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

"Congratulations, your credit limit is 150,000 yuan."

150,000.

Li Yichen rubbed his fingers together and clicked to confirm the loan disbursement.

Almost at the same second, a text message notification sounded – the money had arrived.

He didn't linger; he exited immediately and opened the second app. Under review. The third, under review. The fourth—

"Congratulations, your credit limit is 100,000 yuan."

One hundred thousand.

Point, loan disbursement, funds arrive in account.

The fifth one—

"The credit limit is 80,000 yuan."

Eighty thousand. That works too.

One after another, my phone was ringing non-stop. The text message notifications kept going off like firecrackers during Chinese New Year.

Li Yichen leaned against the headboard, his fingers mechanically tapping across the screen. Register, verify, apply, loan disbursement, funds arriving—the cycle repeated endlessly. With each number that popped up, his heart skipped a beat.

100,000, 120,000, 80,000, 150,000, 90,000...

None of the transactions were below 80,000.

This was beyond his expectations. He had been mentally prepared, fearing he might encounter platforms that only offered a few thousand yuan. But he didn't get any. It was probably because his age, education, and credit history met the requirements perfectly, and each platform gave him near-maximum credit limits.

Or perhaps—these platforms would love for you to borrow more. The more you borrow, the higher the interest rate, and the more money they make.

Normally, Li Yichen wouldn't dare touch this kind of money.

Online lending is easy to get into but hard to get out. Countless people have gotten themselves into debt because they took out their first loan, then borrowed more to pay off another, creating a bigger and bigger hole until they were completely ruined.

But things are different now.

He has a time travel card.

This isn't gambling, this is cheating.

Time passed second by second.

At 11:43 a.m., the last loan notification popped up on the app.

Li Yichen tapped on his bank card balance, his thumb hovering over the screen for three seconds.

3,271,600 yuan.

Three million two hundred and seventy-one thousand six hundred.

Adding the 13,000 he already had in his account, it made a total of 3,284,600.

He stared at the number, his mind buzzing.

More than three million. For him, this was a number he never dared to dream of. Last month he was still worrying about rent, but this month, the balance in his bank account was more than all the money he had earned in his more than twenty years of life.

Of course, the money wasn't his.

Every single penny was borrowed. Nearly forty online loans, with interest rates ranging from 6% to 36% annualized. If he doesn't repay, collection calls will bombard his phone, and his credit score will be ruined for life.

But that's under "normal circumstances".

He, Li Yichen, is no longer in a normal situation.

He poured over three million yuan into the 2016 Bitcoin market. At $600 per coin, how many could he buy? At the exchange rate at the time, the RMB to USD exchange rate was roughly 6.7. Three million two hundred and eighty thousand divided by six point seven, then divided by six hundred—

Approximately eight hundred.

Eight hundred Bitcoins.

Li Yichen checked and found that the current market price of Bitcoin is about 500,000 RMB per coin.

Eight hundred multiplied by five hundred thousand equals four hundred million! Just thinking about it is exciting.

Li Yichen held his phone to his chest, lay flat on his back, and stared straight at the ceiling.

My heart was pounding in my chest.

Over four hundred million. Even with a discount, and if half of it goes wrong, it's still over two hundred million. Over two hundred million! He couldn't earn that much money in his lifetime, no, in eight lifetimes.

And what's the price? The price is a time-travel card and 24 hours.

made money.

Makes a killing.

Li Yichen closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. His heart was beating too fast; if this continued, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

No rush, no rush. Time travel isn't something that can be rushed. Get some sleep first and recharge. Time travel is a 24-hour process, so every minute needs to be carefully planned. I can't let staying up all night cloud my judgment and cause mistakes in crucial operations.

He rolled over and tucked his phone under his pillow.

The alarm clock is set for 8 a.m.

-

My phone vibrated.

Li Yichen groggily pulled it out from under his pillow, squinted, and turned off the alarm clock. 8:01 AM.

