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

"Ten billion?" Liu Guoliang's voice rose a half-octave, clearly jolted awake from his half-dream by those three words. "You're calling me at 11 PM to tell me you need ten billion worth of materials? Xiao Li, are you so rich you've lost your mind?"

Li Yichen switched the phone to the other earpiece and rested it on the headrest of the driver's seat.

"Brother Liu, I am perfectly sober."

"Then tell me, what are you going to do with 10 billion worth of military-grade materials? Just pile them up and look at them?"

"Build two thousand Terminators."

The person on the other end of the phone paused for a moment.

Then Liu Guoliang's voice rose two octaves higher than before: "Two—two thousand units? Li Yichen, are you crazy? What are you trying to do with two thousand Terminators? Are you starting a rebellion?"

Li Yichen was amused by this remark.

"Brother Liu, you're overthinking it. My aerospace base is building a large research and development facility, and we're just using these Terminators as a construction team—working 24/7, nothing more.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Liu Guoliang's tone changed from agitated to doubtful.

"Construction team...you're using a Terminator as a contractor?"

"What else can we do? The deadline is tight, and even three shifts of ordinary workers can't keep up with my schedule. Robots don't need to eat or sleep, and their efficiency is maximized."

Liu Guoliang didn't reply immediately, and Li Yichen could almost hear the sound of teeth grinding on the other end of the phone—the old man was weighing his options.

We need to add fuel to the fire.

"How about this, Brother Liu?" Li Yichen's tone was as relaxed as if he were discussing what to have for lunch the next day. "Once my project is finished, I'll resell these two thousand Terminators to your military region. I'll give you a discount—15 million each, 30 billion for two thousand. That's a significant discount from the original price, how about it?"

The breathing on the other end of the phone suddenly became heavy.

Li Yichen's lips curled up slightly.

Two thousand Terminator drones. If the Shanghai Military Region takes them all, their combat power will increase several times over. Liu Guoliang's mental abacus must be practically smoking by now.

really.

"Okay." Liu Guoliang's voice deepened, carrying the decisiveness characteristic of someone making a decision. "I'll help you coordinate the materials. But let me make this clear upfront—10 billion is no small sum. I'll have to allocate it in batches, and it will all be in place within ten days at the latest."

"Ten days is enough."

"Also, those two thousand Terminators—don't you dare sell them to anyone else."

"Brother Liu, don't you know me? I said I'd leave it to you, so I'll leave it to you."

"Hmph." Liu Guoliang snorted. "Alright, I'll sign the transfer order first thing tomorrow morning. You brat—could you please stop calling people in the middle of the night to scare them?"

"I promise there won't be a next time."

"You said the same thing last time."

*Click*, the call ended.

Li Yichen tossed his phone onto the passenger seat and let out a long sigh.

The watch lit up. Ling'er popped out from the edge of the watch face, her two little hands pointing up with thumbs up, her expression mischievous.

"Brother, your ability to make empty promises is truly exceptional. By using the 'second-hand Terminator' to whet Liu Guoliang's appetite, it's no wonder he's hooked."

"Don't talk nonsense, everything I said is true."

"Yes, really, really." Ling'er shrank back, adding as she finished, "But you didn't tell him what you were going to do with those two thousand Terminators, right?"

Li Yichen didn't reply, started the car and drove into the night.

-

The next day.

Ling'er received a message early in the morning: Liu Guoliang signed an emergency allocation order overnight, and the first batch of materials worth 3 billion yuan has been loaded onto trucks and is expected to arrive at Future Aerospace Group tomorrow morning.

The efficiency is truly astonishing. No wonder he was hooked by two thousand Terminators.

In the days that followed, the precision laboratory building was completely transformed into a steel furnace.

Twenty machine tools hummed day and night, the servo motors never ceasing their buzzing. Every seven minutes, a silver-white Terminator skeleton slid out from the end of the production line, precise to the second. Ling'er oversaw the entire operation—from raw material cutting and joint assembly to hydrogen fuel cell embedding, every process was interconnected, like a perfectly functioning giant clock.

For the first three days, Li Yichen went to the workshop every day.

On the fourth day, he realized that he was completely superfluous standing there. Ling'er's control was impeccable; not even a single bolt's torque deviation had occurred.

He completely abandoned his responsibilities as a manager.

Meanwhile, Ji Yanran acted even faster.

The registration, qualification approval, and brand VI of the security robot subsidiary were all carried out simultaneously and completed within a week. The company was named "Future Guardian," and its first product, a security terminator equipped with bionic skin and indistinguishable from a real person, was priced at ten million.

The news caused an uproar in the wealthy circles the very day it was released.

One afternoon at the end of January, Ji Yanran pushed open the door to the president's office.

"The first batch of thirty units sold out in less than a week."

She walked to the desk and sat down, speaking a beat faster than usual, her face brimming with barely concealed excitement.

"Our clients are all big bosses—Mr. Lei, Mr. Wang, Mr. Wei, Mr. Ren, all of whom have cooperated with us. There are still more than seventy people on the waiting list."

Li Yichen leaned back in his chair and nodded.

"Control the pace; don't exceed the limit of 100 units per month."

"I know, it's a scarcity marketing strategy."

