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

"start."

Zhou Chuanying's command over the loudspeaker was like a red-hot iron needle, piercing the stagnant air on the training ground.

Li Yichen bent his knees slightly, and the hydraulic shock absorbers at his knees emitted a suppressed growl. The power bar on the HUD interface jumped from 10% to 60% in standby mode, and blue energy flow patterns lit up along the gaps in the armor of his limbs, like a galaxy suddenly filling his veins.

Push off with your left foot.

Centered on the sole of his foot, the concrete ground within a three-meter radius suddenly cracked, and rubble mixed with dust exploded outwards in a radial pattern. A muffled thunderous roar resounded in the air—the sound of metal tearing through the air at supersonic speeds relative to the ground.

Fifty meters. Less than a second.

His right fist, crackling with the shrill sound of metal tearing through the air and carrying the kinetic energy of his entire suit of armor, slammed into the frontal armor of the first infantry fighting vehicle.

boom--!

The homogeneous steel plate, over forty millimeters thick, was as if squeezed in the middle by an invisible giant hand, first denting inward, then tearing, with cracks spreading outwards instantly. The fist, along with the forearm, mercilessly pierced through the vehicle body, emerging from the other side with fragments of broken armor, the fist surface not even a speck of oil on it.

The entire infantry fighting vehicle was pushed backward and slid three meters, its iron tracks scraping against the concrete ground, scattering a shower of red sparks.

Hundreds of people on the training field were collectively speechless.

Some people had their mouths open and forgot to close them, while others tilted their necks forward so much they were almost losing their balance, their breath caught in their chests. A young technician's recorder slipped from his hand, hitting the ground with a sharp crack, which seemed particularly abrupt.

Li Yichen slowly pulled his arm out of the hole in the steel plate. The broken piece of iron clattered to the ground and bounced twice. He glanced down at his fist—the titanium alloy shell wasn't even scratched; its surface remained as smooth as a mirror.

On the command platform, Zhou Chuanying braced himself against the metal railing with both hands, his ten fingers digging into the steel pipes until his knuckles turned white. He stared at the armored vehicle that had been pierced through, a barely perceptible burning light flashing deep in his pupils.

The staff officer next to him had his pen slip from his fingers. He didn't pick it up.

"The second item—defense testing."

The broadcast started again, but the voice had a slightly dry quality that was barely perceptible.

On the flank of the training range, a 12.7mm heavy machine gun was mounted on a hydraulic firing mount. A technician shoved the ammunition belt into the feed port with a clatter, and the automatic aiming system had already locked on. At a straight-line distance of fifty meters, the trajectory of the bullet was crystal clear.

Li Yichen walked to the marked location. He opened his arms, palms facing outwards, as if to embrace something.

"Fire."

The heavy machine gun opened its mouth.

Armor-piercing incendiary rounds, each as thick as a thumb, rained down at an initial velocity of 800 meters per second, striking precisely the center of the armor's chest. The crisp, resounding clangs of the bullets hitting the metal surface were so dense they formed a continuous chorus—clang, clang, clang—like hundreds of hammers falling simultaneously in a blacksmith's shop, fast and powerful, making one's eardrums tingle.

The spent cartridge cases flew out from the side of the feeding belt, and the scorching hot, bronze-yellow cylinders clattered and fell to the ground, forming a metallic carpet on the cement surface.

Li Yichen stood in the very center of the live chat. He didn't move an inch.

Exactly fifteen seconds.

The gun barrel glowed red, and gunpowder smoke billowed from the muzzle, dispersing into a pale blue mist over the training ground.

Stopped.

The observers held up high-powered binoculars and peered in, the lens tracing the surface of the armor inch by inch.

A few light-colored scratches. That's all. You couldn't even scratch them deep with your fingernail. No dents, no structural damage, not even the heat-resistant coating on the armor surface was burned through.

The officers in the back began to whisper among themselves. A middle-aged general in camouflage lowered his voice and asked his colleague next to him, "Even 12.7mm rounds can't penetrate it... so are conventional light weapons like water guns to it?"

