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

Li Yichen sat in the Yangwang U8.

Start the engine.

The central control screen lights up.

He held the steering wheel with one hand and rested the other on the window frame.

The car slowly drove out of the Future New Energy plant area.

It merges into the main road.

The afternoon sunlight streamed through the windshield, casting lines of light and shadow on the leather seats.

Li Yichen looked at the endless stream of cars ahead.

The scene I had just seen at the construction site flashed through my mind.

Tower crane.

Steel frame.

Concrete.

And the workers' dark faces.

Ten months.

A super factory covering 1,000 acres.

An investment of 30 billion.

20,000 jobs.

These numbers were previously just things on paper to him.

Now, they are becoming a reality.

It becomes steel and cement, it becomes assembly lines, it becomes workers' wages.

It became the lever he used to influence the entire new energy industry.

Li Yichen stepped on the electric switch.

The car accelerated.

On the central control screen, the navigation system automatically planned the route back to Tomson Riviera.

But he didn't drive in that direction.

Turn the steering wheel.

The car turned onto another road.

He is going somewhere.

A place I should have visited long ago, but I've never forgotten to go.

The car drove for twenty minutes on Pudong Avenue.

We turned onto a relatively quiet side street.

The road is lined with sycamore trees, their branches and leaves dense, and sunlight shines through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Li Yichen parked his car in a marked parking space on the side of the road.

He pushed open the door and got out of the car.

In front of us is an old-fashioned five-story building.

The exterior walls are covered with beige tiles, some of which have peeled off, revealing the gray cement underneath.

A sign hangs on the ground floor storefront.

White background with black lettering.

"Jingzhun Precision".

The font is a very old-fashioned Song typeface, with somewhat blurred edges.

The glass door was closed, and the curtains inside were drawn, so you couldn't see what was going on.

Li Yichen walked to the door.

Raise your hand.

I knocked on it.

dong dong.

The sound echoed through the empty streets.

No one answered.

He knocked twice more.

Still no one.

Li Yichen took half a step back and looked up at the windows on the second and third floors.

The windows were all closed.

The curtains were drawn tightly shut.

The entire building exuded a deathly atmosphere.

He took out his phone.

Find Ji Yanran's number.

Make the call.

The phone rang three times.

connected.

"The boss?"

Ji Yanran's voice came through the receiver, with some background noise, like a meeting.

"Yanran".

Li Yichen said.

"How's your contact with Crystal Precision going?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Ji Yanran lowered her voice.

"Boss, I was just about to report this to you."

"I made an appointment with their boss three times."

"The first time, they said they were busy."

"The second time, they hung up on me immediately."

"The third time, I went to their door in person, but they wouldn't even let me in."

Li Yichen raised an eyebrow.

"Is it that difficult?"

"It's not that it's difficult."

Ji Yanran's voice carried a hint of helplessness.

"It's this company; it might no longer exist."

"I made some inquiries, and Jingzhun Precision has already stopped production last month."

All employees were laid off.

"It seems the boss has run away too."

Li Yichen held his phone, looking at the lifeless building in front of him.

Ran away?

He recalled what Wang Lei had said on the phone that day—that Jingzhun Precision's financial chain was in trouble and it was about to go bankrupt.

It seems that it's not on the verge of bankruptcy.

It has already gone out of business.

"Do you know where their boss went?"

Li Yichen asked.

"have no idea."

Ji Yanran said.

"I asked someone to check, but I couldn't find it."

"This company was not very big to begin with, and the boss was an honest man with a technical background who wasn't very good at running a business."

He's drowning in debt; he's probably hiding from his creditors.

Hearing Ji Yanran's words, Li Yichen shook his head helplessly. Since the factory had already gone bankrupt, there was no need for him to acquire it. As for the equipment to manufacture the chip in his mind, he would find a way to get it himself.

He then glanced at the "Jingzhun Precision" sign.

Turn around.

Open the car door.

I got into the driver's seat.

Engine starts.

The car slowly drove away from the quiet road.

In the rearview mirror, the old five-story building receded further and further away, finally disappearing behind the branches and leaves of the sycamore trees.

Li Yichen held the steering wheel with one hand.

His other hand rested on the car window frame.

Unconsciously, fingertips tapped the edge of the leather wrapping.

Now that Jingzhun Precision is gone, what channels should I use to buy those devices? Oh right, maybe I can call Gu Shounian and ask if he can help me get a batch of equipment.

After thinking about it, Li Yichen immediately felt it was feasible, so he slammed on the brakes and stopped the car on the side of the road, took out his phone and called Gu Shounian.

The call was connected.

Gu Shounian's deep and steady voice came through the receiver, and the background noise was very quiet, as if he were in an office.

"Mr. Li?"

"Colonel Gu," Li Yichen said, one hand on the steering wheel, looking at the dappled sunlight filtering through the sycamore trees outside the window, "I hope I didn't disturb you?"

"No." The soft rustling of papers came from Gu Shounian's end. "What's wrong? Did you run into some trouble? Otherwise, a busy person like you wouldn't call me on your own initiative."

