Chapter 304: Public Still Active

Chapter 304: Chapter 304: Public Still Active

The notification chime echoed simultaneously across hundreds of thousands of mobile devices, trading desks, and executive terminals worldwide.

On the LOOP platform, Jake Rivers’ verified profile lit up with an unannounced broadcast. Attached were the cryptographic execution hashes and the verified, real-time ledger statement from Sterling International Bank.

[VERIFIED MARKET EXECUTION LOG - GOLDEN INVESTMENTS

Asset: XAUUSD (Spot Gold)

Initial Capital: 20,000,000,000 Marks

Session Leverage: 1:100 Prime Brokerage Multiplier

Net Realized Return: +31,950,000,000 Marks

Closing Liquid Reserve: 51,950,000,000 Marks

Execution Time: 50 Minutes

Status: SETTLED & CLEARED]

Within seconds of publication, the post gathered over three hundred thousand likes, a hundred thousand re-shares, and an explosive, chaotic avalanche of comments.

Before his confrontation with Minister Troy Husks and Minister Duke Timber, Jake had routinely posted his gold signals live on LOOP, allowing retail traders and the general public to ride his unstoppable waves and make life-changing fortunes. But ever since those two high-ranking ministers had tried to pressure him, Jake had abruptly cut the public off—posting only his post-trade execution logs instead of live entry calls.

The public, fully convinced that Husks and Timber had threatened or coerced the Gold King into silence, had directed their absolute fury at the two ministers. For weeks, everyday citizens had been deprived of Jake’s guaranteed market signals, and seeing a mind-boggling thirty-one-point-nine billion marks printed out of thin air in just fifty minutes instantly reignited that dormant rage.

Comment sections across social media detonated in real time:

— "THIRTY-ONE BILLION MARKS IN 50 MINUTES?! Imagine how much we all could have made if he posted the signals beforehand! I’m sick to my stomach!"

— "Troy Husks and Duke Timber robbed the whole country! They forced Jake to stop sharing signals because they couldn’t control him!"

— "We need to force those greedy politicians to drop on their knees and apologize to Jake! Make them beg him to release the signals again!"

— "Look at that balance! Jake is literally running a one-man show. He doesn’t need a single investor, and Golden Investments carries absolute zero debt!"

— "We could’ve paid off our mortgages today! #ResignHusks #ResignTimber"

— "Jake is giving us the proof, but those corrupt parasites took our golden goose away! Storm their offices!"

Inside the private lounge of an exclusive capital club, Minister Troy Husks slammed his crystal glass onto the mahogany table, shattering the base as his eyes locked onto his tablet screen.

---

Across from him, Minister Duke Timber sat slumped in a deep leather armchair, his face pale and sweating profusely as his personal phone rang incessantly with calls from political staffers and angry party donors.

"Is he insane?!" Husks roared, his voice trembling with a mixture of sheer panic and towering rage. "Why won’t he just let this go?! The public anger had finally started to cool down over the last fortnight! The news cycle was moving on!"

"He’s doing it deliberately, Troy," Timber muttered weakly, holding his head in his trembling hands. "Look at the comment section... there are already protests organizing outside our ministry offices for tomorrow morning! People are calculating how much profit they missed out on because Jake posted the results without giving them the entry coordinates!"

"He doesn’t even need to say a word against us!" Husks spat, pacing frantically across the room as his phone screen lit up with another high-level inquiry from the Cabinet Chief. "He just posts thirty-one billion marks in profits, sits back in his penthouse, and lets the mob tear us apart for him! He’s using the entire population as his personal weapon!"

"If Jake thinks he’s going to make us drop to our knees and publicly apologize to him, he can dream on!" Husks barked, slamming his fist against the armrest. "We are cabinet ministers! We don’t bow to private market traders!"

"Troy, shut up and think!" Timber snapped, looking up with hollow, terrified eyes. "We need to figure out a way to calm the public down first. Things are going to get infinitely worse than last time if those crowds march on the capital tomorrow. If the President steps in to settle this, our political careers are over!"

Husks sank back into his chair, his jaw clenched so tightly his teeth ground together, the terrifying reality of their isolation sinking in.

---

Meanwhile, inside the sprawling, glass-fronted newsroom of Veyra Financial Daily, the editorial director stood frozen in front of the central live feed wall, his lukewarm coffee forgotten in his hand.

"Are those transaction hashes authenticated?!" the director shouted over the mounting din of ringing phones and frantic keyboard clatter.

