Chapter 342: Are you sure you don't need help?

“Then…how much will our company have to pay?” Torsten asked, trembling.
“Just Munich Re, for us alone, will need to pay…two billion dollars.”
“Two billion dollars?!”
Torsten’s vision blurred, his body swayed, and he gripped the edge of the table tightly to keep from falling.
“Now…what should we do?”
“What should we do? Drag it out! Drag it out as much as you can!” Torsten roared, his face contorted with rage.
“Are we really going to hand over two billion dollars?
Use the harshest underwriting and claims processing methods to reduce the payout to the lowest possible level!”
“But…doing so will trigger massive lawsuits. And even if we can reduce it, we won’t reduce it by much.”
The implication was: Boss, stop struggling, hurry up and raise the money.
The problem now is, the company simply doesn’t have that much cash in its accounts!
But if they can’t pay the claims, it’s tantamount to suicide for an insurance company!
"Immediately! Sell all our stocks! Now!"
Torsten's eyes were bloodshot, like a gambler who had lost everything.
"The total payout is two hundred billion dollars! We alone will have to cough up two billion. How much better off will the other insurance companies be?"
The company executives present instantly understood Torsten's meaning.
The only way for all European insurance companies with business ties to the Port of Beirut to raise this astronomical payout was to sell off their stock holdings!
"So, sell them now! Before they become worthless pieces of paper, sell them all!"
***
The global financial markets were already turbulent under the current circumstances.
Fortunately, the US stock market's triumphant return spurred a recovery in global markets.
Among them, the European stock market benefited the most.
It had experienced a precipitous drop like the US stock market, but now it was slowly and painstakingly climbing back up, attempting to recover its losses.
"What on earth is going on?! Why is the market crashing again?
It's like we've gone back to the apocalypse!"
The heads of state of the European Union are currently gathered in an emergency video conference of the European Economic Committee, their faces ashen, utterly distraught.
They had barely managed to pull their own stock markets back from the brink of collapse thanks to the recovery of the US stock market, calming the angry public.
But then, they woke up to find the sky had fallen again!
"It's the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion!" an economic advisor analyzed, his face pale.
"Europe is the global center of the insurance industry.
The problem is, too many insurance companies are trapped in that Beirut disaster!
One fuse ignited the entire powder keg!"
A staggering two hundred billion dollars in compensation!
This sum will almost entirely fall on the shoulders of European insurance companies.
They can renege, they can delay, but ultimately, this compensation must be paid out!
"To raise funds, major insurance companies had no choice but to frantically sell off their stocks.
You sell, I sell, everyone sells!
Like a herd of frightened bulls rampaging through the financial markets, it triggered a catastrophic stampede, ultimately leading to the collapse of the entire market!"
"Even worse, a financial scandal broke out!"
Misfortune never comes singly.
Just as the market was in chaos, a shocking scandal added fuel to the fire.
A rising German star company, renowned for its fintech, was exposed for financial fraud during its stock liquidation process!
“A staggering two billion euros in accounting fraud!
The news broke, and the company immediately filed for bankruptcy. This became the final straw, directly triggering a crisis of confidence throughout the European financial markets!”
“So the conclusion is…
The culprit behind all this was that explosion at the Port of Beirut, so far away?”
A leader asked incredulously.
“Yes. Without that explosion, our market would have been peaceful, continuing its rapid growth like the United States!”
However, what brought them success also brought them failure.
It was precisely because of its highly developed insurance industry that countless European insurance companies were tied to Beirut's fate. With its collapse, the entire European market began to crumble.
“…”
Dead silence fell over the meeting room.
Everyone was gloomy and helpless.
“I recently received a report.”
Just then, the meeting chair, Merkel, slowly spoke, breaking the suffocating silence.
Everyone looked up.
“A report about ‘Fanghuan Investment.’
After withdrawing the money they invested in the US, they deposited it into that special account we previously opened for them.”
“That account? Didn’t we already decide to close it and notify them?” someone exclaimed.
“Yes, we explicitly told them that account was going to be closed,” Merkel’s eyes became incredibly complex,
“But they still went their own way, just dumping a massive amount of money into it.”
“Why…why?”
“Then, very coincidentally, shortly after that money arrived, the entire European market began to collapse!”
“!!!”
A thunderbolt seemed to explode in everyone’s minds!
Could it be…that Fanghuan Investment had foreseen all of this?!
“That money… has anything happened in the account?”
“No. Nothing.” Merkel’s voice carried a chill.
“Gentlemen, to leave such a large sum of money sitting quietly in a current account, letting it depreciate without investing in any safe-haven assets, is a huge waste.
Do you think Fang Huan, Su Hao, wouldn’t understand this?
So what does he mean by doing this?”
“…”
Silence.
“He’s sending us a message,” Merkel said, enunciating each word clearly.
A silent, yet deafening question.
“Now, is your EU sure you don’t need my help?”
The meeting room was deathly quiet.
The faces of the European leaders burned, as if they had been slapped hard across the face.
Back then, seeing the market recover, the first thing they did was torn up the proposal to invite Fang Huan to invest.
There was no other way; releasing that financial behemoth into the European pond was simply too risky.
They were filled with apprehension and wariness towards the name "Fang Huan."
In recent years, behind almost every major, earth-shattering event, this name seems to lurk in the shadows.
"I've heard that the Beirut incident is also intricately linked to Fang Huan..."
Someone murmured.
"Could it be... that Fang Huan orchestrated all of this..."
Seeing the conversation spiraling out of control and the flames of conspiracy theories about to ignite, President Merkel immediately intervened.
"Enough! Stop with the pointless speculation!
The major insurance companies have already conducted independent investigations, concluding that six years of oversight negligence by the Lebanese authorities, coupled with improper on-site operations by Levant Company, led to this accident, isn't that right?"
While that's true, there are indeed too many suspicious points.
The Lebanese authorities' guilty conscience and desperate attempts to cover it up are enough to explain everything.
"So, we really want to lift the restrictions and bring Fang Huan back in?"
"That's what the Americans did, and they succeeded. Although it's still controversial, the result is ultimately good."
Merkel scanned the crowd.
"Or, does anyone have a better solution? Who can immediately pull out hundreds of billions of euros to inject into the market to save it?"
"..."
No one answered.
Yi Qing has already emptied the treasuries of various countries. To further print more currency to save the market would be like drinking poison to quench thirst, only pushing the entire EU into the abyss of bankruptcy.
"Since everyone agrees, I will contact Fang Huan's side again to hear their specific plans."
This time, no one objected.
However, the situation had suddenly changed; the balance of power had reversed!