America: My Time

Chapter 1428 Calm and Speculation

Chapter 1418 Calm and Speculation
Stay calm, that's John's current strategy. Although things are going on in Hong Kong, everything is under control. As long as he doesn't interfere too much, there won't be any major problems. Only by keeping things stable on his side can everything proceed smoothly. Although John also wanted to deliver a fatal blow to Soros and his cronies, he ultimately gave up. His position didn't allow him to do so. If he did, he would be giving the enemy leverage and digging his own grave.

John never underestimated his "opponents," and in such a significant matter, he naturally had to be extremely cautious. Neutrality was the best option, even if it seemed problematic. No one could really say anything about it; as long as he kept them in check, they wouldn't have any excuse to target him. Everyone was part of the American financial group, all in it for profit. Everyone knew exactly how much John had in Hong Kong. Under these circumstances, if John wanted to protect himself, or even take the opportunity to buy at rock-bottom prices, no one could say anything. After all, you couldn't expect John to sacrifice his own interests.

John's calm was his best protection. As long as he didn't deliberately cause trouble, there wouldn't be any problems. After all, he had offered enough benefits to share. With such substantial profits to offer, anyone who dared to cause trouble was simply being unreasonable and determined to fight John to the death. Under these circumstances, no one would make such a foolish decision; anyone who did would face the wrath of the crowd.

Rockefeller's previous probing was the best proof, and the blows suffered by those companies in Hong Kong this time are also the best proof. You have to pay the price for doing wrong things, and no one can escape responsibility for their mistakes.

Although the financial crisis in Hong Kong has fully erupted, and Soros and international speculative capital are launching a full-scale attack, John can remain calm and neutral, but they won't. The presence of traitors in Hong Kong has already thrown the situation into chaos, and they naturally want to seize the opportunity to launch a full-scale attack to gain a greater advantage for themselves. They also want to see if John can remain calm; if he chooses to participate, even if they lose this battle, they will be happy, as it will be the perfect leverage.

John remained calm in the face of everything happening in Hong Kong. No matter how chaotic the situation became, Standard Chartered Bank and Hurricane Investments did not get involved. Hurricane Investments, in particular, almost completely ignored everything in Hong Kong, focusing their energy on Southeast Asia and the handling of the assets in John's hands.

John wanted to restructure his assets, so he naturally had to make many preparations. Although the financial crisis facing Hong Kong had generated considerable profits, John did not intend to involve Hurricane Investment. Instead, he wanted to use Hurricane Investment and other offshore companies to restructure his assets and eliminate all hidden dangers. The current profits were not enough to make John go crazy and put himself in crisis.

John believed that the biggest problem would be the entry of Hurricane Investment, which would bring him endless trouble. No matter which side Hurricane Investment was on, there would be endless hidden dangers. It was precisely because he saw through all this that Hurricane Investment did not take any action. The people Hurricane Investment had in Hong Kong were not there to deal with the financial crisis in Hong Kong, but to deceive the opponent. Those people were just for show. Unfortunately, no one knew this. Many people were still focusing their energy on Hurricane Investment and expecting them to make a move, but they did not know that these people would not make any moves. In fact, to ensure absolute safety, these people did not even have any funds on hand.

Hurricane Investment's publicly disclosed funds are all controlled by Standard Chartered Bank and are therefore restricted. Those in Hong Kong have no right to move the funds. It's not that John is overly cautious; he has no choice but to be. If these guys' betrayal were to bring him endless trouble, that's something John doesn't want to see. Even if he eventually eliminates them, the impact won't be erased, and he might even be seen as trying to silence them. It's precisely because of these concerns that John is so cautious and dares not be careless in the slightest!

The more dangerous and chaotic the situation in Hong Kong becomes, the calmer John remains. He hasn't even made a move, and his investments in China have been temporarily slowed down. He doesn't want to give the enemy a chance to plot against him, because even the slightest mistake at this time could bring him endless trouble.

Given this situation, was John under any pressure? It would be a lie to say he wasn't, but the pressure John was under wasn't as great as people imagined. Many people wanted to take advantage of John, but they needed an opportunity. The calm surrounding Hurricane Investment and Standard Chartered's tight monetary policy left no chance for anyone. Even with the loudest voices from Hong Kong, Standard Chartered remained completely unmoved. Even the biggest storm of bank runs didn't change Standard Chartered's stance.

Those with ulterior motives thought they could leverage the pressure from Hong Kong residents to force Standard Chartered Bank into the game. Unfortunately for them, they were mistaken. No matter how fierce the external storm, Standard Chartered remained unmoved. Even when HSBC and other companies jumped in again, Standard Chartered didn't retaliate, but calmly faced everything. At this point, Standard Chartered wouldn't fight back, wouldn't be led by the nose, and would only act according to its own plan; what others thought or said was irrelevant.

"What is John doing? With such a big commotion in Hong Kong, he hasn't reacted at all. That's a bit abnormal. Could it be that he really wants Standard Chartered Bank to give up the Hong Kong market? And why is Hurricane Investment so calm? Could this be a trap that John deliberately left for us?"

A few days later, Soros and his cronies were starting to get impatient. At first, they were able to hold back and ignore the reactions of Standard Chartered Bank and Hurricane Investments, but as the days went by, the changes in Hong Kong became more and more significant, which they found hard to accept, since the current situation was in their favor!

"The news from over there says that this guy remains perfectly calm and carefree, and even investment from China has slowed down, as if he's waiting for our results!"

