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

June in Beijing should also be hot and humid.

But for China's internet finance sector, this day was a harsh winter.

The photo of Tang Jun being handcuffed spread to every WeChat group and investor forum across the country in just half an hour.

That was more than just a photograph; it was the final push that toppled a domino effect.

Panic is a medium that spreads even faster than the virus itself.

At 2 PM, the servers of the three largest P2P vertical portal websites in the country all went down.

Because at that instant, more than ten million concurrent requests flooded in at the same time, and everyone was doing the same thing—withdrawing money.

However, what greeted them was utter silence.

"System maintenance in progress", "Network connection timed out", "Current queue size: 452,102 people"...

Even worse, the app simply won't open, the official customer service phone number is no longer in service, and the office is deserted.

Despair spread like wildfire across the internet.

……

Microlight Technology, Headquarters Building.

Inside the massive operations command center, hundreds of engineers stood ready.

On the central screen, the Abyss system, which was originally used to monitor risks, has now switched to a different logic—[Funds Inflow Monitoring].

Lin Che stood on the command platform, holding a glass of ice water, looking at the steep, almost vertical curve on the screen.

That's the amount of "deposit" requests from the Weiguang Wallet.

"Boss, the traffic is too high."

The operations director rushed over, sweating profusely, his voice trembling with excitement, "In just three hours since the press conference ended, our new user registrations have exceeded eight million! The real-name authentication interface was almost overwhelmed, but thankfully Xie Yu had expanded its capacity tenfold in advance."

"And..." He swallowed hard, "the first thing these users did after registering was to transfer all the money in their other bank cards into Weiguang Wallet."

"They are running for their lives."

Lin Che shook the ice cubes in his glass, making a crisp sound. "When a forest catches fire, all the animals instinctively run to the only source of water. Now, the glimmer of light is that source of water."

He turned around and looked at the group of busy employees behind him.

"Has the announcement been sent out?"

"It's out!" Li Wenbo answered loudly. "The 'Weiguang Asset Risk Hedging Guide' has been pushed out across the entire network. We have clearly informed users that Weiguang is not involved in P2P business, all funds are held in the central bank's reserve fund account, and we have opened a green redemption channel for 'whitelist assets'."

"very good."

Lin Che put down his water glass, his eyes blazing. "Open the floodgates completely. Tell the tech department I want zero latency. At this point, even a one-second delay will exacerbate user panic. I want them to experience the feeling that once their money enters Weiguang, it's as safe as if it's in a safe."

……

A cubicle in an office building in Shanghai.

Xiao Zhang, an office worker, was hiding in a toilet stall, her hands shaking so badly she couldn't hold her phone.

Just now, he discovered that he couldn't withdraw the 80,000 yuan he had invested in the "treasure bowl".

That was the dowry money he was saving for his wedding next year.

"It's over...it's all over..."

Xiao Zhang leaned against the partition, tears streaming down his face.

He scrolled through his WeChat Moments, which was filled with QR codes for rights protection groups, and some people were saying that the boss of a certain platform had already fled to the United States.

In his panic, he saw the pop-up message pushed by Weiguang.

[Weiguang Reminder: Your fund security is our bottom line. Weiguang Wallet is fully managed by the central bank, allowing for instant deposits and withdrawals.]

Normally, Xiao Zhang might have thought this was just an ordinary guy.

But today, when all apps are "unable to connect," this message is like a lifeline.

With trembling fingers, he opened the blue glimmer app.

The interface is simple and clean, without any fancy "20% annualized return" to lure users in; there are only large "Balance" and "Transfer In" buttons.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, he transferred the remaining 20,000 yuan from his other salary card to Weiguang.

"bite."

Less than a second.

My phone vibrated, and the screen displayed: [Transfer successful].

In that instant, Xiao Zhang even heard a solid sound similar to metal hitting the ground.

It really can be stored! It really didn't crash!

This unique "certainty" gained amidst extreme uncertainty instilled in Xiao Zhang an almost religious, fanatical trust.

He immediately transferred all the money from his parents' retirement account, and even the money he had saved to pay off their mortgage, into Weiguang.

"Only here is safe...only here..."

Xiao Zhang muttered to himself, gripping his phone tightly.

……

Such scenes are playing out simultaneously in millions of corners across the country.

This is an unprecedented massive migration of funds.

Hundreds of billions of yuan fled from those shaky P2P platforms and even from small and medium-sized banks where panic was spreading, converging into a massive torrent that rushed into the Weiguang system.

Microlight Headquarters, Command Center.

