MMB Chapter 263 System Redundancy
Chapter 263 System Redundancy
The main family residence of Saionji is located deep underground.
Outside the positive pressure laminar flow sterile ward, the air is filled with the slightly pungent smell of highly concentrated disinfectant.
In the intensive care unit separated by a wall, green waveforms flickered on the screen of the electrocardiogram monitor, emitting a very regular low-frequency "tick-tock" sound. The humidifier sprayed out fine white water vapor, maintaining a constant humidity level in the room.
Chief private physician Takeda stood under the cold lights of the corridor.
He was wearing a neat white lab coat, his eyes quickly scanning the newly printed reports of various physiological indicators.
Shuichi Saionji, dressed in a dark gray casual kimono, stood quietly in front of the large observation window with his arms crossed.
"Master of the family."
Takeda closed the report folder and held it steadily to his chest.
"The young lady's vital signs have been temporarily stabilized via intravenous access. Brain CT and MRI results show no intracranial hemorrhages or space-occupying lesions. The possibility of organic damage has been largely ruled out."
Shuichi's gaze remained fixed on the inside of the glass window.
On the hospital bed, Satsuki lay quietly. Her face was as pale as paper, and a transparent oxygen mask covered her small mouth and nose. With each weak breath, a thin layer of white mist regularly rose from the inside of the mask.
"The reason," Xiu Yi uttered two words.
"Acute severe physical exhaustion, accompanied by transient ischemic attack."
Takeda raised his head and looked directly at Shuichi's profile.
"The young lady's persistent low-grade fever has not been completely cured, and her body's immune barrier and metabolic compensation capacity have long been approaching their physiological limits. Under these circumstances, the frontal lobe of her brain has also experienced extremely high levels of neural synaptic activity."
"The sudden extreme mental exertion caused a precipitous drop in the supply of blood oxygen and blood sugar to the local brain tissue."
Takeda paused briefly.
"...In order to avoid damage to the reticular activating system of the hypothalamus, the central nervous system triggers a protective inhibitory mechanism. In layman's terms, it is a forced fainting caused by deep fatigue and insufficient blood supply."
Shuichi listened to Takeda's report.
Through the thick viewing glass, he looked at his daughter's face, which was in a deep sleep.
His arms remained wrapped around his chest. But inside the wide sleeves of his dark gray kimono, his tightly clenched fingernails had unconsciously pierced the flesh of his palms.
Looking at that pale little face covered by a transparent mask.
It's all my fault... I couldn't share the burden with my daughter...
Upon learning that Satsuki was unconscious, he felt as if a piece of his heart had been emptied.
Will I lose Satsuki? No…no, Yuriko is already gone, if even Satsuki…
Fortunately, Satsuki only fell into a coma and was not in any life-threatening danger.
Even so, he still felt an almost suffocating pain explode deep in his chest, making his breathing rhythm fragmented. His jaw trembled violently, and his eyes uncontrollably flushed crimson.
No... Satsuki has fallen, but the Saionji family still needs me... I can't fall too...
At the very least, we cannot let what Satsuki cherishes be taken away.
He forcefully sealed away this impending, overwhelming pain, deep within the corner of his heart.
He turned around, and his facial features regained their ruggedness.
"How long will it take for him to wake up?"
"We have administered electrolyte-balancing fluids." Takeda pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "To prevent irreversible damage to brain neurons after oxygen deprivation, the medical team has decided to use a small dose of propofol to maintain her targeted sedation."
"The young lady needs at least 72 hours of deep sleep to significantly reduce brain oxygen consumption and allow neural synapses to slowly repair themselves. After waking up, she must also undergo a long period of rest."
Takeda took half a step forward, his gaze meeting the head of the family without flinching.
"Master, for the next two weeks, please ensure that the young lady has complete data access to the outside world. Any intense business decision-making simulations could trigger a secondary circuit breaker in blood flow to her brain."
Xiu Yi nodded slightly.
"Seal off the medical area. No medical personnel other than you are allowed to leave the third basement level."
"clear."
Takeda bowed deeply.
Xiu turned around and glanced at his daughter on the hospital bed one last time.
Everyone knows that Satsuki is the true head of the Saionji family. If news of her coma were to spread, the consequences would be unimaginable.
In the last moments before falling into a coma, Satsuki launched a three-pronged attack that spanned the Wall Street options black pool, the Middle East geopolitical battlefield, and bad debts of Japanese domestic banks.
