Chapter 208: Public Armor At Work

Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Public Armor At Work

Inside the top floor office of Apex Plaza, the morning sun poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the rising steam from Jake’s coffee cup. On his desk monitor, the post-trade volatility on the spot gold chart was already settling back into a quiet, sideways crawl.

The market’s move was over. The 84 pips had been harvested. Thirty-two point four billion marks sat safely locked in Sterling’s primary vaults.

Jake set down his coffee mug, picked up his phone, and opened the primary LOOP portal.

Across Veyra, millions of users were refreshing their feeds in a state of frantic, suffocating confusion. The price of gold had just spiked violently up to test the double top, plummeted over sixty pips in a matter of minutes, and settled—all without a single entry coordinate from the Gold King. The comment sections on his previous posts were melting down in real time:

@Capital_Hunter_X: @JakeRivers_Official Bro where is the entry?! Gold just swept the high and dumped 60 pips!! Did I miss the post?!

@Veyra_FX_Trader: I’m staring at my execution terminal with my full margin ready... why hasn’t the signal dropped? Is LOOP lagging or did Jake not post?!

@Aurelia_Retail_King: Wait, gold already completed the entire double-top cycle?! Please tell me he’s just waiting to post the target coordinates! I stayed up all night for this trade!

@Trading_With_Sam: Is he okay? Did something happen after yesterday’s court case? Why is the feed completely silent right now?!

Jake didn’t post an apology. He didn’t offer an excuse.

Instead, he uploaded two high-resolution attachments directly from his secure execution terminal.

The first image was a pristine, institutional chart mapping out the exact golden vectors of the double-top setup—showing the precise 23-pip long entry and the subsequent 61-pip short reversal floor down to the exact decimal point.

The second image was the official, stamped ledger summary from Sterling International Bank, displaying the staggering numbers in bold text:

Plaintext

TOTAL GROSS PROFIT: +9,620,000,000 MARKS FINAL ACCOUNT BALANCE: 32,420,000,000 MARKS STATUS: EXECUTED & CLOSED

Above the two viral attachments, Jake typed a single, calculated caption:

@JakeRivers_Official: Quite the downpour we had. Sadly, some people are against me sharing these with you guys. 🤫☔

He hit publish.

The post hit the digital landscape like a tactical strike.

Within thirty seconds, the image of nearly ten billion marks in cold, hard profit—extracted from the exact market movement the entire country had just watched unfold—flooded every timeline, chat group, and news algorithm in Veyra.

The initial shock lasted only moments before turning into raw, visceral outrage.

The public hadn’t just missed a trade; they had just been shown the exact blueprint of a life-changing fortune that was dangled in front of them and then snatched away. Ordinary citizens, university students, and working-class families had cleared bank accounts, lifted transfer limits, and stayed awake all night waiting for the signal to secure their financial futures.

And now, the Gold King had revealed the truth: He had the signal. He traded it. But powerful forces had pressured him into silence.

Jake’s psychological trap sprung with terrifying efficiency. He hadn’t named a single individual, agency, or department, but a crowd in pain doesn’t need explicit instructions to find a target. They need a scapegoat.

Within fifteen minutes, the digital mob identified their prime suspect.

@Aurelia_Trader_99: SOME PEOPLE ARE AGAINST HIM SHARING?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! IT’S REACHER! JUDE REACHER AND HIS CORRUPT CFTC TASK FORCE! THEY ARE STILL THREATENING HIM BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!

@Veyra_Bull_Market: Reacher lost yesterday in court because he had zero proof, so now they’re using shadow regulatory pressure to muzzle him! They don’t want regular citizens making money! They want us broke and dependent!

@Macro_Observer: Wait, look deeper! The legal exoneration happened yesterday! Why would Jake say ’higher ups’ are stopping him now? Who has the authority to pressure someone like Jake Rivers after the court cleared him?!

@Gold_King_Army: IT’S THE MINISTRIES! The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Trade! They’ve been trying to force Golden Investments under state oversight since the Apex Plaza launch! THEY MUZZLED THE SIGNAL!

The suspicion spread like wildfire, rapidly solidifying into absolute public truth. The collective rage of millions of retail traders shifted away from Jake and directed itself entirely at the authorities.

The official social media accounts of Jude Reacher, the CFTC enforcement branch, and the government ministries were bombarded by an unstoppable wave of vitriol.

The comment sections on Minister of Trade Duke Timber’s latest public announcement transformed into a digital war zone:

"WHERE IS OUR SIGNAL, TIMBER?!"

"Stop suppressing Jake Rivers! Let the people trade!"

"You cleared the state banks for institutional leverage but muzzled the retail public! CORRUPT!"

"Resign! Resign! Resign!"

On the verified page of Commerce Minister Troy Husks, over four hundred thousand hate comments accumulated in under an hour. Online petitions began circulating, demanding a full legislative investigation into regulatory overreach, while local community channels started organizing coordinated online boycotts and civil strikes against state-backed financial institutions.

The public armor Jake had cultivated was actively tearing down his enemies.

---

Inside the executive conference room at at Aurelia Capitals, three high-definition holographic displays flickered to life.

Marcus Sheele has his hands folded over a glowing keyboard. On his laptop, the video feed showed Noah Chen slouched in his leather armchair, grinning broadly. Adrian Vale appeared in a crisp dark suit from his personal study, calmly swirling a cup of dark coffee, while Leon Hart was standing near a floor-to-ceiling window in his private lounge, phone in hand.

