Chapter 64: A Global Stock Crash Crisis
Nat let out a short, mocking scoff. He reached into the inner pocket of his tailored suit jacket, pulling out a black-bladed tactical knife. He stood up from his chair, his towering frame casting a long shadow over her as he walked behind her.
With one effortless flick of his wrist, he sliced clean through the heavy industrial zip-ties without a single scratch on her skin.
The thick plastic snapped and fell away.
April didn’t waste a single moment. As she brought her hands forward, rubbing her slightly chafed wrists, she willed her medium from her spatial storage. In a seamless flash of light, her chosen physical medium materialized directly into her palms—the flawless, glowing Crystalline Seer Orb.
It pulsed with a faint, ethereal blue luminescence, casting a supernatural glow over her calm features and illuminating the dark, grimy corners of the warehouse.
Nat froze, his eyes locking onto the orb that had literally appeared out of thin air. He let out a low whistle, entirely unfazed by the magic but thoroughly amused. "Pretty magic trick. Sleight of hand, or are you hiding a pocket in that dress I didn’t notice?"
April offered him a cool, knowing smile. "Don’t be surprised yet, Mr. Collins. This is only the beginning."
As her fingers cradled the cool, glowing crystal, the blue neon system interface flashed directly above the orb, tailored specifically to her intent.
[System Notice: Eye of Destiny (Rank 2) Activated.]
[Would you like to read the fortune of Nat Collins regarding his current Stock Market portfolio?]
[Number of insights left today: ⅗]
Yes.
Instantly, a massive cascade of glowing, detailed text flooded her vision. With her newly upgraded Rank 2 Insight, the data wasn’t even vague in the slightest—it was incredibly precise, laying bare what she needed to know.
[Target: Nat Collins: Stock Portfolio Analysis]
Current Status: Target possesses a near-flawless track record in stock and trade predictions. This is not a supernatural skill, but the result of terrifyingly sharp intuition, predatory instincts, and years of honing high-stakes financial abilities.
Active Assets: Exactly twenty-four hours ago, the target’s heavy investment in Riders & Ships skyrocketed, perfectly aligning with his internal calculations. The target intends to leave his capital in this asset for three more weeks to maximize a projected 300% return.
Immediate Future: A catastrophic, unpredicted global market crash will trigger by this very evening. Riders & Ships will collapse entirely, wiping out half of the target’s accumulated portfolio.
Collateral Damage: This impending crash will blindly trigger a massive financial crisis for several elite enterprises, including Reed Industries. Host’s client, Xavier Reed, stands to face near-ruin if capital is not liquidated immediately.
April’s breath hitched slightly as she saw this. So it was giving bonus detail by reading Xavier’s fortune as well? This was extraordinary. She looked down towards the Hidden Truth.
[Hidden Truth]
Psychological Profile: Completely detached from standard human morality and empathy. This is the direct result of a childhood trauma—a severe car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury to his frontal lobe. Since the accident, his emotional processing pathways have been permanently jumbled and muted. He is physically incapable of feeling normal guilt, fear, or remorse, transforming him into a chaotic menace and a natural villain.
System Evaluation: Despite his villainous nature, his obsessive hoarding habits make him an invaluable, highly strategic asset to the Host both before and during the impending apocalypse.
April closed the tab, a profound wave of understanding washing over her. So that’s why he’s a psychopath, she thought internally, looking up at the red-haired man. His brain literally doesn’t wire empathy.
The sheer detail of the report made her marvel at the power of her upgraded system. The Eye of Destiny made her job terrifyingly easier to understand her target.
"So, how long is this little show going to take?" Nat asked, leaning forward on his backwards-facing chair, tapping a rhythm against the metal backrest.
April lifted her head from the glowing blue orb, meeting his maddening gaze with absolute stillness.
"For a man who can wait years just to watch his money triple, you aren’t very patient, are you, Mr. Collins? Or are you just nervous thinking I’m buying time?"
Nat’s lips curled even further at her sheer audacity, a dark, dangerous spark lighting up his eyes. "And why would I be nervous? Better yet, why would you be buying time? You’re tied up in my warehouse and in a dangerous situation."
"I’m not tied up anymore," April pointed out smoothly, waving a relaxed hand. "And I’m certainly not in danger. Not when the man in front of me just became one of my highest-paying clients."
Nat stared at her, then let out a sharp, genuine chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. "You... you really have no danger compass whatsoever, do you?"
"I traded it," April exclaimed, her eyes flashing with a cold, financial hunger that mirrored his own. "I traded it for quick wealth, and the supernatural ability to keep that wealth coming."
With a sudden, dramatic snap of her fingers, the Crystalline Seer Orb vanished back into her spatial storage as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the warehouse in the dim, yet harsh light of the single overhead bulb.
"Is that it?" Nat asked, and April leaned forward, her voice dropping into a sharp, calculating purr.
"Mr. Collins, let’s start with your favorite playground. You’re heavily into stocks right now, aren’t you?" she asked. "And it seems your personal predictions are never wrong—it’s practically magic. Right?"
Nat didn’t answer, but his silence was a loud, heavy confirmation.
"Let’s get specific," April continued, a faint, razor-sharp smile playing on her lips. "Yesterday, your investment in Riders & Ships hit an astronomical high. The kind of profit that would make even the most seasoned hedge fund managers weep with envy. Right now, your internal calculations are telling you to hold. You want to leave it untouched to soar for another three weeks to maximize your returns, right?"
Nat’s relaxed posture suddenly stiffened. A subtle, sharp furrow carved its way between his eyebrows, his chaotic gaze narrowing into dangerously focused slits.
Internally, a rare flicker of unease rippled through his mind.
How the hell does she know that? He hadn’t told a soul about his three-week timeline for Riders & Ships. It wasn’t written down on any server, encrypted or otherwise. It was a private calculation locked entirely inside his own head. He stared at her, his mind aggressively trying to parse the anomaly before him. Is this actually fortune telling... or is she somehow reading my exact line of thought right now?
Before he could voice the threat dangling on the tip of his tongue, April leaned in even more closer that she was practically at the edge of her seat, her voice dropping into a devastatingly calm, low purr.
"But your flawless intuition is going to cost you, Mr. Collins. Because if you don’t liquidate every single share right now, that golden egg is going to shatter. By this very evening, Riders & Ships is going to crash heavily into the dirt—and it’s going to take half of your entire accumulated stock portfolio down with it."
Nat’s eyes darkened completely.
To a man who treated his wealth like a sacred, untouchable empire, her words weren’t just a prediction—they were a direct, offensive provocation to his intelligence and his absolute control over his resources. He didn’t buy it.
Even after he saw the orb appear and disappear, he still didn’t buy it.
A heavy, suffocating aura radiated off him as he suspected she was merely spinning a highly sophisticated bluff to screw with his head and buy time.
But it was no bluff at all. The system had simply shown April the deeper threads of the immediate future and even a hidden truth that she plans to keep tight-lipped about.
But this global stock crash, whether he believed her or not, was going to happen, and it wasn’t just going to hit him. It was going to completely blindside Xavier Reed’s empire, triggering a financial crisis that could ruin Reed Industries before the apocalypse even arrived.
I have to get this message to Xavier, April realized, her mind racing behind her calm facade. If his capital takes a massive hit, my primary backing collapses before I can finish hoarding. I’d hate to see my first cash cow in crisis.
