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July 8th, evening.

At Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City, a direct flight from Tokyo, Japan, quickly lands on the airport runway.

After the plane came to a stop on the tarmac, a group of passengers disembarked.

Among them, a middle-aged Japanese man with gold-rimmed glasses was not particularly noticeable in the crowd.

This middle-aged Japanese man was none other than Suzuki Toshifumi, the president of the Southern Company, who had traveled all the way from Japan.

At this moment, he looked serious. After meeting with the head of the Mexican Southern Company who was picking him up at the airport, he hurriedly got into his car and headed to the headquarters office of the Mexican branch.

The car slowly drove out of the airport and merged into the evening traffic of Mexico City.

Toshifumi Suzuki leaned back in his seat, gazing out the window at the unfamiliar city.

Since he had not been in charge of the Southern Company for very long, and although Mexico was an important market for the company, this was his first time visiting the region.

Graffiti and slogans can be seen everywhere along the streets, and some walls still bear traces of burning.

In the distance, several police cars sped past, their sirens piercing the tranquility of dusk.

“Mr. Suzuki, the situation is worse than we thought.” Ernesto Sanchez, the head of the Mexican branch, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around with deep worry on his face.

“More than a dozen stores were attacked today. Although we have closed all the stores, angry people have started to besiege our distribution center and offices, and the police are not doing anything about it.”

Suzuki Toshifumi didn't speak, he just nodded.

He took a document out of his bag and his eyes fell on it.

That was evidence faxed over by the boss, Lin Haoran.

The Quantum Fund paid a total of more than two million US dollars in "consulting fees" to 38 media outlets through multiple offshore accounts.

Transfer records and intermediary information are all available.

This evidence is sufficient to prove that Soros manipulated public opinion behind the scenes.

That would be enough to clear Lin Haoran's name.

"I will be holding a press conference at eight o'clock tomorrow morning," Toshifumi Suzuki said slowly, his voice very calm. "I will invite all the media that I can, including international media."

I want the whole world to know the truth.

Sanchez paused for a moment.

"Mr. Suzuki, are you sure? The public is very agitated right now. If you make a public appearance, it could be dangerous..."

“I’ll go even if it’s dangerous.” Suzuki Toshifumi interrupted him. “The boss trusts me and asked me to handle this matter. I can’t let him down.”

Sanchez was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I understand, I'll make the arrangements right away."

The car continued on its way, heading towards the center of Mexico City.

Time flies so fast; in the blink of an eye, the night has passed.

At 9:7 AM on July 9th, in the banquet hall on the third floor of the Four Seasons Hotel next to Reforma Avenue in Mexico City.

The press conference was still an hour away, but the banquet hall was already packed with people.

Long lenses and short lenses, cameras, voice recorders, and excited, expectant faces.

Mexican local media, CNN and ABC from the United States, the BBC from the United Kingdom, AFP from France, NHK from Japan...

Over a hundred media outlets packed the banquet hall to capacity.

Many reporters have already prepared their questions.

In particular, the hostility towards Lin Haoran by the Mexican local media has now reached its peak.

In their report, Lin Haoran is described as "an Eastern capitalist who makes money in Mexico but stabs others in the back," "an accomplice of Wall Street vultures," and "the culprit behind Mexico's economic predicament."

They had prepared countless pointed questions.

"Mr. Suzuki, how do you explain the fact that Mr. Lin Haoran's fund is shorting Mexico?"

"You say this is a conspiracy, what evidence do you have?"

"How did Lin Haoran have the audacity to make money in Mexico and then manipulate public opinion to short-sell Mexico?"

"Why didn't Mr. Lin Haoran come to apologize in person?"

The reporters exchanged prepared questions, their faces beaming with confident smiles.

They thought it was just a routine crisis management exercise, a defense destined to fail.

They are waiting to see this Japanese man ruined and disgraced.

At 9:55, the side door opened.

Accompanied by Sanchez and several security personnel, Toshifumi Suzuki walked steadily into the banquet hall.

He was wearing a dark gray suit and a navy blue tie, and his gold-rimmed glasses gleamed slightly under the light.

His expression was serious, and his steps were steady; he showed no signs of tension or panic.

The reporters immediately became agitated.

"Mr. Suzuki! Mr. Suzuki!"

Flashes rained down like a storm, and shutter clicks echoed incessantly.

Without pausing, Toshifumi Suzuki walked straight to the podium.

He stood on the stage, his gaze sweeping over the dark mass of people below.

Then, he bowed slightly and began to speak slowly in English with a heavy Japanese accent.

"Good morning, friends from the media. I am Toshifumi Suzuki, the president of Southern Company."

The banquet hall fell silent instantly.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for his first words, waiting to find a weakness in him.

The Mexican journalists, who were ready to ask questions, now had excited glints in their eyes, and their recorders and cameras were all pointed at the somewhat thin-looking Japanese man on the stage.

