49: Chapter 49 Is Johnson & Johnson getting desperate?

"Black Widow?"

Chen Yuan leaned back in his executive chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the mahogany desk, creating a steady "tap-tap" sound.

There was not a hint of panic on his face; instead, it held a playful look, like a cat toying with a mouse.

"Pfizer really paid a heavy price for those few bottles of cough syrup. They were even willing to send out a top-tier spy like her. Aren't they afraid she'll just end up buried in San Verde?"

Alice stood beside the holographic projection, icy blue data streams refreshing frantically in her eyes.

"Boss, it's not just a spy."

She raised her hand and made a light sweeping motion in the air.

The screen displaying the spy's file instantly switched to a massive, shocking financial trend chart.

It was a glaring red curve.

It was plummeting vertically, as if it were jumping off a building.

"Just three minutes ago, Johnson & Johnson Group and Pfizer jointly released a two-hundred-page 'Independent Investigation Report'."

Alice's voice was cold and precise. "The report claims that our 'Vitality' contains high concentrations of radioactive elements and unknown neurotoxins, and that long-term consumption will lead to brain atrophy, organ failure, and even... genetic mutation."

"At the same time, dozens of top Wall Street hedge funds suddenly moved in, frantically shorting several of our offshore shell companies."

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow, his gaze falling on those shocking red lines.

"Oh? They're moving quite fast."

He picked up his coffee and took a light sip. "So, they intend to crush me on both the public opinion and capital battlefields simultaneously?"

On the screen, countless news headlines scrolled frantically like a barrage.

《Shocking Scandal! San Verde's 'Miracle Drug' is Actually Deadly Poison!》

《Thousands of Truckers Risk Terminal Illness; Who Will Pay the Price for Their Lives?》

《The Devil from the East: Unmasking Chen Yuan and His Biochemical Empire!》

There were even a few photos attached.

They were pictures of patients with gaunt faces and festering bodies lying in hospital beds. Although Chen Yuan could tell at a glance that these were late-stage syphilis patients, paired with the sensationalist text, it was enough to incite panic in any uninformed member of the public.

"This is the power of capital."

Alice analyzed calmly, "They control the media, they control the narrative. As long as they want to, they can turn black into white, and paint a life-saving drug as a lethal poison."

"Wall Street is crazy right now."

The Red Queen timely cut in with an intercepted recording of internal Wall Street communications.

Amidst the noisy background of the trading floor, the audio was filled with greedy roars:

"Sell! Sell everything! Strip that guy surnamed Chen down to his underwear!"

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer are colluding to set the trap—whoever grabs this piece of fat gets to keep it!"

"That Easterner is finished! No matter how many guns he has, in front of capital, he's just a naked infant!"

Countless capital sharks, fierce as wolves and tigers, were baring their bloody maws, staring fixedly at San Verde—this piece of seemingly crumbling fat.

In their eyes, Chen Yuan might be a powerful arms dealer, or perhaps a ruthless gang leader.

But in the financial battlefield?

He was nothing but a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

As long as his capital chain was cut and his reputation ruined, even if he had more Tyrants, he would have to go bankrupt obediently and end up kneeling before the capitalists to beg for mercy.

This was a standard, textbook-level commercial strangulation combo.

First fabricate rumors, then short the stock, then use legal and administrative means to blockade, and finally acquire high-quality assets at a low price.

For hundreds of years, they had played this routine to perfection, killing off countless brilliant entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately.

The person they encountered this time was a cheater.

"Boss, according to model simulations, if we respond with conventional methods, our capital chain will break within three days."

Alice looked at Chen Yuan. "Do we need to contact the Rothschild Family? Or use our reserves in Europe?"

"Why would I contact them?"

Chen Yuan set down his coffee cup, stood up, and walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the night in San Verde remained hazy.

In the distance, the Pharmaceutical Factory's chimneys were puffing faint white smoke—proof that the Tyrant production line was running at full capacity.

"Alice, you are still too 'rational'."

Chen Yuan looked at his reflection in the glass, the corners of his mouth curling into a mocking arc.

"These idiots on Wall Street think I'm playing Monopoly with them."

"They think that as long as they control the stock price and the public opinion, they can control me."

"But they forgot one thing."

Chen Yuan turned around and pointed at the red curve on the screen that was still falling. There wasn't a shred of anxiety in his eyes; instead, they held a chilling madness.

"My money doesn't come from the stock market."

"And my power isn't gained through that so-called 'reputation'."

He walked up to the holographic projection and reached out, as if to grab those ethereal data streams.

"Let it fall. Let them keep falling."

"Those shell companies were baits I threw out to begin with; there isn't even a single cent inside them."

"If they want to spend real money to buy a pile of waste paper, I couldn't be happier."

Chen Yuan casually closed the annoying news pages, leaving only the logos of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.

The blue English letters flickered in the darkness, appearing exceptionally glaring.

"Commercial war?"

Chen Yuan chuckled and pulled an exquisite gold cigar cutter from his pocket. With a "click," he cut the cigar in his hand.

"Only the weak follow the rules and play that back-and-forth commercial game."

"The strong just flip the table."

He clamped the cigar in his mouth without lighting it, staring coldly at the two arrogant commercial giants.

"They want to play with capital operations?"

"Fine."

"Then I'll show them what it means to... strike from a higher dimension."

Chen Yuan took the tablet computer from the side, his fingers swiping rapidly across the screen until they stopped on a black icon.

【System Store: Special Items】

【Micro Mechanical Dragonfly (Spy Type)】

【Price: 100,000 USD】

【Function: Beyond-visual-range stealth reconnaissance, full-band eavesdropping, 4K real-time streaming.】

"Alice."

Chen Yuan's voice was low and hoarse, like the rumble of thunder before a storm.

"Help me check, where is that CEO of Johnson & Johnson tonight?"

"Searching... Target located: New York, Long Island, private seaside villa."

Alice gave the answer immediately. "According to his schedule, he has an important 'private party' tonight."

"A private party?"

Chen Yuan laughed.

He laughed like a child about to succeed in a prank, and also like a madman preparing to set the world on fire.

"Very good."

"Since they say I'm a devil and a drug lord."

"Then I'll show them what it means to truly... play dirty."

Chen Yuan pressed the exchange button.

"Hum—"

A faint vibration came from the air.

A pitch-black mechanical dragonfly, only the size of a thumb, appeared out of thin air in his palm. Its compound eyes flickered with a ghostly red light, as if it possessed life.

"Go, my little darling."

Chen Yuan walked to the window, pushed it open, and released the mechanical dragonfly into the night sky.

"Go deliver a big gift to that CEO for me."

Watching the tiny black dot quickly disappear into the night, Chen Yuan turned back to look at the screen filled with the red stock market chart. The amusement in his eyes grew deeper, yet colder.

"They think this is a commercial war?"

He sat back down in the executive chair that symbolized the pinnacle of power, crossed his legs, and spoke in a tone as contemptuous as if he were passing a death sentence:

"No."

"This is war."