Steal the enemy's base at the start and build a technological empire.

Chapter 360 The Threat of Pratt

February 6, 2000, 10:00 AM.

Ling Yun sat in his office, the sunlight streaming through the window. Yesterday the stock closed at 48.2, today it opened at 50.1, and it's still rising. Anderson and his team are probably getting restless.

There was a knock on the door, and Fiona pushed it open, looking rather unwell.

"Mr. Ling, Pritt is here."

Ling Yun looked up. "Oh? Platt? Just him? Anderson and the others didn't come?"

"Yes. He said he wants to see you, now."

Ling Yun thought for a moment, then said, "Let him in."

Fiona turned and went out. After a while, the door opened again, and Platt walked in, wearing a dark gray suit, his hair neatly combed, and his face expressionless.

He sat down opposite Lingyun without saying a word.

Ling Yun looked at him but didn't say anything.

There was a silence of about ten seconds.

Platt spoke up, "Mr. Ling, I'm here today on behalf of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to discuss something with you."

Ling Yun nodded. "Oh? Why didn't Anderson and the others come?"

Platt took an envelope out of his pocket and placed it on the table. The envelope was thin and unsealed. "They asked me to bring this to you."

Ling Yun picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper, printed with just a few lines of text.

He glanced at it, then laughed. "Is this a threat? A tax audit, a national security investigation, is that all?"

Plett nodded. "You can think of it that way. These two are enough. You know you can't handle either one."

Ling Yun put the paper back in the envelope and placed it on the table. "How much did you lose?"

Pratt was taken aback. "What? HP didn't participate in short selling. We don't do that kind of capital operation."

"How much did Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lose on this short selling?"

Pratt didn't say anything.

Ling Yun looked at him. "40 billion? Or 50 billion?"

Platt's expression changed slightly. "Mr. Ling, I didn't come here today to discuss this."

"What were they discussing?"

"Let's discuss your future." Platt leaned forward. "You're a smart man. You should know that at this point, there's no point in you continuing to push through."

Ling Yun didn't speak.

Platt continued, "Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have suffered such huge losses; they can't just let it go. You know who's behind them. Wall Street and Washington are all connected. Tax investigations, national security investigations—you can't withstand either one. You still have businesses in China, your wife and children are still in China. Have you thought about that?"

Ling Yun looked at him. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm not threatening you, I'm just reminding you."

Ling Yun stood up, somewhat indignant. "Are you just overturning the rules you set yourselves? Even kids playing hide-and-seek on the street know to follow the rules, but you're just blatantly disregarding them?"

Platt also stood up. "In the end, the strong rule this world. Whoever is the most powerful has the rules. Today it may be one rule, but tomorrow it may be another. Besides, you are an outsider, not part of the rules. If you hadn't grown so quickly, if you hadn't led everyone to make money, do you think you, as a Chinese person, could have built such a large enterprise in the United States? Even second-generation Chinese Americans don't have that opportunity, let alone someone who doesn't even have American citizenship."

"Heh, if I gave up my Chinese citizenship, things would be even worse. At least you're minding that I'm Chinese, so you won't just rob me outright."

Platt shook her head. "You're overthinking it. If we say you threaten U.S. national security, what kind of help do you think China can offer? Protest? Like last year when they bombed your embassy in Yugoslavia, what could you do? Protest?"

Ling Yun clenched his fists, really wanting to punch this arrogant Ansar man, but he held back. "I currently hold 32% of the shares. Since you all want them, no problem. As long as the price is right, I can transfer them all to you."

"You're more pragmatic than I thought. This way, we can still be friends. There's no conflict of interest for us if you go back to China, and we can still continue to cooperate. After all, the products you manufacture are quite good. As for the price, we'll stick with yesterday's closing price."

"48.2?"

"Um."

Ling Yun thought for a moment, "32%, or 48.2%, that's about 308 billion."

Pratt waited a few seconds.

"Mr. Ling, this price is not low. Before yesterday, the stock price was only 26, so you have almost doubled your money."

Ling Yun looked at him. "What you want is control, not just these shares, right?"

Pratt did not deny it.

Ling Yun walked back to his desk, sat down, and said, "Give me a day to think about it."

Platt shook his head. "No, I need an answer today."

"Why? In such a hurry? It doesn't matter if it's a day earlier or later."

"Because the stock price is still rising today, it might be 50 tomorrow, and I'm afraid you'll be reluctant to sell it then."

Ling Yun looked at him. "Are you afraid I'll release more good news?"

Pratt did not answer.

Ling Yun smiled. "Okay, I agree."

Platt paused, then asked, "You agreed?"

"Um."

Platt looked at him, seemingly incredulous. "It's that simple?"

"It's that simple."

After a few seconds of silence, Pratt stood up and extended his hand.

Ling Yun shook hands.

Pratt walked to the door, then turned back.

"Mr. Ling, to be honest, I didn't expect you to agree so readily."

Ling Yun looked at him and said, "I didn't expect this either."

Pratt pushed open the door and went out.

Ling Yun sat there alone, looking out the window for a long time.

Then he picked up the phone and called Sophia, "What's the Nasdaq index now?"

The sound of typing came from the other end of the phone, "Wait a minute... a little over 4200."

Ling Yun thought for a moment, "Do you think this price point is too high?"

Sophia paused for a moment, then said, "High? Of course it is. The internet bubble is too big. There are hardly any profitable internet companies now; it's all hype. This bubble should have burst long ago."

"When do you think it will break?"

"Well... nobody can say for sure. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year."

Ling Yun nodded. "Okay, get ready on your end."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. "Mr. Ling, what do you want?"

Ling Yun did not answer.

"President Ling?"

You'll find out in a few days.

He hung up the phone.

He called Li Ziyu again, "How's the Hong Kong stock market going?"

"I've cleared out everything. As you said, I sold everything above 18000. The funds have all been converted to US dollars and are in a Hong Kong account."

"How many?"

"Including what we made this time, it's close to three billion."

Ling Yun nodded. "Okay."

"Mr. Ling, how's it going on your end? I saw on the news that the stock price is soaring."

"good."

"So when will the next step be taken?"

"Wait for my call."