Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

The office door was closed, shutting out the occasional slogans and machine noises coming from the courtyard outside.

Only one table lamp was lit.

Under the dim, yellowish light, fine dust particles floated in the air, creating a somewhat oppressive stillness.

Lin Qinghan stood in front of her desk, her brain, usually used for calculating ballistic trajectories and never making a mistake, was now working frantically. She held the thin list of supplies in her hand, her fingertips turning slightly white from the excessive pressure.

Shen Jinghong's hand, which was about to reach for the water glass, froze in mid-air.

He looked at Lin Qinghan.

This woman is too smart.

She was so clever that sometimes he felt like a clown trying to hide something in front of her, not fully dressed.

"Qinghan, what...what are you doing?"

Shen Jinghong chuckled dryly, trying to break the suffocating silence, "It's late at night, and instead of focusing on data, we're settling accounts? These are official accounts, they can withstand scrutiny."

"Yeah?"

Lin Qinghan did not laugh.

Her eyes, hidden behind her glasses, were as clear as a pool of cold water, staring intently at Shen Jinghong, as if trying to see through his skin and uncover the secret hidden deep within his soul.

"Shen Jinghong, we're scientists."

She laid the list flat on the table, picked up a red and blue pencil, and heavily crossed over the alarming lines of data.

The pen tip scratched against the paper, making a "scratching" sound that sounded particularly jarring in the quiet night.

"Science emphasizes logic, causality, and the conservation of matter."

Lin Qinghan's voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable firmness:

"Fifty thousand tons."

She stretched out five slender fingers and waved them in front of him.

"A full 50,000 tons of supplies. There was gold that weighed a deadly weight, machine tools weighing hundreds of tons, and mountains of steel rails."

Do you know what 50,000 tons means?

She took a step closer, and the cool fragrance of jasmine, mixed with the smell of ink, rushed into Shen Jinghong's nostrils.

"This would require at least a thousand train cars, or two hundred heavy transport planes, or even five 10,000-ton ships to move it!"

"But I've already checked."

Lin Qinghan pulled out a form from another stack of documents; it contained Shenzhou Bureau's recent transportation records.

Blank.

"There were no convoys, no special trains, and not even any customs entry records. These things seemed to have grown out of the ground or fallen from the sky, appearing out of thin air in the warehouse in the western suburbs."

Shen Jinghong opened her mouth, about to speak.

"Don't mention any 'space folding technology' to me."

Lin Qinghan didn't give him a chance to speak, interrupting him directly with a rare hint of annoyance in her tone:

"I studied mathematics, and I also understand physics. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted wormholes, but that's an extreme physical phenomenon that can only occur at the edge of a black hole!"

"You're telling me that you, a recent PhD graduate, carrying a beat-up suitcase, can actually carry a black hole with you?"

Do you take me for a three-year-old, or do you think you're some kind of god?

This series of questions was like cannonballs, hitting Shen Jinghong's defenses precisely.

Shen Jinghong fell silent.

Looking at the woman in front of him, whose chest was rising and falling slightly with excitement, he felt no panic at being exposed; instead, a warm feeling welled up inside him that he couldn't quite explain.

She investigated these things not to find fault with him.

If it were for investigation purposes, she would have submitted the report to Marshal Nie or the security department long ago.

She was worried.

"Besides the quantity, there's also the source of these things."

Seeing that he didn't speak, Lin Qinghan softened her tone slightly, but her eyes remained sharp.

She pointed to a line of small print on the list:

**[Special Rhenium-Nickel Based High-Temperature Alloys]**

"This material is a top-secret formula that Pratt & Whitney just developed in their lab; they haven't even fully rolled it out on their production lines yet."

"You might have money to buy gold or machine tools. But these are strategic, core secrets; can money really buy them?"

"Even if you're the world's richest person, even if you empty the Federal Reserve's coffers, the Americans will never sell you this technology that's still in its infancy!"

Lin Qinghan took a deep breath, seemingly using all her strength, before finally asking the question that had been weighing on her heart for so long:

"Shen Jinghong, who exactly are you?"

"Just how much...secret money is hidden in your so-called 'space'?"

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Only the wall clock continued its tireless "tap, tap" sound.

