The trading volume of Wharf Holdings that day broke through HK$200 million, a staggering figure.
Such an enormous surge couldn't go unnoticed.
At Jardine Matheson, Noble Kemp quickly became aware of the movement. The immense trading volume worried him — it might mean that a significant number of Wharf shares were being accumulated by a small group, potentially threatening Jardine's controlling interest. As a result, he ordered his staff to monitor Wharf's stock price closely over the coming days.
The next day marked the final trading session of the week.
Yesterday's rollercoaster had made Wharf the center of attention across the entire market. As soon as the market opened, the stock price began climbing again.
However, after the chaos of the previous day, many traders were hesitant. Once the price passed HK$15, institutional and retail participation started to thin out.
On Lin Baicheng's side, after hearing An Yuan's report the previous evening, he instructed him not to buy more shares — but if the price exceeded HK$20, they were to slam the price down and dump all remaining holdings without hesitation.
Based on An Yuan's analysis, the heavy buying at HK$23 the previous day had come from the other acquiring party — Li Jiacheng.
Lin Baicheng knew this as well. With the previous day's massive trading volume, it was inevitable that Jardine Matheson had already taken notice. Stealthily acquiring more Wharf shares was now impossible. Thus, if the price rose past HK$20, he was happy to unload everything.
Either the other side would take all his shares above HK$20, or he'd push the price back down and wait for another chance later.
For Lin, acquiring Wharf wasn't an obsession. It was an investment, and if the cost grew too high, he had no problem stepping back. He was perfectly content to profit from the market alone if a takeover became impractical.
That morning, it was mainly Li Jiacheng's team who kept buying. He remained optimistic about Wharf's future and had already sunk HK$100 million into shares at around HK$23. He needed to buy more while the price remained low to average down his costs.
Unfortunately, Lin's side was determined to crash the market.
Li's capital couldn't absorb all the sell orders, and the stock soon reversed sharply, falling fast.
Once Wharf's price dropped below HK$20, Lin's side stopped selling — but by then, panic had set in. Institutions and small investors became the new wave of sellers, desperate to escape before losing more.
The rest of the day turned into a battle between traders — short-term rallies, followed by heavier declines. By closing time, Wharf's price had plunged to HK$12.5, marking a steep drop.
Li Jiacheng exhausted his remaining HK$100 million, bringing his average cost per share down to around HK$21. On paper, he was sitting on an HK$80 million loss, but he wasn't panicking.
He believed in Wharf's long-term value. As long as he didn't sell, those losses were just numbers on a page.
At this point, Li controlled over nine million shares, roughly 10% of Wharf's total stock. For a brief moment, he even considered raising more capital to push for a full takeover.
But reason prevailed. Despite his large stake, Jardine Matheson's holdings were still stronger. Any further accumulation would spike the price and trigger an immediate counterattack. He simply didn't have the resources to win such a war.
Li wasn't a gambler, and he didn't see this as a defeat. He might be down for now, but time was on his side. If Wharf's price rose later, he would profit handsomely. If it didn't, he could always buy more in the future — quietly, strategically.
While Li counted his paper losses, Lin Baicheng was celebrating.
Before selling, he had owned roughly 19.5 million shares of Wharf. His highest sale price had reached HK$26, with most of his heavy selling done at HK$23 and HK$20 — and most of those shares had gone straight to Li Jiacheng.
After two waves of price suppression, Lin retained only about 8.5 million shares, less than 10% of Wharf's total.
But the numbers spoke for themselves.
He sold 11 million shares for a total of HK$225 million, while his initial purchase of 19.5 million shares had cost only HK$250 million.
That meant he effectively held 8.5 million shares for just over HK$20 million — an incredibly low net cost.
Even at Wharf's closing price of HK$12.5, Lin still made about HK$80 million in profit, roughly equal to Li Jiacheng's current paper loss.
Of course, Lin had no intention of selling his remaining shares at that low price, just as Li had no intention of cutting losses. Both men still believed Wharf's value would rise again — on that point, they were completely aligned.
Meanwhile, across the Pacific in the United States, Lin Baicheng received word of the Hong Kong market's situation. He knew it was impossible to secure full control of Wharf anytime soon. Still, he didn't halt his loan negotiations with Goldman Sachs — he simply became more relaxed.
With no immediate pressure for funds, he could afford to negotiate favorable terms and focus solely on using Galaxy Games' shares as collateral for financing.
Galaxy Games had already brought him over US$100 million in profits, though those figures were confidential. Goldman, using industry standards, calculated profit margins at 20% of revenue, then applied a 10× price-to-earnings ratio for valuation.
Previously, Lin had pushed for a higher valuation to secure more funding quickly. Now, he didn't care. It was just a loan, not an equity sale or IPO — a lower valuation wouldn't hurt him.
As long as he paid interest on time each year, his shares would remain under his control.
Based on Galaxy's US$160 million revenue, Goldman estimated profits at US$32 million, valuing the company at US$320 million — and, factoring in growth and premium potential, finalized an official valuation of US$400 million.
Lin pledged 25% of his shares as collateral, securing a US$100 million loan for three years, with a 9% annual interest rate — a total of 27% interest over the term.
It was a steep cost. But Lin Baicheng didn't mind.
After all, in his mind — if he couldn't earn more than 30% in three years, he didn't deserve this second chance at life.