Novellv Chapter 408 The Financial Tsunami (Part 1)
Chapter 408 The Financial Tsunami (Part 1)
Chapter 408 The Financial Tsunami (Part 1)
Compared to guarding against an unknown army of superhumans, Russia's aircraft carriers deployed in the Bering Strait are more about guarding against the United States.
Upon receiving news that its massive fleet of three aircraft carriers—the USS Washington, USS Ford, and USS Truman—was paralyzed and inoperable, the USS Kuznetsov, located 800 kilometers away, turned around without hesitation and fled at full speed, fearing that it might also lose its last aircraft carrier.
Soon, news that the three core aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet had been paralyzed and rendered combat ineffective swept the globe like a shockwave.
At the same time, there is also high-definition footage of North America launching a nuclear strike on Kassel College, but all missiles were intercepted and rendered ineffective.
Leaving aside the global uproar and shock, Su Enxi's focus wasn't on that; her attention was entirely on the large screen in front of her:
Countless crimson and pale green numbers were jumping wildly as her Word of Power, Heavenly Evolution, was at full power, deducing and calculating the flow of these wealth figures representing vast amounts of real money.
With her were Eva and ten soldiers from the "Sky Evolution Company" who had been transferred by Pasi. The efficiency of using "Sky Evolution" together was like that of more than twenty supercomputers connected in parallel!
The stock market, while a barometer of global affairs, can also be a weather forecast that can be distorted and manipulated.
Take the US president, for example. He can arbitrarily throw out absurd policies or statements, manipulating stock prices at will, either pushing them to the sky or plunging them into the abyss. Then, his own party group can orchestrate the harvest, making a fortune while suppressing opposing parties.
Anyone who possesses the authority or power to influence the world.
The Legion of Revelation currently possesses the latter.
"Clear out all positions! Take advantage of this moment and immediately sell all the stocks of those military industry companies that we previously bought at the best possible price!"
"Use the 10,000 offshore accounts we prepared in advance to break up the large orders and dump them in smaller batches. We absolutely cannot let the market detect this in advance and cause the stock price to collapse first!"
"Fifty percent of the profits will be converted into cash and transferred into the legion's fund account—the remaining profits will be used to short-sell industrial sector ETFs! At the same time, put options will be purchased, with leverage increased to the maximum allowed!"
"Let's try to completely wipe these arms dealers out of business within a day, turning their stocks into worthless paper!"
Su Enxi spoke at an astonishing speed, almost unleashing these instructions in one breath like a torrential downpour. Then, her tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and she leaned back in her chair, panting heavily, reverting to her usual languid demeanor. With a wave of her hand:
"Long legs! Bring me some potato chips and iced cola! Right now! Immediately!"
Mai Shude brought out a large bag of potato chips and a large tub of ice-cold cola, clearly annoyed. She had already anticipated that the potato chips had dragged her in just to do this.
"Ah—that feels good! *burp*"
Su Enxi let out a satisfied sigh, followed by a loud carbonated burp. Her hand impatiently tore open the packaging, grabbed a handful of chips, and stuffed them into her mouth, her voice muffled as she spoke:
"Lord Percy, to be honest, your actions are a bit frightening. I have a feeling that energy stocks will be shaken to the point of collapse."
“We only deployed five Hunter gunships and two ‘Storm’ unmanned aircraft carriers, and less than a company of soldiers,” a hint of helplessness flashed across Percy’s face. “There are still more than 2,900 soldiers waiting in Miracle City.”
The holographic map view switches to the North Pacific.
In the scene, three aircraft carriers are billowing thick smoke, and the menacing Hunter gunships are parked on the flight deck like metal behemoths. Armored giant warriors are directing the surrendered soldiers to fight the fire and search for the wounded.
"With strong electronic jamming and precise paralysis of drones, we have kept casualties to a minimum; considering that there may be qualified recruits, we have also ordered a rescue operation for those pilots."
"Otherwise... their fleet would have ceased to exist long ago."
The map then shifts to the Middle East, where the crimson region resembles a bleeding wound, with the label "Crepuscular Creed" hanging coldly above it.
Compared to the "Holy Palace Medical Society," the "Twilight Dogma," which occupied this religious powder keg, seemed to have gone mad, tearing off all pretense and directly igniting the powder keg of deep-seated grievances between the regions, resulting in deadly attacks, artillery fire, and even indiscriminate attacks.
The Legion's iron fist was unleashed; two Hunter gunships, a Storm unmanned carrier, and a strike squadron of thirty Astartes warriors were enough to crush the war that had broken out there.
However, for the Twilight Doctrine, which the Legion has condemned as "heretics," there is probably no concept of casualty control.
"I will have the gunboats of the second squadron fly in the airspace of key oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for a while longer, while we release a lot of news through the media channels we can control, such as 'the legion is preparing to take over the oil fields by force'."
Percy tapped the holographic map with his fingertip and turned to look at Su Enxi. "That way you won't have to worry about energy stocks plummeting."
"Great idea!" Su Enxi's eyes lit up. "If you have an online army, that makes things even easier. Just spread panic, like 'modern weapons are completely obsolete' or 'trillion-dollar defense orders have been canceled.' Once those arms dealers' stock prices plummet, it'll be hard for them not to crash!"
……
Just as Su Enxi predicted, after the world witnessed the military might displayed by the legion, the US military industry sector immediately seemed to have lost its backbone, and experienced a catastrophic flash crash during the trading session!
Next to the stock code symbolizing the military giant, the price curve is no longer fluctuating up and down, but plummeting vertically like a guillotine!
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics... the icons of these arms giants seemed to be swept away by a crimson tide, and the piercing alarm bells rang out less than ten minutes after the news broke.
US stocks triggered their first circuit breaker! Panic spread like a virus to every trading platform around the world.
