Despite knowing that Hollywood is a real-life vanity fair rather than a dream theater, Ryan still set himself an unattainable goal. Since he had been given a second chance at life, shouldn’t he try to fulfill some of the wild dreams from his previous one?

With a goal in mind, Ryan became even more proactive in his studies. He learned painting and music from art school students volunteering at the orphanage, and studied Mandarin and Cantonese with Chinese staff—after all, he needed an excuse for knowing Chinese.

In short, he immersed himself in everything related to art, and tried to depict the images in his mind with words. After two years of repeated practice, he gradually developed his own style and characteristics.

Dean Katie had long noticed Ryan, always believing he was the smartest child in the orphanage. But, strangely, no one wanted to adopt him; everyone disliked his overly withdrawn and eccentric personality.

Ryan also felt a bit emotional about this. Among those who adopted orphans, there was no shortage of millionaires or even billionaires. He had fantasized about becoming one of those “born with a silver spoon” kids, but some things seemed destined from the moment of his rebirth. By the time he was six, he was still living here.

Dean Katie was Ryan’s only reader. Perhaps because she herself was Jewish and Ryan had some Jewish features, she was only a little surprised at first, but gradually got used to the presence of a child prodigy.

She collected all of Ryan’s practice works, picked out the best science fiction stories, and mailed them to an old friend at a magazine. Unexpectedly, these stories were actually published.

When Ryan saw the magazine handed to him by the old director, he realized that his years of hard work had not been in vain. For the sake of the future, it was time to begin!

Apart from his routine physical exercise and study time, Ryan devoted himself wholeheartedly to writing—or rather, to “borrowing” ideas. He began adapting some famous children’s movies into novellas or short stories.

Novels and movies are different mediums. Turning a movie into a story that could claim the creativity without causing negative consequences in the future took some effort, but it didn’t trouble him much. With Dean Katie’s help, novellas and short stories including “Home Alone” and “Toy Story” were successfully published, and Ryan also received a sum of royalties. The old director even helped him open a bank account.

But this didn’t satisfy Ryan. He needed a heavyweight stepping stone—something that could open the doors of Hollywood for him if things didn’t go smoothly in the future. He set his sights on a hugely influential work—“Jurassic Park”!

He had never read the original “Jurassic Park” novel, so he could only adapt it based on the movie. To fit his six-year-old age and identity, he made the main character a little boy instead of Dr. Grant.

Although he had the movie as a reference, to avoid suspicion, Ryan asked Dean Katie to help him gather a lot of information on dinosaurs and cloning. The novel, less than 250,000 words, took nearly four months to complete after repeated revisions.

From the start of writing to the final publication, the old director was a huge help. This Jewish woman had surprisingly extensive social connections.

By early winter of 1986, after a few lukewarm months, the novel entered the top ten of the national bestseller list, bringing Ryan a large share of royalties.

At the same time, Dean Katie retired due to health reasons. The new director was a Black woman named Macy Carter. Ryan keenly noticed that her eyes were full of disgust and greed when she looked at the orphans.

After this pig-like, obese director took office, the orphanage’s living standards plummeted. Not having enough to eat gradually became the norm, and beatings and insults became everyday occurrences. She even exploited loopholes in the adoption system, colluding with some adoption intermediaries to run an “adoption” business, turning the orphans into human merchandise.

After reading a reply letter from “Alien” magazine, the Black director set her sights on Ryan, especially after using her guardian privileges to check his account and being dazzled by the string of zeros she found there.

Such a large sum of money belonging to a child—wasn’t this a godsend for her?

But things weren’t as simple as she thought. Before leaving, Dean Katie had realized that this money might cause trouble, and had specially entrusted an old friend to find a reliable lawyer for Ryan. It was almost impossible to get the money without alerting the lawyer. The best way was to gain Ryan’s absolute trust and support.

Unfortunately, she didn’t understand that inside Ryan’s body was a soul whose intelligence was at least equal to, if not greater than, hers. Her attempts at flattery, bribery, and deception seemed as ridiculous as a circus clown to him. However, Ryan’s age and his body, which didn’t match his wisdom, meant he had no real ability to resist.

Hunger, scolding, cursing, and even beatings might terrify other children, but Ryan was never afraid. In his previous life, he had endured even harsher trials in childhood—he had survived much worse.

The “Black Pig” director simply locked him in a remote room and had two Black helpers take turns watching him. As long as he didn’t give in, he could forget about gaining his freedom.