Chapter 279: Shooting Down Indonesia

Xiao Ran had not been this angry in a long time. With a gloomy expression and a fierce gaze at the camera, he said, “Given the plight of Chinese people in Indonesia and what happened, after an emergency meeting of the board of directors, seven companies including Shadow decided to withdraw all their funds from Indonesia. We also urge Chinese businessmen around the world to refuse any trade relations with Indonesia until it apologizes and compensates for these actions!”
All the journalists present were shocked. Xiao Ran then roared like a lion, “Moreover, Shuxiang Media will file a lawsuit against the Indonesian government at the Hague International Court on behalf of this female journalist, accusing it of murder! We will fight against the Indonesian government to the end and will never allow anyone to harm our employees or Chinese people.”
This was truly unprecedented—Shuxiang Media suing a country over the death of one of its employees was unimaginable at any time. It was precisely because of this incident that the seven flagship companies of Shadow became the most respected and sought-after companies in the world.
On the third day, the shock spread globally. Even before “Schindler’s List” ended, what was happening in Indonesia appeared to be a replica of what befell the Jews. With the persuasion of Ge Wenqiu, they quickly gained support from the Jewish community.
On the fourth day, Shuxiang Media, which had been far ahead of networks like CNN in covering the story, reported the deaths of three Americans and one Briton. These crucial footage were broadcast via satellite in North America and Europe, causing an immediate uproar. Protests erupted in the United States and the United Kingdom.
On the fifth day, two more American corpses were found. China and the United States finally reacted, condemning the Indonesian government in the strongest terms. The United Nations swiftly passed resolutions for economic sanctions and the deployment of peacekeeping forces, demonstrating unprecedented efficiency.
On the sixth day, after compiling materials from many top lawyers in Hong Kong, Shuxiang Media officially filed charges at the Hague International Court. It was also on this day that Li Wenzheng and Huang Jiawen, who had managed to escape, arrived in Hong Kong, knowing that only Xiao Ran could help them now.
On the ninth day, peacekeeping forces entered Indonesia to control the situation, with China also sending troops. On the tenth day, the seven companies of Shadow donated 100 million dollars to establish a fund dedicated to helping Chinese people who had been harmed in Indonesia. Half a month later, thanks to donations from abroad, the fund had accumulated to 800 million dollars.
By the twentieth day, Li Wenzheng and Huang Jiawen officially filed charges at the Hague International Court against the Indonesian government and some of the main culprits—accusing them of genocide! A year later, the Indonesian president and other key perpetrators were found guilty.
In this event that Xiao Ran had prepared for a long time, the biggest beneficiary was himself. Although he had not intended to gain any benefits from it, his reputation as a savior spread rapidly around the world.

Xiao Ran himself never expected that because of this incident, he would gain an excellent reputation worldwide and even become the leading figure among Chinese businessmen globally. But then again, it makes sense—someone who can single-handedly bring down a country’s leader is certainly not someone ordinary.

Shuxiang also reaped the greatest benefits, as the rapid coverage and reports of casualties helped it earn an outstanding reputation in the industry worldwide. This played a crucial role in establishing it as the world’s top media company in the future.

Long after the incident, Wei Dongling asked curiously, “Indonesia is pro-American. How could anyone target Americans?”
Xiao Ran smiled without answering, giving only a vague reply: “With proper control, anything is possible!”

In 1996, “Spy Change 4” was released, earning $600 million worldwide, while “Eastern Heroes 3” brought in nearly $200 million. The urban fantasy series “Dragon Knight,” which Xiao Ran had long been interested in, was finally released, grossing $540 million globally. Together with other films, Shadow once again dominated five of the top ten spots on the global box office chart.

That year, driven by Shadow, Universal raised salaries even further, giving rise to the “30 million club” in Hollywood. Thanks to rising stock prices of companies like Microsoft, Xiao Ran’s net worth of $87 billion made him the world’s richest person, leaving his closest rival far behind by nearly twice the margin.

While the total market value of Shadow’s seven flagship companies exceeded $200 billion, Wei Dongling and Fang Xiaoqiang also made it into the top 50 richest people globally, each with a net worth of over $10 billion.

The world didn’t stop turning because of Xiao Ran. Time swiftly moved into 1997, a year when he planned to resolve all his troubles—at least that’s what he thought. To his frustration, Wei Dongling and Fang Xiaoqiang each demanded a very special car and a private plane from him.

While the world marveled at the youngest and richest person to ever top the wealth list, no one could imagine what Xiao Ran was doing. He was currently acting as a riding horse for his son and daughter—a clearly ridiculous situation, as evident from the sneering expressions of the security guards around the house. Fortunately, no one else knew; otherwise, Xiao Ran would have lost all face.

Xiao Ran had anticipated becoming the world’s richest person when he decided to acquire shares in companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Cisco. After all, just 18% of Microsoft’s shares were enough to put someone among the top ten richest people. With stakes in so many companies, including 40% of Cisco’s shares—whose future market value could exceed $500 billion—it would be strange if he didn’t top the list.

It would be a lie to say Xiao Ran wasn’t pleased at all. But clearly, he was more concerned about making his son and daughter happy. What worried him even more was that, unless he made fatal mistakes, his wealth would continue to soar, just like that of Comrade Gai in the future.

