284: Chapter 284 The King Returns

Imperial Capital.

The Huihuang Group private jet landed on the private tarmac. The landing gear tires screeched against the runway, kicking up white smoke.

The cabin door opened.

Chen Fan took Su Wanqing by the hand and walked down the gangway.

Ten black bulletproof SUVs were lined up neatly. The car doors opened simultaneously.

Chen Fan sat in the back seat of the lead car. The motorcade drove out of the airport and headed straight for the Huihuang Building.

The air pressure inside the car was extremely low.

Chen Haoyu sat in the passenger seat, holding a military tablet with both hands. The screen was filled with shocking downward-trending data.

"The peripheral markets are all in a wait-and-see mode," Chen Haoyu said, swiping his finger across the tags, his speech rapid. "The three major trading centers in North America, Europe, and Tokyo have stopped following up. The suspension of Starry Heavy Industry has triggered a chain reaction. Consortia across all continents are waiting for us to reveal our trump card."

Chen Fan leaned back against the leather seat, saying nothing.

Outside the car window, the neon lights of the Imperial Capital receded rapidly.

Huihuang Building, top-floor trading hall.

Three hundred senior traders sat at their workstations. The red lights of the trading suspension flashed on their screens.

No one spoke. There was only the occasional sound of water cups clinking.

Oppressive.

Since the founding of the Earth Federation, the Huihuang Group had never been forced to suspend trading on the main financial battlefield.

"Beep."

The double glass doors of the hall slid open to both sides.

Chen Muyang looked up.

Chen Fan strode into the hall. He was not wearing a high-end tailored suit, but rather a heavily worn yellow food delivery vest. The zipper was open, revealing the gray sweater underneath.

That was his work uniform from thirty years ago when he delivered food.

Chen Muyang was stunned.

Several veteran traders in the hall who had helped Chen Fan build his empire stood up from their chairs the moment they saw the yellow vest.

This garment had once been the battle flag that swept through Wall Street.

As long as it appeared, it meant Chen Fan was going to take the helm himself, fighting to the bitter end.

Three hundred traders stood up in unison. The legs of their chairs scraped against the floor, making a harsh sound.

All conversation ceased.

Chen Fan walked to the master control console. He did not look at the trading board showing the suspension.

"Report the progress," Chen Fan said.

Chen Muyang stepped forward, his eyes bloodshot.

"Lu Feng's funds are utilizing the gap from the trading suspension to release a large number of short options on the dark web," Chen Muyang said, pulling up the backend data. "The leverage he's offering is extremely high. He's attempting to create panic over liquidity depletion and force us into a corner."

Chen Muyang tapped open the breached defense model on the master control console screen.

"His capital matrix is extremely precise," Chen Muyang said, pointing to the data comparison on the timeline. "This isn't a matter of calculation speed. He can obtain our instructions in advance. The time difference is negative. Before the Pangu Computing Power even executes a buy order, his sell order is already hanging there waiting for us. No matter how large a conventional capital pool is, it will be drained dry by him."

Chen Fan's gaze swept across those data nodes.

It was identical to the methods he had used back in the day to short opponents using system information gaps.

The opponent had seen the script.

"Clear the room," Chen Fan commanded.

The three hundred traders exited the hall in an orderly fashion.

Three minutes later, only Chen Fan, Chen Muyang, Chen Haoyu, and ten core architects remained in the empty hall.

A top-secret meeting was held on the spot.

Chen Fan placed his hands on the console.

"Do not add any more capital to protect the market," Chen Fan issued his first instruction. "Lift the trading suspension. Post an intent order to sell the mining rights for the three major interstellar mining areas."

The ten core architects froze in place.

They exchanged glances.

A gray-haired chief architect stepped forward.

"Chairman," the chief architect said, his voice dry. "The three major interstellar mining areas are the foundation of our shipbuilding plan. Selling off core assets during a trading suspension is equivalent to announcing to the world that the Huihuang Group's capital chain has broken. This will trigger a real credit avalanche, and the foundations of the Earth Federation will be shaken."

Chen Muyang also looked at Chen Fan, saying nothing.

