Chapter 54 - Financial Crisis 13: Go on Strike (2/2)

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Okay, don’t be greedy. Let’s just leave it here.”

Shao Qingge opened his mouth. “It was suggested that we can take out the remaining money. This money will be temporarily placed in my account and withdrawn later in a secret room. There might be no cash left in that ATM over there.”

Yu Hanjiang looked up at the self-service ATM that had a long line in front of it. Just then, two young men rushed over and grabbed gold coins out of people’s hands before running.

The robbed auntie was alarmed and screamed while chasing, “Someone stole my money! Help me stop them!”

However, the crowd was feeling anxious. Who would be in the mood to help out?

Some people were worried about their cash being stolen and instantly turned away while the rest of the people were alert as they hurriedly took their money and ran.

Once it was the fifth person’s turn, the man cursed loudly “There is no money in the ATM? What did the bank eat?”

Several people turned around quickly. “Go to the bank to withdraw!”

Yu Hanjiang saw this scene and his expression sank. “IT is estimated that someone will rob the bank. You’re right. The money will be kept in your account and don’t withdraw it.”

Shao Qingge nodded. “Today’s prices continued to normal and it is eight times more than normal. In addition, there is a traffic jam early in the morning and people’s emotions are significantly more agitated than the last two days.”

He followed Xiao Lou’s practice of opening the local forum and found the hot posts high on the front page.

“The price of oil has risen and I can’t afford to drive. I took the bus to work and was blocked in the middle of the road. I must be late today!”

“Last week, I went to refuel and 40,000 gold coins was enough to fill up the tank. Today, I went to the gas station and it took 160,000 gold coins to fill up. Aren’t the oil prices crazy?”

“Don’t talk about the price of oil. The supermarket restocked this morning and I queued up at 6 o’clock. As a result, I didn’t even get a carton of milk…”

“My 24-hour convenience store was smashed last night and things were stolen. There were no police officers!”

The posts were all about the rising prices and the looting of things.

Shao Qingge refreshed the page and quickly saw a post. “The real estate stocks have plummeted. This means the house prices will fall by half!”

The post was a screenshot of today’s stock market and it could be seen that the ‘Tianhong Real Estate’ and other stocks had plummeted 50% at the same time.

The people on the forum were in a panic. Many people who didn’t understand stocks hurriedly made inquiries and some professionals explained.

The streets were still blocked and many people were late for work. Some simply took a leave of absence from work.

Shao Qingge and Yu Hanjiang learned a lot from looking through the forum. Then near noon, the two people headed back to the Shanshui Guesthouse because Xiao Lou had sent them a message. “Xie Qi said that previously, he listened to all challengers and basically determined that the thief is mixed in on the second floor of the Shan. He is surnamed Xu and you should go to check it.”

The two people came to the Shanshui Guesthouse and Yu Hanjiang went to the front desk to find the boss. “I want to ask, is there a guest surnamed Xu? I’m in a hurry to find him.”

The boss spoke in a deadpan earnest manner, “I am a principled boss. How can I casually disclose the information of the guests?”

Shao Qingge directly took out two boxes of chocolates and smiled at him. “Boss, can you help us find the guest’s information?”

The ‘principled’ boss immediately replied, “No problem! I’ll check… the surname Xu… Xu Zhengyang, staying in room 201. He checked out this morning. Are you looking for him?”

Yu Hanjiang frowned. “He checked out and is gone?”

The boss sighed. “He was unable to pay the room rate. Alas, several guests checked out today. All you foreigners, you don’t know how to handle money.”

Shao Qingge rolled his eyes. He also wanted to bring in more money but unfortunately, the keeper didn’t allow him to. All his previous a.s.sets were frozen when he entered the secret room.

Yu Hanjiang’s face was cold. “Xu Zhengyang, what does he look like? Do you remember?”

The boss recalled it. “I only know that he is around 40 years old. He is a middle-aged person and mysterious. Every day he wears a hat and it is pressed very low over his head. There is also a mask to cover his face so I didn’t see it.’

Since they were unable to obtain more information, Yu Hanjiang and Shao Qingge had to leave the Shanshui Guesthouse.

The snack bars on the pedestrian street were all closed and there were many old ladies on the street.

“I heard my son say that house prices fell. Isn’t it fake?”

“Strange, prices are rising like crazy. Why isn’t there a rise in housing prices as well?”

“My daughter just bought a house last month. She took out a loan and mortgage to buy it. What should she do if the prices fall?!”

“When will the financial crisis pa.s.s? Didn’t Director Liu say that the market would be regulated as soon as possible?”

Just then, an old man pointed angrily at the radio, his beard shaking. “You listen, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Liu Qingming ran away on the earliest train this morning!”

Several old ladies came together to listen.

There was a clear female voice on the radio. “This reporter found that the director of the city’s Market Supervision Bureau, Liu Qingming, has already left on the express train at 6:50 this morning. He said that he is going to the City of the Moon for help but according to witnesses at the scene, he took a few boxes of luggage with him. It is more like running away then asking for help…”

An old lady shouted, “This big liar!”

Another old man was so angry that he hit his thigh and shouted at his companion, “I told you not to listen to Liu Qingming! You actually believed his nonsense! I knew I should’ve gone to my foreign niece’s house for a while. Now the tickets can’t be bought and there is no way to leave!”

Just then, someone shouted from the nearby Shanshui Guesthouse. “Boss, is your air conditioner broken? The room is hot and the air conditioner isn’t responding at all.”

Another person went downstairs and asked, “Is the water stopped? I wanted to wash my clothes but why is there no water?”

The boss’ expression changed and he immediately went to check.

He soon cried out, “The water and power are cut!”

Then the voices of his neighbours were heard. “It is cut?”

“Our house is also stopped!”

“Is there a power outage at our house? Do you still have electricity?”

“No!”

“My house has no power and the wireless network is also down!”

In the din, the refrigerators, air conditioners, electric fans… all electrical appliances stopped working at the same time.

The sun was slowly rising.

The hot sun baked this piece of land and the citizens were emotionally anxious. There was no comfortable environment after the air conditioners stopped. At high temperatures, everyone’s psychological defense would soon collapse completely.

Yu Hanjiang and Shao Qingge glanced at each other and quickly turned away.

Sat.u.r.day and Sunday were the transition periods and Monday was the day to go to work.

All the streets were blocked and the traffic police didn’t come out to coordinate. Ear-piercing horns rang throughout the city.

Prices continued to surge, house prices fell, tickets were sold out, there were water and power outages and the Internet was cut off…

The real financial doomsday officially began on the third day.

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