Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

The top floor of the Lingxiao Building.

The air outlets of the central air conditioning system are located in a concealed duct, keeping the room temperature fixed at 22 degrees Celsius.

The air was dry, carrying the distinctive sweet aroma of Cohiba cigars.

This flavor is rich and strong, capable of suppressing any restlessness in one's heart.

Yan Qingfeng had one hand in the pocket of his black trousers.

He stood with his back to the desk in front of the huge bulletproof floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside on the streets of Jingzhou, the clamor of people beating drums and gongs was filtered through multiple layers of vacuum glass.

Only a series of muffled buzzing sounds remained, like countless bees hitting the wall outside the glass.

Su Jianxin strode in through the heavy soundproof door.

His leather shoes stomped on the soft, plush wool carpet without making a sound.

But he looked like he had just been pulled out of a sauna.

His forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, which trickled down his temples.

The nose pads of my gold-rimmed glasses were soaked with sweat and kept sliding down my nasal bridge.

He could only keep raising his wrist and pushing upwards with the back of his hand.

"Master Yan."

Su Jianxin's throat was dry, and when he swallowed, his Adam's apple scraped awkwardly against his thin neck.

A sharp, aching pain immediately shot through my throat.

He was gripping a holographic tablet tightly in his hand, the screen of which was flashing a bright red warning light.

The red light shone on his pale face, revealing a look of exasperated pain.

"The morning's financial statements are out; the system has just finished compiling the data."

Yan Qingfeng didn't turn around; his gaze remained fixed on the citizens downstairs who were celebrating like ants.

He raised his right hand, holding most of a cigar between his index and middle fingers.

"explain."

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable sense of oppression in the spacious office.

"We've suffered a huge loss!"

Su Jianxin rushed to the mahogany desk and tapped the screen twice with his finger.

"Crack, crack."

The deficit on the screen was projected directly into the air, a long string of bright red zeros.

"As soon as they took over the water and electricity bills, they cut them by 30%! And that's not all."

Su Jianxin was so anxious that he kept slamming his fist on the table. His stomach ache from the acid reflux flared up again, and he was in pain.

"You've also been exempted from all sewage fees and basic monthly rent! Plus, you'll receive a points subsidy on a one-to-one basis across the entire province."

He finished speaking in one breath, then gasped for breath, his lungs gurgling.

"Just this morning! Our first day taking over the infrastructure!"

Su Jianxin gritted his teeth, his facial muscles twitching violently.

"The books show a paper loss of seven billion! That's real money that was spent!"

Zhou Yuan was originally dozing off on the sofa.

Upon hearing the number, he sat up abruptly, causing the leather sofa to creak loudly.

"Holy crap, seven billion? With that money to buy pork, you could bury the entire city of Jingzhou!"

He stared with wide eyes and reached out to scratch his stiff, short hair.

"Master Yan, are we running a business or a charity?"

Yan Qingfeng finally turned around.

A cold breeze blew through the air conditioner vent, causing the hem of his pure black shirt to flutter.

He walked to his desk, pressed the cigar into the crystal ashtray, and crushed it twice.

The scarlet spark was extinguished with a "sizzle," leaving a wisp of bluish-gray smoke.

He glanced at Su Jianxin, his face twitching almost imperceptibly.

"Nobuko, I used to think you were pretty smart."

Yan Qingfeng walked to the wine cabinet next to him, picked up a silver clip, picked up two pieces of ice and threw them into a short glass.

The ice cubes struck the bottom of the glass with two crisp "clink" sounds, which reached Su Jianxin's ears.

"Looking at you now, your perspective isn't even as broad as the old lady selling scallions at the market downstairs."

Su Jianxin was stunned.

Cold sweat trickled into his eyes, stinging them painfully. He quickly took off his glasses and wiped them haphazardly.

"Master Yan... this is a pure loss-making business! At this rate of patching up the hole, even a two trillion yuan enterprise won't last!"

Yan Qingfeng unscrewed a bottle of whiskey, and poured the amber liquid into a glass, just covering the ice.

He picked up his wine glass, his slender fingers casually drawing an arc in the air.

Above the desk, the air seemed to distort suddenly.

Azure beams of light intertwined.

A huge global holographic 3D map unfolded instantly.

The tectonic plates of each continent slowly rotate in the light and shadow, creating a powerful sense of technology.

