Hong Kong films: From street thugs to Hong Kong financial tycoons

"Hiss—Holy crap, this fake liquor is definitely mixed with pesticide!"

Lin Yao suddenly sprang up from the tattered straw mat, clutching his head in his hands, feeling as if a dozen purebred huskies were tearing his house apart inside his brain.

The pungent smell of mold mixed with the odor of cheap tobacco assaulted his senses. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes, and his vision gradually focused.

The walls were mottled and yellowed, the ceiling fan was whirring and peeling paint, and a slightly faded poster of Vivian Chow was pasted on the wall. Next to it hung an old calendar that was torn in half, with a line of large characters printed on it: September 14, 1987!

"What's going on? Is this a murder mystery game, or a prank on the headquarters?"

Lin Yao looked around in bewilderment.

Just then, a massive and chaotic flood of memories violently shoved into his mind like a mudslide.

A few minutes later, Lin Yaosheng leaned against the moldy wall, utterly dejected, and finally accepted reality.

He time-traveled to Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong in 1987, becoming a nineteen-year-old street thug with the same name.

What kind of utterly wasteful person was the original owner? He was proficient in everything from eating and drinking to gambling and whoring, and he never did a proper job.

But he happens to have a good older sister, the future Hung Hing Thirteen Sister, now Portland Street delinquent, Cui Xiaoxiao.

While the older sister was outside risking her life to collect protection money with a watermelon knife, the original owner of this body was recklessly courting death in the background.

Sure enough, last night this loser got ripped off at an underground casino, losing everything and owing his sister's nemesis, Tung Sing Sha Meng, a whopping HK$200,000 in high-interest loans.

Tung Sing and Hung Hing have always been mortal enemies, and that mad dog Sha Meng is notoriously ruthless. Two hundred thousand!

In an era when a bowl of wonton noodles costs only a few dollars, this amount of money would be enough to chop up the original owner and throw him into Victoria Harbour to bait the fish.

"Bang!"

The already rickety wooden door was kicked open with a sudden, powerful kick.

A young woman wearing a shampooed white denim jacket, with short hair and fresh bruises on the corner of her mouth rushed in. Her eyes were tired, but her gaze towards Lin Yao revealed anger and despair at his disappointment.

It was none other than Thirteen Sister before she rose to prominence!

"Lin Yao, you damn bastard, you might as well just die at the gambling table!"

Thirteen Sister's eyes were red and swollen. She gritted her teeth and slammed a square wrapped tightly in old newspapers onto the broken table in front of Lin Yao.

"The newspaper contained ten thousand dollars, which was the last bit of money I had scraped together to survive by smiling and begging from neighbors and gang members."

Thirteen Sister took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly: "That bastard Sha Meng said that if he doesn't see the money tonight, he'll take your hands and feet."

"I'm going to Tung Sing's place tonight to hold a reconciliation banquet. At worst, I'll kowtow and admit my mistake. I don't want these hands anymore. You take this ten thousand dollars and get back to your hometown right now, and never set foot in Kowloon again!"

Looking at his older sister, who was prepared to kneel before her mortal enemy and even risk having her hands crippled to protect her rascal brother, Lin Yao felt a sudden pang of pain in his heart. This woman was truly risking her life to spoil her brother.

Just as Lin Yao was preparing to shed two tears and say something touching, a clear mechanical voice suddenly rang in his mind.

[Ding! Host is facing a serious financial crisis. The Godly Wealth Forecast Panel has been successfully bound!]

[Current Level: Lv1 (Can predict all financial and wealth trends for the next seven days)]

[High-value intelligence update today: In the Hong Kong stock market, Wharf Holdings (00004.HK) is expected to surge at 10:00 AM today due to a secret agreement reached with a British consortium for a record-breaking acquisition. The single-day increase is projected to soar by 35%, and if combined with 10x leveraged options, the return could reach an astonishing 350%!]

Lin Yao's eyes widened instantly, like two large incandescent light bulbs, with golden "$" symbols seemingly flashing in his pupils.

Holy crap, System Master, you can predict the future?

Ten times leverage, a 350% return? Why even bother going to the countryside!

Lin Yao grabbed the newspaper containing ten thousand yuan from the table and hugged it tightly to his chest. His movements were fluid and fast, so fast that they even left afterimages.

