Daily Intelligence: Forced to Save the Beautiful President at the Beginning

204: Chapter 205 The Poisonous Tricks of Destiny Have Only Just BegunIn Singularity Technology’s employee cafeteria, champagne bubbles floated at the temporary celebration party. ”Patent Defense Victory” was printed on colorful balloons. Employees toasted each other with wine glasses, their laughter and cheers rising and falling.

Beside the buffet table, Liu Ruyan was discussing the mass production plan for the Photon Chip with the technical team. Her face showed the exhaustion of working overtime for days, yet she couldn’t hide her smile—they hadn’t just won this patent war; they had demonstrated Singularity’s technical mettle.

Song Zhiwei walked over with two glasses of champagne and handed one to Zhang Fan, her gaze sweeping across the lively crowd. ”I didn’t expect it to end in just three days. Those people from Aivda are usually so arrogant, but they were surprisingly fragile this time.” Her tone was relaxed, yet her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the rim of the glass—as the head of the financial sector, she knew better than anyone that the calm in the capital market was often just an illusion before a storm.

Zhang Fan took the glass but didn’t drink. He just looked at the light rain outside. The late autumn drizzle began to fall again, turning the glass curtain wall into a blurred gray-white, much like his current state of mind. ”Winning this was just the appetizer,” he said softly, his eyes falling on the black-and-white photo of Li Yong on the desk. The old man in the photo smiled gently, as if reminding him never to let his guard down. ”Tianming Group has been dormant for ten years; they won’t stop just because of a few patent lawsuits. What they want is to completely crush Singularity and seize our core technologies, especially the ’brave peace and health’ formula and the Photon Chip.”

The smile on Song Zhiwei’s face gradually faded. She took a document from her bag and handed it to Zhang Fan. ”You’re right. I just received news that two overseas investment banks holding Singularity’s floating shares—Goldman Sachs Asia and Morgan Stanley—suddenly announced a reduction in their holdings today. The total reduction reached 3.2%, the largest single reduction in three years. Additionally, S&P Global Ratings just released a report lowering Singularity’s ’long-term credit outlook’ from ’stable’ to ’negative,’ citing ’ongoing international legal risks and technical competition’.”

”It’s starting.” Zhang Fan’s fingers lightly tapped the edge of the document, his eyes instantly turning sharp. He took the document and quickly flipped to the section on S&P’s rating rationale. Sure enough, he saw vague phrasing like ”subsequent impact of potential patent disputes” and ”uncertainty in overseas market policies.” These seemingly neutral terms were actually signals to the capital market, paving the way for the upcoming short-selling.

”Is there any news from Gu Jingshen?” Zhang Fan asked. He knew that behind the actions of these investment banks and rating agencies, there must be the shadow of Tianming.

Just as he spoke, Gu Jingshen’s call came in. His voice came through the receiver with a hint of urgency: ”Boss, I found it! Before Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reduced their holdings, they both had secret meetings with a short-selling fund registered in the Cayman Islands called ’Black Rock Capital.’ The actual controller of this fund is an affiliate of Polaris Investment—which is to say, Tianming Group’s overseas shell company. Additionally, we’ve monitored that ’Black Rock Capital’ has already established short positions against Singularity’s ADR in the US stock market, with an initial estimated scale of 5 billion US dollars.”

”A 5 billion short position?” Song Zhiwei’s expression changed instantly. ”They want to crash our stock price through concentrated selling, triggering panic selling and subsequently affecting the company’s financing capabilities.”

Zhang Fan put down his glass and walked quickly toward the office, his voice carrying unquestionable commands: ”Notify the core team, meeting in the top-floor conference room in ten minutes! Zhiwei, contact the members of the Market-protection alliance immediately—the Song family, the Lu family, and several domestic sovereign wealth funds. Tell them the short-sellers are about to move; we need to set up defenses in advance and hold the stock price support level.”

”Understood!” Song Zhiwei immediately took out her phone and dialed her father, Song Zhenbang. As a core member of the Market-protection alliance, the Song family held a 5.1% stake in Singularity, making them a key force in stabilizing the stock price.

