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

"What's going on?" Li Yichen answered the phone with one hand while his other hand was already reaching for his car keys.

The person on the other end of the phone stammered, "Well... it's hard to explain over the phone, you should come and see for yourself."

"Is it due to human error or equipment?"

"No, it's just... you'll see when you get here."

After Li Yichen hung up the phone, he waved to Liu Ruyan and said, "Keep an eye on the mothership. I'm going to check on things in Pudong."

Tank 700 was ejected from the space dock entrance, the roar of its V8 engine exploding on the elevated road in the dead of night. Li Yichen floored the accelerator, the speedometer needle swung to the right.

He reduced the 40-minute journey to 22 minutes.

The gates of the Pudong Shipyard can be seen from afar. After Ji Yanran bought the place for 320 billion, two layers of barbed wire were added around it, and four Terminator drones stood at the entrance as guards. Li Yichen's license plate had the highest level of access in the recognition system, so the barrier rose immediately.

The car skidded to a stop, and Li Yichen got out.

The scene before me was completely different from what it had been a few months ago. The civilian berths where cargo ships used to be moored had been completely cleared away, and a whole dustproof curtain covered the entire 300,000-ton-class giant dry dock, keeping everything inside completely covered.

Old Zhao was already waiting at the entrance of the dock, looking pale and sweating profusely.

Here's a side note: Lao Zhao is one of Liu Ruyan's most capable researchers, and also one of the people in charge of the shipyard that Liu Ruyan sent over.

"Speak! What exactly happened?" Li Yichen walked over with a dark face, his steps quick and heavy.

Old Zhao rubbed his hands together, moved his lips twice, and led him into the dock.

The moment the aluminum alloy gate opened, the panoramic lighting inside the dock blazed brightly. Li Yichen glanced up, his steps faltering slightly.

The Xuanwu-class carrier spacecraft, 500 meters long and 120 meters wide, lay quietly at the bottom of the dry dock. Its superconducting tungsten-gold outer shell was perfectly assembled, and the 30-meter-thick thrust plate at the tail gleamed with a dull bluish-gray metallic luster under the lights.

The main framework... is all pieced together.

There was no smoke, no explosion, no holes, and not even a single malfunctioning piece of equipment could be seen.

Li Yichen turned to look at Lao Zhao.

Old Zhao shrank back and smiled apologetically, "Mr. Li, please don't glare at me... that's just how it is."

"What's going on?"

"The progress... is ahead of schedule." Old Zhao pulled a crumpled work order from his pocket and handed it over with both hands.

"Your modular assembly design is absolutely insane. The precision of each module delivered is within 0.01 millimeters. Those Terminator lumps are strong, don't need to eat or sleep, and don't complain about low overtime pay. My 570 Terminators, working in three shifts, have been running for less than a month and a half—"

He pointed to the enormous vessel behind him.

"The main framework is complete. We finished half a month ahead of schedule."

Li Yichen stared at him for three seconds.

Old Zhao was sweating even more: "Now everyone's... bored out of their minds. The core module hasn't arrived yet, and the engine array is waiting in line. I have 570 Terminators under my command with nothing to do, just standing there like a ceremonial guard. I really don't know what to do, so I could only call you..."

There was a two-second silence.

"puff."

Li Yichen couldn't help but laugh.

He laughed twice, then kicked Old Zhao in the butt.

"Why are you calling for help when the schedule is ahead of schedule?!" He kicked with light but precise force, making Old Zhao stagger forward two steps. "'There's been a problem'? 'You'd better come and take a look'? It's like someone's trying to bomb your shipyard, you scared the hell out of me!"

Old Zhao, clutching his backside, cried out, "Mr. Li, please be gentle! This isn't the first time I've encountered something like this! I've been building rockets for over twenty years, and although this is my first time in charge of shipbuilding, this is the first time I've been so anxious about the pace of development!"

"Can't you just explain it clearly? Why do you have to play tricks on the phone?"

