Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 1108: The Unreliable Relative

Chapter 1108: Chapter 1108: The Unreliable Relative

Gu Fan rushed back home, then he took out the whiteboard and listed all the companies that he knew were following the X Fund, then he began to think about the extent of the impact if these companies were victimized by the X Fund.

For example, if Luo Jingrong’s company were to close down, several suppliers of medicinal materials would also be out of business, and it would subsequently reduce the amount of business in the transportation industry, even affecting many other industries as well.

The thought made Gu Fan break out in cold sweat; X Fund was targeting the very end of the entire industrial chain, the part that directly faces the consumers.

Gu Fan felt like he had been schooled, but he wasn’t ready to admit defeat and wanted to find a solution. However, lacking experience in this area, he couldn’t figure it out and was completely baffled.

"Wait, is there a key point I am missing?" Gu Fan thought it would be difficult for X Fund to accomplish this because X Fund also had bought a lot of stocks, unless they could silently and quickly find a scapegoat to take over their chips. Otherwise, once they retreated, Luo Jingrong and Du Changhui would surely follow suit.

"Scapegoat, where else could there be a scapegoat?" Gu Fan wondered. If he could find out X Fund’s method of withdrawal, maybe he could stop them and even make them suffer a significant loss.

X Fund had not involved companies in the upper reaches of the industrial chain, under the pretext that there was only so much of the cake to go around, and the more people there were to share it, the less each one would get. But the true purpose was to have Luo Jingrong and Du Changhui hold more shares, so the damage from a drop in stock prices would be greater,

Gu Fan thought that there might be a way to break the game; if more companies joined in, like those from the upper reaches of the industrial chain, and shared some of the stocks held by Luo Jingrong and Du Changhui, it would lessen the damage when the stock prices fell.

"No, maybe the scapegoats X Fund is looking for are those companies in the upper reaches of the industrial chain?" Gu Fan was becoming anxious. The solution he was considering might actually help X Fund achieve a complete victory. A single misstep could ruin the economy here, and the pressure was too much for Gu Fan to bear.

Stay calm, I must stay calm, Gu Fan tried to compose himself and started to think from a different perspective. If he were X Fund, holding so many stocks and needing to find someone to take over quietly and quickly, who would that person be?

Gu Fan thought it had to be someone with significant financial strength, and not just one, but several, because it would be hard to absorb X Fund’s shares quickly otherwise.

Secondly, once these scapegoats started buying stocks as X Fund wished, how would they manage not to alert Luo Jingrong and Du Changhui.

Thirdly, how would X Fund convince these scapegoats to take over, telling them there’s money to be made together, but they must keep it low-profile and not make a fuss?

Lacking sufficient intelligence, Gu Fan couldn’t speculate on how X Fund would manage to withdraw unscathed, and time was pressing – X Fund might nearly have completed their layout. So in terms of time, Gu Fan really couldn’t afford to delay.

The situation was critical; if Luo Jingrong and Du Changhui were finished, and the end of the industrial chain was destroyed, the entire chain would be worthless.

While Gu Fan was pondering, he received a message from Lu Yi stating that she couldn’t come to tonight’s dinner because a company had just collapsed, leaving bad debts that the bank wouldn’t be able to recover.

"Damn it!" Gu Fan felt a chill from head to foot. Nowadays, many companies operate with debts, and the better the economy and the business, the more they tend to borrow from banks.

When X Fund first came to this city, they publicly claimed they were bullish on the city’s economy, even taking action by buying lots of stocks of listed companies related to the city, undoubtedly sending a signal to the public that the economy would only get better under X Fund’s influence.

Therefore, many companies seized the opportunity to borrow money from the bank to expand their production scale. But after the accident, their large-scale production had no outlet, the burden was too heavy, and the only option was to shut down, resulting in an increasing number of bad loans for the banks, which would in turn impact the financial sector.

One thing led to another, and the thought terrified Gu Fan – such a meticulous scheme, such a vast X Fund. How could he possibly outwit them and win?

Now, Gu Fan could already imagine, after the local economy and financial systems were brought down, how many people would be unemployed, and there might even be worse situations. It greatly distressed him; this was the city where he was born and raised, and he didn’t want to see it destroyed.

"Bastards!" Gu Fan cursed, punching the wall in anger. He certainly knew why X Fund was doing this; it was definitely targeted at him, Gu Fan.

Having no other choice, Gu Fan knew he couldn’t outmaneuver the opposition, so he decided to call Helen, hoping this relative could lend a hand.

On the other end of the phone, Helen’s voice rang out cheerfully, "What’s up, suddenly calling me, are you missing me?"

Gu Fan forced a smile, "Of course, I miss you, day and night. After all, it’s rare to have a relative with a foreign face like you. I’ve decided to cherish you properly."

Helen snorted, "Cut the flattery. You want my help, right? Just to be clear, I’m not going to use Organization X’s resources for you for no reason."

Gu Fan quickly responded, "You’ve misunderstood. I’ve never thought to ask you to use Organization X’s resources for me. I just want to tap into your personal connections, join me for a meal, and by the way, could you arrange a meeting with Haywes for me? I really admire him and would like to meet and shake his hand."

"Oh!" Helen uttered, her tone full of suspicion, as if she sensed an ulterior motive in Gu Fan’s request.

After weighing it over, Helen agreed, "Alright, I’ll arrange a meeting with Haywes for you. But you’re quite clever, knowing that X Fund and us are on the same side."

Gu Fan bitterly smiled, "Please, X Fund and Organization X, it sounds similar. It’s not just me – any sane person would connect the two."

"Right, I was just saying, X Fund should probably change its name. ’The pot calling the kettle black’, but those old stubborn people just won’t listen," Helen said, piquing Gu Fan’s curiosity, so he pressed on, "May I ask, who are these old stubborn people?"

"You don’t need to know that. Anyway, they don’t have a good impression of you," Helen said and then started barganing, "Remember, I’m helping you again this time, so no matter what I do that hurts you in the future, you can’t hold it against me. After all, I’m doing it for the organization and have no choice."

"What do you mean, are you giving me a heads-up?"