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

"Boss! Mr. Ji... Mr. Ji is in trouble!"

Chu Feng's voice cracked.

Li Yichen sprang up from his chair. The chopsticks in his hand fell onto the table, hitting the rim of the bowl and flying away.

Explain yourself.

Chu Feng was panting heavily on the other end of the phone, but his trained instincts allowed him to speak coherently.

"On my way home from get off work, on Jin Yang Road in Pudong New Area, Mr. Ji asked me to pull over, saying he needed to buy something from a shop on the side of the road and asked me to wait a moment."

He swallowed hard.

"She hasn't come back in ten minutes. I called her cell phone—it's off."

"I got out of the car and searched every corner of that street. The person was gone."

"Boss, I believe Mr. Ji has been kidnapped. I've already called the police."

Li Yichen stood beside the dining table, completely motionless.

Zhou Dahai came out of the kitchen carrying a clay pot, and when he saw his face, he almost dropped the pot.

"Send location. The exact location where Ji Yanran was last seen."

After saying that, he was already walking towards the garage.

My phone vibrated. Chu Feng's location had been detected.

Li Yichen didn't get in the car. He stood at the garage entrance, holding his phone up to his face.

"Ling'er".

A point of light coalesced above the watch. Ling'er's holographic image appeared, devoid of her usual playful smile. Her face was tense, her eyes fixed on him.

"Retrieve all public surveillance footage from the area surrounding Jinyang Road. Within a 300-meter radius."

Ling'er spread her hands in the air. Data streams poured out from her fingertips.

three seconds.

Five seconds.

Ling'er stopped.

"elder brother."

Her holographic image flashed.

"Within a 300-meter radius of the location where the disappearance occurred, all six surveillance cameras were displaying a black screen."

Li Yichen stood rooted to the spot.

"Time of failure - three days ago. All six probes failed on the same day."

Ling'er tossed the data in front of him. Six red crosses were marked on the map, forming a precise blind spot.

Not a coincidence.

They scouted the location beforehand. They shut down surveillance cameras. A professional gang.

Li Yichen clenched his back teeth. Then he released them.

"Expand the search area. One kilometer. Two kilometers. Find me any camera that still works."

Ling'er frantically flipped through the data.

"Found it!" She jumped up. "The private surveillance camera at a convenience store, 800 meters northwest of the disappearance location, hasn't been touched. In the footage—six hours before the disappearance, a white Jinbei van drove back and forth on that street three times."

The image pops up. A white van with dark tinted windows.

"The license plate is fake. I cross-referenced the traffic checkpoint data across the city, and this car appeared seven times in the past 48 hours, all along Ji Yanran's commute route."

They were keeping watch. They watched for at least two days.

Li Yichen stared at the screenshot of the white van. His fist slowly clenched, his knuckles cracking softly.

At the same time.

Shanghai Public Security Bureau Command Center.

When Chen Weidong rushed out of the office, his uniform buttons were not yet fully fastened.

"Ji Yanran is the CEO of Future Technology!"

He slammed his hand on the command platform.

"The economic backbone of Shanghai! Mobilize the entire city's resources! Conduct a thorough search!"

More than 300 police officers were deployed. Checkpoints were set up at elevated highway intersections. Inspections were conducted at subway stations. Drones were launched.

An hour passed.

Two hours passed.

Got nothing.

Chen Weidong slammed his fist on the table, causing the teacup to jump and spill water everywhere.

"Two hours! A perfectly healthy person vanished into thin air! In that long, a car could leave Shanghai, a boat could reach international waters, and a plane could fly overseas!"

He glanced around at the people in the conference room who were all looking down.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Silence reigned.

Tomson Riviera villas.

Li Yichen didn't go to the police station. He circled around the area where Ji Yanran disappeared, but found nothing.

Back at the villa, he locked himself in the study on the second floor.

Ling'er's holographic image hovered above the desk. Her small face was taut, and her hands were frantically flipping through data streams in the air. Traffic checkpoints, highway toll stations, airport security checks, port entry and exit records—she was checking every possible channel.

"The last time the white Jinbei van was recorded at the traffic checkpoint was two hours ago, in the direction of Lingang, Pudong. It disappeared after that."

Ling'er bit her lip.

"They might have changed vehicles. Or they might have boarded a ship."

Li Yichen sat at his desk, his hands braced on the surface. His mind was racing.

Then a thought struck me.

Watches.

He sat up abruptly.

