In a shared apartment outside Beijing's Fifth Ring Road, Qi Xiaobei stared at the flickering candlestick chart on the computer screen, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. This was his third consecutive all-nighter, and the instant noodle cups on the table had piled up into a small mountain, with the room filled with the smell of sweat mixed with cheap cigarettes.

"Bitcoin fell below $18,000! A new low since December 2020!"—the red headline on the financial website stung his eyes.

His phone suddenly vibrated, it was the eighth missed call from Aunt Wang, the landlord. Qi Xiaobei forced a smile as he swiped open the screen, the latest text message glaring at him: "Xiao Qi, I'll give you three more days. If you don't pay rent, get the hell out!"

He looked around; in this less than 10 square meter second bedroom, the most valuable thing was probably the gaming laptop that had been used for four years. Three years after graduation, 25-year-old Qi Xiaobei had not saved a single penny and owed over 50,000 yuan to an online loan platform. As a front-end programmer at a small company, his meager salary was not even enough to cover the interest.

"Ding"—a message suddenly popped up in the university class group. Zhang Wei, the crazy guy who dropped out in his sophomore year to "get into blockchain," posted a photo of himself vacationing in the Maldives, captioned: "Thanks to Bitcoin, I retired early at 28."

Qi Xiaobei's fist slammed down hard on the keyboard. Three years ago, when Zhang Wei urged him to buy Bitcoin together, the price was only $9,000. Now, although it had dropped, it was still twice that amount. And what did he say back then? "Cryptocurrencies are all scams"?

"Damn!" Qi Xiaobei suddenly stood up, hitting his forehead against the upper bunk without caring about the pain. He rummaged through all his bank cards in the drawer, and the total balance just added up to 30,212.5 yuan. This was all his belongings, including the online loan installments due next month.

Suddenly, the Bitcoin price jumped to $17,850 on the computer screen. Qi Xiaobei recalled what Zhang Wei had said while drinking last year: "The crypto winter is the best investment opportunity; when everyone is panicking and selling, that's when you should be greedy."

His fingers acted faster than his brain. Qi Xiaobei registered for a Binance account, completed KYC verification, and at 4:23 AM, used all 30,000 yuan to buy 0.167 Bitcoin at $17,920.

"Just consider this money lost." He murmured to himself, yet couldn't stop refreshing the market every ten seconds. Ten minutes after buying, Bitcoin dropped to $17,600, and his holdings instantly evaporated over 800 yuan.

Qi Xiaobei's stomach began to cramp, cold sweat soaked through his T-shirt. Just then, the phone rang abruptly—it was a collection call from the online loan company. He stared at the caller ID and suddenly grinned.

"Hello, is this Manager Li? I want to borrow another 70,000, yes, applying right now... Collateral? What the hell do I have to collateralize? Just my job at a state-owned enterprise? ... 24% interest? You might as well go rob... 36%? ... Okay, I sign!"

After hanging up the phone, Qi Xiaobei's eyes were bloodshot. Ten minutes later, 70,000 yuan arrived. Without hesitation, he bought in with all his funds, with an average price of $17,430. Including his previous holdings, he now owned 0.572 Bitcoin, worth exactly 100,000 yuan.

"Either the rooftop or the moon." Qi Xiaobei set this phrase as his phone wallpaper.

On the second day at work, he couldn't concentrate on writing code at all. In a small window where he secretly refreshed the market, Bitcoin continued to slide down to $16,800. His 100,000 turned into 96,000, and considering the 36% annualized interest, he lost nearly 5,000 in one day.

"Xiao Qi, can you get this page effect done by tomorrow?" The supervisor's voice came from behind, and Qi Xiaobei hurriedly switched the screen.

"Ah? Oh... that should be fine..." His voice trembled, his palms were sweaty.

During lunch break, Qi Xiaobei hid in the toilet stall staring at his phone. Suddenly, a news alert popped up: "The Federal Reserve hints at slowing interest rate hikes, risk assets surge collectively!"

The Bitcoin price soared like a rocket, 17,000... 17,500... 18,200... By the time he finished work and squeezed onto the subway back home, the price had already broken through $19,000. His holdings increased from a low of 96,000 to 113,000, netting a profit of 13,000!

"This is only the first day..." Qi Xiaobei grinned on the subway, drawing strange looks from those around him.

