Making a Meal of One Chicken

Manhattan, inside a hotel suite.

Several phones lay before Lin Hao, each representing a different alias and capable of contacting its corresponding stockbroker.

Before the white screen of the home theater, a grayish-white snail projected two beams of light from its eyes onto the screen. Onscreen, Zheng Xian was simultaneously directing several investment banks, financial companies, and foundations that S.P.E.A.R. had cultivated over the years.

The operations were spread out to avoid scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"It's time to show you the strength of S.P.E.A.R.'s god of stocks!" Lin Hao said solemnly, completely serious.

Onscreen, Zheng Xian fought the urge to roll his eyes and snapped, "You've already finished buying the dip. Once Tony Stark arrives, all you need to do is cash out at the peak. Did you really need to call me here for that? Do you think I have nothing to do every day?"

"Don't you just fiddle with that pot of orchids in your office every day?" Lin Hao shot back. "You keep wiping those eight leaves over and over. Isn't that boring?"

"There are only seven leaves left now!" Zheng Xian gritted his teeth and glared at Lin Hao. "The night you left, you accidentally cut one off."

"No way?" Lin Hao chuckled. "Then the code phrase will have to change to seven leaves from now on."

"Here's a suggestion. Paint the seven leaves different colors. If you put them together, maybe you can make a wish..."

The backend showed that Zheng Xian, who had not provided Lin Hao with resentment points for years, had started farming points again!

"Alright, down to business." Lin Hao returned to the topic. "Let me show you what it means to make a meal of one chicken."

With that, Lin Hao began making calls in different voices.

After receiving instructions from their sugar daddy, several Wall Street stockbrokers began placing buy orders for Stark Industries at prices significantly higher than yesterday's.

This was a signal.

Retail investors and institutions closely watching the market immediately noticed the change.

Soon, those with well-connected information channels began asking Stark Industries insiders. Some even contacted the military and the CIA for confirmation. Only after the Afghanistan Air Force Base provided definite news did Wall Street begin to boil over.

More buy orders appeared, and the purchase price of Stark Industries stock rose higher and higher. However, the available shares on the market had long since fallen into Lin Hao's and S.P.E.A.R.'s hands. Only a small portion remained in the hands of stubborn retail investors and institutions that knew the inside story.

As news of Tony Stark's successful rescue spread, buy orders for Stark Industries piled up in the stock exchange, and purchase prices kept climbing.

By selling with his left hand and buying with his right, Lin Hao continuously created small transactions to drive up the real-time stock price.

U.S. stock trading differed from A-shares. There were several types of orders, allowing buyers to keep raising their offers even before existing buy orders had been completely filled.

Furthermore, U.S. stocks operated on a T+0 system, allowing trades to be completed on the same day, and there were no daily price limits.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission only intervened when stock prices fluctuated abnormally. For example, if gains or losses exceeded 30% or 50%, circuit breakers would be triggered, usually restricting trading for several minutes or even hours.

If illegal manipulation was uncovered, trading would be frozen. Otherwise, restrictions would be lifted once normal trading was confirmed.

When retail investors with slower information channels saw new buy orders for Stark Industries continue appearing only minutes later, they finally caught on.

It was practically the SEC personally confirming the legitimacy of those buy orders, indirectly verifying that Tony Stark was about to return.

Over the past three months, Stark Industries' stock price had fallen to rock bottom. Once Tony Stark returned, the stock price was bound to rebound to its former level and might even be pushed slightly higher by retail investor enthusiasm.

As long as the purchase price was lower than the stock price from three months ago, buying any amount meant profit!

With such an obvious market trend, even a complete stock market novice could make a guaranteed profit.

Retail investors thus flooded into the market, pushing purchase prices even higher.

When the price was only fifty cents below its previous level, Lin Hao ordered the traders to increase the volume of their sell-offs.

More and more completed transactions began appearing on the market, naturally drawing the attention of observant people.

"Mr. Stane, there are more sell orders, and the transaction price is nearing the level from three months ago. Should we still buy?" a trader called to ask Obadiah Stane.

At that moment, the bald older man was waiting at the press conference venue. In a few hours, Tony Stark would arrive at the airport aboard an Air Force transport plane before coming to the venue.

"Buy!" Obadiah said viciously. "I can tolerate the stock rising another two dollars."

