Chapter 996: The House Has Been Robbed!

London Stock Exchange!

When the Hong Kong market closed, it was exactly 8:00 a.m. in London, just before the market opened.

Investors, accustomed to unwinding before the market opened, once again made their way to their familiar café.

They then expertly ordered a cup of coffee, a doughnut, and a copy of The Times.

In investment circles, reading the newspaper or watching the news is an essential skill for any professional investor.

Unlike the information explosion that would occur decades later, the ways of accessing information in those days were relatively limited; newspapers and television were among the few channels through which the general public could learn about national policies and other news.

Perhaps an unassuming story tucked away in a corner of a newspaper, or a brief news item on television, could help investors spot a business opportunity and make a fortune.

Similarly, it could also allow investors to detect potential problems early on and avoid significant losses.

In short, most investors have the habit of reading newspapers and watching TV news—both for daily life and for survival.

However, when they picked up today’s newspaper, they were immediately drawn in by the headline on the front page: “Shocking: The Truth Behind Six Major Conglomerates Sweeping the Hong Kong Stock Market!”

The eye-catching headline immediately grabbed the attention of a large number of investors, and everyone immediately began reading the report intently.

It wasn’t until they read it that they were genuinely startled by the explosive content.

According to the report, there is more to the story behind the news that has recently spread worldwide about six major conglomerates joining forces to sweep through the Hong Kong stock market. Previous reports claimed that six Southeast Asian conglomerates had defeated the investment giant Starry Company and the Commercial Alliance Chinese Chamber of Commerce, seizing controlling stakes in all listed companies under the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

As a result, the stock prices of these conglomerates soared yesterday, their market capitalizations skyrocketed, and they basked in the limelight.

However, the truth is quite different. According to an investigation by a Times reporter, while the six conglomerates did indeed secure controlling stakes in those companies, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce has not collapsed.

The companies affiliated with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce voluntarily relinquished control, choosing to cash out at peak prices—effectively trapping the six conglomerates’ massive investment of over $40 billion in Hong Kong’s sluggish stock market.

More importantly, on the previous trading day, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce collectively dumped their shares, causing the artificially inflated stock prices to plummet by half. The six major conglomerates lost 20 billion US dollars in a single day—a defeat of unprecedented proportions…

After reading this report, everyone was stunned.

However, what was even more shocking was yet to come.

Right below this report was another similar piece, though it offered a different perspective.

This report was by renowned financial expert Howard, offering an in-depth analysis specifically targeting the movements of the three major stock markets—London, Tokyo, and New York—from the previous day.

He began by analyzing the London stock market, focusing on the stock price fluctuations of the two major conglomerates, Xini and Nanfei. He believed that the stock prices of these two companies were highly abnormal.

Given such significant positive news, the upward trajectory of the stock prices appeared highly peculiar.

Although, overall, the stock prices of these two conglomerates did indeed rise, large volumes of short positions were sold off at every critical juncture, clearly indicating that someone was shorting these two companies.

Subsequently, Howard analyzed the stock price fluctuations of the other four major conglomerates listed on the Tokyo and New York stock exchanges and discovered that their price movements were nearly identical to those of Xini and Nanfei.

Combined with the information he obtained from within these companies, it was clear that these major conglomerates, realizing they were trapped in the Hong Kong stock market with no hope of breaking even, had deliberately released positive news and then quietly dumped large quantities of shares to avoid heavy losses in the event of a stock price crash.

After reading these reports, investors were naturally furious.

It was too underhanded—these major conglomerates were simply inhuman. They were clearly exploiting information asymmetry to deliberately shift their own losses onto other investors.

Fortunately, the truth of this matter has been exposed. Since those guys are bound by stock market regulations, the major players likely haven’t managed to escape yet.

If the truth had been exposed even a little later, those despicable scoundrels would very likely have used every trick in the book to drag even more investors down with them.

