In the early morning, Isabella, wrapped in a thin shawl, woke up from her sleep and walked to the window sill to look outside, where she saw several people kneeling on the ground in the courtyard.

They had black hoods over their heads, and then the sound of gunfire rang out.

A few people fell to the ground, blood quickly seeping out from the black hoods.

The hoods weren’t meant to reduce the stress on those being executed; it was simply so the killers didn’t have the trouble of cleaning up the yard.

Whether from front to back or back to front, after bullets penetrate the first layer of bone, they enter a skull cavity that’s somewhat like a "pocket space".

The brain cannot constrain the bullet much, and given the entry angle, the bullet begins to tumble inside the skull.

This is why oftentimes, when a bullet hits the head, it can blow out the other side of the skull.

Blood plasma and brain matter will spray out forcefully from such open wounds, covering the ground!

Cleaning this stuff up is troublesome; more troublesome than disgusting.

One person is trouble enough, but so many together becomes even more of a hassle, as they can splatter all over the entire yard.

If not cleaned up properly, soon insects and even rats will appear.

The door was pushed open, and a female employee in a Darkstone Security uniform walked in.

Isabella turned and asked, "Who are these people?"

She was completely disillusioned with Lynch and the methods of the Darkstone Security people; she wasn’t a "partner" at all, just an "excuse," a pretext for Darkstone Security or the Federation to meddle in these affairs.

She didn’t even know if those who were killed were her people or someone else’s.

The female employee walked to the bedside, glanced at the bodies being loaded onto the cart, "Last night, these few tried to sneak in, but we found them."

"After a night of interrogation, they decided there was nothing worth asking, so they sent them back to the Lord’s embrace."

Isabella keenly grasped a keyword, "Were they Federation people?"

There are many people worldwide who believe in the Lord, but it’s not an absolute religious dominance; besides the Church, there are beliefs similar to Ancient God, like those in Nagariel.

These locally unique beliefs aren’t few; most cultures have their own beliefs.

Only Gafura, the Federation, and a few Neutral Countries have more people who believe in the Lord.

She immediately thought these people were from the Federation, but the female guard shook her head, "They were international mercenaries."

No nationality, no preferences, the only belief is money.

This puzzled Isabella greatly, "Did I offend these people?"

The female guard gave a half-smile and nodded, "Yes, when we pursued the remaining forces of the Rebel Army, a shell penetrated the surface layer, exposing a huge open-air silver mine underneath."

"Miss Isabella, you will soon become the richest woman in the world; there’s no second place."

These words seemed full of amazement and admiration, but they suffused Isabella with a choking feeling.

The knuckles of the hand she was leaning on the window sill turned white from force, and a shard of her nail cracked from the pressure, sending blood down the edge of the broken nail.

Yet she felt nothing at all.

She knew about the Silver Alliance, about Silver Currency, and what silver meant to these people.

"Lynch wants me dead?!" The only conclusion she could draw at that moment was this.

She was just a woman, a puppet, a woman who hadn’t fully inherited her father’s military power.

Yet now, even such an "incomplete being" was being pushed by Lynch to confront the world!

That involved over twenty countries, as well as countless large capitalists and international speculators.

There was no law, morality, or ethics in these people’s eyes!

Whoever stopped them from getting rich instantly became their enemy! 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Now, she had become the enemy of these people, so... she again turned her head to look at the bodies being wheeled out of the yard, they were probably sent to assassinate her.

The female guard shook her head, "No, you are our important customer. During the contract period, we will ensure your safety, just like now."

"Without our permission, no one can hurt you, so you don’t need to worry at all."

"Sometimes, you just need to cooperate a little, that’s all."

"We won’t even restrict your freedom!"

Isabella took a deep breath, "I want to call Lynch!"

The female guard turned around and left, "That’s your freedom. Also, I’m here to inform you that your breakfast is ready; after breakfast, we have work to do."

Then Isabella called Lynch.

On the phone, she suppressed her emotions from almost exploding, while Lynch could hear the frenzied hysteria in her voice.

She tried her best to suppress herself from screaming, but it was this suppressed voice that made her feel like she was about to go crazy.

"You’ll get me killed, you know? They’ve already sent someone to assassinate me!", her voice trembled a bit. It’s evident she’s somewhat scared now.

Lynch sat in the chair, legs crossed, a cigarette burning in his hand, "Relax, we’ll protect your safety, no one can harm you."

