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

the next day.

Santa Clara.

This is the other side of Silicon Valley.

There was no suffocating sense of elitism, only vast low-rise industrial parks and faded GG signs.

Icarus Mining’s headquarters are hidden in the basement of a drab office building.

10:00 AM.

A convoy of luxurious black Cadillacs arrogantly pulled up in front of the rusty roller shutter door.

The car door opened.

Lin Che got down.

He had changed his clothes. He was no longer the drunken man from last night, but was now wearing a well-tailored Italian bespoke suit, sunglasses, and his hair was neatly combed.

Four burly men followed behind him.

Her aura was fully unleashed.

He's practically a mafia godfather who's come to collect debts.

"Mr. Lin... Mr. Lin!"

Thomas was already waiting at the door.

He had huge dark circles under his eyes, clearly having spent the entire night drafting contracts.

Seeing Lin Che was like seeing his own father.

"You've arrived! Everyone's here! They're all inside!"

Thomas bowed and scraped as he led the way.

Lin Che ignored him.

He took off his sunglasses and glanced disdainfully at the cigarette butts and scraps of paper scattered all around him.

"Is this your company?"

Lin Che covered his nose with a handkerchief.

"If you didn't know better, you'd think it was a drug den."

Thomas gave an awkward smile: "It's a startup...it's tough and frugal...the key is talent! All the talent is in there!"

The group entered the basement.

A whiff of air mixed with the smells of moldy pizza, instant coffee, and old computer case exhaust wafted towards me.

In the huge open-plan workspace sat more than twenty programmers with disheveled hair and pale faces.

This is the core team of the Open-V Labs.

He is the founder of the future RISC-V architecture.

now.

They were looking at the uninvited guests with a wary, suspicious, and even somewhat hostile gaze.

In their eyes.

Lin Che is a barbarian who wavers money.

A capitalist who doesn't understand technology and only knows how to exploit surplus value.

"Stop!"

Thomas clapped his hands, as if showing off a herd of livestock.

"Let me introduce you all. This is Mr. Lin from China! He's our new boss! Just last night, he bought the entire company!"

A dead silence.

No one applauded.

Only one old man with gray hair, sitting in the corner, coldly snorted.

His name is Jim.

Chief Architect.

He is also the soul of this team.

"Buy it?"

Jim pushed up his nearly falling-off glasses but didn't stand up.

"Thomas, what are you up to now? Last month you said you were going to lay off people, and today you're bringing in some nouveau riche to take over? Our architecture is not for sale. If you want us to write some gambling software, you can get the hell out of here."

Tough as a rock.

Lin Che squinted behind his sunglasses.

That's just his bad temper.

If it weren't for its toughness, it would have been recruited by Intel years ago.

"Jim!"

Thomas was terrified.

They were afraid that the old man would anger the God of Wealth and drive him away.

"Shut up! How dare you talk to the boss like that? Mr. Lin did this for...for..."

Thomas got stuck.

He can't exactly say, "It's to grow potatoes on Mars."

"For the game."

Lin Che suddenly spoke.

He walked up to Jim.

Looking down at the stubborn old man.

Then he extended a finger and rudely picked up a circuit board from Jim's desk.

"I'm making the most awesome game in the entire universe, and I need this thing to run the physics engine. Thomas says you guys are the best, but I think..."

Lin Che casually tossed the circuit board aside.

With a "snap".

"This place is like a garbage dump."

Jim's face turned red.

The surrounding programmers stood up angrily.

"What did you say?"

"This is the latest prototype!"

"Don't touch what you don't understand!"

The sentiment is indignant.

Thomas was so scared his legs went weak, and he desperately tried to signal to Lin Che with his eyes.

Lin Che laughed.

His laughter grew even more arrogant.

"The latest one?"

He pointed to the old server next to him that was still humming.

"Using this ten-year-old junk to run data? Are you doing scientific research or scavenging for scrap?"

"That's because the budget wasn't enough!"

Jim roared angrily.

"Thomas, that miser, needs three months of approval even to replace a hard drive!"

"Then let's switch to him."

Lin Che turned around.

Pointing to the trembling CFO standing to the side.

"You've been fired."

The CFO was stunned: "Wh...what?"

"And you."

Lin Che pointed to the administrative supervisor.

"He was also laid off."

"Everyone in charge of saving money, get out of here!"

The entire room fell silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

Jim opened his mouth, but the words he was about to say were swallowed back down.

"Starting today."

