Chapter Three: The First Fortune Was Not a Gamble

The industry's $700 million came from an ultra-short repurchase agreement collateralized by the five stocks. It matured one minute after the countdown. The reserve existed only long enough to pose for a picture. Xu rewrote the investigation around maturity mismatch, citing the public repo registration and on-chain addresses. It went live at four in the morning. For ten minutes, nothing happened. Han's publicity machine attacked Xu. Blaze made another high. Then a small market maker tried to redeem $30 million. Furnace delayed payment. Its stablecoin slipped to ninety-seven cents. Lu's first bid filled at ninety-four. Blaze fell, recovered, and appeared to survive another attack. Three minutes remained. The market in Lu's head became a vacuum.