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

The study was dark.

Thomas stood in the light and shadow.

He unbuttoned the collar of his plaid shirt, which was already greasy with hair, and was sweating profusely as he was giving the most nerve-wracking roadshow of his life.

This was also the most absurd one.

There is only one audience member.

The "money bag" from China was sprawled out on the leather sofa, still clutching the half-empty wine bottle in his hand.

He didn't even look at the screen.

"...Mr. Lin, look! This is Spirit Star!"

Thomas's voice cracked with excitement.

He pointed to a potato-shaped asteroid on the PPT that had been photoshopped to look golden.

"It's only 3.7 million kilometers from Earth. That's not a rock; it's a gold mine floating in space! NASA estimates that the iron, nickel, and gold on it are worth over $10000 trillion!"

"As long as we... as long as we can launch even one mining ship..."

Thomas swallowed hard.

She glanced at the man on the sofa.

Lin Che kept his eyes closed.

My breathing is heavy.

It looks like she's asleep.

Thomas's heart sank.

Damn.

He memorized this set of words countless times on Sand Hill Road, only to be bombarded with them by those shrewd venture capitalists each time.

I thought this drunk Chinese man would be easy to fool, but it turns out he wasn't even willing to take the bait.

"that……"

Thomas stopped and stood there helplessly, like a clown who had messed up his act.

"Are you done talking?"

The person on the sofa suddenly spoke.

Hoarseness.

It carried a lingering smell of alcohol.

Lin Che opened his eyes.

He sat up, rubbed his temples, and looked impatient.

"Where's the spaceship?"

"Huh?" Thomas was stunned.

"I asked you where the spaceship is?"

Lin Che pointed to the dazzling PowerPoint presentation, stood up unsteadily, and walked over to Thomas.

The smell of alcohol hit Thomas's face.

"What's the use of showing me these rocks? I want a spaceship! I want one of those... a really big, shiny spaceship that breathes fire!"

Thomas suffocated.

Looking at the drunken tycoon in front of him, his inner "liar" self-awareness was frantically warning him: this guy is a complete novice.

"Mr. Lin, the spaceship is still... in the design phase, and we need funding to get it started..."

Money is not a problem!

Lin Che suddenly waved his hand.

I almost knocked over the projector next to me.

"I have plenty of money, but I hate waiting. What do you have readily available in your company besides these broken paintings?"

"off the shelf……"

Thomas panicked.

His so-called "Icarus Mining" had nothing but IOUs and a few part-time draftsmen.

To prove he wasn't just an empty shell, he frantically emptied a pile of documents from his briefcase.

"Yes! We have assets! We have patents... we have... we have an equipment inventory..."

Splash!

A pile of papers lay scattered on the carpet.

Those were the company's balance sheet and various miscellaneous supporting documents.

Lin Che squatted down.

It's like searching for treasures in a garbage dump.

His fingers darted across the documents, his eyes unfocused, as if he couldn't even recognize all the English text on them.

until.

His finger stopped on an inconspicuous appendix.

That was a quarterly expense report.

Among the dense red text, one line stood out particularly:

[Affiliated Institution: Open-V Architecture Lab]

Status: Severe Loss

[Annual Budget: $500 million (Recommended to be eliminated)]

Thomas's heart skipped a beat.

It’s over.

That was his biggest mistake when he took over the company.

The former boss was an idealist who kept a group of crazy people working on open-source chip architecture.

This group of people refused to commercialize and spent all their time coding in the basement. Not only did they not generate a single penny of profit, but they also burned through millions of dollars in server maintenance fees every year.

He had originally planned to kick this group out next week.

"What is this?"

Lin Che pointed to that line of text.

Thomas quickly squatted down and reached out to try and take the paper away.

"Mr. Lin, this is a misunderstanding. This is just a project left over from the company's past... uh, a charity project. A bunch of bookworms who only know how to burn money. Don't worry, this is not included in the acquisition agreement. I will lay them off immediately and will not let you be taken advantage of."

"Cut them off?"

Lin Che suddenly tightened his grip.

He held the paper down.

It was like pinning down a cockroach that was trying to escape.

He raised his head.

A chilling glint of anger suddenly flashed in those previously drunken eyes.

"You dare?"

Thomas was stunned by the yelling.

"Mr. Lin...?"

"I'm the one who's going to build spaceships!"

