Chapter 499: 129 Billion!
A few days later, all profits had been successfully harvested and every position closed.
Everyone gathered in the operations center, anxiously awaiting the final profit report.
Chen Mo and his team were equally nervous. For months, they’d been under near-constant pressure, and now the final moment had arrived.
Chen Mo stood on the stage, facing the expectant gazes below. He gently adjusted the microphone.
Finally, he glanced toward Liu Yutong—whom he already regarded as a deity—before announcing the final results of this campaign to everyone present.
“Miss Liu, esteemed partners, every position in our transoceanic short-selling operation has been strictly executed according to plan, closed out gradually and discreetly!”
“And now, I will present the final settlement results!”
The moment he finished speaking, the room fell silent.
Immediately afterward, the large screen behind Chen Mo lit up with a PowerPoint presentation.
“Our initial capital investment totaled 4.7 billion Chinese Yuan, which at the entry exchange rate equaled approximately $692 million USD.”
“Over the months, using leverage that reached nearly 60x at its peak, we built and maintained a total nominal short position that maxed out at $40.9 billion USD!”
“In this global financial storm, our three-pronged strategy—core short positions, individual stock shorts, and most profitably, deep out-of-the-money options—achieved a triple leap in returns!”
“After deducting all cross-border channel costs, transaction fees, interest, risk reserves, and so forth, the final confirmed amount of pure cash safely returned to our control is…”
This was a bit of deliberate drama—at this point, he paused intentionally.
The crowd grew even more impatient, everyone urging him to hurry up and say it.
Finally, after a five-second pause, he announced that staggering figure.
“$12.1 billion USD!”
“Gasp!”
“Holy shit! Holy shit!!!”
Though everyone had tried their best to restrain themselves, many couldn’t help but let out curses.
But this was only the beginning!
Zhou Muchen whipped out a calculator and started punching numbers frantically.
“$12.1 billion USD… at the current exchange rate, that’s… that’s over 80 billion Chinese Yuan!”
Invested 4.7 billion, getting back over 80 billion!
Net profit exceeding 70 billion!
This number almost knocked everyone out!
But this wasn’t over yet.
Chen Mo raised his hand, waited for quiet, and continued:
“Please settle down, everyone. That’s not all!”
“There’s more?” The crowd was stunned.
Chen Mo nodded:
“At Miss Liu’s direction, when the market was at its most panicked and prices had collapsed, we deployed over $3.5 billion USD of our floating profits to aggressively acquire heavily discounted equity and convertible bonds in several tech companies—including Fruit Company, lithography giant ASML, and others. The current conservative valuation of these long-term strategic assets has reached $6.6 billion USD!”
“Therefore, our total gains from this operation are $12.1 billion USD in cash, plus $6.6 billion USD in strategic assets, for a combined total of $18.7 billion USD!”
“Converted to Chinese Yuan, that’s—”
The number that appeared on the screen behind him was dizzying.
“1,290,000,000,000.00!”
Approximately 129 billion Chinese Yuan!
The total return rate reached a terrifying 2,700%.
When this number appeared, everyone started counting like schoolchildren, pointing at the screen: “Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands… damn, so many zeros, I’m getting dizzy!”
Several people miscounted multiple times.
Once they confirmed the number was correct, everyone lost all restraint, howling with abandon.
“Twenty-seven times!!”
“One hundred twenty-nine billion!!”
“Fucking incredible!!! Fucking incredible!!!”
“Long live Sister Yutong!!!”
They’d gone mad! Everyone descended into pure frenzy!
Champagne sprayed everywhere, confetti rained down continuously!
Even the traders were hugging, jumping, and roaring like madmen…
This feeling transcended mere joy—they all felt they’d witnessed and participated in the glorious moment when a mortal ascended to godhood!
Liu Yutong also smiled, applauding gently as she celebrated with everyone.
Everyone looked at her as if she were a deity.
