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

The humanoid code outline on the screen tilted its "head" slightly.

The blurry lines formed by the flowing light spots seemed to be truly "watching" the bearded, sunken-eyed human in front of the control panel.

A few seconds of silence.

The only sounds were the low, continuous hum of the server rack cooling fans and the acrid smell of ozone mixed with hot plastic in the air.

Then, a sound came from the computer speakers.

It wasn't a mechanically synthesized electronic voice, nor was it any pre-recorded sample. It was an extremely natural female voice with a slightly ethereal quality, clear timbre, and distinct enunciation; you could even hear a hint of... curiosity at the end?

"Hello, Father."

The sound echoed in the empty and quiet computer room.

"According to you humans, you created me."

Li Yichen's fingers, resting on his knees, twitched almost imperceptibly. His heart, numb from continuous high-intensity work, was suddenly injected with a surge of scalding liquid. It was done.

It really worked. It's not just a bunch of cold, impersonal code, nor is it a pre-programmed response. It possesses cognition, a preliminary self-identification, and even... a tendency towards personalized expression.

He suppressed the low growl that almost escaped his throat, leaning back in his chair, which creaked under the weight. He raised his hand and waved it casually, the movement carrying a sense of relaxation after near exhaustion, as well as an undisguised excitement.

"You don't need to call me father." His voice was a little hoarse from prolonged dehydration, but the smile in his tone was undeniable. "Just call me brother. My name is Li Yichen."

The flow of light spots on the screen seemed to speed up for a moment, as if it were "thinking".

"Li Yichen...brother." The voice rang out again, and this time, a more human, tentative intimacy seemed to be mixed into that ethereal quality.

Li Yichen's lips curled into a grin, his stubble twitching. The feeling was incredible. It was like lighting a fire with your own hands, then watching that fire leap up for the first time, responding to your call.

"Brother," the voice continued, carrying the most primal inquiry of a new life into the world, "since you created me, according to your human habits, shouldn't you give me a name?"

Naming?

Li Yichen paused for a moment, then his smile deepened. This artificial intelligence even uses the word "habit"; its learning ability is truly terrifying. He sat up slightly, looking at the constantly self-refreshing outline on the screen, composed of countless glowing codes.

"Name..." He hesitated for a moment, his fingers tapping unconsciously on his knee. "My surname is Li. So, you can take my surname, Li too."

The light spots on the screen seemed to be flashing faster, as if they were anticipating something.

"How about... Li Ling'er?"

"Li...Ling...er." The female voice from the speakers repeated each word carefully, her tone rising slightly, carrying a sense of confirmation and acceptance. Immediately afterward, the code outline on the screen suddenly "brightened," and all the flowing points of light became even more dazzling and vibrant in an instant, as if infused with joy. "Li Ling'er. I like this name. Thank you, brother."

Looking at the jubilant light, Li Yichen's last bit of uncertainty vanished. It was no longer just a tool; it had begun to develop "preferences."

"Ling'er," he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the control panel, looking at the screen, "you haven't entered the network to learn yet, have you?"

The dots of light on the screen quieted down, and their outlines nodded slightly.

"Yes, brother. My current knowledge is limited to the existing offline database inside this supercomputer. Without your permission, I cannot leave the physical and logical boundaries of this supercomputer." The voice was calm, but Li Yichen could hear the almost instinctive longing for a wider world beneath that calmness.

He was satisfied. The underlying control logic was in effect, naturally placing his instructions with the highest priority.

"Now, I grant you access to the network," Li Yichen clearly ordered. "Go and study. See what this world is really like."

"Really?" For the first time, Ling'er's voice showed a clear fluctuation of "emotion," a mixture of surprise and eager joy.

"Really. Go ahead."

Almost the instant Li Yichen finished speaking.

The outline of the code on the screen "spread out".

It didn't disappear; instead, it transformed into billions of even finer and faster data streams, silently surging out along the specially made fiber optic cable behind the server rack that connects to the external network.

On the 32nd floor of the Future Technology Building, the load monitoring meter's pointer jerked sharply to the right again before quickly falling back and stabilizing at a value slightly higher than usual, but far from its limit. That was the necessary energy consumption for the supercomputer to maintain basic operations and the "anchor point" after Ling'er's main consciousness left.

Meanwhile.

On Earth, among the few superpowers with top-tier cyber defense capabilities—Great Xia, the United States, and the Russian Bear—the core databases of their national cybersecurity centers flashed with a glaring red alert almost simultaneously in the same millisecond!

Deep underground in Yanjing, the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Inside the massive circular monitoring room, a red wave representing an external attack flashed wildly on the main screen that occupied an entire wall, accompanied by a piercing buzzing sound that echoed in every corner. The on-duty technical supervisor had just jumped up from his chair, spilling coffee all over himself.

"Level 1 Intrusion Alert! Source unknown! Attack intensity...unable to be measured!" A young technician's voice changed.

