32: My mood is like a roller coaster.

The Magic City, top floor of the Bais Technology headquarters.

Four high-definition screens were lined up on the wide desk.

Three of them displayed the same startling curve across different time cycles.

The stock price of Verlander Biotechnology.

Forty-eight hours ago, that curve looked like a dying python plunging headlong into an abyss, with a decline exceeding 80%.

At that time, Bai Qianqian saw future returns several times over beckoning to her.

But now, that curve was soaring vertically like a rocket, not only fully recovering the lost ground but also continuously breaking historical highs; its market value had already swelled to three times its peak size.

The fourth screen displayed dense financial news headlines.

Almost every single one was positive news regarding Verlander Biotechnology.

"It's over."

Bai Qianqian leaned back dejectedly in her chair, as if her soul had been sucked out.

One hundred billion US dollars.

This was the gamble she had staked her entire fortune on, not only emptying all of Bais Technology's available overseas liquid funds but also using the company's core assets as collateral to borrow enormous short-term bridge financing from international financial institutions.

The Ghost, on the other side, had very likely used leverage of several times, or even ten times.

Short-selling is a bet on the stock price falling.

Now, with Verlander's stock price soaring by such a terrifying margin, it meant the liquidation line had long been breached.

The massive funds she invested had been completely wiped out by the forced liquidation from the exchange and the counterparty.

That wasn't the end of it; due to the leverage involved, the debt she owed would be an astronomical figure she dared not even think about.

She understood that Bais Technology was completely finished, and she herself had no future left.

Bai Qianqian's legs went soft, and she slid off her expensive leather office chair, collapsing onto the carpet.

She struggled, crawling on her hands and knees toward the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window was the most prosperous night view of the Magic City.

This world was still noisy, busy, and full of vitality and desire.

Just a few days ago, she had stood here, overlooking this domain, full of vigor and planning how to use this certain-win high-stakes gamble to elevate Bais Technology to the next level.

But now.

None of this had anything to do with her anymore.

The huge glass window reflected her distraught shadow, her face pale as paper, her eyes hollow and devoid of any light.

The traffic below was as tiny as ants.

A strong sense of dizziness swept over her.

"If I jump down... there won't be so many troubles."

At this moment, Bai Qianqian's mind was filled with this thought.

As long as she jumped, all the pressure and debt would end.

She reached out her hand, her fingertips touching the cold glass.

Tears streamed down uncontrollably.

She didn't want to die so miserably.

But what else could she do?

A crisp email notification sound pricked Bai Qianqian's heart like a fine needle.

This was the notification sound she had deliberately set up; it was an email from the Ghost.

This sound was like a death knell.

Bai Qianqian knew it must be the Ghost sending the news that all her money was lost.

But the unwillingness in her heart drove her to reach out a trembling hand and grab the mouse.

The simple act of clicking open the email took Bai Qianqian a full fifteen minutes.

The email content contained only one line of text and a screenshot.

[Didn't expect Verlander to have a backup plan. Made a little less, but still counts as a small harvest.]

Below this message was a striking screenshot.

Displaying the balance of an overseas account.

586,000,000,000.00 $

Bai Qianqian's breathing completely stopped, and her heart skipped two beats.

Her pupils dilated to the extreme, and the blood in her body seemed to freeze instantly.

Then it rushed wildly through her body at an unprecedented speed!

What was going on?

This string of zeros, so numerous she had to confirm it repeatedly, struck the deepest part of her consciousness like a sledgehammer.

Bai Qianqian felt dizzy, her body went weak, her vision blurred, and a buzzing sound echoed in her ears.

It took her quite a while to steady herself.

When she realized she had not lost everything, her breathing became rapid, and her chest heaved violently.

"This is impossible. Did they liquidate early?"

Bai Qianqian's throat tightened, and her voice was unusually hoarse.

She rubbed her eyes hard with the back of her hand and stared intensely at the screen again.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... hundreds of billions, thousands of billions!

Five hundred eighty-six billion US dollars!

The reason for this result was naturally that He Ming used his notebook to monitor every move of Verlander and its behind-the-scenes capital at regular intervals.

