Chapter 416: 418. Chapter 412: The End of the Microcosm

418. Chapter 412: The End of the Microcosm

A single raindrop prepared itself, falling from the clouds with the help of gravity.

It dove from the high sky toward the ground with indomitable courage; its mission was to splash a tiny ripple in a shallow puddle on the ground!

The gray, gloomy clouds had birthed it, so it too was gray and gloomy.

After it had passed through who knows how many meters, the outline of the city appeared before it.

Is this a city?

The colorful neon lights diffusing through the water mist were a beauty it had never seen in its entire life.

In this instant, it didn't really want to crash into the ground; it wanted to see more of this world.

But it had exhausted all its strength during the descent; it could no longer stop all of this from happening!

It looked at this bustling city with some greed, its distance from the ground growing ever closer.

It saw a vast expanse of dark umbrellas, and it saw people wearing raincoats one by one, standing in the rain, not knowing what they were doing.

Interestingly, among these people, there was one person standing there; he wore no raincoat and held no umbrella, just standing like that in the heavy rain.

The gloomy sky, the gray rain, the black-clad people, and that lonely soul.

The little raindrop inexplicably gained a touch of philosophy; it saw that this person also radiated a gray soul, lifeless and devoid of vitality.

With a 'plop', perhaps no one would notice, a little raindrop landed on the ground, splashing a tiny ripple.

Mr. Qiaobafu would not notice this either; he was just looking at the people around him.

The water soaked his hair, making him look like a madman who had fallen into the water. He repeated his words from just a moment ago, "I'm sorry."

The expressions of the people around him changed; one woman, who looked to be in her forties, turned pale, her lips trembling as she said, "Don't scare me, what do you mean by this 'I'm sorry'?"

Mr. Qiaobafu stood there blankly for a good while, then let out a heavy sigh, "The bank... is out of money."

"I don't believe it!"

Immediately, someone shouted loudly, "You must be joking with us, Mr. Qiaobafu?"

"How could someone as rich as you be out of money?"

"Alright, I admit you've fooled me, and I was so scared I could barely stand. So, can we go in and get the money now?"

This person's voice was steady at first, but soon it began to tremble; anyone could hear the terror in his heart!

Mr. Qiaobafu seemed to have accepted this fact, "I am not joking with you; the bank is out of money now."

An old woman dropped the umbrella in her hand and rushed in front of Mr. Qiaobafu. She grabbed his collar, using the toughest posture while saying the weakest words.

"I beg you, Mr. Qiaobafu, this is my and my husband's life savings, you can't do this..."

"We trusted you..."

Mr. Qiaobafu let the rain beat down on his face and head; the only thing he could do now was say, "I'm sorry."

The people's emotions could no longer be controlled; someone spat at him, someone came up and punched him, and someone else kicked him to the ground.

He curled up, holding his head, letting those rubber-soled shoes and raindrops fall upon him alike.

He couldn't feel the pain, because his heart hurt even more!

Wailing police cars appeared here; they pushed the crowd away and even arrested a few people, only then helping Mr. Qiaobafu out from the very center.

His face was covered in blood and water; the soles of leather shoes are not soft leather, and when they stepped on his head, they cut open several gashes.

The fresh blood mixed with the rain made him look even more wretched. He endured the physical pain, bent his waist, and said, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."

In the crowd that had just been cursing and angry, someone suddenly began to cry out in an emotional breakdown; they had truly deposited their life's money into the bank.

They trusted Mr. Qiaobafu too much; the older they were, the more they trusted him, because in a certain sense, he had become a special "symbol" among the immigrant community of the Empire.

But it was precisely this trust that made them miss the opportunity to make up for their losses.

Actually, according to the things he had mortgaged, it was still possible to squeeze out a portion of money—a hundred thousand or so, or two or three hundred thousand—but even if they got their hands on this money, it would not change the status quo at all.

Looking at those people who had collapsed to the ground in despair, he was completely numb.

"I will give everyone an explanation."

He said this, then turned and returned to the bank.

The staff in the bank were all looking at him with worry. He squeezed out a little smile, "I don't know what to say; in any case, thank you all for your hard work over these years."

"I am sorry to all of you."

The employees were all silent, although they had long since prepared themselves mentally and foreseen the arrival of this day.

But when it happened, it was still hard for everyone to accept it calmly.

Some ladies even burst into tears.

This was not just a huge emotional injury; some of them had worked here for ten, twenty, or thirty years—this place was like their second home!

Now, all of a sudden, this home was about to fall apart; how could they not be sad and heartbroken?

Besides this, it also meant they were about to lose their jobs. Those who were younger might be slightly better off.

They could still find work outside, but what about those who were older?

At an awkward age like forty, factories wouldn't want them, and other banks wouldn't want them either; they might never find such a comfortable job again because of this.

The emotional injury, the confusion about the future—these made everyone feel extremely painful and sad.

