122: Chapter 122 Stock Price Plummets, Ella Stabilizes the Situation

On the computer screens, the red stock price figures were plummeting.

In the trading monitoring room at Microsoft headquarters, the once rhythmic sound of typing had become chaotic, like drumbeats that had lost their tempo, mixed with the sound of gasps and hushed discussions, weaving a tight web of tension.

On every computer screen, the red curve representing Microsoft's stock price was plummeting off a cliff without warning, the red numbers constantly refreshing, each flicker feeling like a harsh tug on everyone's nerves in the room.

Some people's knuckles turned white as they gripped their mice, others frequently wiped cold sweat from their foreheads, and some whispered urgently into their phones, their voices unable to hide their panic.

"Sister Ella! If it drops any further, we'll suffer huge losses!" Intern Xiao Lin turned around abruptly, his voice trembling. He pointed at his computer screen, where the stock price had already fallen below the recent minimum threshold. "The institutions have started panic selling. If this continues, our market value will evaporate by over a billion!"

Ella sat in the main seat of the monitoring room, her fingertips flying across the keyboard, constantly switching between dense data analysis charts on the screen.

Her brows furrowed slightly, a hint of undetectable gravity hidden in her eyes, but there was no panic on her face, and her tone remained perfectly steady: "What are you panicking about? Listen to my orders!"

She reached out and pressed the intercom on the table, her voice broadcasting clearly and powerfully throughout the monitoring room: "Everyone stick to your posts, don't lose your composure. The trading team must immediately pause non-essential selling and lock in core holdings; the data analysis team must pull the transaction data from the last hour immediately and focus on investigating abnormal trading accounts; the PR team prepare an emergency statement, do not respond to any media inquiries for now, and wait for my instructions."

A chorus of organized responses came from the intercom, and the previously chaotic monitoring room gradually regained order. The sound of typing became rhythmic again, though everyone still wore a tense expression.

Ella's fingers did not stop, her eyes fixed intently on the transaction flow on the screen, her fingertips sliding rapidly across the trackpad as she screened every suspicious transaction node.

Her jawline was taut, and her usually soft eyes had become sharp as knives. With every data switch, she was rapidly capturing clues hidden behind the chaos—this was not normal market fluctuation; the speed and magnitude of the decline both bore the marks of deliberate manipulation.

"Sister Ella, look here." The analyst beside her pointed to a set of data on the screen, his voice low. "Several anonymous accounts have concentrated a large volume of stock sales within half an hour, and they all landed precisely on our support levels, as if they had predicted the trend long ago and were intentionally crashing the market."

Ella leaned in, pointing her finger at that set of data, her gaze quickly scanning the transaction trajectories of the accounts: "Investigate the source of these accounts, whether they are affiliated institutions or individuals, even if they are offshore accounts, get to the bottom of it. Also, compare the recent transaction records of John's affiliated institutions and focus on their position changes."

As soon as she finished speaking, the door to the monitoring room was pushed open abruptly, and Lin Chen walked in quickly.

He was wearing a well-tailored suit, his hair still meticulously combed. Even in such an urgent moment, there was not a trace of panic on his face, only his eyes were more composed than usual.

He walked straight to Ella's side, his gaze sweeping over the stock price curve on the screen, and asked in a calm tone: "How is the situation?"

"The stock price continues to fall and has already broken through the support level. Preliminary judgment suggests someone is secretly manipulating and suppressing it." Ella didn't look up, still staring at the data on the screen, her fingertips still typing on the keyboard. "I've already arranged for people to investigate the abnormal accounts, focusing on John's side. After all, we recently had a conflict with him over the merger and acquisition case, and he has sufficient motive to do this."

Lin Chen nodded slightly, his gaze falling on the chaotic transaction data, his brows furrowing slightly: "John has been on Wall Street for so many years, and his manipulation methods have always been covert; he wouldn't leave traces easily. What progress has your data analysis made?"

"I've found a few suspicious accounts for now, but I haven't traced the source yet." Ella looked up, a flash of certainty in her eyes. "However, I discovered a problem: during the stock price decline, a large sum of capital has been secretly absorbing the sold stocks. The operation method is very covert—it doesn't look like ordinary institutional bargain hunting, but rather like it's coordinating with the market crash to stabilize the decline and prevent it from completely collapsing. This doesn't fit John's style; he usually only does things that leave no survivors."