"I'm afraid you won't believe me if I tell you! Half a month ahead of schedule! Who would believe that!"

Li Yichen was too lazy to argue with him anymore, so he swung his arms and walked to the observation railing at the edge of the dock.

He leaned on the railing with both hands, looking down.

500 meters.

The figure looked alright on the blueprints, but when it became a real object and stood before your eyes, the sense of oppression was something the blueprints couldn't convey. The Xuanwu stretched from one end of the dock to the other, square and angular, with not a single extra curve to be found on its hull.

This thing is shockingly ugly.

It lacks a streamlined design and the elegant bow seen in science fiction movies. It's simply a rectangular iron box, its outer shell made of superconducting tungsten gold plates welded together piece by piece, the welds neat but rugged. The cargo hold doors occupy 70% of the entire side surface, and when opened, they can hold half a million tons of ore.

The most impressive part is the thrust plate at the stern. A 30-meter-thick, superconducting tungsten-gold monolithic casting, its diameter reaching the limit of the dock's width. This massive iron structure serves only one purpose—to absorb the terrifying impact of ten miniature nuclear explosions per second from the stern nuclear pulse thruster.

"Really ugly," Li Yichen muttered.

Old Zhao stood behind, not daring to respond.

But Li Yichen's eyes showed no disdain. He stared at the thrust plate for a long time, a smile playing on his lips.

There's no air resistance in space, so who cares about streamlined design? As long as it can carry things, as long as it can fly, as long as it can bring back that billions of tons of pure iron from Psyche, trip after trip.

This interstellar dump truck is qualified.

"When will the core module arrive?" he asked without turning his head.

"President Liu said the cold fusion array will be ready for shipment the day after tomorrow, and the navigation module is already on its way." Old Zhao flipped through his notebook. "At this rate, the system integration can be completed within ten days, and the maiden flight will be in two weeks."

"Two weeks," Li Yichen repeated the number to himself.

Two weeks later, this dump truck will be able to take off from Earth, accelerate to Mach 500, and arrive at Spirit Star in twenty days. Then, it will stuff half a million tons of ore into its belly and turn back.

The resource bottleneck on Earth has been completely resolved.

He stood in front of the railing for a few minutes, then turned and left.

"Install the modules as soon as they arrive; don't let the Terminator sit idle."

"clear!"

The Tank 700 drove back onto the elevated road. Li Yichen held the steering wheel with one hand and tapped his watch with the other.

Ling'er's projection appeared; the little girl had changed her pigtails to a bow and seemed to be in a good mood.

"Brother, is the Xuanwu alright?"

"It's alright, the progress was too fast and it scared the person in charge."

"Pfft—humans are so strange. They're anxious when they fall behind, and they're also anxious when they're ahead."

"Stop joking around." After stabilizing the car speed at 120 km/h, Li Yichen handed the car over to Ling'er to take control. "Pull up the global defense network deployment map for me."

A virtual projection unfolds a 3D model of the blue planet inside the car.

Thousands of bright dots are densely packed in low Earth orbit. Green ones are space laser interception satellites, orange ones are quantum communication base stations, and white ones are orbital energy base stations. This frenzied launch over the past month has already covered more than 20% of this network.

How many laser satellites have been deployed?

"Four hundred and thirty-seven." Ling'er pulled out a set of data, "Covering the entire airspace within sixty degrees north and south latitude, with blind spots in the polar regions. One hundred and ninety-two quantum communication base stations, the global network is complete, and zero latency has been achieved. Three hundred and eleven orbital energy base stations, enough to support ten percent of the planetary barrier's power."

"Ten percent?" Li Yichen glanced at the blank space in the polar region. "The progress is still a bit slow. We need to complete the launch of the orbital energy base station within two months as soon as possible."

There are also laser interception satellites, with plans to launch 10,000 by the end of the year, and quantum communication satellites—we shouldn't limit ourselves to Earth but start launching into deep space to expand the quantum global network.