In less than six hours, trillions of dollars in market value—equivalent to several years' GDP of some middle-income countries—evaporated. The numbers flashing on the screen no longer represented wealth, but rather a widening debt wound.
The worst hit were those who had been aggressively buying in the early stages, especially those vultures who deliberately spread the "legion threat theory" to drive up stock prices.
Margin call notices flooded their risk control screens one after another. One after another, top hedge funds and family offices were forcibly liquidated by the system amidst violent price fluctuations, their accounts were wiped out, and they lost everything.
Now, forget about their invisible hand that can manipulate the market; even their very foundation is being destroyed by others, using the very financial sword they are most proud of.
"Alas! I'm rich! Money's in my pocket!"
Su Enxi raised her arms in cheers; the feeling of plundering money from capital was exhilarating!
She never dreamed that she would be able to personally direct those arrogant giants who were at the top of the financial food chain to be dragged down from their thrones one by one and devoured.
The balances of the five fund accounts under the Legion's name began to skyrocket several hours ago. Su Enxi was too lazy to count the number of zeros. With just a simple mental calculation, the cash portion of this deal with the Sword of Revelation Legion alone was at least 60 billion US dollars!
The legion's account profits will continue to surge in the coming days due to the still expanding short positions and put options!
However, the legion commander probably won't be interested in the financial figures—he'll have to convert the profits into the more tangible benefits he prefers:
For example, with the hundreds of billions or trillions earned, how many of those Hunter gunships could be built?
"Phase one, done! Let's open a few bottles of champagne to celebrate!"
Su Enxi snapped her fingers crisply, her eyes sparkling with victory. "By the way, contact Brother Li Jianxing and remind his oil and petrochemical departments to get on board and share the spoils? Tomorrow..."
She glanced at the still bright green numbers in the energy sector on the screen, and at the soaring gold price curve, and a charming smile curved her lips.
"The big one is coming soon!"
"I don't know."
A cool voice came from behind. Mai Shude leaned against the control panel with her arms crossed, her perfect figure on full display.
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as her gaze swept over the wildly fluctuating numbers and lines, as if she were looking at a jumble of meaningless gibberish.
"Since the legion has the power to crush the world, why not just push over there and wipe them out? Why play this... degrading numbers game here?"
"So, you're the one with the long legs~" Su Enxi turned around, proudly puffing out her chest, "Big boobs, no brains!"
"You're good at flirting with men, but you're far from understanding the Legion Commander's plans!"
A black line instantly crept up Mai Shude's snow-white forehead.
"Use your brain, what use would a long-legged legion commander have for a North America turned to scorched earth? To play Fallout 3? Wouldn't it be better to grow wheat on such a large plain of fertile land?"
"Besides, who can't conquer by force? I could lead such a legion myself!"
Su Enxi shook her head dramatically, with bits of potato chips falling from her collar. "So this shows the wisdom of the Legion Commander."
"First, we use force to break their legs and their will to resist, and then we use their most beloved and vital financial system to drain their blood, making them willingly and even eagerly submit to the legion. That is true conquest!"
Seeing Su Enxi's infatuated expression, Jiu De Mai coldly retorted:
"Then you can still go and chat with his mother now, otherwise you won't be able to compete with that White King with your looks."
"To hell with your long legs! I call this worship of the leader!"
……
Deep underground in the nuclear defense facility, the North American decision-making body was in complete chaos, with hurried footsteps and out-of-control arguments colliding and echoing between the cold steel walls.
Treasury Secretary Paulson was slumped on the sofa, his expensive suit soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his back.
His face was ashen, and his assistant kept handing him towels and ice water, but it couldn't wipe away the cold sweat that kept seeping from his forehead.
The shocking red color of the entire page of the military industry sector had not yet stopped, but his gaze was focused on the energy sector next to it, which seemed to represent prosperity and a lush green landscape.
This is not a sign of life, but rather bait laced with deadly poison.
Without a doubt, besides their overwhelming military might, that legion also excelled at another kind of force; that powerful financial manipulator wielded an unseen dagger, stabbing it viciously into their proud financial empire.
As news reports kept popping up on his phone screen, such as "Destruction Legion attacks the Middle East" and "Destruction aircraft spotted in Saudi airspace," Paulson closed his eyes. He could already imagine how devastating the near-freefall of the energy sector would be when the second blow came.
He glanced up at the oval conference table not far away, where the president and members of Congress were still arguing heatedly, still believing that the military-industrial complex was merely a side effect of the "Destruction Legion" demonstrating its power.
Should we remind them in time?
Looking at the tall defense minister who was still telling the president and members of Congress that "the advantage is in our hands" and "the counterattack is coming," and looking at the president's forced "composure," a sense of despair welled up in my heart.
The giant ship had already struck an iceberg, yet the captain and helmsman were still arguing about the course.
The Treasury Secretary took a deep breath, lowered his head, and swiped rapidly across his encrypted phone, beginning to transmit messages to the Federal Reserve and the core families of the powerful clans behind him.
Rescuing the market? Or protecting the market for the country?
Ah, sorry, all Paulson can do now is preserve his own interests.
Time passed in a paradoxical interplay of deathly silence and clamor. Hours later, the finance minister heard a near-piercing scream.
"Your Excellency President! Look!!"
The screaming assistant, pale as a ghost, disregarded the lack of permission and forcibly switched the main screen display with trembling fingers.
For some reason, Paulson suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
His nerves, which had been stretched to their limit, suddenly relaxed, and he even felt a strange sense of relief.
Is the second knife finally coming?
What methods will the mastermind behind that legion use? What kind of attack will they launch?
On the big screen, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in that ancient, vast, and troublesome country, a spokesperson announced to the world at a press conference:
They have mastered controlled nuclear fusion technology.