"No, that's impossible. John is a madman. He wouldn't do that. He's definitely not waiting for our results. This guy must have a bigger conspiracy. He must be making other plans in the dark. We need to be careful!"

"Soros, are you worried about Hurricane Investment and Standard Chartered's sneak attack? Aren't you overthinking it? No matter how crazy John is, he wouldn't do that unless he wants to be on the opposite side of everyone, which is impossible given the current situation!"

"No, I'm not worried about Hurricane Investment and Standard Chartered's sneak attack. I'm worried that this guy might be using the Asian financial crisis as a cover to make other plans in the dark. Don't you think John's reaction during this Asian financial crisis was a bit too calm? Even if he had planned ahead and made preparations, his reaction during this Asian financial crisis was too abnormal. I think there are many problems behind this!"

Soros instinctively felt that John had a deeper conspiracy behind the Asian financial crisis, but he hadn't seen through it all. The more he thought this, the more uneasy Soros became. "No way, if John had a conspiracy, he would have acted already. Aren't you overthinking it!"

Upon hearing this, Soros shook his head and said, "No, I'm not overthinking it. It's just that we haven't seen through everything yet. This guy isn't a good person, and we all know he's maintaining 'neutrality' and trying to buy at the bottom. But now that the opportunity has presented itself, why isn't he reacting at all?"

"Perhaps he believes that the market hasn't hit rock bottom yet, and there's still room for things to go down!"

"Heh, do you believe it? Has John ever done anything like this? Although he has tried to buy at the bottom before, he always got in early. This time he didn't get in. Maybe we've been led by the nose by this guy from the very beginning and he's already outmaneuvered us."

As soon as Soros finished speaking, everyone's expression changed drastically. They all realized something: "Soros, you don't mean that John doesn't intend to buy up Hong Kong at all this time, that his target isn't Hong Kong, which is why Standard Chartered Bank and Hurricane Investment are so calm, and that this guy has another goal?"

"It's possible that Standard Chartered Bank is too calm. Such calmness is abnormal unless Standard Chartered Bank's funds have already been transferred and other arrangements have been made. The same goes for Hurricane Investment. Their apparent calm is just to distract us and make us feel that they are waiting for the last opportunity to buy up Hong Kong at rock-bottom prices."

“Soros, what you said is actually quite possible. If all of this is indeed John’s conspiracy, then we have been deceived by him from the very beginning, which means that this guy has never focused his efforts on Hong Kong. But where did all his funds go?”

"The transfer of funds may not have happened. Those repeated changes have depleted Standard Chartered Bank's funds. Standard Chartered Bank does not have sufficient funds now, and even the funds on Hurricane Investment's books are fake. They are just bait to lure us in. If that's the case, don't you think everything makes sense?"

As soon as Soros finished speaking, everyone gasped. Someone shook their head and said, "No, that's impossible. We all know Standard Chartered's cash flow. After all, we all estimated that long ago!"

“Nothing is impossible. Our estimates may be correct, but we have forgotten one major problem: Standard Chartered Bank controls precious metals trading. Perhaps those funds have already been converted into gold!”

"That's even more impossible. If there were large-scale gold transactions, we couldn't possibly have gone unnoticed."

At this moment, Soros snorted and said, "You think it's impossible because you've forgotten an important issue. John not only has Standard Chartered Bank and Hurricane Investment, but he also controls Quantum Mining, one of the world's largest mining companies. Do you think Quantum Mining's gold reserves can be traded?"

"Hiss!" Everyone gasped, stunned. Yes, they had all forgotten a crucial factor: Quantum Mining. With Quantum Mining's massive gold reserves, if they had indeed made a deal with Standard Chartered Bank, or even Hurricane Investment, everything would make sense!
"Short gold! This guy is shorting gold!" someone couldn't help but shout out at this moment!

“Yes, I suspect this guy is shorting gold because he has enough gold reserves to complete the transaction at any time!” Soros said, expressing his suspicion. However, this is just speculation, and it is hard to say whether this is the case. After all, there is no evidence. From the beginning, everyone has been focused on John’s many actions.

"Damn it, that must be it. No wonder Hurricane Investments and Standard Chartered Bank haven't made a move. Their plan isn't Hong Kong at all, it's gold. If all of this is true, this guy would have already made his move before last year. Standard Chartered Bank doesn't have as much capital as we thought, and neither does Hurricane Investments!"

"Foolish HSBC! If those bastards had held out a little longer, things might not be like this now. We would have known about John's madman's plan sooner. They were too weak!" At this moment, someone couldn't help but blame HSBC, believing that HSBC hadn't been ruthless enough to fight Standard Chartered to the death, otherwise they would have discovered everything much sooner!
"Hehe, whatever you say now is right. How did you discover it before? If everything is really as we guessed, Standard Chartered Bank and Hurricane Investment have been secretly laying the groundwork since before last year. Now they have completed everything. They don't have much money on hand, but they are not unprepared!"

"It's too late to say anything now. If all of this is true, it means we've all been fooled, and those guys in Hong Kong have been fooled too. However, proving all this isn't too difficult. If we can investigate John's previous acquisitions and investments in detail, perhaps we'll find the answer!" At this moment, someone said this, and his words silenced the oil capital guys present. They were all thinking about whether this was really the case. If so, why hadn't they noticed anything before? What had made them overlook all of this?
(End of this chapter)