Chapter 36: Double Standards in Regulation, a Carnival for the Privileged

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yuan took a deep breath, looked at the people in the conference room, and said, "Commissioner Zhang, issue a notice stating that this is a normal market reaction. We will monitor the data dynamics in real-time and publish the position data after the market closes to ensure everything complies with trading rules."

The commissioners were shocked, looking at Liu Yuan with curious expressions. Commissioner Zhang couldn't help but point upward and ask in a low voice, "Chairman, does this have to do with the big shots at the top?"

Liu Yuan nodded and said in a deep voice, "It is not appropriate for us to get involved in this; the implications are too great, affecting many aspects. They have promised to abide by the trading rules, so we shouldn't make things complicated to avoid bringing trouble upon ourselves."

The others nodded in understanding. Soon, a relevant notice was issued, instantly causing a stir in the market. Many short-selling retail investors and large traders who had been trapped began to curse angrily: "Such obvious manipulation, and you call it compliant? These bastards must be selectively blind!"

Compared to the retail investors, some major short-selling players immediately realized that the big shark that had charged in had powerful connections that they could not shake. Fortunately, the notice stated that the shark had backed down and would follow trading rules, so the limit-up would likely be broken before the close. As for the subsequent trend, it would probably depend on that shark's mood; it was better to cut losses and get out while they could.

Yan Fei, sitting in front of his computer, shared the same thought as the major short-sellers. After handling his other futures positions, he turned his attention to the Shanghai copper futures market and waited patiently.

Time ticked away. Yan Fei waited from 11:00 AM until 2:55 PM. At that exact moment, the massive sixty-billion-yuan limit-up order was suddenly withdrawn. Immediately after, several large short-selling orders crashed down, swallowing the billions in retail limit-up orders that had followed the trend.

The moment the limit-up was smashed, the price of Shanghai copper futures collapsed like a breached dam. Countless large short orders rushed in, rapidly driving the price downward.

In just one minute, the Shanghai copper futures price plummeted from 57,460 RMB per ton to 56,590. Seeing this, countless major short-sellers could no longer hold back and rushed to close their positions, which quickly stemmed the vertical drop in the copper price.

Watching this, Yan Fei realized that the major short-sellers were front-running. He quickly did the math: the incoming long-position shark held forty billion in long positions. According to trading rules, they had to reduce their positions by at least twenty-eight billion. Even if all current long-position closures were from this mysterious shark, that only accounted for sixteen billion, meaning there were still twelve billion left to clear. In other words, the price of Shanghai copper futures had to fall further.

Having reached this conclusion, Yan Fei did not rush to close his positions. He waited patiently, watching the copper price fluctuate around 56,000 and observing the long-position shark struggling to exit.

By 2:59 PM, Yan Fei stopped waiting and closed all his short positions. They were immediately absorbed by the shark's closing orders, barely causing a ripple in the copper price.

At 3:00 PM, the trading session officially ended. Yan Fei looked at his account, which showed almost no profit, his expression grim as he awaited the CSRC’s post-market data release.

At 3:30 PM, the Shanghai copper futures position data was released. Accounts associated with Tencent held nearly 100,000 long contracts, accounting for 26% of the total market volume, just within the limits allowed by trading rules.

Seeing that it was Tencent behind the mysterious shark, countless market players realized what was happening. Tencent was asserting its dominance, sending a message to all players that they were the new boss of the market.

Yan Fei stared coldly at Tencent's holdings, understanding that they were targeting him to cut off his capital chain, indirectly forcing WeChat Technology to accept Tencent’s acquisition or external financing.

Leaning back in his chair, Yan Fei closed his eyes. Although he understood the situation, he saw no solution. His trading trajectory was clearly being monitored by Tencent; it was like the enemy playing with his cards visible. How could he play against that?

The next day, Yan Fei attempted to follow Tencent's lead and go long, entering two thousand contracts. However, there was no reaction on the board, as many retail and major investors maintained a cautious trading style.

Meanwhile, in Tencent's investment office, Zhang Zhenguang listened to his subordinates' reports with a cold smirk. He said indifferently, "No rush. Add some fuel to the fire and let Yan Fei take on more long contracts."

