116: Chapter 116 The bait is swallowed up, a two-hundred-billion-dollar financial nuclear bomb

The frontage road of the Jiangcheng Expressway, a windy spot.

In the shadow of a retaining wall crouched a man wearing a black anti-stab vest. He hunched his neck, holding half of a smoked double happiness cigarette between two fingers, his gaze fixed straight down.

In a half-meter-deep mud ditch below, Zhou Cheng was lying prone in the yellow muddy water. Half his face was pressed against the muck, his limbs splayed motionless at the bottom of the ditch. His suit pants were torn, one leather shoe was missing, and his fingers were dug deep into the hard, gravelly soil.

The man watched for a moment, then rubbed the ash off his fingertip with his thumb. He pulled a walkie-talkie from his waist, pressed the talk button, and lowered his voice.

"Brother Da Biao, that bastard is stuck in the mud and can't get up. The car got on the expressway, and he was kicked out like trash."

The main factory monitoring room.

The 8K large screen on the wall flickered with infrared light spots. Da Biao listened to the report on the walkie-talkie and spat fiercely, then turned to look at Lu Chen, who was sitting in the main seat.

Lu Chen leaned back in his leather chair, holding a one-dollar transparent plastic lighter. He pressed his thumb on the striker wheel and flicked it with a 'click', but no flame appeared.

"Withdraw," Lu Chen said calmly.

The veins on Da Biao's neck bulged, and he gripped the solid steel pipe in his hand tightly.

"Boss, are we really just going to leave it at that?" Da Biao's throat felt dry. "If this were back when I was on the streets, if anyone dared to betray the factory, I'd break both his legs and throw him, along with his briefcase, into the Yangtze River to feed the fish."

Lu Chen lifted his eyelids and tossed the lighter onto the desk; the plastic base made a crisp sound as it hit the surface.

"Let him live," Lu Chen leaned back into his chair. "Let him live well and see for himself just how miserably the master he traded his life for will end up."

The scene shifted to the night sky tens of thousands of feet above.

A heavy helicopter emblazoned with the Morgan logo roared as it plunged into the clouds, heading straight for the nearest international airport.

The cabin was climate-controlled. David sat in a leather airline seat, while the silver briefcase containing the "dead material trap" was firmly secured to the shock-absorbing rack at his feet.

A military-grade laptop sat on a folding side table, its screen flashing with international market K-line charts.

The stock curves of Chinese automakers like Great Wall and BYD were continuing to plummet under the onslaught of short-selling institutions, with the green numbers constantly flickering.

David reached into his inner suit pocket, pulled out a red secure phone, pressed two buttons, and dialed the red line directly to the headquarters in Manhattan, New York.

After two beeps, the call connected.

"Mr. Chief," David's distorted Mandarin was filled with irrepressible fanaticism. "God's creation has safely boarded."

There was no immediate reply from the other end of the line, only heavy breathing.

Five seconds later, the Chief's cold, hard voice sounded.

"Is there any possibility of it being swapped?"

"Absolutely not." David glanced at the briefcase by his feet, his tone certain. "Peter conducted a preliminary inspection with a twenty-times optical magnifying glass; there isn't a single millimeter of cutting marks, no seams. This is the perfect physical object, featuring molecular-level seamless packaging technology that is ten years ahead of the entire industry."

David picked up the red wine glass beside him and swirled his wrist.

"This is the silicon-based trump card that can completely overturn the current era. That Chinese man surnamed Lu thinks he's clever, believing that this kind of extreme packaging can stop us. He has no idea that our national laboratory has ultra-high-frequency particle cutters."

The breathing on the other end of the line finally steadied.

David put down his wine glass and stared intensely at the diving curves on the computer screen. He leaned forward and laid out his core demand.

"Mr. Chief, Chinese automakers are pulling domestic funds to try and resist in the overseas market. These idiots think they can stabilize the board with a few billion." David gritted his teeth. "I request to initiate the ultimate plan."

"State your plan."

"While their cash flow is drying up, double the one-hundred-billion-dollar short-selling leverage to two hundred billion." David's eyes were bloodshot. "Smash through their chassis, smash it to pieces. I want to force Lu Chen to get on his knees and spit out the remaining production line blueprints along with all the equipment!"

The other end of the red line went silent, and time ticked away second by second.

After a full half-minute, the Chief's cold verdict came through.

"Authorization approved. Two hundred billion. Total annihilation."

Less than five minutes after hanging up.

In the international market, a terrifyingly large amount of capital flooded in.

The overseas linked markets for Great Wall and BYD were instantly hit by a cliff-like crash. The green lines representing the stock prices plunged straight down, smashing through three support levels in a row, the board filled with the wailing red light of alarms.

In the cabin, technical consultant Peter stared at the astronomical trading volume exploding on the screen, his pupils contracting violently.

Snap.

The high-transparency magnifying glass in his hand slipped, fell, and hit the floor mat.

"God," Peter swallowed, his voice trembling. "Mr. David, dumping two hundred billion dollars in cash into this will evaporate thirty years of progress for the entire Chinese new energy sector."

David picked up his red wine glass again and clinked it against the plummeting curve.

"To the foolish rats." David curled his lips into a cruel, cold smile.

It was early morning in Jiangcheng, and the damp air from the rain seemed to seep into one's bones.

In Conference Room One of the Jinlan Hotel, the thick smell of smoke made it impossible for anyone to open their eyes.

Chairman Wei Jianlin and President Wang sat at the conference table, both with bloodshot eyes, staring fixedly at the tablet on the table.

With the two-hundred-billion-dollar financial nuke dropped, their faces were even paler than the white paper on the table.

Chairman Wei Jianlin held a thick cigar in his hand, his fingers trembling constantly. Ash fell in chunks, landing all over his expensive suit pants, but he didn't even glance at it.

"Two hundred billion, the short-selling leverage was pushed straight to two hundred billion." President Wang pressed his temples with both hands, his voice so hoarse he could only whisper. "Those mad dogs at Morgan—the money we scraped together domestically to fill the overseas market disappeared without making a single splash. If they keep smashing it, BYD will have its entire Jiangcheng shell taken over by others."

Chairman Wei Jianlin jammed the cigar into the ashtray and crushed it forcefully.

Just then, the heavy double doors of the conference room were shoved open, the hinges emitting a dry creak.

Wu Dong strode in, his eyes bloodshot. His suit was unbuttoned, his tie was balled up and stuffed in his pocket, and he was clutching a military-grade tablet to his chest.

Walking up to the conference table, Wu Dong raised his hand and slammed the tablet onto the table in front of Chairman Wei Jianlin.

Thud, a crisp sound of impact.

"Boss Lu instructed that even close brothers should settle accounts clearly." Wu Dong leaned on the table with one hand, his voice raspy. "Gentlemen, the buyout funds for the first batch of Solid-state battery for your respective car companies have all been transferred."

Chairman Wei Jianlin suddenly looked up, staring intensely into Wu Dong's eyes.

"What kind of international joke are you making?" Chairman Wei Jianlin's voice cracked, and he stood up, pointing at the tablet. "Half an hour ago, Morgan just issued the highest-level joint freeze order to The Big Four Banks through Wall Street."