Chapter 349: The Boss Has Gone Mad! He Short‑Sold Europe with Futures!

Before the words were finished, the office door was pushed open, and Ye Ning walked in.

Her complexion was as pale as paper, her beautiful eyes filled with spider‑web‑like blood vessels, yet her gaze shone terrifyingly, like a flame about to burn out that suddenly burst into the brightest blaze, full of exhilaration, incomprehension and ultimate madness.

"Boss." She walked to the desk, handed over the tablet in her hand, her voice trembling slightly from prolonged shouting and tense nerves, with a metallic rasp.

"Everything you wanted, I've... consumed it all."

Lu Qingjun's heart leapt to his throat; he felt his heart gripped by an invisible giant hand, and he even forgot to breathe.

Lu Qingshan took the tablet without even looking down, casually swirled the ice in his glass, and asked, "Tell me the result."

Ye Ning inhaled deeply, as if to expel three days and nights of madness and torment, began her report, each figure sounding like a heavy bomb booming in Lu Qingjun's ears.

Our 2.86 billion US Dollar capital, during the HKD‑to‑USD conversion period, caught a slight rise in the Hong Kong dollar thanks to our stock market maneuvers, so the conversion rate was already a bit higher than before. This purchase coincided with a modest increase in the USD‑to‑GBP rate; the pound has been volatile for the past four months, and ultimately we exchanged for 3.121 billion British Pounds, about 40 million more than expected.

Lu Qingshan smiled, raised an eyebrow, and said to Ye Ning, "Continue."

"According to your orders, we used the 3.12 billion British Pounds as Margin, employing five times financial Leverage! In the London Futures Market, we swept away all steel, cotton and white sugar futures orders settling within three months in the most barbaric, cost‑unconcerned manner!"

"Because we specifically targeted orders near settlement, the prices were far cheaper than forward contracts. In the end, we purchased, at a nominal value of nearly ten billion British Pounds, almost the entire spot allocation of the London market for the next three months! Now, the whole Financial City is speculating which madman is using this suicidal method to bet that these three commodities will skyrocket!"

Ye Ning's speech grew faster, she stared at Lu Qingshan, those beautiful eyes filled with incomprehensible fervor and dread. She felt she wasn't reporting work but addressing a demon, describing the miracle he had created.

"Boss, this is a great speculation! No, it's no longer speculation, it's art! We levered a hundred‑billion‑pound pot! We have become the sole, monopolistic Banker of these three commodities across Europe for the upcoming quarter!"

Lu Qingjun was completely dumbfounded.

He stood there dumbfounded, his mouth open wide enough to fit a goose egg, his brain like a burnt abacus, completely ceased functioning.

3.12 billion… levered a hundred billion? Monopolized all of Europe's spot market? His brother… his brother turned the entire Xinghan Group's net worth into a bullet aimed at the heart of London Financial City?!

After reporting the results, the exhilaration in Ye Ning's tone was finally replaced by an uncontainable anxiety and doubt, and she asked the most lethal question hovering in everyone's mind.

"Boss, we now hold futures contracts worth 9.5 billion British Pounds; the Leverage is too high, risk has skyrocketed, the market could turn on us at any moment. With our purchase, all three futures have profit potential. What is our next plan? Start closing positions for profit immediately, or… ship out in batches?"

The entire office fell silent instantly, even the wind outside seemed to vanish.

Lu Qingshan drained the last sip of his drink, the ice striking the glass with a crisp "ding," like a death countdown.

He slowly set down the glass, lifted his gaze, looking at the two subordinates before him who seemed about to stop breathing, his face bearing a smile so calm it made the heart race.

Then, in a tone as casual as discussing the weather, he uttered a sentence that could shake the entire London Financial City and make the building beneath him tremble.

"Ship out? Who said we were going to ship out?"

"Hold it."

"In two months, notify the Shason Family and the London Futures Exchange." He paused, then enunciated each word of the final command clearly.

"I want Settlement."

"Boom!"

Ye Ning's brain exploded completely in that instant!

She was struck as if a divine thunderbolt from the heavens slammed into her heel, frozen in place, that proud ice‑cold face showing a complete, data‑crash‑like blankness and horror for the first time! The tablet in her hand fell to the floor with a "snap," the screen shattering, yet she felt nothing.

"Set… Settlement?!"

What did she hear?

Settlement of physical goods worth 9.5 billion British Pounds?! Using futures contracts to buy tangible cargo? Or a volume of astronomical magnitude? This is unheard of in financial history! It's the most foolish suicidal act only a madman would attempt!

The crucial point is they only have a little over 3.12 billion British Pounds of Margin! To settle 9.5 billion worth of goods, where does the nearly 6 billion‑plus funding gap come from?!

This is no longer madness; it's an open declaration of war against the rules of the entire financial system! It's using one's own mind to strike the Bank of England's copper‑and‑iron wall built over centuries with money and power!

"Brother! You… you're not joking, are you?" Lu Qingjun finally found his voice, feeling his tongue swell, his whole body trembling violently, "Settlement? Where the hell do we get over six billion British Pounds? Even selling the entire Xinghan Group wouldn't be enough! If we can't settle, we'll go bankrupt! We'll be hunted by creditors worldwide to the ends of the earth, torn to pieces!"

However, Lu Qingshan merely gave him a casual glance, as if looking at a child who had never seen the world.

He gave no explanation, simply walked back to the massive floor‑to‑ceiling window, overlooking the financial city beneath that he was about to completely upheave.

Night had deepened, the Thames River a black leviathan, silently coiling, gathering strength before dawn.

Lu Qingshan stared at his young yet bottomless reflection in the glass, the corner of his mouth slowly curling into a cold, eerie smile, bearing a hint of absolute confidence as if overlooking a chessboard.

In his mind, a thought known only to him flashed like a thunderclap.

After rushing and lagging, we finally caught up.

In less than twenty days, Argentina's troops will set foot on the Malvinas Islands.

By then, the empire of the sun‑never‑sets' fleet will pour out, expeditioning eight thousand miles.

War, what does it need?

It needs steel to build warships and artillery.

It needs cotton for uniforms and bandages.

It needs white sugar to sustain soldiers' stamina.

He looked at the bustling nightscape outside, whispering in a voice only he could hear.

"When the time comes, we'll see… exactly who is more anxious."