Darkstone Code-Chapter 891 - 889: The First Shot
The news of the cruise ship’s discovery hasn’t fully spread, with some even believing it’s just fake news.
The purpose of creating fake news is to stop Bupen’s recent prosperity.
The disappearance of so many tycoons has brought a catastrophic disaster to the Federation’s financial world, where every trading day starts with a whole new calamity.
Yesterday’s news said the cruise ship was found and all the tycoons located, and this morning the Federation’s stock market soared at the opening, which indeed relieved many financial professionals.
Sometimes, when funds are trapped, stopping the loss isn’t as simple as just cutting it.
For example, buying a stock with a million dollars, and the stock suddenly plummets, leaving only seven hundred thousand dollars in the account.
If you hesitate a bit and it falls again, you might only have three or four hundred thousand left.
Can such a situation happen?
It can happen.
The Federation’s financial markets have always been synonymous with "freedom," without much external interference, closely following market changes, creating countless myths.
For example, in a single day, a stock price goes from a few tens of cents, soars, and by the evening before closing has risen to several dollars or even more, achieving value growth by several or dozens of times!
But there are also stocks that go from tens of dollars or even dozens, falling below "one hundred points" within a day, bankrupting countless people.
Anything can happen in Bupen, good, bad, or indifferent.
When people might lose most of their wealth with a single careless moment, might they leave?
Perhaps some might, but more people hold onto the nearly impossible miracle of stocks rising again.
Most people’s lack of understanding of finance leads them foolishly to bring other things into finance, like... boxing.
People always believe that a champion who has lost his golden belt only suffered a temporary defeat, and he certainly has a chance to stand up again and reclaim his glory.
They perceive stocks as people and believe a stock once worth ten dollars is more likely to rise again than one that always hovered around a dollar or two.
It’s foolish, yet it’s the most common occurrence; people think a fallen giant is still a giant, unaware that in the financial realm, a giant gets consumed by capital the moment it falls.
Some believe the claim about the cruise ship being found is merely the Federation Government’s attempt to recover from the current stock predicament, while some speculators are frantically pressing the market.
At market opening, the Federation Industrial Index drew a delightful upward line, though it quickly began downward again.
The government couldn’t offer more compelling evidence that the rescue was successful, and the frequent phone calls and hearsay once more caused some panic, until Lynch’s press conference started.
Even at this moment, some still don’t believe Lynch has truly returned; some claim Lynch came back alone. Regardless, the circulating rumors defy logic, yet some people believe them.
This only increases the desire to see Lynch, listen to him speak about and discuss everything that has happened during this time.
The venue for the press conference was borrowed from the City Hall auditorium in the coastal city.
Other places weren’t suitable for releasing more serious news, but this place fit perfectly.
From notifying the media to their gathering, it took less than three hours; Penny’s broker was indeed somewhat capable.
At this moment, Lynch was sitting in the makeup room behind the auditorium, the makeup artist giving him a simple contour.
"I want to look more haggard and angrier, but not too obvious with the makeup; I don’t want everyone to realize I’m wearing it."
Sitting in the chair, Lynch looked at himself in the mirror and made some requests.
The makeup artist naturally wouldn’t oppose and swiftly started to adeptly change Lynch’s makeup.
Not much was altered: the forehead, brow, eye corners, and jawline; just a few simple strokes made Lynch appear both angry and weary.
The conference was scheduled for three in the afternoon, a slight nuance as it was an hour before the market closed.
The reporters, slightly anxious while waiting, watched as Lynch appeared on site under the protection of numerous bodyguards.
Instantly, the reporters erupted; they could tell whether this person was real or fake, and precisely because of this, they eagerly sought first-hand information.
Luckily, people remembered Lynch’s "rules"; he disliked rude and reckless interviewing behavior. Although enthusiastic, people maintained some semblance of order.
Lynch maintained a serious expression throughout, gesturing to quiet the auditorium, "Questions will come later; first, I’ll tell you what you need to know."
"This catastrophe that shouldn’t have occurred wasn’t entirely due to bad luck; someone played an unwholesome role in it."
"And this role is played by Every Moment Company..."
