America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 562 finally takes action against Leap Games.

A neighborhood in Palo Alto, seemingly forgotten by time in the coordinate system of the early to mid-20th century.

The apartment buildings along the street are covered with vines of varying shades, and the faded red bricks gleam with a warm yet aged luster under the California sun.

There are no sharp lines of skyscrapers here, no glass curtain walls of tech company headquarters, and even the convenience stores on the street corner still retain the design style of decades ago.

Despite the seemingly outdated neighborhood, apartments are in high demand.

The reason is simple: it's less than a ten-minute walk from Stanford University's main campus.

Thanks to Stanford University's academic atmosphere and security system, this neighborhood boasts one of the best safety records in the entire Bay Area.

Even late at night, you can occasionally see students walking together with their books, a scene in America that's as common as pandas roaming the streets.

It was noon, and Maye, who had slept all morning, had just finished defecating overnight and was about to wash up when the sound of the door opening outside caught her attention.

Her eyes lit up, and she immediately turned off the tap she had just turned on and ran out.

However, the sight that came into view instantly froze Mayer's smile, replaced by shock and astonishment.

Bryce stood at the door, her face as pale as paper. Her hair was disheveled, with a few strands clinging to her sweat-dampened forehead. Her usually upright back was now hunched, and she looked utterly exhausted. Her gait was particularly difficult; she leaned against the wall, her thighs feeling like lead, barely able to lift. Every movement was accompanied by an undisguised pain and discomfort on her face, as if she were forcibly enduring some intense discomfort.

"Oh my god, Bryce!" Maye exclaimed in alarm, her voice filled with worry. "Did he hit you?"

She quickly stepped forward, reached out her hands and carefully supported Bryce's swaying body, helping her friend slowly to the sofa in the living room and allowing her to sit down.

After the other person leaned against her, she could hear a faint groan of discomfort in their breathing.

Upon seeing this, Mayer stood up, clutching her hair tightly with both hands. Her face clearly conveyed disbelief, and her voice trembled slightly as she said, "I simply cannot believe that America's young leader is such a violent maniac."

Mayer knew very well why Bryce hadn't come home all night: because she had finally gotten close to that super rich guy by using her hard-earned hosting job.

She fully supports Bryce's ideas.

Although he was a womanizer who frequented brothels and had countless affairs, in Maye's view, as long as the other person was not married, everyone had a chance.

Her friend Bryce, on the other hand, has a degree from a top university, and with delicate features and a tall, slender figure, she is impeccable both inside and out.

Why not seize the opportunity and marry into a wealthy family in one fell swoop?

Bryce succeeded; she knew the news last night.

So when she heard the door open, she rushed out eagerly, wanting to hear the details. But she never expected to see Bryce in such a disheveled state.

"Should we call the police?"

In her view, no matter how noble the other party's status is, the use of violence is intolerable, and everyone is equal before the law.

However, Bryce slowly shook her head, her eyes filled with a complex emotion.

Seeing this, Mayer quickly continued to persuade him, "I know Ernst is rich and powerful, and we may face a lot of pressure."

"But don't be afraid! At worst, we can go to the media to expose this and let the public see his true colors." She became more and more agitated as she spoke, her tone filled with indignation, as if she were the one who had been assaulted.

Bryce listened to Maye's incessant persuasion, a look of helplessness on her face. She rolled her eyes and said weakly, "He didn't hit me."

Maye clearly didn't believe it; she spread her hands and made an exaggerated "Isn't it obvious?" expression.

She saw a lack of confidence in her friend's eyes, which meant she was lying.

"Bryce, you don't need to defend him or be afraid. I will always support you. No matter what happens, I will stand by your side."

Bryce was at a loss for words, unsure how to explain herself.

Did they fight? Yes, and it was a fierce fight.

Did you get it done?

No fighting occurred because it wasn't violence, but rather a romantic moment between a man and a woman.

The key point is that her current state is not caused by these sentiments at all.

However, Maye persisted in trying to persuade her, and in desperation, she could only tell the truth: "It wasn't that he hit me, it's that he was too big, and I simply couldn't handle him."

As she said this, a blush rose on her face, and she punched the cushion next to her hard. "That guy is a bull. He kept going until after 1 a.m. last night, and he even wanted to continue this morning. I just couldn't take it anymore, so I ran back."

Maye's eyes widened, her pupils dilated, and she opened her mouth, unable to utter a word for a long time. After a while, she stammered, "So, the reason you're like this now is because..."

Bryce nodded slightly, a pained expression on her face. "I suspect my hip might be fractured. It hurts so much to walk now, every movement feels like torture."

Maye was completely dumbfounded. She stood there, stunned, her mind blank, unsure whether the other person was genuinely upset or just showing off.

She herself had experience dating Black partners, but had never encountered such an extreme situation.

Ernst, that man, is already so outstanding in terms of wealth, status, appearance, and so on. How come he is also so extraordinary in this aspect?

Damn God, don't you ever look at us ordinary people? After a brief moment of shock, a strong sense of curiosity welled up in Maye's heart.

She stared at Bryce for a few seconds, then turned and strode quickly toward the kitchen.

Bryce thought the other person was going to get an ice pack, but thirty seconds later, the other person returned to the sofa with a bag of potato chips in their hand, stuffing chips into their mouth while gesturing to Bryce to continue, their face filled with intense curiosity.

"I'm so lucky to have a friend like you," Bryce said bitterly.

Maye shrugged. "How are you going to apply it there? Aren't you afraid your sister will get frostbite?"

After saying that, she raised an eyebrow. "Tell me quickly, is that guy really that powerful?"

Bryce glared at her, but still shared it.

