Chapter 155: Accumulating Wealth

Nine categories:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and M.

Assuming these letters represented the chosen companies, A would buy raw materials from M, process them, and sell the finished products to B. Of course, materials could also be bought directly from the market, and products could be sold there as well.

The same logic applied to the rest.

Following the sequence, a company would purchase raw materials from its predecessor and sell its finished goods to its successor.

However, since market prices were fixed, trading directly with the market yielded lower profits.

For example, if Chen Ran chose B and needed raw materials, he could buy them either from Company A or from the market.

As for Company A, its products could be sold to the market or to B.

In other words.

'Higher than the market purchase price.'

To maximize B's profits, the price at which B bought A's products had to be:

'Lower than the market's retail price.'

Therefore, the optimal transaction price between players had to fall somewhere above the market's purchase price and below the market's retail price.

But this was not the main point.

The main point was the choice itself.

In this game, where company names remained hidden, the most formidable entities were...

The three Three-Star Players.

Because companies that chose three consecutive products in the supply chain had to tie themselves together to maximize their profits.

Therefore, one could deduce the product range selected by the three Three-Star Players, or at least one of them, to ride their coattails.

By choosing to be the upstream or downstream partner for a Three-Star Player, they would refrain from attacking you to maximize their own company's profits.

'The nine products form a closed loop, meaning choices cannot overlap. For instance, if I choose product A, no one else can choose it.'

'Then, the three Three-Star Players will choose three distinct products.'

'Assuming they choose A, B, and C, to become their upstream or downstream partner, I should choose D or M.'

'Assuming they choose B, C, and D, I should choose E or A.'

'I cannot deduce anything definitive this way.'

'And if I cannot figure it out, the other players shouldn't be able to either.'

'But...'

Thinking of this, Chen Ran noticed that among the nine products, M and D had already been selected.

'As expected. When the three Two-Star Players fail to deduce the optimal choice, they simply throw the problem over to the Three-Star Players.'

'The three Three-Star Players just stated that their companies are not numbers 1, 2, or 3.'

'The three Two-Star Players assumed they would choose A, B, and C, which correspond to 1, 2, and 3, thus rushing to occupy M and D.'

'Their idiotic behavior is practically screaming to the Three-Star Players: I am not Chen Ran. If you want to target Chen Ran...'

'Then choose A, B, and C!'

'That way, there is no chance Chen Ran could become an upstream or downstream partner to any of the Three-Star Players.'

'But from the perspective of the Three-Star Players, they have to consider what would happen if one of the players choosing M or D is actually Chen Ran in disguise.'

'The solution is simple. Two of the Three-Star Players will pick two out of A, B, and C. The remaining Three-Star Player will select from the leftover products, but must exclude those adjacent to M and D.'

'Excluding E and H.'

'Conclusion: the remaining Three-Star Player will not choose A, B, C, D, E, H, or M.'

'They will choose F or G.'

'That is scenario one. There is also scenario two: setting a trap. The three Three-Star Players completely exclude categories A, B, and C from the start.'

'Their available choices would then be E, F, G, and H.'

'Combining both scenarios, if I choose F or G, there is a high probability I will end up as an upstream or downstream partner to a Three-Star Player.'

'Alright.'

'The Three-Star Players are perfectly capable of deducing the exact same answer.'

'Therefore, all they need to do is avoid F and G, which means...'

'D and M are already taken. The Three-Star Players will avoid F and G. That leaves me with five possible products: A, B, C, E, and H.'

'E and H have a high probability of being dead ends.'

'The best choice is B!'

'But...'

Chen Ran lit a cigarette and waited quietly. The next moment, 'B' suddenly turned gray.

Almost instantly, A and C were snapped up. Just as expected...

It was another trap!

'The players who took A and C are Three-Star Players. As B's upstream and downstream partners, joining forces to crush B would be completely effortless.'

'I just hope Qiu Yinong wasn't the one who picked B, or she'll be doomed. A and C might not strike at B right from the start, but it will only be a matter of time.'

'The remaining options are E, F, G, and H.'

'One of the players holding D or M is a Three-Star Player.'

'Then I should pick E or H.'

'If neither D nor M is a Three-Star Player...'

'Choosing E or H would yield a smaller chance of latching onto a Three-Star Player, while picking F or G would offer a higher probability.'

'Therefore...'

Chen Ran chose E!!!

For E, the upstream partner was D, and the downstream partner was F.

After making his selection, Company No. 8 commenced operations. With one hundred employees, the wages were set at 100 dollars per person per minute.

That meant an expenditure of 10,000 dollars every minute.

He opened the market interface to purchase raw materials. According to the display, a company with one hundred employees could purchase a maximum of 10,000 units of raw materials.

The price per unit was 50 dollars.

Which amounted to 500,000 dollars!