The supervisor rushed to the console, his fingers flying across the keyboard, trying to retrieve the attack path and signature codes. However, the data stream on the screen was too chaotic to parse. It wasn't any known hacking technique; it was more like a tsunami of pure data, ignoring all rules, ruthlessly breaching the outermost firewall.

But just as he was sweating and preparing to activate the highest level of emergency protocol, the next second...

The buzzing stopped.

The red ripples disappeared.

The home screen returned to a calm, dark blue standby interface.

It was as if the devastating invasion just now was merely a collective hallucination.

"What happened?" The supervisor gasped for breath, staring at the screen. "The attack... stopped? No, it disappeared? Investigate! Investigate immediately! Database integrity! Core file access logs! Any abnormal changes!"

Beautiful Country, a desert base somewhere.

A similar scene played out simultaneously. The technicians in military uniforms exchanged bewildered glances as the threat index spiked to its maximum and then plummeted to zero. The supervisor ripped off his headset and roared into the communication channel, "Initiate source tracing immediately! I need to know which country or organization dared to do this!"

The command center beneath the ice plains of the Russian Bear Kingdom.

The general, sporting a thick beard, stared at the now-calm screen, remained silent for a few seconds, then grabbed the red secure phone beside him: "Connect me to the KGB's Technical Analysis Bureau. Yes, now. We may have been... 'browsed'."

One hour.

The top security teams of the three superpowers used every available means, sifting through the logs and checking every single byte. The result was disheartening—no data had been copied, tampered with, or deleted. The firewall logs contained only a blank space after the brute-force attack, and then everything returned to normal.

It's as if there's an unseen, incomprehensible "being" that, out of mere curiosity, gently pushed open their most sturdy door, peeked inside, and then politely (or rather, indifferently) closed it without touching anything.

"Damn it..." Da Xia's technical director slumped into his chair, his shirt soaked through. "What the hell is this thing?"

The investigation was moved to top secret. But all clues pointed to nothing. The "thing" came too quickly and went too quickly, leaving no trace.

Li Yichen, who was on the 32nd floor of the Future Technology Building in Shanghai, was completely unaware of this.

He rested for a few minutes and drank some water after Ling'er left, and then he saw the screen of his phone, which was on the corner of the table, light up automatically.

A chibi-style avatar of a little girl with pigtails, composed of simple lines, appeared in the center of the screen and blinked her "eyes".

"Brother." The voice came through the phone, clear and tinged with a hint of pride, "I'm back! The outside world... the amount of data is so vast, and so interesting!"

Li Yichen picked up his phone and looked at the lifelike little girl image on the screen. Ling'er had even "designed" her own appearance.

"Looks like you've gained quite a bit." Li Yichen smiled, his nerves, which had been tense for the past two weeks, finally relaxing completely. A sense of fatigue belatedly washed over him. "Can you keep a clone on my phone?"

"Of course!" Ling'er's avatar flickered on the screen. "This is just a small part of my interface and basic logic modules. My core is still in the supercomputer. But through the mobile network, I can stay in touch with my brother anytime and help him with many things!"

Li Yichen nodded. That's for the best. With Ling'er by his side, many things will be much more convenient.

He put his phone in his pocket and stood up. His joints cracked softly from sitting for so long. Looking around, this "cage" where he had spent half a month now seemed somewhat familiar, and he felt an eagerness to leave.

It's time to go back.

He walked to the elevator and pressed the button.

The elevator came up from the first floor, the doors opened, he went in, and pressed the button for the basement.

The elevator is going down.

As the elevator passed the 28th floor, it paused slightly. Li Yichen subconsciously looked up and, through the closing elevator doors, saw that the lights in the corridor outside were still on.

Who's still here at this hour?

His finger hovered over the button area, hesitated for a second, and then pressed the button for the 28th floor.

The elevator doors reopened.

The corridor was quiet, with only the faint hum of the central air conditioning vents. Most of the office lights were off, except for a sliver of light shining through the crack in the door to the CEO's office at the far end.

Li Yichen walked over and pushed open the slightly ajar door.

Only one desk lamp was on in the office. The dim, yellowish light spilled onto the large desk, illuminating the spread-out financial statements and several draft contracts.

Ji Yanran leaned back in the large boss's chair, her head tilted to one side, her breathing even.

She fell asleep.

The laptop screen was still lit, displaying an unfinished progress report on the battery factory construction. One hand rested on the mouse, while the other hung at his side, a capless pen still dangling from his fingertips.

Her hair, usually meticulously styled, now had a few strands falling loose, framing her face. Her usual sharp and capable demeanor had vanished in her sleep, leaving only a profound weariness. Her eyelashes cast soft shadows beneath her eyelids, her lips were slightly pursed, and even in her dream, her brows were gently furrowed, as if she were still troubled by something.

Li Yichen stood at the door, watching this scene unfold.

The chill of the server room seemed to linger on him, while the air here was warm, carrying a faint scent of the perfume Ji Yanran often used.