At the scene, several television media outlets had already set up live broadcast equipment and were broadcasting live.

The citizens of Mexico City, those who were angrily smashing 711-Eleven stores just two days ago, are now sitting in front of their televisions, staring at this Japanese man on the screen.

They wanted to see how this person representing "that Easterner" would try to justify himself.

Meanwhile, many people in the United States were also watching the live broadcast, including George Soros, chairman of the Quantum Fund.

At that moment, Soros was sitting in his office, opposite a color television screen displaying a live broadcast from the banquet hall of the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City.

Soros's expression no longer held the smugness and excitement he had shown yesterday.

Instead, he wore a complex expression that was hard to describe, a mixture of doubt, unease, and a faint fear that he was trying hard to suppress.

On television, Toshifumi Suzuki takes a document out of his briefcase and holds it high.

It was a thick stack of documents and a series of transfer records.

Soros narrowed his eyes slightly.

His heart began to race.

"Today, I'm standing here not to defend my boss, but to present evidence publicly."

Suzuki Toshifumi's voice came from the television, "This evidence is sufficient to prove that the recent rumors about our company's chairman, Mr. Lin Haoran, colluding with the Quantum Fund to short Mexico are a complete conspiracy."

A gasp rang out in the banquet hall.

Soros's hand trembled slightly.

He instinctively wanted to turn off the TV, but he didn't move.

He needs to know what that so-called evidence actually is.

Toshifumi Suzuki continued, "This evidence is a transfer record we obtained from certain channels, which shows that the Quantum Fund paid a total of $2.37 million in consulting fees to 38 media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and The Economist, through multiple accounts."

Soros's face turned pale instantly.

He suddenly stood up and stared intently at the screen.

impossible.

He made those transfers so discreetly and carefully, how could they possibly be discovered?

No, Lin Haoran shouldn't have that much power in the West.

Soros clenched his fists tightly.

He couldn't understand how his carefully concealed actions had been discovered by the investigation.

Countless thoughts flashed through Soros's mind, but each one filled him with even greater fear.

On television, Toshifumi Suzuki continued, "The purpose of this money is only one: to spread rumors, manipulate public opinion, drag Mr. Lin Haoran into this mess, thereby accelerating panic in the Mexican market and allowing them to profit handsomely from shorting Mexico."

Before the words were even finished, the banquet hall erupted in chaos.

Reporters eagerly raised their hands, wanting to ask questions.

The Mexican journalists who had been prepared to ask questions now looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

The pointed questions they had prepared have become meaningless in the face of this bombshell evidence.

Mexican citizens watching on television were also stunned.

what?
Were those reports written for money?
Is Soros the real mastermind?
Then the shops they smashed and the people they injured these past few days have all become tools in other people's hands.
On the streets of Mexico City, those who had just been cursing in front of the ruins of a 711-Eleven store fell silent.

They looked at each other, their eyes flashing with confusion, anger, and an inexplicable sense of shame.

They were lied to.

They were deceived by those media outlets that were paid to do so.

I was fooled by that Wall Street vulture named Soros.

And they even helped that swindler to vandalize a legitimate foreign company's store and harm its innocent employees.

In front of the television, a middle-aged man slowly put down the half-brick he was holding.

He had originally planned to smash another 711-Eleven, but now he felt as if that brick weighed a ton.

His wife whispered beside him, "Did we do something wrong?"

The man didn't speak, but just looked down at the bricks on the ground.

Meanwhile, in New York, at the headquarters of the Quantum Fund, in Soros's office, the atmosphere had reached a freezing point.

Soros stood blankly in front of the television, staring at the frenzied reporters on the screen and the flashing lights.

He knew that if this matter was not handled properly, he, Soros, would be ruined and infamous.

Those media outlets he bribed would immediately turn their guns on him and shift all the blame onto him.

They would say they were also victims, blinded by his "false information".

However, these are not what Soros is worried about now; he doesn't care about the criticism at all.

What he worries about is that the $500 million from those Middle Eastern tycoons and European bankers, plus leverage, interest, and his unrealized losses in the market, would be an astronomical sum he could never repay if the market were to reverse.

The office door opened, and Mark practically stumbled in.

"Mr. Chairman! Something terrible has happened! All the major media outlets are reporting on this like crazy, and our phones are ringing off the hook!"

"Don't panic. How is the market moving right now?" He tried to keep his voice calm, but the slight tremor at the end betrayed his inner turmoil.

Mark swallowed hard and quickly opened the folder in his hand.

"Mr. Chairman, the market, the market has already begun to react. Shortly after Mr. Toshifumi Suzuki held his press conference, the Mexican peso's decline began to narrow and it has now rebounded by 1.5%."

CDS prices have also seen a slight decline; those institutions that were previously selling off aggressively have now stopped and seem to be observing the situation.

Soros's heart sank.

His worst fears have finally come true.

The news spread too quickly, and the market sentiment changed.

