14: Chapter 14: Bug Money Farming, The Butterfly Effect

The smell of rust from the abandoned factory mixed with the scent of blood, permeating the cold morning air.

Michael De Santa leaned against a metal rack piled high with discarded parts, his face as pale as paper, the rag wrapped around his right shoulder soaked through with blood, creating a glaring crimson stain.

He had lost consciousness several times last night, and every time he woke up, the pain made his whole body convulse, yet he gritted his teeth, refusing to make a sound.

Lin Fan squatted nearby, staring at the system panel with furrowed brows, his fingers sliding rapidly across the virtual screen.

Franklin stood guard at the factory entrance, gripping his gun, watching the movement outside vigilantly, while continuing to curse the Snake Fang Gang and that ghostly assassin.

We must get money, Lin Fan's voice broke the silence in the factory. He looked up at Franklin with a hint of urgency in his eyes. The black market doctor's fee is at least two hundred thousand; Michael De Santa's injury can't wait.

Franklin scratched his hair irritably, glanced back at the unconscious Michael De Santa, and then looked at the remaining fifty thousand dollars in Lin Fan's hand, sighing helplessly. Two hundred thousand? We've almost spent even the fifty thousand! We can't go steal cars again, can we? Victor's men must be watching us right now!

Lin Fan didn't speak, his gaze returning to the system panel.

Since unlocking the beginner hacking skill, he had discovered that this system was inextricably linked to the underlying code of the game itself.

Previously, when he accidentally deleted a coffee order in the police station system, he had noticed the system prompt Data Anomaly, and now, his finger was hovering over a section marked by the system as Not Completely Blocked—the Los Santos stock market trading system.

When he played GTA5 in his past life, he knew that the stock market in the game had a huge bug: there was a stock called Gold Coast that would crash exactly at 3:00 AM every day and skyrocket at 3:05 AM, with an increase of up to one hundred percent.

This bug had been exploited by countless players in the game, and now, it actually existed in this real game world!

Lin Fan's heart pounded. He took a deep breath and clicked on the stock chart for Gold Coast.

The red line on the screen was exactly as he remembered, showing an eerie, regular fluctuation—crash, surge, crash again, surge again, repeating in a cycle, never failing.

Found it! Lin Fan stood up abruptly, his voice filled with irrepressible excitement. There's a bug in the Los Santos stock market! A stock that doubles in five minutes!

Franklin was stunned for a moment, then walked over quickly and leaned in to look at the system panel, his face full of disbelief. You're not kidding, are you? There's such a good thing in the stock market? A pie falling from the sky?

It's not a pie, it's a bug! Lin Fan explained. This stock is called Gold Coast; it crashes to the bottom at 3:00 AM every day and surges to the peak at 3:05 AM! As long as we buy when it crashes and sell when it surges, and repeat the operation, we can earn two hundred thousand very quickly!

Franklin's eyes lit up instantly, but then dimmed again. Stock trading requires capital, right? We only have fifty thousand now...

It's enough! Lin Fan patted his shoulder, his eyes firm. Fifty thousand, doubling each time, five times and it becomes 1.6 million! That's enough to cure Michael De Santa's injury and still leave a large sum of money!

Michael De Santa seemed to have been woken up by their conversation. He opened his eyes with difficulty and said weakly, Lin Fan... don't take risks... Victor's men...

Don't worry, Lin Fan turned back and smiled at him. This is done online; no one can track us!

Action followed thought. Lin Fan found an abandoned laptop, used his hacking skills to crack the nearby wireless network, and logged into the Los Santos stock market trading platform. Franklin stood guard beside him, his palms sweating with nervousness.

At 2:59 AM, Lin Fan stared at the time on the screen, his finger hovering over the mouse, holding his breath.

3:00 AM!

The price of the Gold Coast stock on the screen crashed instantly, dropping directly from one hundred dollars per share to one dollar!

Buy! Lin Fan growled, clicking the Buy All button without hesitation. Fifty thousand dollars instantly turned into fifty thousand shares of Gold Coast stock.

Franklin was so nervous he almost jumped up. Damn! That's a brutal drop, isn't it? We won't lose everything, right?

Lin Fan ignored him, his eyes fixed on the time on the screen, counting second by second.

3:01 AM, the stock price was still hovering at one dollar.

3:02 AM, still no movement.

Franklin's heart was about to jump out of his chest, and he couldn't help but say, Lin Fan... maybe... we should pull out?

Shut up! Lin Fan didn't even look up. Three more minutes!

3:04 AM, the stock price remained motionless.

Just when Franklin was about to collapse, at 3:05 AM, a miracle happened!

The price of the Gold Coast stock on the screen shot up like a rocket, instantly soaring from one dollar per share to one hundred dollars!

Sell! Lin Fan shouted, his fingers tapping the Sell All button rapidly. Fifty thousand shares of stock instantly became five million dollars!

Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Franklin was incoherent with excitement, grabbing Lin Fan in a hug. It really doubled! It really doubled!

Lin Fan also let out a sigh of relief, his forehead covered in cold sweat. Looking at the five million dollars in his account, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth upward.

But just then, a glaring red warning box popped up on the system panel, flashing incessantly—[Warning! Warning! Illegal exploitation of stock market bug detected, economic data fluctuating abnormally!]

