209: Chapter 209 Reverse Harvesting! I Made My Shareholders Pay to Buy Their Own Bankruptcy

The third second after the world-ending arsenal was activated.

Seventeen real-time monitoring screens popped up before Lin Chen—each corresponding to one of the seventeen core planes the Underworld Group had deeply cultivated. On every screen, an apocalypse was unfolding:

In the cultivation plane "Tianyan Realm," the sky was torn open, and black raindrops fell. With each drop that touched the ground, laws disintegrated, and spiritual energy reversed its flow. Cultivators watched in horror as their thousand-year hard-earned cultivation drained away like sand through an hourglass.

In the cyberpunk plane "Deep Blue Star," all electronic devices flickered before going dark. The holographic billboards on the streets uniformly changed to a blood-red countdown: 【Civilization Restart: 71:59:58】. The AIs collectively emitted a final lament: "The main program... has been overwritten..."

In the magical plane "Emerald Realm," the elemental seas boiled, and the magic web shattered. The staves in the mages' hands cracked inch by inch, grimoires spontaneously combusted, and legendary wizards turned into stone statues amidst piercing screams.

"Boss!" Zhang Hao's voice trembled. "They're using 'Rule Formatting Weapons'! This isn't destruction; it's... rewriting the entire world's foundational laws into ruins!"

Su Qingyu gripped Lin Chen's hand tightly. "Our assets..."

"Are already gone." Lin Chen calmly switched the views—the Underworld Group branches in all seventeen worlds, along with all their buildings, warehouses, and production lines, were disintegrating along with the world's laws.

Assets: Zero.

Time elapsed: Eleven seconds.

From the internal shareholder group channel came suppressed laughter.

"Lin Chen, do you understand now?" The Aged One's voice sounded once more. "dimension points can indeed buy many things, but some privileges... are only available to old shareholders who have accumulated across epochs. For example, the qualification to activate the 'Platform Self-Defense Level Arsenal.'"

"Did you think making money meant you could win? How naive."

"In the face of true power, your wealth is nothing but a castle in the sand."

Agreeing laughter echoed through the channel.

Lin Chen did not cut off the communication.

Instead, he pulled up another data panel—it showed the 120 trillion dimension points he had just earned from short-selling, plus the balance from his previous debt financing, totaling 151 trillion in available funds.

"Finished talking?" Lin Chen asked.

The channel fell silent for a moment.

"Do you have any last words?" the Aged One's voice sneered.

"Yes." Lin Chen opened the dimension trading market. "I'd like to ask all shareholders a question—when you activated the world-ending weapons, you consumed the weapon inventory from the 'Platform Public Resource Pool,' correct?"

"So what if we did?"

"According to Platform Bylaws, Article 7, Clause 3, using public resources requires paying a 'Resource Occupancy Fee' based on usage." Lin Chen pulled up the clause. "Fee standard: A single launch of a world-ending weapon has a base cost of 5 trillion dimension points. An additional 'Post-World Destruction Cleanup Fee' is calculated based on the value of the destroyed world."

He paused. "I did a rough calculation. Your volley's total cost is approximately... 90 trillion dimension points."

Dead silence filled the channel.

"How do you know the details of the bylaws?!" a shareholder exclaimed involuntarily.

"Because I bought the 'Platform Rules Full Analysis Package.'" Lin Chen smiled. "Cost me 3 trillion. Now, I'm the newcomer shareholder who best understands the rules across the entire platform."

He pulled up the payment notice. "The fees have been automatically deducted from your shareholder accounts. But here's the problem—I just checked your combined liquid funds, and it seems you only have... 47 trillion?"

"Not enough to cover it."

Horrified gasps were heard.

"So the platform automatically initiated the 'Forced Liquidation Procedure.'" Lin Chen continued. "Procedure step one: Seize all your liquidatable assets under your names."

The monitoring screens switched views—

The three resource worlds under shareholder "Black Star" were suddenly sealed by golden chains. An interface popped up: 【Seized: Settling Platform Debt】.

The mining machinery in the dimension mines under shareholder "Aged One" collectively shut down, and the ore veins were sealed by an invisible force field.

All cargo ships of the cross-plane merchant fleet operated by shareholder "Blue Flame" were forcibly docked at the void port, with their cargo holds sealed.

"No—!" Roars erupted in the channel.

"Procedure step two," Lin Chen's voice sounded like he was reading a manual, "if asset liquidation is still insufficient to settle the debt, 'Forced Equity Liquidation' will be initiated."

【Platform Announcement: A portion of shareholder "Black Star"'s equity (0.0003%) has been forcibly listed for sale by the system】

【shareholder "Aged One" (0.0011% equity) listed for sale...】

【shareholder "Blue Flame" (0.0008% equity) listed for sale...】

Lin Chen opened the equity trading interface.

