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

"If you can't find it, let me know."

Ji Yanran put the list away and responded. Li Yichen didn't stay any longer and turned to leave the office.

The next morning, Li Yichen did not go to the company.

Looking up, the U8 departed from Tomson Riviera and headed east along the Pudong Coastal Expressway. Forty minutes later, the car turned onto a brand-new six-lane asphalt road.

On both sides of the road are endless construction site fences.

The blue metal fence is printed with the eight characters "Future Technology Super Factory," repeated every fifty meters. Behind the fence, tower cranes are densely packed, at least twenty or thirty in number, their booms crisscrossing and rotating in the air.

Li Yichen rolled down the car window.

The wind carried the smell of concrete and welding. In the distance came the muffled rumble of a pile driver, one beat after another, like a heartbeat.

He parked his car in front of the temporary command center at the first phase of the construction site and didn't get out.

I just sat in the driver's seat and looked out through the windshield.

One thousand acres.

Phase 1 construction site: the super battery factory.

Six or seven months ago, this was just a flat expanse of yellow earth. Now, the main structures of three giant factory buildings have been completed. The silver-gray steel frame supports the arched roofs, and the tallest one is at least thirty meters high, reflecting a cold metallic sheen in the sunlight.

The roads between the factory buildings have been paved, and transport vehicles come and go frequently.

The storage area on the east side has also been built, with four rows of standardized warehouses standing neatly together, and the waterproofing layer on the roof is under construction.

There are still many workers.

Yellow, blue, and red safety helmets were scattered across various work areas. In the distance, someone was welding, the arc of light flashing intermittently.

Li Yichen looked at it for five minutes, then restarted the car.

We drove three kilometers east along the construction road outside the fence and entered the second phase of the construction site.

Two thousand acres.

It's twice the size of the first phase.

This plot of land, G-7, was snatched from the Zhao Mingshan brothers. When Li Yichen acquired it, there wasn't even a blade of grass on the ground.

Now, everywhere you look, buildings are springing up.

The southern section is an expansion of the battery plant, and its progress is similar to that of Phase I. The main structure has been completed, and interior decoration and equipment foundation construction are underway.

The northern half of the region is home to chip manufacturing plants.

The construction standards for the chip factory are significantly higher. The exterior walls of the factory have already been covered with white cleanroom panels, and the airtightness is visibly excellent. The supporting ultrapure water station, special gas station, and substation are also nearing completion.

Six or seven months.

Li Yichen leaned back in his seat and let out a sigh.

Time really flies.

He still remembered when he first acquired the land, Ji Yanran asked him if a chip factory could be built. He said it would take nine months to complete.

It looks like it will take about two more months for all the factory buildings on the 3,000 mu of industrial land to be completed.

A super battery factory covering 1,000 acres.

A 1,000-acre battery expansion area.

A 1,000-acre photonic current-carrying wafer factory.

He turned the car around and drove away from the construction site.

Forty minutes later, the U8 pulled into the underground parking garage of the new headquarters building. The 66-story glass curtain wall building was far more impressive than the old headquarters.

The elevator went straight up to the 28th floor.

Ji Yanran's office door was open.

She was typing on her computer when she heard footsteps and looked up.

"You're back?"

Li Yichen walked to her desk, took out a thick document from his briefcase, and placed it on the desk.

"Take a look at this."

Ji Yanran picked it up and flipped through it.

A4 paper, more than twenty pages. Densely packed with equipment names, models, quantities, and specifications.

Page 1: 120 high-precision coating machines.

Page 2: 80 stacking machines, 200 chemical separation and capacity control units.

The third page begins with a list of equipment for the wafer fab. Atomic layer deposition systems, ion beam etching machines, laser interferometry positioning platforms, ultrapure water circulation systems…

She flipped through the pages while mentally reviewing the prices.

Turn to the last page and close it.

"All the equipment from the battery factory and the chip factory is here?"

"Everything is here."

Li Yichen sat down on the sofa and crossed his legs.

"Both sides are almost completed. The factory buildings are finished, and the equipment needs to keep up. The procurement cycle for this batch of equipment is long. Some imported equipment takes three or four months to deliver. If we don't order now, it will be too late."

Ji Yanran nodded. She had roughly calculated the number in her mind.

"Around 30 billion?"

"almost."

Ji Yanran put the list down without any hesitation.

Three hundred billion is an astronomical figure for other companies. But for Future Technology Company—it has hundreds of billions of cash sitting in its books. Payments for Thunderobot battery orders, chip supply receipts, licensing fees from BYD and Ningwang, and revenue sharing from the Lingyu system are all pouring money into the company every month.

Three hundred billion is just a drop in the ocean.

