As the funds arrived one after another, everyone at the Wanlong Society finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Yang Xin should have been the happiest one, after all, they finally had money.
Previously, they had almost emptied their coffers. The past few months had been like walking on thin ice, each day feeling like a year, terrified that a single misstep could cause the Wanlong Society Group to go bankrupt due to a broken capital chain.
It must be understood that a significant portion of the group's funds were dedicated funds like payment for goods or loans, totaling over a billion.
If someone suddenly sabotaged them, or due to other reasons, it could instantly plunge the Wanlong Society Group into an abyss of ruin.
After first securing over five billion in funds, Yang Xin and the others were overjoyed.
However, before their joy could last long, their faces fell again one by one.
Was this money really that easy to spend?
Their provincial capital needed about 1 billion to invest in building a commercial plaza. The investment plan for the 11 commercial plazas in BS Province required 4 to 5 billion.
Fortunately, BS Province could provide some low-interest loans.
The Greater South City area also needed roughly 1 billion. The logistics company needed to expand its scale, requiring at least 500 million as a base.
Then, Li Xiaohui's newly established esports club took 50 million.
Add to that the expansion of restaurants and so on...
Furthermore, for the newly planned industrial park in Pearl City, some partners had already agreed to invest and build factories there. Wanlong Society would also provide some funds to partners short on money or make direct investments.
Wanlong Supermarket's future was not just about the supermarket business; it also needed to develop downstream industry chains to ensure the quality and competitiveness of its products were strong enough.
All these miscellaneous expenses added up, and the over five billion was instantly allocated. Excluding the funds within Wanlong Capital, the Wanlong Society Group was even tens of billions in debt on paper.
If it weren't for Wanlong Capital backing them up, Yang Xin and the others would probably be worrying themselves bald again.
Of course, this debt was all projected for the future on paper. In reality, these over five billion could last quite a while, not being a one-time investment, estimated to take one to two years to spend.
Even so, while chatting with Liu Yutong, Yang Xin couldn't help but complain, "I thought we had struck it rich, but it turns out we're almost paupers again."
He meant "paupers" in a positive sense.
After all, for an enterprise to develop and grow rapidly, spending money is an unavoidable truth.
After this round of spending was complete and all the shopping malls officially began operations, the Wanlong Society Group would become a large-scale group with a valuation starting at tens of billions.
Strictly speaking, the Wanlong Society Group was already a multi-billion enterprise because Wanlong Capital held substantial cash.
However, based on the internal restricted share price calculation, the group's valuation hadn't yet broken the tens of billions mark.
A company's valuation is both related and unrelated to its cash flow.
Simply put, cash itself doesn't directly create a high valuation; it's only one part of a company's value.
For example, a company with 1 billion in cash but no growth prospects might have its valuation primarily reflected in that 1 billion cash.
Another company also with 1 billion in cash but in a phase of explosive growth could have a valuation dozens or even hundreds of times its cash.
Just as Yang Xin and the others were experiencing the bittersweet pain of spending money like water, the internet, both domestic and international, remained a scene of widespread misery.
The aftermath of the financial crisis hadn't dissipated so quickly.
On the TV screen, a financial news anchor was reporting the latest updates.
[During this period, following Lehman's declaration of bankruptcy, global stock markets have continued to plummet. Preliminary statistics show this round of financial crisis has led to the evaporation of over XX billion USD in global market value...]
On domestic internet portals, forums, and message boards, the same cries of despair echoed.
Everyone was discussing this news.
[Circuit breaker triggered, again! My principal is only one-tenth left, damn it!]
[Can anyone save me? I can barely pay my mortgage.]
[Those bastards on Wall Street! They knew the crash was coming and hid it, dragging us down with them!]
[I'm never touching stocks again in my life.]
[I heard a big shot jumped last night in XX place...]
On the internet, especially in the financial sections, almost no good news could be seen.
Just as everyone was becoming numb, a piece of hearsay began spreading rapidly online.
Initially, risk departments at several top Wall Street investment banks and brokerages noticed some anomalies.
Some accounts opened through complex offshore structures had reaped astonishingly huge profits with every market plunge.
These accounts wielded their sickles with remarkable precision, their methods cold-blooded and utterly merciless.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the owners behind these accounts were highly likely from the East.
This infuriated them.
They were used to being the ones harvesting the world, accustomed to this asymmetrical relationship. This time, however, they had been harvested by a mysterious force from the East.
Who could stand that?
Many were furious upon hearing this, shouting "Shit!"
This news later reached China, instantly causing an uproar on forums and message boards.
"Did you hear? There's a mysterious cluster of accounts that harvested over ten billion USD in profits from across the ocean during this crash!"
"No way! How is that possible? How did they do it? Do we have such masters in China?"
"Holy crap, this must be the Stock God! I want to be his disciple! I don't want to be a 'chopped vegetable' (a metaphor for retail investors who lose money) anymore!"
Me too! I'm begging for the big shot's info.
I think this info might be fake, just to boost our confidence as retail investors. Don't fall for it, everyone...
"I think it's fake too. How could this be possible?"
"I actually think it's true. Who says we Chinese can't harvest from across the ocean? Don't underestimate our own people."
"Exactly!"
"..."
Just as everyone held their own opinions, arguing about its authenticity, a relatively authoritative financial media outlet updated with the latest news.
According to some foreign media and confirmation from a certain domestic big shot, during this round of the financial crisis there indeed was a mysterious capital from the East that used high leverage to precisely short the overseas markets, estimated to have profited nearly 20 billion USD. The boldness of its operations and the precision of its judgment are breathtaking — it can be called a textbook example of the art of plunder. This capital and the mainland...
When this news report came out, it was no less than dropping a nuclear bomb on those wealthy individuals and retail investors whose net worth had been slashed or who were nearly bankrupt.
In a certain villa, a big shot who had just suffered heavy losses in the stock market received a call from a friend and suddenly stood up from the sofa, his face filled with excitement.
"What? Say that again?! Our Chinese people snatched back over a hundred billion from across the ocean? Holy shit! Our ancestral masters must be showing their power! Which immortal did this?!"
"Spare no expense to help me find these people and the traders behind them. I must pay them a visit!"
"..."
Similar scenes played out in many places across the country.
"Is it true? Over a hundred billion? Snatching food from the tiger's mouth on Wall Street? Incredible!"
"Finally we can hold our heads high! Damn, seeing those guys across the sea take such a massive fall was depressing, but who knew we had a literal god descend on our side!"
"Even though I lost money, hearing this news feels inexplicably satisfying! The boss is a legend!"
"Please, take me under your wing!"
"This is too insane! This is a hundred times more thrilling than reading a power fantasy novel!"
"I always said it, there's a true dragon hidden among us Dragon Nation people!"
"Find that person, quick!"
"…………"
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
The mysterious figure revered online as the Stock God, after meeting with the high-level executives of the Wanlong Hui Group in Great Southern City, made a decision.
"Yun Cheng, arrange to withdraw two hundred million in cash. We're handing out bonuses to everyone!"
..........
