The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

Palo Alto.

Affluent neighborhood.

This is the heart of Silicon Valley, where the air is thick with the scent of dollars.

A most outrageous party is being held next to the infinity pool of a hilltop mansion.

The theme is: The Wandering Earth.

Just two months ago, this movie had caused a sensation in China.

At this moment, atop a mountain in California, 10,000 kilometers from Beijing, it has become a topic of conversation with an exotic flair and a touch of irony.

The music was deafening.

A group of third-tier Hollywood actresses, dressed in extremely revealing silver spacesuits, strolled through the crowd, holding champagne glasses.

In the center of the pool, a giant inflatable Jupiter floats.

And in the most conspicuous spot by the pool stood a man.

He was wearing a heavy, somewhat comical-looking white spacesuit.

Not wearing a helmet.

He was holding a bottle of Ace of Spades worth three thousand dollars.

That's Lin Che.

His face was flushed, his eyes were unfocused, and his collar was open, revealing a shirt soaked with sweat.

He looks like a nouveau riche who's completely drunk.

"Mars!"

Lin Che waved the wine bottle, spilling the golden liquid onto the carpet.

"We're going to Mars to grow potatoes! Seriously! I've made enough money over there in Beijing! I'm leaving Earth! Earth is too dangerous!"

His voice was very loud.

It was with a kind of hysterical excitement.

The surrounding crowd stepped back slightly, as if they were watching some rare animal.

"Mr. Lin," a blonde, blue-eyed model approached him, asking in a sickeningly sweet voice, "are you really going to buy the spaceship?"

"Buy! Of course I'll buy!"

Lin Che burst into laughter.

He casually tossed the wine bottle in his hand aside.

With a loud "bang".

The bottle smashed against the mosaic tiles by the pool.

Debris flew everywhere.

A gasp rippled through the crowd, followed by a knowing chuckle.

"I'll pay any price for anything that can fly out of the atmosphere! I have plenty of money! Microlight Technology... that's a thing of the past! I am Elon Musk now! The Chinese version of Elon Musk!"

Lin Che staggered as he stepped onto the broken glass.

The soles of the shoes made a creaking sound.

"Whoever can take me to heaven, this money belongs to them!"

He pulled out a wad of US dollars from his pocket and tossed it into the air like confetti.

Green banknotes fluttered under the lights.

The models screamed and bent down to pick it up.

The scene was chaotic.

extravagant.

And it was extremely foolish.

……

If you didn't look at Lin Che's eyes, which occasionally flashed with a cold light.

This is indeed a classic "crash scene".

On the terrace, twenty meters away from the pool.

In the shadows.

Several well-dressed middle-aged men were standing there.

They held glasses of red wine, watching the farce with indifferent eyes.

That was a partner at Sequoia Capital, and several top Silicon Valley VCs.

"Poor guy."

The Sequoia partner gently swirled the wine in his glass, the crimson liquid clinging to the glass.

"I heard he was detained for seven days in China by 'Deep Sea,' which is China's FBI. Nobody knows what he went through there, but after he came out..."

He pointed at Lin Che, who was acting drunk.

A mocking smile curled at the corner of his lips.

"That's how he turned out."

"A typical case of PTSD."

Another investor nearby chimed in.

He was Goldman Sachs' representative in Silicon Valley, with eyes as sharp as a vulture's.

"They were terrified and eager to transfer their assets out of the country, but they dared not invest in any sensitive industries, fearing that they would be targeted by that huge state apparatus again. So they could only numb themselves with this kind of illusory 'space dream'."

"This is also a self-protection mechanism."

Someone chuckled softly.

"Playing the fool is better than being purged, but this is a good opportunity for us."

"How so?"

"A wounded, panicked, and fat sheep with billions of dollars in its hands, now only wants to spend the money to gain a so-called 'sense of security.' As long as it's an American asset, and as long as it looks 'high-tech' and 'harmless' enough, it will pay for it."

The group exchanged glances.

He revealed a smile characteristic of predators.

"I happen to have a company that makes satellite shells, which is about to go bankrupt. Maybe I can repackage it as an 'Interstellar Spaceship Materials Laboratory' and sell it to him."

"I also have a drone project, and if we add the concept of 'Mars exploration,' the valuation could increase tenfold."

"Please line up, gentlemen."

The Sequoia partner raised his glass and gave a perfunctory toast to the crazed figure in the distance.

"Tonight, he is our Gatsby, except this Gatsby doesn't want to win Daisy back, he just wants to escape the earth."

The laughter was low and muffled.

On this mountaintop filled with desire and lies, the sound was particularly jarring.

……

All the ridicule.

Lin Che heard it all.

But he was still smiling.

They even laughed louder.

He put his arm around two models and started doing an awkward waltz by the pool until he tripped and fell to the ground.

The bodyguards rushed over to help him.

"Get out of here!"

Lin Che pushed aside the bodyguard and stumbled to his feet.

"I need to... ugh... I need to go to the restroom."

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he staggered through the throng and headed toward the main building of the mansion.

along the way.

