People in America: My Uncle Don Quixote

Chapter 463 Shut up, then take my money (Seeking monthly votes)

"In that case, you go and get back to work," Dave Lex waved his hand. "Go back and sort things out, and immediately sever all ties with Eli Lilly and Company regarding this matter."

"What about Senator Graves?" David Sterling asked quietly.

"You don't need to get involved in this," Dave Lex said. "He'll handle it himself."

Senator Graves may have already suspended the proposal the day he learned that LW Group was going to hold a press conference.

A mature politician always has a keen sense of public opinion; so-called feigning ignorance is, most of the time, a calculated move by the politician.

David Sterling nodded, still feeling somewhat dazed as he left the office.

He was deeply moved that Dave Lex didn't blame him.

He was thinking as he called the public relations president to ask where they were having a meeting.

I quickly figured out the reason.

Although this setback has backfired, it may not have a significant impact on Eli Lilly's stock price.

The reputation may be damaged for a period of time, but on the other hand, pharmaceutical companies are inherently on the opposite side of ordinary consumers.

On the other hand, Eli Lilly's core clients are large corporations, governments, insurance companies, and hospitals. Compared to ordinary consumers, these clients value the efficacy of Eli Lilly's products more. As long as the effect is good, a bad reputation is not a big deal.

David Sterling walked down the corridor, thinking to himself.

"But no matter how I think about it," he muttered to himself as he stood in front of the conference room door, "this time we've already lost."

He pushed open the conference room door. He absolutely had to consider Li Wei a dangerous adversary.

We'll have to think of other ways next time.

Some dangerous thoughts flashed through his mind.

If all else fails, we'll have to resort to some underhanded tactics.

Over the next few days, the online debate surrounding LW, Levi Strauss, and Eli Lilly intensified.

The day after the press conference, reports from CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters appeared almost simultaneously, with headlines pointing directly to the feud and competition for interests between Eli Lilly and LW.

Eli Lilly's stock price fell by more than 5% intraday the following day, wiping out more than $300 billion in value. However, it rebounded sharply before the close, and overall, it was in a state of normal fluctuation.

Eli Lilly's public relations department then took action, and although the news report was released, it generated very little buzz and barely caused any discussion online.

Immediately afterwards, Hollywood celebrity gossip dominated entertainment headlines, attracting the audience's attention so much that Eli Lilly's announcement didn't generate much discussion. Apart from some professional media following up, the matter was basically considered over.

Starting three days after the press conference, journalists who had signed informed consent forms began publishing articles and videos sharing their firsthand experiences at the Fountain of Wisdom.

These videos, like seeds, took root and sprouted on the soil of the internet, exploding into fireworks.

A tech blogger with 470 million followers made a 14-minute video titled "I drank a mysterious beverage given to me by Levi and recorded my brain for 3 consecutive days."

He sped up the video to show his entire three days, including how he edited 10 hours of video in one go after drinking before stopping.

The video garnered over 800 million views within 48 hours, becoming a new YouTube viral hit.

Following closely behind were in-depth reviews from traditional media. A veteran reporter from The Wall Street Journal also wrote a 2000-word column, using very restrained language to describe his feelings.

However, in the final paragraph, he still left his own thoughts and conclusions—

"I'm not sure if this is a placebo effect, after all, I'm not an expert in this area, and I didn't monitor my brain," he wrote, "but I did finish a column that I had been putting off for two weeks the day after I drank it."

A total of 183 journalists and media outlets signed the consent form, and more than 150 experience reports and evaluations were produced within 3-5 days.

Unanimously positive reviews.

Coupled with the edited clips of Li Wei's live stream, the public's expectations for the Fountain of Wisdom have shifted from "Is this a scam?" to "When the hell am I going to take money from my wallet?"

The industry's reaction was much stronger than that of consumers.

West Coast tech companies were the first to surrender.

They had just been involved in the formation of Prometheus Life Sciences and in the investment and acquisition of the Pony Team.

Shortly after, a senior vice president at Google publicly posted a statement on LinkedIn: "If LW's cognitive enhancement is replicable, then we need to seriously assess its impact on employee productivity, which could have a revolutionary impact on the future."

Subsequently, a neurology professor at Carnegie Mellon University publicly supported Levi and the LW Group, praised the Fountain of Wisdom project, and called on the academic community to launch independent, large-scale verification trials as soon as possible.

The financial, educational, and technological sectors—virtually every industry related to cognitive performance—is discussing the wellspring of wisdom.

At least seven Fortune Global 500 companies have sent letters of intent to LW Group for large-scale purchases through public or private channels.

Amidst this nationwide frenzy, Li Wei's system also granted him a new milestone reward.

[In just 7 days, you gained over 100 million followers, and your name has spread throughout mainland China. Many people still doubt you, but even more people have come to believe in you.]

[You have achieved the achievement: One Call, One Hundred Responses]

You have gained: 1 free attribute points.

It's an entire free attribute point!

Li Wei was overjoyed; this was truly a double blessing.

His current number of believers has reached 312 million out of 1000 million, which is almost one-third of the way there.

