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

The air in the command room froze.

Only the "buy all in" order that had just been typed hung above everyone's heads like a silent mockery.

On the other side of the screen.

Mr. Ma's brow furrowed into a deep frown.

He didn't stop Lin Che's crazy bet, but that suffocating silence was more oppressive than a roar.

"reason."

Joseph Tsai broke the silence.

This Yale law graduate, Ali's true steward, is now trying to see through Lin Che's skin with the scrutinizing gaze of someone examining an X-ray, all from across the screen.

Give me a reason not to cut losses, but instead to increase my position.

He took off his glasses, breathed on them, and gently wiped them with a soft cloth.

"If your logic cannot convince me, I will cut off all of Weiguang Group's funding channels in five minutes."

This is an ultimatum.

This is also the last chance.

Lin Che did not speak.

He simply turned around and unplugged the HDMI cable from the projector.

The screen went black.

The screen that was originally displaying Muddy Waters' short-selling report has disappeared.

"Fatty, turn off the lights."

Lin Che's voice rang out in the darkness.

"Smack."

The incandescent bulb went out.

The faint morning light was blocked out of the window by heavy blackout curtains.

The entire room was plunged into absolute darkness, with only the indicator lights on the server racks flashing like the eyes of a wild beast.

Lin Che plugged in a new data cable.

This time, the connection was to his old Lenovo laptop covered in cartoon stickers.

"The elites in this muddy water made a fatal mistake."

As the Enter key was pressed.

A beam of blue light pierced the darkness and projected onto the huge screen.

That's not a boring Excel spreadsheet.

Instead, it's a map of China.

To be precise, it is a "heat map" that is burning.

"What is this?"

There was a slight fluctuation in Mr. Ma's voice.

"This is God's perspective."

Lin Che moved the mouse.

On the map, countless dots of light began to flash.

They bypassed the dazzling first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and like mercury, seeped into the capillaries forgotten by mainstream media.

Zhumadian, Henan.

Liangshan, Sichuan.

Bijie, Guizhou.

Dingxi, Gansu.

Each point of light represents a transaction that has just taken place.

"Muddy Waters says that offering free shipping for 9.9 yuan doesn't make any business sense."

Lin Che hovered the cursor over a red dot located deep in the Dabie Mountains.

double click.

A pop-up order detail appears: "[Thickened flannel pajamas, 9.9 yuan, already sold in a group]".

"An analyst drinking Starbucks in Manhattan certainly wouldn't understand."

Lin Che turned around, and the blue fluorescent light reflected on his face, outlining his features like a cold, hard sculpture.

"The cost of leftover stock in Yiwu is 4 yuan per kilogram, while ZTO Express charges us 2.5 yuan per kilogram. Including packaging, the cost is less than 7 yuan."

He extended two fingers and made a pinching motion in the air.

"Net profit of 2.9 yuan per order."

"This is an incomprehensible scam within the Fifth Ring Road."

"But outside the Fifth Ring Road."

Lin Che suddenly waved his hand, pointing to the map that had been set off by a single spark.

"This is a basic need."

"This is the first time that hundreds of millions of people who have never been reached by e-commerce are experiencing modern civilization at a price they can afford."

On the screen, the red dots began to jump faster.

It's like a spreading plague, or a silent revolution.

The originally black map was gradually swallowed up by the red ocean.

That's not dry data.

Those are countless living, breathing people voting for the life they want with the clicks of their fingertips.

This moment.

Only heavy breathing could be heard in the command room.

Those traders who were originally prepared to laugh at the spectacle were now gaping, as if they had witnessed some kind of miracle.

On the other end of the video call.

Joseph Tsai put his glasses back on.

He leaned forward, almost disappearing into the screen.

As a top investor on Wall Street, he understood all too well what this chart meant.

flow.

Unprecedented, extremely low-cost, and highly sticky traffic.

"Muddy Waters is attacking us for fabricating data because these people don't even exist in their model."

Lin Che closed his laptop.

The light and shadow disappeared.

Darkness enveloped the room again, but a certain flame had been ignited in everyone's hearts.

"Arrogance is the greatest obstacle to survival."

Lin Che's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the darkness.

"Muddy Waters lost because they were too arrogant."

"They think they are hunting down lies, but in reality, they are denying the true existence of half of China."

A long silence.

Mr. Ma suddenly smiled.

It's a sense of relief after unloading a heavy burden, and also an appreciation when seeing one's own kind.

"President Cai."

Mr. Ma turned to look at his partner.

What do you think?

A glint of light flashed in Tsai Chung-hsin's eyes.

He didn't answer Mr. Ma, but stared intently at Lin Che, as if he were looking at a newly discovered gold mine.

"If we define this as 'strategic loss for growth'..."

Joseph Tsai's fingers tapped rapidly on the table as he spoke at an extremely fast pace.

"9.9 yuan is not for selling goods, it's for customer acquisition cost (CAC)."

"By incurring a loss of a few dollars, we can gain a high-frequency user who links their bank card and develops an e-commerce habit."

"Oh my god."

Joseph Tsai took a deep breath.

"This not only refutes short selling, but also upgrades Alibaba's valuation logic from 'traffic monetization' to 'ecosystem infrastructure'!"

The crisis is over.

It even turned into a turning point.

Lin Che turned on the light.

The blinding white light made everyone squint instinctively.

He pulled a document from the printer; it was a draft of a "Clarification Announcement" that had just been sent by the public relations department.

The document lists a dense array of financial data in an attempt to prove innocence.

"This thing is too soft."

Lin Che didn't even look at it before throwing the draft into the shredder.

sizzle.

The sound of paper being shredded was like a war horn.

"Rewrite it."

Lin Che sat back down in his chair, his feet propped up on the edge of the table, his tone as languid as a tyrant.

"Just write one sentence: 'Alibaba doesn't believe in tears, it only believes in growth. Attached: Microgroup Q3 user growth curve (300%)'."

Fatty Wang was so excited that his face turned red, and he grabbed the phone to call the public relations department.

"Wait a minute."

Lin Che called out to him.

He raised his wrist and glanced at the time.

"After you finish writing it, keep it hidden and don't send it."

"what?"

Fatty Wang was stunned; the receiver hung in mid-air.

"Since the evidence is conclusive, why not immediately refute it? The stock price is still falling!"

Mr. Ma and Mr. Cai Chongxin on the screen also cast puzzled glances at them.

Lin Che took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

Although it was a smoke-free area, he still took out a cigarette and smelled the aroma of tobacco.

It did not ignite.

"The longer the bullet travels, the more it hurts when it hits you."

He glanced at the still plummeting stock price on the screen.

On the candlestick chart, those green bearish lines are like an abyss of greed.

Every second, panic is being wagered.

And these blood-stained chips are flowing steadily into his newly established long positions.

"The current price is still too expensive."

Lin Che tucked the cigarette behind his ear and gave Wang Pangzi a smile that sent chills down his spine.

"Release delayed by 48 hours."

"Let the muddy waters frolic a little longer."

"Let the stock price fall even further."

"To make it easier for me to...buy at the bottom."