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"Eight million!"
"Adding the previous five million shares, we've borrowed a total of eight million shares before the drop."
"Initially, when news of Tony's return and the press conference broke, Stark Industries' stock price surged. But now, the stock has plummeted."
"However, due to Obadiah's comments, many organizations and individuals are still cautious, assuming this decision won't pass the board or be implemented."
Hearing Fox's report, Smith Doyle thought for a moment, then said:
"Since some are waiting optimistically, we should sell all Stark stocks immediately to further push down the price."
"Once all stocks on hand are cleared, they'll simultaneously buy and then resell at a lower price, continuing to short."
"After a while, I'll notify you to make every effort to acquire shares of Stark Industries."
Fox nodded:
"I've already instructed my team to liquidate their stocks, but the overall market is declining, so it will take some time."
Smith knew this was inevitable, so he moved on to another topic.
"Fox, we need to find a large piece of land to purchase as our new base and headquarters."
"This place is too small. There's no space to build the supergravity chamber Bulma wants to construct for me."
Fox thought for a moment:
"I'll arrange for people to help find suitable land, but all our current funds are tied up in the stock market. If we want to buy land and build, we'll have to wait until this wave of market activity passes."
"We need new revenue streams. While the Assassin Alliance has some business, its commercial capability isn't strong."
"We only recovered part of the cash after the destruction of the high table. As the Continental Hotel was converted into subsidiaries and bases, we invested all the money."
Hearing Fox's words, Smith began to think.
Although the Assassin Alliance isn't short on money, it's only relative. Considering the need for laboratories, gravity chambers, and other facilities, their funding gap is clear. Especially laboratories—they're expensive to build before they generate profits, and the materials required aren't cheap.
Currently, the Alliance's largest assets are land, followed by antiques and jewelry. These have been passed down for generations. Its subsidiaries are few. The textile factory exists mainly for historical reasons, with little profitability.
At the moment, the only truly valuable asset is a wax bath. This could become a good source of revenue. Using the existing Continental Hotel space, it could be rapidly promoted worldwide. Profit could come from a ticket system targeting high-income groups.
However, this project would take a long time to generate profits. Another option is training and teaching other organizations gunfighting techniques, but Smith had no interest in that.
After careful consideration, Smith Doyle came up with a good idea. He remembered that Bulma had repaired a damaged power-level detector in the original story. If he handed her the one he had, could she replicate it?
It didn't need to be as good as his—just a slightly inferior version would suffice.
Then, selling this "budget" version of the power-level tester as a special piece of equipment could bring in a lot of funds and materials.
As he knew, SHIELD and many other organizations would be very interested in it—and it could fetch a good price.
After a brief pause, Smith Doyle said:
"I have two promising revenue ideas."
Then he took out the power-level tester and said:
"Fox, take this to Bulma and have her focus on studying the power-level detector during this time. As for functionality, you can simplify some features and make a low-end version."
"This will be our next revenue project."
Seeing what Smith Doyle had brought out, Fox's eyes lit up:
"Perfect! I've always wanted a power-level tester. I'll take it to Bulma immediately, but honestly, I've never seen anyone as smart as her."
"She's only sixteen. Even Tony Stark at that age wouldn't compare to her."
Smith Doyle smiled quietly, saying nothing more.
Elsewhere, a meeting was held at the "Hand" organization's headquarters, initiated by Mrs. Gao.
Present were the Five Fingers Deities—Alexandra, Mrs. Gao, Bottu, Sowanda, and Murakami. They were all elders of the Kunlun Mountains, but had been exiled for using dragon-bone fossils to extend their lives.
The Gambler looked at Mrs. Gao and asked:
"What could be so important that all five of us are gathered together?"
Mrs. Gao looked around and said:
"Recently, I collaborated with Kingpin in New York to transport some high-purity flour via the Rand Corporation."
Hearing this, no one took it lightly. They knew it wasn't a trivial matter. Could the Rand building be used for underground operations?
Mrs. Gao continued:
"I also received some interesting news from Jin Bing. One of our former opponents, the Assassin Alliance, recently destroyed the High Table. They seem to be rising again."
Murakami frowned slightly:
"Even if the Assassin Alliance destroyed the High Table, there's no reason to gather us, right?"
"As far as I know, only three of their bloodlines remain. They shouldn't be able to compete with us."
Mrs. Gao smiled:
"Don't worry. If that were the case, I wouldn't have needed to gather everyone."
Hearing her words, everyone looked at her.
Mrs. Gao slowly continued:
"As I've learned more about the war between the Assassin Alliance and the High Table, I discovered something interesting."
"The Dragon Balls… there are seven of them in total."
Everyone gasped:
"What? How is that possible?"
Those from Kunlun understood the importance of Dragon Balls. Since rebelling against Kunlun, they had collected countless dragon bones over the years, but had never seen a Dragon Ball. The essence of dragons resides in these balls. Even if Kunlun's dragons fell, the Dragon Balls would remain, enhancing the power of roaming dragons. As former elders, they had never seen anything like this.
Their function isn't just to extend life. Most importantly, if obtained, they can amplify everyone's strength. And with seven, each person could have one.
If they truly got their hands on them, they could easily crush the Shinshun-kai led by Gensu with their newly enhanced power.
Alexandra gasped and asked urgently:
"Are you sure this is true?"