Chen Fan turned around and looked at everyone directly.

"The opponent can see through the Pangu Computing Power," Chen Fan said, exposing Lu Feng's trump card. "He possesses cross-dimensional predictive tools. As long as data runs on the network lines, he can intercept it in advance. Competing with him on capital or computing power is a dead end."

Everyone held their breath.

"Therefore, we will not fight him online," Chen Fan said, looking at Chen Haoyu. "Arrange for the Northwest base to physically cut all fiber optic connections between the underground computing center and the global internet. Switch completely to a local area network that is purely physically isolated."

Chen Haoyu's hand, which had been recording the instructions, stopped.

Physical network disconnection. This was the most primitive method.

Chen Fan tapped the interstellar mining area data on the screen.

"The online sell-off is a facade, a lure to feed him," Chen Fan said, laying out the 'reverse trap' plan. "Use the fake intent orders to gorge Lu Feng's short positions. The future he predicts is merely the data we let him see through the internet. In secret, we will use the physically disconnected computing center to perform the underlying code settlement for the physical assets."

Chen Fan spoke with a steady rhythm, every word cutting to the quick.

"As long as he swallows the massive amount of short options, once the settlement day arrives, all offline entities will be locked within our local area network, making it impossible to complete the transfer online. The options in his hands will become a pile of uncashable dead accounts."

The chief architect's jaw dropped.

This move was too ruthless.

Giving up high-tech algorithmic gaming to simply flip the table and pull the network cable. You can predict network data in a high dimension, so I will weld the entities into the three-dimensional physical world.

Using the most primitive physical isolation to perform a dimensional reduction strike against high-dimensional cheating.

"Understood," Chen Muyang was the first to react, his eyes shining. "This is an overt plot. He relies too much on his predictive tools; seeing us selling, he will inevitably go all out to gobble it up."

The top-secret meeting finalized all execution details.

Chen Fan took off the yellow vest and draped it over the back of the chair at the master control console.

"Go do it," Chen Fan said, looking at Chen Haoyu. "Through those secret capital brokers overseas, deliver the news of our mining area sell-off precisely to Lu Feng's capital agents. It must be done without leaving a trace."

Chen Haoyu accepted the order and left.

Chen Muyang led the architect team to begin writing the underlying code for the offline settlement.

Two hours later.

The news of the sell-off spread throughout the secret capital circles.

Undercurrents surged globally. Countless bloodthirsty capitals moved at the news, yet dared not easily enter the fray.

Huihuang Building, top floor.

Chen Fan pulled over a chair and sat in front of the master control console.

On the big screen, data on capital flows transmitted back from the dark web flickered.

The green intent orders had just been posted.

There was a pause of less than ten seconds.

A massive flow of capital, like sharks smelling blood, lunged at it.

Lu Feng's capital matrix began to frantically devour the fake intent orders.

The numbers jumped rapidly in units of tens of billions.

The short positions were maxed out.

Chen Fan stared at the constantly inflating trading volume on the screen.

The first step of luring the enemy into the trap was complete.

The harder the opponent ate, the more miserably they would die on settlement day.

"Keep feeding him," Chen Fan said, looking at Chen Muyang. "Whatever he wants, give it to him."

Chen Muyang tapped the keyboard, and new fake orders were continuously fed into the market.

Outside the hall, the night was very deep.

There were seventy-two hours left until the settlement day.

Chen Fan wanted to see what Lu Feng, who possessed high-dimensional tools, would use to fill this massive hole the moment the network cable was pulled.

Just as Lu Feng's capital was frantically devouring the short positions, the secure phone Chen Fan had placed on the table began to vibrate.

The screen displayed a top-secret garbled code from the underground computing center at the Northwest base.

Only if there was an anomaly with the physical network disconnection would a warning of this level be triggered.

Chen Fan picked up the phone.

From the receiver came a rhythmic electronic noise. It was not human language, but rather more like some kind of high-frequency data pulse acting directly on the eardrum.

Someone, or rather some kind of entity, was forcibly breaking through the physically isolated local area network.

Chen Fan gripped the phone and looked at the screen.

This war had just begun to bare its true fangs.