Mr. Qiaobafu took out his pocket watch and handed it to the supervisor, "This watch is still worth a little money; take it and exchange it for cash, and pay everyone's salary for this month."

"This is the last thing I can do for you."

The supervisor took the pocket watch, feeling a pain that was hard to put into words, "Mr. Qiaobafu, is there really no hope at all?"

He shook his head. If the Mayor had won, then this wouldn't be a problem; those banks would also be very willing to give him loans, even if he didn't have much collateral.

But now, the Mayor had lost, and he had lost all chance of making a comeback.

He pursed his lips, "Let it be."

"If you don't leave now, you won't be able to leave soon."

"Remember to leave through the back door; you probably won't be able to get out the front."

The area outside the bank was already crowded with people; if they left through the front door, they would have to face the surging crowd directly.

The supervisor still wanted to say something, but Mr. Qiaobafu waved his hand, and he could only swallow those words back into his stomach, "Then we will leave first, Mr. Qiaobafu."

He nodded, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Remember to lock the door..."

Mr. Qiaobafu returned to his office; he thought about many things, but in the end, there was no solution.

Suddenly, someone threw a brick, breaking the office window, and the cursing from outside began to pour in rapidly through the broken window opening.

People cursed very viciously, greeting his family, his wife, and even the fact that they had no children became a target for their attacks.

The rain poured in, landing on the expensive floor, the chairs, and various places; he just stared blankly.

After a good while, he changed to another room, picked up the phone, and made a call to his cousin.

"Qiao?"

"I heard people saying the bank went bankrupt; what's going on?"

Mr. Qiaobafu was silent for a moment, "Just as you heard, I am bankrupt."

"My God... is there anything I can do for you?"

Mr. Qiaobafu sighed lightly, "No, you don't have the ability to do anything for me; don't get involved in this!"

"I just wanted to say, I'm fine, don't worry about me, give my regards to everyone; everything will be fine."

"There will always be a way to solve things, just like an opera always has an ending."

His brother sensed that what Mr. Qiaobafu was saying didn't sound right, "Don't do anything stupid!"

"I have lost everything, but I still have family; having had you all was truly very happy..."

He hung up the phone, then returned to the lounge. He picked up a comb to tidy his hair and changed into a new set of clothes.

He took a very thick book from the office bookshelf and opened it; inside was a flat little flask containing about three ounces of liquor.

He poured himself a glass of liquor and raised the glass to himself in the mirror.

A moment later, he smashed the glass hard onto the ground; the sound of people smashing the front door had already come from downstairs.

He was Qiaobafu, the Light of the Empire's Immigrants; he would not accept such a wretched failure!

He pulled open a secret compartment in the drawer; inside was a handgun.

The wind outside was howling, and the rain was being whipped by the wind into the room, some of it landing on his face.

He sat blankly for a long time.

He couldn't face the depositors outside; just as that old woman said, a family's life savings were all deposited in the bank, but he had lost it.

He couldn't forgive himself, and he couldn't make up for these people's losses. At this moment, besides dying, it seemed there was no second path to take.

Using his own life to atone for his mistakes—perhaps this was the only solution he could think of.

He glanced at the handgun in his hand; this handgun was something he had his assistant buy the first time he was blackmailed. At that time, he told himself that if anyone blackmailed him again, he would use this gun to kill those people.

But until this moment, this gun had never been used.

Those who blackmailed him were not punished; instead, he was constantly being blackmailed and extorted.

What on earth is wrong with this world?

He didn't understand!

A mocking smile appeared on his face; he never expected that the first bullet from the gun meant to protect him would be for himself.

With a trembling hand, he raised the gun to his temple, took one last look at the gloomy sky outside the window, silently said "Goodbye," and pulled the trigger.

The bullet pierced his skull, hitting the wall with some fresh blood. He fell there, motionless.

Ten-plus minutes later, the bank's front door was pried open by angry people. They rushed into the bank and also saw Mr. Qiaobafu sitting in the chair.

At this very moment, the weather, which had been raining for a long time, suddenly cleared up in such a magical way.

The dark clouds were dissolved by the sunlight, melting into the azure sky.

The entire sky seemed to become bluer, and the sun became more intense.

The police didn't call an ambulance; for this kind of injury, no one could help, so they just had the coroner drive the hearse over.

It was a very obvious suicide scene, meaningless, and the coroner also believed that everything here fit the inference of suicide.

Mr. Qiaobafu was placed into a body bag, and then, under the gaze of everyone, was sent to the morgue.

The bank was sealed, but the people standing outside the bank were lost.

Mr. Qiaobafu was dead; who should they ask for this money now?

Those savings accumulated by families over a generation or even two generations—who could return them?

Lanse learned of this news immediately after Mr. Qiaobafu's suicide. The people from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce had been paying attention to the situation here; after all, the vast majority of them were lucky.

Under Lanse's reminder, they had already withdrawn their funds from the bank in advance.