After Ji Yanran finished speaking, she paused for a moment, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"By the way, your space base has been making quite a stir lately. Liu Ruyan reported to me a 50 billion yuan in funding and a large amount of materials being put into storage... What exactly are you up to over there?"

"Build a house."

Ji Yanran rolled her eyes at him. Knowing better than to press the matter further, she picked up her folder, got up, and left.

-

Seventh day.

Ling'er reports: A total of 1,400 complete Terminator units have been taken offline, and all have passed self-inspection. The dock foundation was completed ahead of schedule thanks to the round-the-clock construction of the first batch of 200 Terminators—a 500-meter-long and 100-meter-wide reinforced concrete rectangular platform has taken shape, and one-third of the surrounding wall framework has been erected.

When Liu Ruyan called, her tone revealed the shock of having her understanding of the world completely shattered.

"Mr. Li, your 'construction teams' really don't eat, drink, or sleep. I went to the construction site and it was the first time I'd ever seen a construction site where you couldn't even find a single instant noodle container."

Li Yichen chuckled: "Not bad, right?"

"It's more than just good. At this rate, the dock can be completed within a month."

On the same day, the final batch of materials promised by Liu Guoliang arrived at the base by a convoy of heavy military trucks. Ten billion yuan worth of military supplies were all delivered within ten days.

do as promised.

-

The morning of the tenth day.

Ling'er's voice came from the watch, her tone carrying a hint of solemnity.

"Bro, all two thousand full-version Terminator units are offline. Activation test passed 100%."

Li Yichen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the precision laboratory building and looked down.

In the square, two thousand Terminator drones stood in formation. Their silvery-white metal frames gleamed coldly in the morning light, and the faint glow of their dark red sensors blended together, like a layer of stars spread across the ground. The formation stretched as far as the eye could see.

Ling'er floated on his shoulder and glanced down.

"Brother, this kind of spectacle would be the final battle scene in a sci-fi movie."

Li Yichen ignored her teasing and took out his phone.

Ling'er simultaneously pushed over a progress report from the lunar base—the first batch of rare earth mineral crystals, totaling approximately 800 tons, has been refined and is being loaded into the rocket's cargo bay. It is expected to ignite on the moon and return to Earth in three days.

He put away his phone and dialed Liu Ruyan's number.

"Mr. Liu, I've come over here. There's something we can discuss in person."

Twenty minutes later.

The final assembly workshop of Future Aerospace Group.

Liu Ruyan, dressed in blue overalls, waited at the door, and the two walked in side by side.

"The lunar return rocket will land in three days. How are the preparations going on the sea platform?"

"The reinforcement is complete, and the load-bearing capacity is not a problem. The team will be on standby tomorrow."

"Okay." Li Yichen nodded. "Also, we need to continue sending supplies to the moon. The Lingxiao-2 rocket's carrying capacity is insufficient. What's the progress on the new rocket?"

Liu Ruyan paused for a moment, a smile playing on her lips, a hint of undisguised pride flashing in her eyes.

"Come with me."

She led him around three rows of scaffolding to the deepest part of the workshop. Three enormous, colossal structures came into Li Yichen's view.

A giant white rocket, over twenty meters in diameter, stands prominently, resembling a pillar reaching to the sky from the bottom. Three of them are arranged side by side, filling the entire length of the workshop.

Li Yichen looked up, his gaze sweeping from the bottom of the thirty densely packed engine nozzles all the way up, his neck almost stretched to its limit before he could see the tips.

Liu Ruyan walked to his side and pointed vaguely at the steel behemoth in front of them.

"Lingxiao III. Each rocket is equipped with thirty aurora variable cycle engines, has a total height of 150 meters, and a total thrust of 15,000 tons. Its effective payload is 3,000 tons—twice that of Lingxiao II."

She paused for a moment, and the pride in her voice could no longer be concealed.

"Moreover, once fully loaded with super fuel, the one-way range is enough to fly to the moon and back, so we don't have to use up all three fuels like last time."

Li Yichen walked halfway around the bottom engine cluster, where thirty nozzles were neatly arranged, exuding an industrial aesthetic.

He patted Liu Ruyan on the shoulder.

"Well done."

Liu Ruyan smiled, a rare hint of embarrassment showing on her face.

After leaving the final assembly workshop, Li Yichen stood on the observation platform at the top of the base.

On the left—at the shipyard construction site, a formation of Terminators shuttled between steel beams, the arcs of welding rising and falling, day and night.

On the right—three 150-meter-tall Lingxiao-3 rockets, their silvery-white tips peeking out through the workshop's skylight, point directly at the gray-blue sky.

Ling'er peeked out from her watch, her gaze following his eyes as she swept around.

"Brother, the lunar mineral crystals will arrive in three days, the dock will be completed within a month, and all two thousand Terminators will be in place..."

Her voice softened by half a degree.

"Your space carrier is really about to begin."

The sea breeze blew in from afar, carrying a salty, damp scent that seeped into Li Yichen's open coat.

He looked at the blurry line where the sea and sky met in the distance, and his lips twitched slightly.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

Ling'er's notification sounded simultaneously: "Brother, emergency communication from the lunar base—the rocket cargo bay was loaded twelve hours ahead of schedule. We are expected to return to Earth on time in three days."

Li Yichen glanced down at the countdown numbers flashing on his wristwatch.

Seventy-two hours.

He turned and walked downstairs, his pace twice as fast as when he came.