The light from outside the window shone through the dirty curtains and cast a white line on the floor.

He sat up and stretched his neck a couple of times.

My mind was still a bit foggy, but the thought of that number in my bank account instantly cleared my head.

Let's go out and grab something to eat first. Once we're full, we'll come back and get cooking.

Li Yichen put on his coat, opened the door to his rented room, and walked down the stairs. The building was an old residential building, and half of the light bulbs in the stairwell were broken, making it dim even during the day.

Go down to the first floor and push open the unit door—

There were three people standing at the door.

An elderly man with gray hair, a middle-aged man in a dark jacket, and a little boy of eight or nine years old.

Three people stood at the top of the stairs, looking around, clearly waiting for someone.

Li Yichen paused for a moment.

The little boy stood beside the middle-aged man, looking up into the stairwell. He had a round face, short hair, and a band-aid on his left temple.

This child...

Li Yichen frowned slightly. The face looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen it before. Perhaps he'd bumped into it in the neighborhood? He walked this route to and from get off work every day and occasionally ran into the neighbor's child.

Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. I'm going to eat first.

He lifted his foot, preparing to walk around the group.

A hand suddenly grabbed his arm.

The force wasn't great, but it was urgent, with a trembling characteristic of the elderly.

"benefactor!"

The old man's voice was almost a shout, and his throat was trembling.

"My benefactor! I've finally found you!"

Li Yichen froze on the spot.

benefactor?

He looked down at the hand that was tightly gripping his arm—the veins were bulging, the nails were neatly trimmed, and there were a few age spots on the back of the hand.

Then I looked up at the old man's face. He was in his sixties or seventies, dressed very respectably, wearing a gray cashmere sweater under a dark blue vest. He wasn't the kind of old man who would just casually set up a stall on the roadside.

But he didn't actually know this person.

scam?

There are all sorts of scams these days: staged accidents, fake family reunions, people who start crying and wailing. Just the other day, I saw a video online of an old woman clinging to a young man on the roadside, insisting he was her lost son.

But judging from the old man's clothes and his genuine excitement, it didn't seem like he was acting.

Li Yichen took half a step back and gently pulled his arm out.

"Grandpa, are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else? I don't know you. How could you claim to be my benefactor?"

The old man got anxious, grabbed the little boy next to him, and pushed the child in front of Li Yichen.

"How could I mistake him! My benefactor, have you forgotten? Yesterday afternoon, by the river! You saved a child who had fallen into the water! It was him! It was my grandson!"

riverside.

Falling into the water.

child.

These three words formed a line in Li Yichen's mind.

He suddenly looked down at the little boy in front of him.

Round face, short hair, a band-aid on her forehead—

Right.

Yesterday afternoon, he was passing by the river when he saw a child struggling in the water, while several people nearby shouted but didn't do anything. Without thinking, he took off his coat and jumped in. After pulling the child out and handing him over to the onlookers, he left. He didn't even have time to wring out his coat.

So the child was brought here by his family?

How did they find this place?

The little boy looked up at Li Yichen and blinked.

"Big brother."

The voice wasn't loud, but it was crisp and clear. After shouting that, the little boy bent down and knelt on the ground with both knees.

Li Yichen quickly grabbed the child's arm.

"No, no, no, don't kneel. Get up, get up."

He helped the child up and waved his hand.

"It was nothing. Anyone would have done the same; there was really no need for this."

The middle-aged man, who had witnessed this scene, had tears welling up in his eyes. He stepped forward, grasped Li Yichen's right hand with both of his, and shook it vigorously twice.

"Young man!"

The middle-aged man's voice was steady, but one could hear the suppressed excitement beneath.

"Our family has only had one son for three generations. You saved my son, which means you preserved our family line. I will remember this kindness for the rest of my life."

He released his grip, took a step back, and looked Li Yichen up and down.

"You rescued the child yesterday and left without even leaving your name. I searched all night, pulled several strings, and checked nearby surveillance footage before I finally found this address."

