Darkstone Code

Chapter 1049 - 1047: True Love

What consequences will there be if I get involved?

Many people have such thoughts when faced with problems: if I do it, what will happen?

Then they choose to give up, and might eventually regret it at some point in the future, or maybe not regret it because they chose the right direction.

Lynch’s words made Mr. Pato fall into deep thought. If a high-purity, high-reserve open-air Silver Mine were to be exposed at this moment, what would happen?

It didn’t take him a few seconds to realize that the price of silver would avalanche. As long as mining is convenient, it would be easy to refine enough silver to impact the market.

Raising prices requires a mutual understanding; you don’t sell, I don’t sell, none of us sells, waiting for the price to slowly rise.

But when the market collapses, no understanding is needed because people in the face of disaster have no time to think, instinct drives them to quickly escape the calamity.

An avalanche is formed, a new round of silver plunge, hundreds of millions of futures accounts liquidated, tens of billions in cash evaporated...

Thinking of this made Mr. Pato somewhat nervous. He clenched his fists and then slowly relaxed them.

"You definitely won’t like that situation. You will become someone everyone wants to take down. They won’t change their minds just because of what they’ve done."

"They will keep doing it until the moment of your death."

"Don’t take risks, Lynch. I know you like taking risks, but my advice is don’t target silver."

"These people juggling futures and mining are different from those you’ve seen at high-end social venues wearing formal attire."

He didn’t specifically explain the differences, but Lynch could imagine many things, such as...

Problems inside mines, those slaves, those brutal exploitation and oppression.

These people, mine owners, big capitalists, are all bloody-handed figures. They are not like those on Bupen’s financial street.

The latter also toy with wealth, but their hands are clean. At least their hands aren’t stained with so much blood nor haunted by so many wronged souls.

But these people, they do not fear killing. Their so-called guard squads for the mines are essentially their private armed forces, their assassins—a terrifying force.

The price of silver keeps rising, and more people are getting involved. If someone wants to do something to silver, they face the industry’s big sharks.

"I understand, and rest assured, I won’t do that. This is just my curiosity."

After a brief chat, Lynch picked up the phone again, calling Lime, "Bring me the precious metal futures trends for the last five years. I need detailed data, quickly."

Lime sounded a bit surprised, "Now, Mr. Lynch?"

"Immediately!"

An hour later, Lime, leaning on a cane, arrived at Lynch’s house. His entourage brought several large bundles of materials, which were then moved into Lynch’s study.

"Do you know the current price of silver?" Lynch casually flipped through some materials, which Lime had meticulously organized.

Each different precious metal was packed separately so that Lynch could directly find the package he needed.

Lime had some difficulty sitting down, his broken leg making his posture less than graceful.

"Sorry, the Doctor said it can’t be restored," he apologized for his awkwardness, which Lynch humorously skipped over.

Once settled, he wiped the fine sweat from his face with a handkerchief and then said, "Silver’s price has already exceeded half the price of Gold. The market’s outlook on silver is optimistic, believing it might reach the level close to gold."

"What’s the reason?" Lynch took apart a cigarette and handed one over.

Lime thanked him and accepted the cigarette, lighting it with a lighter. He took a drag and slowly exhaled, "Because of some geological disasters."

"Since the second half of the year before last, there have been earthquakes in various places, and some mines have collapsed due to the earthquakes."

"The largest silver mining area was also affected. Now, the world’s annual silver production is less than a third of the year before last."

"You know, three years ago, silver’s price was only a dollar thirty per ounce."

"Now, in the futures market, the price has risen to seventeen dollars per ounce, while gold’s price is less than forty dollars. Some futures exchanges have quoted silver at eighteen to nineteen dollars. People have gone mad."

"Plus, Charlie and his siblings are crazily buying up the spot market; silver spots are getting tighter and tighter..."

Lynch raised his hand to stop Lime from continuing, "Charlie and siblings?"

Lime nodded, "Charlie VII is the King of a small country. He and his sister rule the country."

