Super Rich: Starting the game by going back ten years to buy Bitcoin

Li Yichen stepped over the threshold.

The private room wasn't large. There was an eight-immortal table and four official-hat chairs. An antique-style palace lantern stood in the corner, casting a warm yellow glow on the blue brick wall.

Three people were standing around the table.

Beside the head of the table sat a man in his forties. He had a buzz cut, with his sideburns trimmed extremely short, revealing his bluish scalp. He wore a dark gray jacket, zipped up to his chest, over which was a white shirt, buttoned up to the top. He stood there, making no unnecessary movements, his shoulders perfectly straight.

Two steps behind me, stood two younger men, one on my left and one on my right. The one on the left wore silver-rimmed glasses and carried a black briefcase. The one on the right was larger, with his hands behind his back and his feet shoulder-width apart.

The middle-aged man saw Li Yichen walk in.

A smile appeared on his face. It wasn't a polite, business-like smile with precisely controlled curves. It was a smile of relaxation that came from the fulfillment of some expectation.

He strode forward and walked towards Li Yichen.

His pace was slow, but each step was firm and steady. The soles of his leather shoes echoed dully on the blue brick floor.

He stopped in front of Li Yichen and extended his right hand.

"Mr. Li, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Li Yichen also extended his right hand. Their hands clasped in mid-air. The middle-aged man's palms were dry and rough, with calluses on the base of his thumb. The pressure was neither too light nor too heavy.

Li Yichen released his grip. His gaze lingered on the other person's face for a moment.

This person possessed a very distinct aura. It wasn't the shrewdness of the business world, nor the cunning of officialdom. It was something harder, something more refined. Like a knife that had been repeatedly tempered, all its sharpness was sheathed, leaving only a heavy sense of oppression.

"Why all the secrecy?" Li Yichen said, one hand in his suit pocket. "Now you can tell me who you are, right? Who are you? And why did you invite me here?"

The middle-aged man withdrew his hand. He turned around and walked back to the octagonal table. He picked up the blue-and-white porcelain teapot on the table and poured tea into an empty cup. The tea steamed as it was poured into the cup.

He filled it to the brim. He pushed the teacup to the other side of the table.

"sit."

Li Yichen walked to the table, pulled out the official's hat chair, and sat down. The chair legs scraped against the blue bricks with a very short sound.

The middle-aged man sat down opposite him. He put the teapot back in its place and looked up.

"I'm so sorry I didn't explain things in detail over the phone earlier." His tone was calm and unhurried. "Some things can't be discussed over the phone. They can only be talked about face-to-face."

Li Yichen picked up his teacup. He didn't drink it. He gently rubbed the inside of the cup with his fingertips.

My mind raced.

Who exactly is this person? When he came in, the woman in the cheongsam at the door didn't even ask him anything and just led him directly to this private room.

For a place like Dashengli Private Kitchen to get such cooperation from the front desk, it's definitely not something you can get just by paying money. He noticed a young man in a black T-shirt standing in the corner as he was walking in the courtyard.

The man was leaning against the wall, not holding a phone or smoking, just standing there. As I walked past him, the other man glanced at him.

That glance wasn't the look a waiter gives a customer. It was the kind of look that filters the person from head to toe, checking to see if they're carrying any dangerous items.

Security.

The thought flashed through Li Yichen's mind.

Who needs security when going out to eat?

The middle-aged man watched Li Yichen holding his teacup without moving. He smiled again.

"Mr. Li, there's no need to be nervous. We're not here to cause you trouble."

Li Yichen placed the teacup on the table. The bottom of the cup tapped softly on the table.

"you?"

The middle-aged man turned his head and raised his chin slightly towards the two people behind him.

The man on the left, wearing silver-rimmed glasses, took a step forward. He unzipped his briefcase, pulled out an identification document, and handed it to Li Yichen.

The document cover is dark blue, with a gold-stamped badge printed on it.

"Hello, Mr. Li." The man with silver-rimmed glasses spoke very quickly. "My name is Shen Jian. Technical Staff Officer of the Shanghai Military Region. Rank: Major."

"By the way, this is Colonel Gu Shounian, the Special Liaison Officer of the Shanghai Military Region." After introducing himself, the man with silver-rimmed glasses pointed to the middle-aged man in the main seat and introduced him.

He then took the documents back and stepped back half a step.

The larger man on the right also took a step forward. His movements were much more efficient than Shen Jian's—he didn't hand over his identification, but simply brought his hands from behind his back to his front, holding them at his sides. His back was ramrod straight.

His voice was also much deeper than Shen Jian's, resonating directly from his chest cavity.

"Lu Yuan. Security guard. Captain."

Li Yichen's gaze lingered on each of the three for a moment.

Gu Shounian. Special Liaison Officer.

Shen Jian. Technical Advisor.

Lu Yuan. Bodyguard.

Shanghai Military Region.

These words crashed heavily into his mind. People from the military region. Wearing civilian clothes. Meet in a private kitchen. And they brought bodyguards.

Has he done anything outrageous during this period? Acquiring companies with huge sums of money isn't illegal. Investing in miracle drugs isn't illegal. Staying in seclusion in a lab for half a month isn't illegal either.

As for hitting that Li Auto L9, that was a legal emergency avoidance maneuver. Most of the time, he was spending money: eating out, shopping, buying cars, buying houses. These things were none of the military region's business.

Why did they come knocking on our door?

Could it be—

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

system.

Li Yichen's heart sank. A chill ran down his spine.

impossible.

