The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was based on surveillance journalism. More than two hundred journalists from eighty countries participated in the organization, and Bastian was one of them.

「China at Crossroads: Will They Hold IMF’s Hands?」

「IMF Head, “Strong Reforms in China Must Precede Lifting Economic Sanctions.”」

Oh my gosh, they really beat China.

Bastian was an investigative journalist with a basic understanding of the financial field, so he was left stunned by the incident. According to the article, the minor capital forces had taken the victory.

Some considered the Awakened, who possessed superhuman powers and fierce savagery, as the world’s biggest problem. However, this perception was based on their limited knowledge of the group as the issues related to Awakened were all resolved by the World Awakened Association.

Hence, the foremost issue of global concern was the extreme economic disparity prevailing in the world. The apparent currency war between China and other nations, also known as US dollars against Chinese renminbi, was essentially a struggle for power and resources between a few dominant capital forces that monopolized wealth and the Chinese economy. The capital forces were the Big 4, including the Jonathan Group, Gillian Group, Telestar Investment, Gold and Silver Investment, and their followers.

This wasn’t the first time that they had destroyed a country. During the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, many Asian nations collapsed like dominoes, and even Russia was swirled up in the disaster.

However, comparing the Asian countries of the past and the current China was impossible. China was currently the second-richest nation in the world after beating Japan in various economic indicators. During the financial crisis, many capitalists had attacked Asian countries’ poorly thought-out financial policies and intimidated them, but this was an all-out war on national fortunes.

A small number of capital forces had overpowered China with only money in such a war. That meant that their financial power was beyond imagination. It was inevitable that wealth was concentrated on a few capital forces in the capitalist world, but this was too much!

Bastian believed that the future of humanity was hopeless.

「 1. Jonathan Investment Finance Group

2. Gillian Investment Finance Group

3. Telestar Investment

4. Gold and Silver Investment 」

Bastian jotted down the names of the so-called ‘Big Four’ in the financial sector in his notebook and stared at them with a disturbed look on his face.

A few forces have knocked down a powerful country in an all-out war…

What was even more appalling about them was their ties. The marginal forces that appeared after the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s followed the same path to establish themselves as formidable financial empires today. Industry experts stated that the Big Four were blood comrades as evidenced by their collective approach toward existing capital forces.

It was the same on the Day of Advent. The Big Four had been the only ones aggressively buying stocks while the rest of the world was frantically selling. Their actions played a crucial role in preventing a complete collapse of the international financial system and preserving human civilization in the aftermath of the Day of Advent. However, their actions were reckless and deemed crazy.

Bastian was horrified by the existence of a blood alliance in the contemporary financial world, where the parties involved stood to both gain and lose together. It was more terrifying than the process and consequences of them destroying China! As long as that bond lasted, their empire was bound to be the strongest empire in human history.

During the late thirteenth century in the Venetian Republic, the governor-general held the official position of ruler, but it was a small group of merchant aristocrats who wielded the true power. The Republic’s policies were ultimately shaped by this merchant elite through the Grand Council, which they heavily influenced. What happened in a small city-state in Italy during the Middle Ages had now expanded around the entire globe.

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Their influence must be great within the Bilderberg Club. This was…a war that the financial empires deliberately created. The detainment of the Awakened was just an excuse. The World Awakened Association is bound to be one of them.

The Day of Advent was a great turning point in human history as the financial empires were completed. Humans had protected themselves from alien invasion, but the power of financial empires expanded out of control.

***

「China Requests Early Relief Financing from IMF, Boosting Economic Recovery Efforts」

「Jonathan Investment Finance Group Supports China in Negotiations with IMF for Early Relief Funding」

「China Receives the Largest Bailout Ever: $190 Billion → $210 Billion」

「Economic Sanctions on China Lifted. World Now in Reconciliation Mode - Awakened Detained in China will be Released Before the Registration Date」

「China Commits to IMF’s Economic Reform Plan, Prioritizing Stronger Financial Regulations」

「In-Depth Analysis Unraveling the Mystery of China’s 15,000 Tons of Gold」

Each passing day shocked Bastian more and more. It was still dark and quiet outside the window, but he still couldn’t focus on writing the article. Therefore, the notification sound from the speaker sounded louder than usual.

Ding-!

The chat window opened.

No way.

An unidentified agent was approaching him through encrypted channels.

A few seconds ago, Bastian was on the verge of falling asleep, but now he was wide awake. Then, he sent a nonsensical answer. It was one of the authentication methods to contact an informant.

The first time the agent approached Bastian was two years ago. He had sent the leaked internal data from Mossak Fonseca, one of the largest law firms in the Panama Islands. There were 4.8 million emails, over thirty thousand database files, and over 2.1 million PDF files.

He continually sent data exceeding 2.6 terabytes over days, and they were about tax avoidance information from big names around the world, including politicians, entrepreneurs, financiers, and athletes.

This informant also disclosed corruption valued at four trillion, which had been concealed by China’s leader and his associates, who were currently being targeted by the Big Four. The Panama Papers1 project was made possible two years ago due to the enormous data provided by Agent A.

Bastian hesitated to answer the informant’s message. While he had managed to create a stir, it had little impact on the world, and further revelations would likely have made no difference. With the catastrophic Day of Advent, it had all been erased from public memory, rendering the agent’s efforts futile.

When the encrypted channel moved on to the next screen, Bastian briefly saw himself in the monitor that had turned dark for a second.

