Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 405 Only You Don't Know
"Who said I didn't tell you?"

You just don't know it.

His voice echoed in the Japanese-style room. He then waved his hand, picked up his teacup, and indicated that today's conversation was over.

Late that night, in the office of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yukio Ohno's car did not return to the ZMD headquarters, but instead drove directly into the center of Kasumigaseki, to the building of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Katsuya Saito was waiting for him in his office.

The office has no superfluous decorations, only a world map and a screen that updates global commodity trading data in real time.

Katsuya Saito, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, is 58 years old. He comes from the top zaibatsu Sumitomo Group and was a senior managing executive director of Sumitomo Corporation before entering politics.

He is the most direct representative of the Japanese zaibatsu in the cabinet.

“Mr. Ohno,” Saito Katsuya poured him a glass of whiskey, “it seems you have already spoken with Mr. Ishiba.”

"Has he gone mad?" Yukio Ohno didn't touch his glass, his voice filled with anger. "To gamble a national destiny with an Aegis destroyer and the lives of nearly two hundred Self-Defense Force members, Saito-kun, tell me, who else did he tell about this plan?"

Yukio Ohno's anger seemed more directed at the fact that he had been kept in the dark for so long, rather than at the former prime minister's actions themselves.

Saito Katsuya's expression was calm; he looked at Ohno Yukio as if he were an outsider who had just learned the rules of the game.

"He told everyone he needed to, or rather, this plan, from the very beginning, was not just his own."

"What do you mean?"

Saito Katsuya spoke slowly.

“Mr. Ohno, you are a politician, and you are concerned with elections, factions, and the Japan-U.S. security alliance.”

But we, and the leaders of the corporations behind us—the zaibatsu people call them, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Keidanren—were considering balance sheets, supply chains, and the market for the next twenty years.”

“We see it very clearly,” he continued, “China’s technological development speed is unstoppable.”

Can you believe that America has been on the moon for two years and yet has done absolutely nothing? Their trip to the moon even relies on Chinese technology.

What a bizarre world this is.

America, the entity we rely on, has not only lost its productivity, but in terms of high-end productivity, only semiconductors can barely keep it afloat.

The gap between their advantageous industries and those of China is narrowing, and once China's industries catch up, their advantage will become increasingly greater.

This is most evident in the aerospace field.

In 2020, Lin Jun still relied on NASA's Apollo technology data. Today, in 2025, they have built an electromagnetic orbit on the moon and used it to send spacecraft back to Earth without relying on fossil fuels.

Mr. Ohno, don't you think this is terrifying?
What I previously understood as something that would take fifty years to accomplish, the Chinese people turned into reality in just five years.

What's on the moon? They can currently utilize lunar soil, but is it possible they could utilize other things in the future? For example, uranium-235 found in Kripka rock?

I used to think it was impossible, but now it's a possibility.

There are only Chinese people and Chinese bases on the moon. We don't know what they transported from Earth to the moon. It's unlikely that they can build nuclear weapons directly from the moon for the time being, but transporting them from Earth would not be difficult for them.

This is terrifying; this is a true space-based nuclear deterrent.

America's reaction became increasingly hysterical.

They've clearly decided to turn this area into a powder keg ready to explode at any moment, completely binding us to their war machine.

Katsuya Saito pointed to the sea area surrounding Japan on the map with his finger.

“We are assets, America’s most important and valuable assets in the entire Asia-Pacific region. But you don’t see that our little brothers next to us, who are also important assets, are now being tortured to the point of death and being exploited in turn.”

"Mr. Ohno, if war breaks out, our factories, ports, and investments will all vanish in an instant."

"So..." Yukio Ohno didn't finish his sentence.

“Therefore, we cannot let it happen,” Saito Katsuya said. “The core interest of us zaibatsu is stability. We need to do business with China, we need America’s market and technology, and we do not want Japan to become a battlefield.”

The Prime Minister's plan was initially approved by us.

"acquiescence?"

"yes.

