America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 146 BTC Trading

Zhang Ailun: A few tens of thousands of dollars isn't even enough for a down payment on a house, let alone in an ordinary neighborhood, not to mention those fully furnished apartments or affluent areas. This car, however, is one I'm quite satisfied with. I have other uses for this money; I can't use it all for the auction.

Mary: I understand. After all, I don't want to invest all my money in the bar; that would be too risky!

Zhang Ailun: It's because I'm too poor.

Mary: You're being too modest. My boyfriend at your age had his family buy him a bicycle. You're so young, yet you drive a $50,000 car and have tens of thousands in savings. You're already ahead of 99% of your peers on the street!

Zhang Ailun: What does your boyfriend do?

Mary: We're both waiters, he works at a convenience store. We'll consider getting married once we have some savings, but right now he just plays video games all day after work and doesn't seem interested in that.

Zhang Ailun: Men are all like that, I also like playing games.

The leader is a big fan of real-world combat games.

After catching up on another round of gossip about Mary and her boyfriend, Zhang Ailun put away his phone and drove back to the bridge camp.

Just as they were having breakfast, Dominic ran over and called Jesse over. Zhang Ailun also learned that today was the day for distributing subsidies and shopping vouchers. No wonder when he came back earlier, he saw the joy of getting something for free on the faces of every homeless person on the street.

After finishing breakfast, Zhang Ailun contacted Reina and inquired about her market transactions.

Reina: Where do you think would be a better place to open the cargo area?

Zhang Ailun: I think Little Yellow Duck Street would be good. There's a market there, and the police don't patrol or conduct spot checks there, so it's considered a gathering place and trading point for homeless people. It used to be the territory of the short-tailed dogs, but now it's ours.

The last time they drove there, the black guy was still setting up a street stall, and Jennifer was bullying the honest guy.

I wonder if that old black man made enough money to redeem his stash of rice.

The leader of the gang admired Lao Hei, who was down-to-earth and earnest in making a living through his skills.

The products they sell are not only of high quality and low price, but they also include after-sales service. If someone steals your purchase, they will risk being beaten so badly that they won't even recognize their own mother to help you get it back. Look at their professionalism. Then look at the sales staff of those famous brands and big factories.

Rena: Okay, I'll tell those people to transport the goods there. You should also tell your people that if anyone is interested, they can go and take a look.

Zhang Ailun chatted with her for a few more minutes, set out the plan, and immediately informed Dominic about it, asking him to bring people over to purchase the goods when he had time.

No taxes, discounted prices, below market price—what more could you ask for?

These are all benefits that the Grand Master has secured for you!

"I'll let Leo and Monica know about this. There are a lot of people who really need wheelchairs and crutches. It would be even better if we could get more painkillers and medical supplies, or Playboy magazine," Dominic suggested.

Most homeless people on the streets are hungry and sleepless. What they lack most is not daily necessities, which can be obtained for free in shelters. What they lack more is spiritual comfort and the restoration of their self-esteem.

When they are hungry and tired, all they can see is the desire for free food. By collecting cans, they have savings, new clothes, and a place to live. Their daily standards and requirements are bound to increase, and their thoughts will also become more numerous.

Playboy magazine is pretty good!

She's comparable to the female benefactor on Pornhub.

But you need to use data to watch short videos and Pornhub, and your monthly phone bill is not enough. You might as well buy a few sets of Playboy magazines that are good quality and inexpensive. After you finish watching them, you can send them to him. Anyway, you've already become a homeless person, so why do you need high standards?

When I feel unwell, I take a painkiller to relieve the discomfort and amuse myself. Isn't that great?

Zhang Ailun adopted Dominic's suggestion. Anyway, this was just a pilot operation. If a product sold well, they would definitely stock more of the same product next time without you having to tell them.

After all, they're all after the clean money in your hands. If you can exchange it for something that's not so clean, no one loses out!

That's how transactions work.

The leader didn't suffer any losses, did he? Everyone has a bright future ahead of them.

Zhang Ailun took out his phone, logged into the virtual exchange's app, and used the cold wallet to crack the password, revealing that there were 0.2 bitcoins inside.

"Is this a cold storage wallet? Did you buy it?"

Jennifer leaned over for a look, then said, "Wait a minute."

I rubbed my eyes. BTC 0.2.

Somewhat surprised, "When did you get involved with Bitcoin? Did you mine it?"

"I found it," Zhang Ailun said truthfully.

"Nonsense, only the wallet owner knows the encryption private key. You can't use the one you found." Jennifer didn't believe him at all.

