The countdown clock in the center of the trading ring blinked in bright red digits: fifteen minutes until the closing bell.
Tens of thousands of brokers leaned over the brass railings of the Central Exchange. Below them, the massive circular floor buzzed with nervous energy. Ticker tapes rustled like dry autumn leaves, printing millions of price updates every second. Floor-broker Long Wei puffed frantically on an expensive fire-cigar, his fingers tapping the glass railing. Beside him, Speculator Lady Mei checked her terminal with sharp, nervous glances.
Suddenly, every public holographic display across the station flickered.
The image of Vice-President Jin Bao filled the sky above Galactic Wall Street. His hair was completely uncombed, sticking to his damp forehead. His eyes were bloodshot, rimmed with deep purple shadows. But his lips were stretched into a wild, triumphant grin.
“Citizens of the Central Ring! Hear my words!” Jin Bao shrieked, holding up an official blood-seal trading docket. “Taichu Benevolence Bank is an empty facade! A fraudulent house of cards built on borrowed credit and cheap publicity stunts!”
The trading floor murmured in surprise. Brokers stopped shouting their orders, looking up at the giant broadcast screens.
“In the last forty-eight hours, Lin Mo has spent over eighty-five trillion Origin Dao Crystals!” Jin Bao screamed, waving his arms like a mad preacher. “Thirty trillion on useless sub-suns! Twenty trillion on blacklisted clerks! Twenty-five trillion on frozen deposit slips! His vault is empty! He does not have a single copper left to settle his clearing…
