179: Chapter 179 Cross-Dimensional Business Warfare, Shorting the Heavens

The fireworks of exploding gold lasted for a full seventeen minutes in the G-007 Gold Standard World.

It wasn't a physical explosion—it was the collapse of financial faith.

When the first batch of anti-matter coated gold annihilated with a "boom" in a civilian jewelry shop, turning the shopkeeper and three customers into elementary particles, panic spread like a virus.

"Gold explodes!"

"The reserves in the vaults are all bombs!"

"Sell it off! Hurry—!"

Within twenty-four hours, the price of gold in the G-007 world plummeted by 99.8%. The currency system, backed solely by gold, collapsed like an avalanche. A bank run killed three thousand people in the stampede, and the central banks of seventeen kingdoms declared bankruptcy.

The value of the Golden Throne Consortium's holdings evaporated by 43%.

But this was only the beginning.

Lin Chen sat before a black throne, with real-time data streams of sixteen other financial worlds controlled by the Golden Throne Consortium spread out before him.

"Old Mo," he stared at the frantically jumping K-line charts, "if we enter the market now to short the currencies of these worlds, how much leverage can we get?"

In the virtual screen, Mo Shan's eyes were glowing—the look of an old hunter seeing prey fall into a trap.

"Boss, shorting requires borrowing assets first and then selling them, then buying them back at a lower price to return them." He pulled up a calculation model. "But we don't have currency reserves for those worlds. We'd need to borrow from a 'cross-dimensional broker' first—"

"No need to borrow." Lin Chen pulled up the latest data from the G-007 world. "After the Golden Throne's central bank there went bankrupt, they left behind a batch of physical asset collateral: seventy-two spirit vein mines, three hundred floating cities, and land ownership for half the world. These are now bad debt assets being forcibly auctioned by the platform."

He clicked on the auction interface.

Starting bid: 500 billion dimension points (original valuation 8 trillion)

But no one bid—everyone was afraid those assets also hid anti-matter traps.

"If we use these assets as collateral," Su Qingyu understood, "and apply for a loan from the platform's 'Cross-Dimensional Financial System', we can get currency positions in other worlds?"

"Correct." Lin Chen began operating. "And because these are 'bad debt assets', the platform will require an extremely high collateral discount rate—we only need to put down a 10% margin to leverage ten times."

He clicked apply.

[Cross-Dimensional Financial System processing...]

[Collateral valuation: 500 billion dimension points]

[Risk assessment: Extremely high (potential for anti-matter contamination)]

[Recommended collateral discount rate: 90%]

[Loanable amount: 50 billion dimension points]

[Leverage ratio: 10x]

[Actual available shorting funds: 500 billion dimension points]

"Approved." Lin Chen smiled.

500 billion dimension points worth of shorting bullets, chambered.

"Zhang Hao, screen the targets."

"Analyzing..." Zhang Hao spread out economic vulnerability models for sixteen worlds. "Locking onto three optimal targets: W-881 Emerald Coin World (dependent on jade faith), S-442 Faith Point World (religious economy), T-119 Carbon-Based Credit World (currency issued based on vital signs)."

"Reasons?"

"The currency systems of these three worlds are all built on irrational consensus," Mo Shan chimed in. "The value of Emerald Coins is based on the legend of 'Jade Spirituality'—but we can import a hundred thousand tons of synthetic jade from other worlds and use cognitive tampering to make the public believe 'synthetic is more spiritual'."

"The Faith Point World is even simpler." Su Qingyu pulled up the data. "The currency issuance in that world is tied to 'devotion in prayer to the Golden Throne statues'. If we send a paranormal expert team to install a 'reverse prayer counter' in the statues..."

"The more devoted the prayer, the more the currency devalues." Lin Chen nodded. "What about the Carbon-Based Credit World?"

"Every person's currency limit in that world is based on their health index," Zhang Hao said. "We can release a 'harmless virus that temporarily lowers vital signs', causing the entire population to suffer 'credit bankruptcy' collectively."