Another attribute point came in, and Li Wei added it to his weak point, Spirit.

[Spirit 11.0] - [Spirit 12.0]

Now all three of his attributes have reached 12.0, and his strength has even reached 13.0.

Although the attribute points required to upgrade from Bronze to higher ranks increase, the rewards also increase.

Previously, the rewards were given in increments of 0.1 or 0.1. Now that it's upgraded to Gold, the achievements are getting bigger and bigger, and the rewards are getting bigger and bigger, often increasing by 0.5 or 1.

With three and a half months left until the end of the year, Li Wei silently wondered when he would break through to the Hero Knight level.

Time flew by and it was already mid-September. Twelve days after the press conference, the secondary market finally gave its belated assessment of LW Group.

LW Group's primary market valuation remains unchanged at US$400 billion, as it has not raised any further funds.

However, the secondary market reacted as if a bucket of water had been poured over a raging fire, causing it to explode.

The valuation in the secondary market began to rebound on the same day the press conference was held.

By the third day after the press conference, the company had already returned to its previous value of 600 billion US dollars, and it is still making a strong push.

After Mark inquired about recent secondary market transaction records, he was surprised to find that LW Group's valuation in the secondary market had far surpassed 600 billion, surging all the way to 850 billion US dollars before stopping.

After careful inquiry, he discovered that when buyers in the secondary market valued LW, they no longer regarded Wisdom Spring as an unreleased new product, but rather as a "sure thing that would become a phenomenon."

When he sent the message to the group chat, it immediately sparked a series of enthusiastic responses.

This small group has fewer than 10 people, and basically all the senior executives are in it except for Li Wei and Don Quixote.

Mark often posts pictures of his child in the group chat, while Arthur often shares anecdotes about homeless people.

This is like a secret little world for high-level employees.

Kim Ha-eun is also in this group.

What Mark and Arthur didn't know was that Kim Ho-eun frequently forwarded their chat logs to Levi, making it clear that she was completely open about it.

Mark: [I can't hold back any longer; I'm going to cash out 0.01% of my shares.]

Arthur: [That makes it worth 850 million? Congratulations!]

Mark: [A helpless expression.gif]

Mark: [Sarah is insisting on moving to a different location to give little Mark a better education.]

Mark: [When are you guys changing?]

Mark: [Ms. Kim, your shares are now worth over 23 billion. You can't still be living in that place, can you? That place is far too unsafe.]

Kim Ha-eun thought about it and agreed. She was still living in the same place she had lived in when she first moved out of her family home.

The red-brick apartment in Nishimura was considered a very nice place when she first graduated.

But as LW's stock price skyrocketed, she seemed to feel that her previous location might not be so safe.

Someone with her net worth of billions of dollars should live in a better place.

However, apart from the French-style villa in the Upper East Side, Kim Ha-eun doesn't have anywhere else she wants to live.

The villa on the Upper East Side is priced at $1600 million, and its price has recently increased slightly.

If you want to buy, you need to exchange some of your shares for a small amount; not much, even 0.02% would be enough.

However, Kim Ha-eun has an emotional attachment to the company, and she thinks that if she sells now on the secondary market, she might lose money in the future.

Kim Ha-eun: [I haven't decided yet, I'll think about it later.]

Mark: [It's great to be young; there's not much to spend money on, and you only have to worry about yourself.]

Kim Ha-eun smiled, put her phone in her bag, and walked out of the LW Group's revolving door.

Today was a rare cool day since the beginning of autumn, and the Manhattan sky was painted with a colorful picture by the orange-red sunset.

Kim Ha-eun was in an exceptionally good mood.

Her net worth of over 20 billion US dollars gives her plenty of energy every day, and she's also very happy with her recent work.

The press conference was a resounding success, Eli Lilly suffered a setback, Wisdom Fountain received rave reviews, Netflix was rolled out in full force, and the boss praised her every day.

She hummed a medley of random Korean tunes as she walked towards the parking lot. The barrier gate in the underground parking garage was broken today, so she parked her car in the public parking lot next door when she came in the morning.

She got off work early today and planned to go have dinner with her best friend, Park Soo-yeon.

However, as he reached the other side of the street and prepared to cross the road, a figure quickly approached him from the side.

"Miss Jin, Jin C00!"

Kim Ha-eun shuddered and instinctively reached into her bag to pull out her self-defense spray.

"Miss Jin, please wait a moment!"

She turned around abruptly and saw that the person who had called out to her was a middle-aged white man in a dark blue tailored suit, wearing a gold watch on his wrist, with a young man behind him carrying a briefcase.

Kim Ha-eun breathed a slight sigh of relief, realizing they didn't appear to be robbers.

"Who are you?" she asked, her face showing displeasure.

"Excuse me," the middle-aged man said, handing over a business card. "My name is Nelson, managing partner at VCM Capital."

"Ms. Jin," he said very politely, "I'm representing my fund and would like to discuss the possibility of acquiring your shares. I'm wondering if you have any plans to cash out some of your shares?"

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