Chapter 377: Start the Operation!

Chu Chen raised his eyes to look at the system task.

Ten billion US dollars?

Counterfeit the latest version of the US dollar?

Thirty days?

Counterfeiting US dollars is not exactly a difficult task, but to get a mass-producible banknote master plate done within 30 days, and then exchange it for 10 billion US dollars, that has a bit of difficulty to it.

The counterfeit money business is not that easy to do.

If one wants to make the top-tier, replica products that can rival real banknotes, just drawing a master plate is far from enough; the technology and materials required are even more extremely complex.

Specialized printers, color-shifting ink, acid-free paper...

Of course, the most crucial thing of all is the sales channel.

This kind of business is generally family-based.

Both the supply and demand sides are generations of partners.

For a producer who enters the trade halfway, it is very difficult to obtain suitable sales channels, unless your technology is good enough to make replicas that can rival real banknotes as a token of sincerity.

Otherwise, it is very hard to step into this industry.

Because the anti-counterfeiting technology of the BEP is constantly updating.

Large-scale counterfeit money criminal gangs also have to find ways to recruit talent.

Where there is profit, there is conflict.

Where there is conflict, there will be people to resolve the conflict.

Any criminal activity is like this.

Thinking of this, Chu Chen already had a rough plan.

After closing the system with his consciousness, he took the startup capital out of the drawer, then stood up directly and walked to the door, reaching out to press the unlock button on the side of the door.

The door lock emitted a short "click" sound, and the indicator light jumped from blue to green.

There was no one in the corridor.

The warm white light was evenly spread over the gray carpet; the doors on both sides were closed, and the blue indicator light on every door was quietly lit.

Walking to the end of the corridor, Chu Chen pushed open the safety door and entered a small elevator.

There were no cameras in the elevator.

The Program Team did indeed give them enough private space during the contestant preparation period.

The glass doors of the first-floor lobby slid open to both sides automatically.

Outside was the midday sun of August, very white, shining on the road surface to cast a dazzling layer of light.

On both sides of the street were shops and office buildings.

Because it was not the morning or evening rush hour, there were not many pedestrians or vehicles on the street.

After adapting to the dazzling sunlight for a while, Chu Chen walked directly to the end of the sidewalk.

After turning left, he walked about another two hundred meters and finally entered a stationery store.

There was air conditioning in the shop, and a chill rushed toward his face.

A middle-aged woman wearing reading glasses sat behind the counter; she raised her head to look at him, then lowered her head again to flip through a magazine in her hand.

The shelves were arranged very compactly, extending from the entrance to the depths of the shop.

Chu Chen started walking from the first row of shelves, his gaze sweeping over the merchandise on every level.

Ballpoint pens, gel pens, pencils, erasers, correction tape, glue, staplers...

After walking past two rows of shelves, Chu Chen finally stopped at the third row and reached out to take something from the shelf.

It was a box of fine-liner pens.

Black, twelve-count, the nib was an extremely fine 0.05-millimeter specification.

He weighed the box in his hand.

Immediately after, he reached out to take another box.

Technical pens.

Also an extremely fine specification, 0.03 millimeters.

If it is just for drawing the plates, these two types of pens are enough.

After choosing the pens, Chu Chen walked to the row of shelves at the very back of the shop.

There stood several tubes of sketch paper, rolled into cylindrical shapes and tied with rubber bands.

He pulled out one tube, tore open the rubber band, and unfolded a corner of the paper to look at it.

A3-sized sketch paper, the surface had a fine texture, and the fibers were dense.

After confirming there was no problem, Chu Chen rolled the paper back up and, together with the fine-liner pens and technical pens, took them to the counter.

"Boss, how much is it in total?"

The middle-aged woman raised her glasses, glanced at the items he had placed on the counter, and tapped a few times on the calculator: "Forty-eight point five."

Chu Chen took that one-hundred-yuan banknote out of his pants pocket and handed it over.

The woman took the money, checked it under the money-verifying light, and then pulled open the drawer to find change.

Fifty-one point five, coins and banknotes mixed together, piled on the counter.

"Thank you."

Taking the change, Chu Chen returned to the contestant preparation room the same way he came.