Shen Jinghong looked at her.

Looking into her sharp eyes, one could not hide the deep worry hidden within them.

She was afraid.

She wasn't afraid he was a spy, nor was she afraid he would harm the country.

She was afraid that the inexplicable "supernatural" power within him would bring him unpredictable dangers.

Every husband is not guilty, and he is guilty of his crime.

In this world that champions materialism, possessing such an illogical "golden touch" is itself a huge risk.

Once exposed, what awaits him may not be flowers and applause, but dissected research, or endless imprisonment.

She was using this almost interrogative method to remind him and protect him.

"call……"

Shen Jinghong let out a long sigh.

He never expected that his seemingly flawless "system" cheat would be so full of loopholes in front of this highly intelligent woman.

Also.

To a true genius, anything that defies logic is glaringly obvious.

"Sparse and cold".

Shen Jinghong finally moved.

He walked around the desk and slowly approached Lin Qinghan.

The distance between the two was less than half a meter.

He could clearly see her trembling eyelashes and her lips slightly pursed due to nervousness.

"You don't actually care where these supplies come from, do you?"

Shen Jinghong's voice was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing the gentleness of the night.

Lin Qinghan's body trembled slightly.

She stubbornly raised her head, trying to maintain that cold, questioning look, but her eyes involuntarily reddened.

"I care."

She bit her lip, her voice becoming even more choked up:

"I care if you might suddenly disappear because of these things."

"Since you can conjure them out of thin air, won't you one day disappear just like these things?"

"Like your so-called 'spatial folding,' folding into a dimension I can never find?"

These words were like a thorn, piercing deep into Shen Jinghong's heart.

So that was what she was really worried about.

Unknown forces often come with unknown costs.

She was afraid he would pay the price.

"fool."

Shen Jinghong's heart melted instantly.

He reached out, and this time, it wasn't a teasing touch, but a real, firm grasp on Lin Qinghan's icy hands.

The warmth of his palm traveled through her fingertips, trying to dispel the chill in her heart.

"I will not disappear."

Shen Jinghong looked into her eyes, his gaze more serious than ever before:

"I am right here, with flesh and blood, a living, breathing human being."

"As for these things..."

He gave a bitter laugh, his eyes becoming somewhat profound, as if recalling a past event that never existed.

Some lies are meant to cover up a more shocking truth.

The system's affairs are too bizarre to be true; if I were to tell you, I'd probably be considered crazy.

But he could no longer fool a physics genius with such a lame excuse as "spatial folding".

Since science can't explain it, let's use a more "romantic" and even more unfalsifiable logic.

"Sparse and cold".

Shen Jinghong gently stroked the back of her hand, feeling the pulse of her heartbeat.

"You're right, there are some things that current science simply can't explain."

"I can't give you a formula that conforms to Newton's laws or relativity."

He paused, took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind.

"but."

"I can give you an explanation."

"An explanation that... belongs only to the two of us."

Lin Qinghan looked up at him, her eyes blurry with tears.

"What explanation?"

Shen Jinghong pulled her to the window.

Outside the window, there is a vast and boundless starry sky, and the dazzling Milky Way.

Do you believe... that time and space can be traversed?

He pointed to the starry sky, his voice becoming ethereal and mysterious:

"If I said that I wasn't performing magic, and that I wasn't a god."

"I'm just a lucky guy who got lost in the river of time and stumbled upon a key."

"This key can open a door to the future."

Lin Qinghan's eyes widened suddenly.

future?

This is even more absurd than spatial folding!

But for some reason, looking into Shen Jinghong's eyes, which seemed to hold a thousand stars, a crack appeared in the seemingly indestructible fortress of materialism in her heart.

"future?"

She murmured to herself, her voice so soft it was as if she were talking in her sleep.

"Yes, the future."

Shen Jinghong turned around, leaning against the windowsill, backlit, her face displaying a complex expression that blended vicissitudes and hope:

"A strong, prosperous future where no one will dare to bully us again."

"Those things weren't conjured by me."

"That's something I borrowed from that future..."

"So that we, in this day and age, will no longer bleed so much and suffer so much."

He looked at Lin Qinghan, a gentle smile curving his lips, and asked softly:

Do you believe this explanation?