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

4:17 a.m.

Before the motion-sensor lights at the entrance of the precision laboratory building were even on, the first military green heavy truck roared up and drove right up to us.

Then came the second car. The third car. The fourth car.

As soon as the sky began to lighten, more than twenty heavy trucks were already lined up on the main road of the factory area, forming a steel centipede with wheels.

The drivers jumped out of the cab, hunching their shoulders and rubbing their hands. The Shanghai morning at the end of December was bitterly cold. Several soldiers stood by the vehicle smoking, their breath puffing out in white clouds like those from an old-fashioned locomotive.

Which war zone are you from?

"The East. And you?"

"The South. Damn, I drove all night from the South, and my back is killing me."

"The two ahead of you are from the West. The rest of the line are from the North."

"All four war zones are here? Just who is this General Manager Li?"

The soldier, who was smoking, stubbed out his cigarette and glanced into the factory gate.

Five security guards in dark blue uniforms stood at the entrance. They stood as straight as telephone poles, their faces expressionless, not even blinking.

The soldier shrank back. "This security guard looks kind of creepy..."

A little after six o'clock, a black Yangwang U8 turned into the factory area.

Li Yichen pushed open the car door and jumped out, exhaling a puff of white breath. He put his hands in his pockets and strode towards the gate.

Ling'er jumped off the watch and hovered on his shoulder.

"Brother, all the vehicles from the four war zones have arrived. Eleven from the east, seven from the west, six from the north, and five from the south. A total of twenty-nine vehicles."

Where are they?

"The driver and the escorts, eighty-three people in total. They're all freezing outside."

Li Yichen glanced at the line of heavy trucks waiting at the entrance and nodded.

"Let the Terminator come out and move it."

Ten Terminators filed out of the side gate of the factory.

They wore dark blue uniforms, had average faces, and walked with unnaturally synchronized steps.

Each Terminator walked up to a heavy truck and pulled the tailgate latch with one hand.

One aluminum alloy material boxes after another were carried out.

Two ordinary porters would lift one box, grimacing from exhaustion. The Terminator, however, could carry three boxes stacked on top of each other with a single hand, his steps as steady as if he were walking on steel rails.

One heavy truck. Three minutes. Empty.

The drivers were all dumbfounded.

The soldier from the Southern Theater Command dropped his cigarette on the ground without even noticing.

"Is that a security guard or a forklift?"

The escort officer from the Eastern Theater Command swallowed hard. "Look at his hand carrying that box—his fingers aren't even bent."

"I weigh 180 pounds, and he just pushed me aside with one hand."

Twenty-nine heavy trucks. All unloaded in less than an hour and a half.

More than a thousand boxes of military-grade materials were stacked into a wall in the constant-temperature warehouse.

Ling'er was checking the data in real time in the background, and the data stream kept jumping around on the edge of Li Yichen's retina.

"The Eastern Theater Command has a 93% delivery rate; Zhang Weiguo said the missing items will be replenished in a second batch tomorrow. The Western Theater Command is 100%. The Northern Theater Command is 97%, but Li Tiezhu's side needs to source two types of superconducting components from elsewhere. The Southern Theater Command is 100% complete."

Li Yichen checked the list over and over. "That's enough. Let's get started."

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Control area of ​​the precision laboratory building.

Li Yichen stood in front of the holographic panel and drew a line on the virtual interface with his finger.

The status lights of the nine ten-axis industrial machine tools switched abruptly from the amber yellow of standby mode to the green of operation.

A low-frequency hum converged from nine directions, causing the entire building to resonate. My feet were itchy.

"Ling'er, import the complete set of blueprints for the lunar-type Terminator. First batch production: fifty units. The folding hull, mining equipment, and rare earth refining module for the lunar base will be launched simultaneously."

"Received!" Ling'er snapped her fingers in mid-air, her ponytail swinging in an arc. "Nine mother machines operating at full power in parallel, producing twelve lunar-landing Terminator machines per day. The first batch of fifty machines, plus all supporting equipment, will be delivered in four and a half days."

The robotic arm extends.

Sparks flew. The conveyor belt turned. The silver-white Terminator skeleton took shape inch by inch on the production line.

Li Yichen leaned against the isolation wall for twenty minutes, and after confirming that everything was normal, he turned and walked out.

My phone vibrated at that moment.

Caller: Chen Jianjun.

He paused for a moment. Then the call connected.

"Mr. Li," Chen Jianjun's voice was much more relaxed than three days ago, with the tone even rising slightly at the end. "The official reply from above has arrived."

Li Yichen leaned against the corridor wall. "You may speak."

"Two conditions—full approval."

Chen Jianjun speaks slowly, but every word is delivered with conviction.

"First, your lunar landing program has been designated as a nationally supported project. From now on, all controlled materials will be processed through a fast track, eliminating the need for step-by-step approvals. Second, all materials required for cold fusion will be supplied under the unified coordination of our Equipment Development Department. The goods will be shipped to your designated location tomorrow."

Li Yichen's lips twitched upwards.

Green light.

It's fully open.

He switched the phone to his other hand. "What about my end? Let's make a deal."

"Miniature pulse engine and pressure-resistant flight suit—that's the five words on it." Chen Jianjun paused, his voice carrying a layer of solemnity, "A revolutionary technology."

