Chapter 420: You Make the Federal Reserve Listen to You? You Think You're God?

On the other end, Charles's usually courteous London accent cracked for the first time.

"Lu... Mr. Lu, what did you say? The Federal Reserve?"

His voice was full of absurdity and incomprehension, as if hearing a drunk man claim the Moon would rise from the west.

Lu Qingshan had no interest in explaining, his tone as flat as if arranging tomorrow's breakfast.

"You heard correctly, Charles. Tell Mr. Rockefeller I'm preparing to wage a war on his turf."

"War needs rules, needs a referee. Now I need the referee he finds, to blow the whistle I want when I need it."

He paused, making the request concrete.

"I don't need them to print money, nor to cut rates. I only need, at some future point, for me to decide that the Federal Reserve must issue a statement."

"A vague statement about 'ensuring financial market stability and providing necessary liquidity support to certain key financial institutions.'"

"Just relay this sentence to Mr. Rockefeller unchanged."

After speaking, Lu Qingshan hung up the phone outright.

"Beep—"

The busy tone echoed in the apartment like a heavy hammer striking everyone's nerves.

This time, before Lu Qingjun could speak, David Cohen went mad first.

He leapt from the sofa like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, hands clutching his golden curls, pacing anxiously back and forth in the room.

"Crazy! He's completely crazy! God! He must be insane!"

He screamed incoherently, his handsome face full of panic after his worldview collapsed.

"The Federal Reserve! That damn thing is the Federal Reserve! It's not a company! Not a negotiable opponent! It's the United States' central bank! Its independence is the cornerstone of this nation's financial system! Sacred and inviolable!"

He rushed to Lu Qingshan's front, spittle flying, his voice sharp from excitement.

"Boss! Do you know what you're demanding? This isn't negotiating with Rockefeller; it's ordering America's god! You're asking him, for your sake, to overturn the entire nation's financial order!"

Lu Qingjun turned pale with fear, stammering, "Brother... this... listening to this sounds even more absurd than waiting an hour for Rockefeller himself..."

Li Junjie and Zhang Qianru said nothing, but their furrowed brows and solemn expressions said it all.

This demand already exceeds the realms of commerce, law, even conspiracy.

It touches the core power of a sovereign nation.

Lu Qingshan watched them quietly, letting David Cohen vent his fear, letting the panic spread through the apartment.

Only when David, out of breath from excitement, leaned on his knees and gasped, did he speak slowly.

"The Federal Reserve's independence?"

He gave a light laugh, a mockery that seemed to see through everything.

"David, the textbook at Wharton School shows you this term, right?"

"It's a beautiful fairy tale written for ordinary people. It may be independent of the White House, but it can never be independent of the families that created it and control the nation's economic lifeblood."

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, pointing at the steel-and-glass Capital Jungle outside.

"Who behind the scenes backs every Federal Reserve chair? Whose family members sit on the boards of all twelve Federal Reserve Banks?"

"It's him, Rockefeller. And his friends."

Lu Qingshan turned, looking at the now gradually calming crowd.

"My plan against Lehman Brothers has a fatal flaw."

Li Junjie immediately responded, "Capital! Our amount of capital may be insufficient in a short time to counter the short-selling force of Li Zexun and Zoe Shason working together!"

"Exactly." Lu Qingshan nodded, "Wilson's mobilizable capital in Europe is limited. And the Li Family and Shason Family's U. S. branches are local tyrants. If we can't kill in one blow and are drawn into a protracted war, we'll be worn out."

"So, I need a 'nuclear bomb.'"

"A bomb that can instantly ignite market sentiment, sending all short sellers into panic."

"A Federal Reserve statement, even merely suggestive, is that bomb. It can make Lehman Brothers' stock ride a roller coaster in a day. All I need is that one hour of upward surge."

Those words made the previously incredulous David and Li Junjie break out cold sweat on their backs.

They finally understood Lu Qingshan's true intention.

He wasn't asking the Federal Reserve for money.

He wanted to borrow the Federal Reserve's 'Divine Nature' to conduct the final 'Divine Revelation' for his hunt.

"This... this is also a test," Zhang Qianru adjusted her glasses, her voice a bit dry, adding, "Testing Mr. Rockefeller's sincerity and his actual control over this country."

"Smart," Lu Qingshan said approvingly, glancing at her.

"If he can't handle this 'small matter,' then his promised 'hunting license' is a scrap of paper. What right does a master who can't even control his own dog have to guarantee me?"

"Since his guarantee is worthless, why should I help him rescue Morgan Stanley's fire?"

A cold curve lifted at Lu Qingshan's mouth.

"I could easily set the whole forest ablaze and finish them off together."

The apartment fell utterly silent.

The frenzy born of victory and the panic born of fear both vanished at this moment.

In their place was a deeper, suffocating tension.

They were no longer simply awaiting a business negotiation's outcome.

They were waiting for an empire's emperor to make a final judgment on a condition presented by an outsider that could shake the nation's foundation.

Time passed, minute by minute.

In the apartment, only the suppressed breaths of the crowd remained.

Just as David Cohen felt he might faint from lack of oxygen, the red encrypted phone rang sharply again.

Ye Ning answered the call almost the instant the ringtone sounded and pressed speakerphone.

On the other end, it was no longer Charles's assistant's voice.

It was an aged, steady voice, now bearing an uncontainable fury.

It was David Rockefeller himself.

Lu.

Just a single character, brief and sharp, like a whip crack striking each person's heart.

You're playing a very, very dangerous game.

The temperature of the entire apartment seemed, in that instant, to drop to the freezing point.

David Cohen's body froze; he even dared not breathe.

Lu Qingshan slowly walked to the phone and lifted the receiver.

His face showed no expression.

He replied to the phone with just a single word as well.

You.