Such immense wealth is certainly a target for those who covet it. Of course, he wasn’t referring to business matters—Phantom is already a giant in its own right, much like a company that claims to want to take on Microsoft, having the slogans but no actual action. What worried him were ruthless characters like the Century Thief King. To deal with this, he hired many security guards with extensive combat experience and also provided more bodyguards for his family. As for that Zhang Ziqiang, Xiao Ran wouldn’t give him a chance to kidnap his children or wife. As soon as he made it onto the list of richest people last year, Xiao Ran ordered him to be killed in prison to avoid future problems. One Zhang Ziqiang dead doesn’t mean thousands of others won’t be around. To protect himself and his loved ones, he had to take extra precautions. Xiao Ran had long made it clear in the underworld that it wasn’t easy for anyone to buy guns. In short, such a life was exhausting. Although Xiao Ran was used to having people like Yang Guang follow him around, his parents weren’t used to it at all. It was quite troublesome. After playing around for a while, Xiao Ran suddenly had an idea for some reason. If he hadn’t remembered that Xiao Ling’er was still on his back, standing up straight would have hurt the child. Hearing Xiao Ling’er’s happy cries, Xiao Ran gradually fell into deep thought. This idea was actually the same one he had during the preview of “True Colors.” Back then, it was very simple—related to the film’s structure. He wondered if he could work on the structure, just like in “Memento,” which had a brilliantly structured plot, and that’s when he came up with the idea. He tried to make the structure circular, similar to “Memento.” As he walked in circles on the grass, his thoughts gradually became more coherent. It would be a very interesting story, wouldn’t it? The plot was simple: a police officer investigating a case sees his colleague killed, and upon further investigation, discovers that the thief looks exactly like him. The focus wasn’t on the plot but on the structure. Just thinking about it made Xiao Ran feel terrified—the structure in this film was incredibly powerful. It wasn’t just a trap but also involved parallel timelines and a highly fictional approach. The next day, Xiao Ran called You Hai over. Assigning this script to him was the perfect choice. Most importantly, Xiao Ran knew very well that You Hai was an absolute top expert, especially when it came to such intricate scripts. “It’s simple. The general story is…” Xiao Ran repeated the story he had in mind before staring at You Hai and asking, “Do you understand?” You Hai shook his head in confusion; he didn’t even know what Xiao Ran was trying to convey. Xiao Ran frowned. Structure wasn’t easy to explain, especially since this film was also quite mysterious. “Let me give you an example. The plot is a circular trap. The ending of the film must connect back to the beginning, just like reincarnation!”

“Then why does that thief look exactly like the police officer? If they’re not the same person, how can there be reincarnation?” You Hai wasn’t just confused—he was utterly bewildered by Xiao Ran’s explanation. “If they’re the same person, it’s impossible for them to appear in the same time and space and yet intersect!”
How to explain this? Xiao Ran scratched his head. “You could consider both main characters as the same person, but at the same time, they can’t be the same person either. It’s viewed from multiple perspectives. The key lies in this unsolvable paradox, along with the concept of parallel time and space.”
He gestured and continued explaining to You Hai, who was still confused: “It’s simple. It’s a technique of substitution. We set the thief’s appearance and background to match those of the police officer. In essence, it could be an ordinary police thriller or a more clever form of reincarnation. I’ll use substitution to replace the thief’s existence, swapping identities effortlessly.”
“You can think of the two people as being in different times and spaces. Let’s see: the thief kills the police officer’s partner, so the officer, filled with anger, pursues and kills the thief. As a result, he’s dismissed from his job or imprisoned. After no longer being a police officer, he becomes a thief. During one of his crimes, he accidentally kills another police officer, whose partner, enraged, pursues him. That creates an unsolvable paradox—this is what I mean by cycle and reincarnation!”
At this point, You Hai looked deep in thought, but after a moment, he was still confused. “Brother Ran, logically, this doesn’t make sense at all…”
“No, no, no! You need to look at it from another angle!” Xiao Ran’s expression was almost fanatical. In fact, his demeanor as Director Xiao was very different from that as President Xiao—extremely different. “Why logic? We need logic in the plot and details, but why must we also use logical reasoning overall? Can’t we try a more imaginative approach?”
“It can be a metaphorical technique. The thief can truly be a thief, but he can also be a former police officer who’s fallen on hard times. That doesn’t matter. What matters is your perspective.” Xiao Ran sighed in relief, thinking he had explained it as clearly as possible. If You Hai still couldn’t understand, there was nothing more he could do. “Your perspective determines what you see. This might be seen as a continuation of ‘True Colors’.”
“More importantly, it’s the structural techniques: the paradox is one, parallel time and space is another, and virtual assumption is the third! You can assume it’s not a former police officer who’s turned into a thief, but a real thief. Or you can assume it is. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that both perspectives can resolve this paradox. The thief will kill the police officer, the police officer will kill the thief. After the police officer turns into a thief, he might kill the police officer, and then the police officer might kill the thief who was originally a police officer!”
As he spoke, Xiao Ran suddenly broke into a bitter smile. He felt that if he went any further, even he would get tangled up in it. At this moment, You Hai’s mind was filled with thoughts of police officers and thieves. After all that talk, he felt his own mind was knotted up, with nothing making sense.

At that very moment, as a sudden insight struck him, You Hai’s expression turned utterly astonished—truly a stunning look. Staring at Xiao Ran in shock for a long time, he finally managed to say in a hoarse voice, “Brother Ran, your concept is just too complicated. I doubt anyone can understand it. It’s ten times more complex than ‘True Colors’!”
Xiao Ran couldn’t help but burst into laughter. No one could understand it? Not necessarily. Thanks to ‘True Colors,’ audiences had developed a considerable capacity to grasp such profound ideas. Over the past two years, many box-office surprises had emerged from experimental and art films.
“As for the theme, the most important thing is to emphasize that impulse and anger are among the sources of evil. Additionally, you might want to focus on the bond of friendship—just one brilliant touch will do!” Xiao Ran vaguely remembered ‘Infernal Affairs’ and suddenly got an idea: “Maybe you should consider how to highlight the strange feeling that arises when the identities of thieves and police switch places!”