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

Three white lines move slowly across the large screen, jumping data every few seconds.

It's been more than four hours.

There were over three hundred people in the command center, and not one of them stepped out of that door. Some people leaned against the wall and dozed off, only to be startled awake by themselves; some people refilled their coffee to the fifth cup, took two sips, and then put it down; some people simply stood there without moving, not even changing their posture when their legs went numb.

Ji Yanran sat on the folding chair in the corner, holding a paper cup in her hand. The coffee had long since gone cold, and a brown stain had formed around the inside of the cup. She neither drank it nor put it down; she just held it there.

Li Yichen has been standing there since the first minute. Hands in pockets, back straight, gaze fixed on the three dots in the center of the screen. In six hours, he has shifted his weight twice, but otherwise made no other movements.

Ling'er came out every ten minutes to report the number.

"There are still 43,000 kilometers to go to the lunar orbit injection point."

"The three rockets are in normal attitude and the communication link is stable."

"Fuel consumption is within expectations."

Her tone was much calmer than usual. There was no bouncing around, no coquettishness, no fancy emojis. She just uttered each word clearly, as steady as a metronome.

The fifth hour.

Three rockets entered the moon's gravitational field. The trajectory lines on the large screen curved, turning from straight diagonal lines into bends. Deceleration and braking began.

"Entering lunar orbit."

Liu Ruyan's voice came through the radio.

Someone in the command center breathed a sigh of relief, and the chair creaked. But many more people leaned forward, their necks tensing even more.

Entering orbit is not the end.

Landing is what matters.

Li Yichen had studied the topographic map of the lunar south pole region no less than a hundred times. Craters nested within craters, with debris belts along the cliff edges, leaving pitifully small flat areas suitable for landing. The slightest deviation could turn a payload of several thousand tons into a new crater on the lunar surface.

He spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the room heard him.

"Ling'er, landing control is now yours. Full autonomy."

On the watch, Ling'er's little figure stands straight, her two little hands pressed against the seam of her trousers.

"Received. Don't worry, brother."

The last hour.

The three rockets departed lunar orbit and began their descent.

The altitude figures are dropping. One hundred kilometers. Eighty. Sixty. Forty.

The large screen switched to live feeds from three landing cameras. The gray lunar surface drew closer and became clearer. The edges of the craters were sharp as knife cuts, and the shadowed areas were pitch black, with no reference points to be found.

Ji Yanran didn't know when she stood up. She didn't even realize it herself. By the time she came to her senses, she was already two steps behind Li Yichen.

She didn't say anything. She just stood there.

The altitude is 5,000 meters.

Ling'er spoke half a beat faster: "Abnormal accumulation of debris was detected on the surface of the No. 1 landing area, and the deviation exceeds the safety threshold."

In the command center, several engineers' hands hovered above the keyboard, their knuckles turning white.

"The landing coordinates are being corrected in real time, shifting 320 meters to the northwest."

Li Yichen's brow twitched.

He didn't say anything.

three seconds.

"An alternative landing site has been identified; the terrain is smoother than the original plan. Continue descent."

Ling'er's voice returned to its usual calm and even tone.

Li Yichen exhaled a very soft breath. Those nearby wouldn't have heard it at all.

The altitude is one kilometer.

500 meters.

Two hundred meters.

One hundred meters.

More than 300 people in the command center suffocated.

Ji Yanran realized she was clenching her fists, her nails digging into her palms, and only when it hurt did she realize what was happening.

Liu Ruyan braced her hands on the edge of the control panel, the veins on the back of her hands bulging. Her lips moved silently, as if counting down.

Fifty meters.

Twenty meters.

ten meters.

In the footage, gray dust on the lunar surface is blown away by the engine's exhaust flames, spreading outwards to form a ring of white mist.

The landing leg extends.

contact.

The status bar for Rocket No. 1 changed from yellow to green.

"Number One has landed successfully." Ling'er announced, her tone so steady it seemed unreal.

No one dared to utter a sound.

There are two more.

Thirty seconds later, number two. The green light came on.

Twenty seconds later. Number three. The dust on the lunar surface dissipated, and the landing legs firmly planted themselves in the lunar soil.

Three green lights.

They are arranged in a row in the very center of the large screen.

Ling'er's voice finally trembled: "All three rockets have landed successfully! The distance between them is 870 meters, all within the safe range! The payloads are intact! The cold fusion reactor is functioning normally! The communication link is stable!"

More than 300 people exploded at the same time.

Shouts, table-slamming, and chair-overturning filled the air. Some people jumped up and clung tightly to their colleagues, some covered their faces with their hands and squatted on the ground, their shoulders trembling, and some kept shouting even when their voices were hoarse.

