Chen Yichen really held out for five days.
It was harder than he had imagined.
Not because he was lacking anything.
It was because once someone knew they would be receiving ten million dollars every day, spending money became incredibly easy.
Too easy.
If he wanted coffee in the morning, he could simply have the hotel deliver it.
If he saw clothes he liked, he no longer needed to think twice.
Whatever he wanted to eat, he could just order it.
Wherever he wanted to go, he could take a driver, hail a cab, or drive himself. Anything worked.
Before, every time he was about to spend money, his brain would automatically ask one question:
“Is it worth it?”
Now, that voice had nearly disappeared.
So when he decided not to buy anything major for five days and simply wait for the balance to build up, it felt more like he was deliberately challenging himself.
Day One.
Midnight.
Ten million came in.
Day Two.
Another ten million.
Day Three.
Day Four.
Day Five.
The same time every day.
The same notification.
General Deposit.
NT$10,000,000.
No delays.
Not a dollar short.
No call from the bank.
And even less did anyone come knocking on his door.
At first, Chen Yichen worried that it might suddenly stop one day.
By the ninth and tenth days, that worry had faded considerably.
The human brain was very good at treating repeated events as normal.
The sun rose every day.
His phone needed charging every day.
There was food inside when he opened the refrigerator.
At midnight, his account gained ten million dollars.
That was all there was to it.
On the morning of the fifth day, Chen Yichen sat on the living-room sofa.
Sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
There was only a cup of coffee on the table.
He opened his banking app.
Balance:
NT$78,064,217.
More than seventy-eight million.
This was the first time he had truly seen a number approaching “one hundred million.”
He stared at it for a while.
He didn’t close it right away.
The first time he saw ten million, it had looked like a mountain.
Now, with seventy-eight million sitting in front of him, his first thought was actually:
“I’ll still have thirty million left after I buy it.”
He laughed at himself.
That limited-edition car priced at forty-eight million had been on his mind all these days.
Not because there was any real reason he absolutely had to buy it.
He wanted to verify something.
Were the things people called “dream possessions” really just ordinary products that could be bought in a few minutes as long as your account balance was high enough?
At eleven in the morning, Chen Yichen got dressed.
He didn’t take any of his own cars today.
He called a car.
When he arrived at the showroom, the salesperson who had assisted him before recognized him immediately.
“Mr. Chen.”
“Is that one still here?”
He skipped the small talk.
The salesperson froze for a moment, then immediately knew which car he meant.
“It is.”
“Has anyone reserved it?”
“No formal order has been placed yet.”
“Good.”
Chen Yichen walked inside.
The car was still parked in its original spot.
Low-slung.
Outrageous.
Its lines looked as if they had never been designed for ordinary roads.
Five days ago, when he had stood here, he had thought:
Wait a few more days.
Today, standing in the same place, he felt completely different.
It wasn’t that the car had become cheaper.
He had become richer.
For the first time, he truly understood how terrifying the accumulation of wealth could be.
The price was the same.
Forty-eight million.
Five days ago, buying it would have emptied most of his accounts.
Today, even after buying it, he would still have thirty million left.
Another ten million would come tonight.
Another ten million tomorrow.
And more the day after that.
The number would grow back on its own.
“Would you like to sit in it again, Mr. Chen?”
“No need.”
“Then shall I introduce some of the options again?”
“No need.”
The salesperson paused.
Chen Yichen looked at the car.
“I’ll take it.”
The other man’s expression changed instantly.
“You’re placing the order today?”
“Not placing an order.”
Chen Yichen took out his phone.
“Paying in full today.”
The salesperson clearly froze for two seconds after hearing that.
Even if he dealt with cars worth tens of millions every day, there still weren’t many people who could walk in and pay forty-eight million in full at once.
“Mr. Chen, I’ll ask the manager to come over.”
“Sure.”
It didn’t take long for the manager from before to come out as well.
His attitude was even more enthusiastic than last time.
The tea was different.
The lounge had also been switched to the private VIP area farther inside.
Even the speed of his speech had slowed considerably.
“Mr. Chen, the actual total price of this car is currently NT$48,260,000.”
“Mm.”