Li Yichen smiled.

Gu Shounian is quite direct.

"I do have something I'd like to ask for your help with." Li Yichen didn't beat around the bush. "I need a batch of equipment, but it's not easy to get it on the market. I was wondering if you have any channels for it."

"Equipment?" Gu Shounian's voice carried a hint of curiosity. "What equipment? Tell me about it."

Li Yichen quickly went through the list of core equipment mentioned in the chip manufacturing process in his mind.

Ultra-high precision laser interferometry positioning platform.

Atomic layer deposition coating system.

Nanoscale displacement stage.

Ion beam etching machine.

There is also a special reactor specifically designed for the synthesis of photon-carrying materials.

Any one of these items, taken individually, would be considered top-tier in the civilian market, and many of them are subject to export controls.

In particular, the ion beam etching machine has a precision requirement of sub-nanometer level. There are only a handful of manufacturers in the world that can produce it, and all of them are on the Wassenaar Arrangement's embargo list.

Li Yichen read out the names of the devices one by one.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Gu Shounian did not reply immediately.

Li Yichen could hear the scratching sound of a pen tip moving across paper through the receiver, as if someone was taking notes.

About ten seconds passed.

Gu Shounian's voice rang out again, tinged with obvious doubt.

"Mr. Li, what do you need these things for?"

"These are all top-of-the-line semiconductor and micro/nano fabrication equipment."

"Some even involve military-grade precision standards."

"You're someone who works on new energy batteries, what do you need all this stuff for?"

Li Yichen had long anticipated that Gu Shounian would ask this question.

He certainly couldn't tell the truth.

You can't exactly tell them that you have a chip technology in your head that's decades ahead of the world, but you just lack the equipment to manufacture it.

"Well, I need these devices for experiments," Li Yichen continued, following Gu Shounian's lead. "I've been working on some new materials lately, and I need high-precision processing and testing equipment."

"It's not convenient to say what the specific materials are right now."

"I'll definitely tell you first when I see results."

Gu Shounian remained silent for two seconds on the other end of the phone.

The reason sounds reasonable, but something just doesn't feel right.

Do we need equipment of the level of an ion beam etching machine to conduct experiments on new materials?

That thing is generally used to process wafer masks or special optical components.

But then I thought about it again, and realized that Li Yichen is not someone who can be judged by common sense.

It's not surprising that someone capable of developing groundbreaking technologies like graphene solid-state batteries would also have other strange and unusual ideas in their mind.

"Alright then." Gu Shounian didn't ask any further questions.

Everyone has secrets, especially people in the tech field.

As long as it doesn't involve national security, he doesn't need to pry.

"The equipment you just mentioned..." Gu Shounian paused, "...is indeed quite difficult to handle."

"Especially that ion beam etching machine, which requires sub-nanometer precision. Currently, only three companies in the world can produce it, and all of them are on the embargo list."

Li Yichen's heart sank.

really.

But Gu Shounian's next words rekindled his hope.

"but--"

Gu Shounian's tone carried a hint of a smile.

"You're lucky."

"There is a military industrial enterprise in China that developed a similar device a few years ago for a classified project."

"While the precision isn't as good as the top-of-the-line products from those three companies, it still reaches the 0.5 nanometer level."

"And... this thing isn't on the embargo list."

Li Yichen's eyes lit up instantly.

0.5 nanometers?

enough!

The chip technology in his mind doesn't actually require that much precision from the equipment.

The real core lies in the material formulation and process route; equipment precision is merely the foundation.

0.5 nanometers is more than enough.

"Colonel Gu, you mean..." Li Yichen's fingers tightened slightly around his phone, "...that company, is it for sale?"

"Yes," Gu Shounian answered readily.

"However, the price isn't cheap."

"That equipment was developed by them, so the cost was already high. Plus, it involves military technology, so if they were to sell it to others... the premium would be very high."

Li Yichen smiled.

money?

The thing he has no shortage of right now is money.

"How much?" Li Yichen asked.

Gu Shounian gave a number over the phone.

"The whole thing will cost around three billion."

"And it doesn't include shipping and installation; you'll need to find someone to handle that yourself."

Three billion.

Li Yichen quickly did some mental calculations.

This amount of money is nothing compared to the trillion-dollar chip market he is about to tap into.

"No problem." Li Yichen spoke clearly, "I'll take it, three billion."

"In addition, I will pay for the transportation and installation costs separately."

"As long as the equipment arrives on time, money is not a problem."

Gu Shounian was secretly surprised when he heard Li Yichen's unwavering answer.

Thirty billion yuan, just like that.

Just how abundant is this young man's cash flow?

But thinking about it, it makes sense.

For someone who can casually throw out hundreds of billions to invest in a super factory, 3 billion is really nothing.

"Okay," Gu Shounian said.

"I'll contact them for you."

"However, let me state this beforehand—although this batch of equipment is not on the embargo list, it does involve military technology, so the purchase process will be quite complicated."

"Some special approvals are required."

"At the fastest... it should be done in about two weeks."

half a month.