People were pointing fingers at him.

Some people gave him a fawning, fake smile.

Someone was whispering curses behind his back, calling him a "nouveau riche."

Lin Che accepted everything without question.

His face always wore that drunken, unguarded smile.

Until he went into the study on the second floor.

Until the heavy oak door clicked shut from the inside.

The world fell silent instantly.

It isolated the noise from downstairs.

The smile on Lin Che's face vanished completely in that instant.

It was as if I was instantly frozen by some kind of extremely cold air.

He stood up straight.

His previously unfocused pupils instantly focused, becoming even deeper than the night.

Where is there even a trace of drunkenness left?

He walked to the sink.

Turn on the tap.

Cold water gushed out.

Lin Che buried his head in the cold water.

This was to wash away the physical aversion I had developed from playing a clown over the past few hours.

Thirty seconds later.

He raised his head.

Water droplets slid down his cold, stern face.

In the mirror.

The mad "Gatsby" is gone.

Instead, a wolf is lurking in the shadows.

"A bunch of idiots."

Lin Che pulled out a tissue and slowly wiped the water off his face.

The movements were elegant and composed.

He walked out of the bathroom and came to the floor-to-ceiling window in the study.

The lights are off here.

Outside the window is the dazzling night view of Silicon Valley.

Apple's spaceship headquarters, Google's colorful campus, Facebook's like logo... countless tech giants that have changed the world gleam beneath his feet.

This is the pinnacle of global technology.

It is also the lair of a ferocious beast that is about to bare its fangs at him.

Lin Che took out his phone from his pocket.

Fingerprint unlock.

I opened an app that was disguised as a weather forecast.

There is no temperature reading on the screen.

There's only one line of red, jumping countdown:

[14 days, 03 hours, and 21 minutes until the Entity List is released]

That is the sword of Damocles hanging over the entire Chinese science and technology community.

At this moment.

No one knew it was about to fall.

Except for Lin Che.

Downstairs, the arrogant American elites were still laughing at his stupidity.

They thought he was evading domestic regulations.

They thought he was laundering money.

Just as Lynch had predicted.

This arrogance is the best cover.

If he appears as a shrewd "predator," CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) investigators will pounce on him like mad dogs, scrutinizing every single one of his transactions.

But what if he's a terrified idiot who's only interested in "space junk"?

No one will be wary of a fool.

"Xie Yu".

Lin Che pressed the earpiece and spoke softly into the air.

The voice was frighteningly calm.

"Have we reached the target?"

Xie Yu's slightly nervous voice came through the earphones.

"Boss, we've arrived. The security cameras at the manor entrance just captured a used Toyota Corolla. The license plate number is confirmed."

"Who?"

"Thomas, that infamous 'dream manipulator,' circled downstairs and was stopped by security, but he kept waving the documents in his hand, saying he had a project that would change the fate of humanity and wanted to see you."

Lin Che looked out the window at the bustling lights.

A cruel smile curled at the corner of his lips.

In the memories of my previous life.

This Thomas is the biggest joke in Silicon Valley.

He had a bunch of unfinished projects piled up, from graphene batteries to flying cars, and he had swindled all the investors out of their money. In the end, he could only be hated by everyone in this industry, like a rat crossing the street.

But he had something in his hand.

He considered it a burden and was eager to get rid of it as "trash."

That was Lin Che's only prey tonight.

"Let him in."

Lin Che walked to the wine cabinet.

I poured myself a glass of whiskey.

But he didn't drink it.

I just held it in my hand and shook it.

Then pull the tie askew.

Mess up your hair.

I practiced that nauseating, decadent smile in front of the mirror.

"Tell the security guard that I admire people like this... people who are shameless in pursuit of their dreams."

"Yes."

Hang up the communication.

Lin Che leaned back into the sofa.

He closed his eyes.

Waiting for that knock on the door.

He waited for the big fish named "RISC-V" to jump into his net.

The faint sound of music coming from downstairs could be heard.

That's the theme song from "The Wandering Earth".

How ironic.

On the eve of this darkest hour, when the country was about to be sealed off, he had to resort to this most absurd method to steal a spark for the future of that nation.

Even if I'm seen as a clown.

Even if it means being ridiculed by thousands.

Only the winners have the right to write history.

thump.

thump.

thump.

A knock came at the door.

It's very light.

It carried a sense of cautious probing.

Lin Che opened his eyes.

The cold light in his eyes vanished instantly, returning to its murky and unclear state.

"Come in!"

He shouted with a lisp.

The door handle turns.

A gap was pushed open.

A middle-aged white man wearing a plaid shirt, black-rimmed glasses, and sweating profusely peeked in.

He was holding a folder tightly in his hands.

It was like clinging to the last straw.

"Mr. Lin...?"

The man looked at Lin Che sitting in the darkness and swallowed hard.

His voice trembled slightly with nervousness.

"I heard...you're interested in space?"

Lin Che did not answer immediately.

He simply raised his glass, peering through the amber liquid at the prey at the door, the one he was about to devour.

The hunt is on.

Arrived.