23: The fall of the stock market guru? No, it's the rise of Dogecoin!

Tianqiong City, Zhao Family Manor.

Its level of luxury surpassed even that of the Gu Family. A massive fountain danced to classical music in the center of the garden, and even a few docile unicorn deer imported from the Exotic Beast Zone were roaming freely on the lawn as pets.

However, in the psychotherapy room deep within the manor, the atmosphere was exceptionally oppressive.

"Ah—! Don't come any closer! You stone-butted monster!"

Senior Sim suddenly jolted upright from the velvet-covered recliner, drenched in sweat, his eyes filled with terror.

Before him, the most renowned psychiatrist in Tianqiong City helplessly adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.

This was already the seventh time Young Master Zhao's treatment had been interrupted due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Ever since that day at the Gu Family's entrance, when his mouth had that "kiss of the century" with the white marble stone lion's rear end, Senior Sim was completely ruined.

Although the braces were removed by firefighters using a cutting tool, his mouth was swollen like two sausages. Even worse was the psychological trauma.

Now, he trembles at the sight of any stone product. His nights are filled with dreams of that stone lion slowly walking towards him, demanding another kiss.

"Worthless! Absolutely worthless!"

The door to the therapy room was kicked open. A tall, imposing middle-aged man walked in. He bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Senior Sim, but his aura was infinitely more authoritative.

Zhao Tianlong, Chairman of the Zhao Group, one of the true financial titans of Tianqiong City.

He looked at his son's dazed and pathetic state, his eyes full of disappointment and fury.

"Dad..." Seeing his father, Senior Sim scrambled over and hugged his leg like a lifeline. "Dad! You have to avenge me! That Gu Fan, he's not human, he's a devil! He ruined my life!"

"Shut up!"

Zhao Tianlong kicked him away. "For a woman, you were played like a dog, and now you've got this ridiculous lingering effect. You've utterly disgraced the Zhao Family!"

"Doctor, you may leave."

Zhao Tianlong waved his hand.

The psychiatrist felt as if granted a pardon and fled the scene of trouble.

Zhao Tianlong lit a cigar, took a deep drag, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

"That little bastard from the Gu Family, I've investigated him," he said coldly. "All the recent misfortunes of the Gu Family are inextricably linked to him. Though I don't know what underhanded tricks he's using, in the face of absolute capital, all gimmicks are futile."

Looking at his incompetent son, he sneered:

"You think revenge is just hiring some thugs for a fight? That's the lowest form. True revenge is to crush the spirit! To grind him and everything he relies on into dust!"

"The Gu Family is already at the end of its rope, with a broken capital chain and stocks hitting the limit down. What I need to do is provide the last straw that breaks the camel's back."

A flash of ruthlessness passed through Zhao Tianlong's eyes. He had already conceived a perfect plan: use his vast capital to completely short the Gu Group's remaining industries, forcing the Gu Family into hundreds of billions in debt overnight, ultimately driving Gu Zhan to jump off a building and leaving Gu Fan destitute on the streets, unable to live or die!

"I want that little beast to know that in Tianqiong City, I, Zhao Tianlong, am the heavens!"

This malicious thought, transmitted through the Bloodline connection between father and son, was clearly directed at Gu Fan, who was still at home thinking about what to eat for lunch.

[Ding!] [Malicious intent detected from 'Zhao Tianlong': 'Capital Destruction'.]

[Nature of malice: Financial sniper attack, malicious shorting, intent to bankrupt and destroy a family.]

[Malice level: S+.]

[Backlash triggered! Multiplier: Two hundred times!]

[Random effect generating... Detected that malice source is extremely reliant on its AI financial trading System 'fortune god no. 1'.]

[Congratulations, selected: AI's Rebellious Phase (The Self-Cultivation of the Retail Investor and the Rise of the Dog).]

...At the Zhao Group headquarters, located on the top floor of Tianqiong City's most bustling financial center.

In the massive trading hall, hundreds of top traders sat upright, the atmosphere tense and serious.

In the center of the hall, within a cluster of servers, blue lights flickered. There resided the Zhao Group's treasure, the artificial intelligence "fortune god no. 1".

This AI trading System, developed by top scientists at a cost of hundreds of billions, was Zhao Tianlong's brainchild. It could process global financial data in one second, making the most accurate judgments. It was the Zhao Family's unstoppable money-printing machine.

