Chapter One: Rebirth and All-In

1. Death and Rebirth

"Bang —"

The harsh screech of brakes tore through the silence of the rainy night, and the blinding headlights left the last light spot on the retina. Locke felt like he was flying, his body weightless, with only the sound of his own rapid heartbeat left in his ears.

"Am I going to die..."

In his final moments of consciousness, he saw his phone screen still lit up, that blood-red liquidation notice was particularly glaring: [Your position has been completely liquidated, remaining balance: 0.00 USD].

Memories flashed back like a revolving lantern:

Three months ago, that KOL who claimed to be the "Warren Buffett of crypto" was shouting hoarsely in the livestream: "This coin is about to increase by a hundred times! If you don't get in now, just wait for a leg fracture!" He irrationally bet all his savings — 580,000, meant for his daughter's international school tuition.

The next day, the project team ran away. The coin price dropped to zero within half an hour, and the exchange directly delisted it.

On the day his wife took their daughter away, he knelt in the rain begging for forgiveness, but only received the words: "Li Locke, you make me feel disgusted." His parents secretly mortgaged their house to help him pay off debt, and in the early hours of a drunken night, he was sent on an irrevocable path by that out-of-control truck...

"Tick-tock, tick-tock..."

Locke suddenly opened his eyes, with the familiar sound of an alarm clock in his ears. He reflexively reached for his phone beside the pillow; the lock screen showing 07:30 on April 1, 2023 made him shiver all over.

"I... have been reborn?"

With trembling fingers, he opened the Binance app; the account balance showed 0.1 ETH, equivalent to about 1200 RMB. This number would be unforgettable for him — it was exactly his entire principal when he first entered the crypto world in his previous life.

Suddenly, he laughed nervously, his laughter echoing in the empty bedroom. Because he suddenly realized, today — April 1, 2023, was just three days before the legendary meme coin $PEPE officially launched!

Locke rushed into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. His reflection in the mirror showed no wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his hair was still not white. He said to the mirror, word by word: "In this life, I want all the shitcoins to kneel and call me dad!"

Real estate agent Xiao Wang looked at the young man with red eyes in front of him and confirmed for the Nth time: "Mr. Li, do you really want to mortgage this school district house? The market is not good right now, the valuation might..."

"Stop talking nonsense," Locke slapped the property deed on the table, "I want the fastest loan scheme; high interest is fine."

Three hours later, 2 million cash arrived. Walking out of the bank, the April sun was so bright he couldn't open his eyes. In his previous life at this time, he was struggling due to company layoffs; now, he felt like even the air was sweet.

On the way home, he casually bought a new phone, registered a new Twitter account @CryptoKingLocke (@hongxiao_sol), chose a picture of a Shiba Inu wearing sunglasses for the profile, and the bio was just one sentence: [Either it goes to zero, or it's a Rolls Royce].

He opened Uniswap and entered $PEPE; sure enough, it showed "Token not found". Locke curled his lips into a cold smile; this was the real wealth secret — to ambush before the token was launched.

In the next 48 hours, he lurked in various crypto communities like a cheetah. In a Telegram group called "Pepe Army", he disguised himself as a newbie and kept asking stupid questions: "Is this Binance safe, guys?" "Is the project team reliable?" Until someone impatiently threw out the contract address: "Look for yourself, LP locked, zero tax, believe it or not."

Locke's finger hovered over the confirm button, trembling slightly. 2 million, a number that an ordinary person wouldn't save in ten years, and now he was about to bet it all on a meme coin that hadn't even launched yet.

"In my past life, I was just too indecisive..." He suddenly clicked confirm, and 50 ETH was instantly transferred. Watching the successful transaction prompt, he tweeted: [All-in is a kind of wisdom. $PEPE will either make me live under a bridge or let me buy an island. Retweet to draw 10 people for 1 ETH.] The accompanying image was a meme of a Shiba Inu wearing a Rolex.

After sending the message, he shut down his phone, not out of fear of regret, but out of fear that he couldn't help but check the market — the real explosion would have to wait three days.

On the morning three days later, Locke was awakened by the incessantly vibrating phone. Twitter messages 999+, private messages overflowing, the latest tweet mentioning him had already received over ten thousand likes: [The crazy guy who predicted $PEPE was right!!!]

He leisurely brewed a cup of coffee before opening the market software. The K-line chart shot up vertically like a rocket, with a 12,000% increase turning his 50 ETH into 6 million. The comment section was already exploding:

[Big guy, please take me with you!]

[I saw your tweet but didn't dare to buy; now I want to jump off a building.]

[Is this insider trading?]

Locke coldly screenshot his holdings and tweeted: [I said, either it goes to zero, or it’s a Rolls Royce. Now do you believe?] The accompanying image was a meme that said "I just like you can't stand me but can't take me down".

The most exciting comment came from @OldCryptoInvestor, questioning: [It was just luck to guess right once; this kind of shitcoin will eventually go to zero.]

He replied instantly: [You’re right, so how is that LUNA you heavily invested in last year?] This reply was instantly pushed to the top, and $PEPE responded by rising another 15%.

That night, Locke sat in a Michelin restaurant on the Bund, ordering a bottle of 1982 Lafite. The server's hands were shaking as he poured wine — this young man in slippers had just spent 50,000 on wine without blinking.

"Ding," his phone popped up a tweet from V God mentioning him: [Interesting experiment, but meme coins have no future.]

Locke took a sip of red wine and replied: [V God is right, so why did you like $DOGE back then?] He even added a dog emoji. This tweet surpassed 30,000 retweets within half an hour, sending him straight to trending.

Two weeks later, the market cap of $PEPE surpassed 1 billion USD. Li Locke's holdings were worth over 50 million; his Twitter followers exceeded 100,000, and every tweet was filled with "Dog King believers".

One night, he was in a presidential suite researching the next target $BOME when his phone suddenly vibrated. A text from an unknown number came: [We know who you are. Want to cooperate, see you tomorrow.]

Locke smiled and deleted the text message, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window to overlook the Shanghai night view. In the glass reflection, the once subservient corporate worker who had nodded and bowed for 2000 yuan overtime pay had disappeared.

"In this life..." he murmured while swirling his wine glass, "I want the whole crypto world to remember the name Li Locke."