"Okay, I'll have the purchasing department handle it later." She put the list into the file rack. "Some imported equipment may require a special approval process, so I've asked Zhang San's legal department to keep an eye on it as well."

"Um."

Li Yichen stood up from the sofa.

"You go ahead with your work, I'm going to take a look around."

After leaving Ji Yanran's office, he strolled to the elevator and glanced at his watch.

11:40.

It's almost lunchtime.

The staff cafeteria at the new headquarters is on the fifth floor. The entire floor is open-plan and can accommodate over a thousand people at the same time. It's bright and clean, and the environment is better than most restaurants outside.

Li Yichen took the elevator down to the fifth floor.

The cafeteria was already quite crowded, with the line for food winding around two corners. He stood at the back of the line with a tray, and few of the employees in front of and behind him recognized him. After all, a large number of people had been hired since the new headquarters moved in, and most of them didn't even know what the boss looked like.

I ordered three meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a bowl of soup, then carried the tray to find a seat.

His gaze swept around—

In a corner by the window, a girl with a ponytail was eating her rice with her head down.

Xue Shanshan.

Li Yichen carried the tray over and sat down opposite her.

The sound of the tray being placed on the table made Xue Shanshan look up.

The chopsticks were suspended in mid-air, and there was still a mouthful of rice in his mouth.

Three seconds later, she swallowed it down.

"Brother Li?!"

The tone suddenly rose eight octaves. Several people on either side glanced in their direction.

Li Yichen waved his hand.

"Keep your voice down."

Xue Shanshan quickly lowered her voice, but her face was full of surprise. She put down her chopsticks and leaned forward.

"Where have you been all this time? On a business trip? I haven't seen you for almost two months!"

She gestured with both hands as she spoke, her excitement impossible to hide.

"I'm starting to wonder if you've stopped working at the company."

Li Yichen separated the chopsticks and picked up a piece of braised pork rib.

"I guess you could call it a business trip."

Xue Shan breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair.

"You startled me. I hadn't seen you for so long, I thought you had quit your job."

Li Yichen took a bite of the rib and smiled.

"With such good company benefits, I really don't want to leave."

Xue Shanshan thought about it and realized it made sense. Future Technology's compensation was top-tier in Shanghai. Unless someone's brain was slammed in a door, who would willingly leave?

"That's true." She picked up her chopsticks again. "Several of my friends say they envy me and ask if our company is still hiring."

The two ate for a while.

Li Yichen changed the subject.

"Have you moved yet, about what I told you last time?"

Xue Shan picked up a piece of green vegetable and nodded.

"I moved. I moved last month. Now I live about five kilometers from the company, which takes about ten minutes by electric scooter."

"You live alone?"

"A shared apartment." Xue Shanshan held up three fingers. "Three people, all girls, it's pretty safe. It's a three-bedroom apartment, I'll live in the smaller one."

Li Yichen nodded.

"That's good. It's much better than that suburban one, closer and more convenient. I don't have to walk, take the subway, and change lines early in the morning, which takes more than an hour."

Xue Shan laughed.

"That's right. We used to have to get up at 5:30 every day, which was before dawn in winter. Now we can get up at 7:00."

She put down her chopsticks and started counting on her fingers.

"And the rent is only a little over four thousand, with the company giving a five thousand subsidy, so I can still save a few hundred dollars each month. It's like living there for free."

"That's fine then."

Li Yichen picked up the soup bowl and took a sip.

Xue Shanshan checked the time: 1:15.

"Oh, I have to go." She picked up the tray and stood up. "I have a report to finish this afternoon. Enjoy your meal, Brother Li."

"Go."

Xue Shan took two steps, then turned back.

"Brother Li, don't disappear for so long next time."

Li Yichen waved to her.

Xue Shanshan smiled and jogged to the tableware recycling area, her ponytail swinging back and forth.

Li Yichen lowered his head and continued eating.

Several young employees at the two tables next to each other huddled together, and one of the girls whispered to her colleague in a low voice.

"It's Xue Shanshan from the administration department again."

"Who are you eating with?"

"I don't know him, but he's quite handsome."

"Could it be the one that was rumored before—"

"Shh. Don't talk nonsense."

Li Yichen didn't hear any of this. He finished the last bite of rice, stood up, and handed the tray over.

After leaving the cafeteria, I took the elevator down to the underground parking garage.

Looking up, I watched the U8 drive out of the underground parking garage and merge into the traffic flow in Pudong.

My watch vibrated.

Ling'er's projection didn't pop up, but her notification sound did.

"Brother, production line status update on the 66th floor: the fifth set of armor has entered the painting stage and is expected to roll off the production line tomorrow."

Li Yichen turned the steering wheel with one hand and onto the elevated road.

"Um."