Chapter 318: A Giant Cauldron Falls from the Sky

Headquarters of Huaxia Strategic Investment Fund.
“Holy crap… is this operational instruction really okay?”
“Don’t ask me, I fucking don’t know either! Forget about it, we just do what the higher-ups tell us to do!”
The entire “Pangu” project team was currently immersed in an atmosphere of extreme division.
When the news came that the astonishing short-selling operation of three trillion yuan had ultimately succeeded, the entire floor erupted in a deafening roar of cheers.
Three trillion yuan had become four 4.2 trillion yuan!
What a surreal reality this was!
This was the ultimate magic of printing money out of thin air, an experience that no dopamine could match!
It was a legendary feat!
Therefore, everyone naturally assumed that after this breathtaking, heart-stopping gamble, everything should return to normal.
This enormous fortune would be safely invested in the safest assets.
"I was thinking, I should at least do what I always do: half the money in government bonds, the rest in blue-chip stocks, and then I could just close the door and sleep soundly."
However, the new instructions they received were:
Spread the 4.2 trillion yuan again, and go all in on the currently volatile stock markets around the world!
Everyone was stunned.
"Are you kidding me?
Aren't all the experts and institutions predicting that the global market will continue to bottom out, with a 50% drop considered optimistic?
And now they're telling us to go all in?"
Even Wu Jianlin himself had already issued orders to liquidate positions, seemingly preparing to transfer funds to a safer zone.
But, after a phone call with Su Hao of Fanghuan Investment, everything changed.
Wu Jianlin's instructions took a complete 180-degree turn:
At all costs, buy back all the cheap, high-quality stocks currently bleeding in the market, as many as you can!
"So... this is another order from Fang Huan and Su Hao?"
"Definitely! Wasn't that crazy plan to dump three trillion on short selling his own the brains of him?
However, I have no right to say a bad word about him."
In the hearts of the traders in the "Pangu" project team, Su Hao was already a savior, a national hero.
He, single-handedly, had secured a huge strategic buffer for the nation's future century-long plan.
Such a monumental achievement, yet it couldn't be made public, was truly regrettable.
"But what if we misjudge this time and lose everything? If it's halved, who can bear the responsibility?
And the higher-ups also demanded that the position be established as quickly as possible through off-exchange trading..."
When they established that three trillion short position, they spent a full three months, proceeding step by step, pursuing both speed and stability.
This time, they've given a direct order:
Take 4.2 trillion yuan and, through off-exchange trading, rush into the fire like madmen and grab everything of value as quickly as possible!
Are they afraid the market won't be shocked enough?
"Fang Huan...do they really think this stock market, which has already plummeted to rock bottom, is about to rebound?"
This unprecedented stock market crash stemmed from that unforeseen global crisis.
All markets are dead.
A domino effect of corporate bankruptcies triggered the largest financial crash in history, unprecedented and likely to remain so.
"This isn't 420 billion, it's 4.2 trillion!"
Such a massive amount of capital, instead of giving you months to slowly build your position, demands you complete your setup in the shortest possible time.
And the one issuing this order was a man with unparalleled insight into the capital markets, practically revered as a god.
He couldn't possibly be unaware of what this 4.2 trillion investment meant.
Yet he still insisted on doing it.
This can only mean…
"An unprecedented crash will be followed by an unprecedented… violent rebound?"
Damn it! I don't want to think about it anymore!
From the moment they decided to execute that insane 3 trillion plan, these people had already lost their minds.
"But...the real problems are only just beginning, aren't they?"
"Hmm?"
"Our shorting of three trillion has been the talk of the financial world for a while now.
Do you think...the US and other countries will just stand by and watch us take such a huge slice of the pie and walk away unscathed?"
"..."
A wake-up call!
Such a terrifying scale—it's impossible for word not to leak out.
How could a country like the US stand idly by?
The terrifying thing about nuclear weapons isn't the instant of the explosion, but the endless radiation and dust that follow!
***
Emilia, the President's Office.
The President felt like the whole world was against him; it was like a horrible mess had fallen from the sky, impossible to escape.
Other problems were one thing.
But this world-class catastrophe, one that might only happen once in a thousand years, had to happen during his term!
But laid out before him was intelligence he wished he had never seen.
No natural disaster, no accident. Only a meticulously planned conspiracy:
A hidden force, in conjunction with a US biotechnology giant and military hawks, created and released this virus.
Their ambition was chilling:
To completely destroy all economic rivals, including China and the EU, through global chaos, thereby reshaping the world order and concentrating power and wealth entirely in their hands.
How large was this hidden force?
So large that its roots had penetrated every inch of the financial, political, and even intelligence systems.
The president knew that if he chose to reveal the truth, it wouldn't trigger a just trial, but the instantaneous collapse of the entire national system and civil war-level turmoil!
He dared not, and he didn't have the ability.
So, he made the only choice: suppress the intelligence and play the clown.
He frantically closed the borders, roared at the media, trying to stop the damned virus from spreading.
Even more infuriating, he ordered the public to wear masks and banned gatherings of more than four people.
But those undisciplined citizens completely ignored him, letting it go in one ear and out the other.
Some didn't even know what a mask was, or how to wear it correctly!
"While the whole world is suffering because of this pandemic, you're telling me...
a bunch of sons of bitches made hundreds of billions of dollars?"
In such an epic market crash, there are always a few lucky ones who bought lottery-like put options and became rich overnight.
Just like after 9/11, didn't some people make a fortune with this stuff?
"But now you're telling me that this lucky one... is a sovereign wealth fund?"
"Yes, it's China's strategic investment fund."
"They... used that kind of money to short sell? You want me to believe that?"
The scale is outrageous, it's practically a myth.
"Yes, sir, we initially thought the scale was unbelievable too.
But if they spent several months, quietly building positions little by little in the global market, it's not impossible.
That's how they established short positions in almost all major markets—the US, Europe, Asia—and profited from it."
That was already astonishing enough, but what truly alarmed Trump was what was to come.
"Furthermore, there is now a theory that has almost been accepted as a conclusion: the mastermind behind all of this is Fang Huan Investment!"