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

"Remove them immediately."

The aftershocks from the red dot on the baton haven't subsided yet.

A dozen tactical screens in the CIC flashed simultaneously. Two J-35s broke formation and ignited their afterburners. Orange-red exhaust plumes left two streaks of light in the night sky.

Inside the Falcon 1 cockpit.

The pilot lowered the control stick, and the fire control radar locked onto the target. The data on the head-up display jumped: distance 47 kilometers, bearing southeast, altitude 50 meters.

Fifty meters.

Flying close to the sea.

Falcon One turned its head slightly. The frequency of its wingman came through its headset.

"Number One, did you see the target's speed?"

"I see it." Falcon 1 stared at the small, flickering dot on the radar screen. "It's bobbing back and forth between subsonic and supersonic speeds. Its RCS is about the size of a seagull."

What kind of aircraft can do this?

"I don't know. You'll find out when you go."

Two J-35 fighter jets tore through the night sky at Mach 1.5.

Forty-seven kilometers away.

Li Yichen is playing.

The armor skimmed along the crests of the giant waves. The seawater was torn into a white mist by the airflow from the nozzles beneath their feet, and salt grains crackled against their helmet visors. Moonlight cleaved the entire sea surface in two, black and white. The troughs of the waves were ink, and the crests were silver.

He rolled over.

A three-meter-high wave grazed my right shoulder. The seawater surged up, bounced off by the air currents, and shattered into countless droplets.

Cool.

That was fucking awesome.

Ling'er squatted in the upper right corner of the HUD, her hands cupping her face, looking completely infatuated.

"Brother, you look so handsome now—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

Ling'er's entire body was launched into the air.

A huge red alarm box suddenly appeared in the center of the HUD.

"Warning! Warning! Two high-speed approaching targets detected!"

The data was displayed. Northwest. 47 kilometers away. Speed ​​Mach 1.5. Flying straight towards him.

Ling'er switched to combat mode in her speech. There was no coquettishness, no lingering tone.

"Radar echo characteristic analysis complete. J-35 stealth carrier-based aircraft. Daxia Navy livery."

Li Yichen was suspended in the air above the sea.

My mind went blank for a moment.

Military exercises.

Oh no, he got so caught up in the fun that he completely forgot about the military exercises taking place in this area.

The armored vehicle lacked an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) transponder. On the enemy's radar screen, it appeared as an unidentified flying object—an unidentified target intruding into military-controlled airspace.

"Thirty-two kilometers away. The enemy's fire control radar has locked onto us."

Ling'er's little figure squatted at the bottom of the alarm box, her hands gripping the edge of the box as she peered out.

"Brother, they're calling on the international emergency frequency."

A clear Chinese voice came through the radio.

"Unidentified flying object, you have entered military-controlled airspace. Identify yourself immediately, or we will take enforcement action. Repeat—identify yourself immediately."

Li Yichen was suspended in mid-air.

My mind is racing.

Reply? Say what?

"I am Li Yichen from Future Technology, and I am testing a personal exoskeleton flight armor."

Who believes?

The other person might think he's mentally ill.

And even if you believed it—that a private company owner had created a single-soldier armored vehicle capable of flying 30,000 meters and reaching speeds exceeding Mach 4—the subsequent troubles would be greater than being shot down.

The military will come looking for him.

The government will come looking for him.

Intelligence agencies from all over the world will come looking for him.

It cannot be exposed.

"Twenty-one kilometers away. Two enemy aircraft in formation are accelerating towards you."

Ling'er is jumping around in the HUD.

"Brother! Decide! Decide quickly!"

Li Yichen gritted his teeth.

"run."

"Full-power evasion. Utilize RCS advantage to break radar contact. Direction: Southeast."

"receive!"

Ling'er frantically tapped the virtual keyboard in the air with both hands.

The armor's four thrusters simultaneously adjusted their vectoring angles. Thrust instantly switched from hovering mode to full acceleration.

He was thrown out.

It's not acceleration. It's ejection.

From zero to three Mach.

Four seconds.

A sonic boom exploded behind them. The shockwave shattered the sea surface within a hundred meters radius. A massive white condensation cone tore out from the rear of the armor, leaving a terrifying trail in the moonlight.

At the same time, the armor was raised.

The altitude skyrockets from fifty meters to twelve thousand meters. The angle of ascent is nearly vertical.

The force of G came down.

The HUD displays overload values: 9G, 12G, 15G.

Li Yichen's vision began to darken from the edges. Blood was forced to his lower body, and the buzzing in his head from lack of oxygen grew louder and louder.

But he didn't faint.

The body, modified with genetically optimized serum, is struggling to withstand this overload.

three seconds.

Three seconds later, the armored vehicle entered horizontal flight. Altitude: 12,000 meters. Speed: Mach 3. Direction: Southeast.

Escape at full speed.

Forty-seven kilometers away.

On the fire control radar screen of Falcon 1—

The red dot disappeared.

It didn't gradually diminish. It disappeared instantly.

The previous frame is still there. The next frame is blank.

Falcon One stared at the screen. His finger instinctively reached for the radar mode switch.

Pulse Doppler.

scanning.

There was nothing there.

"Falcon 2, how about you over there?"

"Lost it." The wingman replied quickly, his voice tinged with barely suppressed confusion. "The target accelerated from low altitude to over Mach 3 in 0.8 seconds, climbed to 10,000 meters, and then—the signal disappeared."

Falcon 1 leaned back in its seat.

I've been flying for twelve years. From the J-15 to the J-35. What kind of opponents haven't I seen?

But never—never has any aircraft been able to complete such a maneuver in less than a second.