The person next to him swallowed hard, but remained silent. The answer was obvious; there was no need to answer.

"The third item - flight maneuverability test."

Five infrared target spheres have been hoisted by drones to different heights and positions above the training field: one at 30 meters, one at 50 meters, one at 80 meters, one at 150 meters, and the highest at 200 meters. The five points, like a scattering of dice, hang haphazardly in the sky.

Requirement: Touch all targets in sequence within thirty seconds.

Li Yichen twisted his neck, and a crisp metallic cracking sound came from his cervical vertebrae.

"Ling'er".

"Here." Ling'er's little figure popped up in the HUD, making an OK sign with both hands in front of her chest. "Coordinates have been marked, and the optimal path has been calculated. Suggested sequence: Down → Left → Up → Right → Top."

"Walk."

The nozzles beneath his feet ignited, and blue-white flames exploded in a cross shape. He was propelled into the air—not by "jumping," but by "shooting."

On the HUD, the three-dimensional coordinate system rotates at high speed, with each target locked by a red circle. The armor spins, climbs, dives, and rolls in the air—there is no transition or hesitation between each movement, as sharp as a throwing knife.

People on the ground looked up, watching the silver-gray figure draw lightning-like zigzag lines in the sky.

The first target is touched, and an infrared signal is transmitted back.

the second.

The third.

The timer on the ground ticked away second by second, but Li Yichen was faster than the second hand.

Fourteen seconds. All five targets turned green.

The moment the target was touched in the last two hundred meters, the armor flipped in mid-air, the thrusters on its feet pushed upwards, and the entire body crashed to the ground in an almost out-of-control arc.

One meter before landing, the buffer nozzles are fully open.

The airflow reversed and exploded, cracking the cement surface in a spiderweb pattern. The debris and dust kicked up by the blast wave flew out in a ring, slapping against the trousers of the onlookers.

Mr. Qian's assistant discreetly reached out and checked the old man's pulse. 140. He was covered in a cold sweat. He quickly pulled out some nitroglycerin pills from the inside pocket of his camouflage uniform, poured two into Mr. Qian's mouth.

Old Qian didn't even chew it; he swallowed it directly. His eyes were fixed on the silver-gray figure in the center of the arena, not blinking an eye.

This was followed by tests of strength limits and ground mobility.

One-arm weightlifting: 10 tons. Two-arm weightlifting: 20 tons.

A fully loaded heavy truck was lifted overhead by the armored suit's hands. The tires spun in the air, and the armored suit's fingers had dented five holes in the metal of the hood. Li Yichen carried the truck for ten steps, each step leaving a shallow dent in the concrete.

Ground sprint speed: 60 km/h. Powered solely by leg hydraulic power, without any flight aids. The wind sweeps across the armored surface, leaving a trail of gray-white dust in its wake.

The test data was being recorded in a notebook by two technical officers, one on each side. One would finish writing and change pens, then the other would hand it over. Two pen refills broke in the process.

During a break in testing, Zhou Chuanying stepped down from the command platform, his pace slightly quicker than usual, the gold stars on his epaulets gleaming in the sunlight. He walked up to Li Yichen, his mask still on.

"Mr. Li, is this suit of armor currently equipped with a weapon system?"

Li Yichen reached out and pressed the unlock button on the side of his neck. The airtight lock on his mask popped open and flipped up. His forehead was covered in sweat, but his breathing was so steady that it didn't seem like someone who had just run sixty kilometers.

"Strictly speaking... there is a system."

Zhou Chuanying paused for a moment. Her toes sank into the ground, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

"The armor is equipped with two hydrogen fuel cells." Li Yichen pointed to the round, glowing blue object on his chest. "Under normal circumstances, one is the primary fuel cell and the other is the backup, alternating in output. But if both are connected in parallel at full power simultaneously, the armor will enter an overload state."

He paused for a moment, looking into Zhou Chuanying's eyes.