Thirteen Sister watched her brother's practiced money-making antics, a self-deprecating sadness flashing in her eyes: "Take the money and get out of here..."

"No, sis!"

Lin Yao grabbed Thirteen Sister's rough hand, his face full of sincerity, "What I meant was, this little bit of money isn't enough for me to make up for my losses. Why don't you borrow some more and scrape together 20,000 for me?"

Thirteenth Sister: "???"

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

"Damn it!!!"

After a two-second pause, Thirteen Sister was so angry that her blood pressure spiked and she completely lost her temper. She grabbed the clothesline pole by the door and swung it at the person in question.

"I'm about to be hacked to death, and you're using my life-saving money to try and win back what you owe me? I'll beat you to death today, you bastard, as a way of cleaning house!"

"Ouch, sis, that hurts! A gentleman uses words, not fists!"

As Lin Yao scurried away, clutching the newspaper in his arms, he cried out, "Trust me, lend it to me for five days. After five days, I'll return you a huge villa on Victoria Peak, and I'll have all those bastards from Tung Sing as your lackeys to light your cigarettes!"

After saying that, Lin Yao, relying on the original owner's youth and speed, darted out of the dilapidated rented house like a wild husky that had broken free of its reins, and disappeared into the intricate alleys of the walled city.

"Lin Yao, give me back my money! It's my life-saving money!"

From inside the dilapidated house came Thirteen Sister's desperate and shrill roar.

9:30 a.m., Central, Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This is the heart of Asia's wealth, where the air is thick with the aroma of fine cigars, freshly brewed coffee, and pure money.

British executives in suits and wealthy Chinese businessmen mingled among them, loudly calling their mobile phones and deciding the flow of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in seconds.

"Make way, make way, please, boss! It's not like you'll have to pay if someone steps on your foot!"

A very discordant sound broke the silence of the so-called upper flu season.

Lin Yao, dressed in a floral shirt, baggy shorts, and flip-flops, swaggered into the trading hall, chewing Big Bubble Gum.

This look is exactly like a gangster who just came back from killing someone in Causeway Bay to collect protection money.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing? This is an exchange, not a place for your Hung Hing to fight over territory!"

The security guard in uniform walked over with a look of disgust and reached out to push Lin Yao.

Lin Yao nimbly dodged into the distance, pulled out the bundle of newspapers from his pocket, and slapped them down with a loud thud: "What are you doing? Looking down on retail investors? I brought a huge sum of money to support Hong Kong's economic development!"

"Pfft—"

Suddenly, a sharp, sarcastic laugh came from the side.

"Who do we have here with such a big mouth? It's just Yao, the thug from Portland Street."

Lin Yao turned his head and saw, wow, a familiar face.

The original owner's ex-girlfriend, Lily, was dressed up in a flamboyant manner, heavily made up, and stuck to a middle-aged man in a suit and tie with a receding hairline, like a piece of chewing gum.

"Honey, he's the ex-boyfriend I told you about, the good-for-nothing gangster who just keeps asking his sister for money."

Lily covered her mouth, looking at Lin Yao's attire with disdain. "Lin Yao, what are you doing in Central? Stealing wallets, huh? What's wrapped in that tattered newspaper you're holding? A few hundred dollars in coins? Should I give you some money for your taxi fare back to Kowloon?"

The balding middle-aged man puffed out his beer belly, which looked like he was ten months pregnant, glanced down at Lin Yao, and smiled contemptuously: "Lily, don't pay attention to this kind of social trash. The threshold here is very high. A single stock can easily cost tens of thousands of yuan. People like him probably can't even tell the difference between red and green on a candlestick chart."

The traders in red vests and some stock market investors nearby, hearing the commotion, also turned to watch the spectacle.

In their eyes, Lin Yao, a lowly scoundrel, coming to the stock exchange was like a wild monkey entering a symphony hall—comical and laughable.

Lin Yao felt no anger at being humiliated; how thick-skinned was he? In his heart, he was already slapping his thigh with glee.

Classic, absolutely classic! Isn't this the standard "golden supporting character" trope from online novels, practically begging to be beaten up? If you don't give him a good beating, you'd be doing a disservice to your transmigrator status!

