AUTHOR: MELITO
TRANSLATOR: ANNIE TIANYU HUANG
REVIEWER: ANNIE TIANYU HUANG
FINAL CHECK: ANNIE TIANYU HUANG
ILLUSTRATION: TZ × CHATGPT × STABLE DIFFUSION V2

Since some countries began to ban virtual currency mining, crypto mining pools have undergone a global shift. Early 2021, Kyonastan has become a new batch of mining pools. This Central Asian region undertakes nearly one-third of the computing power cost of the entire blockchain network. It is not only due to the good climate conditions in Central Asia, but the temperature is also cool all year round — the air drying, and more importantly, there are rich coal resources. Two of the top three power stations in Asia are located on the back of this Eurasian continent. The joint large-scale infrastructure plan across Asia and Europe — "Technology Corridor" National Alliance — allows this land to have a smooth high-speed rail across the east and west. At the same time, the fastest dedicated internet line in the world.

These days, Doyle has just graduated from high school. Taking advantage of spring break, he flies to Kyonastan to play in his father’s mining pool.  

The mining pool is located on a peaceful wasteland 30,000 meters away from the capital. Not long after the beginning of spring, it is not yet the rainy season. Doyle looks around: this is a plain of endless low and dry grass, but many new shoots have already begun to grow. Further ahead, there is a stretch of year-round snow on the mountains, blocking the sky in the distance like a crouching dragon.

Going down the highway, after passing through several small towns along the road, he soon sees a large factory. The white cubes, like giant sheds, are arranged at intervals. Each factory is the size of an entire IKEA mall. Not too close, you can hear the rumbling of the mansion, like the constant snoring of sleeping monsters.

Doyle meets his father, then visits this mining pool with his father’s colleagues under instructions.  

"Hi, little bean," one young Kyonastan comes enthusiastically and calls Doyle's nickname in fluent Mandarin. "My name is Aysultan. You can Call me Ayi." He stretches out his hand fervently and takes Doyle's hand, dragging Doyle to his chest, acting like an old friend.

"My partner." Dad happily introduces.  

In a blink of an eye, Doyle has spent three entire pleasant days here.

Accompanied by Ayi, Doyle goes from No. 1 to No. 8 to visit the stuff in the belly of giant white monsters. That is a row of mining machines at the height of three floors. Just like the unfathomably high shelves in Amazon's unmanned warehouse, on each shelf are square boxes working desperately. Behind the sub is a row of whole cables, and a fan that rotates at high speed is discharging the hot air to the special ventilation duct. Each one here is an independent small mining machine. The basic principle is very simple. It is like complete computer architecture but is specially optimized for mining — including a customized CPU and a powerful graphics card for a lot of floating-point arithmetic. It's like a mechanical digestive system. This entire factory room seems to be a living creature. Each mining machine is like a hive-like arrangement of cultivation seeds in the Hack Empire. All this surprises Doyle.

In the evening, they eat hand-grabbing Mutton and drink beer brewed locally. Doyle and Ayi share a dormitory. When they are slightly drunk, they play games in the room. After midnight, they tell each other about their past experiences and absurd stories.

The accident happens on the fourth night. They are woken up by the frantic knocking, and a colleague outside is anxiously shouting a word he can't understand, but Doyle quickly knows: the fire burst! The air is full of gray dust mixed with the smell of burning plastic, and they run out to find fires blazing in rooms No.4, 5, and 6.

The fire extinguishing facilities of the factory are all working at full capacity, but they are completely unable to withstand such a situation. Although the factory room is big, the staff here are less than thirty, and everyone hurries to put out the fire, but it seems like a drop in the bucket.

Doyle follows Ayi to the monitoring room. He sees those mischievous terrorists. Six or seven minutes ago, they sneaked into the factory room and dropped a series of incendiary bombs. "They're not far," Ayi says.  

They observe in the dark and follow the direction of escape displayed by the surveillance camera. They find some looming light spots as expected.

Ayi does not turn on the flashlight but runs quickly in that direction until he finds that Doyle has been following him behind since the beginning.

"What are you doing here? Dangerous! they are all terrorists!" Ayi scolds, "We are all armed with guns! Hurry back!" Doyle agrees, but he still follows behind Ayi, keeping a short distance. He only remembers that he has been running after Ayi, watching the blurred light of the flashlight in the distance becoming clearer and clearer. Doyle 's heart is beating wildly, and he is worried that he will hear gunshots. If there are gunshots, run back quickly — he secretly warns himself.

For a long time, what he hears are two cries for help and Ayi's scolding. Doyle looks towards the front right. He even manages to capture one of the prisoners. The other fled, staggering towards the direction of the village.

