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

Monday, 9:30 a.m.

A-shares opened.

Everyone expected a devastating limit-down opening, but reality delivered a harsh slap in the face to onlookers.

Huaying Entertainment opened 5% lower, but then a mysterious huge buy order suddenly entered the market, like a forceful lifting hand, pulling the stock price back into positive territory.

It even rose slightly by 0.5%.

"How is this possible?!"

In the trading room of the Hong Kong Ark Fund, Xie Yu stared at the screen, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

"How can such negative news drive the price up? Has Wang Zhonglei gone mad? Is he using the company's cash flow to prop up the stock price?"

On the screen, payments continued to pour in.

At the same time, the tide of public opinion began to turn strangely.

Overnight, tens of thousands of "rational and objective" accounts appeared on Weibo.

Don't believe everything you hear. How can you believe what that madman, Lao Cui, says?

Personal grudges should not be brought up to the listed company.

[Huaying's fundamentals are very good; this is malicious short selling! Support Mr. Wang in protecting his rights!]

Fan Bingbing is also a victim; I feel sorry for her.

Online trolls.

The overwhelming online trolls, like a group of hardworking dung beetles, are trying to turn that stinking dung ball into a hot commodity.

"Brother Che, they're cleaning up the floor."

Xie Yu slammed the tablet on the table, his hands trembling with anger. "And this amount of funding is suspicious. Besides Huaying itself, there should be several other institutions helping them prop up the price. This is a coordinated resistance!"

"Should we escalate the conflict?" Xie Yu's eyes hardened. "I still have two hundred million US dollars worth of ammunition. If we throw it at them, I don't believe we can't crush them."

Lin Che sat in the boss's chair, trimming a cigar.

Click.

The cigar cutter cuts the cigarette butt with a crisp sound.

"What's the rush?"

Lin Che picked up a match and slowly struck it. The smell of sulfur filled the air.

"Smashing it now would just be helping them unload their stock."

He stared at the stubbornly rising red candlesticks, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

"Wang Zhonglei is now gambling, gambling that the regulators won't really take action, gambling that netizens' memories only last seven days, so he's willing to drain the company's liquidity to prop up the stock price, just to create the illusion that 'I'm very stable.'"

"If you dump your shares now, you'll be walking right into his trap, turning it into a war of attrition between the bulls and bears."

Xie Yu was taken aback for a moment: "So we're just going to watch?"

"Watch."

Lin Che exhaled a puff of blue smoke, which swirled in the air, blurring his cold and stern face.

"It's rare to see someone so stubborn and defiant; we have to let them finish their act."

He stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, Beijing remains bustling with traffic.

"Xie Yu, you must remember, when it comes to short selling, the top hunters never rely on capital to fight head-on."

"It's about leveraging existing momentum."

"The fire has only just started, it's only burned the surface. If Wang Zhonglei thinks he can put it out, then let him put it out."

Lin Che stretched out a finger and gently tapped it on the glass, as if he were pointing at the location of the Huaying Building.

"After he had poured out all the water, he discovered that the fire had started underground..."

"That was when true despair began."

……

11:00 AM.

The red secure phone on Lin Che's desk rang.

The ringtone was peculiar—dull, urgent, like a warning.

Xie Yu immediately shut up, even subconsciously holding his breath. He knew where this phone call was leading.

Lin Che remained calm.

He placed the cigar on the ashtray and picked up the receiver.

"Feed".

"It's me." A frail and authoritative voice came from the other end of the phone. There was no small talk. "The matter online has caused quite a stir."

"I saw it," Lin Che said casually. "I'm watching the show too."

"Just watching the show?"

There was a pause on the other end, then the tone became meaningful, "Lin Che, Weiguang just withdrew its investment, and then Huaying went bankrupt right after. Isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?"

This is a form of criticism.

The regulators aren't stupid.

Even without evidence, this precise "targeted blasting" reveals the mastermind behind it all.

Lin Che smiled.

The laughter was soft, revealing a sense of openness.

"Boss, Weiguang was just lucky."

He leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. "We were victims too. We cut our budget because we couldn't stand those exorbitant salaries and padded dramas. Unexpectedly, we avoided this pitfall by sheer luck."

"We are a law-abiding and tax-paying company."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

That silence carried immense pressure, as if it could crawl up the telephone line and reach you.

Lin Che didn't speak, and didn't even move.

Only the fingers holding the cigar remained as steady as a rock.

"The higher-ups are taking this matter very seriously."

The old leader's voice came again, this time with less probing and more chilling intent: "The State Administration of Taxation has established a special task force, which will immediately be stationed in Wuxi and Khorgos."

"No matter who is involved, no matter what kind of capital is behind them, we will investigate to the end."

"We will show absolutely no leniency."

This is the signal.

Lin Che's eyes lit up instantly, like a wolf spotting its prey in the dark.

"I support the country's decision."

Lin Che sat up straight, his tone impeccably sincere, "If technical support is needed, Weiguang's Abyss system is ready at any time, and we are willing to cooperate with any investigation."

"Well, you'd better watch yourself."

Beep, beep, beep.

The phone hangs up.

Lin Che slowly put down the receiver.

His lips curled up little by little, eventually turning into an extremely cold smile.

"Brother Che?" Xie Yu asked tentatively.

"The will of the nation has arrived."

Lin Che picked up the half-smoked cigar and stubbed it out hard in the ashtray.

Sparks flew everywhere, and finally it turned into a wisp of ashes.

"The special task force has been deployed and the nature of the case has been determined."

Xie Yu gasped.

He knew what this meant.

This is not a commercial dispute; this is a criminal case.

Once the special investigation team intervenes, all the market-stabilizing funds and public relations efforts will be futile in the face of the state apparatus.

"Wang Zhonglei is finished," Xie Yu muttered to himself.

"It's not just him."

Lin Che stood up and straightened his collar.

"The entire entertainment industry of the old era will be buried with this."

He looked at Xie Yu, his eyes sharp as knives.

"Notify the trading team to load all the ammunition."

"No need to wait until next week."

Lin Che glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Let the bullets fly a little longer."

"Within three days, we will take over a new era."

……

Meanwhile, at the Huaying Building.

Wang Zhonglei just hung up a phone call.

His hands were still shaking, and the phone slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, shattering the screen.

"Mr. Wang?"

The secretary carefully picked up the phone.

Wang Zhonglei slumped in his chair as if he hadn't heard anything, his face ashen like a dead man.

That phone call just now was from his last remaining supporter.

Just one sentence:

"Don't contact me anymore. Take care of yourself."

The sunlight outside the window was still bright, but when it shone on him, he felt no warmth at all.

He stared at the stock price curve on his computer screen, which was still stubbornly rising.

That was a "false prosperity" he created by spending two billion in cash.

In hindsight, that wasn't a lifeline.

Those were paper money burned for myself.

"It's over..."

Wang Zhonglei muttered to himself.

Just then, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

The CFO stormed in, his face deathly pale: "Mr. Wang! The bank... suddenly withdrew its loans! Five hundred million yuan of working capital has been frozen! Our stabilization fund has been severed!"

Boom!

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded in Wang Zhonglei's mind.

He knew this was Lin Che's signal.

That man didn't even need to lift a finger; just standing there and watching was enough to bring him to his doom.

"Lin Che..."

Wang Zhonglei gritted his teeth and squeezed out those two words, filled with endless hatred and fear.

"You're ruthless."