“If you confirm today, we can arrange the license plates and the rest of the process immediately.”
“Okay.”
“For payment, will you still be remitting the full amount?”
“Yes.”
NT$48,260,000.
Chen Yichen entered the amount into his phone.
This was the first time in his life he had spent nearly fifty million in one shot.
Strangely, though, he felt none of the nervousness he had experienced when buying that car worth more than four million.
His hands didn’t even shake.
He simply verified the account.
Verified the amount.
Then tapped Confirm.
The screen spun briefly.
Transfer successful.
NT$48,260,000.
His balance instantly dropped to a little over twenty-nine million.
The salesperson soon received confirmation from the finance department.
“Mr. Chen, the payment has arrived.”
The manager stood and shook his hand.
“Congratulations.”
Chen Yichen looked at the car.
The first thought that surfaced wasn’t, “I bought a fifty-million-dollar car.”
It was:
“That’s it?”
It really was that simple.
Five days ago, the thing had seemed like a dream.
Today, he had bought it in a few minutes.
There were no fireworks.
No movie soundtrack.
No animation showing his life leveling up.
Just a contract.
A few signatures.
One bank transfer.
And then it was his.
In that moment, he suddenly realized that money’s true power wasn’t its ability to buy things.
It was its ability to compress things that once required years of imagination into a single afternoon.
At two-thirty in the afternoon, Chen Yichen left the showroom.
The car wouldn’t be officially delivered for a few days.
He stood at the entrance and called a car.
The salesperson hurried after him.
“Mr. Chen.”
“What is it?”
“Our manager wanted to ask whether you might be interested in some more special allocation cars in the future.”
“How special?”
“Cars with very limited numbers available domestically, or even ones that require you to obtain eligibility in advance.”
Chen Yichen paused.
“How much?”
“Some might be seventy or eighty million. Others could exceed one hundred million.”
In the past, hearing “over one hundred million” would probably have made him lose interest immediately.
Now, he only asked:
“Send me the information when you have it.”
The salesperson’s smile grew unmistakably wide.
“Of course.”
After getting into the car, Chen Yichen leaned back.
He suddenly felt something very clearly.
The businesses were starting to remember him.
Not just his name.
They were categorizing him as someone who would actually buy.
That shift in status was subtler than driving a supercar on the road.
Before, when he walked into a store, he hoped the staff would be willing to pay attention to him.
Now, the store hoped he would come back.
After returning home, Chen Yichen placed his phone on the table.
Balance:
NT$29,804,217.
He stared at it for a few seconds.
Less than thirty million.
The money he had accumulated over five days had suddenly dropped by more than half.
But he felt none of the anxiety he used to have whenever his money decreased.
Because at midnight tonight, it would become thirty-nine million.
Forty-nine million tomorrow.
Fifty-nine million the day after that.
In another week, it would exceed one hundred million again.
That was the most terrifying part.
As long as he didn’t die, the money would keep coming.
At four in the afternoon, Zhang Jiahao called.
“You’ve been disappearing lately.”
“Have I?”
“I’ve asked you out twice, and both times you said you had something to do.”
“I’m waiting for something.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Money.”
There was silence on the other end for two seconds.
“You’re seriously sounding more and more like a lunatic.”
Chen Yichen laughed.
“Dinner tonight?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll pick you up.”
“You switched cars again?”
“It hasn’t been delivered yet.”
Zhang Jiahao immediately asked, “You bought another one?”
“Yeah.”
“How much?”
Chen Yichen deliberately paused.
“More than forty-eight million.”
There was no sound from the other end.
After a full five seconds, Zhang Jiahao said, “What did you say?”
“Forty-eight million.”
“For a car?”
“Yeah.”
“You son of a—”
Zhang Jiahao genuinely seemed not to know what to say.
“Didn’t you just buy a car worth more than ten million a few days ago?”
“Yeah.”
“And now you bought another one for forty-eight million?”
“Yep.”
“How much money do you actually have?”
This time, Chen Yichen didn’t brush him off.
He looked out the window.
After thinking for a moment, he said, “Even if I told you now, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Tell me first.”
“I’m waiting to confirm something.”
“Confirm something again?”
