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The next morning, when markets opened, Sterling Industries stock crashed again. Another limit-down day by noon.
Brandon Sterling, now the internet's most hated man, had only one option left: run. He fled the country to escape the relentless public crucifixion, tail between his legs.
But the fallout didn't stop there. The whole scandal had kicked over a hornet's nest of corruption.
The traffic cop who'd handled Steven "accident"? Suspended pending investigation for falsifying records and obstruction of justice. More heads were rolling by the day.
Meanwhile, Fast & Furious finally saw daylight again.
After passing review, the game was slapped with a Mature rating and re-released in the US market.
"FINALLY! Fast & Furious is back!"
"Oh thank God, I can play again! These past few days have been torture!"
"Yo, Stormwind just announced the new Fast & Furious chapter drops tomorrow at 8 AM!"
"Nooo, I'm three months away from eighteen! I've been waiting forever and now I can't even play. Fuck you, Brandon Sterling, this is YOUR fault!"
"I was born premature and literally just turned eighteen yesterday. Guess I'm the lucky one here!"
"Six more months until I'm eighteen. Missing the new content AND the prize money. That's basically a million dollars I just lost. I hope Brandon Sterling chokes!"
"Just turned eighteen, feeling blessed... floats by"
"🖕"
"Wait, it's gonna cost money now. See ya!"
"Free-to-play scrubs, quit flexing. Stay quiet in the corner."
"First time I'm actually paying for a game. For Fast & Furious? Worth it. Take my money!"
"Honestly such a sick dungeon, gotta support it!"
"That prize money though... yeah I'm buying the update!"
"I'm here for the story! Instant buy when it drops tomorrow!"
"Right?? I NEED to know what happens after Brian and the crew hijack that prison bus..."
News of the Fast & Furious update ignited the gaming community once again.
Riding the wave of controversy and vindication, the game's global popularity exploded. Player counts surged across all regions.
Ironically, while the US market lost about 5% of players due to the new age restrictions, new player growth went absolutely nuclear.
Brandon's attempted character assassination had backfired spectacularly—giving Fast & Furious the kind of exposure money literally couldn't buy.
The arc from "controversial scandal" to "vindicated masterpiece" had created perfect narrative momentum. Brandon Sterling had accidentally run the most effective marketing campaign in gaming history—for his competitor.
Even veteran Infinite Realms players who'd quit years ago came back just to see what the fuss was about. The universal praise was impossible to ignore.
Game journalists and content creators worldwide scrambled to capitalize on the hype. Pre-written articles were hastily revised and published. New pieces were drafted overnight.
But nobody was busier than the Stormwind Studios team itself.
"Tom! Tom , you and Marcus need to move that together—you can't lift it solo!"
"David, I'm all set over here!"
"Emily, can you come upstairs real quick?"
"On my way!"
"Hey Emily! Alex is asking for you!"
"Coming!" Emily Watson called back, juggling three tasks at once.
The Stormwind office buzzed with controlled chaos as the team prepped for launch.
Outside, on a quiet residential street, a lanky guy wearing VR glasses and carrying streaming equipment walked along, talking to his phone.
"Okay chat, I know what you're thinking—but I'm telling you, she straight-up lied. Her net worth isn't even close to affording a place here. These influencers, man. All smoke and mirrors."
He paused, a thought striking him.
"Oh shit, wait—I just remembered something. Stormwind Studios—you know, the team behind Fast & Furious? Their office is in this neighborhood too."
The streamer's face lit up with opportunistic glee.
"How about instead, I give you guys an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Stormwind Studios? See what the team's up to the day before launch? Maybe snag an interview, get some insider info? If you're into it, drop some fire in chat!"
The streamer, Tyler "Scoop" Morrison (no relation to Alex), had built his brand on borderline invasive content. Former tabloid photographer turned content creator, specializing in "gotcha" moments.
Today's plan had been exposing some influencer's fake lifestyle. He'd used his connections to sneak into this gated community, only to find the mansion occupied by some random elderly couple with zero celebrity connections.
His chat had been roasting him hard—until he remembered Stormwind's office was nearby.
With the Fast & Furious update dropping tomorrow, the timing was perfect. Most of his viewers played the game—hell, he played it himself. His Fast & Furious gameplay stream last month had been his biggest hit.
Tyler made an executive decision. Uninvited visit time.
"They should be cool with it," he reasoned aloud to his audience. "I'm basically promoting their game, right? Free marketing. They'll probably thank me."
"Chat's going crazy, okay okay! Let's do this—Stormwind Studios, here we come!"
His viewer count was climbing. Tyler picked up his pace, heading toward the Stormwind office.
"The update drops tomorrow, so they've gotta be in full crunch mode today. Probably insane in there right now—team grinding, last-minute fixes, all-hands-on-deck situation."
He grinned at his camera.
"We're about to see what a AAA game studio looks like right before a major launch. The intensity, the pressure, the—"
"Wait, there it is. That's Stormwind Studios up ahead. Oh shit, the front gate's actually open. Okay, we're going in..."
Tyler hustled forward with his equipment, approaching the mansion's entrance.
He didn't charge in immediately. Instead, he carefully peeked around the corner, angling his camera to capture the scene inside first.
What he saw made him freeze mid-stream.
"What the... wait, this can't be right..."
His face went slack with confusion as his viewers started spamming question marks.
"Guys... something's seriously wrong here."
PLZ throw powerstones