7: Chapter 7 Recycling Bitcoin

The two of them left the residential area and hailed a ride-sharing car.

Zhang Wei, worried that Liu Haorui might vomit in the car, helped him roll down the window. As the midnight breeze blew in, Liu Haorui actually perked up.

“Old Zhang, what kind of job did you pick up that's so mysterious? And you insisted on having two people for it.”

Noticing the strange look from the driver in the front seat, Zhang Wei kept a dark expression and didn't answer.

Middle of the night, picking up a 'job', being mysterious, and two men together—how was he supposed to respond to that? You've checked every suspicious box!

About twenty minutes later, the car stopped at the intersection of North Guanshun Road and the Outer Ring Road underpass.

Zhang Wei paid the fare. After getting out, he led Liu Haorui along the roadside to search. Soon, within a green belt by the road, he could faintly see something that looked like a wheel.

Zhang Wei stepped forward and pushed aside the branches. Two bicycles were revealed.

“Come give me a hand,” he called out to Liu Haorui. Together, they dragged the two bicycles out.

Liu Haorui looked curious: “Is this friend of yours a bicycle thief? Did he hide them here after stealing them so you could fence the goods?”

Zhang Wei curled his lip and said, “You're overthinking it. With the surveillance coverage in this City Name, you'd starve to death trying to make a living stealing bicycles.”

“As for the bicycles, they were abandoned. They're ownerless property.”

Under the light of the streetlamps, Zhang Wei examined them closely. One bicycle was white, while the other was entirely pink. There were some spots on the frames where the paint had chipped due to bumps. On one of them, the chain had even fallen off.

It didn't look like there were any major issues. Zhang Wei squatted down and tinkered for a bit, successfully putting the chain back on.

Mounting the bike, Zhang Wei tried riding it.

It had to be said that for a bicycle worth tens of thousands, there was a reason for its high price. The vehicle was extremely light and handled beautifully. The entire bike's appearance was very streamlined, with all-internal routing—not even a single brake cable could be seen.

After riding for a bit, Zhang Wei turned back and said to Liu Haorui, “Let's go, Old Liu. One bike each, just right for riding back.”

Liu Haorui scratched his head: “Riding back is fine, but this bike is so pink... can we swap? I'm afraid someone will take a picture of me with their phone.”

“Who's looking at you in the middle of the night? Hurry up. I'll give you a ten percent cut when I sell the bikes later.” Either way, Zhang Wei was absolutely not going to swap bikes with him.

The distance was quite far. It took the two of them over an hour of huffing and puffing to ride back to the residential area.

Mainly, the bike Liu Haorui had was a bit short, so he had to ride hunched over, making it hard to apply power. After riding for a while, his knees were aching.

They finally managed to push the bicycles home. Liu Haorui collapsed directly onto the sofa and didn't move. Having suddenly ridden for over an hour, Zhang Wei was also a bit out of breath.

He had been busy with work these past two years, and his physical condition had weakened significantly. Zhang Wei rubbed his chin. “It looks like I need to put fitness on the agenda.”

He opened Taobao and found the official Trek flagship store to check. These two bikes belonged to that brand's Madone series. The official price was 75,800 per bike.

Even though he was somewhat prepared, this price still gave Zhang Wei a shock.

He looked at the introduction on the official website.

Trek is an American brand and is considered top-tier in the bicycle world. This series of road bikes uses a full carbon fiber monocoque structure. The vehicle is so light it can be lifted with a pinky finger.

Past US Presidents and Vice Presidents—like Ao Guanhai, Clinton, and both Bushes—all rode these bikes. In short, the technology and prestige were maxed out.

One of the most famous incidents was in May 2015. US Secretary of State Kerry had just finished a round of Iran nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland. Having a rare few hours of free time, the old fellow—a fanatical cycling enthusiast—couldn't resist going for a ride in Scionzier, about 40 kilometers from the French-Swiss border. As a result, he broke his leg, and he was riding a Trek bike at the time. One has to remember he was already 71 years old.

Because it happened during an official visit abroad, the Swiss government stated they weren't taking the blame; it wasn't a lack of protection, the old guy had just gone out for a joyride on his own. Therefore, this act of slacking off couldn't be hidden at all and was quickly exposed by the news.

Unexpectedly, through this incident, the American public felt he was a good leader who promoted environmental protection and loved sports. The waves of praise actually raised his domestic prestige. It could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Zhang Wei didn't have any channels for buying or selling second-hand bicycles. However, there was now the all-powerful Seafood Market marketplace.