[World stability decreased by 10%! Warning! Continued operation may cause the Los Santos economic system to collapse!]

Lin Fan's smile froze on his face instantly. He looked at the warning box, and his heart skipped a beat.

What's wrong? Franklin noticed something was off and asked quickly.

Lin Fan pointed to the warning on the system panel, his face looking grim. The system says our operations have caused economic data anomalies. If we continue, it might cause the Los Santos economy to collapse.

Franklin's excitement vanished instantly, his eyes widening. Economic collapse? Is it that serious?

Lin Fan was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth. Forget it! Let's earn enough money first! Michael De Santa's injury is more important!

Ignoring the system's warning, he waited for the next 3:00 AM to arrive.

At 4:00 AM, the Gold Coast stock crashed again. Lin Fan bought in with his full position and sold five minutes later; the funds in the account became ten million dollars.

At 5:00 AM, he operated again, and the funds became twenty million dollars.

The system's warnings became more and more frequent, and the red text almost filled the entire panel—[World stability decreased by 20%!]

[World stability decreased by 30%!]

[Price system disorder detected! Warning! Warning!]

Lin Fan finally stopped. Looking at the twenty million dollars in the account, he knew he couldn't continue. If he kept farming, this world would probably really collapse.

That's enough, Lin Fan shut down the computer and let out a long breath. Twenty million is enough for us to use for a long time.

Franklin slumped on the ground, looking at Lin Fan, his eyes full of awe. You kid... are simply a monster.

Lin Fan smiled and was about to speak, but heard a chaotic noise coming from outside the factory.

He and Franklin exchanged a look, then quickly walked to the factory entrance and cautiously poked their heads out.

They saw that the street outside was packed with angry citizens holding various signs and protesting loudly.

Give us back our cheap burgers!

Five hundred dollars for a burger? That's robbery!

Prices are skyrocketing, we can't survive!

Lin Fan and Franklin's faces turned pale instantly.

Following the gaze of the crowd, they saw a brand-new price list hanging at the entrance of the burger shop on the street—Big Mac burger, five hundred dollars each!

Franklin swallowed hard and turned to look at Lin Fan, his voice trembling. You... you earned enough money to buy half the city, but now... we can't even afford a hot dog!

Lin Fan's mouth twitched. Looking at those angry citizens, a strong sense of unease surged in his heart.

He knew this was the butterfly effect the system mentioned. He used the stock market bug to farm money, seemingly just playing with virtual numbers, but he hadn't expected it to trigger skyrocketing prices in the real world.

The economic system of Los Santos had begun to totter because of his actions.

Meanwhile, in a luxury villa in the center of Los Santos, Victor was sitting in front of a huge floor-to-ceiling window, holding a glass of red wine, watching the jumping stock market data and news of street protests on the screen, a cold smile curling on his lips.

Behind him stood the assassin, Ghost, dressed in a black suit.

Abnormal stock market fluctuations, skyrocketing prices... Victor gently swirled his wine glass, the red wine rotating in the glass. This kind of trick is not something the local gangs in Los Santos can pull off.

Ghost nodded slightly. Boss, according to our investigation, someone used hacking skills in the abandoned factory last night to log into the stock market trading platform.

Victor's gaze fell on a blurry surveillance image on the screen; in the image were the figures of Lin Fan and Franklin.

Outsider... Victor whispered, his eyes full of amusement. It really is you. Interesting, very interesting.

He set down his wine glass, turned around, and looked at Ghost, saying in a cold tone, Ghost, go find out the background of this Lin Fan. I want to see how many more secrets this kid from outside has.

Yes, Boss. Ghost responded respectfully and turned to leave the room.

Victor walked back to the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the chaotic Los Santos outside, the smile on his lips growing thicker.

The game of Los Santos is getting more and more fun. He said softly. Lin Fan, I hope you won't disappoint me.

Meanwhile, in the abandoned factory, Lin Fan didn't know that he had been thoroughly targeted by Victor. He looked at the twenty million dollars in his account, then looked at the angry citizens outside, feeling a complex mix of emotions.

Just then, a prompt box popped up on the system panel again—[Stock market bug detected as fixed! Gold Coast stock has returned to normal fluctuations!]

Lin Fan's heart sank abruptly.

The bug was fixed.

This meant he could no longer farm money this way.

Franklin also saw this prompt. He sighed and patted Lin Fan's shoulder. Forget it, at least we earned twenty million. Let's cure Michael De Santa's injury first, and then... we have to find other ways to make money.

Lin Fan nodded, his gaze turning to the unconscious Michael De Santa, his eyes becoming determined.

The path to farming money was blocked, so he would change to another path.

Los Santos is so big; there must be a place where money can be made.

For example... opening a nightclub?

He remembered that when he played GTA5 in his past life, the nightclub was an out-and-out cash cow.

And what he didn't know was that in another corner of Los Santos, in the FBI office building, a blonde woman in a sharp suit was looking at the economic anomaly report on her desk, her brows furrowed.

On her desk lay a file, and on the cover of the file were clearly written two words—Lin Fan.

The woman picked up the file, opened the first page, and looked at the blurry photo on it, her eyes as sharp as an eagle's.

Economic anomaly... hacking skills... five-star wanted level... She whispered, a cold arc curling on her lips. Lin Fan, who on earth are you?