The numbers on the big screen were jumping at a dizzying speed.

Total amount of Weiguang Pocket Money Pool:

¥ 32,400,000,000

¥ 45,800,000,000

¥ 61,200,000,000

Each refresh represents a growth of billions.

"It's broken 100 billion..."

Xie Yu stared at the number that had surpassed twelve digits, slumped into his chair, his eyes glazed over. "Boss, are we... are we profiting from this national crisis?"

Profiteering from national disaster?

Lin Che walked behind him and looked at the green ocean that represented the inflow of funds.

"No, Xie Yu, you need to understand one thing."

Lin Che's voice was deep and powerful, "If this money doesn't enter the glimmer of light, where will it go? It will become like a frightened bird, or be smuggled by underground banks, or cause an even bigger bank run. By taking in this money, we have stabilized the financial foundation of society."

He reached out and made a grasping motion in the air.

"And it's not just about money."

"This is trust, the most scarce hard currency in this era."

Lin Che knew very well that although most of these hundreds of billions of yuan were users' current accounts, Weiguang could not use them at will.

But the "user stickiness" and "payment scenario penetration" they bring are invaluable.

When someone puts all their money into your app, they can't live without you anymore.

He would use Weiguang Pay to buy breakfast, pay his credit card bills, and pay his utility bills.

The glimmer of light will become an integral part of his life, serving as an infrastructure like water and electricity.

This is Lin Che's true ambition.

He didn't want the high interest rates of those P2P platforms; they were like blood-stained steamed buns.

What he wants are the "tolls" and "data rights" left behind when this huge amount of money flows through the micro-light pipeline.

"Boss!"

CFO Wang Yue suddenly exclaimed in a shrill voice, "The funds are flowing in too fast! The central bank's reserve fund account is about to reach its limit! If we don't apply for an expansion soon, it will trigger the risk control circuit breaker!"

"Then apply."

Lin Che remained calm. "Call the Payment and Settlement Department of the People's Bank of China directly and tell them that all the safe-haven funds in China are now flowing into Weiguang. If they don't want to see these hundreds of billions of yuan running around outside and causing riots, they should give us the green light immediately."

Wang Yue was taken aback: "Was that...wasn't that tone a bit too harsh?"

"hard?"

Lin Che smiled.

That is the strong's contempt for and reshaping of the rules.

"Right now, we're helping them maintain stability. At this critical juncture, Weiguang is the ballast stone for financial stability. Let alone expansion, I'd even ask them to open up all the interfaces of commercial banks to me, and they'd have to agree."

Wang Yue gritted her teeth, picked up the phone, and dialed.

Five minutes later.

The red alert that was flashing on the big screen was deactivated.

The central bank approved Weiguang's expansion application almost instantly and upgraded the reserve fund account to "special grade".

This means that the state has tacitly approved of Weiguang's status as a "safe haven for funds."

Lin Che stared at the number that was still rising wildly, his heart unmoved.

In the previous life, this wave of P2P platform collapses lasted for a whole year, evaporating trillions of dollars in wealth and leaving countless people with nothing.

In this life, although the avalanche still occurred, he used the great ship of glimmer of light to catch the most panicked passengers.

"Xie Yu".

Lin Che suddenly spoke.

"exist."

"Press that red button."

Lin Che pointed to an inconspicuous functional module in the corner of the Abyss system.

"What is that?" Xie Yu glanced at it, his pupils shrinking slightly.

[Function: Discounted Acquisition Matching Engine for Non-Performing Assets]

"Since everyone's rushing to cash out, those debts that aren't completely ruined must be dirt cheap right now, right?"

A hint of businessman's shrewdness and ruthlessness flashed in Lin Che's eyes.

"Notify the asset management department to activate 'Operation Vulture.' For platforms that are on the whitelist but are still experiencing a run on their funds, Microlight can provide liquidity support, but only if—"

"We want to acquire their core debt portfolio at a 90% discount."

Xie Yu gasped.

One fold.

This is taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

But at times like these, even a 90% discount can be a lifesaver for platforms desperate to recoup funds and survive.

"I understand." Xie Yu's finger hovered over the Enter key. "So this is what you meant by... every snowflake becomes a bargaining chip?"

"right."

Lin Che turned and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at Beijing, which had been completely plunged into darkness.

The lights of every house remained bright, as if nothing had happened.

But under those lights, the landscape of wealth is undergoing a dramatic reshaping.

"When an avalanche occurs, some people are buried, and some people are crying."

Lin Che's reflection was mirrored on the glass, blending into the city.

"And we are building mountains."