70: Chapter 70: The Big Four Banks' Frenzy of Grabbing, A Dimensional Reduction Attack That Penetrates the Gateway

Lu Chen leaned back on the sofa and turned to look at Wu Dong, not giving President Ma Jianping a chance to reboot his brain.

"Wu Dong," Lu Chen said in a flat tone, "pull all the general managers of the provincial branches of The Big Four Banks in Jiangcheng into a voice channel, and put it on speaker."

"Understood, President Lu!" Wu Dong's face, which had been purple with rage just a moment ago, was now glowing with the satisfaction of revenge. He pulled out his custom phone and tapped it a few times quickly.

A multi-party call was established, and four connected avatars popped up on the screen. After two beeps, the calls were answered almost simultaneously.

"President Lu! Oh my, you've finally called!" The first voice to come through the speaker was the extremely excited President Zhang of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. "I already stated my position to you at the auto show Hall 2 yesterday. Our Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's super SVIP channel is open to you twenty-four hours a day! When will you move that…"

"Old Zhang, stop cutting in!" President Wang of the China Construction Bank immediately interrupted, his voice filled with undisguised sycophancy. "Factory Director Lu, our China Construction Bank has the deepest capital pool, and the interest rate we offer you is absolutely the highest in the province, if not the entire country. As long as you say the word, I'll take my entire executive team to wait for you at the entrance of the Jinlan Hotel right now!"

Lu Chen tapped the edge of the coffee table, interrupting the argument on the phone. "Everyone, let's make this short. I've encountered a small problem. The 45 billion in funds I originally had in the Jiangcheng Development Bank, plus the payment for goods that just arrived yesterday, have all been frozen by President Ma on the grounds of preventing foreign-related risks."

A brief two-second silence descended on the voice channel.

Immediately after, an audible gasp of sheer disbelief erupted.

"Does President Ma Jianping have mush for brains?!" President Li of the Agricultural Bank of China cursed directly over the phone. "This is what you call high-quality surplus assets! Does he know anything about finance?!"

Lu Chen didn't respond, instead presenting his conditions.

"I have a special fund of 5 billion that needs to be wired into the accounts of three headhunting firms within one minute; I'm in a rush to poach talent. In addition, I plan to move all the tens of billions of cash frozen at the Development Bank today. Between the four of you, whoever can grant me the highest-level super corporate online banking unlimited transfer authority within one minute, that's where this nearly 100 billion pot will spend the night."

As soon as these words were spoken, the other end of the line exploded. The sound of the bank presidents jumping up from their chairs was clearly transmitted through the microphones.

"Our Industrial and Commercial Bank of China takes it!" President Zhang roared at the top of his lungs. "President Lu! Thirty seconds! I'll give you the highest-level state-owned capital allocation channel! No limits whatsoever!"

"Old Zhang, stop bragging! Your system just crashed and was repaired last week!" President Wang of the China Construction Bank, red-eyed with anxiety, immediately started exposing each other's secrets. "President Lu, choose China Construction Bank! I will personally oversee the 5 billion to go through the Central Bank's green clearing system for you, and I won't charge a single cent in fees!"

"Shut up, all of you! President Lu, Agricultural Bank of China will hand over all branch authorization to you! You can transfer as much as you want. I'll stake my career on it and sign a military order; I guarantee there won't be a single second of audit delay!"

The high-and-mighty branch heads, who were usually so aloof, were now stepping on each other over the phone, shouting at the top of their lungs and competing without any shred of dignity.

President Ma Jianping sat on the leather sofa, cold sweat soaking his shirt through to his back, trickling down his spine.

He was all too familiar with these voices. Yesterday, when he went to the province for the year-end financial expansion meeting, these four bigwigs were all sitting in the front row. He, President Ma Jianping, didn't even have the qualifications to go up and toast them; he could only take notes in the back row.

Now, these top financial giants, whom he rarely even saw, were fighting tooth and nail over Lu Chen's deposit.

And he had just voluntarily pushed this mountain of gold—the largest in the province—away.

