In 2013, Meng Fan, who repaired phones in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, accidentally overheard a customer talking about a type of electronic currency called 'Bitcoin,' which sold for only 500 yuan each. 'Can this thing buy pizza?' Meng Fan laughed and shook his head, continuing to twist his screwdriver.

In 2017, Bitcoin surged to 10,000 dollars, and Meng Fan's nephew bought a Tesla with it. Meng Fan stayed up all night digging out an old hard drive—'A customer used 50 Bitcoins to pay for the repair back then; did I just save it here?!' But the hard drive had long been sold as scrap by his wife.

In 2021, Bitcoin broke 60,000 dollars. Meng Fan squatted at the entrance of the scrap station and smoked three packs of cigarettes, eventually offering a reward of 200,000 for that hard drive. Old Li, who collected scrap, scratched his head: 'Last year, I dismantled 200 hard drives, and the copper wires were sold to the scrap station...'

In 2025, Meng Fan's repair shop hung up a new sign: 'Bitcoin Hardware Recovery Expert,' specializing in finding 'electronic waste worth over a hundred million.' He often murmured to customers: 'This thing is much more mysterious than a screwdriver...'