It would take five minutes for the company to process this batch of raw materials.

The initial capital provided in the market was 1,000,000 dollars.

Now he could calculate his costs.

Raw materials: 500,000 dollars.

Five minutes of wages: 50,000 dollars.

Furthermore, after a batch was produced, the equipment required maintenance, which cost 50,000 dollars.

Total cost: 600,000 dollars.

If the manufactured products were sold directly to the market, the purchase price offered would be:

80 dollars each, yielding a profit of 200,000 dollars.

However, buying that same product from the market would cost 100 dollars per unit.

In other words, if he wanted to sell his products to a downstream partner, the price had to fall between...

80 and 100 dollars.

Chen Ran paused, realizing there seemed to be a flaw.

'If my downstream partner buys my products at, say, 80 dollars each, wouldn't the next partner down the line have to buy their processed goods for more than 80?'

'Following this logic, wouldn't buying raw materials from my upstream partner be even more expensive?'

'Unless the downstream partner breaks down my products and manufactures them into multiple smaller units.'

'That would bring the unit price down.'

'That makes sense.'

It was a false alarm for Chen Ran; he had momentarily thought he found a bug in the game.

Having grasped the mechanics.

He no longer hesitated and began accumulating wealth, purchasing his first batch of raw materials.

Five minutes quickly passed.

His funds rose to 1,200,000 dollars, but at the same time, the wages for his hundred employees now required 60,000 dollars, and the equipment maintenance fee also increased to 60,000 dollars.

He had made his first pot of gold.

To his surprise, the company actually went public.

At the same time, an event was triggered.

Event: "Torrential Rain" (Prompt: Please handle this event within one minute, otherwise it will be broadcast to the stock market.)

There were two options:

"Do Not Handle: A random portion or all of the next batch of products will be destroyed, and the company's stock price will plummet accordingly."

"Handle: Labor cost of 50,000 dollars, warehouse repair cost of 100,000 dollars."

"If no action is taken before the countdown ends, it will default to 'Do Not Handle'."

Chen Ran calmly took a drag from his cigarette. He felt that at a time like this, it was necessary to execute...

A classic, ruthless capitalist maneuver.

Opening the stock market interface, he discovered that each of the nine companies had one million shares.

The price per share was 10 dollars.

Which meant that each company was valued at ten million dollars.

Players could only buy and sell, with absolutely no limits on the transaction volume. Chen Ran held 100 percent of the shares in Company No. 8.

Therefore...

He dumped 490,000 shares. Due to the massive sell-off, the price per share dropped to 9 dollars.

He continued to wait.

Not long after, the 490,000 dumped shares were instantly snapped up by the other eight players.

This meant that in the future, if Chen Ran's company earned one million dollars, he would have to dish out 490,000 dollars in dividends to the other players.

However, right at that moment...

The countdown to handle the event ended.

"Stock Market Alert: Company No. 8 has been affected by torrential rain, resulting in a damaged warehouse. Thirty percent of the next batch of products has been destroyed."

The instant the announcement went live.

Company No. 8's stock, previously at 9 dollars per share, instantly plunged to 8 dollars per share.

And then...

7 dollars per share.

In front of their respective computers, the other eight players frowned as they watched this unfold.

'With thirty percent of the next batch destroyed, the stock price is going to hit rock bottom...'

'Sell!'

Due to the massive offloading of shares, the stock price plummeted all the way down to...

5 dollars per share.

Seeing this, Chen Ran smiled faintly and began buying back his own company's stock in bulk.

He bought back 450,000 shares.

Raising his stake to 96 percent.

Selling 490,000 shares had earned him 3,200,000 dollars.

Buying back 450,000 shares cost him 2,250,000 dollars.

As long as he managed the company well from now on and waited for the stock to recover to 10 dollars per share, he would have successfully harvested...

950,000 dollars from those unsuspecting newbies!

This kind of manipulation was very common. For example, the founder of a kitchen knife company publicly claiming their knives couldn't cut through bone, causing the stock to plunge. Or a large corporation hiring a scandalous celebrity as a spokesperson, facing customer boycotts, and watching their stock tank...

Did people really think these executives were genuinely that stupid?

Dump shares right before an incident, let the stock price plunge when the news breaks, buy the shares back at rock bottom, and then wait for the stock to recover once the scandal blows over. So, the question was...

Exactly how much money did they fleece from the newbies?

Chen Ran's company was only valued at 10 million dollars, yet he had already fleeced 950,000. For those massive corporations worth hundreds of billions...

Returning to the matter at hand.

Chen Ran's current capital stood at:

2,150,000 dollars.

Even if Company No. 8 only produced a handful of items in its next batch, the money he made through stock manipulation vastly outweighed whatever he could have earned through legitimate manufacturing.