The protagonist receiving and executing tasks from a contact.

The protagonist, now a contact himself, assigning tasks to new subordinates.

The protagonist being ambushed by other gangs during a mission, narrowly escaping.

The protagonist ambushing members of other gangs who were executing tasks, killing them all.

The protagonist being suppressed by the powerful firepower of other gangs, unable to raise his head, rolling in the sewers like a stray dog avoiding bullets.

The protagonist giving the order, his subordinates opening fire on scattered fleeing enemies, with blood from the fleeing gang members flowing through the drainage ditches.

The earlier protagonist seeing companions bleeding and dying, himself being tortured, his eyes revealing sadness.

The later protagonist standing from the perspective of the abuser, expressionless as he watched everything, even personally torturing kidnapped wealthy merchants.

The gang office where he was once interviewed had now become the protagonist’s private space, and he had replaced that gang leader.

However, one day he made a huge mistake.

One of his subordinates, driven by greed, robbed a batch of goods being transported by Headwind Logistics. As a result, Tenda Group’s corporate army raided them, taking down the entire gang.

The protagonist luckily survived, but years of hard work were destroyed instantly.

He barely gathered the remaining few gang members, watching as Headwind Logistics’ armed hovering vehicles gradually disappeared.

The huge Tenda Group logo on top brought a suffocating sense of oppression.

This also made him realize: no matter how much he sacrificed, he was still just a rat rolling in the gutter. The occasional ups and downs changed nothing. If he wanted to climb out of the gutter, he needed to find another way.

On the night of this devastating defeat, he raised his head again, looking at the cloud layer faintly revealing neon lights.

That cloud layer floated at the middle of the skyscrapers, like a chasm separating the lower and upper levels completely.

The reason for this cloud layer’s existence was very simple—the wealthy people living in the upper level didn’t want to see the dirty and chaotic conditions of the lower city.

They traveled in hovering vehicles, from the upper level of one skyscraper to the upper level of another. For them, the entire world was a beautiful world floating above the clouds. They didn’t want the ugliness of those lower-level people to affect their perception of the city.

From that day on, the protagonist was determined to climb above the cloud layer to the tops of those skyscrapers at any cost, to see the real sun.

Next, the film spent a significant portion showing the protagonist’s strong personal abilities and execution.

Although the entire gang was shattered by Tenda Group, the protagonist, relying on his exceptional abilities, organized street thugs again and made a comeback.

This time, while cautiously expanding his business and accumulating necessary resources, he was also meticulously looking for suitable target candidates.

He needed to find a wealthy person of similar height and facial features to execute a plan of bird cage replacement.

At first, the audience didn’t know what he was looking for these people for, thinking he was trying to find a protector among the upper-class wealthy merchants. Unexpectedly, the protagonist was thinking more long-term.

Because as a gang leader seeking protection from these major financial groups, perhaps business would expand rapidly in the short term, but once a problem arose, he would immediately be abandoned.

Even the largest piece is still just a chess piece; the protagonist wanted to become the chess player.

Finally, after thorough preparation, the protagonist focused his target on a young wealthy man. This wealthy man was a nouveau riche without much powerful influence. He was energetic, had active thoughts, and was full of adventurous spirit.

The protagonist seemed to see his own reflection in this young wealthy man.

The protagonist clearly understood that it was this adventurous spirit that allowed this young wealthy man to achieve one victory after another in business, and this adventurous spirit would also provide himself with an excellent opportunity.

Taking advantage of the young wealthy man’s weak security awareness, the protagonist collected a lot of relevant materials, found plastic surgeons and body modification doctors, and continuously modified his body to make himself increasingly similar to that wealthy merchant.

At the same time, the protagonist also imitated the young wealthy man’s walking and speaking mannerisms through numerous videos and audio recordings. He even bought the most advanced voice changer, until he completely transformed into this wealthy man.

In fact, both these characters were played by Lu Zhiyao, but their personalities were completely different.

This young wealthy man always had a bright and glamorous image, with eyes seemingly full of tolerance, mercy, as well as adventurous spirit and firm perseverance.

And the protagonist, now a gang leader, had a fierce and vicious image, an out-and-out desperado.

One day, during the wealthy man’s travel, his hovering car malfunctioned, causing an accident. However, he still attended the meeting unharmed and spoke eloquently, successfully facilitating a contract.

Only after the meeting ended, sitting in the hovering car, he gently touched his chest.

Then the film’s pace became more upbeat. Having replaced the wealthy man, the protagonist began to make bold improvements, on one hand continuing to expand the company’s business, and on the other using the company to continuously launder the black money earned from his gang.

He himself finally fulfilled his wish, escaping from the underground gutter and becoming an elite above the cloud layer.

The protagonist began to look less like himself and more like that wealthy man. The audience even had an illusion that these were two actors playing the roles.

