MTLNOVEL Chapter 229: Bitcoin Manhunt
Darren was in his office now, reclined on his chair, spinning in an almost playful manner.
His thoughts hadn't lingered on Adam Scotland for far too long. No matter how much the man wanted it, Darren wasn't going to recognize him as a rival.
Before him was the Investor System on the Bitcoin Investment tab. Now that the cryptocurrency had crashed slightly, it was the time to buy again.
Darren's eyes narrowed as he navigated the interface. Je opened the investment module, and the screen flickered to life with a prompt that seemed to pulse with quiet urgency.
┏Advised purchase: $1,000,000┛
┏Limit: $2,000,000┛
┏Anything beyond $2,000,000 increases the risk of causing a financial paradox┛
Darren leaned back, his fingers drumming a slow rhythm on the desk's edge. This financial paradox again.
He had only found the solution for it on a large scale for his company, but on the personal level, that stuff still hindered him.
The advised amount was conservative. The limit, though, was a siren call — two million dollars, the edge of reason before the system's algorithms flagged a potential market ripple. He rubbed his chin, the faint stubble scratching against his palm.
His mind churned through the numbers: Bitcoin at $4 per coin, a price that felt like a fleeting opportunity, a window that could slam shut at any moment.
"Well," he murmured to himself, voice low in the empty room. "I'll increase my personal budget later." He opened the New Investment Window. The interface responded instantly, clean and unadorned, waiting for his command.
┏Make New Investment┛
┏There are no investment drafts. New investment can be initiated.┛
A confirmation window slid into view, stark and demanding.
┏Amount of Bitcoin to purchase: $________┛
Darren's fingers moved with purpose, typing out the figure: $1,500,000. He leaned back and waited, now used to the part of the job.
A soft ding broke the silence, and a new prompt flashed on the screen.
┏Are you sure you want to purchase Bitcoin worth $1,500,000 at $4 per BTC?┛
┏Estimated Holdings: 375,000 BTC┛
He didn't hesitate. His index finger tapped the ┏Confirm┛ button with a quiet authority, the motion as natural as breathing. The interface refreshed, a cascade of numbers and graphs flickering across the screen as the system processed the transaction in real time. Darren watched, unblinking, as the final notification appeared.
┏Investment Successful!┛
┏BTC Purchased: 375,000┛
┏Current Portfolio Value: $1,500,000┛
┏Estimated Profit at Next Major Rise: $5,625,000┛
Letting out an exhale, Darren eyed his account balance, wondering if he should draft a new purchase. His phone rang with the notification of his already made purchase, but he didn't want to grant the CryptoTrackers an audience that afternoon.
Before he could begin the draft, the door to the office opened with a soft click, breaking the stillness. Rachel stepped inside, her boots tapping lightly against the hardwood floor. She carried her slim laptop from earlier under one arm, its silver casing catching the light of the window.
Her expression was focused, though Darren didn't look up immediately to see it as his attention was still fixed on the portfolio metrics glowing on his screen.
Rachel stopped a few feet from the desk, her presence a subtle shift in the room's energy. "What do we do about Adam Scotland?" she asked, her voice calm but edged with impatience. She set the laptop down on the desk, its weight making a faint thud against the polished wood.
Darren's eyes flicked up to meet hers. "Nothing," he said, like a metronome. "Let him follow. Inevitably he'll make a mistake."
Rachel raised an eyebrow, unconvinced, but she didn't press the point. Instead, she flipped open the laptop and turned it toward him, the screen already alive with a darknet forum thread and a news article pulled from an obscure archive.
"You need to see this," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur. "It's about some person named NakamuraGhost."
Darren looked at her, and then at the laptop screen. "See what?"
"Apparently, over a million Bitcoin has gone missing."
Darren's heart skipped. "What? Mine?"
"No. No." she shook her head. Then she read the lines on the screen. "NakamuraGhost, a figure shrouded in myth, had been a legend among blackhat coders and crypto hoarders before his reported death."
"Death?" Darren's eyes scanned the screen, taking in the details: a grainy news snippet about a car crash in Osaka, a coroner's report, and a forum post speculating about unclaimed Bitcoin wallets.
"He's dead," Rachel said, pointing to the article. "Confirmed in a crash two weeks ago. But here's the thing— rumors are he left behind 1,200,000 BTC in scattered wallets. No one's claimed them. Yet. I thought you would like to know."
Darren's lips pressed into a thin line, his mind already racing. 1,200,000 Bitcoin at $4 a coin was a fortune, but the real value lay in the future that only he knew about.
"How true is it?"
"Well if you check CryptoTracker now, there are many people that are backing the story. Evidence shows it's not just a conspiracy."
Darren thought for a moment. In the former timeline, a Bitcoin was around $150,000, that meant, this Bitcoin was worth $180 million fucking dollars.
And from the looks of things, there was an online manhunt to find the missing Bitcoin.
Ding!
A notification appeared on Darren's screen.
┏Quest Activated: "The Forgotten Wallet: Recover the Lost Millions."┛
┏Reward: 80,000 BTC + Vault Tracer Tool (Permanent)┛
Darren's eyes narrowed, a spark of adrenaline flickering through him. 'Well, that's interesting,' he murmured. 'This is going to be the first time the system grants me an actual currency valued reward."
He glanced at Rachel, who was already tapping away at her laptop, pulling up IP logs and encrypted chat fragments.
"I've been digging," she said, her voice steady but laced with excitement. "The wallets are recoverable, but the seed phrases are fragmented. Scattered across physical backups. If we can find them before anyone else…" She trailed off, letting the implication hang in the air.
Darren smirked. "So you're interested in the man hunt?"
She looked at him, turning red on the cheeks. "Aren't you?"
Darren shrugged. "Of course." Even then, his mind was already mapping out the next steps. "But we have to move fast," he said. "Since you brought this to me, I'm guessing you already have a lead?"
Rachel's fingers paused on the keyboard, her eyes meeting his. "Old Berlin," she said. "NakamuraGhost was active there in the 2000s. There's a cybercafé and a safehouse tied to one of his aliases. It's a start."
Darren's gaze returned to the system interface, the quest notification still glowing faintly. "Pack light," he said, his voice firm. "We'll be going on the Razor."
Rachel frowned, pretending not to get what he meant.
Darren stopped walking and turned to her. "My private jet?"
"Ohhhhhh." she teased.
"Shut up, you phony."