Black October: Mid-to-Late

At 2:30 a. m., the train finally slowly pulled into the Central Railway Station in Bu Peien. As Lin Qi emerged from the station with the small flow of people, he took a deep breath.

The polluted air carried a scent that invigorated every cell in your body—the scent of a big city!

In Sabine City, after 8 p. m., the streets are so dark that you can hardly see anything. Even in better areas, the dim streetlights can be unsettling.

Except for a few central neighborhoods that remain brightly lit all night, most areas become quiet and still after dark.

But look here, the whole city seems to be shining. It's possible that some places are indeed very dark, but the sky in the city center in the distance is as bright as day.

"Sir, do you need a car?" a taxi driver waiting outside the station asked.

Lin Qi glanced at him and couldn't help but laugh. Big cities are just different from small cities; even the taxi drivers' clothes are different.

Taxi drivers in Sabine City do not have any uniforms or accessories. They only need to pay a fee to obtain an operating license from the taxi management company to start operating a taxi.

No one imposes any strict requirements on them, let alone any dress code, so when taking a taxi in Sabine City, you'll always see many oddly dressed drivers, especially in the summer.

It is said that a driver was complained about by a passenger for not wearing pants, and the passenger demanded compensation from the driver and management company for emotional distress. Yes, it was a female passenger who felt insulted in some way.

Look here, the taxi drivers are wearing black uniforms, wide-brimmed hats, and white gloves; they look reassuring.

Lin Qi nodded and opened the car door for Vera.

Lin Qi didn't bring much luggage, but Vera did have a suitcase. After they got into the car Lin Qi gave an address: Bu Peien Grand Hotel, and the taxi driver immediately started the vehicle.

The Bu Peien Grand Hotel is one of the best hotels in Bu Peien, mainly used to accommodate important political figures and celebrities, as well as visiting foreign guests. Many people believe that anyone who stays at the Bu Peien Grand Hotel must be a person of status.

This stereotype persists to this day; even taxi drivers became more friendly when they heard that Lin Qi was going to stay at the Bu Peien Grand Hotel.

After about twenty minutes of driving, the entire street had brightened up from darkness. Looking at the bustling street outside the car window, Vera curiously, "Is the area safe here?"

Lin Qi then looked at the driver, "Perhaps the driver knows something."

Upon hearing this, the driver freed one hand to adjust his hat. He had been holding his breath for ten or twenty minutes, which had almost made him suffocate. Now he finally felt relieved. "Sir, Madam, Bu Peien used to be relatively safe, but recently..."

Through the rearview mirror, Lin Qi saw that his face was somewhat solemn. "There are more people wandering around the streets. There have been many robberies every day recently. I heard that someone died a few days ago."

"If it's not necessary, I suggest that you two stay home tonight."

Vera sighed after hearing this, "I didn't expect it to be the same everywhere!"

The driver seemed somewhat melancholic, "Life is getting harder and harder these days, whether it's here or anywhere else, it's really the same everywhere!"

The taxi driver was a very talkative man. When Lin Qi asked him, he talked about some recent news about Bu Peien that was not known to the outside world, such as the bond victims from all over the country.

The victims gathered together and marched and demonstrated outside the City Hall, the stock exchange, and some financial companies, creating a very lively scene.

As they spoke, the car stopped outside the magnificent Bu Peien Grand Hotel. The doorman immediately opened the car door and the luggage compartment to retrieve the passengers' luggage.

After paying the fare and a tip, Lin Qi said goodbye to the taxi driver and entered the hotel. Watching Lin Qi and Vera's backs as they left, the taxi driver couldn't help but sigh, "That's true class."

Some passengers start finding fault as soon as they get on the bus and try to reduce the fare. They also brag on the bus, don't respect the driver, and don't give tips. The driver has seen many people like this.

It's rare to find someone who would offer a tip and then smile and say "goodnight." Perhaps these two are important figures, and only important figures would have such magnanimity. Maybe this will become a topic of conversation for them to boast about to their colleagues.

The next morning, with the help of the hotel's wake-up service, Lin Qi got up on time. To his surprise, Vera up even earlier than him and was already waiting for him in the lobby.

After the two met and enjoyed a breakfast featuring Bu Peien specialties at a restaurant, Lin Qi discussed the main purpose of his trip to Bu Peien.

