What happens when an authoritative program starts reporting on a company suspected of fraud?

Authority is powerful because people tend to trust it unconditionally.

Just like students trust professors without question, rarely challenging what’s written on the board. Just like public notices issued by the government—most accept them without doubt, even if a few might raise questions.

No matter the issue, there will never be unanimous agreement. Trust is no exception. So skepticism is normal.

The power of authority is terrifying. Used well, it’s a guiding light. Used poorly, it becomes the source of disaster.

At this moment, viewers watching this authoritative program stared at the screen, at the golden title, recalling the short video that had just played.

Investors and stockholders in the footage looked possessed, their expressions twisted in mania. Even those who hadn’t participated could sense the feverish, intimidating, yet strangely alluring atmosphere.

His Majesty the Emperor stopped eating—not because he was finished, but because he felt things were starting to spiral out of control.

Just this morning, the Finance Minister had assured him everything was under control. Yet by noon, things were clearly going sideways.

Even through the screen, the Emperor could smell the rot. And he knew exactly where it came from—nobility.

The discontent among nobles had simmered for a long time. In their words, they had contributed money, resources, and manpower to help Gephra win wars, yet received no satisfactory return—not even breaking even.

Now, with the shift in national focus, they were suffering further losses. Their dissatisfaction with the Emperor had long been boiling.

Ministers had been united in supporting him, suppressing the nobles’ complaints. But that didn’t mean the nobles had lost their ability to retaliate.

They were definitely behind this.

The Emperor waved his hand, signaling for the food to be taken away. He had lost his appetite completely.

Those fools had no idea—Lynch had been cozying up to the nobles all this time, precisely to orchestrate this!

But that raised questions of its own—how had he done it? How had he secretly aligned with the nobles and laid out his plan so flawlessly?

The Emperor was curious—but more than that, furious. Letting Lynch stay in Gephra had been his worst decision. He should have sent him away right after granting him his title!

On the TV show, the host sat with two well-known financial experts. His expression wasn’t stern, but compared to his usual smiley demeanor, it was clear this episode was different.

Flipping through his notes, he asked, “Everyone has seen the short film. It seems we’ve all gained some understanding of Harmony Gold Bonds. Let me ask our two experts—could it be possible?”

Turning toward them, he clarified, “Could someone really promise that by buying these bonds, regardless of whether they find any gold, you’ll get a 96% return in just one year? Is that realistic?”

“If they really did find gold mines, could the revenue even support such high returns?”

One expert shook his head and picked up a document, showing it to the camera. The screen shifted to display it clearly.

It listed various financial data, with narration overlaying it: “These are last year’s returns from the world’s top hedge funds. The highest was just 16%. The top-performing fund in the Baylor Federation gave only 13%.”

“Our own institutions—every certified and regulated fund—maxed out at 12%.”

“These are legitimate firms, some founded or run by people whose names are in the history books.”

“If these professionals can’t offer such returns, then why—” The screen cut back to the studio. The expert wore a sneer. “Why can someone who never attended university promise a 96% annual return?”

“The funniest part? People actually believe it!” His tone dripped with sarcasm, like saying, “Are you serious? People fall for this?”

The camera cut to the second expert, who picked up the discussion.

“Let’s talk about the profitability of gold mines.”

“As of last week’s closing, gold was priced at 22 Gaels per ounce, roughly 770,000 Gaels per ton.”

“Looks good on paper. But refining a ton of high-purity gold takes time and incurs various costs.”

“From available data, we estimate that an average gold mine yields less than 10 grams per ton of ore.”

“That’s worth maybe eight bucks.”

“But extracting, crushing, sorting, and smelting a ton of ore costs companies 3 to 4 bucks—including transport.”

“We have a rough table here—it’s not entirely accurate because many people haven’t registered their holdings or are unwilling to reveal how many bonds they really own.”

The second expert held up another document. The camera zoomed in again.

“What we know is that the first batch of bonds sold exceeded 10 million units. We’re unsure by how much exactly.”

“Eight percent of 10 million is 800,000. That means they’d need to purify at least three tons of gold every month just to cover costs—forget profit.”

“But there wasn’t just one round of bonds. There’s a second, a third—I’ve even heard the fifth round has started, and it’s selling like crazy.”

“At least a billion in bonds have been sold. They must pay out at least 8 million every month to investors.”

“What kind of gold mine could sustain that? A naturally pure gold mountain?”

“Of course, maybe Harmony Capital already has massive reserves and mines in operation. Maybe, as they say, they just want to make money with the public—they’re doing a public service.”

The sarcasm was no longer veiled. Yet no one laughed—neither in the studio nor in front of their TVs.

Because everyone now understood how terrifying this really was.

The horror wasn’t just in the promised return—it was in how the first batch alone had drawn over 10 million in capital, and even more would be needed for payouts later.

But it was understandable. A 96% annual return—who wouldn’t be tempted?

The host nodded, then asked, “But Harmony Capital’s financials look strong. They’ve even gone public. There’s no issue with their reports. Their monthly growth rate outpaces nearly every other company in the empire. Is there a problem? And where?”

The two experts exchanged a glance. One nodded grimly.

“Yes, host. There’s not just a problem—there’s a huge one.”

“We’ve already touched on this: the higher Harmony Capital’s profit growth rate, the more they have to pay out each month.”

“Even a base monthly expense of 8 million isn’t sustainable from gold mining alone. And the latest financial report is two months old—we don’t know their current operations.”

“I believe their scale has only grown. Monthly payouts could now be 20 million, maybe even 30 million.”

Expert 1 spoke in a slightly suggestive tone: “If nothing goes wrong, it’s fine. But the moment something does, the securities will collapse completely.”

The host frowned. “You mean Harmony Capital might not be able to pay the promised returns?”

Expert 2 nodded. “In fact, we believe that’s highly likely. We haven’t found any industry capable of supporting such a high profit margin.”

“There are indeed some highly profitable sectors, where returns can be dozens or even hundreds of times the investment. But those industries are limited by various factors—small scale, low output, limited sales, or long cycles.”

“Harmony Capital publicly claims that gold mining is its main source of profit, but that doesn’t align with our assessments. We believe they may be lying about this.”

Mining is profitable, but it’s not fast money. In short, every statement points to the same conclusion: Harmony Capital is committing fraud.

The host’s expression grew increasingly grim. He picked up a newspaper and showed it to the camera. “This is today’s edition of the Pleasure Daily. It features a major story.”

“A journalist accidentally uncovered a key lead and went undercover at a gold mine owned by Harmony Capital.”

“Last month, they even promoted this mine…” The host held up another newspaper showing a photo of a crowd of people at the mine holding gold ore of various sizes, posing for a group photo. “These investors had gone underground and dug up their own ore.”

“But now, this journalist discovered that the mine was actually abandoned several years ago, and also uncovered more critical information…”

As the host continued presenting the evidence, even viewers who hadn’t read the Pleasure Daily got the gist. Many others immediately reached for their phones to order today’s paper.

The host set down the comparison materials and asked, “Let’s assume, hypothetically, that none of the gold mines exist—how is Harmony Capital maintaining its current operation?”

“How are they managing to pay every round of returns on time and in full, and still produce such impressive financial performance?”