20,000 Bitcoins

Those two clusters of fire danced deep in his pupils, reflecting the seductive line of code on the screen. Chen Zhi's fingers did not tremble in the slightest; instead, they were steady as a rock as he typed a line of text on the keyboard.

[Send the card number. I'll transfer the money within ten minutes.]

After sending it, he spun around abruptly, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a harsh squeak.

Lin Wanwan was startled by this sudden movement, nearly sending the mouse in her hand flying. She stared wide-eyed at Chen Zhi. Usually so lazy, he now looked absolutely crazed, radiating an unfamiliar, oppressive aura.

"Zhizhi, you... you aren't really going to buy it, are you?" Lin Wanwan swallowed hard, her voice unconsciously dropping to a whisper. "Five thousand bucks! That's... that's..."

She counted on her fingers, realizing she couldn't even calculate how many Pleasant Goat ice creams that could buy. It instantly felt like an astronomical figure to her.

"That is my future."

Throwing out that sentence, Chen Zhi had no time to explain what blockchain was to this little girl. He rushed out of the bedroom like a gust of wind, heading straight for the living room.

The living room was empty. His dad, Chen Jun, had gone to work overtime, and his mom, Zhang Guifang, had gone downstairs to Auntie Wang's house to get some pickled vegetables.

The perfect opportunity.

Chen Zhi familiarly ducked in front of the TV cabinet and yanked open the bottom drawer.

It was stuffed with a messy assortment of manuals, dead batteries, and tangled data cables. He reached in, frantically digging through the pile of junk.

"Are you looking for Auntie Zhang's USB security token?"

Lin Wanwan had followed him out at some point. Leaning against the doorframe and still hugging her Pleasant Goat water bottle, she looked at him with a look that said, "You're crazy." "That's what Auntie Zhang uses to get her salary. If she finds out you touched it, you're dead meat. Even I won't be able to save you."

Chen Zhi didn't even turn his head as his fingers brushed against a cold, hard object.

Found it.

A white Agricultural Bank of China second-generation USB security token.

It was Comrade Zhang Guifang's lifeblood, the symbol of the family's financial power.

"Wanwan, do me a favor." Clutching the USB token tightly, his palms sweating slightly, Chen Zhi stood up and looked at Lin Wanwan with a solemn expression. "Go stand guard by the door. If you hear footsteps in the hallway or someone putting a key in the door, cough loudly."

Lin Wanwan blinked her big eyes, her two little canine teeth biting her lower lip as if weighing the pros and cons.

"I won't do it. This is stealing money. If I'm an accomplice, my mom will beat me to death too." She refused on principle.

Chen Zhi took a deep breath and threw out his trump card: "I still have ten thousand in secret savings, I'll deposit it back later. Have you forgotten? When we were kids, I hurt my hand trying to save you..."

Lin Wanwan's principles instantly crumbled.

"O-okay." She shoved her bottle into Chen Zhi's arms, turned, and ran to the security door, pressing her ear against the panel like a dutiful sentry.

Chen Zhi rushed back to the room with the USB token.

Upon plugging in the device, a driver installation prompt immediately popped up in the bottom right corner of the computer screen.

[Identifying hardware...]

This damn old computer was painfully slow. Chen Zhi stared intently at the progress bar, his heart pounding wildly against his ribs.

Faster. Faster.

The guy named Future Richest Man was impatient. In this kind of online transaction, the slightest hesitation could make the other party back out, or someone else could snatch the deal. Twenty thousand Bitcoins would be worth billions in the future, enough for him to roll in money for this lifetime and the next.

[Hardware successfully identified.]

Chen Zhi quickly opened the online banking login page.

He knew the account number backward and forward. In his previous life, he had operated this card countless times to pay off his family's debts.

Now, only the final hurdle remained: the password.

Zhang Guifang was a very ritualistic person. Her passwords usually only had two possibilities. It was either Chen Jun's birthday or... his birthday.

Without any hesitation, Chen Zhi's fingers flew across the number pad.

Try Chen Jun's first.

[Incorrect password. You have 2 attempts remaining.]

The bright red prompt was like a basin of cold water poured over Chen Zhi's head.