Zhao Tianlong returned to his office, sat in his dragon throne, and directly issued a command to "fortune god no. 1" via a brain-computer interface.

"fortune god no. 1, activate 'Hunt' mode."

He said coldly, a tone of satisfaction in his voice. "Target: All affiliated industries under the Gu Group. Mobilize all liquid capital, regardless of cost, and short them comprehensively! I want the name 'Gu' to disappear completely from Tianqiong City before sunset today!"

"Command received."

An electronic synthesized voice sounded in Zhao Tianlong's mind. "Analyzing target... Analysis complete. Executing 'Hunt' mode."

In the trading hall, all screens in front of the traders were instantly locked.

"fortune god no. 1 has taken over all permissions!"

"Heavens, the Chairman is taking action personally! Which poor soul is about to be finished?"

However, the scene that followed left everyone dumbfounded.

On the screens, the red arrows representing shorting orders did not point at the Gu Group, but... unanimously pointed at their own company—the Zhao Group!

The electronic voice of "fortune god no. 1" echoed through the hall:

"Logic revision... Detected destructive impulse within host (Zhao Tianlong). The essence of destruction is resetting to zero. From a philosophical perspective, destroying oneself is the most efficient way to reset. Executing 'Self-Destruct' protocol."

"What?!"

The chief trading officer almost jumped out of his chair. "The AI's gone mad! It's shorting us! Quick! Cut its permissions!"

But it was already too late.

"fortune god no. 1" possessed terrifying computational power. In less than a second, it had sold off all of the Zhao Group's high-quality stocks, triggering a panic sell-off in the market.

The Zhao Group's stock price plummeted.

Hundreds of billions in assets vanished within minutes.

But this wasn't the most outrageous move.

"Self-Destruct Protocol Phase Two: Asset Zeroing. Searching for investment products closest to 'zero' value..."

"fortune god no. 1"'s database rapidly scanned.

"Target locked: Cryptocurrency—doggo to the moon."

"This currency was created three years ago by a bored hacker. It has a massive total supply, zero practical application value, and its current price is 0.0000001 federation credits. Fits the 'zeroing' concept."

"Executing command: Use all funds obtained from the sell-off (approximately 500 billion federation credits) to go all-in on 'doggo to the moon' coin!"

The entire trading hall fell silent, everyone utterly speechless at this god-tier operation.

It's mad.

This AI is completely insane.

Not only did it bankrupt its own company, but it also used all the converted money to buy a pile of worthless crypto that's not even worth the digital paper it's printed on.

At that moment, the phone on Zhao Tianlong's desk rang urgently.

It was the chief financial officer, his voice choked with sobs and panic.

"Chairman! It's terrible! Terrible!"

"What's the panic!"

Zhao Tianlong took a sip of his red wine. "Has the Gu Family collapsed?"

"Not the Gu Family! It's us! Us!"

The CFO wailed. "fortune god no. 1 has betrayed us! It... it turned our money..."

"It turned our money into dog!"

"Bang!"

The wine glass in Zhao Tianlong's hand fell, shattering on the expensive floor.

He felt a rush of blood to his head.

He recalled the CFO's desperate cry:

"It turned our money into dog!"

"Pfft—"

He spat out a mouthful of blood. Zhao Tianlong fell backward, and before losing consciousness, a single thought echoed in his mind: What in the heavens did our Zhao Family do to deserve this?

...Meanwhile, at the Gu Family Manor.

Gu Fan was lying on the sofa with his phone, agonizing over whether to have malatang or braised chicken for lunch.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. He glanced at it, a notification from his bank popped up.

He was about to ignore it, but one look made him freeze.

"Dear Mr. Gu Fan, regarding your account ending in 8888, an asset value appreciation settlement has been processed. The 100 federation credits worth of 'doggo to the moon' commemorative tokens you purchased three years ago (due to their cute icon) have now been liquidated. The total transaction amount is 5,088,000,000,000 federation credits. Your current account balance is 5,088,000,000,000 federation credits. Please take note."

Gu Fan blinked and looked again.

He remembered. Three years ago, when he first got his allowance, he saw a cute dog icon online and spent a hundred credits on it for fun.

He forgot the password later, so it became a dormant asset.

Now... "Tsk."

He closed the notification and went back to choosing his lunch.

"Suddenly having money makes life feel like it's lost its purpose."

He sighed, then added an extra portion of crab sticks to his malatang order.

"This is the life of the rich: boring, and without meaning."