Traders immediately placed several large long-position orders, directly swallowing the short orders above and driving the price up, which instantly triggered many long-position followers.

Seeing this, Yan Fei frowned. He attempted to place one thousand long contracts in smaller, dispersed orders. They were filled quickly, and his book showed a decent floating profit. He then tried to enter another thousand contracts in small, dispersed lots, but there was still no significant reaction in the market.

At this point, Yan Fei gave a self-deprecating laugh and muttered to himself, "It seems I overestimated myself. Tencent isn't deliberately targeting me; perhaps the price of Shanghai copper futures is bound for a reversal."

As Yan Fei continued to buy long contracts, Zhang Zhenguang’s smirk grew more pronounced. As soon as Yan Fei had taken eight thousand contracts, Zhang Zhenguang bellowed, "Smash the market! Blow him out!"

"Received, boss!" a trader shouted excitedly.

As the other traders echoed the command, the Shanghai copper futures market turned turbulent. Several ten-thousand-contract orders were placed at any cost, smashing the price toward the limit-down, instantly dragging the Shanghai copper futures price down significantly.

Yan Fei’s eyes widened as he saw this. His hands instinctively closed his positions, and his eight thousand long contracts were instantly devoured by the shorts, leaving him with a floating loss of over ten million.

After the market was smashed down, it suddenly stopped. Countless long and short traders went completely quiet. For a full ten seconds, not a single transaction took place. The silence was terrifying; no one knew what had suddenly possessed Tencent.

At this moment, Zhang Zhenguang looked at Yan Fei's position display with a dark expression and said coldly, "As expected of an investment genius, to react so quickly and only lose ten million. Consider yourself lucky you ran fast; you won't be so lucky next time."

"Boss!" a trader said, "Yan Fei must have a quantitative assistance system, otherwise he couldn't have reacted so swiftly. We could attack his network directly to prevent him from using it."

Zhang Zhenguang was silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "I will report this to the boss. We don't need to worry about it. Keep a close watch on the market and be ready to snipe Yan Fei at any time."

After closing his positions, Yan Fei watched the market return to silence, as if what just happened were a hallucination. The Shanghai copper futures market resumed calm trading, with longs and shorts hacking away at each other with small orders.

After some contemplation, Yan Fei calculated Tencent's position: 60,000 long contracts and 50,000 short contracts, currently showing a slight floating profit. This proved that Tencent was definitely focused on him.

"Damn you, playing dirty!" Yan Fei cursed, but he could only rage helplessly. Even if he made a scene, it wouldn't hurt Tencent, but it would lower his own standing.

Leaning back in his chair, Yan Fei didn't rush back into the Shanghai copper futures. He pulled out his phone and called Zhang Xiaolong: "Mr. Zhang, how is WeChat Technology’s security protection? Can it withstand a hacker attack?"

Zhang Xiaolong laughed and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Yan. WeChat Technology has hired white-hat hackers from the Ministry of State Security as consultants. Unless it's an extremely elite hacker, they won't be able to affect WeChat's server data."

Feeling relieved after hearing this, Yan Fei hung up, glanced at the Shanghai copper futures market, and muttered, "If you won't let me play here, I'll go play abroad. If you're so great, Tencent, try chasing me overseas."

He dialed an international number and said with a smile, "Hello, Miss Chen. I would like to exchange about 400 million RMB in cash for US dollars. I wonder how long your company would need to process this?"

Miss Chen replied with a cheerful smile, "Mr. Yan, you are a VIP client of our company. We can get it done for you within the day."

"That's wonderful. Thank you, Miss Chen. When I come to the US, I’ll treat you to a big meal." Yan Fei laughed, and Miss Chen giggled, saying she would definitely make him spend a fortune.

After hanging up, Yan Fei waited until 11:00 PM to see 63.45 million USD in his international futures account. After deducting over 40,000 USD in fees, he immediately deployed the funds to begin multi-category futures trading internationally.

