Darkstone Code

"Mr. Lynch, why..."

Lime sat in the office, hesitant to speak. He didn't quite understand why Lynch encouraged everyone to short the copper mines, yet was fully transparent about the foreign exchange issues.

Lynch deceived others before but later revealed the truth. This confused Lime because Lynch could have just as easily disclosed the changes in the copper mines as he did with the foreign exchange predictions.

Or he could have continued to provide information contrary to his predictions in the foreign exchange market for more profit.

Undoubtedly, with Mr. Herbert securing four trading seats, Lynch had started having Lime learn from those traders. This move left Lime, who had always mingled at the bottom as a stockbroker, rather puzzled.

He was curious and thought there was a profound knowledge at play, which, after much contemplation, he finally asked about.

Sitting behind the desk and gazing at the newspaper in his hand, Lynch put it down. It still carried a photo of him left by a reporter, whose time and place he had long since forgotten.

Full of youthful vigor and spirit, even though the photo was printed in black and white on thin newsprint now, there was still an aura ready to explode forth.

The inevitable defeat of Gafura had become a societal hotspot, but surprisingly, Gafura's diplomatic ambassador had not shown much sensitivity to this. In fact, many knew that everyone was waiting.

Awaiting a result, one that, once out, would trigger a series of diplomatic maneuvers. During this period, negotiations between the Federation and Gafura had also been put on hold, citing summer's arrival and a desire to prevent heatstroke, thus moderately delaying the negotiations.

Lynch's gaze shifted from the newspaper to Lime; just a simple glance brought Lime immense pressure. He instinctively leaned back, tidying his clothes and fastening his buttons, straightening his spine while fixing his gaze on Lynch's desk to show submission and humility.

"The reasoning is simple, Lime..." Lynch's voice carried the same casualness as always, "Among the many factors affecting futures market commodity prices, the power of capital is a crucial reference element. If too much capital forms a force, a trend, a flow, we won't make much money."

"In this market, to make money, big money, you must use information asymmetry to snipe everyone, whether they are your companions or enemies. At this moment, they all become the nutrients for your growth, do you understand?"

"Buy high, sell low" is a very operational trading method recently circulated in Bupen, as easy to understand as its literal meaning.

When stocks, bonds, or futures in your hand start losing value, you immediately stop the loss, close out the position, and reverse the trade. This is a rather limited basic theory, even somewhat lacking in value to a certain extent, not an efficient theory at all.

However, in this era, it's still quite operative.

Many have made a great deal of money using this method in financial markets, leading even more people to follow this approach.

Lynch intended to exploit their blind faith in 'buy high, sell low.' Once they started incurring losses, some of them would close out positions and begin buying copper futures, a force that wouldn't vie with Lynch for the most delicious slice of cake but rather become chips to help him acquire more profits.

As more individuals joined, Lynch's gains would increase; it must be noted that if leveraged well, one minute is all that's needed to create a myth.

"As for the foreign exchange issues..." He shook his head, "What truly impacts foreign exchange changes often are political reasons, so I need people to unite with me; only then can we have the strength to shake Fla's price trend, which could also afford us various forms of safety."

Shorting a country's currency, especially one currently recognized worldwide as a powerful nation, holds risks not just in foreign exchange market trades but also in reality.

In this seemingly civilized world where savage thoughts still linger, physically annihilating an enemy might not be the best approach, but it's the simplest.

Moreover, if he's the only one shorting Fla, his strength cannot disrupt the entire trend. Even if the Amelia Region becomes tumultuous, Fla's fluctuations will be temporary.

Only by rallying most of the Federation's capitalists, merchants, to his side, forming a force, could, when turmoil sparks in the Amelia Region, many accounts follow, even international hot money would join them to blockade Fla.

After all, nobody truly wants Gafura to become a powerful nation. Adding some man-made difficulties, while easing their current aggressive posture, thus becomes a shared intent.

If the preceding operations in the futures market were to maximize blood-sucking, then the later foreign exchange market operations were about unity!

Capital has never been isolated, much like politics!

"You might not understand some issues here right now, but you will in the future. For now, you can jot down my words!"

Lime took notes earnestly; Lynch's words left him with a feeling of seeing flowers through fog. While it was clearly explained, and he had a vague understanding, he couldn't discern the full picture.

This was due to his limited and shallow perspective, yet it made him aware of the gap between himself and Lynch. He would diligently study these matters he had never encountered before, making himself stronger.

The Southern Mechanical Research Institute's lax research results were causing tremendous influence. Even an output increase of twenty-five percent, or merely five percent, would be an invention capable of altering the industry structure.

Increasingly, foreign mining enterprises are sending people to the Federation, gathering near the Southern Mechanical Research Institute, hoping for more detailed data.

Unbeknownst to them, at this moment, the Director of the Institute was sweating profusely, constantly blaming, cursing, and even damning a researcher who resigned voluntarily. Due to his error, a misplacement of a decimal in calculations grossly inflated the final data.

That very day, in the Amelia Region, the young man from the resistance group codenamed Haiyan had infiltrated the largest copper mining area.

They were set to start sabotaging. The equipment and medicine provided by Robin had no tampering, and they also intended to display their resistance spirit.

During this time, several resistance organizations in the Amelia Region seem to have received various aids, becoming extraordinarily active. Attacks on patrols, which had been dormant earlier, were becoming frequent.

The young Haiyan heard similar requests from other resistance groups, which was to create disturbances. The larger the disturbances, the more international focus would fall here, garnering support for their liberation and resistance against imperial hegemony.

Eager to rapidly establish their organization's image amid the rising resistance factions, planned by the young Haiyan, they infiltrated the vicinity of the mine.

"Blowing up this mine isn't actually hard. We just need to destroy the support structures of intermediate and upper-level tunnels. The vibrations will collapse all the tunnels, leaving them no chance to continue mining here in the short term!"

The one speaking was a resistant fighter contacted by the young Haiyan, a foreman who had worked inside the mine. He knew well how to simply and easily reduce it to rubble, a plan the young Haiyan agreed to, though he still had some doubts.

"How can we be sure there are no miners in the shafts?" A worried expression crossed his face, "Do they work at night?"

The miner resistance fighter was silent for a moment before nodding, "They work at night too. Gafura people are like Demons, making us work non-stop twenty-four hours a day, only resting when we're utterly exhausted. There must be people down there, but not many."

The young Haiyan nodded gravely, "Can we notify them to leave?"

The miner resistance fighter shook his head, "That would definitely alert the Gafura!"

The young Haiyan was silent for a long time, weighing between alarming the Gafura and not alarming them before finally deciding to draw more miners into their cause. These were the finest recruits!

With the decision made, the resistance group began their actions, silently taking out Gafurans where able while contacting working miners discreetly.

When five Gafura mining patrols found the soldiers unexpectedly dead at the guard post, a gunshot echoed through the night sky in Amelia!

In a daze, the sleeping Governor suddenly opened his eyes, staring into the darkness. Seconds later, he sat up abruptly, walked in slippers to the window.

The peaceful night outside gave him a slight sense of serenity; he took a deep breath.

This past year, he'd been on edge, frequently jolting awake at night like this. He frowned as he looked out at the dark, tranquil night, feeling a bit uneasy in his heart.

He was just about to open the door to call his butler, to inquire if there were any urgent messages, when the sudden, shrill ringing of his bedroom phone made him jump.

Embarrassingly, he was genuinely startled by the ring; the quiet of the night had been shattered, each buzz of the phone was extraordinarily piercing. Hurriedly, he went to the bedside, picked up, and his expression immediately changed.