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"Hey, it’s just a claw machine. I’m a pro. This should be a piece of ca... uh, that was an accident."

Ye Ling strode confidently to the claw machine, took aim, and slammed the button.

The claw dropped with precision, grabbing the little dinosaur perfectly.

But as it rose to the top...

The claw twitched, and... nothing!

Ye Ling’s expression instantly darkened.

"I don’t believe this."

At this, Ye the Mighty Man grew determined, his expression turning serious.

But it seemed to be completely useless.

Before long, he had used up almost all his tokens.

However...

That little dinosaur still lay securely inside the glass case.

"Last try! I’ll definitely get it this time!"

Ye Ling dropped in his last two tokens. He squinted one eye, aimed with intense concentration, recalibrated, and then slammed the button with a sudden burst of confidence.

CLICK!

The claw slowly descended and grabbed one of the little dinosaur’s feet. Its chubby body swayed in mid-air.

"You got it, you got it!"

Ning Ruoxi cried out in surprise, stomping her feet in excitement.

However, just as the little dinosaur was about to be ’captured,’ the claw suddenly twitched, and it fell right next to the prize chute.

"Holy crap!"

At that moment, Ye Ling had to admit defeat.

’Are you kidding me?’

Right now, he really wanted to find the person who designed this machine and beat them up.

"That was so close."

Seeing this, Ning Ruoxi couldn’t help but sigh and shake her head. She then looked at Ye Ling. "Why don’t we just forget it? It’s okay..."

She really did want the little dinosaur, but Ye Ling had just spent over a hundred yuan worth of tokens. It was a total loss.

"No way. I have to get this little thing out of there."

Ye Ling glared at the chubby little guy, grinding his teeth in frustration.

The little dinosaur had big eyes that were aimed right at Ye Ling. In his view, it was a clear provocation!

Ye Ling went and got another fifty yuan worth of tokens and continued his efforts.

With his previous experience, his subsequent attempts were much more accurate. Most of them were near misses, almost getting it out.

Finally.

After putting in his last two tokens, Ye Ling slammed the button. The claw firmly grasped the little dinosaur and dropped it into the prize chute!

"Success!"

Ning Ruoxi immediately let out a cry of delight, her eyes sparkling like a child who had just seen a beloved toy.

"See? I told you. When I decide to do something, how could I possibly leave empty-handed?"

Ye Ling snorted softly, bent down to pull out the little dinosaur, and looked at the little green fellow, curling his lip.

’Little guy, you were pretty arrogant just now, weren’t you?’

’But in the end, I still got you!’

"Here, it’s for you."

Ye Ling tossed the little dinosaur to Ning Ruoxi.

"Hehe, thank you, baby!"

Ning Ruoxi gave a sweet smile and hugged the little dinosaur, her eyes filled with happiness.

She already liked this little dinosaur—it was so adorably derpy. But most importantly, it was something Ye Ling had won for her!

"This thing is so dumb. I don’t see what’s so great about it."

Ye Ling just shrugged and said.

’He’d never understood why girls liked stuffed animals like this. A piece of cloth and a pile of cotton... is that more comfortable than hugging your own wife?’

In his opinion, it definitely wasn’t.

"You clueless guy."

Ning Ruoxi shot Ye Ling an exasperated glare.

’Couldn’t this guy just let her feel touched for a little longer?’

’He’s such a mood-killer!’

"Let’s go home."

Ning Ruoxi said, holding Ye Ling’s hand.

"You don’t want to look around anymore?"

Ye Ling was slightly taken aback.

"Nope, no more looking around. I’m tired."

Ning Ruoxi shook her head. Cradling Ye Ling’s arm with one hand and the little dinosaur with the other, she started walking toward the elevator.

She hadn’t planned on buying anything when she came out anyway; she just wanted to enjoy her time with Ye Ling.

After returning home, Ning Ruoxi placed the little dinosaur on her bedside table with extreme care, a contented smile on her face.

She had already decided: from this day on, the little dinosaur would sleep with her every night!

"Now that I’ve gotten you this little dinosaur, why do I feel like I’ve lost your favor?"

Ye Ling stood beside Ning Ruoxi, watching the young woman’s actions and muttering softly to himself.

"What did you just say?"

Ning Ruoxi stood up, tilted her head back slightly, and asked with a blink of her eyes.

"Didn’t say anything."

Ye Ling shook his head decisively.

"Hehe, I heard you, actually."

Ning Ruoxi gave a mischievous laugh, stood on her tiptoes, and pecked Ye Ling on the lips. "Don’t worry, you’re still my one and only little treasure."

"That’s more like it."

Ye Ling nodded in satisfaction and gave the young woman a loud smack of a kiss on her cheek.

’Ah, yes.’

’This was his wife, so adorable.’

...

Net Entertainment Group.

In the chairman’s office on the top floor of the corporate tower.

The boss of Net Entertainment Group stared at the report in front of him, his expression terrifyingly grim. A young secretary stood before him, so intimidated by his imposing aura that she didn’t dare to breathe too loudly.

For the past several days, a strange flow of capital had been circulating in the market, continuously suppressing Net Entertainment Group’s stock price.

It was strange mainly because this capital flow seemed completely indifferent to its own losses, suppressing the stock purely for the sake of suppression.

Logically speaking, Net Entertainment Group had just completed a merger and should have been in a period of high market expectation. However, because of this capital flow, its stock was consistently in the red.

On this point, one could say Net Entertainment Group had become a bizarre case study in recent years.

"Chairman, this capital flow is extremely strange. It suddenly flooded the market a week ago. Furthermore, judging by the methods of operation, there must be an even larger financial power behind it."

The young secretary standing to the side said in a low voice.

"An even larger financial power..."

Hearing this, the boss of Net Entertainment Group couldn’t help but frown.

For some reason, he subconsciously thought of the incident where their website’s servers had suddenly crashed.

’Could these two incidents... be related?’

’Or rather, could this have something to do with Shengding Group?’

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.

A man in a suit walked in and said respectfully, "Chairman, the second-largest shareholder just arrived at the company with a group of other shareholders. They’re demanding a shareholders’ meeting."

As soon as he heard this, the chairman of Net Entertainment Group’s brow furrowed tightly.

The company’s stock had been consistently in the red, and now these shareholders were demanding a meeting. They were surely up to no good; ninety percent of them were probably here to challenge him, the chairman!

"What damn shareholders? They’re just a bunch of idiots! You never see them when the company is profitable, but the moment something goes wrong, they all crawl out of the woodwork!"

Thinking this, the boss of Net Entertainment Group couldn’t stop himself from slamming his hand on the table again.

Seeing the chairman’s fury, the two people beside him both instinctively shut their mouths, not daring to say another word.