Give Me a Lever

The next day at noon~

At Disney World in New York, Luna was dressed casually, her beautiful face full of smiles as she clung to Adam's arm, leading him toward the haunted house.

"Boss, I've heard the haunted house here is really scary. Let's check it out."

Disney World was crowded, and there was a long line in front of the haunted house, clearly making it a popular attraction.

Just as they were about to use their financial power to cut the line, they overheard a couple nearby talking while looking at their phone.

"Oh my God, honey, look at this news! They've found a mass grave in Gomira, in the Middle-East!"

"Let me see. Oh my God, how could such a brutal massacre happen in the 21st century?"

A mass grave in Gomira?

Adam quickly noted this piece of information.

After using their wealth to successfully cut the line, they entered the haunted house.

Ten minutes later, as they exited the haunted house, Luna's face was full of fear. She clung tightly to her boss's arm, her impressive assets pressing against him.

"Boss, you're amazing! You didn't get scared at all. I nearly died of fright when that zombie jumped out at me."

Looking at Luna's flushed face, Adam didn't believe her one bit.

As the CEO of Umbrella Corporation, she had surely seen much worse. There was no way she'd be scared by something so trivial.

However, he didn't expose her little act and just quietly listened to her talk.

After that, Luna dragged him to ride the roller coaster, the giant pendulum, and other 'thrilling' and 'exciting' attractions.

Of course, they still used their financial power to skip the lines. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to experience all the attractions in one day.

It wasn't until after 4 PM that Luna finally had her fill of fun.

"Thank you. This has been the happiest day of my life."

"No, it's me who should be thanking you. If not for you, I wouldn't have realized how beautiful this world can be."

When they returned to the Umbrella building, it was already after 6 PM.

"Red Queen, pull up the information on the Gomira massacre."

"Yes, Master."

The next second, the Red Queen projected the news from today.

The incident started with footage of the mass grave, a scene so horrifying that the combination of tragic narration and somber music caused a huge stir.

As Adam continued watching, he noticed that most of the reactions online from Americans were calling for the U.S. military to intervene, to fight for humanity's conscience.

Seeing this, Adam could guess what was going on.

It was just the same old trick that the U.S. government loved to use.

After all, the revenge for 9/11 had already been taken, and the U.S. no longer had a reason to stay in Afganistan.

For years, there had been persistent anti-war voices at home. If they wanted to continue their presence there, targeting dark forces was undoubtedly the best excuse.

But then, he noticed that the source of the video was Tony Stark.

"Could it be that Tony has been causing trouble in the Middle East again and stumbled upon this by accident?"

"Knock, knock..."

A knock on the door sounded.

Luna, who had changed into a black business suit, walked in holding a stack of documents. However, perhaps due to the exhausting day at Disney, she wasn't wearing stockings or high heels this time, revealing her long, fair legs.

"Didn't I give you the day off to rest?"

Luna smiled faintly.

"I couldn't sit still."

After placing the pile of documents on the table, she continued, "Boss, the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected Stark Industries' request for financing 10 billion shares. However, they approved our backup plan, allowing for 5 billion shares to be financed. Here are the documents."

"Also, thanks to the news about the mass grave in Gomira, the attention on Stark Industries has decreased significantly."

"Currently, the stock price is holding steady at around $50, with little fluctuation. I suggest we can now proceed with the acquisition plan. But...

"Our liquidity is running low."

Recently, with the acquisition of Starship Corporation and now the shares of Stark Industries, Umbrella's liquid assets were nearly depleted.

Although there were backup funds, they were meant to keep the corporation running and couldn't be easily touched.

Adam turned his chair to look out at the Manhattan skyline.

"Is Obadiah completely following your orders?"

"Yes, he's now fully tied to us. Without our support, the other shareholders and executives would tear him apart."

"And as for Stark, Pepper has been quite active these days, frequently meeting with several high-ranking administrators and veteran shareholders of Stark Industries, even some of Obadiah's confidants."

"Pepper is still not giving up, huh?"

Adam smiled confidently.

"But she has no chance of turning the tables now. Tomorrow, set aside a million dollars to register an investment company. Then, acquire a near-bankrupt investment firm, securing at least 51% ownership."

"Have that firm issue a deposit project with an annual interest rate of over 10%. The deposit amount should be 100 billion dollars."

"Then, have Obadiah, in his capacity as CEO of Stark Industries, deposit as much money as possible into this firm. Once that's done, use those deposits to acquire a stock brokerage firm, securing at least 51% ownership. Then, use the money to buy Stark Industries' stock in full.

"Oh, and have Obadiah find some trustworthy people to join in. If there's money to be made, everyone should benefit."

Luna was stunned by Adam's explanation.

Although she had a double doctorate in finance and management, she had never heard of such an audacious move.

If this plan worked, it would mean leveraging a million dollars to move a hundred billion in funds.

The key point was, all these actions were completely legal and compliant with U.S. regulations, without any issues.

Well, it was legal and compliant for her; Obadiah, on the other hand, might be taking on some risk. But at this point, Obadiah had no way out. Even if there was some risk, he had no choice but to take it.

The so-called "profits for me, risks for you" scenario.

"Any questions?"

Hearing Adam's inquiry, Luna snapped back to reality, "In theory, no issues. I'll start drafting the plan right away."

With that, she excitedly turned to leave. But as she reached the door, she turned back.

"By the way, Boss, the branch in Japan reported today that there seems to be some unusual activity with the person in charge there."

Hearing this, Adam picked up the documents on the table and began reviewing them.

As a global corporation, Umbrella naturally had branches worldwide. The reason the Asian branch was set up in Japan was that there were too few places suitable for investment.

The regulations in China were pretty shitty, making it impossible to carry out many of his research projects.

As for India... well, everyone knew it was a massive pitfall, and he didn't dare venture there.

However, there weren't many places capable of accommodating a corporation as large as Umbrella, so they ultimately chose the economically stable Japan.

________________________

Upto 20 chapters ahead on patreon :-

patreon.com/ShadySmuggler