The massive war machine is already in full gear, with hundreds of billions of dollars flowing frantically through transnational fiber optic cables.
And now.
On this high-speed, racing chariot, the only one who could see the whole picture and adjust the steering wheel at any time, had closed his eyes.
Xiu turned around, took steady steps, and walked towards the elevator at the end of the corridor.
Next, it's my turn to take the steering wheel.
……
The core strategic room is located on the fourth basement level.
The large, genuine leather swivel chair that originally belonged to Satsuki now sat empty at the head of the long table.
Executive Director Endo, Masato Saionji, Iwao Dojima, and a red hands-free phone (Frank) gathered around the long rosewood table.
An hour earlier, they learned of Satsuki's unconsciousness and were ordered to go to the conference room immediately.
Executive Director Endo rested his hands on the edge of the long rosewood table, his gaze fixed on the red hands-free phone on the control panel.
"Frank".
Endo's voice sounded hoarse.
"Dr. Takeda gave the final diagnosis: the young lady is not in mortal danger. However, in order to protect her brain, she needs at least 72 hours of medication to induce deep sleep."
"In other words, no one can make any decisions for us during these three days."
He stared at the flashing call indicator light.
"Have you... started operations yet?"
The radio waves carried Frank's heavy breathing from across the ocean, accompanied by a faint static noise.
He had just gathered his men and hadn't finished giving them instructions when this happened.
"Some have already started taking action. But... we can't delay any longer." Frank rubbed his cheeks on the other end of the line, the rustling sound coming through the airwaves. "According to the young lady's last instructions before she fell unconscious, the window for options positioning and channel swapping isn't long. If we delay, the winds on Wall Street will change."
Standing on the other side of the long table, Masato Saionji tossed several newly printed briefings on the European and American markets onto the table.
"That's right, we can't delay for too long, at least not until the young lady wakes up. We must proceed according to the original plan." Masato frowned. "But... the situation outside could change at any moment."
He looked at Endo and spoke very quickly.
"All our previous actions were based on the young lady's predictions."
"However, what if the Pentagon's information leaks in advance, or the CFTC in Washington suddenly changes the rules for over-the-counter trading..."
Masato extended his finger and tapped it heavily twice on the briefing on the table.
"Having lost the 'radar' of the young lady, capable of predicting macroeconomic trends, we are utterly powerless to make any macroeconomic adjustments. With positions worth hundreds of billions of dollars, even the slightest shift in external variables..."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.
Two seconds later, Frank's voice came through the speaker.
"Mr. Zhengren. If a compliance review is triggered, the worst that can happen is that we lose a bridge fee and the principal of the options. We can still get a refund."
"The real fatal flaw right now is the final order we are preparing to execute."
Endo's hands, which were braced on the table, suddenly froze.
He had stood by her the entire time, just hours before she fell into a coma, giving that transoceanic order. He knew all too well what Frank was referring to.
"You mean... the crude oil betting scheme?" Endo's voice suddenly tightened.
"Yes," Frank gritted his teeth on the other end of the phone. "We're going to bypass Salomon Brothers and chip off the betting commissions in pieces, distributing them among Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. That's like slapping that 'King of Wall Street' across the face right there at the poker table."
Endo's breathing became heavy. He knew perfectly well why the young lady had done this, but in that moment of losing his anchor, he immediately realized how terrifying this command was at this moment.
"If Boss is alright now, given her previous dominance at the negotiating table in New York... even if Gutfred is furious, he'll have to weigh the pros and cons and swallow his anger."
"But……"
"If that old fox smells blood in the next few days and realizes that the Saionji family's 'brain' has crashed..."
The air in the strategy room seemed to be sucked out in that instant.
The Saionji family is now a typical example of "strongman politics." In their usual power struggles, out of fear of Satsuki's extremely accurate judgment and ruthless methods of retaliation, any hidden malice from the outside is often naturally extinguished in its early stages.
All seemingly stable cooperation and compromises are built upon the suppressive power of this core node. But once this "strongman" is temporarily offline, even if it is only a very brief information vacuum, the pack of wolves, now free from suppression, may very well launch a siege.
Masato stopped wiping his glasses. Endo straightened up, his gaze fixed on the empty leather swivel chair.
"The worst-case scenario is... Goodfred will immediately turn hostile."
"At that time, he will use the underlying clearing authority of the market maker to directly seize our Nikkei short positions with a notional principal of $300 billion that we left in their dark pool."