Upon learning that its hidden funder intended to use [Dawn] to turn the situation around, he decisively ordered jarvis to liquidate the positions as quickly as possible and buy up large amounts of Verlander stock that others were dumping and no one wanted.

In reality, the market value of the Verlander stock He Ming currently controlled had already exceeded nearly seven hundred billion US dollars.

But this money had nothing to do with Bai Qianqian.

The original agreement was only to share the profits from the short-selling portion; the upward movement was just an unexpected factor.

And this was the advantage of foresight brought by controlling the information.

Although he earned several times less than the theoretical maximum profit if the stock price had hit rock bottom.

But the current result was already better than Bai Qianqian could have hoped for.

"Forty percent profit, that's 234.4 billion."

Bai Qianqian finally couldn't suppress her excitement anymore.

She plopped down onto the floor and burst into tears, releasing the fear that had been constantly building up in her heart.

A moment later, she couldn't help but want to laugh out loud, her expression completely out of control.

At this moment, Bai Qianqian recalled that she had actually considered jumping off the building to commit suicide, and a layer of cold sweat instantly appeared on her back.

This feeling was like riding a roller coaster.

One second she was calculating the angle of descent, trying to make sure her feet landed first.

The next second she was thrown directly onto Mount Everest, looking down on all living things.

This extreme contrast allowed Bai Qianqian to truly feel the boundary between life and death.

She struggled to crawl up from the floor and rushed back to the computer screen, counting the astronomical figure on the email screenshot again and again.

"Ghost, so you had calculated everything long ago."

Bai Qianqian muttered to herself, her voice filled with the trembling relief of surviving a catastrophe and a deep, heartfelt reverence for the Ghost.

Buzz... Buzz... Bai Qianqian's private encrypted phone screen suddenly lit up.

The caller ID was a constantly flashing Ghost icon.

It was the Ghost!

Bai Qianqian took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the heart that was still pounding wildly in her chest, and answered the phone with the steadiest voice possible.

"Hello."

On the other end of the line was still that emotionless electronic synthesized voice.

"The funds have been settled. Your current share is 234.4 billion US dollars."

"Verlander's Dawn is troublesome, but it's not entirely impossible to breach."

"If everything goes smoothly, the profit could at least double again."

"You can choose to continue following up, or you can choose to stop here."

Bai Qianqian's breath caught again.

That would be a truly unimaginable astronomical figure, enough to let her and Bais Technology stand at the peak of the world!

The electronic voice continued its cold statement.

"If you choose to withdraw now, I will transfer the money to your overseas accounts within ten minutes."

As the voice fell, both ends of the call fell into a brief silence.

A monstrous wave surged in Bai Qianqian's heart.

Withdraw?

Leaving safely with over two hundred billion was already an unimaginable victory.

This was the safest and most rational choice.

The public opinion barrier and technological halo Verlander had established with [Dawn] were simply too powerful.

Attacking again was no different from directly assaulting a recently reinforced war fortress.

If they failed, she certainly didn't want to experience that feeling of near-death despair again.

Follow up?

That meant several times the profit!

This temptation swirled around Bai Qianqian's ear like the whisper of a demon.

Bai Qianqian noticed that the Ghost's tone showed no hesitation when proposing this plan.

Although the electronic synthesized voice was emotionless, it gave people a sense of absolute confidence in controlling everything.

Bai Qianqian's heart was incredibly conflicted at this moment, undergoing an extreme internal struggle.

If she backed out now, would she be excluded from the Ghost's inner circle?

All greater opportunities in the future would have nothing to do with her.

The flame of greed constantly flickered in her eyes.

An aura named ambition continuously emanated from Bai Qianqian's body.

Risk and reward coexist.

But the Ghost had never failed.

Fortune favors the bold!

"No need for the transfer."

"Tell me what to do next."

"I'll stick with you to the end!"

"Very well. I will call you when needed."

Star Tower.

After He Ming hung up the phone, he took out his notebook from the drawer, grabbed a black carbon pen, and quickly wrote down:

[Compile a complete R&D log for a targeted drug that completely cures alzheimers disease for me.]

[Prerequisite: The core formula must be producible using Blue Star's current technology.]

[Prerequisite: Raw materials must be easily obtainable on Blue Star.]

[Prerequisite: Production cycle must be compressed to the shortest possible time.]