Heroes' Prison

Chapter 506 - 496: The Mysterious Grand Plan

"No matter what, I’ll always stand by your side," Qin Shiyu clasped Huang Yi’s arm and leaned on his shoulder, "I will communicate with the organization later and lay out your entire plan; it is your plan, and they are certain to agree."

"Actually, the consequences aren’t as bad as you might think, so don’t worry too much," Huang Yi said with a slight smile, touching Qin Shiyu’s hair, "At least we now have an unprecedented amount of money in our hands. Even at the organization’s peak, they couldn’t pull together this much cash."

...

When Qin Shiyu logged off, it was noon in the real world. She was on the other side of the Earth, half a world away from Huang Yi.

She got out of bed and went to the bathroom for a comfortable rose milk bath, thinking about the plan Huang Yi had just told her.

Although she followed Huang Yi’s orders, that did not mean she didn’t have her own opinions. On the contrary, her ability to become Number 9 in the organization already spoke volumes.

Having mulled it over from front to back, Qin Shiyu’s expression finally turned serious. She stood up from the bath, flicked a rose petal off her arm, and draped the bathrobe around her.

She walked into the living room, picked up the phone, and went to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the bustling city outside as she dialed a number.

"Number 9, what’s up?" A middle-aged man’s voice soon came through the phone.

"Number 1 has a big plan, and we need to cooperate," Qin Shiyu said straightforwardly.

...

An hour later.

In a city in North America, a black man dressed in punk attire and riding a skateboard was listening to rock music through his headphones.

Right then, the music in his headphones suddenly stopped, replaced by a man’s voice: "Sell all the Hero Guild stocks you hold right now, and buy Martial Arts Guild stocks."

At that moment, it wasn’t just him. People around the world, in every corner of various countries, heard the same voice. They were all different: some were CEOs of big companies, some were travelers in the wilderness, and some were young men strolling down the street with their girlfriends...

Their identities varied, but in the next moment, they all would do the same thing.

...

The next day, Huang Yi logged on early as usual and first checked the forums.

"The first round of the award ceremony concludes, Sharp Sword speaks publicly for the first time, challenging God of Slaughter; Martial Emperor and Martial Saint, the two championship titles reveal their attributes!"

Sure enough, last night’s first round of the award ceremony was the headline on the forum. There were actually two focuses last night: one was the ownership of the third place, and the other was the attributes of the two titles.

Huang Yi was indeed very keen on those two titles. Aside from anything else, just the "Status Level +1" attribute was powerful enough; two players with the same attributes, but with a +1 status level, had entirely different strengths.

However, the gap in status wasn’t completely insoluble. Huang Yi knew one way to break it, which was to use Dark Attribute or Holy Elements attacks. These two types of attacks were extremely high-level and could not be weakened even by those with high status levels. The Undead Flying Dragon once said that, back when it was at its peak in the Holy Domain, it was almost killed by a group of level eighty plus Demonic Creatures. Additionally, the ten million damage that Huang Yi dealt to the Holy Domain Half-Beast Tribe Chief last time was also due to the use of the Demonizing Skill, which suddenly turned into a Demonic series attack, ignoring any status disparity.

Huang Yi continued to read on and finally, his eyes landed on the post ranked twelfth—

"Hero Guild advances to the finals, stock price soars, triggering a buying frenzy among investors, major shareholders furiously reduce their holdings for cash!"

Seeing this, Huang Yi had a rough idea in his mind; it seemed Qin Shiyu had already discussed his plan with the organization and was executing it.

Currently, they controlled 70% of the Hero Guild’s stocks, all distributed across numerous accounts, invisible to outsiders.

The Hero Guild’s market value had now reached 2 trillion US Dollars. Although the US Dollar had significantly devalued, 2 trillion was still no small amount.

Once those stocks were sold, it would be a huge sum of money. Even at the organization’s peak, they could not have produced such an astronomical fortune.

This step was equivalent to selling off the most profitable asset within the organization! Next, they would spend this money wisely, creating the greatest value within a short period of time.