Although news outlets briefly covered the embezzlement cases involving pop stars and soccer players, the high-profile cases regarding the big names failed to garner attention from the public.

Bastian widened his eyes as the reporter’s instinct flashed. What remained a disappointment in the Panama Paper revelation in 2016 was that none of the Big Four’s data was included. There were two law firms in Panama that were tax avoidance factories. One was Mossack Fonseca, and another was Carl and Jane’s Law and Accounting Office.

While Mossack Fonseca was open to clients who wanted their services, the other office wasn’t. Nevertheless, the name of paper companies that Carl and Jane poured out overtook Mossack Fonseca every year.

Bastian was convinced that it was a dedicated factory for the Big Four. He pressed the keyboard with trembling hands.

“Ah…”

Bastian felt like he was out of breath. Aside from how the informant had obtained such data, it was finally the moment to cross the walls of financial empires. On the other hand, he was concerned about what type of threats the guards of the empire would pose. Two of the leading journalists in the revelation had died in a mysterious car explosion and were buried in silence. It was obvious who had killed them.

The encrypted channel transitioned to a new screen and initiated a fresh chat window. Tracing the source of the complex interplay of interests among thousands of paper companies was a task that could not be accomplished quickly.

The information at hand was more intricate than that in 2016, and it was clear that the task could not be undertaken alone. Even with assistance from comrades at ICJI, it seemed that the investigation would take longer than a year. Most concerning of all, the situation had worsened compared to back then as the Big Four’s capital now dominated the world’s media since the Day of Advent.

Bastian felt like he was trapped in a black hole. The data was a gigantic puzzle. While the financial industry often referred to derivatives from China registered on the New York Mercantile Exchange as enigmatic, Bastian was certain that the magnitude of this situation was incomparable.

At that time, the existing chat window disappeared and a new one popped up.

The company’s name on the data was Destiny, and they were a pharmaceutical corporation.

Bastian recalled the names of several journalists who had participated in the Panama Paper, including the Korean reporter Lee Soo-Won.

***

China’s ruler and elites were not stupid. What they had planned was irrepressible co-destruction, not suicide. That was why they carried out currency reforms that would certainly fail in the first place and created an unaffordable bubble on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

If they rejected the IMF’s bailout now and triggered the global financial crisis, China couldn’t help but face the obvious circumstances that would never be recovered.

When I was collecting replies from my financial empire’s knights on that matter, an email with a different vibe cut through.

「Subject: Proper reports on the first half of the year

From: Destiny

Content: We have successfully extracted new elements by breaking tellurium, germanium, and palladium. We named the new element ‘Destinium.’ We have also discovered the energy that Destinium emitted in combination with its constituent elements, and now…」

I finally received a report that I had been waiting for. It was research that could take away all the value of oil and gold. If they had discovered it earlier, I could have poured a mana stone gold standard attack on China instead. Acquiring more mana stones could pose a problem if the resources were depleted around us, but using the ones already in our possession was a viable option.

Nevertheless, the process of converting mana stones to energy was occurring at a much earlier time than it did in the past.

When I completed an encouraging message to send to Destiny, I spotted the Beijing Airport out of the plane window. Kim Cheong-Soo also put his tablet PC down under the guidance of the flight attendant and began to pack up his stuff.

Beijing Airport was severely damaged, but there was no scent of gunpowder. It appeared that a restoration project was in progress, like the construction site of the World Awakened Association’s general headquarters. The work seemed to have halted upon my arrival.

Then, I saw Chinese officials lining up. China gave off the impression of a defeated country, as they had no other option but to sign the agreements themselves, which was a humiliating decision. They agreed to open up Chinese markets that had been closed, because of the unreasonable demands of the IMF.

Their requests included the privatization of U.S.-owned businesses, opening up China’s land, and creating a more favorable investment climate for foreign capital.

However, this was only the beginning. The IMF would proceed with its colonization efforts by increasing its intensity to China as it had done to our country. Then, the Chinese government would be criticized by their people for selling out their economy to foreign capital. That was the expected future of China.

I exited the plane and realized the one with the most rigid expression was the Awakened standing next to the leader. She appeared to be one of those who were currently detained in China. It appeared that the Chinese authorities wanted her to form a connection with me, which was why they had refrained from utilizing interpreters.

She had awakened in her early twenties, was quite fluent in English, and had a pretty face. She was the only one Awakened there. Considering that tears welled up in her eyes as soon as she saw me, she likely was struggling a lot with her painful memories of what she had undergone than being terrified of me.

Meanwhile, the leader was perplexed by the woman’s unexpected reaction.

Right then, I stepped to the end of the stairs. Only the leader and the Awakened girl approached me. There was no pretentious smile on the leader's, and he was polite and careful when he asked me to shake his hand.

Kim Cheong-Soo, who followed me from the back, said sharply to the leader, “From now on, you should talk to me, not him.”

I ignored the leader’s embarrassed eyes and told the girl, “I guess they still consider me as a diplomatic envoy.”

The girl dropped her trembling head.

“There must be an invitation party, right?”

“Yes…” the girl answered, unable to make eye contact with me.

“I’ll go see my stuff first. These bastards disgust me.”

These guys had tried to steal my things and destroy the world. I had no intention of slicing their necks right now, but I did plan on seizing all of their secret funds and taking possession of a significant portion of their property.

Gulp.

1. A massive leak of confidential documents from a Panamanian law firm that revealed widespread tax evasion and financial misconduct by individuals and entities around the world. ☜