"Received." Ling'er gave an OK sign and then switched the scene.

A white, misty world appeared on the screen.

A fierce wind, carrying chunks of ice, pelted the lens. The temperature was -58 degrees Celsius, and the wind speed exceeded 40 meters per second.

Antarctic ice sheet.

Hundreds of silver-white Terminator robots are working in the blizzard. Their joints are filled with antifreeze hydraulic oil, and electronic eyes precisely locate each weld seam through the wind and snow.

The high-energy laser cutter in their hands plowed out neat pits in the hundreds of meters thick ice layer, and the rising water vapor was frozen into ice crystals before it could even rise.

More than a dozen armored warriors patrolled the perimeter, their two-meter-tall mechanical bodies standing motionless in the blizzard.

The camera zooms out.

A massive metal base, covering tens of thousands of square meters, has been erected on the ice field. Eerie blue superconducting wires extend from the center of the base outwards, embedding themselves deep into the ice layer, emitting a faint, cold light.

The Antarctic energy hub of the planetary barrier protective shield.

"What about the Arctic?" Li Yichen asked.

Scene changes. The same snowstorm, the same Terminator army, the same colossal base rising from the Arctic ice cap.

"The main base of the two poles is complete." Ling'er put away the image, changed to her own profile picture, and smiled with narrowed eyes. "The superconducting coils are laid, and all the energy interfaces are in place. Now there's just one thing missing—"

"power supply."

"That's right! As long as we transport the matter-antimatter reactor there and connect it, our 'Blue Star Iron Turtle' shield can be activated at any time. At that time, as long as we don't face planetary bombing or other powerful black technologies, we can withstand many rounds of attacks from ordinary interstellar fleets and planetary shields."

Li Yichen parked the car in the emergency lane of the elevated road.

He turned off the engine, leaned back in his seat, and looked at the Shanghai skyline through the windshield. The Oriental Pearl Tower in the distance was lit up with colorful lights, and the scattered windows of office buildings still emitted the white light of people working overtime.

My mind raced through it.

The matter-antimatter reactor was successfully ignited today, and those 108 grams of antimatter are obediently spinning in the magnetic confinement field. As long as a few more of these iron lumps are built, transported to the North and South Poles, and connected to their bases, the planetary barrier can enter standby mode.

From that moment on, Earth truly had a hard shell.

It's not about intimidation or empty talk; it's about a physical, iron wall that can withstand the main cannon of an interstellar spacecraft.

He thought of the red line in Ophiuchus that spans 5.2 light-years, and of the binary star system that might have already received the coordinate signal.

I wonder what those things on the other side are doing right now. Are they gathering? Setting sail? Or are they measuring that insignificant distance between Earth and themselves in some way that transcends human comprehension?

To be honest, ever since he learned of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, the first thing he does every morning when he draws back the curtains is to subconsciously glance at the sky.

It's not about checking the weather. It's about checking if there's anything that shouldn't be there hanging there.

This feeling is awful.

He now has money, technology, and the most powerful arsenal on Earth. But as long as that planetary shield isn't activated, he feels like he's sleeping next to an unsafe bomb.

"Ling'er".

"exist."

"Please pick up Liu Guoliang for me."

The phone rang three times before it connected.

"Little Li? It's so late—"

"Uncle Liu, could you arrange two military heavy transport planes for me in a few days? Something like the An-225."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"...What are you transporting?"

"Several pieces of equipment. Each one weighs four or five tons, not large, but extremely sensitive. The destinations are the North and South Poles."

"The North and South Poles?" Liu Guoliang's voice rose a half-octave. "What kind of tricks are you up to over there?"

"Don't ask, it's for saving my life." Li Yichen lowered his voice. "You help me prepare, and I'll let you know when I'm done."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Alright, call me when you're ready." Liu Guoliang didn't ask any more questions and hung up decisively.