On Sunday, at 10 a.m., a black car left Washington D.C. heading straight for New York, with Luo An behind the wheel.
There was no pressing business for this trip to Wall Street, so Luo An drove at a leisurely pace. Once the car hit the highway, he observed the passing scenery while checking his mental inventory represented by a pale blue page.
In the case of the [FBI/CIA List Loss], the system rated Luo An as [Excellent], accumulating five treasure chests.
After the [Deputy Governor Murder Case] concluded, the system's evaluation was the seldom-seen [Extremely Excellent], earning six treasure chests.
One night, as Mona fell into a deep sleep exhausted, Luo An got out of bed to shower. He opened these eleven treasure chests while the water was running.
The inventory from the 11 treasure chests were not varied, which always included [Stamina Potion x2], as well as:
[Swiftness Potion x2]
[Sleep Potion x3]
[Strength Potion x1]
[Danger Perception Potion x1]
[Hemostasis Potion x2]
Then he opened the warehouse icon at the bottom right of the system's pale blue page to reveal the entire inventory:
[Stamina Potion x11]
[Hemostasis Potion x8]
[Antidote Potion x6]
[Swiftness Potion x8]
[Regeneration Potion x7]
[Strength Potion x5]
[Sensitivity Potion x2]
[Painkiller Potion x7]
[Sleep Potion x3]
[Featherfall Potion x7]
[Water Breathing Potion x2]
[Danger Perception Potion x1]
Among the many potions, the [Sleep Potion] was a single-use potion. Luo An didn't use them frequently, but each time they proved to be highly effective, so getting three bottles in one go made him quite satisfied.
Luo An chose not to drink the newly acquired [Danger Perception Potion] right away, as he discovered some patterns through multiple consumptions.
Drinking just one bottle of [Danger Perception Potion] definitely had an effect, but was very subtle, requiring close attention and a lot of effort to notice changes in daily life.
However, by drinking multiple bottles at once, the noticeable improvement not only became significant quickly, but it also allowed him to rapidly perceive specific changes, better adjusting his movements and saving time that would otherwise be spent on careful observation.
A flurry of thoughts crossed his mind; Luo An shook his head, temporarily setting them aside, and glanced in the rearview mirror with a small smile on his lips. Seeing the road ahead was clear, he immediately pressed the accelerator, and the car charged forward.
A little over an hour later, the car arrived on Wall Street in New York.
Luo An walked into a café and ordered a cappuccino. After some waiting, Michael Brey, the head of "Inherits Capital" and the manager who purchased the short financial products of federal real estate, slowly walked in.
Seeing Luo An waiting, Michael Brey's eyes lit up. He walked over, sat down at the table, ordered a coffee, engaged in brief pleasantries, and the two began discussing the current situation of federal real estate as well as the status of the CDS financial product.
Previously, Luo An invested a total of 450 million US Dollars, instructing Michael Brey to buy CDS that short federal real estate.
Later, Michael Brey sold the low-grade CDS to other buyers and reversed into purchasing high-grade ones. Through the selling process, he earned Luo An 23 million US Dollars.
Luo An chose to reinvest this money with Michael Brey for purchasing more CDS, bringing their combined funds to 473 million US Dollars.
This sum of money sounds like a lot, but for Michael Brey, it's not the major portion. He has under his management funds from several companies and tycoons totaling over four billion dollars; Luo An's money is only about one-tenth of that.
However, compared to those wealthier companies and magnates, Michael Brey valued the ordinary Luo An even more.
Since the creation and purchase of the financial product CDS, those companies and tycoons have been cursing Michael Brey for being an idiot, demanding the withdrawal of their investments, and incessantly calling him day and night.
Michael Brey's boss from his younger days was even more blunt, indicating that if Michael failed in the end, he would personally send him to fish from the bottom of the Hudson River.
These events put Michael under immense pressure. The appearance of Luo An allowed Michael to take a small step out of the almost suffocating stress.
Because Luo An was the only one who supported Michael, who, like himself, believed in the inevitable collapse of the federal real estate, and did not rush or urge to retrieve his funds from start to finish.
Not only that, Luo An also provided Michael with a lot of information and advice, such as extending the remittance time and that the collapse of the real estate market would definitely occur later than he had anticipated.
In Michael's eyes at that moment, Luo An had become the light in the darkness, even a beacon guiding him forward.
Therefore, that sum of more than four hundred million US dollars from Luo An was undoubtedly the most valued fund by Michael Brey; he even made some preparations, to ensure that if he truly failed in the end, Luo An would lose less.
The meeting this time was initiated by Michael Brey. On one hand, he wanted to show Luo An the latest trends with federal real estate and CDS, and on the other, he hoped to hear further advice from Luo An.
"Stay steady, as long as we persist to the end, the winner will definitely be us."
Luo An smiled, picked up his coffee cup, and lightly clinked it with Michael Brey's.
By this time, the federal historical process had reached mid-November 2006, with about seven months left until June 2007.
This amount of time is neither long nor short. Michael Brey took a deep breath, nodded vigorously, and Luo An's words were correct, the one who perseveres to the end is the winner.
Although Luo An and Michael Brey were different, with one being the head of an FBI investigation team and the other a professional fund manager, both were highly intelligent fellows. They found much in common, enjoying a delightful conversation in the coffee shop.
Meanwhile, at the diagonally opposite corner of the coffee shop, next to a street food stall, a white man around thirty-five with a buzz cut, a large nose, dressed like a tourist, stood at the street corner, eating the fast food snack he had just bought.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling—
Halfway through his meal, the white man with the big nose's phone suddenly rang. He took it out, looked at it, and pressed the answer key, laughing as if a relative had called him while on vacation:
"Good morning."
The voice on the end of the phone was somewhat low, no nonsense, asking directly:
"Have you noticed any anomalies?"
"No, same as usual."
The big-nosed white man took a big bite of food and laughed in response:
"'Honey' is currently having coffee and chatting with a guy from Wall Street, a fund manager. It looks like 'Honey' is planning to contribute the money he has earned to Wall Street."
The voice on the other end of the phone fell silent for a long time before finally speaking in a low voice:
"The operation can be concluded, the payment will be transferred to your account on time."
"Hold on a second."
The big-nosed man was taken aback, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked towards the distant coffee shop, lowering his voice to ask:
"Are you sure you don't need me to thoroughly 'swallow this piece of honey' for you?"
"No."
The big-nosed man's wording was a bit skewed, but the meaning wasn't hard to understand. The person on the phone did not hesitate to decline, and after repeating that the operation was over, hung up proactively.
Finishing his food in a few bites, the big-nosed man glanced at the distant coffee shop, snorted coldly, turned, and walked away, muttering to himself:
"A lucky guy of average ability, as for the so-called best investigation team leader, don't know who spun that tale..."
Meanwhile, back in the coffee shop, Luo An, who was chatting with Michael Brey, paused slightly, then the smile on his face grew even more bright and sunny.