God of Technology: Creating the Internet in Another World-Chapter 450: The Scapegoat Works!

Everyone was like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Everyone was going crazy.

Everyone was running around like a headless chicken.

They tried to find buyers privately, only to discover that every single person was just like them—already deep in debt from buying steel futures.

Offline there was no way out, and online, prices in the steel futures market kept plummeting.

Every time someone thought they’d reached their psychological bottom price and posted an order on the futures market, they’d discover that tons of people had crashed at almost the same moment, all setting the same price, or even lower.

And then naturally, it wouldn’t sell.

The futures market was different from the stock market—there was no such thing as closing. It operated 24 hours a day, non-stop.

By the time dawn broke outside, prices had already fallen to about 50% of their peak.

In other words, they’d dropped by half.

And this was only in half a day.

The head of the Clarkson family was pale, already sunk in despair.

Right now, he suddenly had a realization: the price actually didn’t matter anymore.

Because nobody was buying!

No matter how low they dropped the price, they just couldn’t sell.

"What’s the point? Never mind dropping by half—what if it drops by two-thirds? No matter how much it drops, if nobody’s willing to buy, it has no value. Market prices keep falling lower and lower, people get more and more desperate, there’s no way anyone will buy."

"No, I even suspect that anyone who had even a slight interest in steel futures, anyone who had any interest in steel at all, has already bet their entire fortune."

When the head of the Clarkson family thought of this, he suddenly felt that the announcement Foster Mining Company posted today actually seemed pretty good.

At least they were willing to take it.

Sure, it was at the original price, but at least they were willing to buy.

Not like the current situation, where no matter what price he offered, nobody wanted to buy.

Price without market.

He entered a kind of dazed state, sitting there blankly, not saying a word.

Just like the vast majority of nobles.

Today, the world would change drastically!

By the time midnight rolled around, the price had dropped to 20% of its peak.

In other words, only double the original price.

If someone had invested at the very beginning and never added any more investment, they’d still be making money now.

But was that even possible?

Everyone kept adding more investment.

Right now, among everyone who’d invested in the steel futures market, besides Viscount Roster and Nidhogg the Dragon of Despair—those two who’d already harvested once and ran—only Tricky Coin was the one making money.

After all, he’d let his profits run in the futures market while his principal had long since been withdrawn.

Even if everything got stuck in there, he couldn’t possibly lose.

The head of the Clarkson family sat in a daze for who knows how long before suddenly snapping awake: "Contact Foster Mining Group’s manager immediately. All the steel futures our family bought, we’re willing to sell to them at the price from before the steel futures market appeared!"

When he said this, everyone present stiffened.

If they really sold at that price, the money they got back would at most only cover Dragon Bank’s interest payments.

There’d be no way to touch the principal.

They instinctively wanted to stop him, wanted to persuade him to wait a bit longer, but could they wait? How could they wait?

There was no way to wait anymore!

Despair!

Every second the price kept crashing.

If it kept crashing like this, the price would hit zero soon.

It might even go lower than the original price.

Done for!

Completely done for!

They were really finished!

The Clarkson family was finished. All their wealth had been swept away. All their assets had been mortgaged to Dragon Bank.

Even if they sold all these steel futures and solved this year’s interest problem, what about next year?

The head of the Clarkson family finally contacted Foster Mining Company.

Clarkson family head: "The announcement you posted today—is it real? You’re willing to buy back steel futures at the original price?"

Foster Mining: "Of course. We operate with integrity. Any information we publish, we strictly honor."

Clarkson family head: "Good, I have..."

Before the Clarkson family head could finish, the Foster Mining Company manager had already interrupted: "I’m sorry, no matter how much you have, we can’t buy it now."

The Clarkson family head’s face darkened: "Didn’t you just say you’d strictly honor it? Why won’t you buy?"

Foster Mining Company: "It’s already past midnight now. It’s the next day. Our announcement clearly stated that we’d only buy yesterday."

Foster Mining Company: "We were willing to buy because we didn’t want to see steel prices crash, didn’t want to see steel prices affect subsequent actual production and sales."

Foster Mining Company: "Unfortunately, our power is limited. Now that steel prices crashing has become inevitable, even if we’re willing to spend our own money to buy back everyone’s remaining futures, steel prices will definitely crash anyway."

Foster Mining Company: "Sigh, it’s not that we’re unwilling to honor it—it’s just too late."

A double meaning: you came too late, and everything is too late.

You came too late, so we can’t buy.

Everything is too late—steel prices will be even lower than the beginning.

The head of the Clarkson family sank into despair.

But suddenly, he had a feeling that whether it was Viscount Roster or Foster Mining Company, the countless things they’d said, the countless promises they’d made, the countless articles they’d written—all of them had been trying to persuade them that the risk was huge.

All of them had been telling them not to invest blindly.

Even when problems arose, they’d tried their best to salvage the situation.

But they’d perfectly gone against these two every single time.

Why was that?

Suddenly a figure flashed through the Clarkson family head’s mind.

Johnny the actuary!

Yes!

It was Johnny the actuary!

If not for this guy, how would everyone have gone so crazy?

If not for this guy, how would everyone have thought steel futures would just keep rising?

If not for this guy, how would everyone have thought steel futures couldn’t possibly drop back to the original price no matter how much they fell?

His mind raced frantically—all of this, everything, was because of Johnny the actuary!

It was all this guy’s fault. Every single idea originated from this guy!

Nobles with the same thoughts were everywhere.

They would never place such a mistake on their own heads, because once they did, all their honor would disappear. They’d become their families’ sinners!

But if there was a scapegoat, the situation would be completely different...