By using a controlled military skirmish, the entire nation can be made aware of the horrors of war and the fragility of security treaties, thereby gaining sufficient political momentum to forcefully push for the normalization of relations with China, thus securing a relatively neutral and advantageous living space for Japan.

This is a very difficult and ruthless solution for an extraordinary time, but it is indeed feasible.

"Then what happened next?" Yukio Ohno asked.

“Because he crossed the line.” For the first time, Saito Katsuya’s tone showed dissatisfaction: “What we agreed to was a painful strategic shift based on realism.”

But he wanted more than just normalization of relations; he wanted an apology, a complete reckoning with the history of World War II, like West German Chancellor Willy Brandt's dramatic kneeling in Warsaw.

“This is something we absolutely cannot accept!” Saito Katsuya said coldly. “This is not just a matter of national dignity. This kind of complete self-denial will fundamentally shake the foundation of the conservatives’ rule and will excessively provoke America, making her think that we are not only going to remain neutral, but also to betray her.”

He turned our meticulous calculations into a high-stakes gamble.

He's too idealistic, too naive.

“So, we changed our minds.” Saito Katsuya continued, “After learning that he was going to give that apology speech, we supporters unanimously decided that we had to stop him. So, we revealed his complete plan to two people.”

Katsuya Saito looked at Yukio Ohno.

Yukio Ohno thought he finally understood everything.

Saito Katsuya slowly said, "He realized that it was his true supporters, us zaibatsu, who betrayed him."

He knew that his gamble had failed.

But he was unwilling to leave the stage.

Therefore, he did not read his shocking apology, nor did he read the prepared, whitewashing lie.

“That’s why,” Saito Katsuya concluded, “we felt we should give him a chance. Although opening the window is impossible, we should at least make some effort. Since he is willing to risk his political life to try, we should take this opportunity to try to normalize relations.”

"not enough."

Faced with Zhang Zhiyuan and Lin Xiuwen's offer to lower the price and sell their house in Baolai Garden, sales consultant Huang Peihan interrupted Zhang Zhiyuan with a professional smile:
“Mr. Zhang, last month was already a thing of the past.”

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, you can see the familiar, ever-rising silhouette of Taipei 101.

Outside the window, it was the typical gloomy weather of early October during a typhoon, with thick clouds hanging low, as if a downpour could come at any moment.

Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but say, "Vicky, we sincerely want to sell. The price is negotiable, but most importantly, we need to act quickly."

Vicky is the sales consultant's English name; clients are more used to calling her by this name.

Vicky sighed, pulled out a latest market analysis report from the thick stack of documents behind her, and pushed it in front of them.

The chart above is filled with densely packed curves, and without exception, all of them show a precipitous drop.

“Mrs. Zhang,” Vicky said gently, but her words were cruel, “look here. From Tuesday to now, in less than a week, our company has added more than two hundred listings for sale in the Xinyi District alone. And the buyers?” She turned a page. “The buyers’ offers are generally at half the value of our system’s valuation.”

"50% off?" Zhang Zhiyuan's face turned ugly. "This is robbery!"

“No, Mr. Zhang,” Vicky shook her head, “this is not a robbery, this is a market, a market where everyone suddenly tries to squeeze out the door, only to find that there is only one buyer at the door.”

Lin Xiuwen could no longer maintain her composure, and her eyes reddened: "We just want to give our child a safer environment."

Last week, my son called from New York, crying and asking when we were going to come over.

He said he was afraid to watch the news and afraid to talk to his classmates, especially those from China. I even suspect that my son was being bullied by them.

I want to be with him as soon as possible.

Zhang Zhiyuan silently patted his wife's hand, then looked up at Vicky:

“Miss Vicky, I won’t lie to you.”

That day, I watched the entire live stream with all the engineers at the company through internal channels.

"They're showing off their muscles now. It's scary, but we're used to it."

What truly sent a chill down my spine was the return capsule that came back from the moon.

He continued, "We are tech people."