A keyboard was knocked away, three coffee cups were overturned, and brown liquid dripped down the edge of the table, but nobody cared.

Li Yichen stood still.

His hands were still in his pockets, but the lines of his shoulders relaxed. It was as if a string that had been stretched for six hours had been untied from the inside.

The corners of her mouth curved into a small, but deep smile.

He turned around.

He happened to meet Liu Ruyan's gaze.

She stood beside the control panel. She didn't jump, didn't shout, and didn't hug anyone.

Just standing there.

His hands slid off the table and hung at his sides. His lips were pressed into a thin line.

Then tears fell.

Not just one or two. They fell in clusters, landing on the chest of the white overalls, leaving dark, round spots.

She tried desperately to tilt her head back to hold it in, but she couldn't control it at all. Her shoulders were shaking, her chin was shaking, and even her breathing was broken.

Countless sleepless nights. Countless times I was woken up by phone in the middle of the night to rush to the base. Countless meals of boxed lunches that went cold after a couple of bites at my desk.

They all rushed up.

Li Yichen walked over.

Without saying a word, he simply stretched out his arms and pulled her into his embrace.

The movements were extremely natural.

Liu Ruyan froze for half a second, then grabbed his shirt from the back with both hands, gripping it tightly.

She buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. Her voice, muffled by the fabric, was indistinct: "It's...it really is..."

Li Yichen patted her on the back.

Her voice was so low that only she could hear it: "You've worked hard, Ruyan."

The hug lasted for about ten seconds.

The cheers around them were so loud that most people were so caught up in their own elation that they didn't even notice what was happening.

But Ji Yanran noticed it.

She stood three steps away, her arms crossed in front of her chest, watching Li Yichen's hand gently fall on Liu Ruyan's back.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

A sentence popped into my head.

Okay, another one.

Then she looked away and gazed at the three steadily lit green lights on the large screen.

Never mind. Today is a big day.

Just pretend you didn't see these trivial matters.

Liu Ruyan released her grip and took a step back, quickly wiping her face with the back of her hand; her ears were bright red. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and turned to face the control panel.

The voice returned to its usual crispness, although the nasal tone hadn't completely disappeared.

"Attention all groups, post-landing detection procedures initiated. Cold fusion reactor power-on self-test, Terminator activated in batches, 3D printing equipment deployed for testing. Provide me with status reports for all payloads within half an hour."

The engineers snapped out of their revelry and sat back down at their workstations, their fingers clattering across the keyboards.

Li Yichen took two steps back and put his hands back into his pockets.

Ling'er's voice drifted from the watch, hushed enough for only he to hear: "Brother, the surface temperature at the lunar south pole is -173 degrees Celsius. The first batch of Terminators has received activation instructions. They should 'wake up' in thirty seconds."

Li Yichen looked up at the gray lunar wasteland on the big screen.

380,000 kilometers away. More than 400 silver-white robots are emerging from the cargo hold, setting foot on land that no intelligent entity has ever set foot on before.

The raw materials for vibranium are buried beneath that eternal darkness.

Ji Yanran walked to his side. Her voice was very low, but the emotion in her tone was unmistakable.

"Boss, you're awesome."

This isn't flattery. These are two words that come from the heart.

Li Yichen turned his head to look at her and smiled.

"Let's go back."

Ji Yanran nodded. The two walked side by side toward the entrance of the command center.

As Li Yichen reached the door, he suddenly stopped.

He turned around, looking past the excited heads filling the room, and looked at Liu Ruyan, who was standing next to the control panel assigning tasks.

"Like smoke".

Liu Ruyan looked up.

Li Yichen's gaze swept over everyone present. More than three hundred faces, flushed, excited, tear-streaked, and smiling.

"And you all."

His voice wasn't loud, but the command center fell silent instantly.

Pack your things quickly and go home for a good New Year. See you after the New Year.

There was a pause.

"The five-fold year-end bonus I promised you will be deposited into your account shortly."

There was a two-second silence.

Then—an even wilder cheer erupted than when the landing was successful.

Before they could finish processing what he'd said, Li Yichen waved his hand, opened the door, and left.

Ji Yanran followed him into the corridor. Outside the glass curtain wall was the sea in January, sunlight spreading across the water like scattered gold.

The cheers continued behind them.

Liu Ruyan's voice pierced through the crowd as she methodically assigned tasks, though her nasal tone hadn't completely disappeared.

Ji Yanran walked half a step behind Li Yichen and looked up at the floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the corridor.

The sky outside the window is very blue, without a single cloud.

Meanwhile, on the lunar surface 380,000 kilometers away, more than 400 Terminators are lined up, treading on the gray lunar soil, heading towards that permanently shadowed area.