Chapter 2: Requiem of the Mining Field
Part I: The Ruins of the Mining Farm on Jurong Island
After the downpour, Jurong Island looked like a dissected corpse. Industrial fumes, salt, and rust mingled in the air, creating an acrid stench. The metal framework of the abandoned mining farm had been corroded full of holes, like a forsaken skeleton. The remaining cooling pipes twisted and coiled, resembling severed neurons.
Lin Shen stood at the entrance of the mining site, his heart tightening slightly. This place—he had been here when he was a child. His father had stood in this hall amid the roar of mining rigs and told him in a calm, firm voice: "Energy isn't just for lighting the night; it is also power in this world." But now, all that remained here was the stench of decay and ashes washed clean by the rain.
How did he end up here? It had begun two days ago with the USB drive at that convenience store.
After the brief encounter with the mysterious man in the convenience store, Lin Shen had intended to hand the USB drive over to the police. After all, he was just an ordinary person; there was no need to get involved in such matters. But when he tried to read the drive's data on his computer, he discovered a set of coordinates — precisely for this abandoned mining farm on Jurong Island. Even stranger, next to the coordinates was a note: "Lin Tao." It was his father's name. In this world, there were few people left who even remembered his father.
Filled with questions, he sought out someone known to be active in the online underworld: Chen Yongnian — a hacker he didn't know personally, but whose name he had heard. When they met, Lin Shen wanted Chen Yongnian to help crack the USB drive. Instead, Chen merely glanced at the screen, then pulled out a lighter, lit a cigarette, and said with a grin, "As it happens, I have the key to this thing." And just like that, as if under a spell, Lin Shen found himself following Chen Yongnian here.
"What's wrong?" Chen Yongnian drawled as he strolled ahead, his metal prosthetic leg emitting a faint scrape. "Feeling a bit reluctant?"
Lin Shen snapped out of his thoughts and sighed softly. "No. I'm mostly worried some villainous boss is lying in ambush here—or maybe even a ghost ship."
Chen Yongnian gave him a look, the corner of his mouth twitching. "You've read one too many novels."
"True." Lin Shen shrugged. "Reality is a lot more absurd than fiction."
Remnants of equipment still remained in the mining facility. Broken mining rigs lay scattered on the ground, their coolant dried into dark stains. On the wall, the faint logo of the power grid monitoring system was still visible. A severed fiber-optic cable hung in the air like an exposed vein from a corpse.
"Welcome to your dad's legacy," Chen Yongnian said as he came to a stop. He flipped aside a dusty cover from a piece of equipment.
A still-active smart power grid monitoring screen flickered to life. On its display, power dispatch data flowed like a living creature, with streams of various colors indicating where the energy was going.
Lin Shen frowned, his gaze falling on one anomalous line on the screen. It was the power supply route for Sentosa Children's Hospital. "This is wrong…," he murmured.
But what he saw next made his mind go blank—the hospital's power supply was quietly being diverted into a dark pool account at Westport Casino.
Note: Dark Pool – a non-public market for large transactions, used primarily for anonymous trades and often to evade financial regulation. In cryptocurrency markets, dark pools can be used to launder large sums of money, making the sources of funds impossible to trace.
"How is this possible?" Lin Shen said under his breath.
He recalled what his father had told him on his deathbed: "Energy should be a flow of goodwill." But now, his father's technology had become a tool for laundering money at the casino.
Part II: The Temptation of Money and Mind Games
"Your finances lately… they're not looking too good, are they?" Chen Yongnian's tone was casual, as if making small talk. However, Lin Shen's expression instantly went cold.
"You looked into me?" Lin Shen asked sharply.
"Not looked into, just understood, Chen Yongnian replied, spreading his hands in a mock-innocent gesture, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "Your mother's treatment plan isn't cheap each month, and you—honestly, that little convenience store salary of yours, how long can it hold out?"
Lin Shen's breath caught for a moment. "So what is it you want me to do?" he asked calmly. His tone was steady, but his eyes were cold and still, like stagnant water without a ripple.
"Help you find an unfair flow of funds," Chen answered.
Lin Shen frowned, not comprehending.
"You should have seen it by now." Chen Yongnian motioned with his chin toward the screen.
Sentosa Children's Hospital's electricity fees were being siphoned off into the casino's dark pool account.