The plan was finalized within five minutes.

Lin Chen split the 500 billion shorting funds into three parts and threw them at the three worlds.

First Battlefield: W-881 Emerald Coin World

Mo Shan personally led the team, gathering synthetic jade from thirty-seven mineral worlds. Simultaneously, the cognitive tampering expert group spread rumors across the world that "natural jade has impurities, synthetic has higher purity"—coordinated with large-scale illusion rituals to make all appraisers collectively "misjudge."

Twenty-four hours later, the price of natural jade plummeted by 70%.

The Emerald Coin system began to wobble.

Second Battlefield: S-442 Faith Point World

At midnight, the internal structure of the Golden Throne statues was quietly modified by the paranormal expert team. The "Devotion Crystal" that originally recorded prayer counts was replaced with a "Negative Energy Counter"—for every prayer received, the value decreased instead of increased.

The next morning, the first batch of believers who went to pray found that the Faith Points in their accounts decreased instead of increasing.

Panic spread beneath the temples.

"God has abandoned us!"

"Praying will lose wealth!"

"Stop praying—!"

The foundation of the faith economy began to collapse.

Third Battlefield: T-119 Carbon-Based Credit World

A gene-edited influenza virus infected 32% of the world's population within seventy-two hours. The symptoms were extremely mild: body temperature dropped by 0.3 degrees, heart rate slowed by 5%, just enough for all vital signs to fall below the "health credit line" threshold.

As a result, the credit limits of one-third of the population dropped to zero overnight.

Society fell into chaos.

The currencies of the three worlds began to dive in sync.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen's short positions were making insane profits.

But he knew the Golden Throne wouldn't just sit there and wait for death.

The counterattack arrived in the early hours of the fourth day.

[Emergency Alert: Cross-dimensional financial attack detected]

[Attack Type: Fake liquidity injection]

[Attack Description: An unknown party has injected massive 'ghost funds' into the three worlds you are shorting, artificially inflating currency prices to try and force a margin call.]

Lin Chen pulled up the data stream.

Sure enough, the currency prices in the three worlds began to rebound against the trend—it wasn't market behavior; massive amounts of counterfeit currency were being created out of thin air and flooded into the market.

"They're cheating using the platform's 'Emergency Currency Issuance Rights'," Mo Shan's face was grim. "That's a privilege only shareholders with over 5% stake have, allowing them to print unlimited money in worlds they control."

"So we're being short squeezed?" Zhang Hao asked.

"If shorting was our only means, yes," Lin Chen smiled. "But don't we have over eight thousand experts?"

He connected to another newly joined team—the "Financial Fraud Identification Group," composed of seventeen villain actors who had previously played "financial police" in different worlds.

The team leader was a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses, code-named "Auditor."

"Auditor, can you trace the source of those ghost funds?"

"Already on it." Auditor pulled up a complex fund flow map. "The opponent is cunning; the funds have been laundered through over three hundred shell accounts... but they all eventually flow into the same place."

The screen froze.

It was a private vault floating in the dimensional gap, labeled: [Golden Throne Emergency Reserve (No. A-7)]

"Found the rat hole," Lin Chen said.

He pulled up [Rule Fine-tuning] in the shareholder backend and selected the physical constants of the dimension where the private vault was located.

He found [Entropy Increase Rate].

Adjustable range: ±3%.

He dragged it directly to +3%.

The effect was immediate: the flow of time inside the private vault suddenly accelerated, and all "financial contracts" stored within began to age naturally at a rate of ten years per second.

The effective dates on the newly printed ghost currency contracts jumped frantically, going from "permanently valid" to "expired three hundred years ago" within three seconds.

The ghost funds instantly became historical waste paper.

The currency prices of the three worlds plummeted once again.

The Golden Throne's emergency communication directly blasted through Lin Chen's firewall this time.

