Blackstone Code-Chapter 688: It’s Ruined

After Mayor Landon moved his connections to another state, he became a congressman. Once a politician reached that level, they no longer needed frontmen to cover things up for them.

The Eminence Foundation would proactively reach out when necessary. Some shareholders would transfer their shares at very low prices.

All of this was perfectly legal and in line with free-market principles. Since these weren’t public companies but private equity funds, their share prices weren’t affected by market fluctuations and were usually very low.

At that point, getting involved in business affairs would be shortsighted.

The public, media, and political opponents would often link their business dealings to their political power, making it seem like blatant corruption.

So while federal law didn’t ban politicians from doing business, most tried to avoid it as much as possible.

Mark had lost his job and went to Nagaryll seeking opportunities, but it didn’t go well.

He’d long been used to living off policy advantages and wasn’t good at competing or fighting for business on his own.

The former mayor—now Congressman Landon—also didn’t seem interested in helping him anymore, most likely because Mark had been scammed by Hart in the cheap housing project. It wasn’t just his own money he lost, but also a lot of Landon’s.

To be fair, Mark wasn’t entirely to blame. The project had been approved by Landon himself, which led Mark to assume Hart wouldn’t dare scam the congressman and his nephew.

But when a person’s back is against the wall, they’ll do anything—not just cross a mayor, but even offend God. Hart took the money and vanished, leaving behind a wrecked project and a horde of angry investors.

That likely led to Landon being disappointed—or simply furious—with Mark. After all, he lost a lot of money.

Without Landon to smooth the way, Mark couldn’t rake in easy money like he used to. Lynch’s call saved him.

“What do you want me to do?” Mark didn’t bother with lies like “I’m doing fine.” Lying was meaningless at this point.

Lynch sat with his back to the window. Sunlight poured in, outlining his silhouette, but not reaching his face. His feet rested on a stool, and he fiddled with a lighter. “Food processing plant.”

“Food plant?” Mark was surprised. “In Amellia?” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

He sounded hesitant, unsure whether this was a good idea—even if it came from Lynch.

Back in Sabin, he knew well that food plants lost money. Even with dry ingredients turning into wet ones, if you didn’t add water to make the relief food appear heavier, the losses were worse.

The plant only stayed afloat due to government subsidies. Profits were thin—it mainly served to maintain the mayor’s public image. It was essentially volunteer work.

Now, without solid subsidies, running a food plant in Amellia—an underdeveloped, chaotic region—seemed doomed to fail.

Lynch knew what he was worried about and smiled reassuringly. “I’ll invest.”

Meanwhile, Lime angrily slammed the receiver onto the phone—still no connection.

International calls still required multiple manual transfers. He had been calling Lynch’s number in Amellia, but each time the operator told him the line was either busy or experiencing issues.

Operators weren’t going to check the line manually just for one caller, but Lime couldn’t accept it.

Just last night, he’d celebrated with several traders after making a fortune shorting an electric company (Danlemore).

That company had recently announced new tech and secured a major order from Amellia, sending its stock skyrocketing. Its high price made it a prime target for short selling.

The more the stock price fell, the more money they made. It was glorious.

But this morning, all three major exchanges suddenly delisted that stock.

The company had filed for bankruptcy and was entering liquidation and litigation. All trades were halted pending resolution.

It wasn’t unheard of in the Federation for short sellers to make a company collapse and walk away rich.

But that required one crucial condition: being able to buy back shares from the secondary market quickly, and a fast legal resolution.

Without the legal process completed, everything was frozen. No trades. No withdrawals. Even a trillion in an account was worthless if it couldn’t be accessed.

After the delisting, Lime immediately contacted lawyers he knew. In big cases like this, there were always rumors in the legal world.

Which firm was representing whom, who was filing lawsuits, whether there was insider information, how long it might drag on…

The answer crushed him. The case was more complex than anyone expected. It couldn’t be resolved quickly because it involved a $900 million breach-of-contract penalty.

Until the lawsuit ended, everything would remain frozen.

Maybe three to five months. Maybe three to five years. Maybe… forever.

Under federal law, criminal cases that last more than twenty years are never reopened unless both sides reach an out-of-court settlement and a final ruling is issued.

In other words, as long as one side held out, Lime’s accounts would stay frozen indefinitely.

Could that really happen?

Of course. It had happened more than once, which is why the laws existed.

He had poured most of his money into this, along with his clients’ funds.

Just days ago, those clients had treated him like a god, offering him every earthly pleasure.

But once they realized they might never see their money again, they’d become demons—tearing him apart.

He picked up the phone again. His trembling fingers struggled to dial. “Yes, please transfer me… thank you!”

His voice shook. He paced anxiously, praying the call would go through. After two transfers, it finally rang normally.

“Thank God!” He drew a cross in the air, hunched over in the corner of the desk, clutching the phone in one hand, the other arm crossed over his chest. The pride he had yesterday was gone—only fear and dread remained.

After two rings, the call connected. Lynch’s voice came through. Something in his tone seemed to calm Lime a bit.

“Boss, the electric company filed for bankruptcy protection. All assets are frozen. The exchanges delisted them…”

He tried to speak steadily, but it was hard.

He went on and on, but Lynch said nothing. Finally, he asked, “Boss… are you listening?”

“Of course, Lime. I’m listening. The electric company filed for bankruptcy. So what?”

Lynch’s voice was calm, steady—just like always. He even cracked a joke. “You’re not about to tell me you didn’t close my positions, are you?”

“No, no, boss. I closed your accounts immediately. But mine… and the client accounts… they’re still stuck. What should we do?”

Lynch chuckled. “You’re the boss of the company. I think that’s a question you should ask yourself. Besides, I believe the electric company will get through the process soon—won’t that solve everything?”

He simply didn’t want to bother with it. He had already warned Lime to avoid the risk, but people often trust their own judgment more.

Lime not selling off his and his clients’ positions when Lynch did didn’t mean he wasn’t on Lynch’s side—it just meant he had his own ideas.

It was like a child who always listened to their parents growing up but eventually began thinking independently, choosing to ignore advice and learn through failure. That was normal.

Having independent thoughts didn’t mean the child wasn’t still part of the family.

This was just a lesson, an accumulation of experience.

As for a quick resolution?

Impossible. The case involved a 900-million sol breach-of-contract penalty. Whether Soren joined the lawsuit voluntarily or not, the Merrick Consortium would drag him into it. Only when every legal risk was eliminated would they end the process.

For an experienced consortium like Merrick, they had a full legal strategy to invalidate the contract—but it would take time.

And the longer it took, the more funds—potentially millions—would remain frozen in accounts, untouchable. History had shown again and again: the faster society develops, the faster currency loses value.

At the current pace of the Federation’s development and with booming international trade, inflation would be rapid and severe.

Every extra day meant wealth shrinking—shrinking by percentage.