Chapter 622: The Great Crash

At this moment, all was silent, save for the pounding of heartbeats.
If there's any expression that's universal, it's probably the utterly horrified look on the faces of everyone in the global financial world right now—the look of utter utter utter rage, as if they'd just lost their parents and discovered their ancestral graves had been desecrated.
"What the hell...what the hell is this...?"
The financial market.
This modern Tower of Babel, built from money, desire, and the pinnacle of human ingenuity, is currently undergoing a spectacular, free-fall collapse!
Yes, not a correction, not a pullback, but a complete crash!
This is a super-crash, a crash that would make even the Great Depression of 1929 bow down in utter deference!
In the trading hall, those usually impeccably dressed, poised elites now look like chickens with their necks being choked.
Adam's apple bobbed, he swallowed hard, staring blankly and desperately at the rows of electronic screens—
No longer were they displaying fluctuating numbers, but waterfalls of blood, the embodiment of the abyss!
The eagle of America had broken its wings and plummeted from the clouds;
The ancient castles of Europe wailed in the wind;
Even on the ancient lands of the East, the roar of dragons echoed…
After the first domino fell, the rest weren't just collapses, they were avalanches!
All the markets worldwide, as if an invisible hand had simultaneously pressed the button for destruction, joined hands, singing "It's all over," plunging headlong into the abyss.
And they, these so-called market manipulators, could only watch helplessly, utterly powerless, even a cry of despair seeming pale and feeble.
"Manager! What...what are we going to do?!"
Goldman Sachs manager Bell, a veteran who had spent half his life navigating the cutthroat world of Wall Street, a self-proclaimed expert who had witnessed God's wrath and the devil's riots...
At this moment, he felt his career was a complete joke.
A financial crisis?
He'd seen it all before.
Like a woman's temper, it always comes a few times a month, a bit of a fuss, a bit of coaxing, and then it's over.
Everyone cries and screams for a while, then goes about their business as usual, the economy always manages to crawl back up like an unkillable cockroach.
"But this time...this time it's like a planet colliding with Earth!"
A blasphemous thought even crossed Bell's mind:
The financial markets, this thing, might close down today, disappearing from the stage of history forever?!
This thought was no exaggeration.
In Asia, several stock exchanges in various countries were so terrified that they immediately disconnected their networks;
Meanwhile, the top executives on Wall Street and in London were frantically discussing whether to simply declare a "technical market closure" and wait until this apocalyptic disaster had passed.
An unprecedented panic, like the Black Death of the information age, was spreading like a virus across the entire planet.
"Are you all just standing there like doormen?! Get yourselves to me reporting! What the hell is going on?!"
Bell's roar carried a tremor he himself didn't even realize.
"Manager, you've seen it too…"
The only activity in the market right now is selling. Everyone is racing against time to sell, selling faster and more decisively than anyone else!
First, the East Asian Goryeo region suffered a chain reaction of self-destruction, and then the Empire followed suit...
This triple whammy is too much for even a god to withstand!
Indeed, the upheaval in East Asia Goryeo merely ignited the fuse, causing global stock markets to teeter on the brink of collapse.
But the one who truly delivered the final blow, plunging the entire world into the abyss, was the iron-fisted president who had ruled the Empire for decades!
He just died so suddenly?
He died without warning, without explanation.
"In Goryeo... although it's chaotic, at least the major powers have divided their territories, moving from a chaotic free-for-all to a Three Kingdoms period.
Most importantly, the red button that could bring everyone down is still in the hands of a relatively reliable person."
Even if it changes hands, it'll most likely just be kept as a prized possession.
But the Empire is a complete mess.
The president's fall has unleashed a torrent of long-dormant evil.
"From the Siberian permafrost to the Caucasus valleys, all sorts of monsters and demons have risen up, lining up to declare independence.
In the capital, the president's top confidant, Sergei, has raised the banner of a provisional government, but…
He doesn't look like he can hold out for more than a few days."
"Why?"
"Latest intelligence reports that Sergei himself sent his old leader to his death.
Now, with the title of 'regicide' attached to him, internal strife has already broken out within his own ranks."
The most critical issue is that, amidst this chaos, some warlord from some obscure corner of the world has somehow managed to snatch the key to the red button!
Now, the rumor that "I have the button, take it or leave it" is spreading like wildfire across the globe!
North Korea's button, like a giant beast locked in a cage, is intimidating, but you know its master won't easily unleash it.
But what about the Empire's button?
It's like a bunch of mad monkeys finding a pile of loaded AK47s!
Who knows which monkey, in a moment of exuberance, might randomly fire a few shots around.
This extreme uncertainty, the constant possibility of accidental discharge, is the final straw that breaks the camel's back.
"So, the market was sent directly to the ICU by this 'Schrödinger's button.'"
Countless negative news items converged into a doomsday torrent; the whole world seemed to be preparing for its own funeral.
The "Judgment Day" of movies seemed imminent. This deep-seated fear drove everyone to frantically sell off all their assets, just to get a pittance of cash.
Bell stared at the plummeting curve on the screen and scoffed dismissively:
"A bunch of idiots. When the world really ends, isn't cash just worthless paper, too tough even to wipe your butt with?"
However, the scene before him truly made it seem like the sun wouldn't rise tomorrow.
"So...Manager, do you think we should consider buying the dip?
Didn't the stock market guru say, 'Be greedy when others are fearful'?"
A young trader's eyes gleamed, as if he saw gold everywhere.
"..."
Bell's expression froze.
Ha, greed in fear.
What a beautiful sentence, practically the bible of the investment world.
Just looking at the words, anyone could imagine themselves as a hero calmly looting gear on a battlefield littered with corpses.
"But when you're actually standing amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, stepping on whose intestines you don't know, smelling the stench of blood and decay...
You'll only feel like vomiting, only want to run, where will you find even a shred of greed?!"
Moreover, this isn't just simple fear, it's reality.
The financial market, this massive machine that sustains modern civilization, might truly be on the verge of complete collapse this time!
So... what should be done?
A name inexplicably surfaced in Bell's mind, a name both divine and demonic, forbidden and taboo.
"...Fanghuan Investment. What are those lunatics doing now?"