America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 5.5 Best Friends

In Beverly Hills, a party is being held at Cooper's house, but with so many celebrities there, and so many parties every day, it's nothing unusual.

Various drinks and food were laid out in the living room, while a barbecue grill was set up on the lawn in the backyard. It was already mid to late May, and the weather was starting to get hot. What could be better than drinking ice-cold beer and eating barbecue?

Everyone gathered around Eric and cheered, celebrating his recovery and discharge from the hospital.

Joshua Cooper, the older brother, chuckled and said, "Not bad, right? I'm a professional at throwing parties. It's just a shame there weren't any hot girls. Our mom is too conservative. I really miss the team's cheerleaders."

"Eric, I told you, you should go to San Francisco. I can introduce you to Billie Whitman. That girl will definitely be smitten with you; she's got an F cup!"

Eric raised an eyebrow at his brother who had acted as a pimp for him: "Come on, Joshua. If you wake up and Mom finds two girls lying next to Dad, the first thing she'll do is skin you alive."

Eric's statement is not without merit. Here, finding hot girls is incredibly easy, and young models and minor actresses don't mind taking on private jobs.

But some women weren't there for the money. They knew very well that this was Beverly Hills, and they knew even better about Charlie Cooper's status. The MGM CEO was someone many people couldn't reach, which also meant they could get a lot of money.

All they have to give up is their skin and body. In Hollywood, this body is the least valuable thing, and many people are willing to trade their bodies for opportunities.

"By the way, have all the people I asked you to find arrived?"

"They're here. Those young guys are pretty eager to come. The one who came from the farthest place is in New Jersey. They flew here last night after hearing about your recovery."

"Of course, we're best friends."

After exchanging pleasantries and joking around with everyone for a while, Eric went to the backyard, where several young people were chatting and joking in pairs, leaving only a fat man sitting alone in the corner eating barbecue.

Eric sat down next to the fat man, who then looked up, swallowed the roast meat in his mouth, and punched him in the chest: "Eric Cooper, you bastard, I knew you wouldn't die!"

Eric chuckled and clapped his hands with the fat man: "Warren, it's been a while, you seem to have gotten even fatter."

Warrenton suddenly lost his appetite for the barbecue in front of him: "How could that be? I've been dieting since graduation. I weighed myself yesterday and I've lost 5 pounds. If it weren't to celebrate your recovery, I absolutely wouldn't have touched it today."

These are high-calorie foods.

"Really? It seems your starting weight is too high. You'll need to lose at least 50 pounds."

As the two were talking, two more men and a woman approached. Warren immediately put on a sour face and sneered, "Ha! Look who's here? You just abandoned my good friend. You chose lust over friendship. I despise you!"

However, his taunts were clearly ineffective. A girl with bulging muscles on her arm clenched her fist, and Warren immediately shut up.

These four men and one woman were Eric's best friends; the five of them rented a villa off-campus together during college.

Besides Eric and the fat Warren, there are the two brothers, Bordorgis and Bilges, and the last one is the girl, Judy Neuhaus.

Warren is from Los Angeles, but comes from a modest background. The Geese brothers, on the other hand, come from a large ranch family in Texas.

Judy was born in New York, but she had deep conflicts with her family, so she didn't like to talk about them.

As for why a girl would live with four young and strong men, and why no suggestive stories happened between them.

That's because Judy is a lesbian, and a pure top at that, which can be seen from her well-proportioned abs. Once they start fighting, none of the four of them can beat Judy.

Eric's room on the second floor of the villa.

"Speak, what's your plan for gathering us here?" Warren asked.

He was no longer the gluttonous fat boy from before; a cunning glint appeared in his eyes.

The Geese brothers, like Judy, stared at Eric. As high-achieving students with IQs above average, they knew very well that if it was really just to celebrate his discharge from the hospital, there was no need to go to such lengths to gather all four of them.

Especially since New Jersey and Los Angeles are already across the United States, why would anyone fly all that way here!

"I have a plan that I need your help with."

"What plan?" Judy asked casually, lying on Eric's bed.

"I currently have $10 million, and my goal is to turn that number into $1000 billion within a month."

As soon as he finished speaking, four more friends appeared in the room, breathing heavily.

Although I studied finance and analyzed many examples of wealthy entrepreneurs, I often saw tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in books, but those are just numbers.

The amount they actually handled personally was less than $100,000, let alone $10 million.

"OMG! Are you serious?" Warren took a few steps back, looking incredulous.

"Did I call you here as a joke?"

Although the Geese brothers came from a relatively well-off family, that money belonged to their parents. They would have to wait decades to inherit the fortune, and besides, it was uncertain whether they would even have ten million. Both of them stared wide-eyed.

Only Judy remained calm, lying in bed and spitting out a lollipop.

"Where did you get $1000 million?" Bordeaux asked.

Eric pointed to the door: "My dad. Otherwise, do you expect me to rob a bank?"

"What a powerful and generous man! If someone were willing to give me ten million, no, even a million, I'd lick his ass!" Billy exclaimed.

It's understandable that Billy would have such feelings. For someone with ideals and ambitions, what could be more painful than lacking initial capital? Let alone licking someone's ass, there are plenty of people willing to eat shoes.

Judy scoffed, "A bunch of good-for-nothing men. Eric, tell me your plan. I really can't think of any way to increase that number 100 times in a month. There's no such thing as a highly profitable business in the world, not even an illegal one."

Judy is right. There are legal records of ways to make big money, such as selling flour, which can indeed potentially yield 100 times the return.

However, this is contingent on Eric having a large armed base, planting base, processing base, and sales network, while also smoothing out all the necessary connections. There must be no interference from the government or police, and no middlemen taking a cut, otherwise the profits will be greatly reduced.

This is just wishful thinking; it's impossible.

Eric turned on the TV, tuned to the sports channel, and saw a preview of the Japan-Korea World Cup: "This is my plan: betting on the games!"

(End of this chapter)