No one else in the world knows about this except him. He has never mentioned it to anyone. He has never talked about it on the phone. He has never written it down. He has not even revealed a single word to his closest people, such as Ji Yanran, Xiao Yuqing, and Liu Xiaoyu.

It is absolutely impossible for it to be exposed.

Li Yichen suppressed the chill, letting it seep into his bones. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, swirled the tea in his mouth, and swallowed. He put the teacup down.

He looked at Gu Shounian across from him.

"Colonel Gu," Li Yichen deliberately softened his tone, "What have I done wrong? Why are people from your military region looking for me?"

Gu Shounian heard this.

stunned for a moment.

He then raised his hand and waved it. The movement was small, and the veins on the back of his hand were faintly visible.

"What?" Gu Shounian's tone carried a clear hint of mockery. "Just because you don't get into trouble doesn't mean we can't come looking for you?"

Li Yichen held his teacup, his fingers hovering in mid-air. These two sentences didn't sound like he was there to arrest someone; they sounded more like a playful probe.

"No, that's not it." Li Yichen put his teacup on the table and gave a slight smirk. "It's just that your entourage—three people, with a bodyguard, meeting in a private kitchen—doesn't look like you're here to have tea and chat with me."

Gu Shounian picked up the teapot and poured some more tea into Li Yichen's cup. He brought the spout close to the rim of the cup, his movements precise and steady, ensuring not a single drop spilled. He put the teapot down, leaned back in his official's chair, and rested his right hand on the edge of the table.

"Mr. Li," Gu Shounian said, cutting to the chase, "You really don't know why we're here?"

Li Yichen did not answer immediately. His gaze lingered on Gu Shounian's face.

"Think about it again," Gu Shounian added. He raised his right index finger and tapped it lightly on the marble tabletop.

"For example—about batteries?"

Battery.

These two words came out of Gu Shounian's mouth lightly, as if they were just a casual remark.

boom.

The inexplicable tension I had been suppressing finally dissipated completely.

Li Yichen removed his hand from the teacup. He leaned back in his chair, his back pressed against the hard wooden backrest of the official's hat chair. The taut string in his mind instantly relaxed.

It's not a system issue. It's a battery issue.

Graphene solid-state battery. He spent half a month in seclusion in Hongyuan New Energy's fully enclosed laboratory, personally hammering out that silver-gray sheet.

Energy density of 890. Cycle life of 6,360. Capacity retention of 91.2%. Any one of these figures is enough to crush Ningwang, BYD, and overseas giants like Panasonic and LG.

It's no surprise that such technology has attracted the attention of the government.

As for how the military region found out—he didn't intend to ask. The military region had its own methods. When he was still in the laboratory, all the top-notch equipment imported from Germany, Japan, and Switzerland went through customs declarations.

The Pudong New Area Investment Promotion Bureau opened a green channel overnight for the newly built super factory of Future Energy. With an investment of 30 billion yuan and 20,000 jobs, this information is impossible to hide in the relevant departments' systems.

Li Yichen tapped his fingers twice on the table. Thump, thump. The dull sound of his knuckles striking the solid wood.

"I understand." He raised his gaze to look at Gu Shounian opposite him. "You've got your eye on the graphene solid-state battery technology I possess."

Gu Shounian did not deny it. He picked up the half-cold cup of tea in front of him, took a sip, and then put the cup back on the table. A solemn expression appeared on his chiseled face.

"Mr. Li is indeed very clever. He understands immediately, so I won't beat around the bush either."

He raised his hand and pointed to the dishes on the table that hadn't been touched yet.

"Let's eat first. We can talk while we eat."

Gu Shounian picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of braised beef. He placed it on the plate in front of Li Yichen. Then he put down his chopsticks and picked up a blue-and-white porcelain wine bottle next to him.

The bottle was slender and unlabeled, with only a red string tied to the neck. He unscrewed the cap. An extremely rich aroma of liquor wafted from the bottle. It wasn't the strong aroma of those high-end baijiu on the market. It was a more mellow, sweet scent, similar to aged Shaoxing wine.

The clear liquid was poured into the glass in front of Li Yichen.

"Mr. Li, please try this wine." Gu Shounian placed the bottle on the corner of the table. "This is something you can't find on the market. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it tribute wine."

Li Yichen picked up the wine glass and brought it to his nose. The sweet aroma was even stronger, not at all pungent. He took a small sip. The wine slid down his throat without any burning sensation, leaving only a warm trail.

"Good wine." Li Yichen placed the wine glass on the table.

Gu Shounian poured him another glass. Then he put down the bottle and placed his hands on the table.

"Mr. Li." His tone shifted from relaxed to serious.

"The battery technology you have. Energy density of 890, cycle life exceeding 6,000 cycles. Capacity retention rate of over 90%. I'm not mistaken about these figures, am I?"

Li Yichen didn't speak. He simply nodded. The data the military region possessed was even more accurate than he had anticipated.

"This technology," Gu Shounian pushed the plate of braised beef in front of him toward Li Yichen, "is at least five to ten years ahead of the world's most advanced battery technology. Calling it a groundbreaking innovation is not an exaggeration at all."

He paused for a moment. He picked up his wine glass and swirled it between his fingers.

"So," he said, his gaze fixed on Li Yichen's face, "the implication is—your battery cannot be released to the market anytime soon."

Li Yichen's chopsticks, holding a piece of braised beef, stopped in mid-air.

Cannot be listed on the stock exchange?