The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

No one was destined to sleep that night.

Three o'clock in the morning.

Li Wenbo was still staring intently at his phone screen.

His eyes were dry and bloodshot, but he dared not blink, afraid of missing even a single pixel change.

Just now, ofo's app crashed and then restarted again.

The "System busy" pop-up finally disappeared, replaced by an interface that made him question his existence.

That was a long, endless number.

[Your refund request is pending; you are currently ranked 8,452,109th.]

"Eight... more than eight million?"

Li Wenbo thought he was seeing things.

He rubbed his eyes and counted again.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million.

That's right.

Ahead of him, 8.45 million people were queuing up to get their 199 yuan back.

"Are you crazy...?"

Li Wenbo's hand trembled, and the phone hit his nose, but he didn't care about the pain.

He took a screenshot with trembling hands and posted it on his WeChat Moments.

The caption consisted of only two words: "Despair."

However, the moment he refreshed the page, he realized he wasn't alone.

This screenshot is being shared across the entire internet, including WeChat Moments, Weibo, Zhihu, and Tieba.

Some people are ranked at 300 million, some at 900 million, and some have just submitted their applications but are ranked over 1100 million.

What kind of concept is this?

1000 million people.

199 yuan per person.

This was an unprecedented financial run.

It didn't happen in a bank lobby, it didn't happen at a stock exchange, but it happened in a yellow bicycle app.

The numbers are still changing.

It's not decreasing, it's increasing.

Every second, hundreds or thousands of new users join.

.......

.......

Zhongguancun, the internet finance center.

ofo's headquarters building now resembles a sinking Titanic.

The once spirited young employees are now huddled at their workstations, no one speaks, and no one even dares to breathe loudly.

Only that huge data monitoring screen was still tirelessly flashing red light.

Current queue length: 10,023,567

It's over 10 million.

Dai Wei sat in the main seat of the conference room.

His shirt was wrinkled and the collar was open, revealing a section of his bloodless neck.

The ashtray in front of me was full, and the overflowing ash was scattered on the mahogany table.

"Mr. Zhu is not answering the phone."

"Mr. Zhang from Matrix Partners said he was attending a meeting abroad."

"Alibaba's investment department... has been shut down."

With each result announced by his assistant, Dai Wei's body trembled almost imperceptibly.

This is the true face of capital.

When you are a unicorn, they will kneel before you with money in hand, calling you "General Manager Dai" or "the second Jack Ma".

When you become a sick, dying donkey, they run faster than anyone else, afraid of getting a single drop of blood on them.

"Where's the money?"

Dai Wei suddenly raised his head, his eyes terrifyingly empty.

"How much money do we have left in the account?"

The CFO kept his head down, his voice barely audible.

"Three...three hundred million."

"Three hundred million?" Dai Wei laughed hysterically, as if he had heard a joke. "Heh, three hundred million."

There are 20 billion yuan in outstanding deposits and 5 million yuan in outstanding payments to suppliers.

That 300 million isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap.

"Transfer the money away."

Dai Wei suddenly lowered his voice, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

"Transfer to an overseas account, or any shell company... it can't stay here."

"President Dai!"

The CFO suddenly looked up, his face ashen.

"This is embezzlement! The regulators are already watching, and if this money is touched again, we...we'll go to jail!"

"Go to jail?"

Dai Wei suddenly stood up and swept the ashtray off the table.

Whoosh!

The sound of shattering glass echoed in the deathly silent conference room.

"Staying here is the same as dying! Being divided up by those scoundrels is also the same as dying!"

"I am Dai Wei! I am the student union president of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University! I cannot lose like this! I cannot be purged like a beggar!"

He roared like a trapped beast.

But no one responded to him.

The executives kept their heads down, their eyes darting around.

Some people are even secretly using their phones to edit their resumes or contact headhunters.

The ship is sinking.

No one wanted to die with the captain.

.......

.......

Six o'clock in the morning.

Before dawn, the smog in Beijing was very heavy.

A black Maybach silently pulled up across the street from the Internet Finance Center.

The car window was rolled down a crack.

Lin Che sat in the back seat, holding a cup of hot coffee.

Although it was only six o'clock, thirty or forty people had already gathered at the entrance of the building across the street.

They were wearing thick down jackets and masks, clutching their phones tightly in their hands.

Those were the first debt collectors who felt hopeless online and decided to try their luck offline.

"Boss, there are more and more people here."

Shen Nan glanced at the rearview mirror, somewhat worried.

"Someone on Weibo just started a call to action, saying that if you go to the headquarters and make a scene, you can get your money back on the spot. I estimate that in another two hours, this place will be completely surrounded."

Lin Che took a sip of coffee.

Bitter, scalding hot.

"This is unregulated finance."

Lin Che looked at the figures shivering in the cold wind.

"Dai Wei thought he was doing the sharing economy, but he was actually playing with fire."

"He took users' deposits and used them to invest in GG, build cars, pay high salaries to employees, and even buy financial products."

"He thought that as long as new users kept coming in, this game of musical chairs could go on forever."

Lin Che put down his cup and gently tapped the leather armrest with his fingertips.

"But he forgot a most basic common sense."

Money has an owner.

"When ten million owners come at the same time to demand their money back, not even a god can save him."

At this moment, several elderly people who got up early joined the group.

Some people started shouting and cursing, while others tried to shove the security guards at the building entrance.

That anxiety and violent emotion could be felt even across two streets.

"Let's go."

Lin Che rolled up the car window, shutting out the noise outside.

"The real show is just beginning."

"Boss, where to?"

"Back to the company."

Lin Che leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

"Get that 'trusteeship agreement' ready."

"When Dai Wei is desperate, when he realizes that kneeling won't help."

"He will come begging to me."

The car started and slowly drove away.

Behind them, a larger and larger crowd gathered at the foot of the building.

Someone raised a loudspeaker, and a piercing electrical blast shattered the morning tranquility.

"ofo is a scam! Give me back my hard-earned money!"

That shout was like the final death knell.