The protagonist could not only manage the business left by the wealthy man in an orderly manner but also propose new ideas and develop new businesses, further expanding the company.

Impersonating the wealthy man, the protagonist began to appear frequently on various occasions. He seemed to be increasingly accustomed to playing this role.

But soon he encountered new problems. Whenever he tried to enter a new field, he would find Tenda Group already waiting there.

No matter what methods or business tactics he tried, he could not pose any danger to Tenda Group’s business.

Conversely, it was easy, even natural, for Tenda Group to snatch business from his hands.

In other words, as soon as he made achievements in a certain aspect, Tenda Group would immediately come to pick the fruits. With Tenda Group present, he could only ever get leftovers.

However, there are no walls that are completely airtight. No matter how flawlessly the protagonist performed, there would eventually come a day when his identity would be exposed.

The film didn’t directly depict the details and process of the protagonist’s exposure. But there were many hints, such as the protagonist unconsciously touching his chest, some omissions in etiquette, or subtle but fatal differences in his views and thinking patterns on certain issues compared to other wealthy people and the original owner.

No one knew exactly when the protagonist was exposed, nor did anyone know specifically which partner or competitor reported him.

In any case, on a night of pouring rain, the protagonist was enjoying red wine in his top-floor office of the skyscraper, looking at the rain scene outside.

Suddenly, a subordinate called to say that there was a firefight between gangs. The other side seemed to have come prepared and was besieging a very important warehouse of the protagonist.

The protagonist became furious and led his company’s bodyguards and hired mercenaries, taking a hovering car to leave the building and head to the lower level.

The protagonist’s bodyguards were strong and well-armed; dealing with these gang members would be a piece of cake.

Upon arrival, the opposing gang members indeed collapsed without a fight.

However, just as the protagonist was sitting in the hovering car, leisurely drinking red wine, thinking everything had safely passed, he suddenly found dense enforcement units—Tenda Group’s corporate army—appearing in the sky. They heavily surrounded everyone, and the earlier gun battle scene had been fully recorded on video.

The evidence was irrefutable. These enforcement units immediately opened fire on the protagonist’s gang members and bodyguards. The protagonist angrily resisted, but the firepower difference between the two sides was too obvious.

Clearly, Tenda Group wanted to catch all of the protagonist’s forces in one net, solving the problem in the most appropriate way, not allowing any fish to slip through the net.

The protagonist desperately drove the hovering car to escape, but Tenda Group’s enforcement units pursued relentlessly, and more reinforcements were on the way.

The protagonist returned to his penthouse apartment, took out his most powerful weapon, and resisted stubbornly. With his clean and efficient skills, he took down several of Tenda Group’s enforcement units.

But subsequent reinforcements quickly arrived. Facing the overwhelming enforcement units and drones, the protagonist felt desperate.

He didn’t want to die at the hands of these machines, so he fought while retreating, all the way to the rooftop terrace. In desperation, he jumped.

He took one last look at the night sky in the rain, then fell rapidly. He clearly saw the cloud layer below getting closer and closer.

At this moment, he no longer needed to impersonate the wealthy man and seemed to have returned to being that homeless person with nothing. In a trance, he felt he was still that rat in the gutter. Although he had luckily climbed to the clouds, he would eventually fall back into the gutter, never to rise again.

His hand groped toward his chest, wanting to take out the lucky stone for one last look. But at this time, the overwhelming enforcement units had already surrounded him in the air, blowing him into a firework.

The stone passed through the cloud layer and finally fell to the ground, completely shattered.

A homeless man who was shivering nearby, burning garbage in a metal barrel for warmth, was startled. He stuck his head out of the shed but saw nothing.

Because the heavy rain had already washed away the fragments of the stone completely.

He looked up at the sky in confusion, but it was still obscured by clouds. He couldn’t see what had happened in the upper half of the building, only faintly seeing some light coming through.

The homeless man, somewhat disappointed, retreated back into the shed and tremblingly continued to warm himself by the fire.

Just then, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from not far away and quickly hid himself in the garbage pile nearby.

Several young gang members, all holding alcohol, walked by drunkenly.

“I never thought that small figures like us could work for Tenda.”

“Yes, although it was a bit risky and a few brothers died, we’ve taken over the gang business in that area.”

“Someday, we brothers will make something of ourselves and become real big shots!”

The young gang members walked by drunkenly. One of them looked up at the skyscraper nearby.

“I wonder when we’ll be able to afford a luxury apartment on the top floor?”

Another gang member laughed loudly: “Dreams! As long as you have dreams, sooner or later we can also climb to the top of that building!”

The camera ascended from below, climbing over the chaotic streets and dilapidated buildings, then through the cloud layer in the middle of the building, and finally reaching the high altitude.

The entire city was brightly lit, presenting a prosperous scene.