"This overload energy can be concentrated and released into a high-energy laser in an instant through the converter in the chest."

Zhou Chuanying's pupils contracted slightly. The contraction was small, but Liu Guoliang, standing behind him, noticed it.

"According to theoretical model calculations, it can penetrate a one-meter-thick homogeneous steel plate instantly. Sustained fire lasts for a maximum of ten seconds. The effective attack range is within five kilometers; beyond this distance, its lethality decreases exponentially."

The generals behind Zhou Chuanying exchanged glances. One of them swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, the sound clearly audible in the silence.

"However, we haven't actually tested it before," Li Yichen added. "We're unsure of its effectiveness in real combat."

Zhou Chuanying remained silent.

He stared at the eerie blue light on Li Yichen's chest for about five seconds. A gust of wind swept between them, carrying with it the lingering smoke from the gunpowder on the ground.

"try."

One word. No room for negotiation.

Three wrecked Type 59 tanks were towed by two tractors to the far end of the training ground. They stood in a row, a hundred meters away. The tracks scraped against the concrete, producing a harsh metallic screech. Behind the tanks stood a forty-centimeter-thick concrete protective wall, painted with red numbers.

Everyone retreated to the back of a reinforced concrete bunker 200 meters away.

The training ground was empty.

Only Li Yichen remained standing there.

The mask was fastened back on. The airtight lock clicked shut.

"Ling'er".

"Here." In the HUD, Ling'er's little figure stood straight, her hands pressed against the seams of her pants, her face expressionless for the first time.

"Activate laser function. Overload mode. Output time: one second."

"Received. Warning: Overload mode will cause the hydrogen fuel cell stack temperature to reach the upper limit of the safety threshold. The core compartment temperature is expected to rise to 900 degrees Celsius within three seconds."

"implement."

A hum of dual energy convergence emanated from within the armor. The power output bars of the two hydrogen fuel cells simultaneously spiked red, energy surging like two floods along the carbon nanotube wires towards the chest converter. The flowing blue patterns on the entire surface of the armor instantly turned incandescent white, like magma surging beneath the metal skin.

All parameters on the HUD spiked to red. Temperature, pressure, and current density all exceeded safety limits.

Overload.

The circular glowing object on its chest changed from a pale blue to a blinding white. The light grew stronger and stronger, until it was so bright that those around it had to squint. The outlines of the tanks at the far end of the training field became blurry black shadows in this white light.

The temperature in the core compartment reached its limit. White smoke seeped from the gaps in the armor.

"release."

A red laser shot out from his chest.

Without warning. Without any build-up effects. Like a god drawing a taut red line across a canvas, the air between the armor and the tank was instantly ionized, emitting a short, sharp "hiss—".

one second.

The light disappeared.

The training ground fell silent abruptly. After the blinding white light faded, everyone's eyes were blurred, and patches of green afterimages floated before their eyes.

Li Yichen straightened up. The edge of the converter on his chest was slightly red, like burnt iron. A line of small text appeared on the HUD of his mask: Core temperature 870 degrees Celsius, cooling down.

He turned and walked toward the people behind the bunker two hundred meters away. The outer shell of the armor was still steaming, and the armor plates under his feet made a slight creaking sound as he stepped on the ground that had been baked by the high temperature.

"Let's go take a look."

Zhou Chuanying was the first to emerge from the bunker. Dozens of people followed behind, their steps quick and heavy.

A group of people jogged over to the three tanks.

The first one. On the frontal armor of the vehicle—a round hole about ten centimeters in diameter. The steel plate at the edge had melted and then solidified, and the cooled molten iron flowed down, hanging down in a dozen thin metal wires, swaying slightly in the wind.

The second one. Same location, same size hole. Penetration. Straight trajectory.

The third vehicle. Passing through.

Behind the tank, there was a 40-centimeter-thick concrete wall—a hole the size of a fist, its edges charred black, the concrete vitrified by the high temperature into a glaze-like substance, reflecting a dark light.

Three tanks and a wall. One second. All pierced through.

