Lin Xiao returned home, placed the book on the table, leaned back in his chair, and waited for his computer to boot up.
"Boss Lin is so bold!"
"He actually didn't sell it—that was ten million!"
"Ten million is nothing. Boss Lin isn't short on cash."
"Quick, quick! Let's see if that string is really the private key!"
While waiting, Lin Xiao didn't waste time.
He pulled a few modern coins and bills out of a drawer and tossed them to the system for recycling.
"Congratulations, Host, you've obtained [Modern Monetary System]."
"Congratulations, Host, you've obtained [Counterfeit Currency Production Manual]."
Lin Xiao: "???"
Are you freaking serious?!
You're giving me that as a reward?
Who the hell needs this? I'm not broke!
After a moment of thought, he picked up a pen and copied the public key onto paper, tossing it to the system as well.
"Congratulations, Host, you've obtained [Digital Currency Operations Guide]."
In an instant, a surge of information flooded his mind.
All knowledge about digital currency became his.
"So that's how it is."
Lin Xiao had been wondering why those people had shown up so confidently to buy the book without even knowing if it contained a real private key.
After all, even if a private key was written in the book, there was no way to guarantee that the original owner hadn't stored it elsewhere too.
Now he understood.
It was simple: as long as you had the public key, you could check all the account information.
In other words, this account hadn't had any activity in years.
An account holding 845 Bitcoins that hadn't seen a single transaction for years?
Most likely, the owner had lost the private key.
Those people must've realized this and came hoping to buy that "chance."
The computer finished booting.
Lin Xiao quickly logged in and navigated to the relevant page to check the transaction history.
Just as he expected—there wasn't a single transaction on the account.
That meant all 845 Bitcoins were mined.
And they were mined back when Bitcoin was still in its infancy—when mining was easy, and a basic computer could mine 50 a day.
"Has Boss Lin logged in yet?"
"Is it the private key? Can you access it?"
"Boss Lin, say something!"
The chat was more anxious than he was.
Lin Xiao smiled. "Yeah, it worked."
He picked up his phone and turned the camera toward the Bitcoin wallet interface, showing that he had successfully logged in.
"Holy crap! He really got in!"
"845 Bitcoins… I'm beyond jealous."
"I was just regretting that Boss Lin didn't take the ten million offer—I hate myself!"
"Boss Lin, are you selling?"
"If you dump all 800+, won't that crash the price?"
"Crash what? Even if he sells all of it, it won't move the needle!"
Lin Xiao glanced at the recent market trends—still stable, no big fluctuations.
He casually closed the page. He wasn't selling.
First, he didn't need the money. Second, moving such a massive amount into a domestic account would be a hassle—likely to get frozen.
Now that the whole internet knew he held 800+ Bitcoins, wasn't that just inviting an investigation?
He'd hold on to them for now. If he ever needed cash, then maybe he'd reconsider. For now, he might as well wait for them to rise even more.
"Not selling."
He tossed the line out casually, checked the time, and said, "Alright, time to go treasure hunting."
He stood up, headed to the parking garage, and drove straight to Chaotiangong Antique Market.
Fuzimiao was out of the question—way too crowded.
And when there are too many people, the vendors get sneaky.
With hype and eager buyers, the already fake-laden market would only be flooded with even more forgeries.
Going there now would be the act of a sucker.
…
Meanwhile, the tech elites who had flown to Jinling to buy the book were now sitting in taxis on the way to the airport.
They were still following Lin Xiao online.
When they saw him successfully log in, when they saw the 845 Bitcoins in that wallet, their emotions were all over the place.
Jealousy. Envy. Regret.
If only they'd gotten the tip-off earlier… If only they'd arrived last night…
Maybe they could've bought that book.
Online, it was the same.
At first, Lin Xiao had only revealed the public key. Everyone knew the wallet held Bitcoin worth 130 million, but no one knew if the private key existed.
Now?
He'd logged in successfully.
It had nothing to do with them, but that didn't stop the internet from exploding with envy.
Even celebrities from the entertainment world were watching—and couldn't help but feel envious.
"This Boss Lin is insanely lucky!"
That was the one thought echoing through everyone's mind.