“Yeah.”
“What exactly are you trying to confirm?”
Chen Yichen didn’t answer.
Because he was actually becoming more and more certain.
He was only missing one threshold in his own mind.
One month.
He had decided to wait until a full month had passed.
If ten million came into his account on time every day for thirty days, then he would accept one thing.
This wasn’t a short-term fluke.
Nor was it some error that would end soon.
It had truly become part of his life.
At seven that evening, the two of them met at a restaurant with a private dining room.
This time, Zhang Jiahao didn’t look at the prices first.
But he kept staring at Chen Yichen.
“You’ve really been acting ridiculous lately.”
“How?”
“Everything about you.”
“Have I?”
“You have.”
Zhang Jiahao picked up his water.
“You used to ask whether there was a parking discount before ordering anything.”
Chen Yichen laughed.
“I can still ask that now.”
“You’re driving a car worth tens of millions and you still ask about discounts?”
“That’s different.”
“How is it different?”
“If there’s a discount, why not use it?”
Zhang Jiahao laughed too.
But after laughing, his expression grew serious again.
“I’m honestly a little worried you’re going to get yourself into trouble.”
“I haven’t done anything illegal.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I really haven’t.”
“Then where did the money come from?”
Chen Yichen fell silent for several seconds.
“If I told you that starting one day, I wouldn’t have to do anything, and a fixed amount of money would just appear in my account every day, would you believe me?”
Zhang Jiahao frowned.
“Investment dividends?”
“No.”
“Rent?”
“No.”
“Company profit sharing?”
“None of those.”
“Then what is it?”
Chen Yichen looked at him.
He almost said it.
But in the end, he pulled the words back.
“Forget it.”
Zhang Jiahao’s whole face fell.
“Fuck, you do this every time.”
“Just wait a little longer.”
“How long am I supposed to wait?”
“Twenty-some days.”
“Why?”
“You’ll know then.”
After dinner, Zhang Jiahao went to the restroom.
Chen Yichen sat alone in the private room.
He looked at the bill on the table.
More than eighty thousand.
This time, he didn’t even wonder whether it was expensive.
He simply signed.
After the server left, he suddenly thought of something.
The car had cost forty-eight million today.
One meal had cost eighty thousand.
Both had once been “expensive” in his world.
Now, they belonged to completely different levels.
Eighty thousand was nothing.
Fifty million meant waiting a few days.
What about one hundred million?
Ten days.
Three hundred million?
A month.
One billion?
A little over three months.
One hundred billion?
Less than three years.
As long as the money never stopped, even one hundred billion was merely a matter of time.
That thought made him realize for the first time that he might have been thinking too small when he imagined being rich.
At 11:52 p.m., Chen Yichen returned home.
He didn’t turn on the lights.
He left only the glow from the city outside shining in through the windows.
His phone lay on the table.
The balance was a little over twenty-nine million.
He suddenly wanted to test his own emotions.
What if the money didn’t come in at midnight tonight?
The forty-eight million had already been spent.
The rent had been paid.
Several cars had been bought.
His standard of living had already been raised completely.
Would he panic?
Of course he would.
He simply didn’t want to admit it.
11:59.
The final minute.
Chen Yichen stared at his phone.
Midnight.
It didn’t vibrate right away.
His brow instantly furrowed.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Then, on the fourth second, the phone lit up.
General Deposit: NT$10,000,000.
Latest Balance:
NT$39,719,682.
Chen Yichen let out a breath.
Then he laughed at himself.
So he could still be afraid.
The thing he feared had simply changed.
Before, he had feared losing his job.
He had feared his salary wouldn’t be enough.
He had feared being unable to pay his credit-card bill.
Now, what he feared was—
What if one day that ten million stopped coming?
He leaned back against the sofa and looked at the balance again.
A little over thirty-nine million.
He had spent forty-eight million today.
Starting tomorrow, the number would rise again.
Chen Yichen turned off his phone.
He already had his next goal in mind.
Not a car.
Not a watch.
And not a rented luxury mansion.
He wanted to buy a home that truly belonged to him.
And since he was going to buy one—
there was no need to look at homes worth only a few tens of millions.