For a time, investors cursed the ancestors of the heads of the Xini and Nanfei conglomerates to the nth degree.

And amidst this endless stream of profanity, the bell signaling the opening of the London Stock Exchange rang.

As expected, the Xini and Nanfei conglomerates—which had emerged as dark horses the previous day—were abandoned by investors. The market saw a flood of short positions, yet few stepped in to buy.

As a result, the upward trend in stock prices stalled and began to decline slowly.

Meanwhile, a portion of investors remained on the sidelines.

After all, news in the papers these days isn’t always reliable—it might be deliberately distorted by someone—so some self-proclaimed savvy retail investors and brokerage firms weren’t in a hurry to make a decision.

But they soon realized something was amiss, as even lower-priced short positions began appearing in the market. Some even recognized that the traders placing these orders were members of the in-house teams for the Xini and Nanfei conglomerates.

This discovery was tantamount to concrete proof that the two conglomerates were dumping their own company’s shares.

From that moment on, the stock prices of these two conglomerates plummeted.

In just a single day, not only were the 30% gains from the previous day completely wiped out, but the shares fell another 30%.

By the close of trading, the Sini Group’s stock had fallen to £24 per share, and the Nanfei Group’s to £17 per share, dealing a severe blow to both conglomerates…

Just like with the Xini and Nanfei conglomerates, the same drama was unfolding with intense drama on the Tokyo and New York stock exchanges.

First, the media broke the news that the six major conglomerates were trapped at high prices in the Hong Kong stock market and had suffered massive losses; immediately afterward, the stock prices of these conglomerates took a devastating hit.

After all, the losses this time weren’t just a few hundred million or a few billion—they amounted to a full $100 billion.

Even though these conglomerates were financially robust, with a combined market capitalization exceeding $150 billion, such massive losses were deeply damaging and directly undermined investor confidence in them.

Faced with this situation, the conglomerates naturally refused to sit idly by. To restore investor confidence in their companies, they pulled out all the stops, each employing their own unique strategies.

First, the major conglomerates stepped forward to “debunk rumors” and offered various explanations regarding their investments in Hong Kong Island.

In plain terms, they were telling investors that their investments in Hong Kong Island were not trapped and that everything was under control.

Next, they continued to release a barrage of positive news—some true, some false—to stimulate the stock market, hoping to halt the decline and stabilize share prices.

But in Li Yi’s eyes, these self-rescue tactics were nothing but child’s play.

As a veteran who has weathered all manner of propaganda and information wars in the modern world, debunking rumors and spreading false information felt utterly unoriginal to him.

Facing these companies’ various tricks, Li Yi had his people constantly leak news about Hong Kong Island while simultaneously digging deep into the financial conditions of the major conglomerates.

Regardless of whether the information was true or false, anything that cast a negative light on the major conglomerates was released without discrimination.

False?

It didn’t matter. As long as someone believed it was true, then the information was true.

Just like how, decades ago, people believed that eating MSG caused cancer—even though Lotus MSG exhausted every possible means to refute it, they still couldn’t clear the air, nearly driving the company—which held the top market share nationwide—into bankruptcy.

The situation now is no different. Faced with a deluge of negative news, the PR departments of those major conglomerates are simply too weak to make any real difference.

Moreover, these unfavorable reports aren’t entirely groundless; there’s evidence to back up many of them.

Under these circumstances, over the next few days, the stock prices of the six conglomerates targeting the Chinese Chamber of Commerce plummeted, their market capitalization evaporated, and their credit ratings were downgraded—all facing an unprecedented crisis.

However, the executives of conglomerates like Xini and Nanfei weren’t fools; they realized that someone was undoubtedly pulling the strings behind the scenes.

After a thorough investigation, they finally uncovered some clues.

When all the evidence pointed to that young man surnamed Li on Hong Kong Island, they realized with horror that, at some point, that terrifying young man had already stolen their very homes…

……….