Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

The Iron Lady's dramatic fall in front of the hall was like the first domino to fall.

That afternoon, Hong Kong Island's economy was hit by an unprecedented magnitude 8 earthquake.

Kowloon Bay, an industrial land parcel that was once hotly debated, saw its intended transaction price plummet by 10% in just half a day! And it continues to decline at a visible rate.

Real estate agents' phones were ringing off the hook, not with buyers, but with people desperate to sell. Those usually arrogant foreigners with their British passports were now acting like it was the end of the world, frantically trying to liquidate their assets, ready to flee back to London at any moment.

They were scared.

They were afraid that the Iron Lady would really "talk Hong Kong to the point of being gone."

The most direct reflection of this panic is the Hang Seng Index, which has captivated countless people.

Central, top floor of the Standard Chartered Bank Tower.

General Manager William stared intently at the large chart on the wall, feeling dizzy and needing to hold onto the table to keep his balance.

On the screen, the number representing the Heng (Hunger) is plummeting into the abyss in a freefall.

1100……1050……1000……950!

"Down 5.1% from yesterday! Down 19.8% from a week ago!"

William looked at the data and felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

He whirled around, grabbed the chief analyst's tie, and roared, "Zhang! Didn't you tell me the Hang Seng Index would only pull back by a maximum of 20%? It's only been a few days! Huh?! It's already dropped almost 20% in just a few days! And you're telling me this is a pullback?!"

"General Manager...this...this isn't a normal pullback..." Analyst Zhang San was also pale and trembling. "Who could have imagined that woman would trip and fall up north! That fall shattered everyone's confidence! This is panic selling, it's irrational! It can't be predicted using technical analysis at all!"

"Panic? Irrationality?"

William shoved him away and slumped into a chair in despair.

His mind is now filled with that damn betting agreement.

According to previous estimates, if the stock price drops by 20%, Standard Chartered Bank would have to pay Golden Harvest over 200 million yuan in compensation. While this is painful, it is still within an acceptable range.

But now...

Judging from this trend, let alone 20%, it's highly likely that it will fall below 30% or 40%!

If it really is as that crazy Cheng Yiyan said, cut in half by 60%...

William did a quick calculation, then everything went black, and he almost fainted on the spot.

One billion!

Standard Chartered Bank's Hong Kong Island branch's profits over the past few years aren't even enough to cover its losses!

"What to do... what to do..."

William paced back and forth in his office like a cat on a hot tin roof. "If we don't get the agreement back, we're finished! Bankrupt! We're going to be bankrupt!"

He picked up the phone and dialed Cheng Yiyan's number again.

"Mr. Cheng! I'm William! We'll offer two hundred million! Two hundred million! Please, please give us the agreement..."

"Beep...beep...beep..."

The phone went dead with a dead tone.

That greedy vampire won't answer the phone at all!

"F**k!!!"

William slammed the phone to the ground, sending shards flying.

He knew that conventional methods were useless. That Lu Chen, that seemingly gentle and refined young tycoon, was clearly a wolf that would devour people without spitting out the bones! He had already dug a trap, waiting for them, this group of self-righteous prey, to fall into it!

With nowhere else to turn, William could only pick up the encrypted private line that led directly to the London headquarters with trembling hands.

……

However, it's in London.

It was early morning, and mist swirled along the banks of the Thames.

Inside a luxurious estate in Kensington.

John Stuart, the global chairman of Standard Chartered Group, is sitting in his luxurious study, enjoying a cigar and coffee served by his butler.

He wore a sophisticated three-piece suit, his hair was meticulously combed, and he wore a priceless Patek Philippe watch on his wrist. As a financial tycoon standing tall in the financial district, he possessed an innate arrogance and composure.

"Ring ring ring—"

The phone on the table rang.

John frowned; a call at this hour was usually not a good thing.

"Feed?"

"Mr. John! This is William! Something's happened! The Hong Kong Island branch is about to collapse!"

On the other end of the phone, William's voice sounded unusually flustered.

After listening to William's incoherent report, John's hand, which had been holding a coffee cup, slowly stopped in mid-air.

One billion Hong Kong dollars.

