The heavy rain made the glass of the rental house in the village clang loudly. I stared at the green pop-up on my computer screen that said, 'Kava v15 mainnet upgrade completed, Tendermint consensus node synchronization rate 100%,' my finger hovered over the 'Confirm Staking' button for three minutes—having just converted my severance payment of 30,000 into KAVA, my ex Lin Wei's WeChat message stabbed into me like a thorn, with her leaning against the yacht railing in the photo, her new boyfriend wrapping his arms around her waist, holding a champagne bottle, with a caption that was glaring: 'Some people just hold onto worthless coins waiting for them to crash; the cross-chain project I chose has over 100 million in institutional investment.'
I heard the sound of slippers sliding across the floor behind me. Su Wan came over with a cup of hot ginger tea, water dripping from her hair onto my collar, bringing a bit of coolness. She pushed the cup toward me, her gaze landing on the Kava ecosystem architecture diagram on the screen, her fingertip pointing at the 'EVM Compatible Module' section: 'You searched for a Layer-1 for half a year, isn't this the kind that can seamlessly connect with Ethereum DApps? It’s built on the Cosmos SDK, and its block confirmation speed is much faster than those projects you looked at before that claimed to be “cross-chain” but had to wait ten minutes for basic transfers. Why are you still hesitating?'
I didn't look back and threw my phone to her to show Lin Wei's Moments: 'She broke up with me saying that researching Kava's technical documents was a “waste of time,” and now she's hanging out with someone involved in “cross-chain asset management,” flaunting the holdings in the contract addresses every day. Look at my 30,000 KAVA; it hasn't even made a decent gain. What if...'
'There is no what-if.' Su Wan suddenly squatted down, gently nudging my knee with hers. I noticed the red bloodshot in her eyes—last night, to help me verify Kava's cross-chain functionality, she stayed up until three in the morning, using MetaMask to connect to the Kava EVM chain, transferring USDT from Ethereum, and tested it five times, the fastest only taking 7 seconds, with a transaction fee of only 0.8 dollars. She grabbed my phone, opened the Kava block explorer, and entered the contract address of Lin Wei's new boyfriend's project: 'Look, this project claims to be “multi-chain deployed,” but in the on-chain data, 90% of the tokens are in an anonymous wallet, and in the last three days, this wallet transferred coins to exchanges five times, each time a large withdrawal. Isn't this a precursor to a pump-and-dump?''
Her fingers traced the transaction hash on the screen, the light pink nail polish brushing against the back of my hand, bringing a little warmth. I suddenly remembered that three months ago, when I was looking at projects with Lin Wei, she only urged me to 'look at the candlestick chart and ignore the consensus mechanism,' while Su Wan was checking Kava's security reports with me line by line: 'It uses Cosmos's Tendermint BFT consensus, with over 150 validating nodes, and it has enabled multi-signature. Last year, there was a hacker attempt, and the validating nodes collectively triggered the defense mechanism, preventing asset loss. This is ten times more reliable than those projects that don’t even have an audit report.'
Just as I was speaking, a news alert popped up in the bottom right corner of my computer: 'The “Interstellar Cross-Chain” project is suspected of running away, with investors gathering downstairs to protect their rights.' My heart tightened. Su Wan had already picked up her phone to send Lin Wei a message: 'Quickly collect your transfer records. I can use Kava's on-chain tracking tool to find out where your transferred ETH ultimately went. Maybe it can help you file a police report for evidence.'
Before Lin Wei could reply, a call came in, her voice filled with tears: 'A-Zhe, I was wrong, that project is fake! The 200,000 I invested is now just air in the contract address. Can you...?' Su Wan handed the phone over, quietly retreating to the window, her fingers twisting the hem of her clothes, rain droplets coming in and soaking her sleeves, yet she didn’t shy away.
I said a few comforting words to Lin Wei before hanging up. When I turned around, I saw Su Wan looking down, droplets of water hanging on her eyelashes: 'Should I not have let you take the call? I know you used to...'
'There is no past anymore.' I grasped her hand tightly; her fingertips were a bit cool but steady. 'When I was with Lin Wei, I didn’t even have the heart to read Kava's EVM-compatible documents. Now, measuring cross-chain and checking node data with you makes me feel grounded. And don’t you remember? Last week, we used Kava's developer tools to set up the prototype of our first small DApp—the one that helps retail investors check token distribution, using Kava's on-chain data interface. This is what I want to do.'
Su Wan suddenly looked up, tears falling onto the back of my hand: 'Can I have half of the KAVA you have? I want to help you finish that DApp, using Kava's cross-chain feature to allow users to check multi-chain token data in one interface without switching wallets.' I smiled and hugged her, smelling the faint scent of soap from her hair: 'Not just KAVA, but every tool we develop for this DApp in the future will be ours.'
Later, Lin Wei went out of town and occasionally sent me messages, saying she had started learning the basics of blockchain and even asked about Kava's latest developments. Su Wan always asked me to send her Kava's upgrade announcements, even sharing our organized notes on 'Tendermint Consensus Principles': 'The more people understand technology, the fewer will be fooled by terms like “cross-chain” and “Layer-1.”'
Last month, our DApp officially went live on the Kava ecosystem, and over 1,200 users registered on the first day. Su Wan leaned against me, looking at the backend data, her finger tapping on Kava's new announcement: 'Look, Kava has upgraded the IBC protocol again; it can now interoperate with over 20 chains in the Cosmos ecosystem. We can add a cross-chain asset management feature in our DApp, allowing users to manage assets on Kava, Cosmos, and Ethereum directly.'
I pinched her face. The Kava blocks on the screen were still continuously generating new transaction records, and the green confirmation prompts flashed like stars. The heavy rain had already stopped, and the moonlight filtered through the window onto our notebook, which was filled with Kava's code comments and ecological plans. I suddenly understood that Kava's greatest value was not its lightning-fast cross-chain speed or its compatibility with Ethereum's development capabilities, but the fact that it allowed me to meet someone willing to tackle technical documents and test on-chain data with me, someone who gave me confidence with code and sincerity when I felt lost—just like Kava's Layer-1 base, solid and reliable, able to support the future of two people.
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