The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

In just three trading days, several crude oil futures investment teams quickly completed their deployments, then went quiet, keeping their achievements hidden!

Wait patiently for the global financial crisis to erupt, then wield your sharpest sickle and revel in the most extravagant feast of wealth.

Conversely, the two securities investment teams have been making frequent moves, continuously increasing their efforts to short the international financial market, and their reaping of wealth has never stopped.

The more ruthlessly they reaped their profits, the more exaggeratedly Ling Yun's personal wealth grew, soaring into the sky like a rocket!

As time goes on, the footsteps of the financial crisis are getting closer and clearer.

News came from New York on Sunday night.

The head of Lehman Brothers’ European and Asian operations announced his departure at the end of the year, and several other high-ranking executives have also announced their departure or are about to step down!

But can Lehman Brothers really hold out until the end of the year?

Given their current state of collapse, hardly anyone in the financial market believes they can survive until the end of the year!

Merrill Lynch is in no better shape, also starting massive layoffs, announcing the removal of more than 4,000 employees worldwide at once.

One after another, high-ranking executives resigned, all wanting to escape this leaky ship as soon as possible.

Following Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch's two Hong Kong Island branches, several other branches under their umbrella also announced their closure.

Following this, a series of significant rumors circulated in the international financial markets.

Several top Wall Street financial institutions, including Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, are frantically searching for buyers around the world.

The two most eager financial institutions were Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, two of the five major investment banks on Wall Street!

Unfortunately, very few people responded!

Even Morgan Stanley, the world's second-largest investment bank, extended an olive branch to CIC, hoping that CIC would invest in acquiring a portion of Morgan Stanley's shares.

Moreover, he contacted Vice President Wang directly through US Treasury Secretary Paulson, hoping that China could extend a helping hand to Morgan Stanley.

When Vice President Wang's chief secretary and Zhongtou Real Estate Director approached Ling Yun for advice, Ling Yun gave a very clear answer.

"We can increase our stake in Morgan Stanley, but not now. We can wait until after the financial crisis erupts and the international financial markets hit rock bottom before making a move!"

"More importantly, Morgan Stanley is cooperating with the US government, trying to appease us with a two-faced approach to prevent us from selling off our stocks and bonds, which would severely damage Morgan Stanley!"

"News from the Japanese financial markets suggests that Morgan Stanley is in secret negotiations with Mitsubishi Bank, pressuring Mitsubishi to inject capital to save Morgan Stanley; this is their real objective."

Upon hearing Ling Yun's analysis, and combining it with the latest intelligence from the US and Japanese financial markets, Vice President Wang and Zhongtou Real Estate Director quickly made their decision.

Lingyun's analysis is absolutely correct. None of those bastards on Wall Street, the US government, or the Federal Reserve are good people; they're all playing double-dealing tricks.

Once this was confirmed, Vice President Wang quickly gave a clear answer.

China Investment Corporation (CIC) has refused to increase its stake in Morgan Stanley, nor will it sell off its Morgan Stanley shares and bonds in large quantities, maintaining its current 9.9% stake.

Seeing that they couldn't take advantage of China Investment Corporation, Morgan Stanley and the U.S. Treasury Department had no choice but to back down!

In the blink of an eye, it's already September 10th.

8 PM, United Securities Investment Team Meeting Room.

Lingyun is currently meeting with representatives from CIC, China Aviation Oil, and CICC to discuss operational strategies after the US stock market opens tonight.

Just then, an investment manager from CICC suddenly knocked on the door and entered the conference room, excitedly reporting the latest developments.

"Good news, Lehman Brothers just released its third-quarter financial report, announcing a massive loss of $39 billion, the largest single-quarter loss in its history."

"Market rumors suggest that Lehman Brothers is attempting to sell a 55% stake in its asset management company, spin off $300 billion worth of real estate assets, and also plans to write off $560 billion in non-performing assets."

"Lehman Brothers' CEO attempted to package these distressed assets and inject them into a new company, but the financial markets seriously questioned its feasibility, and opposition was constant..."

Upon hearing this good news, everyone in the meeting room was overjoyed and almost cheered in unison.

Before the investment manager could finish speaking, Lingyun gave a decisive conclusion.

"Lehman Brothers is completely finished. Its management has gone completely mad. Even if a god descended, he couldn't save this once top Wall Street investment bank."

"Notify all investment teams to prepare to sell; Lehman Brothers' stock price will completely collapse tonight."

"I estimate that Lehman Brothers' stock will plummet by about 50% tonight. Let's use a 50% drop as a benchmark..."

These words shocked everyone present.

"Wow! A single-day plunge of over 50%! Lehman Brothers is the fourth largest investment bank on Wall Street; such a crazy drop in its stock price is an avalanche!"

"My God, if this really happens, we could make billions of dollars just by shorting Lehman Brothers. That's insane!"

Ling Yun glanced at the investment directors and nodded confidently.

"We've been laying our cards on Lehman Brothers for so long, now it's time to reap the rewards and, incidentally, kick Lehman Brothers bank into hell."

"Hahaha"

Everyone burst into laughter, secretly marveling at the spectacle.

I'd only heard that this young man had a grudge against Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, so how come he's so ruthless towards Lehman Brothers?

What grudge could possibly warrant such a death, such utter destruction?

After the laughter subsided, Ling Yun resumed the previous topic.

"Once Lehman Brothers' stock price falls below 50%, immediately and quickly sell off your holdings, gradually closing out any short positions. Never liquidate all positions at once."

"That would likely attract the attention of the SEC. It's Wednesday now, so I need to finish clearing out my positions before the US stock market closes on Saturday morning."

At this point, his tone suddenly became much more serious.

"Everyone must remember to close all short positions in Lehman Brothers before the US stock market closes on Saturday morning. Leave no short positions open."

"I predict that Lehman Brothers will go bankrupt next week. Once Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt, its stock will immediately stop trading and completely lose liquidity."

"Next, the SEC will likely get involved in dealing with the Lehman Brothers claims, and we can't afford to fall into the SEC's trap."

The investment directors exchanged a quick glance and then nodded in unison.

"Don't worry, we will definitely process all the short positions in Lehman Brothers in a timely manner and secure our profits!"

"We can make a billion dollars tonight, what more could we ask for? We don't even need to wait until Saturday morning, we can complete our liquidation."

"Excellent, that would be perfect."

Ling Yun smiled and nodded, then changed the subject.

"You guys chat for a bit, and while you're at it, check out some relevant international financial news to verify the situation. I'll go to the lounge to make a phone call."

After saying that, he got up and went to the lounge next door.

Watching him leave, the investment directors exchanged knowing smiles.

They knew perfectly well that Ling Yun had called Chairman Zhao of Yuanda Group to remotely control Yuanda's Hong Kong branch to close out its short positions in Lehman Brothers and lock in profits.

That's exactly the case!

After entering the lounge, Ling Yun quickly dialed Chairman Zhao's number.

Once he was certain that no one else was with Chairman Zhao, he immediately issued a trading order.

"Lehman Brothers is completely finished. Its stock price is likely to plummet by about 50% tonight. It's time to close out positions and get out. We must complete the sale by Saturday morning."

Upon hearing this, Chairman Zhao was so happy he almost flew away on the spot.

"Great! I'll forward your trading instructions to the Hong Kong Island branch immediately and instruct them to execute them decisively!"

"Now that Lehman Brothers has collapsed, does that mean a global financial crisis is about to erupt?"

Ling Yun hesitated for a moment before giving a positive answer.

"That's right, this global financial crisis will erupt next week!"