Chapter 398: Who Am I? You

Through the speakerphone, John Parker's roar, suppressed like a trapped beast, rang out.

The entire top floor of Saint Remo Apartment seemed to have its air sucked out, everyone's hearts tightening sharply at the words, "Who the hell are you guys?"

David Cohen's body swayed, nearly losing his balance.

It was John Parker, the apex predator of Wall Street's food chain, a Financial Giant Shark that could even make the White House take notice.

Even an ordinary person hearing his voice is enough bragging capital, and now the beast's fury is being channeled through this thin telephone line, aimed precisely at them.

Lu Qingjun swallowed nervously, his palms slick with sweat; he felt the black phone was now more dangerous than a timed bomb.

Zhang Qianru's hand gripping the handset turned slightly white at the knuckles, yet her face remained professionally calm, awaiting Lu Qingshan's response.

Lu Qingshan did not walk toward the phone, not even glancing at it.

He simply raised his hand toward Zhang Qianru and made an extremely slight, almost casual downward press gesture.

A simple motion.

Zhang Qianru instantly understood.

Her body, tensed from nerves, strangely relaxed at that moment.

She looked at the phone, as if it were no longer the scepter linking to the Wall Street Emperor, just an ordinary office tool.

She cleared her throat, spoke into the mic with the clear, polite tone that would earn full marks in an American business school, and began slowly.

"Mr. Parker, Prospector Capital is an investment firm."

Her voice, via speakerphone, rang clearly throughout the room and echoed at the other end, in John Parker's ears.

"Our identity is irrelevant. What matters is that our Analytical Model shows your company's stock price is severely bubbled and grossly overvalued by the market."

"We believe that bursting this bubble and restoring asset values to their true levels is a responsible act toward the market and all investors."

Every word of this speech was courteous, every term aligned with business logic.

Yet together they formed an extreme arrogance and humiliation.

"We are not attacking you; we are helping you 'cure' you."

"We are not Short Selling you; we are 'cleaning up' the market."

On the other end, John Parker's breathing suddenly grew heavy, like a bellows violently pumping.

One can imagine that in Morgan Stanley's top-floor conference room, the Financial Emperor's complexion had turned terribly grim.

"You..."

He could only squeeze out a single word between his teeth.

"Click."

A faint sound.

Zhang Qianru, at Lu Qingshan's signal, hung up the phone outright.

She gave him no chance for a roar, threat, or further questioning.

And that was that.

The entire top-floor apartment fell into a silence even stranger than before.

If the earlier feeling was Fear, now it is a numbness mixed with absurdity, unreality, and extreme stimulation.

"You... you... you hung up the phone?" David Cohen's eyes bulged; he pointed at the phone, then at Zhang Qianru, finally glanced at Lu Qingshan, his mouth trembling, unable to form a complete sentence.

"You hung up on John Parker's call? God! We're finished! We're really doomed this time! He will kill us! He really will kill us!"

He clutched his head, letting out a desperate moan, his body collapsing into the sofa as if all his bones had been drained away.

Lu Qingjun wore a stunned expression, his mouth agape; after a long moment he muttered, "Bro... is this... over?"

He expected a battle of wits, a thrilling negotiation, but his brother said not a word and shut the opponent out.

"No, it's not over."

Li Junjie's voice suddenly rang out, with a fervor like discovering a new continent.

The pen in his hand scribbled wildly across the notebook, leaving large swaths of messy script.

"It's begun! The real beginning!"

He looked up, his eyes frighteningly bright, explaining to the dazed David and Lu Qingjun.

"Don't you get it? This is called 'seizing momentum'! In war, the most important thing is 'shi'! Whoever controls the initiative wins half the battle!"

"Parker called; his purpose was to interrogate, threaten, and probe. He placed himself in the Judge's seat. If we answer, even a single extra word, we become the judged and fall at a disadvantage!"

"But what did the boss do? He had Miss Zhang hang up directly! That hang-up was like a loud slap, pulling Parker off the Judgment Seat! Telling him, you, John Parker, CEO of Morgan Stanley, don't even have the right to speak with us!"

"Now the pressure is fully back on him! He will be angry, frantic, and will spare no cost to discover who we are! An opponent blinded by rage is the most error‑prone!"

David Cohen listened in stunned disbelief; he felt that all the financial theory he had learned over more than twenty years at Wharton School was as fragile as a sheet of tissue paper before this barbaric, Eastern‑wisdom approach.

Treat the Wall Street Emperor like a monkey?

Is this... really okay?

Meanwhile, New York, Morgan Stanley headquarters building.

Top-floor conference room.

"Bang!"

A pricey Cisco conference phone was violently knocked to the ground by John Parker, shattering into pieces.

His chest heaved violently, his well‑maintained face twisted by extreme anger into a steel‑blue hue.

In the conference room, a dozen senior executives sat mute as moths, breathing cautiously lest any sound attract the attention of the enraged Majestic Lion.

He was hung up on.

He, John Parker, who has led this century‑old investment bank and ruled Wall Street for over a decade, was hung up on by an anonymous foot soldier who wouldn't even dare give his name!

This is no longer provocation; it's a naked humiliation!

"Investigate!"

He finally spoke, his voice hoarse as if two pieces of sandpaper were rubbing, each word laced with ice shards.

"Use every connection and resource of the company! Contact the FBI, contact the CIA, contact the tax bureau! I want to know who is behind Thus line: Lookout! I want to know the source of every cent of theirs! I want to know who their boss really is!"

"I don't care who they are, I don't care who stands behind them! I will make them disappear from this Earth!"

His Chief Secretary trembled as he answered, "Sir… we have already investigated; Thus line: Lookout is a newly acquired shell company, the acquirer completed the transaction through an offshore trust, the capital flow is extremely complex, within a short time…"

"I don't want to hear excuses!" Parker slammed the table, roaring, "Then give me a hit! On the market, kill them!"

He turned to the head of the trading department, his eyes blood‑red.

"Aren't they trying to Short Sell? Good! I'll give them this chance! Notify all our allies—Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman… tell them someone is challenging Wall Street's order! Now, everyone, focus together, point the barrel at Thus line: Lookout!"

"I'll use money to smash them to death! I'll make the whole market know the fate of opposing Morgan Stanley!"

The entire Morgan Stanley, because of that hung‑up call, turned into a high‑speed war machine.

And their original goal—pushing congressional review—has been completely tossed into the far clouds.

Saint Remo Apartment.

Lu Qingshan watched the already frantic David and the agitated Li Junjie, his face showing no ripple at all.

That's exactly the effect he wanted.

A calm Lion is hard to deal with, but an enraged, irrational Lion is just a beast.

He walked to Ye Ning's side, watching the K line on her computer screen that represents Morgan Stanley's stock price, after violent oscillation being forcibly pulled up by massive capital, stabilizing at a point slightly above the opening price.

"They're nervous," Ye Ning said softly, "they deployed at least three billion dollars to steady the situation."

"Nervousness alone isn't enough."

Lu Qingshan's voice was soft, yet it made everyone present feel a chill rise from the soles of their feet.

"The butcher brandishes the blade; the pigpen must see some blood."

He looked at Ye Ning, then glanced at David.

"Notify our three 'friends'."

"Razor, Ghost, Black Widow."

"Tell them the game has begun."

Lu Qingshan extended a finger, lightly tapping the air as if striking Morgan Stanley's vital point.

"Round one, the target is simple."

"Smash its stock price back below the opening price."

"Right now."