225: Chapter 225 The Three Realms Collapse! I Made the Old Shareholders' Wealth Evaporate at the Opening of the Market

In the first hour and seven minutes of becoming the Chairman of the Epoch Management Group, Lin Chen convened the first emergency general meeting of shareholders.

The venue was set in the "Hall of Authority" of The Group's core database—here, 97,000 real-time monitoring screens of cosmic sub-sectors undergoing zeroing-out were suspended, each screen marked with the current civilization preservation rate.

Only thirty-two shareholders attended, all old-guard existences holding more than 0.001% of shares. They sat on seats condensed from their respective origin laws: the Frost Throne, the Data Throne, the Immortal Cloud Lotus Pedestal... only Lin Chen sat on the most ordinary black office chair in the very center.

"Chairman," a shareholder shrouded in starlight spoke first, his voice carrying echoes of time and space, "calling an emergency meeting so soon after taking office, do you have some major decision?"

Lin Chen skipped the pleasantries and directly projected three asset reports into the air.

"shareholder Black Star, these are the spirit stone reserve data for the 'Qingyun Realm' under your control for the past three epochs."

"shareholder Aged One, this is the throughput curve for your 'Cybertron' starport cluster."

"shareholder Blue Flame, this is the reincarnation authority revenue table for your 'Nether Realm'."

The three old shareholders named—the very ones who had previously joined forces to launch a "Resource War" against Lin Chen—all changed expressions simultaneously.

"What do you mean?" Black Star's (Avatar of the Dark God) voice grew cold.

"The meaning is simple." Lin Chen clicked the projection, and the three curves instantly turned into prediction charts showing cliff-like plunges. "According to my risk model calculations, the value of these three assets will shrink by more than 90% within the next 24 hours."

The hall erupted in an uproar.

"Impossible!" Blue Flame (the manifestation of the Flame Law) slammed the table and stood up. "The reincarnation authority of the Nether Realm is a cosmic necessity! Every civilization needs a reincarnation system! Its value is indestructible!"

"That was before." Lin Chen pulled up new data. "I have just launched the 'Public Reincarnation Service Platform' in the name of The Group. The fee standard is one-tenth of the Nether Realm's, and it supports installment payments. Eight thousand civilizations have already signed migration agreements."

Blue Flame's true flame form shook violently: "This is malicious competition! A violation of the anti-monopoly law!"

"This is technological innovation." Lin Chen smiled. "Moreover, The Group's Board of Directors just passed a resolution an hour ago—abolishing the old 'Inter-dimensional Monopoly Protection Regulations' and implementing the new 'Fair Competition Promotion Law.' Care to see the provisions?"

The Aged One (the avatar of the Time Law) said in a deep voice: "Even so, it's impossible for our assets to evaporate by 90% in one day! You're just intimidating us!"

"Whether it's intimidation or not, we'll know when the market opens." Lin Chen looked at the Cosmic Financial Clock in the center of the hall. "Ten seconds left until today's Inter-dimensional Exchange opens."

"Ten."

"Nine."

All eyes were fixed on the suspended trading panel.

"Eight."

"Seven."

Black Star's hand tightened beneath his black robe.

"Six."

"Five."

Blue Flame's fire began to flicker uneasily.

"Four."

"Three."

The Aged One's Time Law began to automatically simulate the future, and his face suddenly turned deathly pale.

"Two."

"One."

"Open."

On the trading panel, the three asset curves representing "Qingyun Realm Spirit Stones," "Cybertron Starports," and "Netherworld Reincarnation Authority" plummeted vertically in the first second of opening.

Qingyun Realm Spirit Stones: From 1 unit per 100 dimension points, they instantly dropped to 1 per 0.7.

Cybertron Starports: Valuation plummeted from 7 trillion to 70 billion.

Netherworld Reincarnation Authority: Annual revenue shrank from 5 trillion to 50 billion.

They really had evaporated by over 90%.

"This... this is impossible!" Black Star stood up abruptly, the projection of his Dark Divine Kingdom behind him trembling. "My Qingyun Realm... my believers..."

"Oh, I forgot to mention." Lin Chen acted as if he had just remembered. "I simultaneously pushed a message to all cultivators in the Qingyun Realm: 'The Black Star God is not the only true god. The Epoch Management Group has launched 'Scientific Immortal Cultivation Insurance,' guaranteeing a 300% increase in tribulation success rate, with premiums costing only one-tenth of the original Faith Tax'."

He pulled up the data: "Now, 82% of the cultivators in the Qingyun Realm have converted... oh no, switched to the insurance."

"You're stealing my faith?!" Black Star roared.