"Seven billion, is that a lot?"

Yan Qingfeng walked back to the table with his wine glass, looking down at the map.

Why did Li Dakang and Sha Ruijin obediently sign the papers last night?

He sneered, "Because they know that as soon as the power is cut off, the people will eat the provincial party committee compound alive."

Yan Qingfeng lightly tapped the location of Handong Province on the holographic map with his fingertip.

"I wouldn't even bother bending down to pick up those two coins that a poor person has in their pocket if they fell on a street stall."

He took a sip of strong liquor.

The spicy liquid slid down my esophagus, like swallowing a handful of shards of glass; the burning sensation exploded on my stomach wall.

Yan Qingfeng thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of being in control of everything.

"What did I buy with that seven billion?"

Yan Qingfeng stared into Su Jianxin's eyes, his gaze as cold as if it contained shards of ice.

"What I'm buying is the instinct of the 50 million people of Handong to protect their food, and the unwavering loyalty of these common folk to me, Yan Qingfeng!"

Zhou Yuan grinned widely from the side.

"I understand, Lord Yan! As long as the people accept the cheap water and electricity we provide, even if the capital sends troops, they won't be able to get into Handong!"

He slapped his thigh, "These ordinary people are our ready-made human shields!"

"It's crude, but the logic is sound."

Yan Qingfeng ignored Zhou Yuan's rudeness and turned his gaze back to the holographic map.

He made a sudden slash in mid-air with his long, slender fingers.

The map zoomed in instantly.

It directly targeted the North American and European markets.

The light and shadow fell on his angular profile, revealing the tyranny of a dictator.

"This is called a moat."

Yan Qingfeng slammed the empty wine glass heavily onto the mahogany table with a dull thud.

"I've completely drained Handong's resources. The government's power is less than a piece of toilet paper. There's nothing left to squeeze out of this place."

Su Jianxin put his glasses back on, and this time his heartache finally subsided.

He leaned closer to the map, looking at the red dots of financial centers flashing on the North American plate.

"Master Yan, do you mean... we need to cut outwards?"

"If you want to make money, go and exploit those fat, fat saboteurs."

Yan Qingfeng tapped his fingers on the table, his knuckles making a crisp "knock-knock" sound.

"They maintained their financial hegemony for over a century, reaping profits from the world with the dollar, living a very comfortable life."

He turned his head and looked at Su Jianxin.

"Have you investigated the Quantum Fund, the Wall Street firm that spearheaded the short selling of our Haikou Shell Company last night?"

Su Jianxin perked up immediately, straightening his back instantly.

The fingernails tapped loudly on the tablet keyboard.

"It's been investigated. It's the Lehman Brothers Quantum Hedge Fund, one of the top five hedge funds on Wall Street. Yesterday, they used 200 times leverage to forcibly dump 30 billion of our assets."

Su Jianxin gritted his teeth, tasting the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth.

"They still have huge short positions in the market, trying to take advantage of our weakness to kill us."

Yan Qingfeng let out a muffled laugh.

It's like watching a turtle that's oblivious to its own mortality jump onto a chopping board.

"Two hundred times leverage? You've got guts, but you're wearing pretty thin underwear."

He walked to the coat rack, reached out and grabbed the pure black trench coat, draping it over one shoulder with one hand.

His movements were clean and efficient, carrying a chilling, menacing air.

"Nobuko."

Yan Qingfeng turned around, adjusting the collar of his trench coat as he gave the order in a cold voice.

"Notify the financial operations room to completely cut open those two trillion yuan cash flow channels."

Su Jianxin was so excited that his whole body trembled, and even his calves spun around.

"Pour everything in? Master Yan, this is a real, cross-border short squeeze!"

Yan Qingfeng strode toward the heavy double wooden door of the office.

The sound of leather shoes on the carpet was like a countdown before an execution.

"Launch the quantum high-frequency trading network of the Cloud System."

He didn't turn around, but pushed the door open directly.

The cold wind in the corridor rushed in through the crack in the door, making the hem of his trench coat flutter loudly.

"Don't those old fogies on Wall Street love short selling?"

Yan Qingfeng's cold, hard voice boomed into the room on the wind.

"Before lunch today, I want to see that Quantum Fund declare bankruptcy. I want them to even strip their boss's underwear off and use it to cover the water and electricity deficit in Handong."