Chapter 364

Chapter 364 The Lunatics and Freaks of the Sun Temple

“No, I have to go report this.”

　　Xu Wenjie endured the pain in his knee and managed to drag himself over to the table, only to discover that his phone screen was completely shattered — there was no way to even turn it on!

　　Could this have been something Su Rui had prepared in advance? Destroying his phone from the very start, cutting him off from contacting the other side?

　　That didn’t make sense though. Maybe it was just a coincidence. How could Su Rui have known there was someone else standing behind him?

　　Fortunately, that phone number had been deeply burned into Xu Wenjie’s memory. He recited it to himself dozens of times every day — there was no way he could forget it.

　　Xu Wenjie picked up the landline and was just about to dial, when he hesitated.

　　”I don’t even know who the other party is. If I bother that gentleman over something like this, will they think I’m completely incompetent?”

　　After thinking it over several times, and seeing that Su Rui had already left, Xu Wenjie hung up the phone after all.

　　Besides, there was still one more day of meetings tomorrow. Once the evening cocktail reception was over, he would be leaving Huaxia. Surely this terrifying guy wouldn’t fly all the way to Wall Street just to cause him more trouble?

　　Xu Wenjie’s calculations seemed perfectly sound to him, yet what he failed to realize was that in Su Rui’s eyes, he was nothing more than an insignificant minor character. The ones who truly needed to be taught a lesson were the people standing behind him.

　　Su Rui’s creed was simple: if you can’t behave yourselves, I’ll intimidate you into behaving. And if you still refuse to know your place, I don’t mind stepping in personally and wiping you all out.

　　Same as always — keeping it simple and brutal is my art, and not backing down is my way of life.

　　You don’t submit, I’ll beat you into submission. And if you still dare to act recklessly, go to hell and repent.

　　Su Rui’s thinking and methods were both straightforward, but they were extremely effective.

　　Back in his hotel room at the financial summit, Su Rui kicked off his shoes and stood barefoot on the floor, then dialed another call.

　　Also on the other side of the ocean, a figure dressed in a black robe and wearing a green-faced, fang-baring mask stood before a large screen. The surrounding equipment had a distinctly metallic feel, reminiscent of a scene from a science fiction film — quite surreal.

　　”Strategist, what are you up to?” Su Rui’s voice echoed through the hall, still in flawless American English.

　　A mechanically synthesized voice came from behind the green-fanged mask: “Apollo, if you have something to say, say it. Don’t waste my time.”

　　”Come on, Strategist, I’m your boss. Is that any way to talk to your boss? Don’t make me fire you on the spot.”

　　Su Rui lay back on the sofa, one arm comfortably propped behind his head, completely relaxed. With nothing better to do, trading barbs with the cold-blooded Strategist wasn’t a bad way to pass the time.

　　”Go ahead and try firing me.” The Strategist said coldly: “Did you run into some trouble in Huaxia that you can’t handle? You only ever think of me at times like this.”

　　”Are you kidding me, would I ever run into something I can’t handle?” Su Rui chuckled: “It’s nothing as serious as trouble. I just need you to cooperate with me on something. We’re good buddies — you wouldn’t leave me hanging, would you?”

　　”What’s going on? What do you need me to do?” Hearing Su Rui put it that way, the Strategist’s tone immediately turned serious. He knew that given Su Rui’s usual way of doing things, if he could handle something himself, he would absolutely never bother anyone else.

　　”It’s simple. How much of our assets are currently managed by Gaoqi Bank?” Su Rui said.

　　”Approximately 30%. That’s no small figure.” The Strategist paused to consider, then replied.

　　The Temple of the Sun hadn’t built its empire purely through the underworld. After rising to power, it had acquired quite a few companies and held independent assets. In fact, all twelve of the Divine Twelve operated this way — relying solely on mercenary contract earnings would never be enough to sustain such a massive organization. They were not a mercenary corps, nor freelancers taking on individual jobs. They needed enormous financial backing to keep things running.

　　Su Rui was essentially a hands-off boss. He paid almost no attention to the organization’s finances or day-to-day operations — that responsibility fell squarely on the Strategist. If the Strategist were as lax about management as Su Rui, the entire Temple of the Sun would probably have fallen apart long ago.

　　That said, Su Rui was completely at ease, with not the slightest worry that the Strategist might seize real power from him.

　　Trust is always mutual. Su Rui’s absolute trust in the Strategist was precisely what had made the Temple of the Sun grow ever more powerful.

　　”Transfer all of that 30% out. Any companies that have partnerships with them — strip out their shares immediately. I no longer need Gaoqi managing assets for the Temple of the Sun.” A layer of coldness crept into Su Rui’s voice: “Tell them all to get lost.”

　　”Did someone from Gaoqi Bank cross you?” The Strategist’s tone also began to turn cold. Even through the electronic mechanical synthesis, his mood came through clearly.

　　”Just rattling the cage to scare the tiger.” Su Rui said lightly with a smile: “How long would a full transfer take?”

　　”A full transfer, plus asset divestiture, through legitimate means — three days at the fastest.” The Strategist thought for a moment, and a glint flickered behind the mask: “And it would still result in some losses. Comparatively speaking, just flattening Gaoqi Bank outright would be the most time- and effort-efficient approach.”

　　Just flatten Gaoqi Bank outright!

