Chapter 279: Grand Theft Auto: Paris

"Holy crap..."
"Should we call this explosive, or utterly insane..."
In the top-floor conference room of Fang Huan Investment, Su Hao and his group were watching a grand "fireworks display" unfolding in France through a giant screen.
The protests ignited by the "Yellow Vests" had completely spiraled out of control, sweeping across the country like wildfire.
In the average person's mind, a march is simply about holding up signs and chanting slogans, maybe with a lot of people and a lot of noise.
But the French people clearly have a deeper and more unrestrained understanding of the word "march."
"I heard those guys over there have a tradition of setting off a few fires before a protest to warm things up?"
"Nonsense! What kind of weird stereotype is that?"
"I thought so too at first, but look at what's on TV...
The fire's almost reaching the camera lens! This isn't a stereotype, it's a live broadcast!"
Compared to this apocalyptic scene, what people perceived as a mass incident was like kindergarten-level child's play.
On the screen, shops along the street were looted, windows shattered, and rioters were even throwing Molotov cocktails everywhere.
This didn't feel like a demonstration; it felt more like a large-scale, immersive live-action RPG game being forcibly launched under the guise of a protest:
Grand Theft Auto: Paris!
Those "players," as if their long-suppressed animalistic instincts had been completely unleashed, rushed into the streets like wild dogs, destroying everything in sight.
The streets and alleys were stained with blood from their fierce clashes with riot police.
“The initial number of participants was around 200,000, but it has now snowballed to over 500,000, and it's predicted that it may break the million mark next week.”
“This rate of spread is faster than a virus.”
“Yes. And according to intelligence, our ‘picpic’ and ‘Facebook’ played… well, a role in fueling this event.
A large number of inflammatory images and short videos spread virally through these two platforms, greatly stimulating the expansion of the demonstrations.”
The French government was clearly stunned.
Although strikes and demonstrations are commonplace in Europe,
no one expected that this time, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of emotionally unstable and desperate individuals could gather so quickly and so violently.
"There's a rumor that Facebook and YouTube, smelling the blood of online traffic, saw this as a golden opportunity and deliberately used their algorithms to precisely target inflammatory videos to all French users."
"What about our 'Picpic'?" Su Hao asked calmly.
"We didn't actively fuel the fire.
But... according to the intelligent algorithm, in the initial stages, the relevant videos were indeed identified as high-trending content and widely recommended.
Then Facebook took the ball we unintentionally passed to them and blasted it into the fire.
This back-and-forth snowballed, dragging everyone down with it."
Su Hao understood.
In summary, "Picpic" simply sneezed by accident, but that cunning Facebook user took it as a signal to attack, and with a roar, they charged in, inexplicably destroying the opposing team's stronghold.
"So, we're... involuntary strategic partners?"
"You could say that, Mr. Su. Especially since the 'Picpic' app is currently the most popular social media app in France.
Some analysts believe that without the amplification provided by social networks, this demonstration might have been suppressed in its early stages."
However, now, the enraged demonstrators have been rioting for a full week, and this storm is spreading from Paris to the rest of France.
"Initially, the demonstrators might have wanted to maintain some semblance of civility and hold a peaceful protest.
But the problem is, those cunning opportunists in the opposition saw this as a golden opportunity to overthrow the current government, sending in people to stir up trouble, which caused things to spiral completely out of control, veer wildly towards extremism."
Su Hao's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Although he didn't personally order the use of the "picpic" app to incite unrest,
as a normal person, watching a country's capital indirectly engulfed in flames because of his presence still stirred a subtle ripple in his heart.
It's said that those who play the capital game must have an iron will, unswayed by emotions.
Su Hao pondered that his own heart was at best like sesame filling—it looked alright on the outside, but was completely soft inside.
However…
Sighs aside, it couldn't interfere with making money!
"How's the situation with those short positions we bought?"
"Everything is as you predicted, Chairman Su," a trader reported.
"At the beginning of the protests, the French stock market was quite stubborn, with basically no fluctuations, just like other half-dead markets around the world."
The current global financial market is like a frozen pool of stagnant water.
The successive financial crises have terrified all hot money, causing it to cower and dare not move.
"However, as the demonstrations intensified and violence escalated, investors finally realized that this trouble was on a completely different level from the minor disturbances of the past.
This was no longer an ordinary protest; it was turmoil!
Some predicted that this could be the largest social upheaval in France since the 'May 1968 events'!"
As a result, while global markets were frozen, the French stock market stood out, plummeting dramatically.
And their enormous sum of 100 billion RMB had already been transformed into countless short positions, like vultures poised to pounce, circling above the Paris stock market, quietly awaiting the start of the feast.
Su Hao had initially acted on intuition, casually pointing out a list of stocks to short and tossing it to his team.
He had assumed that deploying this astronomical sum of money without alerting the market would be an extremely difficult task.
Unexpectedly, his elite team had actually accomplished it.
Thanks to these capable subordinates, every point the French stock market drops now brings a huge profit into their accounts—a profit that would drive ordinary people crazy.
"Chairman Su, the only problem now is the timing of closing out our positions.
We've invested far too much money, ridiculously much.
It already took a tremendous amount of effort to get it in; to withdraw completely, I'm afraid… the difficulty will double."
Su Hao was also pondering this problem.
Where exactly is the lowest point?
He thought of the movie *The Big Short*, based on a true story.
The protagonists in the film, knowing full well that the market would continue to plummet, chose to exit halfway down the mountain.
Because they were afraid that if it fell any further, those large companies and institutions wouldn't just face losses, but outright bankruptcy and liquidation.
In that case, their stocks would instantly become worthless, and no matter how much paper profit they made, they wouldn't be able to realize it.
But, did Su Hao need to worry about that?
No, he didn't.
Because he had a trump card that no one else knew about.
He reached out, his fingertips lightly tracing the printed list of holdings, each stock code flowing beneath his fingers.
Some stocks, the instant a fingertip touches them, will send a faint "signal," like an electric current, or a heartbeat.
Others, however, show no reaction, utterly silent.
His intuition, in this unique way, was clearly telling him which fruits were ripe and ready to be harvested.
"Close all the positions I've checked off the list.
Do it in batches over a few days, without causing too much impact on the market."
"Yes, Chairman Su! We'll do it right away!"
Just as the team members accepted the order and turned to leave, Su Hao called them back.
“Also, send a message to ‘picpic’.
Take down all the inflammatory and violent demonstration videos currently circulating on the platform.
Clean up all inflammatory statements, leaving none behind.”
Liang Haiyuan hesitated, then cautiously asked,
“But Chairman Su, if we remove them now, the demonstrations might be suppressed.
Then…then the stock market might stabilize and rebound…”
“We make money by short selling, that’s true,” Su Hao said calmly,
“But we don’t need to, and shouldn’t, endorse those acts of violence, or even fuel them.
That’s not investment, that’s profiting from tragedy.”
Liang Haiyuan’s heart skipped a beat. He lowered his head respectfully and said, “Yes, I understand, Chairman Su.”
After everyone left, the conference room returned to silence.
Su Hao let out a long sigh, feeling as if the weight on his heart had lightened somewhat.
"...How about we donate some money later?"