We all understand what that means.

That's not science fiction; it's an engineering problem they've already solved.

When your neighbor already has the capability to use electromagnetic railguns to launch Earth-Moon teleportation missions, what's the point of us discussing TSMC's nanometers here?
Even more deadly is the Japanese ship Haguro, an Aegis destroyer that is more advanced than our navy's best warships, which just disappeared.

Where are the Americans? They sent a P-8A to watch from the sky. It's like nothing's going on with them.

"If this is the case even with a security treaty, what about us?"

He leaned back on the sofa, as if all his strength had been drained away.

"On one side are your enemies, who possess power you cannot comprehend."

On the other side, your protector shows you through his actions that he is just a spectator.

"Ms. Vicky, tell me, what assets in Taipei are safe?" Zhang Zhiyuan's voice trembled as he finished speaking.

Vicky fell silent.

She has heard this at least twenty times in the past few days.

Every glamorous social elite who enters this VIP room is, beneath their rational facade, an ordinary person filled with fear and helplessness.

“Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Zhang,” she finally spoke, “there are only two kinds of buyers in the market now.”

One type is like you, who are in a hurry to sell their houses to get US dollars and apply for EB-5 (a type of American immigrant investment).

Another type is those who have overseas hot money and are preparing to take advantage of the chaos.

They know you're in a hurry, so they're not.

Looking at the desperate couple, she delivered her final conclusion: "180 million is history. If you want things to be quick, I suggest you list it for 80 million."

If any buyer is willing to pay in full in US dollars in one lump sum, I suggest you don't hesitate.

Eighty million.

One hundred million New Taiwan Dollars of wealth evaporated along with that thing called security.

The evaporation of wealth is dangerous, but it also means opportunity.

Kaito Tanaka is an executive director at UBS Group, and he's incredibly busy.

The calls, meeting invitations, and asset disposal requests from various clients blurred the lines between his work and life.

Work is all they do; they have no life.

In the office located in Marunouchi, Tokyo, it was so quiet that the only sound was the air purifier running.

Outside the window, the neon-lit imperial palace is surrounded by tranquil, boundless greenery.

He had just finished a call with headquarters in Zurich, calmly analyzing the short-term trend of the yen exchange rate in fluent German.

On the huge curved screen in front of him, in the video call window, Mr. Liu's face was distorted with anxiety, with his ultra-luxury penthouse apartment in Taipei's Xinyi District as the background.

Mr. Liu is the chairman of a Taiwan-listed chip design company located in the Hsinchu Science Park.

"Haidou-san! Sell! Sell it all!" Chairman Liu's voice was hoarse with excitement, completely lacking his usual composure. "Zhuobai and Taozhu Yinyuan in Xinyi District, the sea-view kinghouse in Guoyan, Kaohsiung—I don't care about the price, put them up for sale right now! Liquidate all my non-current assets in 4V! Convert them into US dollars and Swiss francs, and deposit them into that trust account in Singapore! Immediately! Right now!"

Tanaka Kaito adjusted his frameless glasses and reassured Liu, "Chairman Liu, please calm down."

Panic is the most expensive consumer product in our industry. We are already carrying out your instructions.

However, you must be mentally prepared for the current price.

“I told you, I don’t care about the price!” Chairman Liu interrupted him. “I only care whether my family and I can get Canadian passports by the end of the year!”

"I understand." Haidou nodded and wrote something down in his notebook.

After the call ended, he closed the video window, and the office returned to silence.

People at the bottom of Taipei look for real estate agents, while those at the top seek out financial industry elites like him.

He picked up a cup of hand-drip Blue Mountain coffee, walked to the window, and looked down at Tokyo, which was returning to order.

His assistant, a young and capable girl, walked in quietly.

“Mr. Tanaka,” she reported, “we have just received urgent authorization from three more clients in Taipei, requesting that we liquidate all their real estate holdings throughout the 4V at all costs.”

Our traders say that the luxury housing market in Taipei is now devoid of market prices; it's all about escaping with panic.