Noah was the first to speak, leaning closer to his camera. "Eleven words. The man dropped eleven words and a Sterling execution ledger, and the entire retail market is currently trying to tear down the Ministry of Commerce."

Marcus adjusted his glasses, his eyes scanning the real-time order streams on his secondary screen. "Look at the liquidity metrics across the primary brokerages. Retail traders are pulling capital out of state-partnered funds in protest. They’re refusing to enter standard market positions until the regulatory pressure stops. Jake just effectively paralyzed the institutional order book."

Adrian took a slow, quiet sip of his coffee. He set the porcelain cup down on its saucer without making a sound. "It’s a direct strike against Troy Husks and Duke Timber. Yesterday’s court victory cleared Jake legally, but the politicians are still trying to use soft threats behind the scenes to drag Golden Investments under state oversight. They thought they could silence his public feed quietly. Instead, Jake just showed millions of people the exact amount of money they lost because of that interference."

Leon turned away from his window, looking straight into his camera feed. "My contacts near the Ministry say Troy Husks’ office lines have been completely jammed since nine this morning. News crews are already sitting outside the Grand Pavilion asking if the government issued an informal gag order after the trial."

"Man," Noah chuckled, shaking his head. "And here I thought yesterday’s court drama was going to slow us down. Who needs a legal team when you have an army of angry retail traders handling your enforcement?"

Adrian tapped a key, bringing up Aurelia’s secondary project ledgers on the shared screen. "Speaking of our operations... what’s the status on the Mult International Airport tender?"

"Moving forward smoothly," Marcus replied, his voice precise and calm. "The administrative board sent over the primary paperwork to our offices last week, just as expected. The transition to our construction subsidiaries is already underway."

Leon smirked slightly, adjusting his watch cuff. "Well, we can thank President Spencer for that one. Handing us the biggest airport construction tender in Veyra right under Timber’s nose was a nice touch. The Ministry can’t even touch the paperwork now."

Noah let out a short laugh. "The President basically gave us the keys to Mult’s infrastructure while Timber was busy staring at his dinner plate. You love to see it."

Marcus closed out the file, looking at the other three frames on his screen. "Timber and Husks were hoping to use institutional leverage to dictate terms to Aurelia Capitals and Golden Investments. Now? They’re going to be desperately looking for a way to put out this fire before it costs them their seats."

Adrian stood up on his feed, buttoning his jacket. "Let them sweat. Make sure our teams finalize the remaining signatures for the Mult airport infrastructure files soon."

On the top floor of the Ministry of Commerce, the atmosphere was suffocating.

Minister Troy Husks stood behind his expansive glass desk, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles in his cheek twitched uncontrollably. Beside him, Duke Timber—the Minister of Trade—was frantically pacing the room, his phone buzzing incessantly on speaker mode.

"Minister Timber!" the panicked voice of a senior press secretary wailed through the speaker. "The main gates are being swarmed by news crews! The Aurelia Gazette is running a lead headline asking if the Ministry issued an informal gag order against Golden Investments after yesterday’s trial! What is our official response?!"

"Tell them nothing!" Timber barked, slamming his hand down on the desk to mute the line. He turned to Husks, his breath coming in short, furious gasps. "Did you see what that arrogant bastard posted?! He uploaded a ledger showing a ten-billion-mark profit and told the entire country we wouldn’t let him share it!"

"He played us," Troy Husks said coldly, though his pale skin gave away his internal panic. "Yesterday in court, Reacher couldn’t produce a single piece of evidence, and the judge tossed the VFRB case out in less than an hour. We thought we could still lean on Rivers through regulatory channels to force Golden Investments under state oversight. Instead, he turned citizens into his personal army."

"We need to issue a formal denial!" Timber demanded, grabbing his collar. "We need to clarify that the Ministry has placed zero restrictions on Mr. Rivers’ public communications!"

"If we issue a denial now, it looks like a guilty retreat," Husks replied, staring out at the capital city below with deep apprehension. "The public won’t believe us anyway. They saw the trade ledger. They saw the math. To them, Jake Rivers just handed them proof that we stood between them and financial freedom."

Husks leaned over his desk, looking at the glowing LOOP post on his screen. The likes had just passed four million.

"He didn’t just win in court yesterday," Husks whispered, a cold chill settling over him. "He just established complete control over the narrative of the entire capital."

---

Back inside the quiet executive suite at Apex Plaza, Jake watched the chaos unfold across his secondary monitors with a calm, unbothered expression.

His desk phone chimed. It was Silas Thorne.

"Mr. Rivers," Silas said, his voice quiet and composed over the line. "The Ministry of Trade just issued an urgent internal memo to all prime brokerages, confirming that Golden Investments retains absolute, unrestricted operational freedom regarding public disclosures."

"I saw," Jake replied smoothly, taking a slow sip of his coffee. "They move quickly when their political leverage begins to rot."

"The market sentiment is fully locked behind you, sir," Silas continued. "Jude Reacher’s task force has completely folded after yesterday’s ruling. They’ve suspended all remaining inquiries into Golden Investments’ retail network. You’ve rendered them completely powerless without firing a single legal shot."

"They wanted to see if they could put a leash on my influence, Silas," Jake said, leaning back against his leather headrest as his eyes glinted with cold calculation. "Now they know what happens when they pull on the chain."

"So... what is your next command, Mr. Rivers?"

Jake looked out over the sunlit skyline of Aurelia, watching the city below hustle under the weight of his single post.

"Nothing," Jake said softly, a sharp, decisive smile forming on his lips. "Just sit back and watch the crowd do its job."