In the next 48 hours, Qi Xiaobei was like a man possessed. He took sick leave and stayed glued to his computer. Bitcoin began a breathtaking surge:

On the morning of the second day, breaking through the psychological barrier of $20,000, his 100,000 turned into 120,000;


At 3 PM, a well-known hedge fund announced the purchase of $500 million in Bitcoin, causing the price to soar to $22,000, with a holding value of 140,000 yuan;


At 10 PM, Musk suddenly tweeted "Bitcoin is interesting," causing the price to surge 20% and break through $26,000, turning his 100,000 into 170,000!

Qi Xiaobei's co-tenants heard a beastly howl coming from his room. In the early morning, he posted on a crypto forum: "100,000 turned into 170,000, should I run now?"

Five minutes later, a user with the ID "Crypto Veteran" messaged him: "Newbie? Thinking of getting out just as the bull market is starting? Remember, it's not volatility but the trend that will set you free financially."

On the third day, the miracle continued. Bitcoin broke through $30,000 and made it to Weibo's trending topics, with a large number of retail investors starting to buy in. Qi Xiaobei's holdings exceeded 200,000 yuan, doubling his principal.

But the real madness arrived in the afternoon. An unverified message spread wildly in various communities: a certain sovereign wealth fund was secretly accumulating Bitcoin. The price surged like a runaway horse, breaking through $35,000, and Qi Xiaobei's account balance became 224,000 yuan!

"Cash out! I must cash out!" His finger hovered over the "sell" button, but he remembered the words of the "crypto veteran." After taking ten deep breaths, Qi Xiaobei sold only 0.072 Bitcoin, withdrawing 50,000 yuan to pay off some high-interest loans.

That night, Bitcoin retraced to around $32,000. Qi Xiaobei calculated: the remaining 0.5 Bitcoin was worth about 160,000, minus 70,000 principal (including the 50,000 already repaid), netting 90,000.

Three days, 90,000 profit. That was equivalent to eight months of his salary.

Qi Xiaobei collapsed on the bed, suddenly breaking down in tears. He recalled the days of being threatened by collection calls over the past three years, the looks from colleagues when they saw him in a cheap suit, and the expressions of potential partners when they learned about his debts during blind dates...

On the morning of the fourth day, Qi Xiaobei was awakened by the alarm on his phone. Bitcoin broke through $40,000! The value of his holdings exceeded $250,000! He frantically called Zhang Wei: "Bro, what should I do now?"

"Wow, you actually bought all the way down?" Zhang Wei's voice changed pitch with surprise, "Listen, if it breaks the previous high of 69,000, it could very well start a new super cycle. Set a stop-loss point and let the profits run."

Qi Xiaobei set a rule for himself: if it falls below $30,000, sell all holdings; otherwise, hold until $60,000.

The next two weeks felt like a dream. Bitcoin steadily rose amidst violent fluctuations, with Qi Xiaobei's holdings reaching a peak of 280,000 and a low of 180,000. He lost ten pounds but felt energized like he had been injected with steroids.

On the 15th day, a historic moment arrived: Bitcoin broke through the historical high of $69,000, and the total liquidation of short positions exceeded $2 billion. Qi Xiaobei's 0.5 Bitcoin was worth—345,000 yuan!

When the price soared to $70,200, he decisively cashed out, receiving 351,000 yuan. After deducting 70,000 principal and 20,000 interest, he netted 260,000. The first thing Qi Xiaobei did when the money hit his bank account was to transfer six months of rent to the landlord.

"Aunt Wang, this is what I owed before, plus six months' prepayment." He deliberately used a nonchalant tone.

That night, Qi Xiaobei sat in the most expensive Japanese restaurant in Sanlitun, ordering a bottle of sake for 2,000 yuan. Feeling tipsy, he opened his phone and sent a private message to the ID "Crypto Veteran": "Thanks for your advice; today I cashed out and made 260,000."

The other party replied instantly: "Congratulations, but this is just the beginning. In the next bull market, I will teach you how to play with contract leverage. By the way, are you interested in joining our private group? The threshold is 500,000."

Qi Xiaobei stared at the last number and suddenly laughed. Three months ago, 500,000 was an astronomical figure to him. And now... he took a sip of sake and replied: "Let me accumulate some more principal first."

As he walked out of the restaurant, it started to snow lightly in Beijing. Qi Xiaobei stood under the neon lights, watching his breath blend into the night sky. He knew this Bitcoin adventure was just the beginning—the door to the crypto world had just opened to him.

(To be continued)