Five minutes later, with potato chips still in her mouth and a mixture of doubt and intense curiosity in her eyes, Maye looked at her friend leaning on her shoulder and asked again to confirm, "You mean not only is his size amazing, but his hardness is also far beyond that of ordinary people?"

Seeing the other person nod, Maye held up one finger from each hand and gestured, "Is it really that long?"

Bryce nodded again.

Meyer still didn't believe it and asked, "Are you sure it's that long?"

Then she shortened the distance between her two fingers. "Not this long." She shortened it again. "Or this long?"

Ernst isn't here. If he were here and saw her gesturing about the length, he would definitely kick her.

You think I'm a Japanese man, huh?

"This is the third time you've asked."

"But this is so illogical! From a biological point of view, the human body structure simply cannot support such a large blood supply. It goes against the laws of physiology." Her tone was full of confusion. As a student studying biological genetics, she could not understand this phenomenon that was beyond scientific understanding.

She had seen the big ones before.

She'd seen even bigger ones than this.

She'd seen hard ones before.

It can be both big and hard.

impossible.

It is absolutely impossible.

Thinking of this, Maye's eyes grew brighter and brighter, eventually even sparkling with excitement. She leaned closer to Bryce, lowered her voice, and asked in a slightly coaxing tone, "Could you find some time to have him come over as a guest?" Bryce tilted her head, looking at Maye beside her. "You're not thinking of seducing him, are you?"

"How can you say that?" Maye protested. "I just want to see it for myself, and maybe... do some related research."

"This is scientific research, academic work, and my contribution to human genetics."

Bryce rolled her eyes. "Are you going to drug him? Or do you think you can seduce him?"

While Maye's overall qualities may not be on par with Bryce's status as a school beauty, she is definitely good enough to be the class beauty.

But in an unfamiliar environment, how could Ernst possibly do those things with a strange woman? It doesn't make any sense.

"Isn't it you I'm here for?"

Bryce sat bolt upright, her brow furrowing from the sudden movement, clearly aggravated by a sore spot. "Are you crazy?"

"So what?" Mayer said matter-of-factly. "I said, this is a contribution to human genetics."

Mayer didn't shy away from the topic at all, her face showing a frank expression. "You know I've been studying the field of biological genetics. If what you're saying is true, then his physical structure definitely has extremely high research value. It's very likely a rare genetic mutation."

"If we can conduct in-depth research and achieve significant breakthroughs, we may even be able to change this aspect of humanity in the future, which would benefit all mankind."

Was she willing to risk her life for something? She knew Mayer's style all too well; this friend had done plenty of seemingly outrageous things for her academic research.

This is a woman who truly combines academic pursuits with happiness.

"How did it go?" Maye asked again when Bryce didn't answer immediately, her tone filled with expectation and pleading. "Good sisters, we should share the good times, right?"

As she spoke, she gently shook Bryce's arm, trying to get her friend to agree by being affectionate.

At this moment, Ernst was completely unaware that in an apartment in Palo Alto, two women were plotting a special academic study around him.

He had already driven to San Jose and was now standing in front of the headquarters building of Jump Games.

Upon receiving an urgent call from Ryan Ruiz, he rushed over immediately, disregarding the ongoing California Internet Summit.

When Ernst entered Ryan Ruiz's office, he was sitting in a chair, his eyes fixed on the computer on the desk. His expression was serious, his brows were furrowed, and his fingers were unconsciously tapping on the desktop, revealing his anxiety and unease.

"Tell me the details," Ernst said, gesturing for the secretary to close the door and leave.

Ryan Ruiz immediately stood up, respectfully offering the seat he had just been sitting in, and gestured to Ernst, "You can come and take a look."

Ernst didn't waste any words and sat down himself.

Looking up, he saw the stock price of YueDong Games on the computer screen. He stared at it for a few moments before asking, "Since when did this start?"

"At two o'clock," Ryan Ruiz said with absolute certainty.

"You previously told me to closely monitor the company's stock situation, saying that Wall Street might maliciously short it, so I assigned someone to handle this matter."

"Around two o'clock, my secretary suddenly told me that there was something unusual about our company's stock trading, and I started to pay attention to it."

"From the time I called you until the Nasdaq closed, the trading volume of YueDong Games' stock increased fivefold during this period, and the total trading volume for the day more than doubled."

"It's obvious that someone is dumping shares and shorting our stock."

Ernst fell into thought, not about finding a solution, nor about who the culprit was.

He already had a solution in mind.

The culprit behind it all?

That's a stupid question.

He knew that this day would come sooner or later, given that YueDong Games' market value had soared beyond a reasonable range.

Online games are very profitable, and Counter-Strike brought YueDong Games a lot of revenue. YueDong Games has also been very successful in its other business ventures.

However, Leap Games is a relatively new player with only a few years of rapid development. If we start counting from when Ernst bought the company, it can be considered a startup.

Whether it's heritage or fixed assets, it can't compare to Nintendo, and even their revenue is about the same.

However, YueDong Games is now the world's largest game company by market capitalization, which shows that there is some exaggeration behind this market capitalization, and it is not as down-to-earth as established game companies.

The company's high market capitalization is due to two factors: firstly, the rise of the internet, and secondly, the fact that YueDong Games is an American asset, which naturally results in a higher valuation unit.

But most importantly, there must be capital behind this.

Therefore, Ernst had been on guard against this, and had Ryan Ruiz closely monitor the stock price of Leap Games.

Now that the China Telecom scandal has come to light, it's even more likely that this will become one of Wall Street's leverage points to suppress him.

So he wasn't surprised; it was all an expected outcome.

What he's thinking about now is how to handle this situation in order to maximize his benefits.