Chapter 96: Future

A week later.Friday, April 15th.

In the morning, I got a letter from Derec.

I opened it, unfolding the neatly typed report inside.

"

Immortal Investments

Rundown as of April 12th

The leveraged spot position: We hold 4,012,000 shares of Cal-Maine, acquired at an average of $2.21. The current value of the position stands at $32,176,240.

Cash Reserves: Our cash position stands at $3.2 million, up from $3.1 million in March.

...

Derec Johnson

"

The investment in Cal-Maine was paying off much faster than I had anticipated, but I was expecting the stock to rise another 500-1000% in this year alone.

This was only the beginning...

Over the last week, I dug a little deeper into some moves that China has been making, especially in light of the new, unexpected relationship with USA.

China has made a few promises over the last few weeks that undeniably move the world's geopolitics in an unknown direction.

Historically, China's elections, particularly at the village and township levels, have been tightly controlled by the Communist Party. The candidates are usually handpicked, and there's little to no real competition.

China came out with a statement a week ago saying that they want to hold elections in villages and towns with more transparency and regulations than before.

They're talking about letting a wider range of candidates run, and giving them a wider range of campaign platforms to use, which were previously mostly limited.

Large-scale campaigns, media advertising, and public debate, which were previously not permitted, will be slowly implemented, giving candidates a way to explain their ideas.

At least, that's what they were saying.

Now, the candidates allowed to run will still need the Party's approval...

So, I've been thinking about what China is really trying to accomplish with all this.

On the international stage, it's clear they want to look like they're becoming more open and willing to reform. By making these changes, they hope to improve their relationship with the USA.

But it's probably not just about the USA.

China wants to make a good impression on other Western countries too.

They might even use this as a way to start more open conversations with international human rights organizations, using the elections as a bargaining chip.

In my understanding, those changes could be a result of the USA pressuring China.

But then why did this never happen in my previous timeline?

If China felt threatened by the rising power of India or the unpredictability of North Korea, then why weren't those same decisions made at that time?

There were also some recent news stories that were really messing with my head.

Japan's military spending had increased from 0.94% of GDP in 2002 to 1.03% in 2003.

Japan had always kept its military spending relatively low, and from what I remember, it only increased it to 1% by the late 2010s.

Clearly, Japan seemed uneasy about the new partnership between the USA and China.

I began to think that Japan might be considering strengthening its alliance with South Korea and Australia. They could be fearing that the USA might not prioritize their interests as much in the future.

I remembered that Japan's Prime Minister, Koizumi, was always very pro-USA, pushing for close ties with the United States.

What would happen now?

Japan wasn't even sending help to Iraq, and I'm pretty sure they did so previously.

On the other hand, if China is starting this sort of relationship with the USA, it's possible that they might not maintain the same close ties with Russia.

That could lead to a realignment of global partnerships.

What if Russia begins to collaborate more with nations like Iran and India as a result of the warming USA-China relations?

And how about North Korea's nuclear threat?

If China and the United States are trying to form an alliance, they should already be in talks with North Korea to manage that threat. Otherwise, they wouldn't just make the decision to enter such a relationship carelessly.

A lot of things could change quickly...

If China gains more power in the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, such a huge geo-political change could occur that there would be no way for me to predict anything.

How will Europe respond to this?

Currently, the NATO part of Europe is helping the USA in Iraq, but no actions have been taken so far to increase cooperation with China for those countries.

This might mean that the USA made that decision without talking with European leaders.

'Where do I fall into all this?' I thought.

The money flow between stable assets like bonds, currencies, and major corporations has been huge—hundreds of billions of dollars. But due to the massive market caps of these instruments, the percentage changes are relatively small.

My financial strategy should still focus on investing in small, rapidly growing companies.

I just don't have the kind of money to play in those waters yet.

I need to focus on growing my wealth quickly with my future knowledge so that when I can no longer use it to its fullest, I'll have enough funds to keep growing nonetheless.

After investing in Cal-Maine and various small stocks, my plan will be to diversify my portfolio.

I shall become an Angel Investor!

In the age of technology, many companies would soon emerge, and all of them would need funding.

I'm talking about those tech guys who worked at PayPal and will soon start tinkering away in their garage. They will work on a new kind of website where people can upload and watch videos all in one place.

Another guy is someone who previously funded PayPal and is now focused on a groundbreaking project involving a certain type of vehicles.

There are also those two guys who studied at Stanford University in California and developed a search algorithm called "BackRub." that quickly gained traction and quickly expanded into something called "Google Search".

They were about to lease an office complex in Mountain View, California.

YouTube, Tesla and Google are just a few of the companies that will begin rapidly growing.

Actually, now that I thought about it, there was a certain Harvard student that would start working on an unbelievably successful project next year...

I will need to keep an eye on him.

With those thoughts still swirling, I turned off the PC, pushed back my chair, and headed to the garage.

I needed to drive to Wahneta today.

15th April wasn't just any day; it was the day of my sister's death.

Sliding into the driver's seat of my red Ferrari, I eased it out of the garage, the engine purring quietly as I started the long drive.

I drove for over four hours, not going over the speed limit.

When cracks in the road showed up, I knew I was in Wahneta.

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. The prom should be ending in about two hours, but I needed to get there early.

I drove to the hall where the prom was being held.

As I got closer, I saw groups of high school students walking around in their nice clothes. Boys in suits and ties, girls in bright dresses, all laughing and talking.

I slowly slid the Ferrari into the parking lot and I could already feel the stares.

The Ferrari was definitely out of place here.

Heads turned, and conversations paused.

There was a group of boys in tuxedos standing together. One of them, a kid with spiked hair and a slightly crooked tie, suddenly noticed the Ferrari and without a second thought, he jogged over, waving his friends over.

The whole group was heading my way, practically tripping over themselves.

I parked next to an old student's car and turned off the engine.

I didn't even make it out of the car and the crowd went from two or three to more than I could manage.

I stepped out of the car and one of Spiky's friends sprinted over to catch up.

"Dude, is this your ride? What do you do?!" he blurted out.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Finance," I replied casually.

"Finance? Like investing and shit?" another kid asked, this one wearing a bow tie that was way too big for his collar.

"Something like that."

"Man, this car is insane! How can you afford this? Do you just, like, buy stuff and make money?" Spiky asked.

"That's about right..."

"Fuck! ...This is goals right here," another kid said.

A second later, a group of girls in flashy prom dresses strutted over.

One girl, in a shiny blue dress, bounced up closer to the Ferrari. "Whoa, is this your car?" she asked.

I was starting to get a bit annoyed. "Yes," I said with no emotion.

Her friends gathered around. The girl glanced back at them and then turned to me with a hopeful look. "Do you think we could maybe get a ride?" Sёarch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Sorry, but no."

One of her friends, wearing a pink dress with a big, puffy skirt, leaned in. "Are you here to pick up a date or something?"

"No, I'm here for my sister."

It seemed like the word had spread quickly inside the hall. I could see a small crowd forming.

And then I saw Sydney. She was wearing a simple black dress and styled her dark hair with a fancy braid and a sparkling tiara perched on top.

I was tall enough that I could see her above the heads of the students.