"They funnel all their money into acquiring silver, buying only without selling. So now, under their control, the price of silver has risen to the point where ordinary people can no longer afford it."

"There’s also an amusing rumor. It’s said that the relationship between Charlie’s siblings...," Lime chuckled slyly, "You know, some say they’ve crossed the last line of siblings. Whether or not it’s true, it shows they’re lunatics."

"Even banks are starting to reclaim silver jewelry from the common folks and refabricate it into silver bars, rather than trading it in the market."

"They can’t endure the constantly changing prices either."

Lynch nodded, "Continue."

After being interrupted, Lime couldn’t recall what he initially intended to say. He thought for a moment and summarized, "In short, silver’s price is climbing higher."

Lynch then asked, "No new silver mines discovered recently?"

Lime shrugged, "Maybe there are, but those who found them haven’t said anything, which is like not finding any. Silver’s rising price benefits everybody."

"Is there a way to take a shot at silver?"

Lime thought seriously and shook his head after a while, "Futures and financial markets aren’t the same. In the financial market, if we want to target someone, releasing a tiny bit of fake news is enough!"

"But in the futures market, any effect from fake news is only temporary."

"Moreover, those playing international futures have moved away from the basic stock retail investors; they’re not so easily fooled anymore, and most are wealthy!"

Financial markets are easy to stir up because they play with people’s hearts.

The price where a stock can linger depends entirely on how high people’s expectations are for the company and their level of confidence.

If a company has a market value of only ten million (assuming it issued a million shares), but everyone believes its market value will be fifty million in a year, then the stock is worth fifty dollars per share!

People firmly believe it’s worth that price because there’s no solid tangible product as a reference, and financial value becomes very idealistic.

You believe its price will rise, so you chase buying it.

You don’t believe its price will rise, but someone does.

Thus, in the financial market, a "fake story" has devastating destructive power. Even if a company has a market cap of ten million, a fake story claiming their financial report involved fraud can cost it hundreds of thousands in market capitalization within an afternoon, like a financial avalanche.

But futures aren’t so easily manipulated; futures are about playing with contracts and future index agreements.

But as long as they’re not purely futures index, they can require cash settlement!

This makes it difficult for the market to be crushed by lies, such as someone spreading news about discovering a large silver mine.

Maybe initially there will be some impact, but people will soon organize site inspections, especially the big stakeholders.

Once a discovery is found to be false, the price of silver not only won’t drop, but might rise due to some counter-effects.

If a silver mine indeed emerges, these big stakeholders might use some means to hide the mine.

Therefore, in the futures market, those who truly influence it are never some so-called "big investors" or certain "institutions," but countries!

A country wanting copper prices to rise needs only to adjust some strategies slightly.

Exporter countries reduce export quantities; importer countries increase import quantities and base prices; a single message, and the futures market prices fluctuate immediately.

But individuals, enterprises—even if they consume extensively—can’t consume all the world’s goods, which keeps producing.

Lynch nodded.

Then he and Lime chatted about some things in the investment company; lately the company’s earnings are quite good. The boom in real industries actually reflects on the stock market.

Those stocks backed by real industries steadily rise in prices; although explosive growth is hard, they’re stable.

Everyone’s quite satisfied with the current situation; whether an operator or running a financial company, there can’t be major situations every day, nor can you be glued to the computer screen frenziedly trading.

Now the main income for financial companies, besides the gains from stock appreciation, comes from transaction seat commissions.

Lynch holds quite a few transaction seats, naturally attracting smaller brokerage companies to rely on them. So the financial company only profits without loss, very stable.

After leaving Lynch’s villa, Lime directly got his staff to take him back to the company, and after receiving a piece of material, returned home.

Upon entering, a pretty girl in her twenties who looked like a model greeted him eagerly, kissing his cheek, then helped him change shoes.

A cripple finding it difficult to change shoes, but this pretty girl didn’t mind at all. She half-kneeled, helping Lime change shoes, calling him "dear."

She truly likes Lime...perhaps this is true love.