Panic crept up Endo's spine. A fine layer of cold sweat beaded on his forehead, glistening faintly in the reflection of the screen's glow.
Dojima looked solemnly at the group's senior executives, crossed his arms, and nodded slightly. Although he didn't quite understand what Endo and the others were saying, he could clearly feel that the atmosphere was very heavy.
The air pressure inside the strategic room dropped to freezing point.
It was only after losing Satsuki for the first time that they realized how dangerous the Saionji family would be without her.
In an instant, it seemed as if the whole world was against them.
"Click".
The heavy explosion-proof door slid open.
Shuichi Saionji stepped into the strategy room.
He didn't sit in the empty chair that belonged to Satsuki. Instead, he stood steadily at the front of the long rosewood table.
"Master of the house."
Everyone immediately stood up straight. Frank, speaking into the hands-free phone on the control panel, also consciously slowed his breathing.
Fortunately, the Saionji family has a "dual core." Shuichi is not just a figurehead; at least he won't leave the Saionji family completely without anyone in charge.
Shuichi's deep gaze swept over the cold sweat on Endo's forehead, then glanced at the crumpled European and American market briefing in Masato's hand.
"It seems you've already deduced the worst possible outcome."
Shuichi's voice was deep and resonant, spreading smoothly through the humming server array.
"Capital markets are extremely averse to uncertainty. Once Wall Street and Marunouchi realize that there is a vacuum in our decision-making center, this information disadvantage will immediately translate into a run and liquidation of all our positions."
Endo swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly, and he lowered his head slightly.
"Therefore, the weaker we are at the bottom, the tougher our stance must be towards the outside world." Xiu Yi placed his hands on the edge of the long rosewood table, leaning slightly forward. "We must use a tough stance to block all opportunities for external probing."
He turned his head and looked at the security chief, Iroha Dojima, who was standing in the shadow of the control panel.
"Dojima."
"Yes." Dojima Gen immediately stepped forward.
"Sever all non-essential physical communications with the main family mansion. Especially the medical area; you personally lead the guards. No one is allowed to enter or leave except for Dr. Takeda."
"Furthermore, inform the public relations department that from now on, any meeting requests submitted by external conglomerates or politicians from Nagata-cho, regardless of their status, must be returned as is."
The official response to the public will be: "The young lady has already gone to her summer residence in Karuizawa. She will not be handling any official business during her stay. All visitors are not permitted."
"Understood." Dojima nodded emphatically.
Shuichi withdrew his gaze and looked back at Endo by the long table and the red hands-free phone.
"Frank Endo."
"Yes," Endo straightened his back. Frank's steady reply came from the other end of the phone.
"Satsuki must have explained the plan to you before she fell into a coma. Go and carry it out."
"You do exactly what she instructs you to do. You don't need to report specific details to me, and you are not allowed to slow down or back down on your own initiative."
Endo paused for a moment. His fingers unconsciously gripped the edge of the table.
"Master... without the young lady's ability to anticipate and correct mistakes, you're forcibly pushing forward according to the original plan. What if you go too far and anger Gutfred, or push the domestic regulatory agencies to their limits..."
"Since Satsuki issued this order before falling into a coma."
Xiu kept looking into Endo's eyes, interrupting his doubts.
"This shows that she had already factored in external backlash and compliance risks into her calculations. We should trust her judgment."
"The top decision-makers are taking a summer vacation in Karuizawa, while the frontline business teams are still steadily pushing forward with high-risk option splitting and asset divestiture."
"In business negotiations, this is inherently a highly deceptive posture. The more methodical you appear, the more Gutfred and Hiroya Iwasaki will suspect that there is a deeper trap hidden behind this game, and thus dare not make any rash moves."
Xiu stood up.
"Maintaining the current normalcy is the lowest-cost defense we can take to get through this three-day information vacuum."
Endo and Masato exchanged a glance.
"I understand." Endo grabbed the encrypted address book from the table. "I'll personally keep a close eye on the divestiture progress in China. Frank, you're in charge of New York."
"clear."
Masato quickly gathered the several European and American market briefings on the table and folded them under his wrist.
"I'm going back to the information center." Masato adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. "Over the next three days, I will bypass the usual procedures and report directly to the head of the family any abnormal macroeconomic data alerts in the global market."
Xiu Yi nodded slightly.
"Go get to work."
"That Satsuki kid... has too many things on her mind."
"It's time for us adults to share some of the pressure with her."