The next day, in Tencent’s investment office, Zhang Zhenguang saw that Yan Fei’s account balance was less than 200 million RMB, and it was spread across a dozen futures categories. He felt terrible.

The traders looked at Zhang Zhenguang, as if asking what to do now. After a brief silence, Zhang Zhenguang said, "Hold for now. I’m going to consult the boss."

Not long after, in the top-floor office, Ma Teng’s face turned livid as he asked coldly, "You mean Yan Fei quit and withdrew his capital? Did you find out where it went?"

"We found out," Zhang Zhenguang replied. "He moved it to international futures. What should we do now? Should we continue to track him?"

Ma Teng took a deep breath, his expression ugly. He said slowly, "Without an information advantage or absolute control over the market, are you confident you can snipe him?"

Zhang Zhenguang was silent for a moment before saying in a deep voice, "I'm not confident, especially since the international situation is more complex; many major capital players won't give Tencent any face."

Ma Teng waved his hand and said, "Keep an eye on the domestic situation. Watch Yan Fei’s domestic financial accounts closely. I want to ensure he doesn't make a penny in China. I will arrange for other people to handle the international matters."

Zhang Zhenguang nodded and turned to leave, but suddenly stopped and said, "Boss, we could hire hackers to attack the network of Yan Fei’s private equity firm so that he can't use his quantitative assistance system."

Ma Teng nodded and said, "I understand. Go ahead and get back to work."

After Zhang Zhenguang left, Ma Teng logged onto the dark web, found an intermediary, and said, "I want to post a hacking task. Find me the strongest hacker to attack WeChat Technology's servers..."

A mechanical voice came from the network: "Respected guest, the system has recorded your task. This task requires a deduction of 10 million USD. The system will initiate a collection request on your account; please confirm in the background."

Ma Teng looked at the payment request on the screen and clicked confirm. 10 million USD disappeared from his dark web account. Simultaneously, the task was posted on the dark web, quickly attracting the attention of countless hackers.

On the other side, Yan Fei slept until 1:00 PM. After a quick lunch, he opened his domestic futures account and began to operate. His small amount of capital allowed for agile reactions; every time Tencent moved, Yan Fei would immediately close his positions and run. While he couldn't make a fortune this way, he could still earn a few million a day.

Watching Yan Fei’s operations, Zhang Zhenguang had to admit that Yan Fei was a genius. Even with Tencent’s massive capital and real-time monitoring, Yan Fei could still extract profits from the market.

Ma Teng was helpless regarding this result and could only have Zhang Zhenguang continue to watch, pinning his hopes on the hackers to curb Yan Fei’s growth.

Two days later, as Yan Fei was trading as usual, he suddenly discovered that his commands were stuck; the quantitative assistance system was unresponsive. He was shocked and immediately called for the technical manager, Qian Shuyi.

After checking, Qian Shuyi said with a serious expression, "Boss, the system has been attacked by hackers and is currently paralyzed. It needs immediate repair."

Yan Fei instinctively suspected Tencent. He immediately said, "Hurry up and repair it. Get the company’s operations back up."

Qian Shuyi led the technical team to start repairs, but ten minutes later, there was no change. The system remained paralyzed, and some company data had been deleted.

Yan Fei realized things were going south and immediately called the police. Soon, the Cyber Security Bureau arrived and confirmed that the company's network had been attacked by hackers, requiring a physical disconnection.

Hearing the verdict from the bureau, Yan Fei filed a report and then asked Qian Shuyi, "Are there any elite white-hat hackers we can invite to handle this?"

Qian Shuyi thought for a moment and said, "Boss, we could approach Qihoo. They specialize in network security and are the strongest network security company in the country."

Yan Fei nodded and said, "Good. I authorize you to contact Qihoo now and resolve the company's problem as soon as possible."

Leaving the matter to Qian Shuyi, Yan Fei took his laptop to Starbucks, connected to the public network, and opened his futures account. He saw a floating loss of over 20 million, cursed, and immediately began manual liquidation.

Ten minutes later, Yan Fei closed out the futures categories that were most heavily targeted by Tencent, resulting in a cumulative loss of over 30 million, wiping out all the profits he had made over the past ten days.