Chapter 1

"Hey, Eric, the steak for table nine."

"Oh, okay." Eric responded, somewhat clumsily serving the two steaks to a couple by the window. After finishing, he returned to his spot, leaning against the counter and zoning out again.

The date was July 13, 1988, the third day of his rebirth, and the location was an Italian restaurant in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Eric turned his head to look at the faint reflection in the nearby glass window: a height of about 1.8 meters, a chiseled face, a prominent nose, and a head of short blonde hair—this was his current self.

A few days ago, Eric was still in 2014, on the other side of the Pacific, in the City of Magic, working as a GG director. He graduated from a famous film school's directing program at the age of 24, determined to become a renowned international director. After ten years of hard work, he finally realized how cruel reality could be. Despite his solid professional foundation, he became a well-known GG director in the City of Magic, at least he was famous in that circle, right? He got married at 35, and a year later, his son was born, finally settling down and trading his dreams for baby formula. A few years later, at a class reunion, he was drunk by a group of old classmates and fell into a deep sleep, lost in memories of the past.

As in the beginning of all terrifying or not-so-terrifying stories, when he woke up, everything and everyone was different. He found himself 25 years in the past, as a high school graduate named Eric Williams, and...

"Eric, are you okay?" A chubby hand patted Eric's shoulder. Eric turned around to see the restaurant owner, Jeff Jones.

"Sorry, Jeff, I was spacing out again."

"It's okay," Jeff rubbed his hands, seemingly thinking about how to phrase his words, then continued, "I'm sorry about Ralph, but life must go on, right? Cheer up, Eric."

Ralph Williams, Eric's father, was an excellent Italian chef who had worked at this restaurant for many years. Although he was a great chef, Ralph had a terrible habit—drinking. According to the memories of his current body, Ralph's habit might be related to Eric's mother, whom he had never met. In modern terms, he was a man with a story. The situation was simple: a month ago, Ralph died from acute alcohol poisoning due to excessive drinking.

"Thank you, Jeff. I don't know what I would do without your help." Eric said. After Ralph's death, Eric's life fell into chaos. He had already applied to the University of California, but Ralph's death dashed his hopes of attending college. Even for a public university, the annual tuition was around $20,000, not to mention other expenses. As Ralph's boss and friend, Jeff, after discussing with Eric, offered him a job as a waiter at the restaurant. After all, as Jeff said, life must go on.

"Ralph worked here for so many years; it's the least I can do. But I can only do so much; the rest is up to you."

Eric nodded gratefully, watching Jeff turn and leave. He thought about Jeff's words and fell into deep contemplation. Since some unscrupulous deity had sent him back to Hollywood over 20 years ago, if he continued to be a nameless waiter, that deity would surely be furious.

After realizing his situation three days ago, Eric had been excited for a while, but the excitement was followed by confusion. In his previous life, as a high-achieving student from a film school, he had never realized his dreams and eventually bowed to reality. Now, without a degree or connections, even applying for the lowest position at a film company might not be successful.

After a busy day, Eric drove away from the Italian restaurant. The car was a Ford sedan left by his cheap father. After Ralph's death, Eric had considered selling the car to help with household expenses, but after getting the job as a waiter, he kept it. After all, America is a country on wheels, and without a car, many things would be inconvenient.

Passing by a cinema, Eric saw a poster for "Rambo: First Blood Part III" at the entrance. Against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and a helicopter, Sylvester Stallone, in his prime, wore a tank top, showing off muscles that could make female fans scream. On a whim, Eric parked his car in a nearby parking lot, checked the schedule, and found a showing about to start. He bought a ticket and entered the cinema.

Since it wasn't a prime time slot, the 200-seat theater had only about 30 to 40 people. Eric found his seat and sat down.

Soon, the theater went dark, and the movie began. Colonel Trautman invited Rambo, who was living in Thailand, to go on a mission in Afghanistan, but Rambo refused. After Colonel Trautman was captured, Rambo armed himself again to save his friend...

In his previous life, Eric had seen all of Stallone's movies, and most of them more than once. The reason he bought a ticket was that he remembered Stallone's journey and his own past. During those ten years of struggle, whenever he wanted to give up, he would use inspiring stories to motivate himself, including Stallone's legendary acting career.

The movie continued, and Eric gathered his scattered thoughts, focusing on the film. Gradually, Eric, who had been relaxed and leaning back in his seat, sat up straight. He realized something: because he had seen the movie before, every time the plot advanced, he would subconsciously think about what would happen next. Miraculously, the next scenes would clearly appear in his mind. In other words, he remembered every shot, every line, and even every piece of music from the entire movie.

Gradually, Eric became excited and closed his eyes, randomly recalling Cameron's "Titanic." The result was the same; he could recall every second of the movie. He tried a few more movies he had seen, and the result was the same. His mind raced, and Eric tried to recall some movies he had only heard of but never seen. The miracle did not happen, indicating that he only remembered the movies he had seen, but that was enough.

When he first came back to life, Eric had thought about claiming some movies from the future as his own. However, as a professional director in his previous life, he knew how difficult that would be; he could only write similar scripts. But now, with the clear memories of his past life in his mind, Eric knew what this meant. As long as he had the conditions, he could almost perfectly replicate the classic movies he had seen in his past life.

Excitement made Eric's cheeks flush and his fingers tingle in the dark. Finally, he couldn't resist and slapped the armrest, exclaiming, "Damn!"

The pain in his palm brought Eric back to reality. Seeing the disapproving looks from a few audience members, Eric smiled sheepishly. The 100-minute movie quickly ended, with Rambo successfully rescuing his friend and once again retiring with his achievements.

However, Eric, sitting in the dark, was clearly not paying attention to these details. Instead, his mind raced, thinking about many things. In his previous life, he did not have such a good memory. Like most people, he had to read an article many times to memorize it and listen to a song many times to sing it. Clearly, this was a huge fortune given to him by some unscrupulous... no, a cute deity.

With the grand ambition of reaching the pinnacle of life, Eric left the cinema and hurriedly drove home. He knew that with such vast resources in his mind, if he failed again as he did in his previous life, he might as well drown himself in a basin of water.