He took a few photos of each bike. Considering the slight damage, he listed them on Seafood Market for 60,000 each.

Both Zhang Wei and Liu Haorui were exhausted. After a quick wash, they each went to rest.

By the time Zhang Wei opened his eyes again, it was already past eleven in the morning. He walked out of the bedroom bleary-eyed; the living room was empty. Liu Haorui had to work today and had likely left early.

After Zhang Wei freshened up, he was finally fully awake.

The most important task involving the bitcoin hadn't been completed yet today. God knows if that USB drive would be bought by someone else. He had to hurry.

However, unlike the last time he picked up the gold bars, Zhang Wei could directly buy this USB drive.

Once he bought it, the ownership would be his. Even if the original owner tracked him down, they would have nothing to say.

Making a special trip to the digital mall just to buy a single USB drive would seem a bit too deliberate. Zhang Wei thought for a moment, grabbed the laptop he had used for years, and then headed out.

Cyber Digital Plaza was located in the bustling Yujiahui, which was one of the City Name's top commercial districts. He had heard a senior from the post-80s generation at his company say that in their era, people from the City Name would come here to browse whenever they wanted to buy computers or 3C products.

But with the rise of e-commerce platforms, its glory days were over, and the foot traffic was nowhere near what it used to be.

As Zhang Wei stepped through the mall's entrance, several middle-aged women immediately swarmed him.

“Handsome, are you buying a brand-name PC or building your own?”

“Handsome, come to my shop to build it. I'll give you the lowest price.”

“Handsome, ignore her. Her computers are all at 'black shop' prices; you'll definitely get ripped off if you go there.”

“Who do you think you are? You looking for a fight?!”

“As if I'm afraid of you!”

“Physical stores have become this competitive?” Seeing the group of women start arguing as they spoke, Zhang Wei was quite speechless.

After repeating “I'm not building a computer” over a dozen times along the way, Zhang Wei finally found his target shop.

Calling it a shop was an overstatement; it was more like a small repair workshop. In the shop of about ten square meters, the owner was currently tinkering with something that looked like a motherboard.

Some second-hand electronic products were also on display in the shop. Zhang Wei pretended to browse, looking for the USB drive mentioned in the intel.

After a moment, he saw a dirty USB drive with a linabell sticker on it on a shelf to the left.

Zhang Wei looked away and didn't pick up the USB drive immediately. Instead, he took the laptop out of his backpack and said to the owner:

“Boss, do you buy laptops here? I bought a new one, and this one is just sitting around.”

Hearing this, the boss put down his work, took the laptop, and opened it to check its specs.

Zhang Wei's laptop was bought by his parents when he got into university. It cost over ten thousand back then, but it had already been used for six years.

After checking it, the boss said to Zhang Wei, “The specs on this laptop are already very old, though it doesn't seem to have any problems. You can't play games on it, but normal office work is still fine.” He then scratched his head and added, “But you know, electronic products lose half their value as soon as you get them; they don't hold value well. This machine is from five or six years ago. The most I can give you is 600.”

Zhang Wei pretended to be troubled: “Boss, you must be joking. I bought this for over ten thousand. Six hundred is too exaggerated. Give me a fair price.”

The boss remained unmoved: “Six hundred is the highest it can go. You can go out and ask; there aren't many shops in the entire market that would even recycle this kind of antique, and they won't quote higher than me. I can guarantee that.”

“Six hundred is way too low. How about a thousand, Boss? Make it a round number.” Zhang Wei continued his performance with a face full of conflict.

“There's really nothing I can do, six hundred is already the top price.” The boss seemed certain he had Zhang Wei cornered and refused to budge at all.

Zhang Wei pretended to hesitate for a long time, then finally reached out and grabbed that USB drive from the shelf, saying through gritted teeth, “Fine! Six hundred it is, but Boss, you have to throw in this USB drive. It'll save me a trip to buy one.”

The boss looked at the USB drive in Zhang Wei's hand with a strange expression. After all, it was a bit abstract for a grown man to take a liking to a USB drive with a linabell sticker.

However, this USB drive had been sitting there for two or three years, and its capacity was only 30GB. Even brand new, its market value was only twenty or thirty yuan.

The boss didn't think much of it and nodded in agreement.

With a calm face, Zhang Wei showed his QR code, received the 600 sent by the shop owner, and left with the USB drive.