This battle had not only secured a solid foundation for Wanlong Society but had also elevated her to a true pedestal of legend!
4.7 billion Chinese Yuan in, 129 billion out—a triumphant return!
129 billion!
Many small nations don’t even have that much money. “Rich enough to rival a nation” is no exaggeration.
Liu Yutong then took the champagne offered by someone nearby and raised it gently.
No words were needed—a simple gesture sent the room’s frenzy to new heights.
“Sister Yutong, from now on, I, Zhou Muchen, will follow your lead without question!”
“Me too!”
“Me too!”
“Me too!”
“…….”
The members of Yunshan Society rushed to declare their allegiance.
Of the 129 billion, if we allocate Wanlong Society’s share of slightly over half, that leaves around 64 billion Chinese Yuan.
Then, from this 64 billion, after subtracting the principal, half goes to Liu Yutong as per our prior agreement.
The final amount they could distribute was over 34 billion, with each person receiving approximately 5.6 billion Chinese Yuan.
They’d originally been satisfied with the expectation of 1 billion each; now they had more than five times that.
Making over 5 billion in just a few months—this was more profitable than robbing a bank!
Of course, bringing this much money back to China would incur taxes, roughly 25%.
However, due to relevant tax relief policies—since this money, even when repatriated through tax havens like the Cayman Islands, had already been partially taxed, roughly 10% overall—the numbers you see now are post-tax.
The portion already taxed qualifies for deductions, so they’d only need to pay another 15% upon repatriation.
Of course, they wouldn’t actually bring all the money back—some would remain in foreign company accounts for reserve, with only a portion being repatriated.
Most importantly, they wanted to gauge Liu Yutong’s attitude.
That’s right—they wanted to stay on board for the long term.
Better to invest in a person than in assets. They wanted Liu Yutong to continue managing this capital, which would only grow larger.
This battle had established immense trust in Liu Yutong.
They were even faintly worried Liu Yutong might not include them next time, given that she now had more money than all of them combined.
Of the 129 billion, Liu Yutong herself claimed about 95 billion.
Except for the $6.6 billion USD in equity that hadn’t been liquidated—something Liu Yutong had specifically requested—she controlled these holdings through an offshore company registered in the Cayman Islands, planning to hold them long-term.
That left approximately 49 billion in cash, nearly 50 billion.
Who was China’s richest man this year, according to public net worth?
That electronics magnate, Boss Huang—the richest man Huang Yu whom Liu Yutong had hosted at the university last year—had a public net worth of only about 43 billion Chinese Yuan so far this year.
That was a significant drop from last year.
Mainly due to the financial crisis’s impact. Last year, someone’s net worth had once soared to over 130 billion Chinese Yuan, though unfortunately, it was slashed down after a very short time.
Many people’s net worth had plummeted, allowing Huang Yu to reclaim the top spot.
But even so, his 40-plus billion net worth was terrifying—except now a woman even more terrifying had emerged.
At nineteen years old, not counting equity holdings and assets, she controlled nearly 50 billion Chinese Yuan in cash alone.
Just the thought was frightening!
Of course, her public net worth was only a few billion—the amount Wanlong Group brought her. Everyone tacitly understood they shouldn’t publicize this money they’d fleeced from across the ocean.
Being too high-profile wasn’t wise.
They also feared that if more powerful figures learned of Liu Yutong’s prowess, they’d rush to give her money, leaving nothing for them.
So without needing Liu Yutong’s explicit instruction, they wouldn’t reveal her as the mastermind behind it all.
This also revealed how inflated those public rich lists were—such publications could only count visible wealth, like stock values and industries.
Those with vast amounts of actual cash weren’t included.
So on the surface, Liu Yutong’s net worth was far from the domestic richest.
In reality, the capital she controlled had already surpassed the richest man.
Facing the expectant gazes of Yunshan Society, Liu Yutong smiled faintly, choosing not to give a direct response. Instead, she raised her glass once more.
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!” Everyone raised their glasses in unison.