He had intended to buy the dip at a low price and expand his shareholding, but someone had beaten him to it before he could act. Now, he could only buy at a high price.

He had already decided that even after Tony Stark returned, he would find another chance to get rid of him and take over all of Stark Industries.

America was a world ruled by capital. Obadiah was not Tony Stark's heir, so aside from expanding his shareholding through business means, he had no better option.

Seeing Lin Hao begin selling in large quantities, Zheng Xian could not help asking, "After Tony Stark returns, the stock price should rise a little. Why sell now? This doesn't seem like your style!"

"Didn't you say I lacked foresight?" Lin Hao said proudly. "This time, I'll show you what it means to predict the future."

With that, he took out the Den Den Mushi and dialed in front of Zheng Xian.

"12357, Weather Witch."

At that moment, over the Atlantic Ocean, Weather Witch held a Den Den Mushi in one hand and a locator in the other.

"Big sis, Tony Stark's plane will reach your position soon. Stall him for me. I haven't finished selling the stocks yet. I'll give you a five percent service fee afterward."

"Only five percent?" Weather Witch floated above the Atlantic Ocean and copied Lin Hao's line. "Wouldn't that make me a beggar on my knees?"

"You'll have to pay more!"

"Big sis, do you know how much I can make this time?" Lin Hao's smug voice came through. "At least five billion dollars!"

"That much?" Weather Witch was utterly stunned. "Stark Industries' entire market cap is only a little over thirty billion. How many tradable shares could there even be?"

"Even if the share isn't large, I can make a meal of one chicken!"

"Deal!"

For the sake of the money, Weather Witch did not waste another word and flew straight toward Tony's plane.

Not long afterward, a massive thunderstorm cloud suddenly appeared in the clear sky, directly blocking the plane's flight path.

The transport plane's pilot spotted the cloud from afar and hurriedly changed course in fright.

But before he had flown far, another thunderstorm cloud appeared in front of him.

The transport plane veered left, climbed, turned right, and descended, bobbing up and down like a roller coaster.

"What's going on?" Rhodey rushed into the cockpit. "Are pilots these days really this unprofessional?"

"Sir, we don't know why, but thunderstorm clouds suddenly appeared everywhere around the flight path. We had no choice but to keep changing direction." The pilot looked aggrieved.

How strange. The weather data had clearly shown an unobstructed route for the entire day.

After learning the news, Tony Stark, who was currently "riding a roller coaster," muttered, "This feeling... is so familiar!"

And so, the press conference originally planned for before lunch was forcibly delayed until four in the afternoon.

Lin Hao successfully cashed out all the stocks in his hands at their peak.

But this was not the end.

At the press conference, the late-arriving Tony Stark suddenly announced a bombshell: Stark Industries would soon shut down its weapons manufacturing division!

For a moment, investors who had barely had time to hold onto their stocks were stunned before immediately placing sell orders.

Stark Industries' stock chart created the smallest acute angle in Wall Street history. The rising green line and falling red line were almost stuck together.

"Come on, come on, this chicken can be eaten again!" Lin Hao rubbed his hands like a fly.

Zheng Xian looked confused onscreen. "Did you hypnotize him this past month?"

"No, he reformed himself, and I noticed it with my keen intuition." Lin Hao was unbearably smug. "Now you can't deny my foresight and sharp instincts, can you?"

"But if that's the case, does Stark Industries still have any value?"

Zheng Xian did not understand why Lin Hao was buying the dip again. "If he isn't selling weapons, is Tony Stark switching careers to sell flatbread?"

"The Arc Reactor," Lin Hao reminded him.

"I see." Zheng Xian came to a realization and could not help feeling a trace of admiration for Lin Hao's chicken-eating scheme. "Fine, you really did manage to eat Tony Stark's chicken three times."

First, he shorted it. Then he bought the dip at a low price and cashed out at the peak. Now, he was buying the dip again and waiting to cash out.

"No, no, it can be eaten a fourth time."

Lin Hao raised an eyebrow and said mysteriously, "After he announces his entry into the energy sector and drives up the stock price, another rights holder will file a patent infringement lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court..."

Zheng Xian fell silent. He felt a little sorry for Tony Stark.

When an ordinary chicken was eaten multiple times, it only died once. But Tony Stark's unconventional chicken would be eaten back and forth by the Great Demon Lord four times.

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