The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

Early morning in Houston.

The long-awaited sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on the exterior wall of a villa covered with wooden planks.

The city, which should have been ravaged by Hurricane Edward, was now calm and peaceful, with only a lingering dampness from the rain in the air.

"Fuck! What happened to the promised Category 5 hurricane?"

John looked up at the clear blue sky and angrily brandished the hammer in his hand.

"I spent a week nailing wooden boards, and this is what I get?"

Despite his grumbling, his tense back quickly relaxed.

The fear brought by the super hurricane has vanished in the blink of an eye.

Not far away, his neighbor Kevin was also cursing as he unloaded the luggage he had just loaded the night before from his pickup truck.

His wife stood at the door holding their child, looking utterly helpless, as if to say, "I knew this would happen."

"Kevin, you're not going to Dallas?"

John laughed and shouted.

"Go to hell!"

Kevin threw his suitcase on the ground and wiped his face.

"I heard the hurricane veered off towards Miami; perfect opportunity to teach those rich bastards a lesson."

"It's a pity that all the emergency supplies I bought for five or six hundred dollars are useless now. The canned food alone would have been enough for us to eat for months."

The same scene can be seen everywhere in cities along the Gulf Coast.

Countless people cursed at the sky, yet felt a sense of relief.

The numerous offshore drilling platforms far from the coast have already been in an uproar.

The workers, who had been anxiously praying in their dormitories, surged onto the deck like a tide and began to revel on it.

"Thank God! I thought I was going to sink to the bottom of the sea with the platform, but I'm still alive and seeing the sun!"

"It's fucking good to be alive! Once I get back to shore, I'd rather beg for food than come back to this godforsaken place to make a living!"

Amid the cheers, everyone on every oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico felt a sense of relief, as if they had escaped a disaster.

Those who had just started working at sea were especially moved to tears.

At the same time, on Wall Street.

The atmosphere on the NYMEX futures trading floor was the complete opposite of that on the Gulf Coast.

On the electronic screen in the trading hall, international oil prices are putting on a dramatic plunge.

When news of Hurricane Edwards changing course arrived, the already chaotic trading hall instantly transformed into a battlefield.

"Close all positions! Close all long positions immediately!"

Tommy, Goldman Sachs' chief investment officer for crude oil futures, was yelling into the phone, speaking at a machine-gun-like pace.

"Hurricane Edwards will not have any adverse impact on oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, and a sharp drop in international oil prices is a foregone conclusion!"

Upon receiving the instruction, the traders reacted swiftly, frantically selling off their long positions in crude oil futures.

Unfortunately, their selling speed couldn't keep up with the rate of decline in international oil prices.

"Fuck! Another invalid order! This isn't a drop, it's a flood!"

One of the traders cursed angrily.

On the computer screen in front of him, the invalid order indicator light kept flashing.

Faced with this situation, he could only quickly cancel the order, then re-place the order, and then cancel it again, creating a vicious cycle.

Other long traders in the trading floor, and even many futures traders at major financial institutions on Wall Street, were doing the same thing.

They were all more anxious and frustrated than the last.

This is a race against time, and every delay means the loss of real money.

Countless short sellers, on the other hand, are enjoying this exciting and glorious moment as if it were a festival, a feast of wealth for them.

Some people are whistling and popping champagne, while others are already deciding whether to buy a Ferrari or a Lamborghini.

The balance of wealth tipped dramatically at this moment, with countless bulls soaring to the rooftops and many bears becoming rich overnight!

Thousands of miles away, in the capital city.

Night had fallen over the city, and the evening breeze carried a hint of coolness, dispelling the daytime heat.

The streets are now filled with families strolling around, stretching their muscles, and heading home for a good night's sleep.

The headquarters of China Aviation Oil, in a small conference room.

The air conditioner was blowing cold air, but it couldn't suppress the boiling enthusiasm.

"International oil prices have fallen to $125.3, no, $125! The drop is too fast!"

The number one trader's voice trembled with excitement.

Before the words were even finished, international oil prices had already plummeted below $125.

The latest price is $124.8, and it's still falling rapidly.

"$124.4...$124 already! Holy crap, is this going to crash?"

"It's dropped to $123.5. At that price, the profit has exceeded $3500 million. Shouldn't it be time to close the position and exit the market?"

When trader number five called out the word "close position," everyone immediately turned to look at Ling Yun.

At this moment, everyone looked at him as if he were a prophetic god!

From 2 PM until now, in just over seven hours, Lingyun has already made a fortune of $35 million, which is about 250 million RMB.

Although he put out 300 million, only 40 to 50 million was actually put into the market.

In other words, he earned a six-fold profit in just seven hours.

He's definitely a god of investment; even if the God of Wealth descended upon him, he'd be no better than this!

Looking at Lingyun, he remained unmoved, completely unaffected by the frenzied market atmosphere.

He sat imposingly in his chair, staring intently at the plummeting international oil prices, showing no intention of closing his positions.

Just then, Mr. Sun, who was standing behind him, reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"Xiao Ling, we've made enough money this time, shouldn't we close our position and secure our profits?"

"The way international oil prices are falling is somewhat irrational; there might be a rebound at any time that could wipe out investment profits."

Ling Yun turned to look at him and shook her head confidently.

"It's not time to close out yet, Mr. Sun. My target price is $120. We'll liquidate all our positions once international oil prices drop to that level."

"This is just a trial run; we shouldn't make any big moves. Otherwise, I would definitely keep increasing my short positions and take this opportunity to make more profits."

"$120!"

Mr. Sun gasped.

"Could international oil prices really fall below $120 this time? That's terrifying, even bigger than the 5.3% drop on the first day of the month."

"If that's really the case, you could make a whopping seventy or eighty million dollars this time. That's not making money, that's robbing people!"

Before he could finish speaking, Director Xie immediately provided the accurate figures.

"If international oil prices really fall below $120, close out your position at $120. Lingyun could make around $8200 million this time."

"According to the profit-sharing ratio we agreed on, Lingyun will receive more than US$65 million, and China Aviation Oil will receive about US$16.5 million, totaling more than 100 million."

"Making over 100 million yuan in just a few hours—how much aviation fuel would you have to sell to earn that much? That's outrageous!"

The meeting room erupted in cheers once again as the profit figure was announced.

If the goal is achieved, it would mean earning at least fifteen times the amount in a single day, which would be an absolute miracle.

"Wow, that's incredible! I'm totally impressed!"

The second trader exclaimed in a low voice.

The other traders did the same, exchanging glances and giving each other a thumbs up.

"Well, this is what they mean by 'there are always people more capable than you, and there's always something beyond your understanding.' I've really learned something new today."

"I finally believe that post from before. Ling Yun is indeed the genius trader at Yuanda Group, making billions in dividends every month—it's insane!"

While the traders were whispering among themselves, Ling Yun was also analyzing the latest trends in international oil prices for General Manager Sun.

"The downward momentum of the oil price crash triggered by Hurricane Edwards' sudden change of course is far from over."

"Actually, there's another factor at play: the poor international economic and financial market environment. The combination of these two factors caused this sharp drop."

"Given the current situation, international oil prices are unlikely to rebound today. Once they fall below $120, they should consolidate at low levels. Any rebound is expected tomorrow."

Just then, international oil prices fell below another important level.

"122.95, international oil prices have fallen below $123."

Upon hearing the report from the fourth trader, Ling Yun immediately turned to look at the international oil price chart on the computer screen.