"That's enough," Lu Chen said, and the other end of the line went instantly quiet. "China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, dual-channel network aggregation. I'll click confirm in one minute. If it gets stuck, the rest of the money goes straight to the Agricultural Bank of China."

"You just watch!" both bank presidents said in unison, followed by the frantic sound of keyboards clacking and shouting at subordinates in the background.

The call ended.

The VIP reception room returned to a deathly silence, with only the figure of nearly 60 billion still jumping on the large screen.

Lu Chen raised his eyes, his icy gaze falling back on President Ma Jianping. "President Ma, it seems your risk control model is a bit outdated. Since you find my money too hot to handle, I'll help you lighten the burden completely today. I'm going to wipe out all the liquidity of these tens of billions in your bank."

President Ma Jianping shuddered violently, his survival instinct forcing him to muster one last bit of strength.

He gritted his teeth, stared, and laughed, the laughter sharp and dry.

"Lu Chen! Don't try to scare me! So what if The Big Four Banks are fighting over you? So what if the outside channels are wide open!" President Ma Jianping grabbed the forced loan withdrawal notice on the table and slammed it onto the coffee table.

President Ma Jianping stared fixedly at Lu Chen, his hands bracing against the table in a bluff. "That 45 billion is still in my system! Without my digital key signature and the secondary manual review by the branch compliance department, the system will automatically block any abnormal outflows over 100 million! As long as I don't authorize it, even if the King of Heaven himself came, you wouldn't be able to move a single cent!"

Wu Dong was about to rush forward, but was pulled back by Da Biao.

Da Biao cracked his knuckles. "Boss, I'll break one of his arms and see if he hands over the password."

"No need," Lu Chen said, leaning back on the sofa, not even interested in looking at President Ma Jianping anymore. He reached out his hand. "Wu Dong, bring the computer over."

Wu Dong immediately handed over the military-grade tablet.

Lu Chen took it in his hands. At this moment, in his mind, the "Peerless Good Boss System" panel was emitting a faint blue light.

[Detected that the host's employed staff has exceeded 10,000 and loyalty is locked at 100%.]

[Absolute defense mechanism has taken over corporate financial operations.]

[Host has obtained absolute legal allocation rights for all funds, ignoring regional controls and institutional interceptions.]

The banking barriers that required layers of approval, signature keys, and manual intervention in reality were as good as non-existent in the face of the system's dimensionality-reduction strike authority.

On the large screen, the super inter-bank aggregation channel temporarily set up by China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lit up green.

Transfer target: Jiangcheng Development Bank, Chenguang Electronics Factory corporate general account.

Full aggregation.

"You're wasting your effort," President Ma Jianping said, watching Lu Chen's actions and sneering. "The gateway password for inter-bank settlement is in my head. If you don't sign that 'Forced Loan Withdrawal and Asset Preservation Notice' for me today, I'll keep those tens of billions of yours locked up and drag this out with you until your factory shuts down and goes bankrupt!"

Lu Chen's slender fingers rested on the Enter key.

He didn't even look up at President Ma Jianping, his fingertip pressing down lightly.

"Click." The Enter key was pressed.

The crisp sound of the keystroke echoed in the room.

Ding!

A bold green prompt box immediately popped up on Wu Dong's computer: [Fund transfer request has passed system-level highest priority authentication, forced gateway penetration, execution started].

The room was very quiet.

Five seconds.

Eight seconds.

Seeing that nothing had happened, President Ma Jianping could no longer suppress his arrogance. "See that? Can't move it, can you? President Lu, honestly bow your head to me…"

Before he could finish his sentence.

A harsh red alarm suddenly erupted from the office area outside the corridor!

The shrill electronic siren pierced through the thick mahogany door, stinging people's eardrums.

In the hallway of the entire twelfth-floor headquarters, there was the chaotic sound of countless chairs overturning and employees shouting in panic.

"Bang!" The door to the VIP reception room was slammed open.