Lin Yao grinned, revealing eight white teeth, completely ignoring the couple. He walked straight to the account counter, slammed the newspaper onto the glass, and peeled it back layer by layer to reveal a stack of red Hong Kong dollars.

"Hey beautiful, open an account, here's 10,000 yuan as principal!"

The female trader at the counter frowned, somewhat embarrassed: "Sir, ten thousand yuan is indeed too little; it can only buy some penny stocks that are about to be delisted..."

Lin Yao looked up at the large clock in the center of the trading hall. It was 9:55. There were only 5 minutes left before the system alerted him to the Wharf Holdings surge!

"Enough talk, buy Wharf Holdings call options with your entire capital, and leverage it to the maximum of ten times!"

Lin Yao slammed his hand on the counter with great gusto, the sound so loud that it could be heard clearly throughout the entire hall.

Upon hearing this, the hall fell into a deathly silence, followed by a burst of uproarious laughter that nearly lifted the roof off.

"Hahaha, did I hear that right? This kid wants to buy Wharf Holdings?"

"That stock has been hit by nothing but bad news lately. It just plummeted 8% yesterday, and its trading volume is stagnant!"

"He dares to leverage 10 times his 10,000 yuan to bet on a rise? If the price drops by even one point, he'll be wiped out, losing everything he owns to the brokerage firm. Is he some kind of idiot?!"

Lily laughed until tears streamed down her face, pointing at Lin Yao and mocking, "Lin Yao, are you really brain-dead? You're throwing away your sister's money from selling herself! Darling, doesn't he look like a clown?"

The Mediterranean man shook his head, looking at Lin Yao as if he were already dead: "Young man, the stock market is about skill, not a casino. Your ten thousand yuan is about to become worthless. You must be out of your mind!"

Facing the relentless ridicule from the crowd, Lin Yao put his hands in the pockets of his floral shirt, smugly shaking his leg while smiling at the balding man.

"Uncle, you don't have much hair on your head to begin with. When the stock market turns bright red and the reflection blinds you, don't blame me for not warning you in advance."

"Who are you calling bald, you worthless bastard?!"

The Mediterranean man was instantly struck where it hurt, and his anger flared.

Just as he was about to call security to kick Lin Yao out like a chicken,

"when--"

The second hand of the wall clock was stuck at exactly 10 o'clock.

one second.

two seconds.

Suddenly, at the front of the trading hall, a trader in a red vest who was staring at the market screen let out a piercing scream, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Holy crap, the market! Look at the market!!!"

"Wharf Holdings' order book is moving! My goodness, massive buy orders, all tens of millions in size!"

"They've swept it all up! All the sell orders were wiped out in an instant!"

Everyone in the hall was stunned, as if struck by lightning, and turned their heads sharply to look at the huge electronic screen in the center.

The previously lifeless green candlestick chart in Wharf Holdings suddenly took off like it had been injected with a powerful drug, transforming into a thick red pillar that surged upwards with an almost ruthless and aggressive momentum.

"It's gone up! Three points, five points, ten points!!!"

"It's still rising, it's crazy, everyone's gone crazy. There's inside information coming out, a British consortium announced that it will forcibly acquire Wharf Holdings shares at a 50% premium."

"The price has risen by almost 30%, trading has been suspended, the exchange has triggered a circuit breaker and suspended trading!!!"

boom--!

The entire Central trading hall erupted in chaos. Everyone's scalp tingled with fear, and they simply couldn't believe their eyes.

Lily and the balding man, who had just been brimming with superiority and mocking Lin Yao as an idiot, were now like old ducks being strangled, their mouths agape but unable to utter a sound.

Their eyes bulged wildly, and their faces were contorted into a deep purple hue by intense shock.

With 10x leverage, a principal of 10,000 yuan can be amplified to 100,000 yuan, resulting in a 30% surge in a single day!

This means that in just one minute, this gangster wearing flip-flops made a whopping 30,000 yuan in pure profit, a god-like return of 300%.

In the deathly silence that filled the room, Lin Yao casually leaned on the counter, raised an eyebrow at the beautiful female trader inside who was completely petrified and whose jaw was about to drop to the ground, and whistled loudly.

"Miss, could you please settle my bill? My sister is counting on this money to save her life."