No one spoke.

The wind blew across the training ground, stirring up the scorching dust that hit the metal debris with a soft rustling sound.

Old Qian squatted down next to the first tank, his left hand supporting his knee, and his right hand carefully reached into the still-hot round hole to feel the inner wall. His fingers touched the texture of the molten steel plate after it cooled, and he felt an inch deep before reaching the bottom.

My fingers were trembling when I pulled them out. Not from fear, but from excitement.

Zhou Chuanying stood directly in front of the three tanks, staring at the line of bullets that pierced through all the defenses for a long time.

Then he turned around.

"Mr. Li, the test is over. Please follow me."

The meeting room. The door closed. The soundproofing blocked out all the noise from moving equipment on the training field outside.

The long table was filled with people on both sides. Zhou Chuanying sat at the head of the table, with Liu Guoliang to his right and Gu Shounian to his left. The three scientists sat in folding chairs against the wall; Qian Xuesen's hands were still trembling, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smile. Li Yichen sat opposite the table, his mask pulled back behind his head, his hands resting on the table.

Zhou Chuanying got straight to the point: "The military hopes to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with you within the framework of the 'Sky Soldier Project.' The first batch will consist of ten custom-made combat suits, exclusively for special operations units. As for the price, just name your price, and the military won't hold back a single penny."

Li Yichen leaned back in his chair, his back against the leather surface making a slight rubbing sound.

"Ten sets are fine."

He held up one finger.

"But I have a condition—all the raw materials for the armor must be provided by the military."

The second finger is held upright.

"The AI ​​operating system must be under the unified control of my Ling'er. Without Ling'er's authorization, no suit of armor can be activated. In other words—"

He pulled two fingers back, then interlaced his fingers and placed them on the table. His knuckles were slightly raised.

"Ultimate control is in my hands."

The meeting room was silent for a full ten seconds.

The ceiling fan overhead turned slowly, and you could hear the sound of the blades cutting through the air.

Zhou Chuanying, Liu Guoliang, and Gu Shounian huddled together, heads bowed. Their voices were extremely low, with only breaths and a few indistinct words escaping. Two minutes.

Zhou Chuanying sat up straight again. He looked at Li Yichen, a faint smile playing on the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

He stood up and extended his hand to the person opposite him.

"Agreed in principle. Details will be outlined in the contract."

Li Yichen gripped it tightly. Their knuckles turned white for half a second before they released each other.

When leaving the military region, Gu Shounian escorted them all the way to the edge of the training ground. The setting sun cast a warm orange glow on the silver-gray exterior of the armor.

"Brother," Gu Shounian said in a low voice, placing his hand on Li Yichen's shoulder armor, "you really shocked us veterans today. By the way—the 'Heavenly Soldier Project' approval documents were sent to the highest levels last night. It won't be long before someone of even higher rank comes looking for you."

Li Yichen fastened his mask. The airtight lock clicked shut. His voice came through the loudspeaker, steady as a nail driven into wood.

"OK."

Flames erupted from the soles of his feet.

Blue and white beams of light erupted simultaneously from the four nozzles, scorching a ring of black on the concrete ground. A silver-gray figure shot into the sky.

A sonic boom exploded over the military region, and a muffled thunderous roar rolled outwards, making the glass on the command platform vibrate.

On the ground, hundreds of soldiers looked up. The silver-gray figure shrank smaller and smaller against the sky, finally becoming an arc of light that pierced the heavens, trailing a blue-white tail, like a slash across the sky. Only when the arc of light completely disappeared at the edge of the clouds did everyone pull their heads back down.

Gu Shounian looked away and took out his phone.

A encrypted text message he'd received ten minutes earlier lay on the screen. The level indicator in the sender's field made his fingers tighten on his phone.

The content consists of only one line of text—

"This person must remain within the system. At all costs."

Gu Shounian stared at the words for a full half minute. Then he put his phone in his inside pocket and looked up at the direction where the trail of flame had disappeared.

Only a wisp of sunset remained on the horizon.