"It seems you're the richest person here! I knew I hadn't misjudged you!" He was smugly pleased with his own judgment.

Zhang Ailun didn't explain much, but simply asked, "I want to exchange these Bitcoins for cash. Do you have any channels for that?"

Cryptocurrencies have fluctuating prices, rising and falling daily, making them unreliable to hold. US dollars still seem more appealing.

"I know some cryptocurrency dealers who hoard large amounts of virtual currency. There are also many people buying coins on black market apps, but there are also many scammers. Offline transactions are prone to being double-crossed, and cash transactions are generally lower than the market price, but not by much. I'll ask them how much they'll offer for you. After all, Bitcoin is such a great thing, with so many decentralized functions; there are plenty of people who want it!"

Jennifer immediately took out her phone and used her connections to contact people in the industry.

Seeing how skillfully she asked people for prices, Zhang Ailun felt he had underestimated her. "You haven't been trading cryptocurrency all along, have you?"

I glanced at her hot wallet; it contained USDT19667.

Good heavens, 19,000?

Are you that rich?

Jennifer said with a bitter face, "Don't even mention it, I'm about to lose all the Ethereum and Dogecoin I bought. I saved up this money for a long time."

Zhang Ailun could only say that this is how this thing works when it comes to harvesting韭菜 (a metaphor for exploiting people).

"Someone is willing to pay $12900 for your Bitcoin, cash only, but they want us to do it in person. They've already sent me the location: the West Street Motel in the city center," Jennifer said.

"Is this reliable?" Zhang Ailun was a little doubtful. Staying in a motel? If you have money, why not stay in a luxury hotel?

"It's all about luck, after all, this price is already the highest offered so far. The highest others have offered is only $12000." Jennifer chuckled. "I guess you're not willing to sell at a low price. Are you afraid they'll rip you off?"

"I really don't want to suffer a loss, and I'm not afraid of trouble, but there's no need to cause trouble for myself. I'll tell him we'll be there soon, and ask him to send me the house number first. I'll order some takeout and send it over to him to test the waters."

Zhang Ailun instructed Jennifer to reply to the other party in this way.

"He said he was only willing to stay there for half an hour, and he would send us the house number when he arrived. He was from out of town and was visiting Los Angeles. He was going to Las Vegas in the afternoon."

Jennifer said, "He's actually not very trusting of the locals either. Didn't you see the trending videos on short videos? A few days ago, someone was shot and killed in a hotel because of cryptocurrency. It was a Korean couple who were also tourists. Apparently, they were professional cryptocurrency dealers who embezzled the money and ran here, but they were retaliated against by a Korean gang!"

If you're so suspicious, what's the point of trading?

Zhang Ailun considered it for a moment, then said, "Let's go then. Tell him we're a legitimate married couple!"

Jennifer immediately kissed him on the cheek. "Darling, I'd love to be your proper wife too."

"Stop messing around." You're not a decent person. What kind of good person would spend all day online committing sex scams? And yet, there are actually people willing to fall for it. If two or three out of thousands of people fall for it, that's a huge profit.

The two got out of the RV and drove the Wrangler to the West Street Motel that the other had mentioned.

After arriving here and getting out of the car, I found that the motel was quite nicely decorated, with a light yellow exterior, palm trees, air conditioner units, and exhaust fans.

The poor street area is nothing like this place; many of the buildings here date back to the 70s.

Zhang Ailun asked Jennifer to notify the other party to send over the house number, or to simply come out and trade on the street. Shouldn't that be honest enough? We're the ones selling the coins, why are you being so cautious?

The other party also chose to conduct the transaction on the street, asked for some vehicle information, and told them to wait outside.

After waiting a few minutes, a tall, thin, middle-aged white man in a suit, carrying a suitcase, soon came out of the hotel, looking around.

Zhang Ailun honked the horn to remind him, and the other person immediately saw the Wrangler parked by the roadside. He walked over, glanced at the two of them through the window, and cautiously asked, "Excuse me, which one of you is Rose?"

"Hey, honey! It's me! Are you John, the Superboy?"

Jennifer greeted them warmly and introduced them, "This is my husband, Jason. You can call me Fitz."

Superboy? What kind of username is that?

Why don't you call yourself a "homelander"?

"Hello, Fitz! Jason? That sounds like a Texan name."

John, the middle-aged man, breathed a slight sigh of relief. He thought the two people—a fair-skinned, beautiful blonde woman and an Asian man—should be respectable.

He immediately said, "I'm sorry, I have to be careful because I was recently scammed out of 0.5 Bitcoins! Or rather, I was robbed! I lost $32000! Damn it! Going to the police was useless because the officers said they are not responsible for cryptocurrencies and there's no way to recover them."