Li Yichen mentally calculated the time.

Just right.

Two weeks later, the launch event for Thunderobot batteries should have already been held.

Then he will be able to free up his hands and focus on chip development.

"Sure," Li Yichen said. "I can wait half a month."

"Then it's settled." The sound of a chair being moved came from Gu Shounian's side, as if he had stood up.

"I'll make the call in a bit."

I'll let you know as soon as I get any news.

"Colonel Gu, thank you for your help again this time." Li Yichen said sincerely, "I'll definitely treat you to a meal another day."

"Let's skip the meal," Gu Shounian chuckled on the other end of the phone.

"If you can come up with some technology that's no less advanced than graphene solid-state batteries, it'll be worth more than ten meals for you."

"But then again—"

Gu Shounian lowered his voice.

"Mr. Li, tell me honestly."

"What exactly are you going to do with all this equipment?"

"I have a feeling... you're up to something big again."

Li Yichen held his phone, watching the sycamore leaves slowly falling outside the car window.

Big move?

It's definitely a big move.

Once this equipment arrives, once the wafer production line is set up, once photonic current-carrying wafers are mass-produced...

That's what you call a real big move.

However, these things cannot be said now.

"Colonel Gu, don't worry." Li Yichen smiled.

"You'll know once it's made."

"I promise—I won't let you down."

hang up the phone.

Li Yichen tossed his phone onto the passenger seat.

I leaned back in the leather chair and let out a long breath.

The irritation that had risen in my chest due to the bankruptcy of Crystal Precision had completely vanished at that moment.

The willows are dark and bright.

Indeed, some things can't be solved with money, but they can be solved with connections.

The connection with Gu Shounian was a good one.

He restarted the engine.

Looking up, I watched as the U8 slowly drove away from the roadside parking space and merged into the traffic flow on the main road.

On the central control screen, the navigation automatically switched back to the route to Tomson Riviera.

But Li Yichen's feelings were completely different now.

Half an hour later.

The car drove into the underground parking garage of Tomson Riviera.

Li Yichen pushed open the door, got out of the car, and entered the elevator.

The metal car moved smoothly upwards.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened on the first floor.

Li Niannian was sitting on the sofa in the living room, holding a picture book in her hand, telling Miaomiao a story.

Miaomiao lay on her lap, her little legs dangling up and down, listening with great interest.

Upon hearing the elevator sound, the two turned around simultaneously.

"Brother Li!" Miao Miao slid off the sofa, ran over, and hugged Li Yichen's leg.

Li Yichen bent down and picked her up with one hand.

"Did you have fun at kindergarten today?"

"Happy!" Miao Miao hugged his neck and rested her little head on his shoulder.

"Our teacher taught us to sing today!"

"What song are you singing?"

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star!" Miao began to sing in her childish voice, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are..."

Li Niannian stood up from the sofa and walked to Li Yichen.

"Brother Li, have you eaten?"

"Not yet." Li Yichen put Miaomiao down and rubbed her little head.

"Uncle Zhou is in the kitchen, I'll go ask him to make you something." Li Niannian turned and walked towards the kitchen.

"No need to trouble yourself," Li Yichen called out to her. "Just make me a simple bowl of noodles."

Li Niannian paused for a moment and nodded.

"it is good."

She went into the kitchen.

Miao Miao pulled Li Yichen's hand and dragged him to the sofa.

"Brother Li, look at my drawing!"

She picked up an A4 sheet of paper from the coffee table, on which three crooked little figures were drawn with crayons.

One was a bit taller and was wearing blue clothes.

One was shorter and wore a pink dress.

There was also an even smaller one, with two pigtails.

"This is you," Miao Miao said, pointing to the little blue figure.

"This is the older sister."

"This is me."

Li Yichen took the painting and examined it carefully.

The lines are very immature, and the colors are applied unevenly.

But the three little people are holding hands, and their faces are all painted with big smiles.

"It's really well drawn." Li Yichen folded the painting and put it in his pocket.

"When your brother has time, he'll take you to buy the best crayons."

"Really?" Miao Miao's eyes sparkled.

"real."

Li Niannian brought out a steaming bowl of plain noodles from the kitchen.

Clear broth, thin noodles, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and topped with a golden-brown fried egg.

She placed the noodles on the dining table.

"Brother Li, eat it while it's hot."

Li Yichen walked to the dining table and sat down.

Pick up your chopsticks, scoop up a mouthful of noodles, blow on it, and put it in your mouth.

The noodles were cooked just right, neither too soft nor too hard.

The soup was very flavorful, with the aroma of lard.

He ate very quickly.

In five minutes, the bowl of noodles was empty.

Just as Li Yichen finished eating his noodles, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Li Yichen took it out and glanced at it.

It was a WeChat message from Ji Yanran.

"Boss, Zhongqing has responded."

"They accepted the order for 5,000 robots."

"But a 30% deposit is required in advance."

"Four hundred and fifty million."

Li Yichen tapped his fingers on the screen.

reply.

"Can."

The message was sent successfully.

Li Yichen put his phone back in his pocket.