“As expected,” Tanaka Kaito said calmly, taking a sip of his coffee.

“But sir, I don’t understand,” the assistant mustered his courage to ask, “the incident involving the Haguro should have had a greater impact on Japan.”

But why have inquiries about Tokyo property prices, especially for top-tier apartments in Minato Ward, surged in the past two days? And why have there even been slight increases?

Tanaka Kaito turned around, looked at his assistant, and decided to give her a realistic lesson on risk pricing.

“Misaki,” he said, “you must remember that the capital markets are never trading on facts, but on expectations.”

The reason why housing prices in Taipei and Kaohsiung collapsed was not because the Haguro sank, but because the sinking of the Haguro proved that an insurance contract had failed.

"Insurance contract?"

"yes.

Over the past few decades, all assets, especially those in Taipei, regardless of their price, have included a hidden but crucial insurance clause in their valuation models:
America's military intervention is anticipated.

People believed that America would come when the worst happened.

This insurance policy is the true foundation supporting the housing prices in the Xinyi District.

“But that day,” Haidou’s tone turned icy, “the whole world saw that when that most advanced Aegis destroyer in the world was sunk, the insurance company’s representative, in that P-8A reconnaissance plane, just hovered in the sky, recorded the events, and then left.”

The insurance company refused to pay the claim.

"Therefore, whether it's Taipei or Kaohsiung, all assets in these places were re-priced for risk overnight."

The hidden insurance has been torn apart, all the risks have been exposed, and with the foundation gone, the property value will naturally collapse.

For Chairman Liu and his ilk, keeping their assets in Taipei is no longer an investment, but a gamble.

"What about Tokyo?" Misaki pressed.

"Good question." A barely perceptible smile appeared on Kaito's lips. "The disappearance of the Haguro is a national disgrace and a huge blow to Japan."

However, the Sugawara cabinet's subsequent response covered up the truth, avoided direct confrontation with China, and immediately reiterated its absolute loyalty to America.

From the perspective of capital, however, this sends a completely different signal.

"What signal?"

“Predictability and a signal to stop losses,” Kaito explained. “The Sugawara Cabinet’s response proved to capital markets worldwide that, firstly, the Japanese bureaucratic system possesses extremely strong internal control, enabling it to quickly stabilize the situation and prevent the country from descending into chaos.”

Second, Japan will never be the one to initiate a war; it will do everything in its power to keep itself on the chessboard, not the battlefield.

Third, while our alliance with America has exposed its vulnerability, the Japanese side will redouble its efforts to maintain it.

More importantly, China's resentment has been alleviated. As long as we don't interfere when that time comes, Tokyo can enjoy at least twenty more years of peace!

He walked back to his desk and brought up a new interface.

On the screen are the flights from Taipei Taoyuan Airport to America and Singapore for the next week, with all first-class and business-class seats marked in red.

"So, Misaki, did you understand?"

"Capital fleeing Taipei in panic needs a place to go."

A safe haven that is close enough, large enough, with a sound legal system, and has just proven itself would never choose to perish together.

Looking across Asia, where is the best choice?

Misaki suddenly realized: "Tokyo."

“That’s right.” Haito’s gaze returned to the Imperial Palace outside the window.

"The sinking of the Haguro turned them from a risky investment into a bomb about to explode."

While Tokyo was also on the verge of explosion, Prime Minister Sugawara and our entire bureaucratic system demonstrated to the world through their actions that we would build the thickest possible blast wall for ourselves as quickly as possible.

He picked up the phone and dialed his assistant.

"Misaki, compile a new list of all the properties for sale in Akasaka and Azabu in Minato Ward, and include the latest prices. Then, send it to all our A+ grade clients in Taipei."

He paused, then added, "Tell them that Tokyo's undervalued status won't last long."

"Professor, it was a perfect return! It was so beautiful, lighter than a feather falling to the ground, simply gorgeous!"

(End of this chapter)