In the image, the golden lifeform had lost its elegance, the golden liquid around its body boiling: "Lin Chen! Do you have any idea what you've done?! You're destroying the stability of the entire Cross-Dimensional Financial System—"

"I'm destroying your system," Lin Chen interrupted. "And I'm not done yet."

He pulled up the profit data for his short positions.

Current floating profit: 1.2 trillion dimension points

"According to platform rules, shorting profits can be exchanged for 'Compulsory Acquisition Rights' over the target worlds." Lin Chen clicked exchange. "I'm now using this 1.2 trillion to acquire 10% of the core equity in each of your three worlds."

[Exchange complete]

[You have obtained: 10% equity in W-881, 10% in S-442, 10% in T-119]

[Golden Throne Consortium's shareholding ratio has decreased]

"You—!" The golden lifeform was furious.

"Don't be in such a hurry." Lin Chen opened another interface. "I just checked the platform's debt terms: when a shareholder's controlled world experiences a 'systemic financial collapse', other shareholders have the right to demand additional margin, otherwise their equity will be forcibly liquidated."

He selected the equity of seven other worlds under the Golden Throne Consortium.

"Those seven worlds of yours are all experiencing bank run crises now." Lin Chen smiled. "According to the rules, you need to add... let me calculate... about 8 trillion dimension points in margin."

The golden lifeform froze.

It didn't have 8 trillion—its liquid funds had already been exhausted in the previous confrontation.

"If you can't provide the margin," Lin Chen said slowly, "the platform will automatically auction the equity under your name to cover the systemic risk. And as the creditor, I have the right of first refusal."

"You... planned this from the very beginning..." The golden lifeform's voice trembled.

"No." Lin Chen shook his head. "You're the one who started it."

He clicked [Apply for Compulsory Execution].

The platform system's cold notification sounded:

[Golden Throne Consortium has insufficient margin]

[Initiating forced liquidation procedure]

[The following equity will be auctioned: 15% of G-007, 8% of W-881, 12% of S-442...]

[Auction will begin in 60 seconds]

The countdown ticked away.

The Golden Throne roared, threatened, and pleaded.

Lin Chen shut off the communication.

He turned to Su Qingyu: "Prepare the funds. We're going to buy the dip."

Sixty seconds later.

The auction ended.

Lin Chen used the 1.2 trillion he just earned, plus 3 trillion temporarily borrowed from ten tycoon shareholders, to buy 28% of the Golden Throne Consortium's core equity at rock-bottom prices.

The moment he completed the transaction, the shareholder rankings updated:

[Lin Chen: 0.87% stake]

[Rank: 5,112th (Up 4,803 places)]

[Golden Throne Consortium: Stake plummeted from 3.7% to 2.1%]

[Rank: 7,893rd (Plummeted 4,581 places)]

Zhang Hao looked at the data and murmured, "Did we... just cripple an old-guard shareholder?"

"Not yet." Lin Chen pulled up the Golden Throne's remaining equity structure. "They still hold 2.1%. They could still stage a comeback."

"Then what do we do?"

Lin Chen opened the management backend of the worlds he just acquired.

He found the "Debt Restructuring" option.

Then, he entered a new rule:

[Starting today, all assets under the Golden Throne Consortium must pay a 99% 'Hatred Tax' during transactions.]

He clicked confirm.

This meant that from now on, if the Golden Throne wanted to sell any assets, they would only receive 1% of the money.

"There." Lin Chen closed the interface. "Now they can't make a comeback."

Outside the window, a desperate wail from some entity echoed in the dimensional void.

Meanwhile, another 50 million dimension points were deposited into Lin Chen's account—from an anonymous viewer's message:

"Brilliant. Who are we shorting next? I'm doubling down."

Lin Chen smiled.

He replied: "Let's see who else dares to make a move."

Then he opened the shareholder list and began searching for the next target.

The business war had only just begun.

And he already held the most lethal weapon:

Turning the enemy's wealth into the very bomb that would blow them up.