With a loud clamor, the reporters couldn’t sit still any longer. Every Moment, as the largest Kleve production and retail conglomerate in the Federation and even the world, is now much more than just a publicly traded company.
It represents the rules of the Kleve industry; it is both a rule maker and a conglomerate with a market value exceeding a billion.
Around Every Moment and Kleve, many industries have been extended, such as the ordinary tobacco industry.
To allow women to enjoy the same right as men to smoke in public, Federation Tobacco Company donated a lot of money to support the promotion of "the legal right for women to smoke freely in public."
Moreover, to let women show more of their independence, the tobacco company specially developed a new processing method. They pre-bake raw tobacco to reduce the harshness and intensity of cigarettes.
This way, cigarettes could be more acceptable to women, but this also led to some new issues, such as female cigarettes quickly becoming popular among teenagers.
The sudden addition of two smoking demographics caused all tobacco companies’ revenues to soar, including Every Moment.
It not only deals with Kleve but also tobacco, alcohol, tourism... and many other businesses.
Now, Lynch delivered a heavy blow to its face, which means Lynch intends to tear apart relations with Every Moment Company, a corporation with a market value of over a billion. How could Lynch make such an impulsive and irrational decision?
Seeing the reporters almost shoving microphones into his mouth, Lynch asked his bodyguard to maintain order. After a few reporters were thrown out, everyone began to voluntarily follow Lynch’s rules again.
"The reason I say this is because when we encountered trouble, we found there was a problem, but Every Moment Company refused to let the cruise dock, assuring us it was just a minor issue that could be quickly resolved."
"But in reality, because of their erroneous, or even deliberate judgment, we almost died at sea!"
"More importantly, this was not a coincidental looting; it was an attack launched on the cruise by Warlord forces within Mariluo to assault Every Moment Company!"
"We became victims; everyone on the ship like me became victims of Every Moment Company’s wrong judgment and its conflict with other warlords."
Raising his right hand high, Lynch pointed at the lofty ceiling, his voice filled with anger, "Innocent victims!"
In just ten minutes, Every Moment Company, which was starting to gain traction, suddenly nosedived.
Lynch’s accusations were too serious. If what he said was true, Every Moment will face a "siege" by hundreds of wealthy individuals, and the Federation security agencies will also fully intervene in the safety investigation against Every Moment.
In any world, at any given time, in any society, there is no such thing as an absolutely legal person.
For example, is a law-abiding pedestrian on the roadside completely legal?
Perhaps he doesn’t know he might have missed some taxes, or he might have spat on the ground, or even threatened to hit his child.
These are illegal actions.
If someone who dares not to touch the law is already like this, where problems can be found all over, what more for a large conglomerate company?
Someone once said that no Federation company can withstand scrutiny; every company has problems, and they are big ones.
How did Henghui fall?
It happened just with a casual investigation—
If you peel off the superficial layer revealing the more concrete and substantive content, those in power think a company needs an issue; even if it’s clean, it has an issue at that moment.
The capitalists in the Federation, to defeat competitors, are even willing to push for legislation as a means. Every Moment simply cannot resist!
As Lynch, in front of exhilarated reporters who were about to reach a climax, accused Every Moment of bearing unavoidable responsibility for the incident, the president of Every Moment couldn’t remain silent.
He directly issued a long-distance statement to Lynch, saying everything he said was nonsense, and expressed that he would hold Lynch legally accountable, and form a team of lawyers to protect his legitimate rights.
Near the close, Every Moment Company’s stock price had already dropped to 40% of what it was a week ago, and it continued to fall.
If it weren’t for being a physical company and having very popular products, this less than an hour would be enough to make it bankrupt.
In the financial game, companies that rely on physical goods have a strong risk tolerance.
But this time, no matter how strong it was, it was useless because it wouldn’t be long before those wealthy individuals returned.
They originally went to attend the Spring Premium Event to relieve their busy work life, but almost died instead.
Even if Lynch doesn’t trouble Every Moment, they would.
Everyone on board knew what happened those days; anyone could tell the captain deliberately didn’t dock.
Now that they have returned safely, they will vent their anger!
