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

Only three days had passed since that financial attack that shocked the entire nation.

On the rooftop of the Jingzhou International Hotel, the autumn wind blew like a knife.

At a height of fifty-six stories, the wind is strong enough to overturn a person.

Xu Laosan, the once powerful speculative investor, was now clinging tightly to the lightning rod on the rooftop.

His expensive Armani suit was wrinkled like pickled vegetables, his tie was crooked, and he had lost one of his shoes.

"Old Xu, why the hell are you jumping?"

Mr. Qian, the head of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, huddled in a corner on the rooftop, his face ashen as he roared at Xu Laosan.

"Those black market old men with machetes downstairs have already taken the elevator up!"

Mr. Qian was so anxious that he stomped his feet, and his obese body trembled in the wind.

"Fifty billion in usurious loans! They liquidated it in a second. If we fall into their hands, we won't even have a proper corpse left!"

Xu Laosan peered down and saw that the densely packed cars looked as small as matchboxes.

A wave of dizziness rushed to his head, his stomach churned, and he lay on the ground, dry heaving.

"I'm not jumping... this is way too high."

Xu Laosan's eyes were bloodshot, like a dead fish out of water.

Three days.

Only three days.

Five hundred billion in real money, plus five billion in off-exchange black market financing.

Before the monster that is Lingxiao Financial, it was swallowed up without even a crisp sound, leaving not a trace.

The feeling was like teasing a meat grinder running at full power with a small stick.

They didn't use any tricks or schemes at all; they simply used a computing power tsunami and a deep cash reserve to crush them into mincemeat.

"Bang!"

The iron gate to the rooftop was kicked open from the inside.

Several burly men with large tattoos on their arms came out carrying steel pipes.

The bald man at the head of the group spat out the toothpick from his mouth, his face contorted with grotesque features, and sneered repeatedly.

"Mr. Xu, Mr. Qian, have you had enough of the scenery? Let's go downstairs for tea."

The bald man knocked on the iron gate with a steel pipe, the sound particularly jarring on the empty rooftop.

"A hole of five billion yuan, even if you used your two families' ancestral graves to fill it, it wouldn't be enough."

Xu Laosan and Qian Zong's legs went weak, and they collapsed into a pile of mud.

In stark contrast to this scene of despair, the eighty-eighth floor of the Lingxiao Building exudes luxury.

Su Jianxin, dressed in a well-tailored vest with dark patterns, leaned back on a leather sofa.

He held a cup of freshly brewed Da Hong Pao tea in his hand, the aroma of which wafted through the air.

On the holographic projection screen, a series of astronomical numbers are scrolling rapidly, eventually flowing into an encrypted overseas account.

Lin Yubing walked in, wearing high heels and carrying a thick document.

"President Su, all the accounts have been settled."

Lin Yubing pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his tone exuding absolute professionalism and coldness.

"We absorbed the 50 billion yuan from the speculative capital alliance, plus the 100 billion yuan of idle funds from the chamber of commerce."

She handed the document to Su Jianxin.

"This money has been transferred to the overseas expansion fund in batches through compliant channels."

Su Jianxin put down his teacup, picked up the document, glanced at it, and smiled with satisfaction.

That smile was both refined and sleazy, like a vampire who had just eaten and drunk his fill.

"Master Yan is about to make a big splash on Wall Street, and these money-bringers have arrived just in time."

He stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the trembling city below.

What's the latest news from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)?

Lin Yubing scoffed, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes.

"What could possibly happen? We held three emergency meetings overnight, and hundreds of experts stared at our trading records for two days and two nights."

She reached up and tidied a stray hair behind her ear, her tone arrogant.

"The final conclusion is that our operation perfectly complies with all the provisions of the trading law."

Lin Yubing stepped forward and stood side by side with Su Jianxin.

"The accusations of malicious short selling and market manipulation have all been pinned on Xu Laosan and his group in the Chamber of Commerce. After all, they were the ones who dumped the shares first."

"Very good, counter-attacking, compliant and legal."

Su Jianxin clapped his hands, a cunning glint in his eyes.

"Issue an official announcement stating that the Lingxiao Consortium is determined to safeguard the stability of the Handong financial market and thanks the regulatory authorities for their fair ruling."

This tactic of killing someone by destroying their spirit is used with unparalleled skill.

Just a few hours later, the announcement caused a stir in China's capital circles.

The entire financial sector was hit by an unprecedented earthquake.

In a secluded private club in Shangjing City.

Several private equity moguls, each holding hundreds of billions of yuan, stared at the news on their phones and fell silent.

The atmosphere in the private room was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

"Xu Laosan is gone just like that? Without even a ripple?"

An old man in a Tang suit wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, completely unaware that the plate of walnuts in his hand had fallen to the ground.

"Five hundred billion! It was wiped out in three days, and the authorities can't find a single fault with it."

The middle-aged man across from me, wearing a Patek Philippe, took a big gulp of strong liquor, his voice trembling.

"This isn't a conglomerate, it's a bloodbath that devours people without spitting out the bones!"

The middle-aged man slammed down his wine glass and looked around.

"Everyone, listen to my advice."

He lowered his voice, his tone revealing deep apprehension.

"From now on, Handong Province will be a no-go zone for our capital. As long as you see the words 'Lingxiao' on a doorplate..."

The middle-aged man swallowed hard, then made a throat-slitting motion.

"Whether it's buying land or speculating in stocks, even if the Emperor himself allowed us to enter, we'd still have to steer clear!"

This terrifying consensus spread rapidly through the national capital market like a plague.

No one dared to set foot in Handong again.

With the complete cessation of external hot money flows and the vacuum left by the withdrawal of foreign capital, Lingxiao took over all the assets.

A silent economic storm began to wreak havoc on the official system of Handong.

The disruption of capital flow finally triggered a terrible butterfly effect.

Two days later, one morning, in the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee compound.

The fallen leaves of late autumn covered the cement road in the courtyard, and there wasn't a single cleaner in sight.

In the office of the Finance Bureau Director, Director Wang Fugui was clutching his already thinning hair, looking as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

The red secure phone on the table had been ringing for a full half hour.

He took a deep breath and picked up the microphone with trembling hands.

"Hello, Secretary Li..."

On the other end of the phone, Li Dakang's voice was like that of a furious lion, making Wang Fugui's eardrums ache.

"Wang Fugui! What are you doing? Old Zhao from the Public Security Bureau just blocked my office door and slammed his fist on the table!"

Li Dakang was so angry that he coughed repeatedly.

"Why hasn't the city bureau's funding been approved yet? We can't even afford gas for the police cars, are you expecting them to walk to catch thieves?!"

Wang Fugui had a bitter face, and tears were about to fall.

"Secretary, it's not that I don't want to approve it, it's just that we really don't have the money!"

He opened the report on the table, which was full of deficits, his voice trembling with tears.

"Foreign capital has fled, the chamber of commerce has withdrawn, and all real tax revenue in Jingzhou has stopped."

Wang Fugui loosened his tie and gasped for breath.

"Lingxiao Group's accounts are airtight, and they legally evade taxes, so we can't extract a single penny."

"Stop making excuses for me!" Li Dakang slammed his hand on the table. "Isn't there two hundred million yuan in reserves in the city's account? Transfer some out to tide us over!"

After hearing this, Wang Fugui slumped into his chair.

He stared at the gray warning box that had popped up on his computer screen, his face ashen.

"Secretary, stop shouting."

Wang Fugui swallowed hard, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"The city's corporate account... was just legally locked by a city commercial bank under Lingxiao Financial. Now, we don't even have money to buy cabbage for the government canteen tomorrow!"