Converted to pounds, that's over 100 million! Even for a multinational giant like Standard Chartered, that's no small sum.

More importantly, if the Hong Kong Island branch were to go bankrupt for this reason, Standard Chartered would become a laughing stock in the financial world, severely damaging the company's share price and reputation.

"Useless!" John cursed coldly. "I told you to redeem the agreement, and this is how you do things? Didn't you swear you'd make a profit when you signed the contract?"

"Mr. John, it's no use cursing me now..." William cried and sobbed like a woman on the other end of the line, "That Golden Harvest Group refuses to budge! They just want to take advantage of us!"

"Jiahe Group..." John put down his coffee cup, a sinister glint in his eyes. "Tell me about this Lu Chen."

"Yes, yes..." William dared not hide anything and told Lu Chen his background like beans spilling from a bamboo tube: "He is very young, only in his twenties. He started from scratch. His main business is Golden Harvest International, and he also owns Golden Harvest Security Company, Asia Television, Golden Harvest Entertainment, Golden Harvest Electronics... He is considered a very powerful young tycoon in Hong Kong. His net worth is conservatively estimated to be over HK$3 billion."

"Three billion..."

John took a puff of his cigar and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

In London, a city teeming with old money, a net worth of 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, while not bad, is not considered top-tier, especially for a Chinese upstart with no roots in the world.

A cruel smirk curled at the corner of John's mouth.

As capitalists who built their empires, their history of wealth accumulation is filled with plunder and bloodshed. When normal business methods fail to solve problems, they never hesitate to resort to "unconventional" means.

"You don't need to worry about this," John said calmly. "I'll make him hand over the agreement on his own. You just need to stabilize the situation at the branch and prevent a run on the bank by depositors."

John was very optimistic about Standard Chartered's development prospects in Hong Kong Island, and even planned to have Standard Chartered Group listed on Hong Kong Island for the second time. At this time, the Hong Kong Island branch must not have any problems!

hang up the phone.

John stood up, walked to the window of his study, and looked out at the garden that symbolized civilization and order.

But in his heart, he had already decided to send that arrogant young man from the East to hell.

"Frick".

John pressed the call bell on the table.

Soon, a burly white man with a scar on his face walked in.

He was John's head bodyguard and also the janitor who took care of his dirty work.

"BOSS." Frick bowed respectfully.

"I remember you have a friend who runs an assassin organization in East Asia?" John asked.

"Yes, Boss," Frick's eyes flashed with a glint of light, "His name is Bill. He founded an organization called the Viper Gang, which mainly operates in North America and East Asia. They specialize in taking on... high-difficulty jobs, such as kidnapping, assassination, and staging accidents. They are professionals in these areas."

"very good!"

John took a check from the drawer and scribbled down a string of numbers.

"One million pounds, as a deposit," John handed the check to Frick. "Have him take his best team to Hong Kong Island. Their target is a Chinese man named Lu Chen."

John's eyes gleamed with greed: "Tie him up, then use some tricks on me, and once I get what I want..."

He made a throat-slitting gesture.

"No problem, Boss," Flick took the check, grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, "Kidnapping a wealthy Chinese man? That's a piece of cake. My friend loves these kinds of easy targets."

"However..." John recalled a detail William had mentioned in his report, "That Lu Chen seems to own a security company?"

"A security company?" Frick scoffed, his face full of disdain. "Security guards in a place like Hong Kong? They're just a bunch of laborers with batons guarding the gates."

"Heh, that's true. Tell your friend to keep things clean. Even though that's still our territory, don't be too arrogant. It's a sensitive time, so don't cause too much of a commotion."

"clear!"

As John watched Flick turn and leave, he could almost picture the wealthy Chinese man kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.

In his view, this was just another easy hunt.

however.

Whether it's John or the overconfident Frick.

They all made a fatal mistake.

They had no idea that Lu Chen was backed by an organization called the Winery.

That wasn't an ordinary security guard.

That was the Grim Reaper Legion that struck fear into the hearts of all of Hong Kong; a terrifying force that made the Italian Mafia kneel and beg for mercy; a battlefield of carnage with maxed-out perversions.

As for the killers from North America?

Ha, it's just a new toy sent to Tian Yangsheng and his gang.