Who Are You?

Zhang Hao, hello!

At 10:11 a.m., Zhang Hao stared fixedly at his computer. His stock account was open on the screen, and a line of text floated brazenly across it.

Bright red, with each character as big as a walnut.

"Who are you?"

When Zhang Hao asked, "Who are you?" without meaning to, the red text suddenly vanished, replaced by another line.

Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is... I want to work with you!

Zhang Hao hadn't opened any writing program, yet the line of text had appeared on his screen just like that.

The first thought that crossed Zhang Hao's mind was, I'm screwed. Someone's hacked my computer! He said, "Huh? Work together? How? Who are you?" His voice had gone a little strange. How can he hear me?

So, are you willing to work with me? Yes or no?

Zhang Hao was so exasperated he laughed. Scammers these days were simply shameless. As someone who considered himself calm and thoughtful, he had an idea: I've got nothing better to do. It might be fun to mess with him.

"Yes!"

Zhang Hao thought, Let's see how you plan to scam me!

The partnership is established!

This time, the four characters were purple, each about the size of an egg and written in running script. Zhang Hao stared at them, dumbfounded.

Zhang Hao spoke to the screen. "What are we working together on?"

Suddenly, a clear tapping sound came from the speakers—the sound of typing. Another line of text appeared, one character at a time, in sync with the tapping.

First step... make money!

Zhang Hao couldn't help laughing. Sure enough, it was a scam! If it hadn't mentioned making money, he might not have been certain. But the moment it brought up money, there was no doubt: it was a scam. Every scammer played on one thing—greed! As long as you were greedy, you'd fall for it. They had their traps all laid out, just waiting for you to take the bait.

"Sure, sure! I love making money. But how are we going to do it? How about... you give me some money first?"

The words appeared on the screen one by one, accompanied by the tapping.

No problem! Since this is a partnership, you provide the money and I'll do the work! As for the profits... you get one-tenth, and I get nine-tenths!

When Zhang Hao heard the proposed division of profits, he burst into laughter. "Ha! No way! I get nine-tenths, you get one! Now that's more like it!" Bargaining came to him almost by instinct. It was his first reaction.

After saying that, he felt a little uneasy. Did I just actually answer him?

The tapping continued.

No, I get nine-tenths, you get one!

Zhang Hao sneered. "Why should I? I'm the boss! I get nine-tenths, you get one!" His tone was firm, though he was only saying it for show. It wasn't as if it would cost him anything. I just got this computer. How did a scammer hack into it? Looks like I'll have to reinstall the system again. What a pain!

After a brief pause, the computer began tapping again.

I get eight-tenths, you get two!

Zhang Hao snapped, "You get two? Your whole family gets two!"

The computer sat silent for a full two minutes before the tapping resumed.

Final offer: I get seven-tenths, you get three! This is the bottom line of our partnership. It cannot be changed!

Zhang Hao was stunned. "Holy crap! You can negotiate like that?"

Established!

The two large characters nearly filled the screen. This time, they were black.

Zhang Hao asked in astonishment, "What's established? What did I agree to?" The other guy had him completely confused.

Make money!

Two huge red characters appeared, then vanished in an instant.

Sitting at his desk, Zhang Hao felt awful. Only then did he realize that by bargaining with the other party, he had effectively agreed to the partnership. But he couldn't figure out how the other party planned to scam him. There was no way he'd give them any money. If they couldn't get his money, what else could they do?

He watched the text disappear from the screen, and his original program interface returned. It was his stock-trading account, quiet and unchanged.

Everything went back to the calm computer screen from before 10:10. He had just settled down when he saw something that terrified him.

The mouse moved on its own, then clicked on the trading page. Zhang Hao watched helplessly as his account opened, only to see the stocks in it suddenly listed for sale!

He grabbed the mouse in a panic, trying to cancel the orders as quickly as he could. But the mouse wouldn't move at all. He lunged for the keyboard, only to discover in horror that it wasn't working either!

There were seven stocks in his account, and all of them had been listed for sale. The asking prices were a few cents below the market price, so they were filled almost as soon as the orders went through!

Yelling in panic, Zhang Hao yanked out the plug and forcibly cut the power. He clutched his chest with both hands, dizzy and light-headed, his heart pounding. His face flushed bright red, then turned deathly pale moments later. He was about to collapse.

More than half of Zhang Hao's assets were in his stock account, worth around 2.6 million yuan. He also had over 500,000 yuan in the bank. That was what kept him going. He was a freelancer with no steady income. If he lost that money, he'd go insane.

Zhang Hao grabbed his phone and opened the stock-trading app. To his horror, his entire account had been used to buy shares in one stock. Worst of all, it had been bought at the daily limit-down price.

He'd put all 2.6 million yuan into a stock that had hit its daily limit down... and that wasn't all. Right after that, Zhang Hao saw money being transferred from his bank account.

Four hundred thousand yuan!

That meant there was barely over 100,000 yuan left in his bank account!

Zhang Hao's eyes reddened. No matter what he did, his phone felt like it was in someone else's hands. He couldn't control it at all. He could only watch as that 400,000 yuan was used to buy more shares in the same stock that had hit its daily limit down.

His first thought was to call the police. Then he realized he couldn't report this. There was no way he could explain what had happened. He breathed hard and asked his phone, "Y-you... how did you do that?"

A few words appeared on the phone screen.

Piece of cake!

Zhang Hao was close to tears. This guy was far too powerful. He said, "What the hell are you trying to do?" He couldn't help swearing.

Make money!

Looking at the two red characters on his phone, Zhang Hao felt like crying. "What kind of junk did you buy? You expect to make money from this stock?"

Relax!

Zhang Hao shouted in exasperation, "Relax, my ass! How the hell am I supposed to relax...?" He wanted to kill someone. He could even hear his heart pounding violently, his body's instinctive response to the shock.

Relax! Can you wait ten minutes?

Zhang Hao panted heavily, his hands shaking. There was no way he could relax. He was a single man in his thirties, and this money was all he had to live on. How could he stay calm? More than three million yuan—it was nearly everything he owned. If it all disappeared, who could he turn to for justice?

This time, Zhang Hao didn't turn off his phone. He understood now that shutting it down was useless. Cradling it like a red-hot iron, he stared fixedly at the stock's intraday chart.

It was a truly terrible stock. A quick look at its daily chart was all it took to see that it had hit the daily limit down six times in a row. Under normal circumstances, Zhang Hao wouldn't even have glanced at a stock like this. He usually picked quality stocks with decent dividends. Once he bought them, he rarely sold everything at once. He would reduce his position when the price was high and add to it when the price was low. He didn't make much, but it was steady and safe.

After five years of stock trading, his funds had grown from 600,000 yuan to 2.6 million. He hadn't gotten rich, but Zhang Hao was already satisfied. He wasn't greedy and had plenty of patience. Even when the market plunged, he never panicked. That was how he'd gradually built up his current assets. He never expected to have some lousy stock bought for him out of nowhere today!

Zhang Hao had been staring at it for about five minutes when he suddenly let out a long breath. His head was spinning, and he felt like he was about to pass out. Even now, he couldn't help wondering if he was dreaming. What kind of bizarre thing was this?