More than a month ago, he personally put that holographic projection watch on Ji Yanran's wrist.

Ji Yanran wears it every day. She has never taken it off.

If she were still wearing it now—

"Ling'er!"

Ling'er trembled all over.

"Remotely connect to Yanran's watch! Confirm GPS coordinates!"

Ling'er closed her eyes. The holographic image flickered violently.

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

She suddenly opened her eyes.

"Connection successful!"

A real-time map exploded above the desk.

A green dot of light is slowly moving across the sea.

Direction: Southeast.

It is 170 kilometers away from the coastline of Shanghai.

high seas.

"She's on a moving ship." Ling'er's holographic image was fixed next to the map, her fists clenched. "Speed ​​12 knots, heading southeast. If not intercepted, she'll enter the deepest part of international waters in six hours. At that time—"

She didn't finish the second half of her sentence.

Li Yichen had already picked up his phone and made the call.

Chen Weidong answered quickly.

"Mr. Li—"

"Ji Yanran is on the high seas."

Li Yichen only said one sentence.

"I'll give you the coordinates; send the coast guard to intercept them immediately."

Chen Weidong didn't ask how he knew.

Send me the coordinates!

Hang up. Send the coordinates.

Li Yichen put his phone on the table.

The coast guard's latest enforcement vessel departed from Yangshan Port and sped to the high seas 170 kilometers away—in three hours.

Three hours.

too long.

170 kilometers away.

A rusty, 10,000-ton cargo ship.

The bottom deck of the ship.

When Ji Yanran woke up, her first feeling was a headache. The pain started from the back of her head and went all the way to her forehead, feeling like it was about to split open.

My last memory—I was passing by an alleyway when someone struck me hard on the back of the neck. And then, nothing happened.

She opened her eyes.

The dimly lit metal bulkheads. The rusted pipes. The roar of the diesel engine rose up from beneath my feet, making my teeth ache.

His wrists were tied to a pipe overhead with nylon rope, the tightness causing his skin to turn purple. His ankles were also locked.

My phone is gone.

But on his left wrist—the black watch was still there.

They didn't notice this unassuming "watch".

The hatch was pushed open. The sheet metal scraped against the ground, making a harsh sound.

Three people walked in.

The lead figure was a blond Caucasian man in his forties, with a military build. He had an old scar on his right eye, running from his eyebrow to his cheekbone.

He crouched down. His amber eyes met Ji Yanran's.

A French-accented English speaker: "Miss Ji, we need something."

He pulled a photograph out of his pocket.

A close-up of the casing of the Thor battery.

"Complete technical data. Formula, process, parameters. All of it."

Ji Yanran looked at him coldly. A slight twitch appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"I am the company's CEO, not the CTO."

She paused.

"I don't know the detailed technical specifications of the battery."

Then pause.

Even if I knew—I wouldn't tell you.

The blond man stared at her. For five seconds.

Stand up.

"Ms. Ji, you'd better cooperate."

He put the photo back in his pocket.

"My employer offered two hundred million dollars. If that money isn't spent—it'll cost you your life."

Ji Yanran's nails dug into her palm, leaving bloody marks.

But she didn't tremble.

My brain is working at high speed.

The watch is still there. Ling'er can connect to the watch. As long as Li Yichen discovers her disappearance and thinks of the watch connection—he will definitely be able to find her.

All she needs to do is stall for time.

"You want technology?"

Ji Yanran raised her head.

"Okay. But I need a computer. I need to remotely log into the company's encrypted server to access the data. Without a computer, even if I wanted to give it to you, I couldn't."

The blond man remained silent for a few seconds.

He turned and walked out of the cabin.

The two armed guards remained in place.

Ji Yanran leaned against the cold bulkhead. Her heart was pounding. But there was no trace of panic on her face.

come on.

She thought to herself.

Come quick.

at the same time.

Tomson Riviera villa. Second floor bedroom.

Li Yichen stood next to the wardrobe.

The silver-gray armor stood silently under the warm yellow light. A V-shaped visor. Streamlined shoulder armor. The cold sheen of carbon fiber titanium alloy.

His hand rested on his breastplate.

It's cold.

Coast Guard for three hours.

Mach 4. 170 kilometers.

three minutes.

"Ling'er".

Above the watch, a holographic image lit up. Ling'er's tiny figure stood on his shoulder, her two fists clenched tightly.

"Start the wearable application."

All the fixing clips on the bracket popped open at the same time.