Chapter 12: Chapter 12 Shadow of the Federal Reserve
Black crude oozed from Wall Street's granite steps. The vault door's keypad grew fleshy digits. When prompted for "SSN×Credit Score÷Race Factor", Lin pressed his furnace core to the retinal scanner—the beam became 1863 National Bank Act quill.
"Welcome to real economics." Eighteen Fed chairs' corpses sat roundtable, Bernanke's jaw articulating with Dow Jones ticks. "Mr. Lin, having shattered Liberty Bell's lies, ready for capital's wrath?"
Lin crushed squirming dollar larvae underfoot. Vault walls were subprime mortgage contracts, each brick replaying 2008 Lehman suicides. His blockchain tattoos alerted:
[Economic Singularity Detected]
[Devour Target: Federal Funds Rate Entity]
Bernanke's corpse lunged, spewing 2007 toxic assets. Lin's Chrono-Weaver turned subprime crisis into 1776 tobacco futures. But Greenspan's golden dentures engraved with Bretton Woods clauses escalated it to 1929 Crash.
"Economics is perpetual motion." Volcker's corpse raised rate lever, floor becoming NASDAQ circuit breaker. "Every crisis you stop breeds bigger bubbles."
Lin tore arm skin revealing Apollo 11 moon rocks. Geocore energy triggered quantum vault:
Bitcoin replacing Fed in one timeline
Mayflower carrying VC firms in another
Darkest reality using lifespan minutes as currency
[Economic Collapse Detected]
[Final Form Unlocked: Invisible Hand]
Lin's pupils split into microeconomic models. Stellar Assimilation reformed into market forces. When Fed corpses launched final rate hike, he crushed the "Rational Economic Man" axiom.
"Your mistake." Lin scattered axiom dust over algorithmic Babel. "True market laws—"
Golden teeth melted into blockchain deluge.
"—always favor unpredictable variables."