Lin Che grabbed the empty wine bottle and slammed it heavily on the table.

The sound of glass striking wood rang out like a gunshot in the deathly silent study.

"Without these coders, who would control my spaceship? Who would write commands for my... mining robot? You? Your mouth?"

The logic is completely flawed.

Utterly absurd.

But at this moment, in Thomas's eyes, this is called "the capriciousness of the rich".

"But...but they're using an open-source architecture, which is...that's for all of humanity, and it doesn't make money..." Thomas tried to reason with the other person.

"Do I need money?"

Lin Che stood up.

Looking down at Thomas.

He patted his face, as if to clear his head, and then gave an extremely arrogant smile.

"Thomas, listen up."

"I want this company."

"But these freaks, these pieces of trash you call themselves, not one of them can be missing. You have to sell them to me, computer and all."

"I want to lock them in the basement and make them write code for the rest of their lives."

"Even if I'm writing about Snake, it's still my Snake."

The air froze for three seconds.

Thomas's mouth dropped open.

His brain was working at lightning speed.

He looked at Lin Che as if he were looking at a gift-giving boy sent by God.

Someone is actually willing to take over that bottomless pit?

Not only were they willing to buy that shell mining company, but they also volunteered to take on the burdensome laboratory that was losing five million every year.

This is no longer angel investment.

This is charity.

This is targeted poverty alleviation.

"What? You don't want to?"

Lin Che narrowed his eyes, making a move to leave.

"Sell! Sell! Of course, sell!"

Thomas practically lunged at Lin Che, grabbing his sleeve tightly.

They were afraid that this madman would sober up in the next second.

"Mr. Lin, you have excellent taste! That's the best team in the world! I'll draft the contract right away! Once you sign, the entire lab, including the mice inside, will be yours!"

Thomas's hands were shaking.

He quickly pulled out a blank contract that he had prepared beforehand from his bag.

In a flurry, they crossed out the "asset divestiture" clause and changed it to "full acquisition".

The pen tip tore through the paper.

But he doesn't care.

He just wanted to finalize the deal before that "fool" backed out.

"Pen."

Lin Che extended his hand.

Thomas respectfully handed over a Montblanc pen.

Lin Che took the pen.

I didn't read the contract details.

I didn't call a lawyer.

They didn't even ask the price.

He was like someone buying chewing gum in a supermarket, signing his name in a flamboyant manner at the end of the $30 million acquisition contract.

Lin Che.

The last stroke was very long.

It's like a knife that cut off the throat of history.

"alright."

Lin Che threw down his pen.

The pen rolled a few times on the table and fell onto the carpet.

"Take the money and get out."

"Tomorrow morning, I want to see this bunch of freaks in my office. If even one of them is missing, I'll break your bones."

"Yes, yes, yes! Definitely! Definitely!"

Thomas, clutching the contract, was so excited he was incoherent.

He bowed deeply to Lin Che, then, like a mouse that had stolen oil, quickly left the room.

The door slammed shut.

The sound of footsteps rushed away down the corridor.

The study fell silent once more.

Only the projector was still buzzing, and the golden "Spirit Star" on the wall was still shining falsely.

Lin Che stood still.

He maintained that arrogant posture for a full minute.

After confirming that there was no one left in the corridor.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

He slumped into the chair like a deflated balloon.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through his shirt.

Just now, at that very moment.

If Thomas had even a second of doubt, if that greedy fool had even slightly looked into the strategic significance of "RISC-V" at this moment...

The performance was a complete disaster.

But just as he expected.

Greed is the best sleeping potion.

Lin Che reached out and picked up the appendix page that Thomas had discarded like trash from the pile of scrap paper.

His fingers were trembling.

It's not because of fear.

It was not because of joy, but because of ecstasy.

Open-V Labs.

This refers to the core team that was the predecessor of the RISC-V Foundation.

In the original timeline, these geniuses, lacking funds, were besieged by major corporations and struggled for three whole years in this dark basement before barely surviving.

And now.

In May 2019, on the eve of the United States imminent imposing a technology blockade on China.

He spent thirty million US dollars.

They bought this sword, the only one that could pierce the blockade in the future.

"The worst angel investment in history?"

Lin Che looked at the paper, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.

He picked up the half-empty bottle of wine on the table.

I gently touched the fake planet on the wall.

"Thomas, you have no idea."

"This is the real gold mine."