At this time, a large number of Imperial Chamber of Commerce members gathered at Lanse's company. Actually, the building wasn't too small, but with so many people in the room, it looked very crowded.

It was time to move to a bigger building.

Luo Jiefu felt a bit emotional, "I have known Mr. Qiaobafu for at least thirty years. In my mind, he has always been a very capable person, in terms of running a bank."

"I didn't expect... he would actually go bankrupt, and choose this path."

Someone continued his words, "This is the inevitable result. He owed so much money; who could solve his problem?"

"And who could solve the problem of those depositors?"

Luo Jiefu sighed, "What's even more unfortunate are those elderly people who couldn't withdraw their money in time. Autumn is coming soon, and their lives will be very difficult."

Everyone's expressions looked a bit pained. Actually, when Lanse hinted to them that Jin Da Bank might have problems, they didn't believe it was true.

Transferring the funds was just because they saw Lanse taking them along to make money, and in order to continue following Lanse's pace to make money, they did so.

But now, they could only feel fortunate.

However, there were also people who still had some money in the bank and hadn't withdrawn it all; they had also known Mr. Qiaobafu for a long time and felt embarrassed to do so.

Now, this money had disappeared, which also made them feel very depressed.

Luo Jiefu couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Lanse, where did all the money from Mr. Qiaobafu's side go?"

Lanse sat in the chair, his hands pressing on the armrests, "He possessed a lot of money, but he didn't possess the ability to protect this money, so everyone who had the ability to tear a piece of meat off him was attracted by his wealth."

"Gangs, hooligans, including the Mayor."

"He originally had many opportunities to make changes, but every time, he stood on the wrong option. It was this society that led to the tragedy, and it was he himself who chose this path."

"We are not powerful, but we must make those who covet our wealth understand one thing."

"They can covet our wealth, or even want to take it away, but at the same time, they must be prepared to shatter their own teeth!"

"As long as we resist to the end every time, even if we lose, we won't let them have an easy time, and they will slowly understand that we are not to be trifled with."

He paused as he spoke, "During this period, international grain prices have been climbing; this is a good project to invest in. We can hoard a batch of grain."

When talking about making money, everyone immediately swept away the pessimistic atmosphere from just a moment ago and became enthusiastic.

Luo Jiefu licked his slightly dry and cracked lips, "Mr. Lanse, we all know that grain prices are rising, but we don't have much money in our hands now."

"The money is all invested in that batch of medicine!"

The price of that batch of medicine had already risen by more than forty percent and was still growing, and the speed wasn't slow.

This was a very successful investment, and everyone believed their net worth would double again.

The longer the war dragged on, the higher the value of these millions in medicine would be.

Of course, the extent of the grain price increase was actually quite astonishing, but its unit price was too low, so people might not have discovered it yet.

Lanse nodded slightly, "I know, but that's not a problem. We will mortgage this batch of medicine to the bank, and then use this money to hoard some grain."

Someone asked, "Mr. Lanse, why don't we continue to hoard medicine?"

"Medicine has now become a sensitive resource, and it's not easy for us to get such a large quantity of goods on a large scale again."

The Pasleto family couldn't get large quantities of medicine anymore. Medicine was one of the most important supplies in the war, and the Federation had already begun to implement limited control measures.

If it were a reasonable purchase, it would be fine, but for civilian hoarding behavior like Lanse and the others, it was basically difficult.

Of course, it was no problem for the 'Masters' to hoard goods; after all, they hoarded goods for the country and the people, unlike Lanse and these people, who just wanted to make money.

Attracting the attention of some people for the sake of making money did not conform to Lanse's current interests. In front of the true upper echelons of the Federation, he was still just an inconspicuous little character.

He explained it simply: the growth rate of grain prices was no slower than that of medicine, and it was also a core key material. And now, hoarding grain would not cause unnecessary trouble, so they agreed.

The Federation had not been dragged into the war, so grain was not yet a controlled material, and the Federal government didn't believe they would be dragged into the war.

Things were decided quickly; everyone contributed, and then they thought of ways to fill the warehouse.

With a new money-making project, Luo Jiefu's pace became lighter, not at all like an old man of his age.

The series of problems triggered by Mr. Qiaobafu's death were still fermenting. Lanse had Lawyer Luo Bu transfer the three big houses to his name as soon as possible to avoid interest disputes.

Major banks were also pushing to end the property changes of those mortgaged items as soon as possible, to avoid having to distribute their residual value to those depositors when the time came.

A bank had fallen, but it hadn't caused any impact on the finance of Jincheng Port; instead, it allowed these banks to eat a piece of fatty pork belly.

As for those depositors who had collapsed on the side of the road, they were never the objects of concern for the rulers.

And no one cared what they should do in the future.

It wouldn't even be long before the focus of public opinion would shift away from these problems, and people wouldn't even talk about them anymore.

Until one day they appeared in the newspapers a few months later, accompanied by shocking headlines like "frozen to death" or "starved to death," becoming tea-time entertainment for people once again.