The capital market is extremely sensitive.
So sensitive, in fact, that Tony Stark's words spread across all of America—and the entire world—in less than a minute.
What followed was inevitable.
That very day, Stark Industries' stock price collapsed in a free fall.
Even with emergency services working at full capacity, they were unable to stop yet another wave of Wall Street suicides.
The capitalists went completely mad.
Even Lex Luthor immediately boarded a helicopter and rushed to the prison to see Lucas.
"Congratulations, Lucas," Luthor said, sitting across from him as they enjoyed top-grade steak imported from Japan.
"Your name will definitely appear on this year's Forbes rich list."
"I don't know exactly how much you made this time," he continued, "but it's certainly enough to make you the youngest hundred-billion-dollar tycoon in America—perhaps even in the world."
"And completely self-made."
Lucas put down his knife and fork and calmly wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"Luthor, money is nothing more than a number to me," he said evenly.
"It simply allows me to do what I want—to realize my goals, my plans, and my ambitions."
Luthor nodded in agreement.
"That makes sense."
"So you already knew Tony Stark would make this decision," Luthor said thoughtfully.
"And that's why you shorted Stark Industries again immediately after dumping the shares."
Lucas took a sip of fine red wine and smiled mysteriously.
"I can see the future, you know."
Luthor chuckled.
"I believe that. Otherwise, my conscience wouldn't be able to rest."
He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"It's not that I didn't trust you—but my people absolutely refused to believe Tony would ever do something like this."
Since taking control of LexCorp, it had been a long time since Luthor had felt so utterly outmatched.
Half a day earlier, when Lucas insisted on dumping and then shorting Stark Industries again, Luthor's entire team had opposed him.
They unanimously declared it a disastrous decision—one that violated all basic principles of financial markets.
Even Luthor himself had hesitated.
He simply could not believe Tony Stark would willingly abandon the core profit engine of his empire.
That would be like tightening a zip tie around his own neck.
In the end, trusting Lucas's unfathomable insight, Luthor forced his team to sell Stark shares—but stopped short of following Lucas into another round of shorting.
After an hour of solitary thought—and the loss of hundreds of hairs—he decided to come here personally.
"You've been Tony's rival for years," Lucas said calmly after finishing his steak,
"yet you never truly understood him."
"You analyzed him purely as a businessman," Lucas continued,
"but you never tried to see him as a sensitive human being."
"That," he said plainly, "is where you lost."
Luthor blinked, then smiled and raised his wine glass.
"Well said. I stand corrected."
After a pause, he asked,
"By the way—how did you recruit that man? How much did you offer him?"
Lucas answered casually after taking another sip.
"One hundred thousand dollars a month. After tax."
Luthor tilted his head, puzzled.
"I offered him one million a month after tax. Ten times your amount."
"You must have added some special conditions."
Lucas chuckled.
"My condition was simple—he can no longer take black-market contracts."
Luthor stared at him for several seconds before asking,
"I truly don't understand that man. Does he care about money? Or fame?"
"Or did you threaten his daughter?"
Lucas shook his head.
"I would never do that. I simply made him understand that following me is the smartest choice."
Luthor sighed helplessly.
"Fine. You win."
Lucas smoothly changed the topic.
"How is the research on the spaceship progressing?"
Luthor set down his wine glass.
"The military is still deciphering Kryptonian language and the ship's structural framework."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is studying the power system. Other groups are researching different components."
"And your side?" Lucas asked.
"We've cracked roughly 8% of the energy system, about 2% of the propulsion system, and less than 1% of the weapons system," Luthor replied.
"Not bad," Lucas said.
He didn't think the progress was slow at all.
After all, this was a Kryptonian spacecraft.
For human technology to decipher it was no different from handing a modern fighter jet to people from the 10,000 BC and asking them to reverse-engineer it.
"If possible," Lucas added calmly, "speed it up."
Luthor smiled faintly.
"Did your 'prophetic powers' foresee something again?"
"Disaster," Lucas replied flatly.
Luthor's eyes flickered.
"How severe?"
"It could be a world war," Lucas said vaguely.
"Or something even worse."
"Can it be prevented in advance?" Luthor asked seriously.
He never questioned the truth of Lucas's words—he believed them completely.
"This is a mess created by humanity itself," Lucas replied.
"I don't even know where the root cause lies."
"I see," Luthor said slowly, deep in thought.
He drained his glass, stood up, and smiled.
"Lucas, I've gained a lot today. Thank you."
---
The next morning, Johnny called.
"Boss, do you know how much you made this time?" he asked excitedly.
"Money is just a number," Lucas replied calmly.
"Get to the point."
Johnny cleared his throat.
"After the series of operations, once taxes were paid and the equity buybacks completed—along with all necessary expenditures—you now have 31,724,567,822.68 dollars in liquid assets."
Lucas frowned.
"How much tax did we pay?"
The number was lower than he had expected.
"…About six billion dollars," Johnny replied helplessly.
"Six billion? Are you kidding me?" Lucas nearly cursed.
"Boss," Johnny said bitterly,
"you specifically instructed us to file taxes through completely legal channels and leave no loopholes."
"I used everything I've learned in my entire career—and with the IRS giving you some leeway—we managed to reduce the tax burden by more than twenty billion dollars."
Lucas felt a headache coming on.
No wonder so many companies in American films and TV shows go to insane lengths to avoid taxes.
Even ordinary Americans have to file taxes themselves every year.
No wonder the IRS is so terrifying.
There was even that infamous joke:
"You ask me what the IRS is?
The FBI won't touch what we touch.
The FBI can't arrest who we arrest.
Anything the FBI can handle—we handle.
Anything they can't—we handle too.
Act first, report later. Imperial authority.
That's the IRS."
Of course, Lucas could have avoided taxes by other means—but there was no need.
With his ever-growing strength, he would never lack money.
Johnny continued excitedly,
"The key point is—you only used 800 million dollars as initial capital and collateral."
"Excluding equity holdings, your assets have increased by nearly forty times."
"You now possess the largest amount of liquid personal capital on Wall Street."
What Johnny didn't say was that he himself had earned nearly seventy million dollars in commission from these operations.
Combined with mortgaging all his own assets and following Lucas's lead, he had gone from a mere millionaire to someone with nearly one hundred million dollars in assets.
Had he not followed Lucas's philosophy of eliminating all risk, he might already have crossed into billionaire territory.
Lucas nodded calmly.
"Understood. Send the financial statements to my email."
"Yes, boss."
Lucas then added,
"Starting now, begin acquiring all available Stark Industries shares."
"Approach the shareholders directly and ask if they're willing to sell."
"Even if we pay above market price, that's fine—I want volume."
"And keep it discreet. Do not alert Obadiah."
Johnny:
"???"
_____
T/N:
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