Isabella still didn’t believe it, she didn’t believe anyone could really achieve this, "People are always prone to lapses, always. I’m bound to die, all because of your damn plan!"

"What’s beside you?", Lynch suddenly asked, Isabella didn’t react, so he repeated and asked more specifically, "For example, is there a vase or something?"

Isabella didn’t understand what he was trying to do, suppressing her irritable emotions, she coldly glanced at the sunflower in the vase on the table, "Yes, there’s a sunflower in front of me."

"Hold on..."

The busy signal from the phone left Isabella a bit bewildered, but after a dozen seconds, it reconnected, "In ten seconds, this flower will be doomed..."

"Seven..."

"Six..."

"..."

"One..."

A barely audible gunshot and the sunflower in front of Isabella instantly turned into seeds, scattering everywhere!

She shuddered all over, even thinking she might have wet herself.

The flower was just about half a meter away from her, she estimated. These people were truly insane!

She hastily stood up and moved to a spot outside a window where she couldn’t be observed, her emotions already erupting, "Damn it, damn it!"

"What the hell do you want?", she was on the verge of losing it!

Lynch chuckled and softly said, "I just wanted to let you know, at any moment, there will be at least four snipers in different positions protecting you."

"If I want, I can ensure there isn’t a single living soul within a hundred meters around you, so you really don’t need to worry too much about safety."

"We also have our people patrolling the perimeter, there are also hidden sentries. The security services you’re enjoying now have a higher safety coefficient than the Federation President’s!"

"Successfully assassinating the President is possible, but assassinating you is absolutely impossible!"

"I have other things to attend to, do you have any other questions?"

The gentle voice carried a sense of indifference, Isabella sighed after a moment of silence, "No more, you can hang up."

"Then goodbye, Isabella!"

After hanging up, Lynch shook his head. He glanced at the calendar, just a few days remaining, hoping to delay just a bit longer!

Whether they’re going to assassinate Isabella or discuss cooperation with her, both need time, which can make many things go more smoothly.

For instance, closing and opening various financial accounts, or continuously buying gold.

Especially buying gold, it’s extremely important.

The Silver Alliance is destined to become a defeated Federation, so gold will once again become the precious metal benchmark for currency, which also means whoever owns more gold can become the mainstream world circulating settlement currency in the future.

Lynch, the six major banks, and even the Federation are teaming up to buy up gold. The effect of these financial giants starting to take action is completely different from ordinary institutions or bankers.

They’re both buying up gold and using the acquired gold to press the market down, and these are spot transactions, not futures. This also means as long as someone has money, they can definitely buy this gold.

It’s precisely because of spot transactions that increasingly larger vacant positions are causing panic among retail investors and small to medium institutions.

The more they dump, the bigger the pressure, the stronger the vacant positions, forcing those still holding on to have to give in!

It’s like a snowball, it might be stopped at first, but once it starts rolling, it can’t be stopped anymore.

The brief drop in silver didn’t give gold prices any breathing room; instead, it constantly stimulated the market because of continuous large sell-offs without anyone willing to buy.

By Wednesday of the new week, gold’s price had already dropped from close to forty dollars per ounce to twenty-nine dollars per ounce, and still heading downward!

Selling short on gold while buying up, and simultaneously starting to short sell silver, Lime’s investment fund and Darkstone Fund all began operating at full speed.

With the cooperation of the six major banks, backed by the Federation, if Lynch doesn’t earn a hefty sum, he’d feel guilty!

After a week, silver’s price, after the back-and-forth fluctuations of the first three days, rose back to the high of nineteen dollars on Friday, ready at any moment to launch an assault on twenty dollars.

Under Lynch’s instructions, Charlie (sis) who had already contacted Isabella also publicly announced on behalf of "Charlie Silver Foundation" that they’ve obtained Mariluo Silver Mine’s mining rights for the next ten years in society.

At the same time, they believe it’s not the optimal time, so they won’t be mining this silver mine for the time being. This news became the final boost for silver.

On Friday afternoon, with one minute left until the market closed, silver’s price had already risen to nineteen dollars and seventy-six cents, just twenty-four cents shy of creating miracles!

But in the last minute, a large number of short accounts suddenly appeared in the silver futures market.

And before anyone could react, trading time ended...

Many people were left with one question, whose handiwork was this?