Just then, Jack walked over quickly, holding a tablet computer. There was a hint of gravity on his face, along with an imperceptible look of understanding.

He walked up to Lin Chen and Ella, handed over the tablet, and said with certainty: "Brother Chen, Sister Ella, confirmed. It's John who's pulling the strings."

"How did you confirm it?" Lin Chen took the tablet, his gaze falling on the content.

"I had someone check the capital flow of those anonymous accounts, and they all ultimately pointed to an offshore company under John." Jack pointed his finger at the capital flow chart on the tablet. "And I found out that John started secretly reducing his holdings of our stock yesterday. Concentrated selling today is just to suppress the stock price, force us to concede on the merger and acquisition, or take the opportunity to absorb our stock at a low price and dilute our equity."

Ella leaned in to take a look, her brows furrowing even tighter: "That's not right. If he only wanted to suppress the stock price, there'd be no need to secretly absorb those sold stocks; that would only increase his costs. Unless... he has another goal."

"Regardless of what his goal is, let's stabilize the stock price first." Lin Chen closed the tablet, his tone steady and decisive. "Ella, continue to be responsible for data analysis and find the loopholes in his manipulation; Jack, contact several core allies on Wall Street and ask them to help stabilize the market and not follow the trend of selling for now; also, notify Chen Xi and have her immediately organize the legal clauses for dealing with malicious manipulation. Once John's illegal operations are confirmed, immediately initiate legal proceedings."

"Understood!" Jack immediately took out his phone and walked to the side to contact allies, his tone urgent but not panicked, every sentence precisely conveying Lin Chen's instructions, fully demonstrating his familiarity with Wall Street rules.

Lin Chen's gaze fell back to the screen; the red stock price curve was still slowly declining, but the magnitude was already smaller than before. He reached out and patted Ella's shoulder, his tone carrying a hint of trust: "Thank you for your hard work. Stabilize the situation, and leave the rest to us."

Ella nodded, withdrew her gaze, and her fingertips landed on the keyboard again, moving even faster than before.

The data analysis charts on the screen switched constantly, her eyes becoming sharper and sharper, and a faint, imperceptible arc gradually curled at the corner of her mouth. Just then, her fingers stopped abruptly, her eyes fixed intently on a trading node on the screen, a flash of light appearing in her eyes.

"Found it." She said in a low voice, her tone carrying a hint of certainty. "Although John's manipulation is covert, he overlooked one detail—the transaction times of those anonymous accounts are all concentrated during our system update intervals, and when the funds were transferred, he left a tiny loophole. This loophole is enough to track down his core manipulation account, and we can even use this loophole in reverse to hedge against his suppression."

Lin Chen immediately leaned over, looking in the direction she pointed, a flash of approval in his eyes: "Well done. How exactly should we operate?"

Ella typed rapidly on the keyboard, pulling up a set of code, her tone calm and firm: "I need ten minutes to modify the hedging parameters of the trading system. By using the loophole he left behind, I can reverse-lock the stocks he secretly absorbed, while simultaneously pulling up our core holdings to stabilize the stock price. As long as the operation is handled properly, not only can we stop the stock price from falling further, but we can also double his manipulation costs."

The monitoring room fell into silence again, with only the crisp sound of typing remaining. Everyone's gaze was focused on Ella's screen, the panic on their faces gradually replaced by anticipation. Jack had finished his call and walked over quickly, asking with an eager look in his eyes: "Sister Ella, do you need my help?"

"No need. Keep an eye on the movements of those abnormal accounts; if there are any new selling actions, tell me immediately." Ella didn't even look up, her fingertips still dancing rapidly on the keyboard. The parameters on the screen kept changing, and the stock price curve gradually stopped falling, beginning to show faint signs of rebounding.

Lin Chen stood to the side, watching Ella's operations with a steady gaze. There was no ripple on his face, but a hint of approval was hidden in his eyes. He knew that Ella's professional ability was enough to deal with the current crisis, and this conspiracy of John's might soon be completely shattered.

Ella's fingers finally stopped. She looked up, a confident smile on her face, and said to Lin Chen and Jack: "Parameters modified, the loophole is locked. Now, it's our turn to counter-manipulate."