"Verified by three independent blockchain validators and cleared directly through Sterling International’s prime brokerage portal," the senior market analyst reported, his voice cracking with sheer disbelief. "It’s completely legitimate. In under an hour, Jake Rivers deployed a twenty-billion-mark liquidity stack and extracted nearly thirty-two billion marks in gross profit off three consecutive micro-structural moves."

"Thirty-two billion..." the director whispered, running a hand through his thinning hair. "And the comment section is tearing Ministers Husks and Timber to shreds for cutting off the public feed."

"How do you want us to handle the coverage, chief?" the analyst asked eagerly, hovering over his publishing queue.

"Push it everywhere!" the director ordered loudly, gesturing animatedly toward the newsroom floor. "Main stream feeds, social channels, push notifications, television tickers—plaster it on every screen you can find! Make sure this goes viral fast!"

---

Across the financial district, inside the opulent top-floor office of Aurelia Capital, Marcus Sheele stared at the LOOP post on his tablet before bursting into a loud, booming laugh that echoed off the marble walls.

"This absolute madman," Marcus wheezed, shaking his head as he re-read the numbers. He tossed the tablet onto his glass desk and looked over at his chief investment officer, who looked like he had just seen a ghost. "I had intended to ask him if he needed investors for the Twin Islands project, but I guess that won’t be needed! The guy can just sit down at his desk, print thirty-two billion marks out of thin air, and weaponize the entire population against the ministers all over again!"

"Mr. Sheele," the investment officer stammered, holding a tablet of his own. "Sovereign wealth funds from London and Dubai are already calling our desk. They want to know if Golden Investments is opening a private placement syndicate for the Twin Islands project."

Marcus smirked, leaning back in his leather chair. "Tell them to save their breath. Jake didn’t make thirty-two billion in fifty minutes so he could share equity with a syndicate. He owns that entire canvas, and he isn’t letting anyone else hold the brush."

Marcus’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he picked up his phone, a sharp corporate gear turning in his mind. ’Next time Jake signals he’s dropping a market packet, I need to have Aurelia Capital’s secondary reserves ready to jump in immediately. If we ride his wake on just one of these runs, we can clear our outstanding development debt in one shot. Once Aurelia Capital is completely debt-free, we can finally push forward with our public IPO.’

---

In a sunlit lecture hall on the third floor of Veyra Technological Institute, the professor’s lecture on macro-monetary policy was completely derailed as dozens of student phones buzzed on their desks simultaneously.

In the fourth row, Tracy gasped out loud, slapping her hand over her mouth as she stared at her screen.

"Maya!" Tracy hissed, leaning frantically across the aisle to shove her phone into Maya’s face. "Look at this! Look at LOOP right now!"

Maya blinked, taking in the verified transaction log scrolling across the screen, quickly followed by the raging comments targeting the two ministers. Beneath the massive fifty-one-billion-mark closing balance sat Jake’s profile picture—calm, composed, and utterly unbothered by the political inferno he had just reignited.

Zoe leaned over from her desk, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "Thirty-one billion marks in fifty minutes... and the entire internet is calling for Husks and Timber’s heads again. Is this guy even human?"

Maya stared at the screen, a subtle, proud smile touching her lips as she gently pushed Tracy’s phone back.

"He’s just on a different level than the rest," Maya said softly, leaning back in her seat as the class erupted into excited whispers around them.

---

High above the city, inside the quiet executive suite at Golden Investments, the sun was beginning to dip toward the western horizon, casting a long, golden glow across Jake’s mahogany desk.

Alice Chase walked into the office carrying a sleek digital ledger, a subtle, admiring smile on her face. "The global media feeds are in an absolute frenzy, Mr. Rivers. Sterling International’s stock has jumped four percent on the news of your clearing volume, and the public pressure on Ministers Husks and Timber has reached an all-time high. Public demonstrations have already been declared outside the Ministry building for tomorrow morning."

Jake didn’t look up from his tablet, his expression as calm and unruffled as if he had just finished an ordinary morning briefing. "Let the public speak. This should make all politicians who might want to attempt to interfere with my plans think twice about whether they can afford the consequences."

"Understood, Mr. Rivers," Alice replied cleanly, making a note on her tablet. She paused briefly before continuing. "Also, we received a request just ten minutes ago. Anthony Paige from the Paige Financial Group has formally requested a personal meeting with you to discuss a potential strategic partnership."

Jake tilted his head slightly, his dark eyes cool and calculating. "Anthony Paige..."

"Set the meeting for tomorrow," Jake instructed calmly. "Let’s see what he has to offer."

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