However, due to the massive amount they cashed out, it severely drove down the stock price of Hero Guild, which had been on an upward trend, now forcibly depressed; this, too, was within acceptable limits.

After reading posts for a while, Huang Yi logged into The Second World.

As soon as he went online, the first thing he did was to take out a medicine bottle to see what potion had been brewed today.

He had even fantasized that if an instant-kill potion could have been bred in these few days, the dire situation at the martial arts tournament might have been reversed.

However, this wish was clearly too illusory; today the bottle had only bred a very low-level potion. Huang Yi did not even have the desire to use it and promptly stored it in his ring.

Huang Yi changed his appearance with Oss’ Eye Mask and headed towards the teleportation circle in Dragon City.

Along the way, he saw countless members of the Hero Guild discussing the finals, their words filled with trust in him, cheering him on.

Yet many others were discussing something new.

"Yunbo, did you get that guild message? Today the vice president, Qin Shiyu, suddenly initiated a fundraising activity, asking us to lend all our on-hand funds for a one-month promise of one and a half times the return. I’m thinking of handing over all my gold coins—by then it’ll be like earning half a year’s salary!"

"I already handed over mine, and I even borrowed from everywhere; in total, I contributed 200,000 Gold Coins. This is much safer than betting, it’s a sure win without any loss!"

"Actually, right now among the entire guild’s twenty million players, basically, everyone is borrowing from relatives and friends to contribute these funds. But I’ve always been a bit worried, why is the vice president collecting so much money? Could it be that she plans to take the money and abandon our guild? Now it seems like the upper echelon of the guild, including the president and vice president, are selling their shares. If even they are selling off the guild’s stock, could there be a problem?"

"Definitely not! What kind of people are God of Slaughter and Qin Shiyu? Would people of their status still care about money? They’re just reducing their holdings, they should still retain some shares, and won’t sell them all. Otherwise, it would mean that Hero Guild has effectively changed hands, they certainly won’t do that."

Huang Yi kept walking, showing no reaction to their conversations, picking up the pace, distancing himself from the Hero Guild members, as if treading a solitary path of no return...

Finally, he arrived at the familiar Teleport Plaza where, these past days, he had been teleporting to the Tower of Pantheons for level grinding. The seemingly endless noise was like home to him.

But this time, he stopped, looked around the familiar city, took a deep breath, and stepped onto the teleportation circle.

The next moment, he teleported to a place far, far away, and for a long time afterward, he did not return.

Days went by, one after another.

In these days, something significant happened around the world.

The ten major institutions and consortia that originally controlled 50% of the Hero Guild’s shares had sold all their stock for cash, obtaining vast wealth.

These consortia were all controlled by Huang Yi’s behind-the-scenes organization. This was the largest fortune they had ever acquired in their history, providing an unprecedented boost to the organization’s development.

Furthermore, a part of the money from the stock sale was used to buy a large number of shares of the Martial Arts Guild. This action was very secretive, carried out in a dispersed manner. Aside from the top figures in the organization, the subordinates were all in contact through single lines, unaware of each other’s actions.

This plan was proposed by Huang Yi, but its execution relied on the tight cooperation of thousands of people. The organization was like a precision instrument, every component shining in its role, with Huang Yi as merely the most crucial cog, yet still just one component; alone, he could not accomplish such feats.

During this time, Hero Guild also staged a sensational event, with Vice President Qin Shiyu personally announcing an activity—guild members who handed over their gold coins would receive one and a half times their money back within a month.

This activity was full of temptation, a surefire gain, offering returns even higher than usurious lending. The event instantly ignited the enthusiasm of all twenty million guild players, who rushed to participate, turning in their funds. Qin Shiyu quickly amassed an enormous sum of money!

Nonetheless, some doubted the true intent behind it. With Qin Shiyu obtaining so much money so quickly, if she decided to abandon them, disappearing without a trace, there would be no one to cry to for injustice—this was The Second World, a place beyond the reach of the law!

Selling off stocks, raising capital—these abnormal actions caught the attention of some observant individuals. Many voices of doubt emerged, eager to see Huang Yi’s stance.