The panic he stirred up and the sell-off he triggered are being reversed because of Lin Haoran's evidence.

Although things haven't changed much yet, Soros knows that even if they wanted to close their positions now, it would be too late.

The amount of money they've used to short the market is simply too large. Under the current circumstances, it's impossible for them to escape unscathed without triggering a major market upheaval.

Soros closed his eyes, his mind racing as he calculated all the possibilities.

The position is $2.1 billion, leveraged three times, with a total exposure of over $6 billion.

If the market reverses by 10%, they will lose $600 million.

If the reversal is 20%, that would be $1.2 billion.

His own principal, plus the money he borrowed from Middle Eastern tycoons and European bankers, totaled only seven hundred million US dollars.

This means that he would be liquidated if the market reversed by more than 12%.

The Mexican peso has fallen by more than 50% in the past five days.

Although it has rebounded by 1.5% so far, this is just the beginning.

If market sentiment completely reverses, the peso could rebound by 10% or even 20% in a short period of time.

At that point, he'll be completely finished.

“And,” Mark’s voice trembled even more, “those media outlets that previously helped us publish reports are now turning their guns on us. The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and The Economist are saying that we are frauds.”

Soros's lips twitched.

fraud?

He is indeed a fraud.

But he never expected that he would be exposed in this way.

He thought he had done a good job of being discreet and that the transfer records would never be discovered.

He thought Lin Haoran would be like the others he had schemed against, forced to suffer in silence and watch helplessly as his reputation was ruined.

But to his surprise, Lin Haoran somehow managed to uncover this evidence.

Soros slowly sat back in his chair and covered his face with his hands.

How did he do that? Isn't he the richest man in Hong Kong? Shouldn't his influence be concentrated in Asia? How come he has such thorough intelligence on the Americas?
This thought was like a knife, piercing his heart.

“Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman!” Mark’s voice pulled him back from his daze.

Soros lowered his hand and looked at Mark's panicked face.

"What should we do now?" Mark swallowed hard, his voice trembling even more.

"Don't worry, even if they have evidence to prove that we created this public opinion, it doesn't prove whether Lin Haoran has cooperated with us. Besides, the Mexican government's debt crisis is ultimately their own problem."

We merely accelerated the process, not created it. We haven't lost yet. As long as we can prove that the Mexican government is unable to repay its loans when due, the market will continue to move in the direction we expect.

Lin Haoran's evidence only proves that we manipulated public opinion, but it doesn't prove that we caused Mexico's debt problem." Soros quickly calmed down and analyzed the situation.

He knew they were in a dangerous situation, and since there was no way out, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere.

Soros stood up, walked to the window, and took a deep breath.

“Mark, listen up, we’re going to do a few things now.”

“Go ahead.” Mark grasped at a straw and quickly took out his notebook.

"First, immediately contact those Middle Eastern tycoons and European bankers and tell them that the market volatility is only temporary and that our fundamental assessment is correct."

The Mexican government definitely won't be able to repay the money by the due date, and that won't change because of Lin Haoran's evidence. Ask them for another week; after that, I guarantee they'll receive a satisfactory return.

Mark took notes quickly.

"Second, contact the brokers who are asking for additional margin and tell them that we are allocating funds and that they will be available within three days to reassure them."

"But Mr. Chairman, where would we get the funds..."

“I know,” Soros interrupted him, “but what we need now is time. If we can just get through these few days and wait for the market to re-evaluate Mexico’s debt problem, our positions will recover.”

Mark nodded, but the worry on his face did not lessen.

“Third,” Soroston paused, then continued, “we will continue to buy off the media. This time, the goal is to publicize the severity of Mexico’s debt crisis and to prove that Lin Haoran cannot prove whether we had previously cooperated. That’s the key!”
If the market can be convinced that there might be some kind of tacit understanding between Lin Haoran and us, then his evidence will be greatly weakened.

Mark was taking notes quickly, but his pen paused for a moment.

“Mr. Chairman, Mr. Lin Haoran has already provided evidence to prove that we were the ones spreading rumors before. Wouldn't it be…” to spread such statements again now…

“What if?” Soros turned to Mark and said, “What if it makes people believe we’re frauds even more? Mark, we have no way out. Only in this way can we prevent the Mexican market from turning around too much. As long as we can keep everyone hesitant and maintain the status quo, we’ve won.”

Rather than sit and wait to die, it's better to take a gamble.

Mark paused for a moment, then nodded.

“I understand, I’ll go arrange it right away.” Mark turned and left.

Soros was the only one left in the office.

He stood by the window, gazing at the Manhattan skyline, the thought he had just had replaying in his mind.

Lin Haoran, how exactly do you possess such powerful intelligence?

This problem was like a thorn stuck in his heart, preventing him from finding peace.

He simply couldn't understand how a Hong Konger could have uncovered so much about his secret dealings! (End of Chapter)