　　Only the Strategist could come up with something this insane.

　　In his view, if Gaoqi Bank dared to offend the Temple of the Sun, dared to offend Su Rui himself, then being flattened a hundred times over would be no more than they deserved. Stripping out 30% of the Temple of the Sun’s assets was far too light a punishment.

　　Su Rui let out a few light coughs. He had to admit that the Strategist sometimes gave him a genuine fright. This man, who was normally brilliantly sharp when it came to strategic planning, was absolutely terrifying once he decided to go all out.

　　If Gaoqi Bank were actually flattened, it would be tantamount to triggering a massive earthquake on Wall Street, with far-reaching consequences for global finance. The impact would be no less devastating than the day two planes brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

　　”Actually, I don’t need a full transfer. I just need to make the right gesture — let that idiot Smith understand where I stand, and make sure he knows what happens when you back the wrong side.” Su Rui took a sip of water to clear his throat. He had to admit, the Strategist really did have a way of getting into your head. Just now, he had actually found himself briefly entertaining the possibility of flattening Gaoqi Bank. Truly ruthless.

　　”Leave it to me. You don’t need to worry about it.” The Strategist’s voice took on a cool, detached tone: “The Temple of the Sun is not something anyone can afford to mess with. Gaoqi Bank will regret what they’ve done.”

　　”I love that attitude of yours. If I were a girl, I’d have married you already.” Su Rui said with a grin, his tone as shameless as ever.

　　The Strategist seemed to smile as well: “They’d be scared off by what I look like.”

　　”That just means they have no taste.” Su Rui said dismissively: “What does appearance matter? What counts is the soul.”

　　”You’ve done so much for Lin Aoxue. Do you think she’ll fall for you?” The Strategist’s teasing tone sounded oddly strange filtered through the electronic synthesis.

　　”Fall for me?” Su Rui said helplessly: “She hasn’t even tried me yet — how would she know whether she likes it or not?”

　　The Strategist let out a cold laugh, said nothing more, and hung up directly.

　　Su Rui knew that handing this matter to the Strategist meant it would be handled to perfection — though “perfection” was putting it politely. If he had to choose another phrase, it would be: going above and beyond all reasonable bounds.

　　Standing before the large screen, the Strategist spoke into the empty hall: “Send Feng Le to me.”

　　Within a few minutes, a young man who looked no older than his early twenties appeared at the entrance to the hall.

　　He was quite handsome — tall and lean, exactly the type who could draw a crowd of swooning girls just by standing there. But perched on his nose was a pair of thick glasses, the lenses ringed with concentric circles that suggested a prescription of at least a thousand degrees, and the frames were round, black, and retro in style. The overall effect gave him an unexpectedly dorky, endearing quality.

　　The moment Feng Le appeared, he gave off the unmistakable vibe of a tech nerd. Seeing someone like him turn up at the Temple of the Sun felt somewhat surprising.

　　”Strategist, you wanted to see me?”

　　”If we were to mobilize funds to mount an attack on Gaoqi Bank, how much would we need?” The Strategist was the Strategist — every time he opened his mouth, it was enough to give someone a heart attack.

　　Su Rui had only asked him to divest the Temple of the Sun’s assets from Gaoqi Bank, cost them a sum of money, and make his position clear. Yet this madman in a mask had gone straight to thinking about mobilizing funds to launch a full-scale attack on Gaoqi Bank.

　　Gaoqi was a professional investment bank. Going after them this way was essentially attacking their strongest point with your weakest.

　　If an ordinary person had heard this, their jaw would have dropped wide enough to swallow an egg whole. But Feng Le simply adjusted his thick glasses and said: “Strategist, are you looking to attack them only on the stock market, or a full-spectrum attack?”

　　”A full-spectrum attack, of course.” The Strategist’s words were utterly calm, as though he were describing something entirely mundane. But if this were actually carried out, the international financial world would be in for another massive earthquake.

　　And Feng Le was already seriously thinking through the feasibility of such an approach. He showed no sign of backing down just because the opponent was Gaoqi Bank, nor any surprise at the Strategist’s outrageous words.

　　Good lord, the Temple of the Sun really was just a bunch of lunatics and freaks.

　　”A stock market attack alone would be relatively straightforward — our own resources could handle that. A full-spectrum attack, on the other hand, would require a considerably larger pool of capital.” Feng Le thought for a full minute before speaking: “We’d need at least 50 billion USD just to see initial results, and our own losses would be significant as well.”

　　”50 billion USD — we don’t have that much on hand.” The Strategist seemed to be thinking it over too. That figure far exceeded the Temple of the Sun’s available liquid assets.

　　Gaoqi Investment Bank had expanded aggressively across the globe in recent years, even edging out Huasheng Bank on Wall Street, and was quietly trending toward becoming the world’s top investment bank. Attempting to attack it would be a mutually destructive move, and most people wouldn’t even dare to think along those lines.

　　After a few minutes of thought, the Strategist said: “If we had sufficient capital, I’d hand this operation over to you. Could you minimize our losses?”

　　”If you give me 50 billion, at best both sides come out bloodied. If you give me 100 billion, I can guarantee we come out of it in the black.” The moment the conversation turned to his area of expertise, Feng Le’s dorky demeanor gradually faded, and a glint of fierce intensity flickered behind those thick lenses.