0.8 seconds.

It stopped at Mach 3.

Instantaneous overload of 15G or more.

Human pilots would lose consciousness at 9G.

The person sitting on that thing isn't a person.

Or—there's no one at all.

"Shenwu, Falcon One is calling. Target lost. Repeat, target lost."

Aircraft carrier CIC command center.

The duty officer stared at the replay on the large screen. His face was ashen.

That replay was less than three seconds long.

A faint signal suddenly accelerated explosively, drawing a nearly vertical trajectory before disappearing outside the radar coverage area.

"What the hell is this?" The staff officer gripped the edge of the table, his fingernails digging into the metal surface. "A stealth drone? A hypersonic glide vehicle?"

No one answered.

The commander-in-chief stood up from the high stool. There was no panic on his face, but the muscles on his cheekbones were taut.

"The entire formation is on Level II combat readiness."

His baton drew a large circle on the tactical map.

"All phased-array radars are scanning at full power. Four more J-35s are dispatched to expand the search area to 300 kilometers."

He turned to look at the communications officer.

"Report to the East China Sea Fleet Headquarters."

"Say that an unidentified hypersonic aircraft intruded into the exercise airspace and then escaped. Its performance characteristics are extremely abnormal."

The communications officer stood up.

"Sir, how should the detailed description be written?"

The commander-in-chief remained silent for two seconds.

"Just write: Acceleration exceeds that of any known flight platform. Maneuvering G-forces exceed the limits of human endurance. Radar cross-section is close to stealth."

He paused.

"Marked Top Secret."

150 kilometers away.

Li Yichen slowed down.

The speed dropped from Mach 3 to 0.8. The altitude decreased from 12,000 meters to 500 meters. We flew at low altitude, skimming the sea surface.

On the HUD, Ling'er's tiny figure slumped in the corner, her little chest rising and falling.

"We're out of radar coverage. No one's chasing us."

Li Yichen's back was soaked with sweat. The sweat was sticky between the flexible electrodes and his skin. The temperature control system inside the armor activated, and cool air rushed in from his neck.

It's not fear.

It was a lingering fear.

If we had been half a second slower, the J-35 would have brought us within visual range. The pilot would have seen a humanoid metallic object flying in the air with his own eyes—

Then it will be impossible to hide it anymore.

"Brother." Ling'er's little figure got up and walked to the center of the HUD. "Should I clear their radar records? I can do it remotely—"

"Do not."

Li Yichen rejected it very decisively.

"The military's command and control system is not a civilian network. Forcibly intruding is far too risky. If you are counter-tracked, it won't just be a problem, it will be a crime."

He let out a breath.

"And it's unnecessary. That radar record only showed a tiny echo signal, revealing no shape whatsoever. At most, they'd know something flew by very fast. But they wouldn't know what it was."

Ling'er thought for a moment and nodded.

"Shall we go home?"

"Return."

The armor changed direction. Subsonic cruise.

Remaining capacity of hydrogen fuel cells: 71%.

A sea breeze swept in from below. The moon hung in the west, about to sink. The horizon turned a pale gray. Dawn was approaching.

Forty minutes later.

Tomson Riviera villa. Backyard.

The armored vehicle descended vertically from the sky. The thruster power decreased. Its feet landed lightly on the grass. There was no extra movement.

The entire villa was quiet. All the windows were dark. Everyone was asleep.

Li Yichen strode into the side door on the first floor. He walked through the corridor and went upstairs.

Enter the bedroom.

The armor system unlocked. The armor opened from the chest, and Li Yichen stepped out. The armor then returned to its original state, and he stood next to the wardrobe.

Even if outsiders saw such a mecha, they wouldn't suspect anything and would just think it was a model.

5:13 AM.

He plopped down on the edge of the bed.

My T-shirt was soaked through. My hair was plastered to my forehead. My legs were still weak—not from exhaustion, but from the exhaustion caused by the receding adrenaline.

He reached for the bottled water on the bedside table, unscrewed the cap, and poured half the water down his throat.

Ling'er jumped out of the watch. The faint light of the holographic projection shimmered with a bluish hue in the dimly lit bedroom.

She perched on his shoulder, her little face close to his.

"Brother, will there be trouble?"

Li Yichen stared at the painting hanging on the opposite wall. He didn't focus on anything.

There was a five-second silence.

"Probably not. They can't find me."

But he knew it in his heart.

This matter will be reported tonight. It will be reported up the chain of command, from Fleet Command to the General Staff. A report marked Top Secret will be lying on someone's desk.

Those people will discuss: What exactly is that?

They won't find the answer. But the question will remain unanswered.

Li Yichen threw the empty bottle on the bedside table.

He fell backward, his back slamming onto the mattress.

"Let's wait until the truth comes out."

He closed his eyes.

One thousand kilometers away.

East China Sea Fleet Headquarters.

The lights in the emergency meeting room were all on. It was 4 a.m.

A dozen or so officers sat on either side of the long table. Some of them were not even properly dressed in their uniforms, having been woken up from bed.

The radar replay, which lasted less than three seconds, was playing on a loop on the projection screen.

A faint signal.

It can accelerate from a standstill to Mach 3 or higher in 0.8 seconds.

Instantaneous maneuvering at 15G or higher.

Then it disappeared.

The chief of staff stood in front of the curtain, his hands resting on the edge of the table.

"Can anyone tell me?"

His knuckles tapped on the table.

"What exactly is this thing?"

The dozen or so people looked at each other in bewilderment.

No one answered.

The chief of staff stared at the terrifying trajectory line on the screen.

Outside the window, it was still dark.