565: Chapter 56 Fortune Lies in Peril

"Its profit depends on your information gap and channel barriers."

"Once new players enter with lower prices, your business will immediately be hit."

Wang Haidong nodded silently.

This was indeed something he had always been worried about.

"So, we need to change the way we play."

"We're not going to be a merchant."

"We are going to build a platform. A platform that can predict global trade tides."

"I've named it 'Tidal'."

Shen Yan's speaking speed wasn't fast, but every word was like a nail driven into Wang Haidong's mind.

"Step one: data integration."

"I want you to use all your connections and resources within a month to collect all the logistics data you can get your hands on."

"From Southeast Asia to Europe, from sea freight to air freight."

"Vessel arrival times, cargo customs clearance speeds, throughput of every port, even changes in customs policies of different countries..."

"I want all of it."

"We will use this data to feed an AI model. It will be like a tireless octopus, its tentacles reaching into every corner of the globe to sense the pulse of the entire trade chain."

Wang Haidong was a bit dazed listening.

What was the use of this data?

"This is the second step: 'Rent-seeking'."

Shen Yan seemed to see through his thoughts.

"When the model is established, we can see things others can't."

"For example, a port on the US West Coast has a backlog of high-precision electronic components due to a workers' strike, causing the market price in the US inland to rise by 15%."

"And at almost the same time, a supplier in Europe has a batch of components of the same model they're eager to sell because of a canceled order."

"This time gap might only be 48 hours."

"Traditional traders can't react at all."

"But our 'Tidal' platform can calculate an optimal route in seconds."

"Pick up the goods by air from Europe, bypass the congested West Coast ports, clear customs in Mexico to the south, and then transport them into the US by land."

"We can even book all the trucks and warehouses along the way in advance."

"What we need to do is use this absolute information dominance to devour these fleeting profits."

"We don't do bulk commodities, we don't do long-term contracts."

"We are like sharks in the sea; wherever there is the smell of blood, we go."

"Hit and run. Every move is a precise, surgical strike."

Wang Haidong's breath was completely held.

He seemed to see a brand new world.

A cold, precise business world made of data and algorithms, yet filled with gold.

"But... but, what does this have to do with the Elder Family?"

"Of course it does,"

Shen Yan said calmly.

"Because every bite of meat we eat is torn from the bodies of traditional giants like the Elder Family."

"The Elder Family is massive, but because it's so big, it turns very slowly."

"Its logistics network is like a heavy python. And we are a school of piranhas."

"Once or twice, it won't feel the pain."

"But a hundred times, a thousand times?"

"When it finds its most profitable business being eaten away bit by bit by an invisible force, what will it do?"

Wang Haidong felt a chill down his back.

"It will... go crazy."

"Exactly."

A cold light flashed in Shen Yan's eyes.

"It will use all its power to hunt us down."

"But it won't find us."

"Because we have no fixed routes, no asset-heavy fleets. We are just a platform in the cloud, a ghost issuing tasks."

"This is the third step: 'Symbiosis'."

"When the Elder Family is exhausted from being tormented by our school of piranhas and can't find an opponent, I will have you appear before them with our 'Tidal' system."

"Tell them their system is too old, too slow, and full of loopholes."

"And we can help you plug those loopholes."

"We can help you optimize routes, predict risks, and reduce your operating costs by thirty percent."

"There is only one condition."

"We want twenty percent of the dry shares in your Far East route business."

The tea room was deathly silent.

Only the sound of Wang Haidong's heavy breathing remained.

He looked at Shen Yan as if looking at a monster.

This plan was too crazy.

From parasitism to erosion, and finally to reverse control.

This wasn't doing business.

This was launching a war without smoke!

And the opponent was a behemoth like the Hosen Family.

"President Shen... will this... will this work?"

Wang Haidong's voice was trembling.

"The risk is too high. The Elder Family's influence in the US is deeply entrenched; once we are discovered..."

"So, the person executing this plan cannot be me."

Shen Yan interrupted him.

"It's you, Wang Haidong."

Wang Haidong snapped his head up, the color draining from his face.

"Your company, your connections, and your experience are the 'shell' of this plan."

"My technology, my capital, and my algorithms are the 'core'."

"From beginning to end, only you and your 'Haidong Trading' will be on the surface."

"And I, along with my company, will hide behind you like a ghost."

“If it succeeds, you'll be the new logistics giant on the US West Coast, with a net worth starting at a billion US dollars."

"If it fails..."

Shen Yan paused, picked up the half-cooled tea, and drank it in one gulp.

"In this world, there is no such thing as a foolproof business."

"President Wang, you are a smart man."

"I don't need to teach you the principle that riches are found in risk."

Shen Yan stood up.

"I'll give you three days to think about it."

"Give me your answer in three days."

After saying that, he didn't give Wang Haidong another glance and turned to walk out.

Wang Haidong froze in place, motionless.

After a long time.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at his hand, which was bright red from being scalded.

He couldn't feel the slightest bit of pain there.

His mind was filled with the crazy and tempting blueprint Shen Yan had just described.

And that last cold sentence, devoid of any emotion.

Riches are found in risk.

The wooden door slowly closed behind Shen Yan.

It shut out the stormy waves inside the tea room.

And it shut out Wang Haidong's pale face.

The lanterns at the entrance of the alley cast a hazy glow.

Shen Yan's shadow was stretched long.

He walked back to his car without looking back.

Meanwhile, in another city thousands of miles away.

In a top-floor office, the floor was polished to a mirror finish.

A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was looking at a massive data waterfall in front of him.

Li Ze.