The prisoner looks younger than Doyle. Under the flashlight, his hands are tied, his knees on the ground, and his eyes full of hopeless horror.

Doyle is still not far behind Ayi, watching with bated breath. Ayi curses for a long time and then begins to talk to the prisoner. They talk for a long time, and then Ayi drags the prisoner towards the blazing mining pool. Doyle can't understand what they say but feels that there must be a lot.

That prisoner is watched by other colleagues in a small room. Ayi sits by the roadside, unable to do anything.

Doyle stands at the corner silently and sorts out his thoughts. Then, Ayi tells him what happened at that time.

That little boy, the prisoner. His name is Azam. The one who fled is responsible for covering the team. It’s a team of six. They've been brainwashed by the gang in the town, who say we're evil — because we're "predators" who stole their wealth.  

They say we're making their petrol more expensive and making life difficult for them.  

They say that these blockchain industries are simply a filthy wealth-making movement.  

They say that we are doing things that they can't understand. These computers, mining machines, and codes which they can't do anything to know them in their lifetime deprive their wealth and happy life."

Although these statements are out of logic, Ayi is indeed touched apparently — he cries.  

The blockchain world is a political field and amplifier. Since ancient times, there have been various forces on the back of the Eurasian continent. The political situation has been turbulent in recent times, and some places have even become louder. Of course, the naïve Doyle wouldn't know about these things. Ayi knows because he is born here.

Of course, the most important thing is education. Ayi says that he is very lucky that he gets access to the Internet very early on, meets his father, and teaches himself all the way — becoming a trendsetter in the Web 3.0 wave. Most people just live their ordinary lives, although not struggling for survival, always looking at the things on this earth with envy and ignorance.

Dad comes overnight, and then a long column of police comes. The flames are almost extinguished, leaving an extremely unpleasant turbid air. The three mining pools on No.5, 6, and 7 suffer heavy losses, but fortunately, there are no casualties.

The prisoner boy is brought in front of Doyle’s father and the police. He looks terrified, even a little aggrieved as if he is wrongly blamed. When he is about to be taken by the police, he suddenly looks up at Doyle’s father and says something.

At the time he gets to the police car, he shouts out loud towards Doyle’s father with hope, begging, and desperate.

Doyle’s father is still silent.

The next day, the news about the mine arson flood. Doyle listens to his father, setting off to the capital airport in advance accompanied by Ayi and leaving Kyonastan.

Less than five days. But it seems like another life to Doyle. The low withered grass, the distant snow, the mining pools that look like giant monsters, the rows of machines, and Ayi.

After returning, Doyle watches the news of Kyonastan. The incendiary bombs of the fire are made by the local folk method. The squadron consists of 6 people. The oldest is 26 years old and the youngest 15. They are charged in court, sentenced, and standing in the dock opposite Doyle’s father.

However, the arson is just a blasting fuse. Soon the nationwide unrest begins.

Regarding the mine arson, Doyle’s father never accepts any interviews and media exposure until one day. He suddenly appears on the news of Kyonastan National TV. He closes the original mining pool and donates the housing indemnity from the government to general and information-related education in his state. They found a non-profit organization and appoint Ayi as the head, specializing in popularizing the knowledge related to the new generation of information technology. It also includes entry-level Blockchain online courses that are open to everyone. At the same time, he also provides the arson prisoners with the chance to learn new knowledge and probation opportunities when specific conditions are qualified.

This incident draws a lot of attention on the internet. There are various comments, from the loftiest praises to the most unbearable curses.

The fermentation continues for a month until 17 days later, Ethereum suddenly announces the official release date of version 2.0. It is a huge upgrade which will continue to maintain security and decentralization under the premise. It significantly improves the operating speed of the Ethereum network, reduces operating costs, and officially converts the mining behavior (PoW) — which relies on extremely power consumption — into a verification process (PoS) — which relies on pledged assets as proof. While this does not mean that the current mining practice will be completely abolished, it clearly conveys a planned phase-out mining behavior such signals.

As soon as the news comes out, the crypto world is rejoicing, and the price of the cryptocurrency rises again and again. In just one week, the price of Ethereum has more than doubled, and it has also driven other currencies and various other currencies in the entire market.

Doyle’s father's assets have also expanded and become more. But Doyle knows that it is the presence of people like his father that makes the entire Web 3.0 wave shine brightly.



Darmstadtium finishes his story vividly. So far, the bubbles have examined this metaverse world that is moving towards fusion and symbiosis from the perspective of "data." With the source of data and the entire set of operating mechanisms, what kind of experience will people create in this virtual space and time? Next, Bubble Radon tells a story that takes place on Mars.