Damn it.

Mom actually didn't use Dad's birthday? It seemed the couple's relationship had grown a bit dull over the past few years.

Only two chances left. If the card locked, in this era without mobile banking unfreezing features, she would have to go to the counter in person with her ID to unlock it. Then it would be all over.

Chen Zhi took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

If it wasn't Chen Jun's birthday, then it could only be...

He entered that date.

The day he was born.

Enter.

The screen transitioned, displaying that familiar account interface. The balance read: 52,800.50 yuan.

This was the family's entire life savings.

Looking at that number, Chen Zhi's heart trembled slightly. He knew this money was what his parents had scrimped and saved to pay for his college tuition or a down payment on a house in the future.

But he had no time to be sentimental.

[Transfer amount: 5000 yuan.]

[Payee: Li Hao.]

[Verifying USB token password...]

Chen Zhi entered his birthday once again.

"Ding—"

The notification sound for a successful transfer was crisp and pleasant.

At the same time, Lin Wanwan's lung-tearing coughs came from the direction of the living room: "Cough, cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!!"

The noise was so loud it sounded as if she were going to cough up her lungs. Immediately following it was the sound of a key turning in the lock, accompanied by Zhang Guifang's signature booming voice: "Wanwan? Why are you coughing like that? Did you catch a cold? Oh my, child, why are you standing at the door..."

She's back!

The hairs all over Chen Zhi's body instantly stood on end. With the fastest hand speed of his life, he unplugged the USB token, closed the online banking page, and even remembered to clear the browser history in passing.

In the QQ chat box, that Future Richest Man sent a compressed file.

[You're straightforward, bro! I've sent you the wallet file, the private key is inside, check it yourself.]

Chen Zhi quickly clicked receive, then dragged the file deep into the D drive into a folder named "Study Materials"—that was the safest place he used for camouflage.

After doing all this, he shoved the USB token into his pants pocket, grabbed the "Primary School Math Olympiad Solutions" from the desk, and sat up straight.

The bedroom door was pushed open.

Zhang Guifang, carrying a bag of pickled vegetables, poked her head in.

"Zhizhi, you didn't bully Wanwan, did you?" She suspiciously scanned the room. "Why was Wanwan coughing so badly just now?"

Chen Zhi turned his head, wearing a standard good-student smile, impressively spinning a pen in his hand. "Mom, we were discussing math problems. Wanwan might have choked on some water."

Lin Wanwan dawdled in at this moment, her small face flushed red, whether from coughing just now or a guilty conscience. She glanced at Chen Zhi, then at Zhang Guifang, and nodded vigorously. "R-right! This pursuit problem was too hard, and I choked because I got too excited."

Zhang Guifang looked at the two children, feeling that something was off. This was especially true for her own son; his eyes were frighteningly bright, looking nothing like someone doing math problems, but rather like a bandit who had just pulled off a massive heist.

"Alright, don't study too late. Come out and eat in a bit." Zhang Guifang didn't think much of it, leaving a quick reminder before closing the door to busy herself in the kitchen.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Chen Zhi collapsed into his chair like a deflated balloon, his T-shirt completely soaked with cold sweat.

"That scared me to death..." Lin Wanwan patted her chest and leaned in close to Chen Zhi, lowering her voice to ask, "Did you get it done?"

Chen Zhi touched the warm USB security key in his pocket, a hard-to-suppress smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. He clicked open the file named "wallet.dat."

"Done."

He looked at Lin Wanwan, reaching out to ruffle her soft hair, feeling in exceptionally high spirits. "Wanwan, you just saved the life of our family's future richest man."

Lin Wanwan slapped his hand away, fixing her bangs with a look of disdain. "Save it."

Chen Zhi declared grandly, "From now on, I'll buy you a whole truckload of Cornettos and Häagen-Dazs."

"You're full of it," Lin Wanwan pouted, clearly unconvinced. "You better figure out how to fill that five-thousand-yuan hole first. If Auntie Zhang goes to check the account balance..."

She made a throat-slitting gesture.

The smile on Chen Zhi's face froze.

True.

He had to deposit the five thousand yuan back into the account before his mom went to the bank to check the balance next time.