Lin Che took out a black card from his pocket and held it between two fingers.

It was gently placed on the greasy table.

There's only one rule here.

"The budget has no upper limit."

"I want the best servers, the best tape-out opportunities, the best coffee machines, and even the best chairs."

"I want you to fill this pile of junk with money."

"Just a little."

Lin Che took off his sunglasses.

Those eyes stared directly at Jim, burning with a flame that the old man couldn't understand.

"I want to see my 'game' running within three months."

"If I can't do that, I'll tear this place down and turn it into a public toilet."

"Did you understand?"

boom.

It's like a depth charge detonating in a fishpond.

The scientists, who had just been furious, now looked at each other in bewilderment.

The hostility in his eyes vanished quickly, replaced by unbelievable ecstasy.

How can this be considered a capitalist?

She's practically a naive and innocent girl sent by God!

"Really... there's no upper limit?"

Jim's voice was trembling.

His biggest dream in life is to be able to produce a film without having to worry about the finance department.

"You can give it a try."

Lin Che straightened his cuffs.

"Thomas, where's the contract?"

"Here! Here!"

Thomas quickly handed over the thick acquisition agreement.

"Once you sign, everything here, including this group of... well, geniuses, is yours."

Lin Che took the pen.

This time.

He did not sign directly.

Instead, they turned to the last page.

There was a clause that had already been drafted:

All core technical personnel must sign a three-year non-compete agreement and are prohibited from leaving the company during those three years; otherwise, they will be required to pay ten times their salary in damages.

This is the "slave clause" that Lin Che specifically explained last night.

The reason given was, "I don't want to spend any more time recruiting."

Thomas sees this as the controlling nature of a nouveau riche.

But in Lin Che's eyes...

This is the strongest safety net added to this group of geniuses.

Once you sign it...

Even if the US government later realizes this and tries to poach them or disband the team through legal means, this business contract will be their strongest shield.

"Sign it."

Lin Che handed the pen to Jim.

"Sign it, and the money is yours."

Jim looked at the "contract of servitude".

I hesitated for a moment.

But then he glanced at the dilapidated server and then at the black card on the table.

Greed triumphed over freedom.

For a tech enthusiast, the lack of computing power is the greatest prison.

"it is good."

Jim gritted his teeth and picked up the pen.

"I'd sell my soul to you if you paid me."

The pen tip touches the paper.

It made a rustling sound.

Thomas watched from the side, his mouth practically agape in a grin.

Finally, I got rid of him.

Finally, we're going to get rid of this mess.

however.

Just as Jim finished writing the first letter.

"Bang!"

The basement door was violently kicked open.

A gust of cold wind blew in.

"stop!"

A sharp scream shattered this beautiful signing moment.

Everyone turned around abruptly.

A young Asian man wearing an inexpensive suit and gold-rimmed glasses stood panting in the doorway.

He was holding a document in his hand.

flushed.

His eyes revealed a stubbornness and fear typical of a bookworm.

"This contract must not be signed!"

The man shouted.

"The Open-V architecture involves the underlying instruction set! According to the latest export control regulations, if it is acquired by Chinese capital, it may trigger a national security review by CFIUS!"

Dead silence.

True deathly silence.

Thomas's smile froze on his face.

Jim's pen stopped in mid-air.

Lin Che slowly turned around.

Looking at the troublemaker who suddenly barged in.

His eyes instantly turned cold.

I've planned it all out.

Unexpectedly, in this basement filled only with greed and dilapidation, there was actually a "smart person" who understood politics.

"Who are you?"

Lin Che's voice was very soft.

It's like a knife that has just been drawn from its sheath.

The young man swallowed hard, and despite his fear, he straightened his back.

"I am... I am an intern analyst here, Li. I am of Chinese descent, so I know... if this thing is sold to Chinese people, there will be big trouble."

The trouble is big.

Thomas was deathly pale.

If national security is involved, not only will the deal fall through, but he could even go to jail.

Lin Che looked at the young man named Li.

I wasn't angry.

Instead, he suddenly laughed.

He walked over slowly.

The sound of leather shoes stepping on the cement floor drew closer step by step.

"National security?"

Lin Che stopped in front of Li.

He pulled out the unreleased phone from his pocket, which contained the latest demo of the game "Glimmer".

That was his last act of pretense.

It is also the only antidote.

"Kid."

"Do you suffer from paranoia?"

"I just want to buy an engine to make games."

"You're telling me that playing a game... can endanger American security?"