When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

Chen Yang hung up on Chen Yue's call and didn't go back to the bedroom.

He sat in the study for twenty minutes, going through all the documents about Madison Energy Group that Lei had sent him.

The equity structure, capital chains, overseas hidden accounts, leverage ratios of hedge funds, and the time stamp of every transaction are all recorded.

The phone rang. Chen Yue.

"Brother, all the information on Madison is out. This company is bigger than I thought."

Get to the point.

"They are not just an energy conglomerate. Over the past 18 months, Madison, together with three other Wall Street hedge funds, has built a super long position in the global natural gas futures market. The total size exceeds 200 billion US dollars."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that the longer this war goes on, the higher the price of natural gas will be, and the more they will make. Before the war, the global price of gas was $4.70 per million thermal units. Now it has risen to $32. They have eaten up 40 percent of the price difference in profit."

Chen Yang stood up and walked to the window.

"They're not just making money; they're exploiting the entire world. Europeans can't afford gas in winter, and Asian factories are shutting down—all because of their inflated gas prices. Griffin sabotaging the pipeline is just one step in their scheme—once the pipeline explodes, Russia's natural gas can't get out, widening the global supply gap and causing gas prices to double again. By then, Madison's $200 billion long position will have earned at least another $80 billion."

Chen Yang picked up the USB drive on the table, gripped it for two seconds, and then put it down.

"Can you lock in these people's holdings details?"

"We can't find anything through regular channels; they've used seven layers of offshore shell companies to cover it up. But—" Chen Yue paused, "I tried running through the 'financial panorama' system that was unlocked three days ago."

"And the result?"

"All the hidden positions are locked. Every single holding of Madison and those three funds, the opening time, leverage ratio, and stop-loss line, is all on my screen. Bro, they're completely naked."

Chen Yang remained silent for five seconds.

"You fly to Mo City."

"What?"

"Bring the entire core management team of Snow Palace, leave no one behind. The flight tonight will land tomorrow morning."

"Brother, the production line in Harbin—"

"Professor Xu will oversee the production line. Your most important task right now isn't in Bingcheng, it's in Mocheng."

Chen Yue didn't hesitate any longer.

"I'll book the plane tickets right away. There are eleven traders in total, is that enough?"

"That's enough. Add three more servers; the data for the financial panorama cannot be interrupted."

"clear."

The phone hangs up.

-

The next evening, at Mo City Manor.

The basement was cleared out, all the furniture was moved out, and replaced with twelve high-performance terminals, three rack servers, and a two-meter-wide curved display wall.

Chen Yue stood in front of the display wall, with eleven traders behind her in their positions.

She was wearing a black turtleneck sweater, her hair tied in a ponytail, staring at the dense stream of data on the screen.

"The overall picture has been calibrated. Madison's main position is locked in the November contract on the Newcastle Exchange, with an open interest of 6.7 million lots and an average price of 28.3 yuan. The three hedge funds' hidden positions are distributed across the Rendor and Newport exchanges, totaling 4.2 million lots, with the highest leveraged position reaching 15 times."

Chen Yang walked down the stairs and glanced at the display wall.

"Where is their stop-loss line?"

"Madison's stop-loss line is set at 21. The three funds are more aggressive, with their stop-loss lines all between 24 and 25. As soon as the gas price falls below 25, the funds will be the first to be liquidated. If it falls below 21, Madison's main position will collapse entirely."

"How much money would it cost to reduce the price from the current 32 to 21?"

Chen Yue turned around.

"Based on the current market depth and liquidity, at least $150 billion in short selling funds would be needed to continuously dump shares for a period of seven to ten trading days."

"150 billion." Chen Yang repeated the number.

Chen Yue looked at him. "Brother, the Snow Palace's liquid funds plus offshore accounts can mobilize a total of 230 billion. That's enough, but after this battle, the accounts will look terrible."

"We don't need the Snow Palace's money."

Chen Yue was stunned for a moment.

Chen Yang took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Minister Li, I need to use that money."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"How many?"

"150 billion US dollars. It will go through the overseas channels of China's sovereign wealth fund, and the funds must be in place tonight."

"Chen Yang, this money has been touched, and it needs the approval of the highest level."

"I know. That's why I called you directly and asked you to report it. The target is the energy conglomerate of the United States. They are using the war to manipulate global gas prices, and they are not only profiting from Russia, but also from us. China spent an extra 90 billion US dollars on imported natural gas last year, all because of the premiums they inflated."

The sound of turning pages came from the other end of the phone.

Give me forty minutes.

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yue walked over and lowered her voice.

"Brother, money from the national treasury?"

"Borrowed. I'll pay it back after I finish playing, with interest."

Forty-one minutes later, Director Li called back.

"Approved. Funds will be in your designated account within thirty minutes. Chen Yang, this battle must be won."

"We won't lose."

Chen Yang hung up the phone and nodded to Chen Yue.

"The money has arrived. Check and divide it into thirty accounts, listed on six exchanges. Wait for my signal."

Chen Yue turned around and sat back down at the control panel, where the keyboards of eleven traders began to click simultaneously.

-

At nine o'clock at night, all the lights in the basement were on.

Footsteps echoed down the stairs.

Katyusha came down carrying a tray with three plates and a pair of chopsticks on it.

Braised pork belly, beef stew with potatoes, and a bowl of rice.

Chen Yue looked up but didn't say anything.

Katyusha placed the tray on the empty table next to Chen Yang.

"Have a meal."

Chen Yang glanced at the plate. "Did you make this?"

"I've been learning for two months. I've tried making braised pork eleven times, and this is the twelfth time. I should be able to eat it now."

Chen Yang picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth.

It has a salty-sweet flavor, is cooked to perfection, with the fat melted and the lean meat tender.

He picked up another piece.

Katyusha stood beside her, her hands clasped in front of her.

"How is it?"

"tasty."

Katyusha's shoulders relaxed a little.

Chen Yang finished half a bowl of rice in three bites, poured the stewed beef and potatoes over the rest of the rice, and finished eating in five minutes.

He put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth.

"Chen Yue".

"exist."

"Has the funding arrived?"

"All thirty accounts are in place, and access to six exchanges has been established."

Chen Yang sat back down in front of the control panel, placing his right hand on the keyboard.

On the display wall, the real-time price of global natural gas futures fluctuated—US$32.17.

Madison's 6.7 million long positions and the three funds' 4.2 million hidden positions were locked in the center of the screen by a red marker.

"Everyone, take your positions." Chen Yue's voice echoed throughout the basement.

The eleven traders stopped what they were doing and stared at the screen in front of them.

Katyusha stood at the top of the stairs, holding an empty tray, and did not leave.

Chen Yang's index finger landed on the Enter key.

"Open the position."

He pressed it.

Thirty accounts, holding $150 billion in short positions, flooded into the natural gas futures markets of the world's six major exchanges in 0.3 seconds.

The price numbers on the display wall started to drop.

32.17.

31.94.

31.52.

Chen Yue stared at the screen and gave instructions to the trader.

"The second wave, Newark Stock Exchange, will add another 30 billion."

The sound of keyboards filled the entire basement.

The numbers are still falling.