Listing price: 30% of market value.

A bone-breaking discount.

"Now," Lin Chen said to the channel, "I formally bid: Using the 151 trillion in my account, I'll purchase all the equity you're being forced to sell in one package."

"You wish!" the Aged One's voice roared. "We can buy it back ourselves!"

"Oh?" Lin Chen laughed. "But weren't your liquid funds just deducted?"

Silence.

A deathly silence.

"Moreover," Lin Chen added, "Platform Rule Article 9, Clause 1: During forced liquidation, the original shareholders have 'priority repurchase rights,' but they must use 'pure funds that are neither pledged nor borrowed.'"

"What do you have now besides seized assets and depreciating equity?"

No answer.

Only heavy, ragged breathing.

"So," Lin Chen clicked 【One-Click Package Purchase】, "I'll take this equity."

【Transaction Successful】

【You have acquired equity: Total 0.0032%】

【Your current total equity: 0.003350071%】

【shareholder ranking improved from 9,847,221,033rd to 7,211,004th】

A jump of over nine hundred million places.

"By the way," Lin Chen looked at the seventeen worlds still collapsing on the monitoring screens, "although my assets in those destroyed planes are gone, the 'World Ownership' is still registered with the platform registry."

"And now, the ownership of those worlds... because the original shareholders cannot pay the 'Destruction Cleanup Fee,' has been transferred as collateral into the platform's asset package."

He pulled up the auction interface. "I just used 50 trillion to win the bid for this asset package."

"In other words, you paid to..." Lin Chen enunciated each word, "blow up my old assets for me, and then delivered the clean world ownership deeds to me."

"Although these worlds are now ruins, the 'rebuild authority' for their foundational laws is in my hands."

He opened the dimension mall and searched for 【World Rapid Reshaping Package】.

Price: 1 trillion per world.

Seventeen worlds, 17 trillion.

Lin Chen paid.

【Reshaping Initiated】

On the monitoring screens, the apocalyptic scenes began to reverse—

Disintegrated laws rewove themselves, dissipated spiritual energy flowed back, burned grimoires restored page by page, petrified wizards began to breathe again...

Eleven seconds of destruction.

Eleven seconds of rebirth.

When the seventeen worlds were restored to their original state, the balance in Lin Chen's account remained: 151 trillion - 50 trillion (auction) - 17 trillion (rebuild) = 84 trillion.

And he had gained:

1. 0.0032% platform equity (value incalculable)

2. Complete ownership of seventeen worlds (original value exceeding hundreds of trillions)

3. A group of debt-ridden, equity-shrunken, utterly hateful old shareholders.

The channel was still open.

Lin Chen spoke softly into the microphone:

"Thank you for the world-ending volley."

"Next time you want to help me clean up assets and gift me equity, remember to make an appointment in advance."

"I can give you... a 99% discount."

The communication was violently cut off on the other end.

Zhang Hao, Su Qingyu, Little Red Clothes, and all the Underworld Group executives who heard the entire exchange through the internal channel stood frozen in place.

"So..." Zhang Hao swallowed hard, "Boss, you knew they would use the arsenal all along? You prepared the funds in advance, waited for them to trigger the Forced Liquidation Procedure, and then..."

"And then bought the bottom at a low price." Lin Chen finished. "In war, the most important thing isn't how to defend, but how to turn the enemy's ammunition into your own profit."

He looked at the seventeen reborn worlds on the monitoring screens:

"Now these worlds are 100% mine. All the original inhabitants owe me their lives—they know I'm the one who rebuilt everything after the destruction."

"From today on, the taxes, resources, faith... of these worlds all belong to the Underworld Group."

"And the cost," Lin Chen smiled, "was paid for me by the old shareholders."

Just then, the platform suddenly issued a full-dimensional emergency announcement:

【Abnormal equity fluctuation detected】

【shareholder "Lin Chen"'s equity increase has triggered the "New Magnate Review Mechanism"】

【Reviewer dispatched】

【Review content: Existence of violation market manipulation, malicious short-selling, rule arbitrage, etc.】

【If the review fails, all illegally obtained equity will be forcibly revoked】

At the end of the announcement was the reviewer's codename:

【Reviewer: Arrogant Dragon (Part-time)】

Su Qingyu's face turned pale.

But Lin Chen laughed.

"Finally here." He flexed his wrists. "Good."

"Newly acquired equity deserves a worthy enemy to serve as a 'testing stone.'"

"Arrogant Dragon..."

"I hope your sword is harder than those old-boned shareholders' wallets."