"This is called providing diversified choices." Lin Chen turned to the Aged One. "As for Cybertron, I just acquired all the legacy of 'Deep Blue Star' (the previously collapsed technological world) and upgraded my transport network with their starport technology. Now, inter-dimensional logistics costs have dropped by 70%. Your starports... are obsolete."

The Aged One's Time Law began to flow backward, attempting to return to before the market opened—this was his innate ability.

But Lin Chen raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The Time Law was forcibly frozen.

"Sorry, one of the Chairman's privileges: the ability to temporarily freeze any law operations within the governed cosmic sub-sectors." Lin Chen smiled. "To prevent anyone from cheating."

Finally, he looked at Blue Flame: "The issue with the Nether Realm is even simpler. The core of the reincarnation authority is 'Soul Conversion Technology,' and I just found a more efficient 'Consciousness Upload and Reshaping Algorithm' in Alpha's data legacy."

"Now souls don't need reincarnation; they can be uploaded directly to Virtual Heaven, and if you're not satisfied, you can even customize your next life."

"Your business," Lin Chen summarized, "has been phased out."

The three old shareholders stood frozen on the spot.

Their accumulation of eons had become worthless in a single minute.

The other shareholders in the hall were as quiet as cicadas in winter, their eyes filled with fear as they looked at Lin Chen.

"Now," Lin Chen pulled up the acquisition agreement, "on behalf of The Group, I offer to acquire your assets."

"As for the price... at current market value."

He paused deliberately: "Which is... 1% of your assets at their peak."

"You're robbing us!" Blue Flame's fire completely lost control, turning into a sea of flames that lunged at Lin Chen.

But three meters away from Lin Chen, the sea of flames was absorbed and converted by an invisible barrier, finally turning into a steaming cup of coffee that landed by Lin Chen's hand.

"Thanks for the treat." Lin Chen picked up the coffee and took a sip. "As for robbery... no, this is a normal business acquisition. You can choose not to sell, but at the current rate of decline, these assets might only be worth 0.1% tomorrow."

Black Star stared fixedly at Lin Chen and suddenly laughed—a miserable laugh of utter despair.

"I should have known... from the day you became a shareholder, you had planned all this."

"Correct." Lin Chen admitted frankly. "From the moment you launched the Resource War to try and bring me down, I was collecting your asset data, looking for your fatal weaknesses, and designing alternatives."

"I've waited this long just for today."

"To be able to legally and compliantly take everything you have."

The Aged One's time avatar began to become transparent—a sign of damaged origin.

"I... sell." He sat down dejectedly. "All assets of Cybertron are transferred at current market value."

The agreement was instantly generated and signed.

Ownership of the Cybertron starport cluster was transferred to the Epoch Management Group.

"I'll sell too..." Blue Flame's fire dimmed into a small flicker. "The Nether Realm is yours."

Black Star made a final struggle: "My Qingyun Realm... has seven God-Venerable level believers, they won't..."

Before he could finish.

The monitoring screen popped up a real-time image of the Qingyun Realm—those seven God-Venerables were collectively reading the "Declaration of Conversion": "...From this day forth, we take refuge in the Great Path of Scientific Immortal Cultivation; the Evil God Black Star shall never be worshipped again."

Black Star spat out a mouthful of black divine blood, staining half the throne.

"I... sell."

All three agreements were signed.

On Lin Chen's asset panel, ownership of three top-tier resources was instantly added.

Meanwhile, the three old shareholders were left with only cash equal to 1% of their original market value—for existences of their level, this was no different from bankruptcy.

"Alright, meeting adjourned." Lin Chen stood up. "Other shareholders may leave. The three who just sold their assets, please stay behind."

The other shareholders left as if granted a general amnesty, vanishing instantly.

Only Black Star, the Aged One, and Blue Flame—the three "bankrupt shareholders"—remained slumped in their seats.

"Anything else?" Black Star's voice sounded like a broken gong.

"Yes." Lin Chen pulled up three employment contracts. "The Group is currently short-handed. Although your assets are gone, your experience remains."

"Black Star, you excel in the Law of Darkness. Go to the 'Horror Instance Development Department' as Chief Consultant. Your annual salary... will be one-thousandth of what you just sold your assets for."

"Aged One, you control time. Go to the 'Causality Risk Control Department' as Director."

"Blue Flame, your Flame Law is suitable for the 'Energy Conversion Project Department'."

Three contracts floated in front of them.

"Working... for you?" Blue Flame was in disbelief.

"What else?" Lin Chen countered. "Where else can you go now except working for The Group? Seeing you bankrupt, the other shareholders would be lucky not to kick you while you're down."