All night. Checking surveillance footage. Several layers of connections.

Li Yichen weighed the weight of those words in his mind. Ordinary people don't have that kind of ability.

The middle-aged man took something out of the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to Li Yichen with both hands.

A bank card.

Deep blue, without any fancy decorations.

"I know you young people face a lot of pressure in Shanghai. I'm just an ordinary person, not good at sweet talk. This is just a small token of our family's appreciation, please accept it."

The middle-aged man paused for a moment.

"The password is six ones."

Li Yichen looked at the card but didn't reach for it.

"Really, no need. I didn't think that much about it yesterday, it just happened to be there. I can't accept this money."

The middle-aged man's smile faded slightly. Not from anger, but from seriousness.

"Young man, I can't live with myself if you don't accept it. You saved my son's life, what would people say if I didn't show any appreciation? Besides—"

He lowered his voice slightly.

"I don't like owing favors. Especially not the kind that saves my life. If you accept this card today, we're even. If you don't... then I'll always owe you. I can't sleep if I owe someone something."

Now that things have come to this point...

Li Yichen declined a couple more times, but the middle-aged man was adamant, and the old man kept saying, "Please accept it, please accept it."

Fine.

Received.

What they said makes sense. For wealthy people, things that can be settled with money aren't really problems. A bank card can buy off a life-saving favor; in their eyes, that's a very worthwhile deal.

Conversely, he is indeed short of money right now.

Last night I borrowed over three million yuan from online loans, which sounds scary, but if I actually invested it in the Bitcoin market, it would translate to a holding of around eight hundred coins. If I had a little more capital, even just a few dozen more coins, that would have meant an extra few million dollars in profit.

Money delivered to your doorstep is money you shouldn't refuse.

The middle-aged man visibly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Li Yichen take the card.

"Okay! Okay, okay."

He patted Li Yichen on the shoulder and pulled a business card from his pocket, handing it to him.

"My name is Chen Weidong. If you need anything in Shanghai, feel free to call this number anytime. No matter what it is."

Li Yichen nodded and put the business card and bank card into his pocket.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chen Weidong led the elderly man and the child outside. The little boy turned back at the door, glanced at Li Yichen, and waved.

Goodbye, big brother.

Li Yichen waved to him.

The three people exited the building and turned right.

A car was parked on the side of the road.

It was black. The car was very long. Sunlight shone on the hood, reflecting a soft light.

Maybach.

Li Yichen stood at the door, watching the car silently glide away, merge into the morning rush hour traffic, and disappear around the corner.

He looked away and lowered his head.

The bank card lay lightly in my palm, no different from a regular bank card.

But the amount on a card given by someone who drives a Maybach is definitely not on the same level as the amount on a card given by an ordinary person.

Tens of thousands?

Hundreds of thousands?

Li Yichen flipped the card over and glanced at it. The back was clean and clear; nothing could be seen on it.

Forget it.

Let's have breakfast first.

He put the card back in his pocket and walked towards the steamed bun shop at the entrance of the alley.

My fingers unconsciously traced the edge of the card in my pocket. The PIN was six ones. I could just check it at an ATM.

But there's no rush.

Let's talk after we finish eating.

The steamer baskets at the steamed bun shop were steaming hot. He was at the back of the line, and he took out his phone and swiped it a couple of times.

The card in his pocket was digging painfully into his thigh.

It was his turn.

"Two meat buns and a bowl of soy milk."

The proprietress put the steamed buns into a bag and handed them to him. Li Yichen paid, took a bite of the bun, and turned to walk into the alley.

On the right, twenty meters away, a Bank of China ATM is embedded in the wall, its screen glowing blue.

Li Yichen chewed on a steamed bun, slowing his pace.

He stood in front of the ATM, biting his bun in his mouth, and took out the card from his pocket.

Insert the card.

Enter the password: 111111.

The screen flickered.

"Check Balance".

point.

The numbers on the screen popped up line by line.

Li Yichen forgot to chew the bun in his mouth.