At this time, the barrage in the live broadcast room was already completely crazy, entirely covering the live broadcast screen.

【He bought fine-liner pens and sketch paper???】

【No, what is Chu Shen trying to do?】

【Is Chu Chen planning to draw?】

【Can he even draw?】

【My god, he isn't thinking of copying famous paintings, is he?】

【Those famous paintings are well-known; imitations aren't very easy to sell!】

Meanwhile.

On the small screen on the left, Participant 32 is also hunched over the desk in the preparation room, writing something.

Spread out before her are many photographs, all of which she just bought.

Judging from the camera angle, it should be some male celebrity.

At this moment, she is holding a marker in her hand, trying to imitate the signature on the edge of the photo.

Her movements are very stiff; there is obvious hesitation and pausing when she puts the pen to paper, and the characters she writes are crooked, with a large discrepancy from the signature on the photo.

She purses her lips, crumples that piece of paper into a ball, and throws it to her feet.

There are already several similar paper balls on the floor.

As for the small screen in the middle, it shows Participant 59, who is currently wandering around a local antique market in Yanjing, seemingly wanting to buy something.

As of now, all three participants have their own plans and have begun to take action for them.

The scene returns to Participant 99.

At this moment, Chu Chen has already unwrapped that tube of sketch paper.

He spreads the paper roll out on the desktop and uses one of the pens from that box of fine-liners to press down on the edge of the paper to prevent it from rolling back up.

Then he opens the packaging of the needle pen, pulls out a 0.03mm pen, unscrews the cap, and brings the nib under the light to take a look.

The ink is very full.

The nib also meets the standard.

Immediately after, he wakes up the system again and purchases a new-version 100-dollar bill in the System Mall, observing it very carefully.

The US dollars currently circulating on the market were designed and launched in 2013.

The old version of the hundred-dollar bill had a monotonous overall color tone, was dark and dull green throughout, had little white space, crowded patterns, a smaller portrait of Franklin, and the whole bill looked thin and plain.

The new version added light blue and light orange gradient background colors, the visual layering is softer, the portrait is enlarged, and the carving lines of the facial features, curly hair, and collar are much more delicate, making it more recognizable from a distance.

The back of the new-version US dollar is also the Independence Hall building, but the new version added a soft colored background around the building, and a super-sized light blue "100" is printed in the lower right corner, so people with poor eyesight can see the denomination at a glance; the numbers on the back of the old version were small and inconspicuous.

The front background also quietly has the fine background pattern of the Declaration of Independence printed on it; the old version had no such design at all.

Besides these designs, the new version also newly added two major core anti-counterfeiting features, which the old version completely lacked!

First, the embedded blue 3D security ribbon; this dark blue vertical strip is not printed on the surface of the paper, but is woven directly into the banknote paper, located to the right of Franklin's portrait.

Holding it in your hand and tilting it left, right, up, and down, the Liberty Bell patterns and the number 100 in the ribbon produce a parallax flowing effect, with the two patterns switching back and forth, creating an illusion of 3D floating.

Ordinary printers and copiers simply cannot replicate this dynamic lens effect; the old version only had a thin metal security thread, without this 3D dynamic ribbon.

Second, the color-changing Liberty Bell in the inkwell; a bronze-colored inkwell is drawn to the lower right of the ribbon, with a Liberty Bell pattern hidden inside the bottle.

Gently tilting the banknote, the color of the bell will slowly turn from bronze to emerald green, and when the angle is flattened, it turns back to bronze, visually appearing as if the bell is flickering in and out of the bottle.

The old version did not have this color-changing ink design of the inkwell and Liberty Bell.

In addition, visually, the recognizability of the new-version hundred-dollar bill is also very high.

The background color of the new-version US banknote has light colors, the portrait is larger and more detailed, and the most conspicuous thing is that moving blue 3D ribbon, plus the small bell that can change color in the inkwell.

Traditional watermarks, security threads, and raised tactile feel are all upgraded, directly raising the difficulty of counterfeiting by a large margin.

Until now, no counterfeit gang has been able to perfectly overcome the anti-counterfeiting of the new-version US banknote at a low cost!