Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!

After a weekend of refreshing and celebrating the success of Friday night, the IT team prepared for the new week.

Monday and Tuesday were the last two days of October, so that was their advantage. Darren wanted them to use the opportunity of these extra two days and see if it's possible they could cover up the poor outputs of the earlier weeks.

The Radeon 5870s blinked red and green, hash cycles spun at near-max speed as they all entered the Operations Room.

It was dim and cold, humming with the rhythm of industry — of pressure.

Kara was already there, looking at Rig 2 with a curious expression on her face. Somehow the Rig had already solved a block that early morning. Was it time to crown a new beast?

The boss, Darren, had arrived earlier than everyone else, a thermos in hand, suit discarded for sleeves rolled and a graphite-gray shirt. His tie was stuffed into his pocket.

Before Darren had entered the office, he'd received the last update from Rachel on Trendteller sales.

"We sold three new Trendteller+ licenses overnight," she had said, keeping pace with him.

Darren didn't even glance away from the door as he approached. "Good."

"That brings our total to $312,000 in MRR for Trendteller and $110,000 in customized contracts for the + model," she added, waiting for something — a nod, a smile.

Instead: "That's great work. Tell Sandy I said well done."

Rachel's lips parted, disappointment flickering. But she remembered what he had said to her, and she understood. She turned around and returned to the main halls of the company.

By 7:05 AM, work was in full flow.

"Hashrate's stable," Kara announced from her desk. "We're holding 710 MH/s. Nonce iteration's back within tolerances. All rigs — except Rig 2 — are green."

Darren looked up. "What's wrong with Rig 2?"

"It mined a block very early today and now it's heated up quite a lot. So it's basically a cooling delay. I swapped its oil tank last night — fresh batch — but one of the coils had a sticky valve. Shouldn't be a big deal, it's only 2°C above threshold."

He nodded once. "Let's keep an eye on it. Run diagnostics every twenty minutes. Push it gently."

The second block hit at 7:32 AM.

Block Height: 76,215

BTC Earned: 50

Current Price: $0.70

Rig: 4 – 'The Beast'

By 9:00 AM, two more were mined.

Day 1 of Week 5 Output So Far: 3 Blocks = 150 BTC

Total BTC: 1,900

But it was then that things started changing.

Few hours later, around 9:18 AM, Kara was sipping a chocolate drink, halfway across the room when she noticed something.

She narrowed her eyes. "Why is Rig 2's core temp spiking?"

Darren was beside her in seconds. Rico and Deborah joined from the other side, eyes wide.

GPU Temp: 94.6°C

Hashrate: Dropping

Warning: Thermal Fluctuation Detected

"This doesn't make sense," Rico muttered. "I ran a flush before the batch was loaded. Oil was clean."

"What do you mean it was clean, Rico?" Kara said, voice tight. "It doesn't look clean. Look at the viscosity logs."

Darren stepped in. He looked at Rico with an intense gaze and then at Kara.

"I swear it was clean. I swear!" Rico claimed.

Darren ignored them. "Pull the oil now. Rico, cut power. Kara, prep a drain."

Rico hesitated. "But, Darren. We're mining right now—"

"I said cut the power."

Without wasting another second, Rico flipped the switch. Ding... ding... dong!

Rig 2 went dark.

A minute later, Kara and Deborah had both hands on deck and had begun siphoning the tank.

The fluid came out cloudy.

As Darren watched them, he began to wonder if this small error might be catastrophic for Rig 2 and possibly, the entire operation.

He glanced at Rico who appeared beside himself. The system said he was honest so Darren really couldn't blame him for anything.

He let out a frustrated sigh and facepalmed.

"System. Activate A.B.A and analyze cooling logs for Rig 2 and cross-check timestamps."

Ding!

┏A•B•A Response: Detected Mismatch in Tank Refill Schedule

— Batch ID: #104-B

Source Timestamp: 11:46 PM

Flagged as: Emergency Reserve (unverified)

Conclusion: Unchecked oil batch from overflow stock was used on Rig 2.┛

Darren froze. "It wasn't even the new shipment. It was leftover junk."

Kara's expression dropped. "That… that was supposed to be disposed of last week."

"Who signed off on the storage?"

Silence.

Rico lifted his hand slowly. "I… I did. I thought we might run low. I didn't think—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Kara snapped.

Darren glared at Rico for a while, but he didn't say anything. He simply turned to the board and erased the last block.

Rollback: BTC Output corrected to 2 Blocks

Cooling Loss BTC: 50

Then he said, calmly, "If we didn't catch that in time, we would've shorted the entire board."

Rico stepped back. "I'm sorry, man— I was trying to—"

"You were trying to be smart. And you got lucky," Darren said, his voice like steel cable. "Next time, we won't be."

After the Rig was dried of all the bad oil, some workers came in and helped Kara and Deborah pump fresh, clean oil into Rig 2.

And after nearly two hours of downtime, it was finally back online. But the damage had been done.

Week 5: 3 - 1 = 2 BTC

Goal (2 Day Goal): 20 BTC.

By 5:16 PM, the rigs were back in full swing.

Block 76,216 – Mined by Rig 6

BTC Earned: 50

Rig Temp: 70.8°C

Coolant: Verified Clean

But even with the output resuming…

…the system pinged again.

Ding!

┏Warning: Unusual Pressure Detected in Rig 4

— Oil bubbling unevenly

— Potential unsafe oil in coil layer┛

Kara stared at the message. "Again?"

Darren came over.

"It's one of the original tanks," Kara said. "We reused the base housing from Week 2. It's probably a hairline cracked under heat cycling."

"We can't pull Rig 4 offline. It's our fastest."

"We don't have a choice. One more hour and the entire setup could pop."

He ran the math.

They needed to finish the day flawlessly in order to get a chance of hitting 20 BTC by tomorrow's end.

Losing Rig 4 now might mean it was over.

Darren looked Kara in the eye. "What's the absolute latest we can push it before it hits failure?"

She hesitated. "Based on oil integrity? If we keep it at current load... maybe two more blocks. But if the tank collapses, we don't just lose the rig. We lose everything it's touched. GPU damage, maybe board shorts."

Darren turned away, hands on hips.

And said nothing.

He just watched.

"Are you just saying we could lose everything if Rig 4 goes down? Everything we've mined?"

Kara saw the fear in Darren's eyes and she herself was too scared to say with her lips so she just nodded. Slow and daunting.

Darren's eyes darkened. "There's no more fresh oil. The distribution company is supposed to get new containers today. They haven't. Where are they!"

Kara followed him as he paced around, trying to calm him down. "They called and said the contracting and supply company that's meant to transport it to them was dissolved a few days ago. They need a few days to get a new contractor."

"A few days?!" Darren exclaimed, heart pounding. "We don't have a few days! We barely even have a day! What contracting company would just abruptly dissolve without warning their clients?!"

Ding!

┏Company successfully disrupted!┛

┏Congratulations on taking down the company, Wilsons Logistics and Supply.┛

Darren paused. What... the... fuck?

Rig 4 continued to blare. And Darren could lose it all today.