"The casino is even laundering money from a hospital?" Lin Shen let out a cold laugh. "Why not go steal little kids' pocket money while they're at it?"
"They're more ruthless than you think," Chen Yongnian shrugged. "Money from the casino never vanishes into thin air; it's washed clean layer by layer, eventually becoming the legitimate assets of some high-net-worth clients."
"Isn't this exactly what you hackers are best at?" Lin Shen said sarcastically. "Find a victim first, then force him into the game?"
"You've got it wrong." Chen Yongnian chuckled. "I'm giving you a choice." He paused, then continued, "If you can find the critical node and, while you're at it, adjust the flow of funds to make it a bit 'fairer'… that would just be restoring things to how they should be, right?"
Lin Shen stared at him, his breathing quickening, his fingers clenched so hard his knuckles whitened. He knew exactly what Chen Yongnian was proposing. —This wasn't just a simple hack; it was leading him toward an abyss. He knew he shouldn't agree.
Part III: Echoes of the Mining Farm
"Are you sure no one's watching this flow of funds?" Lin Shen asked as he tapped at the keyboard.
"The banking system can spot large transactions, but look closely…," Chen Yongnian said, signaling him to open up a particular detail. "These are all 'microtransactions.'"
Explanation: Microtransaction – an electronic transaction involving a very small amount of money, typically used to evade financial regulations or to conceal large sums of dirty money in dark net transactions.
"It's like ants moving house — take a huge sum and break it into a few hundred transfers of only a few dozen dollars each, and nobody notices," Chen explained.
Lin Shen narrowed his eyes. The way the funds moved was indeed clever — every large amount had been split into tiny payments, never exceeding the bank's automatic alert threshold.
"So, it's a perfect loophole?" Lin Shen asked.
"Of course not." Chen Yongnian lit a second cigarette. "If someone were secretly monitoring these transactions, who do you think it would be?"
Lin Shen's fingers paused over the keys. He thought of the man at the convenience store—the mysterious stranger who had left the USB drive.
Lin Shen's eyes fell on Chen Yongnian's metal prosthetic leg, and he froze. A prosthetic… he hadn't noticed it at first. Immediately he remembered the man from the convenience store, the one who gave him the USB and tapped on the counter. But that man's prosthetic leg was black carbon fiber, whereas Chen Yongnian's was metallic. They were not the same person.
So, who was that man? The rhythm he had tapped on the counter corresponded to the Bitcoin block confirmation interval. And now, on the mining farm's old equipment, Lin Shen saw the very same coordinates displayed: 1°17′N, 103°51′E.
Lin Shen recoiled, feeling as if he'd been plunged into an icy cavern. This was impossible. This wasn't just about the funds anymore—someone had been watching this route long before they had.
"Looks like we have an opponent," Chen Yongnian said, his voice low and tinged with a hint of excitement.
The game of capital had only just begun.
📌 Case Trace
Southeast Asia cryptocurrency money-laundering case (2023) – how a casino leveraged energy arbitrage to launder Bitcoin, concealing illegal fund flows.
Microtransaction technique – in reality, hacker groups use numerous small transactions to mask the flow of dirty money, making it difficult to trace.
Shadow financial network – how shadow banking uses smart grid technology to bypass traditional financial systems, enabling decentralized money laundering.
🔍 Key Financial Technology Analysis
Microtransaction – How can small payments hide large-scale transfers of funds?
Energy Arbitrage & Dark Pool – How can a mining farm serve as the "transit hub" for a casino's money laundering operation?
Blockchain Tracing – How can blockchain monitoring track money-laundering paths and identify the mastermind behind them?
🚀 Chapter Summary
USB to the mining farm: Lin Shen is guided by a USB drive to an abandoned mining farm, where he discovers his father's technology is being used to launder money for a casino.
Baited by medical bills: Chen Yongnian exploits Lin Shen's desperation over his mother's medical expenses to entice him, prompting Lin Shen to consider manipulating the flow of funds.
Shadow finance exposed: The money-laundering techniques of the shadow financial network gradually come to light, including "microtransactions" and energy arbitrage methods.
An unseen adversary: A mysterious opponent is secretly monitoring everything—foreshadowing is planted and the suspense deepens. The game of capital has officially begun!