"Oh my god, this is really bad news." Jennifer looked at him with pity.

He took the decrypted cold wallet and the private key written on a piece of paper from Zhang Ailun and showed them to him. "See? I didn't lie to you. We really are a legitimate couple living here! We'll sell it to you at the price we agreed on beforehand: 0.2 Bitcoins, $12900. This cold wallet and the private key are included for easier transactions, so the total is $13000. Cash on delivery."

"Okay." The middle-aged man, John, did not hesitate and directly opened the box and took out the oil paper bag.

He handed the oil paper bag to Jennifer at the same time as he took the cold wallet.

"..."

Zhang Ailun looked at Jennifer with a strange expression, but remained silent and did not affect her performance.

Chewing gum, wearing sunglasses, and exuding an aura of unapproachability, he resembled a heartless bodyguard.

Jennifer quickly counted the cash, beaming. "Excellent, transaction complete! Thank you for your cooperation, dear John, it was a pleasure doing business with you!"

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Fitz. If you have any coins next time, you can sell them to me again." The middle-aged man smiled and shook hands.

I could feel how soft her little hands were, and when I looked at her face, she was so beautiful and charming. My heart was pounding.

"John, what are you going to do in Las Vegas?" Jennifer scratched his hand, subtly trying to find out more. John, his blood pumping with excitement, was somewhat stunned.

"What else can we do? Go to the casino, of course!" John, seeing how beautiful Jennifer was, was happy to boast in front of her: "I used to be a millionaire, winning $21 million in a day playing blackjack in Las Vegas with only $300!"

"Wow! You're amazing!" Jennifer exclaimed with admiration.

What man could resist a woman being so cooperative? John felt exhilarated, but glancing at the silent Zhang Ailun, he realized that offending her in front of her husband was ill-timed and likely to result in a beating.

He chuckled and said, "Fitz, contact me again!"

"Bye-bye, darling!" Jennifer waved, and Zhang Ailun started the car and sped away from the street.

John, a middle-aged man, was filled with excitement and stood there watching for a long time.

I've already figured out how to ask him out.

One second Jennifer was alluring and charming, but the moment she closed the window, her expression changed instantly. She scoffed, "That old man is such a braggart! He said he won three million. Would he be here making a ten-thousand-dollar deal with us if he had three million? I only tested him a little, and his eyes are practically glued to me. If I stripped naked in front of him, wouldn't he just devour me? Sure enough, no man is immune to lust!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the profile of the Grand Master.

Who are you ordering?

Zhang Ailun kept his eyes glued to the car as he drove. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "$13000, you take three hundred."

"Honey, can't you give me any more?" Jennifer looked at him pitifully again.

"How much do you want?" Zhang Ailun said irritably.

"I want you to give me 30 billion! Is that okay?" Jennifer chuckled.

"..."

Zhang Ailun was slightly speechless. "You're dreaming."

After driving back to District 5, when they passed an intersection, Zhang Ailun also asked her to deposit the money into a bank card, and then, like a robot, go through the process of logging into the official website and selecting one-click donation.

+12800 USD.

Total deposits: $82859.

After driving back to the bridge cave camp, Zhang Ailun found that his friends had already gone out, so he asked Sig about the situation.

Sig: I've already got the gold, disposed of some waste and toxic chemicals, and am on my way back. I'll be in the city soon.

Zhang Ailun: OK.

I opened the RV's awning, sat down in a chair, and started scrolling through my phone.

After waiting for a while, Sieg returned with his men in a car.

He's here! He's here! He's coming with gold!

Sieg got out of the car, full of pride, and slammed the 1.4-pound gold coin onto the table.

"Gold worth $50000!"

"Go easy, don't you want to pay if you break the table?" Zhang Ailun sat under the awning, resting, scrolling through short videos, and searching online for more news about cryptocurrencies. He snapped at him irritably.

He picked up the round gold ingot again; it was heavy. It was the heaviest piece of gold he had ever held in his hands.

Jennifer stepped out of the RV and was stunned by the sight of the golden biscuits.

"That's a lot of gold, 700 grams?"

Everyone knew they were working on a gold project, but no one expected this huge piece of gold to be so beautiful!

Zhang Ailun weighed it on an electronic scale; it was 709 grams, more than he had expected.

"Today's gold price is $74, which is a significant increase from a few days ago. 709 grams of gold is worth $52466. Even if sold slightly below market price, it would still fetch at least $52000."

Zhang Ailun searched for the price and laughed, "I'm really rich!!"

(End of this chapter)