When Vera heard that he wanted to buy bonds, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Are you crazy? Those things are just worthless paper now. Are you sure you've got something wrong?"

Lin Qi laughed as he said, "So this is a good time. I can buy these things back at the price of waste paper and then wait for them to become valuable again."

Vera was taken aback for a moment, "How much money do you plan to use to acquire those bonds?"

Lin Qi's smile widened. "How much? No, no, darling, you misunderstood. I think I meant the word 'acquisition' earlier. I'm planning to charge by the pound."

"Didn't you say it was practically worthless?" Lin Qi swallowed the cheese ball in his mouth and clapped his hands. "Then give it a price that matches its value!"

Vera's mind couldn't keep up with Lin Qi's train of thought and pace at all. She felt that this was unlikely to succeed, for a very simple reason.

Even if those bonds are worthless, they still have a "face value". Who knows if they might suddenly become redeemable one day? Even if there is only Ten Thousandth chance, people are unlikely to really throw them away like waste paper.

This is also a common idea: since these bonds are worthless anyway, why not keep them?

If this were an isolated incident, Lin Qi naturally wouldn't do this; he would buy back the bonds at face value at a very low price.

But the situation is different now, because the disaster has only just begun. People haven't realized that the two sharp drops this month are not the end; they are not even the beginning.

After avoiding the topic, Lin Qi wiped his hands and stood up. "Anyway, let's see how things go first. Things may not go as smoothly as I imagine."

On Monday, before the Big Three Exchanges even opened, a large crowd had already gathered outside. The crash of last Friday had taken away the smiles from their faces, and they stood outside the exchanges with somber expressions, talking quietly to each other.

The content essentially boils down to whether to continue observing or cut losses in time.

Everyone suffered heavy losses in this Stock Market Crash. Whether they were ordinary people or wealthy individuals, the losses were enormous.

Ordinary people may lose their savings, and perhaps some loans, while the wealthy lose a percentage of their net worth.

These people harbored a dark fear within them; some were even trembling slightly. The insignificance and powerlessness of humanity were vividly displayed at this moment, as they were helpless in the face of such a clearly man-made disaster.

At nine o'clock, the exchange opened its doors, and traders entered first, followed by all the investors, with everyone's eyes focused on the notice board.

At 9:20, the notice board began to flip, and pre-market trading began, but everyone's expression began to change drastically.

Pre-market trading refers to trading activities outside of the market opening hours. This type of trading determines a stock's opening price for the day and, to a large extent, also indicates the general trend of a stock throughout the day.

At 9:29, the constantly scrolling notice boards had turned the trading hall into a scene resembling a funeral. In the last ten seconds, a stock was delisted, further exacerbating the pessimistic atmosphere.

At exactly 9:30, almost all the traders were frantically selling all the stocks in their brokerage accounts. Stocks that were priced at ten yuan a while ago were now being sold for nine yuan and nobody wanted them, so they were being sold for eight yuan, seven yuan...

As long as someone wants it, no price is too low to be ignored. In less than fifteen minutes, the Federal Industrial Index and the Three Major Trading Indexes experienced an almost precipitous drop.

The shock to the Financial Market far outweighed the recession in the real economy. By 10 o'clock, everyone in the entire Federal had learned about what had happened in Bu Peien through various channels.

Disaster struck! Countless shredded pieces of paper and waste were scattered everywhere. These stocks had become less than waste paper. Angry traders and investors had completely lost their minds.

The bottomless downward trend is causing increasing anxiety. No one knows when the bottom will be reached, and panic selling has already begun.

At 10:10, the Presidential Cabinet issued an emergency presidential decree, requiring the Big Three Exchanges to immediately cease trading in order to mitigate irrational panic selling.

The Presidential Cabinet Press Officer held an emergency press conference, listing some mistakes in the response, including the Federal Government using some of its reserves to bail out the situation and prevent a greater disaster.

Perhaps because the president and cabinet's decision gave investors some confidence, there was no significant drop after the market opened in the afternoon. After a brief period of flatness, the Federal Industrial Index and the Three Major Trading Indexes even saw a brief rise.

The continuously increasing turnover rate has given people an illusion that everything will really get better, and they are willing to believe it.

However, all of this came to an abrupt halt with a violent tremor...