Ten minutes later, the conference room was full. Zhou Yurou had just rushed back from the supply chain base, her face still showing the weariness of travel. ”Boss, the supply chain has already followed the previous contingency plan, increasing the inventory of core components to a three-month supply. Even if there are financial fluctuations next, it won’t affect production. Additionally, the Rhine Photonics factory has started three shifts; the production capacity of the Photon Chip can meet global order demand. This is our foundation.”

Wang Jingdong pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and added, ”On the legal front, we have already joined forces with World Intellectual Property Organizations to initiate follow-up investigations for ’declarations of invalidity’ against Aivda’s and Ouguang’s patents. Once their patent fraud is confirmed, it will not only completely clear the legal risks but also allow us to demand compensation for damage to our reputation. However, this will take time and might not fully eliminate the capital market’s concerns in the short term.”

Zhang Fan nodded and projected the evidence of ”Black Rock Capital’s connection to Tianming,” which Gu Jingshen had obtained from official sources using Qin Xue’s connections, onto the screen. ”The key now isn’t the legal follow-up, but responding to the imminent financial war. Tianming is collaborating with short-selling funds, trying to drag us down by crashing the stock price and creating panic. This might even trigger banks to recall loans and partners to take a wait-and-see approach, thereby affecting our cash flow.”

He paused, highlighting key points on the screen. ”First, capital preparation. President Song, you are responsible for coordinating the Market-protection alliance. Prepare at least 10 billion in protection funds. When the stock price drops to the critical support level (120 yuan per share), decisively take on the sell orders. We cannot let the short-sellers break through our defensive line.”

”Second, information transparency. Liu Ruyan, you will lead the release of the ’Singularity Technology Q3 2024 Core Business Report.’ Focus on the global sales growth of ’brave peace and health’ (up 45% year-on-year) and the order volume for Photon Chips (already scheduled through Q2 next year). Use solid performance data to stabilize market confidence.”

”Third, risk isolation. Zhou Yurou, gradually bring funds from overseas operations back to secure domestic accounts to avoid being frozen by overseas regulatory agencies. Meanwhile, communicate with domestic partner banks to lock in next year’s credit line in advance to ensure stable cash flow.”

”Fourth, intelligence tracking. Old Gu, contact the authorities to help continue monitoring the movements of ’Black Rock Capital’ and Polaris Investment. Report any abnormalities in their short position changes or funding sources immediately. Also, investigate whether there were any kickbacks behind S&P’s rating downgrade. If there were, expose them directly to counter the public narrative.”

”Yes!” everyone responded in unison and immediately began deploying. Song Zhiwei contacted the Market-protection alliance, Liu Ruyan organized the team to write the business report, Zhou Yurou called the banks, and Gu Jingshen pulled up the overseas intelligence system, with data on the screen beginning to scroll rapidly.

The atmosphere in the conference room became heavy again; the relaxation of the celebration party had long since vanished. Zhang Fan walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the endless stream of traffic below. He knew clearly that this financial war would be more dangerous than the patent war. The patent war relied on technology and evidence, while the financial war relied on capital, information, and public sentiment. Tianming Group had clearly been preparing for this for a longer time.

He picked up his phone and dialed an encrypted number. A low voice came from the other end: ”Mr. Zhang, do you need help?”

”Help me keep a close eye on Black Rock Capital’s funding channels in Europe.” Zhang Fan’s voice was concise and powerful. ”If they start mobilizing funds from Europe to increase their short positions, tell me immediately.”

”Rest assured, Mr. Zhang, our people are already following up.” The other person hung up—this was an overseas intelligence network he had established years ago, and it was finally coming in handy.

The rain was still falling, and the lights of Singularity Technology’s headquarters appeared exceptionally bright through the curtain of rain. Zhang Fan clenched his fist, his gaze firm. They had won the patent war, and they wouldn’t lose the upcoming financial war either. Tianming Group wanted to crush them through capital strangulation, but they forgot that behind Singularity, there was not only powerful technology and a team but also the support of the entire Chinese capital market and that never-changing original intention to ”protect.”

”Tianming, we’ve accepted your sinister moves,” Zhang Fan said softly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. ”But the outcome of this war was never for you to decide.”