This was the cold, hard reality.

The three once-mighty old shareholders looked at each other, and finally, with trembling hands, signed their names on the employment contracts.

From shareholders to employees.

"Welcome aboard." Lin Chen smiled. "Now report to the HR department and start working today. The Group implements a 996 work schedule with no overtime pay, but there are stock option rewards for good performance."

The three bowed their heads, their figures vanishing in the teleportation light beams.

The Hall of Authority became quiet again.

Su Qingyu, who had been silent, asked softly, "Was that... a bit too harsh?"

"Harsh?" Lin Chen shook his head. "If they had succeeded in bringing me down, everyone in the Underworld Group would be slaves now. I just used business means to do what they would have done to me."

Zhang Hao said excitedly, "Boss, this way, a huge chunk of the opposition within The Group is gone!"

"Not just that." Lin Chen pulled up the shareholder list. "There are seventeen other small and medium shareholders who participated in the Resource War. Over the next month, I will 'visit' them one by one."

"Either sell your assets, go bankrupt, or... work for me."

Just then—

Inspector 117's (the current CEO) projection suddenly appeared, his voice carrying a rare urgency:

"Chairman, something has happened."

"We've just monitored that three cosmic sub-sectors... have experienced abnormal rebirth during the zeroing-out process."

"They didn't annihilate according to the established laws, but instead... turned into some kind of living disaster, devouring adjacent sub-sectors."

The monitoring screen popped up.

The three sub-sectors undergoing zeroing-out had now turned into three writhing, indescribable masses of darkness, spreading like cancer cells.

"What is this?" Lin Xiao frowned.

Inspector 117 fell silent for two seconds before uttering two words:

"Creditors."

"Creditors?"

"Civilizations swallowed by zeroing-out... if they bore massive unpayable debts in life, and the creditor was an inter-dimensional financial institution... in extremely rare cases, their resentment combines with the zeroing energy to form 'Debt Abominations'."

Inspector 117 pulled up the data:

"These three sub-sectors each owed the 'Void Loan Shark Company' (the former company of the three consultants you just recruited) over a hundred trillion in debt."

"Now, they've come to collect."

Lin Chen looked at the three masses of darkness expanding frantically on the screen and suddenly laughed.

"So, I recruited the creditor company..."

"And now, the creditor company's 'bad debts'..."

"Have turned into monsters to settle the score with me?"

Inspector 117 nodded: "Theoretically, yes. Because they perceive that the ownership of the debt has been transferred to you."

Su Qingyu's face turned pale: "How do we deal with this?"

Lin Chen thought for a moment and pulled up the financial product library.

Entered keywords: "Debt Restructuring", "Resentment Purification", "Abomination Appeasement".

Search result: Zero.

There were no ready-made products.

"Then..." Lin Chen created a new product interface, "I'll make one myself."

New product name: [Debt Abomination Debt-to-Equity Invitation Letter]

[Content: Dear Debt Abomination, given that your debts from your previous life have been inherited by the Epoch Management Group, you are hereby invited to convert your debt into Group equity and become an honorable shareholder. After conversion, you will obtain legal status and the right to participate in Group dividends.]

[Conversion Condition: Cease devouring behavior and undergo formatted rebirth into a 'Compliant Energy Body'.]

[Conversion Reward: Debt clearance + 0.0001% Group equity.]

Lin Chen clicked send.

Three invitation letters turned into three streaks of golden light, shooting toward the three masses of darkness.

The entire room held its breath.

Five seconds later.

The expansion of the three masses of darkness... stopped.

Then, they began to slowly contract and condense, finally turning into three blurry light shadows emerging in the void.

They emitted a resonance mixed with billions of voices:

"Eq... uity..."

"Divi... dends..."

"Agree..."

The agreement was automatically signed.

The three masses of Debt Abominations were converted into new shareholders of The Group—though with only 0.0001% equity, for them, it was a status leap from "illegal debt-collecting ghosts" to "legal investors."

Crisis averted.

Inspector 117's projection turned stiffly toward Lin Chen: "This... works too?"

"The essence of business is solving problems." Lin Chen closed the interface. "And the best way to solve a problem..."

"Is to make the problem itself your client."

He looked at the cosmic clock.

Six hours left until today's trading close.

"Alright, break's over."

"Who's the next target?"

"Let me see... oh, it's the 'Gold-Devouring Beast' shareholder with 0.004% stake."

"I heard gold prices in its 'Golden Kingdom' have been good lately?"

"Then we'll..."

A cold light flashed in Lin Chen's eyes.

"Short gold."