"That settles it then." Li Yichen straightened up from the wall. "I've already packaged the complete technical documentation into two encrypted USB drives. You can send someone to pick them up."

The sound of paper turning came from Chen Jianjun's end.

"Also—Commander Xiao asked me to pass on a message to you."

Li Yichen raised an eyebrow. "What did Old Master Xiao say?"

Chen Jianjun coughed lightly and read aloud in Xiao Jingshan's tone: "This kid is more troublesome than anyone else. But everything he creates is a national treasure. Tell him we can discuss all other conditions. There's only one condition—once the product is made, the state has priority to use it."

Li Yichen laughed.

"General Chen, please tell Commander Xiao to rest assured. I am a citizen of Great Xia, and of course, anything I create will be given priority for my own people. Want to buy from outside? No way!"

"Okay." Chen Jianjun chuckled. "Then I'll send someone over this afternoon to pick up the USB drive."

"I'm ready to serve you anytime."

The phone hangs up.

Li Yichen put his phone back in his pocket and stood in the empty corridor for three seconds.

Ling'er peeked her little head out from under her sleeve, her two pixelated eyes shining so brightly they were almost smoking.

"Dude! Do you know how flashy that move was?"

Speak like a human.

"You traded two technologies for the freedom to land on the moon and all the material support for cold fusion!" Ling'er counted on her fingers. "Those two technologies combined in the system shop are only worth two technology points."

She paused.

"And once a cold fusion reactor is built, its value will be..."

"It's immeasurable," Li Yichen finished for her.

Ling'er nodded vigorously, her ponytail slapping against the back of her head with a crackling sound.

"Brother, you've made a fortune!"

5:40 PM.

The special envoy sent by Chen Jianjun arrived on time. Two middle-aged men in plainclothes presented a military order with encrypted clearance from the Central Military Commission.

Li Yichen handed two silver-gray USB drives to the other party. The palm-sized metal casings contained something that would allow the Great Xia Air Force to leapfrog an entire generation.

The handover was completed with signatures and fingerprint verification. The envoy placed the USB drive into a special shielded box to prevent electromagnetic radiation, locked it, and left.

It takes no more than four minutes from beginning to end.

Clean and neat.

Li Yichen watched the black official car drive out of the factory area, its taillights disappearing into the twilight.

It was almost 8 o'clock when I got back to Tomson Riviera.

Miaomiao is still awake.

The little girl was drawing on the coffee table in the living room, her watercolors scattered all over the table. Hearing the door open, she snapped her head up.

"Brother! Come quick!"

She rushed over holding an A4 sheet of paper and almost tripped over her own slippers.

Li Yichen bent down to catch her and then held the painting up to his eyes.

A crooked red cylinder, its base painted a large blob of orange—that's a flame. A triangular cone is drawn at the top of the cylinder. Next to it is a gray, pitted circle.

Rocket. Moon.

"What is this?" He squatted down and blinked twice in agreement.

Miao Miao put her two little hands on her hips and raised her chin at a 30-degree angle.

"This is a drawing of a rocket flying to the moon! The art teacher said the best one can be displayed on the classroom wall!"

"Not bad," Li Yichen said, pointing to the crooked moon. "It's just that the moon is drawn a bit square."

"Those are lunar craters!" Miao Miao gave her a look that said, "How come you don't even know this?" "The teacher said the moon is full of craters!"

Li Yichen suppressed a laugh and returned the painting to her.

"Miaomiao, when your brother really sends a rocket to the moon, I'll send you the first picture."

The little girl jumped up.

"Really?! My brother's going to the moon?!"

She gripped his trouser legs with both hands, her round eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

"Could you help me get a moonstone? I want to take it to school to show Tongtong! She'll be so envious!"

"must."

Miao Miao jumped up and down with joy, then ran back to the coffee table with the painting in her arms, muttering, "I want to draw a few more rockets to give to my brother."

Li Niannian peeked out from the kitchen. "Brother Li, I saved a bowl of pork rib soup for you, it's keeping it warm in the pot. Would you like some?"

"Hmm." Li Yichen nodded, then kicked off his shoes and walked towards the sofa.

Ji Yanran was sitting at the other end of the sofa, her laptop on her lap. Hearing him approach, she closed the screen and looked at Li Yichen.

"Boss, you seem to be in a good mood today."

"Is there some good news?"

At this moment, Li Niannian came over with a bowl of pork rib soup and handed it over.

Li Yichen took the pork rib soup, took a big gulp, then placed the bowl on the coffee table and leaned back into the sofa, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"Um."

"What good news?"

"All roads are now open."

Ji Yanran naturally understood Li Yichen's words. After all, she had learned from Li Yichen in the past few days that he had been summoned for questioning by his superiors.

Since Li Yichen said all the roads are open, then there shouldn't be any trouble!

She looked away and continued typing. The smile at the corner of her mouth was so faint it was almost imperceptible.

But the weight that had been hanging over my heart for several days finally lifted.

The living room was quiet for a while. The only sounds were Miao Miao's watercolor brushes on the paper and Li Niannian washing dishes in the kitchen.

Just then, Miaomiao ran over and shoved the second rocket she had just finished drawing into his hand.

"Brother! This drawing has two rockets! One big and one small! The big one is yours, and the small one is mine!"

Li Yichen opened his eyes and looked down at the crumpled drawing paper.

Next to the giant rocket, two words were written crookedly.

"elder brother."