The consortium's counter-attack was more personal. They couldn't find Mo Chen, so they targeted the one vulnerability they knew of: her family.
A fake news story began circulating on financial networks: "Yun-Mo Heir Ye Tian Under Investigation for Insider Trading." Fabricated documents, expertly forged, were leaked. The stock of the Yun-Mo flagship company dipped.
It was a warning shot. A reminder that they could touch her, even if she was a ghost.
Mo Chen felt a cold fury colder than any flame. They had crossed the one line that guaranteed annihilation.
She didn't respond to the fake news. She didn't contact her family. Instead, she embarked on the most audacious burn of her life.
She used the entirety of her personal wealth—over $15 million—to anonymously purchase a 5% stake in the consortium's publicly-traded front company, a massive multinational called "OmniCorp." It was a physical asset: stock certificates.
Then, she called a press conference through a cutout. The world's financial media tuned in, expecting a dry corporate announcement.
Instead, the representative held up the physical stock certificates—and lit them on fire with a Zippo lighter.
"Phoenix Holdings finds OmniCorp's business practices… lacking in value," the representative said, as the certificates curled to ash on live television.
The market went insane. OmniCorp's stock plummeted. The system registered the burn of the stock's physical representation as a destruction of value worth hundreds of millions.
[Strategic asset incineration registered. Equivalent value destroyed: $450,000,000. Personal funds increased by $6,750,000.]
She had not only recouped her investment but made a massive profit, all while publicly humiliating the consortium. The attack on her brother ceased immediately. The message was received: touch my family, and I will burn your world to the ground.