Black October, Part Two

"Yi Wen recently started dating a new girl. I've met her, and she's different from his previous girlfriends. She's like a 'nerd.' This time, I won't object!"

The investor standing by the phone was speaking very ordinary things to his wife, "We should focus our attention on our little candy and not let her turn into the kind of person we don't like..."

He was talking to his wife about ordinary, family things, in a very gentle voice.

Although his wife didn't understand why her husband, who was always impatient with her and their two children, had suddenly changed his attitude and started to care about their lives and the family, she thought it was a good thing.

God has said that if someone suddenly recognizes and begins to correct their past mistakes, then they are a good person.

Being a bad person for even a minute longer is never too much, but being a good person for even a minute sooner is never too early.

His wife listened to him and then told him that she had prepared a sumptuous dinner for him, including steak, chicken, and some fruit.

The investor didn't say anything, but after listening, they said goodbye, hung up the phone, lit a cigarette, and headed to the rooftop.

After navigating long staircases and corridors, as he stepped through the dark passageways onto the brightly lit rooftop of the Yi Kou Exchange Building, the expansive view filled him with a sense of exhilaration.

For a fleeting moment, he didn't want to die.

Yes, he came to Jumping off buildings.

But he quickly convinced himself. He lit another cigarette and walked towards the edge of the building, saying, "There's no going back!"

There's no going back. A simple sentence extinguished his hope of continuing to live. As a financial investor, he shared the same traits as most financial investors: bold and adventurous.

When you're making money with your own money, it's difficult to earn more than your initial investment in a day; that's a threshold, an upper limit.

However, if he uses leveraged financing, he can earn more money than his own principal within minutes.

Moreover, he was trading Index Futures Contract, meaning he was going to go all in – a crazy idea that is probably the most presumptuous in the minds of almost all financial investors.

Many people keep these thoughts hidden in their hearts and never let them out, because they know very well that they cannot be sure whether these thoughts will bring about construction or destruction.

However, the Federal Financial Market has been climbing for six consecutive years, and every stock is rising, just by varying degrees. Except for a very few unlucky individuals who might buy some stocks that are falling or not rising much, almost everyone is making money.

When his friends used lassos to secure a better reward, and when all his friends used lassos to help him rise higher, he was tempted.

From ten times, fifty times, one hundred times, all the way to the current two hundred times Index Futures Contract, the massive inertia accumulated by the snowballing has made it impossible to stop or go back.

The incident more than half a month ago rendered all his efforts over the years futile, and this time, it has directly sentenced him to death.

He walked to the edge of the rooftop and sat down. He looked down and felt dizzy and nauseous, wanting to vomit. Fear of death was also a factor in his actions.

One last thought: could these problems be solved without dying? He spent almost less than a second telling himself it was impossible.

Tens of millions in debt is enough to suffocate him, his family, and his children for the rest of their lives. They may be stuck at the bottom of society for generations because of this debt, since their creditors are banks.

The only solution now is suicide; suicide can solve these problems.

The funds he applied for from the bank were for leveraged investment, also known as margin financing. This money was used solely for his personal investment; his family did not benefit from it and therefore did not bear any consequences.

The lawyers would help them get rid of these problems, and to avoid leaving his wife and children unsure of what to do, he even wrote a will, wrapped it in a waterproof glove, and put it in his jacket pocket.

At that moment, he had a cigarette in his mouth and looked up at the sky, the azure sky seemingly possessing a magical power to purify the soul.

He leaped forward gently, turned in mid-air, and gazed longingly at the sky. He had a feeling that he would melt into this blue sky.

Ten seconds later, a loud thud echoed as a life was taken from this world filled with filth and sin, shattering the most vulnerable defenses in people's hearts! The Three Major Exchanges and investors learned of this at the same time, and the panic selling that had just stopped because of the president's speech resumed immediately, and this time it was clear that some people were doing it deliberately.

It's important to know that stock index futures contracts allow you to bet on both rising and falling prices.

Some institutions began Short Selling openly and covertly, and some investors quickly closed their positions and turned around. In an instant, a disaster transformed from despair into another kind of bloody plunder!

Under the combined influence of various forces, the defenses were breached.

