Planning Ahead

"Dad, welcome home."

As soon as he stepped into the control room, Little X's clear, childish voice rang out. "Aunt Xia Yin came into the data center today."

"I know. I asked her to come."

Chen Chen locked the door behind him and set the odds and ends on the floor. "Other than that, did you notice anyone suspicious?"

"I noticed 3,567 suspicious people passing in front of our house," Little X replied.

Chen Chen smiled. "Those aren't suspicious people. They were just getting off work."

"Oh, I don't really understand..."

Little X muttered.

Little X's ability to learn was undeniably impressive. Chen Chen could rarely come up with questions that fell outside the scope of her intelligence anymore.

He took everything out of the boxes and confirmed that they were all the props he needed. Then he sat down at the computer, removed the USB Drive from the tape stuck to his arm, and plugged it in.

Before long, five or six bags of NZT-48 emerged from the computer screen.

Chen Chen looked at the six newly retrieved bags of NZT-48 and couldn't help feeling a little moved.

Ever since he'd bought the data center, he'd replaced its transformer with the largest model the government allowed. Now it could store fifty times as much electricity in a day as before.

That was what people called exponential growth.

From the moment he'd first taken out NZT-48 and begun racing against time, it had taken Chen Chen four months to earn his first sum of money. Even then, it was only because of the Zheng Jian incident, which had brought him to the attention of the school's higher-ups ahead of schedule.

Then Chen Chen had spent another three months successfully resolving the drug's side effects.

But from that moment on, his growth had become exponential.

From the appearance of his second item to developing Little X Translation Assistant and then partnering with Facebook, Chen Chen had taken only three months.

If he'd once envied rich second-generation heirs like Xia Yin, now even most self-made millionaires couldn't compare to him.

And it hadn't even been a year since Chen Chen had gotten the USB Drive.

Chen Chen hadn't suddenly retrieved so much NZT-48 on a whim. He was preparing for a rainy day.

After weighing the possibilities and running numerous simulations, Chen Chen concluded that he might face three kinds of crises in the future:

First, he might be held hostage and have no chance to take NZT-48.

Second, he might lose both the USB Drive and the NZT-48 while in the country.

Third, he might lose both the USB Drive and the NZT-48 while abroad.

With that in mind, Chen Chen went to the workbench, poured out all the NZT-48 from one bag onto a plate, then used the manual pill crusher Xia Yin had bought to crush the pills one by one.

Beside the crusher were several boxes of amoxicillin.

Every time he crushed an NZT-48 pill, Chen Chen opened an amoxicillin capsule, poured out the powder inside, and replaced it with the NZT-48 powder.

Once he had enough to fill a plastic capsule, Chen Chen took out a roll of aluminum foil and heat-sealed it with another small machine.

Finally, Chen Chen stuffed all the sealed capsules into the packaging. A few boxes of "amoxicillin" were ready.

This was how he'd hide the drug in case someone broke into the data center and held him hostage, leaving him no chance to take NZT-48.

It didn't matter why they might take him hostage. At that moment, the most important thing would undoubtedly be to swallow an NZT-48 pill.

So a pill disguised as cold medicine might be enough to help him escape.

However, one box of amoxicillin could hold at most sixteen pills, so this method was only suitable for emergencies.

Next, Chen Chen fetched a pot, poured in a bag of edible wax, and heated it on an induction stove until the wax melted.

Then Chen Chen took out a bag of black food coloring and added it.

The wax immediately turned pitch-black.

That wasn't enough. Chen Chen then took out a bag labeled "denatonium benzoate," scooped out a spoonful, and added that to the pot too.

Denatonium benzoate was the bitterest substance known in the world. At a concentration of just 0.003%, it was already unbearable. It was often used as a bittering agent and aversive agent in household and industrial products.

Its most famous use was probably on Nintendo Switch game cartridges.

Since Switch game cartridges were only about the size of a fingernail, Nintendo had coated them with this bittering agent to prevent children from accidentally swallowing them.

As soon as someone's tongue touched a game cartridge, a bitterness like grapefruit peel would overwhelm their taste buds and linger for a long time.

But after this came to light, it instead prompted plenty of bored people to buy game cartridges just to try them, even sparking a cultural trend online.

A case of accidentally reaping what one had sown.

With that in mind, Chen Chen poured the rest of the NZT-48 from the bag into the pot as well...

Since NZT-48 dissolved in water but not in wax, he didn't have to worry about it melting in the pot. All the pills merely rolled around in the wax, and their crystal-clear appearance quickly became repulsive.

Then Chen Chen scooped out the pills and left them on the table to dry.

Once they'd dried, Chen Chen took a few packs of chewing gum he'd bought along the way out of his pocket.

He hadn't bought the common bubble gum. Instead, he'd chosen a kind packaged in flat metal tins, filled with compressed candy tablets.

Chen Chen opened all the gum tins, dumped out the tablets, and put the dried NZT-48 inside...

Then Chen Chen slipped one tin of chewing gum into his pocket.

Just in case.

That way, even if he accidentally lost it in the future, it wouldn't matter. Aside from him, probably no one would eat these black, bitter, unidentified candies.

These two methods should be enough to deal with the first kind of crisis.

The second kind of crisis was losing both the USB Drive and the NZT-48 while in the country.

There was no need to worry about how he might lose the USB Drive or what the consequences would be. Chen Chen only needed to consider how he could turn things around or escape after losing both of his safeguards.

With that in mind, Chen Chen tossed out the black pot, got another one, filled it with water, and poured in the remaining five bags of NZT-48...

Chen Chen had tested NZT-48 long ago and was very familiar with its properties. It dissolved in water, could withstand temperatures over one hundred degrees without changing its chemical properties, and could remain exposed to air for a long time without spoiling.

With properties like these, Chen Chen wasn't worried about anything going wrong.

Once all the pills had dissolved, Chen Chen took out a bag of edible, high-strength gel and poured it into the pot too.

After Chen Chen stirred it evenly, the liquid in the pot had turned into a translucent jelly.

Next, Chen Chen pulled several sets of molds out from under the bed and poured the liquid into them.

Only after the liquid had cooled and solidified completely did Chen Chen take it out.

Several limp objects resembling translucent silicone sheets appeared before him.

Chen Chen looked at the "silicone" and smiled faintly. Then he opened the last box Xia Yin had brought.

The box glittered inside. It contained twelve gold bars.

The bars bore markings such as "Issued by XX Bank, Central Continent Region" and "500 g Investment Gold Bar."

But Chen Chen didn't even look at them. He took two transparent plastic cases from under the bed, opened them, and placed the silicone-like pieces inside.

By coincidence, each case had six gaps, each two fingers wide.

Then Chen Chen slid the six gold bars into the gaps one by one.

Just like that, two beautifully packaged cases of investment gold bars, weighing a total of 6 kg, were ready.

All he had to do next was store the cases in a bank.

Modern banks offered a service called "safe deposit boxes." For a fee, people could store valuables in a bank's "safety deposit box."

For example, property deeds, gold bars, important contracts, and so on.

The biggest advantage of this method was that, unless his property was confiscated or the regional government collapsed—or some other calamity occurred—whatever he stored there would be completely safe.

As the saying went, the most dangerous place was the safest. Even if Chen Chen were hunted by another power in the future, the NZT-48 wouldn't fall into anyone else's hands.

After all, who would think that the most valuable things in two cases of gold bars stored in a bank's safe deposit box were the silicone pieces holding the bars in place?

Thanks to [Wu Di Wan Wan Nian] for the tip! Long live Wu Di Wan Wan Nian!