512: Chapter 512 The Dollar Retreats, Asia Takes the Anchor

Li Lanzhi spread the list page by page on her desk.

"370,000 pages of archives. Involving 31 countries. 47 proxy wars. A list of bought politicians—from Latin America to Africa. Arms export middlemen—including those previously used in the Thai-Cambodian conflict. And—"

She turned to the last page.

"An informal notice from the Office of the United States Federal Prosecutor. The assets of the core members of Council of Elders in Manhattan—the trust funds of Greenberg, Barrett, Haskins, and Abramovich—total approximately 4.4 billion US dollars. The prosecutor suggests transferring them to the Myanmar-led South Asian cooperation framework."

Zhang Cheng put down the enamel cup.

"What phrasing did they use?"

"Voluntary donations to victimized countries and victimized groups. Designated uses—education, medical care, infrastructure."

Zhang Cheng scanned the original text, tapping his fingers twice on the desktop.

"Accept it. Transfer all of it into the public asset pool of the Asian Digital Currency Liquidation system. Use—revitalizing the base."

At six o'clock that evening.

The bulletin board of the Singapore Digital Currency Exchange refreshed. The 4.4 billion US dollars in compensation assets from Council of Elders were transferred into the Asian Digital Currency public asset pool.

Traders stared at the changes in the exchange rate numbers on the screen—the US dollar against the Asian Digital Currency fell by 0.4% within fifteen minutes.

It was not panic selling—there were no large orders smashing the market, no circuit breakers—it was slow, continuous, like the receding seawater.

The short orders in the cobalt futures market of the London Metal Exchange were all closed before the close.

The total daily loss of Meridian Capital was locked at nine figures.

An old trader who had worked at the exchange for twenty years looked at the market changes and said to the intern beside him, "Panic drops happen when someone is fleeing. This kind of decline—is someone leaving. They will never come back."

After the close, a Meridian Capital trader sent an internally-visible encrypted message:

"All short positions have been eaten up. We are not the counterparty. We are trading against the market itself."

When Anwar pushed open the wooden door of the signing hall, the old Parker fountain pen in his hand was clutched until it was sweaty.

The line of English engraved on the pen barrel—Merdeka with Justice—was repeatedly wiped by his thumb, and the gilding on the edge of the handwriting had worn off a layer.

Behind him, Chavalit's Order of the White Elephant swayed slightly on his dark gray Thai silk formal suit, and Somsak's rimless glasses reflected the gold foil of the dome.

Li Lanzhi walked up to the long table and used her finger to smooth the crease of the signing tablecloth.

The dark blue velvet still retained the temperature of being ironed four hours ago.

"Forty-nine hours ago, we were still drafting documents separately." She looked up at Zhang Cheng, "Now—are everyone's pens ready?"

Zhang Cheng stood beside the signing table without sitting down.

On the left chest of his dark gray Zhongshan suit was pinned the silver commemorative medal—cast from the gunstocks of fallen soldiers after the Battle of Meiktila.

The silver reflected a cold white under the crystal chandelier.

"We are not signing a treaty today." He spoke, his voice diffused by the acoustic dome of the hall to every corner, "Treaties are meant to bind opponents. Today, those present—have no opponents."

Anwar twirled the pen cap with his thumb.

Zhang Cheng took three black folders from Li Lanzhi's hands, the covers printed with the symbol of the Asian Digital Currency.

"The first—the Kra Canal Joint Management Agreement.

The second—the Announcement on the Official Operation of the Strait of Malacca Co-management Mechanism.

The third—the Joint Announcement of the Four Central Banks.

From today onwards, the Asian Digital Currency becomes the only legal digital currency within the four countries of Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

All bulk commodity settlement, cross-border trade Liquidation, and sovereign fund allocation must mandatorily use the Asian Digital Currency."

Scattered gasps came from the reporter seats in the back row.

The Bloomberg reporter took off the Bluetooth headset, and the frequency of typing on the tablet with both hands was fast enough for others to hear the keyboard sounds.

The live Lens of the Reuters reporter pointed at the signing table—behind him was a CNN reporter, whose vocal cords could hardly suppress their excitement:

"——The joint announcement of the four central banks officially strips away the US dollar's last statutory pricing stronghold in Southeast Asia.

This is since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system—"

In the suburbs of Bangkok.

An accountant at a rubber processing plant stared at the settlement statement sent by the bank—for last month's payment, the intermediary bank deducted a 2.3% US dollar exchange fee.

Next to this statement was a newly arrived text message: Your Asian Digital Currency account has been activated.

Starting this month, all international settlements are exempt from intermediary bank handling fees.

She picked up the calculator and punched it three times.

2.3% multiplied by twelve months—enough for her daughter's tuition for a whole year at Chiang Mai University.

She turned the calculator screen to the colleague at the next workstation—that person had also received the same text message.

Zhao Gang's holographic projection lit up in the southeast corner of the signing table.

The old man was wearing a dark Zhongshan suit, standing in front of the office's holographic camera.

On the bookshelf behind him sat an enamel teacup, the white porcelain on the rim slightly faded.

"Longguo is not a signatory today."

The old man's voice was transmitted to the Peace Palace via a quantum encrypted channel with a delay of 0.03 seconds,

"But Longguo is today's witness, participant, and constructor.

The first batch of ships for the Kra Canal—Longguo's ocean-going freighter 'Rongjiang' will pass through the western exit of the canal within one hour after the signing.

The first joint patrol of the Strait of Malacca Joint Management Area—Longguo will send two destroyers to participate.

The rare earth and chip-anchored assets of the Asian Digital Currency—Longguo will continue to endorse them with sovereign credit."

He picked up a document from the table.

"In addition, I announce a new consensus between the four countries and Longguo—the Asian Space Cooperation Treaty.

Longguo will jointly build a satellite navigation enhancement system with Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia.

Satellites 217 to 312 of the Vega constellation will be jointly funded, jointly launched, and jointly managed by the five countries, named 'Dawn Orbit'。"

The sound of pen tips touching paper during the signing rose one after another in the hall.

Anwar signed his name on the Kra Canal document with his father's Parker fountain pen.

The ink was dark blue, the same color his father used when signing the Malaya independence petition back then.

After signing, he screwed the pen cap back on, turning it three times until the threads engaged properly.

Chavalit used Thai when signing.

The strokes of the letters were winding, and the last stroke was dragged very long—like crossing out the nightmare of the past three months.

Somsak did not take off his rimless glasses, the lenses reflecting the terms of the document, and he wrote heavily, pressing dents into the paper with the pen tip.

Li Lanzhi signed the last document and closed the pen cap.

She stacked the four signed documents neatly and put them into a walnut folder.

On the front of the folder, four lines of text in Burmese, Thai, Khmer, and Malay were arranged side by side, each reflecting light under the lights.

The western exit of the Kra Canal.

The bow of the 'Rongjiang' smashed open the morning mist of the Andaman Sea.

The mountains on both sides of the canal were cut vertically, and four words were carved on the rock wall in four languages: Unity, Peace, Trade, Future.

The root systems of the newly planted mangrove saplings at the foot of the rock wall had not yet dug deep, and when the tide rushed, they leaned to one side.