Cherreads

Chapter 15 - Chapter 15: On the Brink of Collapse and the Shadow War of Capital

[System Update · Currency Turbulence Warning]

The ECHO system issues an urgent notification:

[Current player market experiencing extreme currency volatility]

[W-Dex short-term trading volume surges +320%, J-Point trading drops -58%]

[Initiating "Temporary Stabilization Protocol": increasing Gray Market transaction fees by 20% and restricting arbitrage activity]

Jiang Ci pulls up the live price chart.J-Point is plummeting, and several Gray Market nodes are suffering liquidity runs and forced clear-outs.

Behind him, Mo Bai urgently reports:

"Whiteblank is using his pegged-price mechanism to suppress us.A wave of W-Dex holders are using intermediary proxies to drain our resource pool."

But Jiang Ci remains calm.

He pulls up a hidden sub-panel:

[J-Point Crash Countermeasure: Player Buyback Pool Scheme Alpha-01 Activated]Initial Capital: $265,000 USD(automatically injected into the hedge vault from in-game mechanisms)Binding Condition: User Behavior Level ≥ Trust Level B

Jiang Ci quietly says:

"Keep the trustworthy.Purge the rest."

[Hidden Betrayal · Internal Leak]

In the early hours of the morning, a mid-tier logistics guild, "Grey Wolf Group", is exposed.

Its leader had secretly accepted Sunlight Capital funding—and illegally sold off J-Point's token distribution algorithm and tokenization rules.

The ECHO system instantly pushes a security alert:

[Sensitive token algorithm leak detected. Partial risk control protocols activated.]

[J-Point algorithm now in "transparent freeze mode." Future revisions must pass player consensus vote.]

Player forums explode with fury:

"We got sold out???""Grey Wolf, that's just disgusting.""Jiang bro, say something!"

Jiang Ci responds with just one line:

"Even without the algorithm—trust can still be rebuilt."

[Real-World Clash · Lin Wanzhou Takes the Stage]

As the trust crisis spreads, Lin Wanzhou appears in a Eurasian Economic Forum livestream—this time as the "former Chief R&D Officer of Sunlight Capital."

Across from her sits Sunlight's Strategy Director, Lin Zhiyuan—Whiteblank's real-life brother.

"Lin Wanzhou, you've turned against the entire industry," he says coldly.

She smiles slightly.

"No. You're wrong. I'm standing with those who don't even get a seat at the table."

Lin Zhiyuan slams the table.

"They're ruled by emotion and fantasy. You want them deciding economic policy?"

She answers with icy calm:

"We've already proven they can.""You just refuse to admit it."

Livestream chat explodes:

[Wanzhou is a queen!][Even the real-world is at war now... is this a cyber-financial revolution?!]

[System Announcement · Final Trial Rules Updated]

Six hours before the trial concludes, ECHO issues a critical system-wide update:

[Both token systems have entered Stage Two of value manipulation.]

[System will now initiate a "User Consensus Voting Mechanism." All economic behavior will be logged.]

[Player actions, voting intent, and real-world ID bindings will directly determine the trial outcome.]

[Final results will be recorded permanently on the Mainframe Consensus Chain.]

Jiang Ci stares at the prompt, for once… his expression turns visibly grim.

"This time—whoever's behind the scenes…can't hide anymore."

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