Old Liu from the finance department scrambled in, running so fast he lost a shoe, and fell directly beside the coffee table.

"President… President Ma!" Old Liu's voice was cracked and shrill from extreme terror.

He clutched his internal control tablet, shaking like a leaf. "Something happened! Something big happened!"

The smile on President Ma Jianping's face froze, his heart sinking rapidly. "What are you panicking about! What happened?"

Old Liu stared fixedly at the screen, tears mixing with sweat as they fell.

"Our bank's core liquidity pool… is being subjected to a forced inter-bank withdrawal by unknown authority! We can't stop it! The gateway interception has completely failed!"

President Ma Jianping's vision went black, and he rushed over to snatch the tablet from Old Liu's hands.

"How much was withdrawn! Cut off the external network for me! Cut it off!"

"We can't cut it, President! That's the Central Bank's highest-level forced clearing channel!"

Old Liu knelt on the floor, clutching his head and wailing. "Ten seconds! The first 3 billion has already gone out! 5 billion… 10 billion… 20 billion!"

On the big screen, that string of zeros was rapidly shrinking.

Those weren't just numbers; they were the lifeblood of the entire Jiangcheng Development Bank's payment reserves!

If 45 billion were instantly drained within a minute, the entire bank's payment system would collapse this morning, and the province would send an investigation team to make arrests by tomorrow!

President Ma Jianping's hands went limp, and the tablet fell to the floor with a "clatter."

He understood now. 45 billion, not a cent left, all flowing out following the Enter key Lu Chen had just pressed.

That was 45 billion.

A second ago, he was still calculating how much of a year-end bonus this money would bring him and how he could trample Lu Chen under his feet and humiliate him.

The next second, Lu Chen had not only bypassed all his authority but also completely drained the bottom line of the Jiangcheng Development Bank.

Having offended a cash-flow giant of this caliber who was completely unrestricted by the rules, there was only one outcome awaiting him.

Spending the rest of his life in prison.

President Ma Jianping completely lost all dignity. His legs went soft, and he scrambled around the huge mahogany coffee table, his knees slamming heavily onto the floor as he slid in front of Lu Chen.

"Factory Director Lu! Lord Lu! Ancestor Lu!" President Ma Jianping wailed, clutching Lu Chen's dust-covered work shoes with both hands, tears streaming down his face.

While crying, he raised his hand and slapped himself wildly. After a few slaps, blood burst from the corner of his mouth.

"I'm blind! I'm a beast! Please, have mercy, withdraw a little bit of the funds back! Even if you just leave a remainder for me to report, that would be enough!"

President Ma Jianping wept bitterly, banging his forehead against the floor with a thud. "I won't look at any rules or sanctions anymore! I don't want those 30 million! I'll sign the paperwork for your lifetime unlimited highest authority right now!"

The Lobby Manager was still slumped in the corner. Seeing the usually unreachable president lying on the ground like a dog with a broken spine, he was so scared he wet his pants, and a pungent smell permeated the air.

Da Biao took a step forward, looking down at President Ma Jianping on the ground.

Lu Chen sat in his original seat, his expression unchanged from start to finish.

He lowered his eyelids, glanced at President Ma Jianping's face covered in snot and tears, and frowned in disgust.

Lu Chen raised his right leg and kicked President Ma Jianping hard in the chest with his military work shoe.

"Bang."

President Ma Jianping screamed, sliding two meters backward on his back, crashing into the sofa leg.

Lu Chen stood up and picked up his old black jacket, shaking it out.

"Wu Dong," Lu Chen said, walking toward the door, "tell the headhunters that the 5 billion deposit will arrive within three minutes. Before dawn, I want to see the tickets issued for the first batch of 2,000 experts."

"Yes! President Lu!" Wu Dong replied loudly, puffing out his chest and following him.

Walking to the door, Lu Chen paused.

He tilted his head slightly, leaving the frantically retching President Ma Jianping with an extremely cold profile.

"Get out of the way," Lu Chen said, exuding the aura of an absolute superior. "Don't dirty my shoes."