Half an hour later, the Presidential Palace issued another formal presidential decree ordering the trading to be shut down again. The Big Three Exchanges immediately respected the president's wishes and stopped the public trading.

However, this did not stop after-hours trading. Even though people could not see the fluctuating prices on the billboard, they were still frantically selling, trading, and matching orders.

The whole street has gone crazy!

The next day, Tuesday, was also the Last Day of October. The moment the market opened, the prices of all stocks shrank by at least 30%. More than 20 stocks were delisted because their prices fell below the minimum holding price. The real Stock Market Crash had only just begun.

In a second-floor Cafe on Financial Street, Lin Qi and Vera's gaze was briefly drawn to a corpse on the sidewalk across the street.

Vera quickly turned her head to look elsewhere. This was the fourth Jumping off buildings they had witnessed. This street had gone mad! There were only these two customers in the entire Cafe, making it seem as if they had the place to themselves.

"I'm not feeling well, I need some time to deal with it..." Vera, looking down at the coffee and pastries in front of her. She was actually thinking about her and Gepu's investments.

They had also invested in a lot of stocks, and they had continued to invest in them over the years. The devastation here gave her a suffocating feeling, as if someone was choking her.

These stocks have always been handled by Gepu. Listoan is a publicly traded company and also a financial auditor, so he has access to inside information.

He would only ever tell Vera how much money they had made, but he never mentioned whether they had used leverage. Vera felt she had to find out, so she pretended to be unwell, but actually wanted to make a phone call.

Lin Qi nodded slightly. Vera quickly left with her handbag, so fast that her shoes could hardly keep up with her. It also seemed that her ankle was injured, but she still did not stop and insisted on disappearing from Lin Qi's sight.

Lin Qi picked up his coffee and looked at the desperate people outside. Just then, something flashed past his eyes, followed by a loud thud at his feet. Some blood sprayed onto the second-floor glass due to the huge pressure difference.

The thick, fresh blood slowly flowed down the glass. Lin Qi peered out onto the sidewalk and saw another body, still twitching slightly.

His mood didn't change much, and he was well aware that all those who Jumping off buildings were essentially gamblers.

They used bank loans to invest, used company funds to invest, and even leveraged their investments by hundreds of times.

In the face of Stock Market Crash, there wasn't even a chance for forced liquidation, and countless indexes were missed.

They are gambling. If they win, they will get hundreds of times the return; if they lose, all they will get is their life.

Before today, people might not have cared about ten or five dollars, but after today, they will consider even one dollar a good thing.

Lin Qi needed a local to help him, and Qiao Geliman was the first person he thought of.

He'll definitely have some good friends in Bu Peien, and of course, Director Johnson would be fine too. After all, with the Financial Tsunami, everyone's having a hard time, and he can't support two families unless Lin Qi gives him some help.

Helping each other is a friend's duty, and there's no reason why Lin Qi should help him while he does nothing.

While she was thinking about something, Vera returned from the bathroom. Her expression had relaxed a bit, although her brows furrowed slightly as she walked. It was clear that she was feeling a little better than before.

Vera a sigh of relief when she received a positive reply from Gepu that their investment did not involve loans or financial leverage, and that their savings were sufficient to support their investment activities.

Although the losses this time were quite severe, at least they won't be burdened with debts they can never repay in their lifetime.

The two sat for a while, watching the brutal stunt shows on the street. Vera quickly went from being uncomfortable to becoming somewhat numb.

Because there were so many, in the short half hour the two of them were sitting there, they witnessed at least seven Jumping off buildings attempts. The entire city was surrounded by Police Siren, and people Jumping off buildings everywhere.

"That's terrible!" The woman was ultimately emotional, and she couldn't help but sigh.

Lin Qi nodded. "This was actually a man-made disaster..." Vera's expression became curious, but Lin Qi didn't intend to say more about it. He changed the subject and looked at Vera's already swollen ankle. "Compared to this, perhaps we have some other things that are more important."

He got up from the chair, half-squatted down, patted his thigh, and looked at Vera with a smile, "Come on, let me see your ankle!"

In an instant, Vera's face turned as red as if she had just drunk a large glass of strong liquor; it was completely red!