Chapter 496: The Short-Term Decisive Battle: A Crushing Defeat (4)

Chapter 496: Chapter 496: The Short-Term Decisive Battle: A Crushing Defeat (4)

Of the three stocks Seraphina Sterling had picked, besides Keystone Technologies showing some promise, they couldn’t see any advantage whatsoever in Apex Antique Collections or the communications stock! And Keystone Technologies only had *some* promise, at that; what would happen down the road was anyone’s guess. Even though Keystone Technologies announced a new product that day, no one could say for certain whether its massive pivot from software development to electronics R&D would succeed. Choosing that stock could only be called a gamble!

Seraphina Sterling’s choices seemed to defy all logic, yet it was these very choices that won her the final competition! It was crystal clear from the charts: starting from the second day of the competition, Keystone Technologies and the communications stock began to rise steadily. Meanwhile, Apex Antique Collections only fluctuated slightly, showing little change.

In contrast, the three stocks in Preston Patterson’s portfolio—Faulkner Group, The Hale Antique Collection, and Fenton Bank—had all been rising to varying degrees. He had then pulled into the lead and held it right up until the market opened today. But when trading began today, it was as if the system had malfunctioned. Fenton Bank’s stock plummeted, and the share price for The Hale Antique Collection also began to fall. Meanwhile, Apex Antique Collections, which had been lackluster until now, suddenly skyrocketed. This drastic, almost cheat-like reversal persisted right until the closing bell!

Preston Patterson, who had been poised for a sure victory, became the loser because of this massive reversal.

The crowd’s gaze on Seraphina Sterling grew even more intense. Just who was this new member? Her foresight was incredible! To predict the market’s movements with such accuracy... she wasn’t human, she was a stock god! Only a stock god could pull off something like this, right? A comeback on the final day! And such a decisive one!

"Starting today, I’m quitting the investment club." This was Preston Patterson’s first loss since he’d started trading stocks, and it was to a girl three years his junior. He had never once imagined he would lose. But the result before him said everything.

Shelby Fenton, who had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke up when she heard Preston Patterson was quitting. "Director Patterson, you don’t have to quit! Seraphina Sterling cheated to win this competition! If she hadn’t played dirty, there’s no way she could have won! The only reason the stock prices for Fenton Bank and The Hale Antique Collection plummeted so badly is because she manipulated them!"

"What do you mean?" Hugo Xavier was also taken aback by the outcome, but he found it hard to believe that Seraphina Sterling, a girl with supposedly no connections, had the means to manipulate stock prices. It wasn’t that he thought her incapable of doing such a thing, but that she lacked the capital for such a large-scale operation.

"Seraphina Sterling has been fooling everyone! She’s not some ordinary girl from a small town; she’s the young miss of Aethelgard’s Sterling Family! Yesterday was Mr. Hale’s birthday banquet, and she..." Shelby Fenton proceeded to recount everything that had happened the previous night. The crowd was stunned the moment they heard Seraphina was the young miss of the Sterling Family. When they then heard about the forgery incident and the involvement of Joel Xavier, the owner of Apex Antique Collections, everyone felt like their brains were short-circuiting. It was all too much for them to process at once.

"Seraphina Sterling and Joel Xavier must know each other! They teamed up to target The Hale Antique Collection, deliberately leaking news about the forgery at this critical juncture to make the stock prices of The Hale Antique Collection and Fenton Bank plummet!" Shelby Fenton’s sharp voice echoed through the conference room, each word laced with fury.

"Miss Fenton, if you’re going to defend Director Patterson, at least come up with a better excuse, will you? What you’re saying is laughable! Did Seraphina blind the manager of The Hale Antique Collection, forcing him to buy the forgery? Or did she put a gun to your head and make you buy it? Or hey, maybe Seraphina held a knife to your throat and forced you to give that forgery to Mr. Hale as a birthday gift?" Marshal scoffed, his voice thick with ever-growing sarcasm.