249: Chapter 249 Financial Nuclear Bomb, SWIFT Blockade

Only Chen Muyang's heavy breathing remained in the study.

He pressed both hands against the edge of the red sandalwood desk, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

"Dad, we've been blacklisted from the global financial network. Now all the foreign exchange in the group's accounts has turned into digital trash that can't be transferred," Chen Muyang repeated, his voice tight.

Chen Fan didn't look at the urgent telegram.

His wrist moved steadily as the brush dragged out the final stroke on the rice paper.

He lifted the brush, finishing the movement.

Two powerful characters were left on the paper: 'Break the Deadlock'.

Su Wanqing stood to the right of the desk, holding an ink stick and drawing circles in the inkstone. The ink emitted a unique pine smoke fragrance.

She took a nearby hot towel and handed it to Chen Fan, asking nothing.

Chen Fan took the towel to wipe his hands, then casually tossed it into a brass basin.

"What's the rush?" Chen Fan pulled out a chair and sat down. "The sky isn't falling."

Chen Muyang straightened up, picked up a tablet computer on the desk, and tapped it a few times.

Densely packed red missed calls and alarm messages popped up on the screen.

"In these few minutes, eighty-three overseas branches have sent highest-level emergency telegrams." Chen Muyang pushed the screen in front of Chen Fan. "Customs in Europe have seized our goods, saying they won't be released without settlement vouchers. Accounts for the North America branch have all been frozen; employees can't even be paid their salaries."

Chen Muyang's speech grew faster and faster: "Not only that, those overseas suppliers we have business dealings with are now unilaterally tearing up contracts. Because they know we can't pay. We've been isolated from the world trade system."

This was a strangulation more terrifying than live-fire shooting.

Cutting off the channels of capital circulation was equivalent to directly draining the lifeblood of a commercial empire.

Chen Fan looked at the red lights on the tablet, his expression unchanged.

"Those old guys in the Knights Templar are betting their life savings this time." Chen Fan leaned back in his chair. "Exerting the highest political resources to forcibly modify SWIFT's rules just to kick the Chen family out of the game. They really think they can still control this era."

"Dad, SWIFT is the table they built." Chen Muyang braced his hands on the desk. "We don't even have the qualification to sit at the table now. If we don't compromise, Huihuang Group's overseas assets will completely collapse within three days."

Su Wanqing stopped grinding the ink.

She walked behind Chen Fan, placed her hands on his shoulders, and gave them two gentle squeezes.

Chen Fan patted the back of Su Wanqing's hand.

"It's true the table was built by them." Chen Fan looked up at Chen Muyang. "But they forgot one thing."

Chen Muyang froze.

"If they won't let us use theirs, then we'll use our own." Chen Fan stood up, picked up the rice paper with 'Break the Deadlock' written on it, and casually tossed it into the wastepaper basket.

Chen Muyang didn't understand.

"Our own?" Chen Muyang pressed. "A financial settlement system isn't as simple as making software. That's an underlying protocol that requires national credit endorsement and global bank branch access! Where do we have such a thing?"

Chen Fan walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the dark night.

"Five years ago, did you think that titanium alloy aerospace engine model could be built?" Chen Fan didn't look back.

Chen Muyang fell silent.

He remembered that model from the first-birthday ceremony; he remembered the guided-missile destroyer that had broken through the waves on the high seas two days ago.

"Go call Zhou Ming and Chen Haoyu in." Chen Fan turned around, his tone steady. "Also, connect the encrypted private line video to the Governor of the Central Bank."

Chen Muyang picked up the red secure phone on the desk and pressed the internal communication key.

In less than a minute, Zhou Ming and Chen Haoyu pushed open the door and ran into the study.

"Boss." Chen Haoyu stood still.

Zhou Ming was still holding a heavy black metal briefcase.

The wall on the side of the study slid open, and a massive LCD screen lit up.

The screen was split in half; one half showed the rapidly deteriorating financial data of various overseas branches, and on the other half, a white-haired old man sat at an office desk.

It was the Governor of the Central Bank.

"Mr. Chen, we've seen the movements over in Europe." The old man cut straight to the point. "The higher-ups asked me to ask you, what support do you need?"

"I don't need support. I'm here to fulfill another promise from five years ago." Chen Fan looked at the old man on the screen.

Chen Fan turned his head to look at Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming stepped forward and placed the black metal briefcase on the desk.

He entered three sets of eighteen-digit dynamic passwords and verified his fingerprint and iris.

The case popped open.

There were no paper documents inside, only a palm-sized, entirely black quantum storage device.

"Plug it into the main server," Chen Fan ordered.

Zhou Ming picked up the storage device, walked to the independent server cabinet in the corner of the study, and plugged it into the reserved interface.

The image on the large screen changed immediately.

All the original red alarm data disappeared, replaced by a slowly rotating 3D model of the Earth.

Around the model, countless golden data lines radiated from the Imperial Capital to every corner of the globe, forming an airtight web.

At the very top of the screen, four golden characters appeared: Kunlun CIPS.

Chen Muyang stared at that 3D Earth, even his breathing stopped.

He saw a familiar underlying architecture in this network—it was the heart's blood of Pangu Biology's computing center, along with extremely complex quantum encryption channels.

"What is this?" Chen Muyang asked.

"This is the coffin prepared for those old guys in Europe." Chen Fan watched the pulsing data stream. "An independent transnational settlement network based on quantum encryption and the digital RMB. Starting from three years ago, this system has already been secretly laid out in over a hundred countries worldwide."

Chen Muyang's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Chen Fan ignored his son's shock and looked at the Central Bank Governor on the screen.

"The channel has been opened, and the firewall level is the highest," Chen Fan said.

The old man on the other end of the screen stood up and straightened the collar of his Mao suit.

"Good! At nine o'clock tomorrow morning, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Central Bank will jointly issue an announcement officially confirming the legal settlement status of the Kunlun System." The old man's voice was sonorous. "Since you, Chen Fan, dare to flip their table, the state dares to back you up!"

The video call cut off.

Chen Fan pulled over his chair and sat back down.

He pointed at the Earth model on the screen and spoke to Chen Muyang.

"Go notify all purchasers and partner enterprises worldwide." Chen Fan tapped the edge of the desk. "If they want Huihuang Group's solid-state batteries, if they want gene serums, if they want the highest-end lithography machines, they must use the 'Kunlun' system and settle in RMB."

Chen Muyang's eyes completely lit up.

This was a reverse blockade.

Europe wouldn't let Huihuang Group use US dollars and Euros, so Chen Fan would directly force the whole world to abandon the dollar.

"What if they don't connect?" Chen Haoyu asked from the side.

Chen Fan picked up the tea on the desk and drank it in one gulp.

"Then their countries' heavy industry and medical systems will come to a complete standstill within half a month." Chen Fan set down the teacup and looked at the large screen. "Guess if those politicians held hostage by capital are afraid of dying?"

Chen Muyang turned and walked out of the study; he had to arrange the counterattack battle lines overnight.

Reaching the door, Chen Muyang stopped.

He looked back at Chen Fan.

"Dad," Chen Muyang asked, "what if the people from the Knights Templar hold out tomorrow and refuse to back down, enduring the consequences of the supply cut?"

Chen Fan looked at his son and replied, "Then I will personally see them to their graves. Tomorrow, you just worry about reading the obituaries. Do you dare?"