"It's already down to nine-fifty. These shorts are aggressive, dropping nearly 50% for two consecutive trading days." Chen Cheng sneered as he stared at the screen in the trading hall.

"Boss!"

John couldn't hold back anymore.

If it fell any further, the entire market would turn into quicksand.

Trying to pull it back up now would truly be a bottomless pit.

Chen Cheng raised his hand to stop John from speaking further.

This subordinate of his was very talented, but he was too steady—he liked to enter slowly and exit in a hurry.

Of course, he couldn't compare to those 'Seven-Night Stallion' readers who had explosive power and a 'quick in, quick out' style.

But that was why Chen Cheng chose him; he didn't need a fund manager who walked a tightrope, but a steady set of scales.

9.35

9.30

9.27

...

8.93

8.89

On the screen, Jiaxiang Industrial's stock price flickered incessantly.

"This number looks good," Chen Cheng suddenly raised his hand.

Twelve traders stared intently at Chen Cheng.

John, standing by Chen Cheng's side, also held his breath. The entire trading hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Prepare!"

"8.68," the K-line on the screen was still jumping.

"Take them! Take as many as there are, but don't push the price up!" Chen Cheng's cold voice rang out.

At Chen Cheng's command, the twelve traders began pounding frantically on their keyboards.

"Clack, clack, clack, click—clack, clack, clack~~~"

For a moment, the only thing left in the trading hall was the noisy sound of keyboards.

John stood by, closely watching how much capital the team was putting in.

30 million, 50 million, 80 million, 120 million... 300 million, 400 million...

In an office building somewhere in Shanghai, China, a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses also noticed something was wrong. "Where is this capital coming from?"

Jiaxiang Industrial had already reached out to the banks for help, and the money in his own hands was barely legal; they should have been at the end of their rope.

Where did this Cheng Yaojin come from?

The man in glasses flushed red with anxiety.

The stock market changes in the blink of an eye. The man didn't have time to overthink; he took a deep breath and immediately ordered into the phone, "Clear all short positions immediately and flip to long!"

"900 million. It's been pulled up to 12.88, Boss," John reported from the side.

Chen Cheng looked at the real-time sell orders on the screen. It was rising, and the sell orders were decreasing. Chen Cheng knew that some shorts were already getting restless.

"Pull the stock price back to 17 dollars!"

That was today's opening price. This price would directly suffocate the shorts who entered today.

The shorts who came in today were now in a dilemma: liquidating meant helping the bulls raise the stock price, but not liquidating meant losing money.

It was a case of being blocked from both ends.

"13.1, 14.87, 15.43..."

"Boss, it's 1.1 billion."

Chen Cheng didn't speak, silently calculating the chips of both the long and short sides. At this price, the bulls who didn't have time to run earlier would cough up some of their chips.

Retail investors were like that; they would hold on tight to a stock that was falling endlessly.

But as soon as it bounced back a bit, they would liquidate immediately.

They called it: 'Losing less is earning.'

Then when the stock continued to rise, they'd feel they sold at a loss and jump back in, only to end up holding the bag.

"1.23 billion, 17 dollars."

Chen Cheng looked at the massive buy orders and knew it was a success. His violent pulling had broken the shorts who entered today.

"Pull it straight to 20 dollars! Beyond that, we stop taking orders." Chen Cheng made the final call.

"Understood!"

Time passed bit by bit.

After the stock price was pulled to 20 dollars, the traders stopped as instructed. However, the price kept rising, being pulled all the way to 24 dollars.

If most of the late-stage shorts didn't run now, they would truly be suffocated inside.

Just like that, some of the shorts also joined the ranks of those pulling up the stock price.

"Boss, we've bought 1.6 billion, with an average holding cost of 12.33. Floating profit is 103%!" John's pale face had turned red. In the two years he'd been with the boss, it had never been this thrilling—a 100% floating profit in less than two trading days!

"Boss, should we withdraw?"

Chen Cheng was momentarily dazed. Yes, should they withdraw?

Chen Cheng looked up at the screen; the price was already at 27. What the hell? Are the shorts, bulls, and retail investors all in the game now?

Wait, that's not right!

Chen Cheng glanced at the buy side. Shorts liquidating would never use such violent methods.

Who else is pulling Jiaxiang Industrial?

Unable to figure this out, Chen Cheng hesitated.

What Chen Cheng was hesitating about was that he knew Jiaxiang Industrial would definitely be able to deliver the nickel.

After all, China was backing them up. It was impossible for a company of Jiaxiang Industrial's scale to go bankrupt over such a mess and lose the market share they had worked twenty years to gain.

So Jiaxiang Industrial's stock price would definitely rise back to the 35 dollars it was before the shorting, or even higher.

"Don't try to earn the last penny... Don't try to earn the last penny..." Chen Cheng frantically advised himself in his heart.

Perhaps things had gone too smoothly on this journey, and his trading mindset wasn't mature enough.

Otherwise, he should have been decisive. There was no need to hesitate; he should take advantage of the market's lack of sell orders and the shorts' covering to get out quickly.

Chen Cheng calculated in his head. He had suffocated at least 1.6 billion in short capital this trip; what more could he want?

Besides, he couldn't take any more orders. With a 40-billion-plus market cap, if he kept buying, he'd have to disclose a major stake, and he had no intention of becoming a shareholder.

"Alright, offload! Maintain it above 27 dollars and sell. Sell as much as we can today. What we can't sell today, we'll sell tomorrow," Chen Cheng decided.

It was time to harvest the profits, and the traders below were instantly excited.

One by one, they were like they'd been injected with chicken blood, their faces flushed, holding their breath in anticipation.

...

Shanghai.

Early in the morning, Zhao Hui was driving his daughter, Rui Rui, to school, habitually listening to the financial news on the radio. This was a long-standing habit of an old banker like him.

"...The situation regarding the highly watched shorting of Jiaxiang Industrial on the US stock market saw a turning point in the early hours of this morning, Beijing time. Jiaxiang Industrial's capital is clearly more robust than analysts predicted. After several rounds of games, the stock price has returned to twenty-seven US dollars per share and continued to climb in after-hours trading."

"After hours, Jiaxiang Industrial released an announcement stating that transportation has been restored at its two nickel mines in Venezuela. This means that the international capital's financial raid on the enterprise has been declared a complete failure."

A smile curled on Zhao Hui's lips, and the stone in his heart finally hit the ground.

"Dad, why did you turn it up so loud?" Rui Rui, sitting aside, stared at the car radio and asked.

"Daddy is concerned about this," Zhao Hui explained patiently with a smile. "There was a trap a few days ago, and luckily I didn't step into it. Otherwise, I would have been scared half to death."

"I was even worried about your Uncle Dai for half the night."

"Did Uncle Dai step in?" Rui Rui asked curiously.

"Probably not. Even if he did, the danger has been averted now," Zhao Hui said after a moment of thought.

Both father and daughter smiled. Zhao Hui felt a sense of relief, and Rui Rui was happy that everyone in the family was fine.

"Hey, Dad, what are they doing? Building a traffic post?" Rui Rui asked, looking at a fence with a pile of crushed stones by the roadside.

Zhao Hui took a look. "Why would they build a traffic post here? It was probably a car accident."

As the car drove past the fence, Zhao Hui glanced in the rearview mirror without paying much attention, then turned his concern back to his daughter. "Rui Rui, how are your eyes?"

Zhao Hui's daughter had a visual impairment.

"They're okay during the day, but everything gets a bit blurry at night."

...