The corner of a hotel room curtain was pulled aside, and a pair of eyes hidden in the shadows silently watched the chaotic street below.

The crowd surged like a tidal wave. It was like a Black Friday shopping frenzy, or maybe the final moments before the apocalypse. Everyone seemed to have gone mad, scrambling and jostling to get into the malls and supermarkets, snatching up the limited goods and supplies.

Clothes they couldn’t normally afford—buy!

Appliances they couldn’t normally afford—buy!

Food they couldn’t normally afford to eat—buy!

As for saving the money, that thought barely crossed anyone’s mind. Most people didn’t have a habit of saving to begin with. After all, who knew if their savings would just be stolen by robbers or gangs? And who knew if they’d even live long enough to spend it?

That was the case on a normal day, let alone now. This huge sum of money was of dubious origin. If they didn’t spend it immediately, were they just supposed to wait for the government to take it back?

Witnessing this scene, Zhou Chen nodded in satisfaction from behind the curtain.

To put it bluntly, the first phase of the plan was to distribute wealth. By giving the money from the North Carolina treasury to the lower-class masses, each person would only receive 200 US Dollars. But that was enough to drive the entire underclass of twenty-one cities into a frenzy, bringing urban life to a complete standstill.

’But, considering the time, the government should have reacted and come up with countermeasures by now.’

Sure enough, before long, waves of anguished cries echoed from the streets.

"My bank card has been frozen! My money!!!"

"No—!!! I didn’t even get to spend a single cent!!!"

"AHHHHHH! FUCK!! Why now of all times! FUCK! FUCK!!!"

People were tearing their hair out, stomping their feet in frustration. Most hadn’t had time to spend a thing before their bank cards were frozen by the government, rendering the huge sum inaccessible. The realization completely broke them; they could only curse themselves for not seizing the opportunity. The thought that others had cashed in on this huge windfall made them feel even worse. Some of the less resilient ones simply burst into tears.

—Seeing others strike it rich was more painful to them than death itself.

More than half an hour later, the chaos gradually subsided. The number of people on the streets decreased significantly. People returned to their jobs with long faces, and a mood of dejection hung over the city like a pall of smog.

’It’s about time...’ Zhou Chen raised his phone and spoke into it, "Tang Ling, I’ll leave it to you."

"Understood."

The phone vibrated once, transmitting the response.

Immediately after, millions of text messages were instantly transmitted across the network to millions of phones. Everyone received a notification: their bank cards were unfrozen. They could spend the money again.

There is perhaps no greater happiness in the World than recovering what was lost. The common people were now experiencing just that. Upon seeing the text, many screamed with excitement. In an instant, their deep sorrow turned into wild elation. They sprinted toward the nearest stores—it didn’t matter what they bought, as long as they cashed in on the opportunity.

Meanwhile, in the banking department of the North Carolina Government, countless people were dumbfounded.

"Impossible... Impossible..." the Director of Network Security muttered to himself, looking at the bank system’s backend code with a face full of disbelief.

"What’s impossible?" the Minister of the Banking Department asked urgently.

"Our firewall has been breached again. All the frozen bank cards have been unfrozen." The Director of Network Security stared blankly at the screen. "The defense system’s firewall is like a piece of paper... no, not even paper. The other party’s hacker comes and goes as they please, more casually than walking in and out of a public restroom..."

"Are you kidding me! The bank’s defense system was made by a company from India. That company is one of the top three cybersecurity companies in the World. Even a top-tier global hacker team would need at least two days to breach their firewall!" The Minister of the Banking Department slowly raised an eyebrow. "A mole?"

"I don’t know." The Director of Network Security shook his head. "Whether there’s a mole or not, we only have one option left—a complete shutdown of the banking system. This will cause the national bank’s stock to plummet... although it’s already fallen a lot, at least it can stop the continued loss of funds."

"Then shut down the banking system." The Minister of the Banking Department’s gaze was grim. "I will bear all the consequences. We absolutely cannot allow any more money to be lost."

"Alright." The Director of Network Security acted quickly. After saving important data to a hard drive, he ran to the server room and pulled the plug on the servers, taking the system completely offline and fundamentally preventing any more intrusions from the enemy hacker.

After temporarily resolving the crisis, the Minister of the Banking Department slumped into his chair, rubbing his forehead. "How much money did we lose?"

"Approximately... one point eight billion US Dollars," the Finance Director sighed, looking at the data.

"Thank god, that’s not too much." The Minister of the Banking Department let out a breath. Although North Carolina was a small country, its abundant resources meant its export trade industry was highly developed. A loss of 1.8 billion US Dollars was still within a tolerable range. They could find some "charitable" tycoons to plug the hole.

"But..." The Finance Director’s expression was grim. "Another two point five billion US Dollars, after numerous transfers, ended up in an unknown account at the International Bank..."

"What?!" The Minister of the Banking Department’s voice rose an octave, almost a shriek.

The Finance Director, grim-faced, explained in detail, "We just checked the transactions from the last few hours. We discovered that besides the money distributed to the populace, another two point five billion US Dollars was transacted in a short period, all of it funneled into an account at the International Bank... I’m guessing it’s very likely an account belonging to the Salvation Army. The hacker they hired is incredible."

Two point five billion... A vein throbbed on the minister’s forehead, and his blood pressure surged uncontrollably. He rapped his head hard, struggling to calm down before finally saying, "Put this aside for now. How long until the banking system can be restored?"