Chapter 426: Daring the Emperor? I Am the Rule!

The handset was placed back, and the faint click it made was like a needle piercing the taut membrane that stretched over the apartment.

David Cohen's legs went limp; if Li Junjie hadn't swiftly steadied him, he would have slid onto the carpet for the third time.

He clutched the sofa, gasping in large breaths, his face whiter than the wall.

"It… it's over…" his lips trembled as he looked at Lu Qingshan, his expression as if staring at a madman who had just dismantled a nuclear bomb, "We're all doomed… Rockefeller will drain the Atlantic Ocean to find us, then bind us to cement blocks and sink us…"

Lu Qingjun also felt a cold breath rising in the pit of his stomach.

His brother's words just now were no longer a negotiation.

It was telling the oldest Majestic Lion in the forest that, from today, this forest would take the Lu name.

"Burn… burn it to flat ground? Rebuild a new city?" Lu Qingjun swallowed hard, "Brother, isn't that… a bit too grand?"

The whole team stared at Lu Qingshan with a complex expression mixing Fear, reverence, and bewilderment.

They had just had their blood ignited by the Titanic Plan, but in an instant, Lu Qingshan and Rockefeller's call drenched them with a bucket of Arctic ice water.

No matter how perfect the plan, if even the host of the table is overturned, what's the point of playing?

Lu Qingshan, however, ignored the crowd's Fear.

He walked to the bar, poured himself a glass of clear water, and took a slow sip.

Then he turned around, looking at his elite team whose courage had been shattered by fright.

"Who do you think Rockefeller is?" he asked calmly.

"Is… is the Emperor of Wall Street?" David Cohen answered instinctively.

"No," Lu Qingshan shook his head, walked to the massive floor‑to‑ceiling window, and pointed at the glittering city beyond.

"He's not an Emperor; he's just an elderly gardener."

"This forest was planted by him and his friends. They set the rules, trimmed the branches, and enjoyed decades of fruit. But now the forest is old; too many weeds have sprouted beyond their control, and some trees have begun to rot from the roots."

His voice was low, yet it reached each person's ears clearly.

"The gardener is old; the scissors in his hand have dulled. He wants to clear the rotten trees but fears the disturbance would ruin the whole garden. He wants to pull the weeds, yet finds their roots tangled with those of the good trees."

"So, his forest needs a fire."

Lu Qingshan turned, his gaze sweeping over the faces that shifted from Fear to astonishment.

"A wildfire blowing in from outside the forest, beyond his control, yet burning in the direction his deepest hopes desire."

"This fire must be fierce enough, burning bright enough to turn all the rotten, useless things to ash. Moreover, its master cannot be someone from within the forest, lest lingering trouble remains."

"I am the one who sets the fire."

His words silenced the entire apartment completely.

David Cohen's mouth opened slowly; he felt his mind as if its system had been reinstalled.

So… it's like this!

Lu Qingshan's seemingly mad provocation wasn't a declaration of war at all, but a way to raise his own price!

He was telling Rockefeller: I am not a hound you can command at will; I am a partner who can converse with you on equal footing.

If you want to use my hand to clean up the portal, you may.

But where it burns, how intensely it burns, the rules—those must be set by me!

Understanding this layer, David Cohen felt a surge of heat rush from the soles of his feet to his crown, the Fear that had lingered vanished instantly, replaced by an even stronger, almost shivering excitement.

"I get it… I fully get it!" he exclaimed, fists waving, "Boss, you're not provoking the Emperor; you're telling him you intend to become a peer… a New God! A new gardener!"

"Enough nonsense," Lu Qingshan cut off his flattery, regaining his strategic commander demeanor.

"The Emperor has already tacitly approved our actions; butchers, it's time to work."

"Yes!"

This time, the team's response rang out in unison, filled with unprecedented, soaring fighting spirit.

Fear was dispelled, leaving only the frenzy of about‑to‑create History.

The war machine roared to full speed once more.

Ye Ning's fingertips danced across the encrypted communicator, strings of commands worth billions of dollars leaping half the Earth to reach Wilson in London.

In front of David Cohen and Li Junjie, the three computer screens no longer displayed simple K-line Charts; they were filled with dense option chain quotes.

Their mission was to, without alarming the market, covertly convert over 60 billion dollars of reserve capital into put option contracts, embedding them in every corner of the market like squirrels storing for winter.

Zhang Qianru put on headphones and began a video conference with top lobbying firms and law offices in Washington, preparing the Black Material that could condemn Lehman Brothers to death.

Lu Qingjun, though unable to help directly, took it upon himself to act as Logistics Minister, preparing coffee and food for everyone, as the whole apartment slipped into a tense yet orderly pre‑war state.

Time passed minute by minute amid the clatter of keyboards and low murmurs of discussion.

The New York sun had risen halfway into the sky.

Wall Street traders were going wild over Lehman Brothers' magical Red K Line, countless investors buying on the upswing, fantasizing they'd seized the next wealth myth.

No one noticed that a massive net spanning the entire market was tightening silently.

Just as Li Junjie placed a $50 million put order, a bold Red News Flash suddenly popped up on the screen before him.

His actions stalled briefly, then his complexion changed dramatically.

"Boss!" he shouted, his voice trembling with uncontainable shock, "Something… something's gone wrong!"

Everyone's movements halted, all eyes turning toward him in unison.

Li Junjie pointed at the screen, laboriously reading the headline of the flash.

"Morgan Stanley… just reached a preliminary agreement with Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group… the latter is preparing to inject ninety billion dollars into Morgan Stanley urgently!"

"What?!" David Cohen cried out, rushing forward.

When he read the news, he felt as if his bones had been pulled out.

"It's over…" he muttered, "Mitsubishi… they're self‑saving, and actually called on a Japanese bank as a rescue…"

The news exploded like a heavyweight bomb within their tiny command center.

The Federal Reserve's statement was merely a calming pill for the market.

And now, real money has arrived!

A ninety‑billion US Dollar injection, for a Wall Street battered by wind and rain, is no less than a shot of a strong heartening agent!

This will greatly lift market confidence, making everyone feel that the worst has already passed; even a titan like Morgan Stanley can find a Turnaround Hero, so the rumor of Lehman Brothers being subject to a Merger and Acquisition seems even more believable!

Their Titanic Plan is built on the expectation of market panic.

But now, someone is wildly patching the holes of this soon‑to‑sink giant wheel!

"Boss… what… what do we do now?" Lu Qingjun also panicked, "Can our plan still… continue?"

All eyes turned to Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan slowly walked to the screen and stared at the glaring news.

The apartment was so quiet you could hear a heartbeat.

After a full half‑minute, Lu Qingshan suddenly let out a light laugh.

The laugh was small, yet it lifted everyone's hearts to the throat.

He turned, looked at the crowd's twisted, nervous faces, and began to speak slowly.

"Just in time."

"I even think this fire isn't burning hot enough."

He walked to Ye Ning's side and lightly tapped the tabletop with his finger.

"Ye Ning."

"Present."

"Connect me to the office of the chairman of Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Pan Liu Xinyu."