MTLNOVEL Chapter 476 Cheating Competition
Inside the press room of Los Angeles City Hall, the LAPD and FBI were holding a joint press conference regarding the Santa Monica Pier attack.
"There is conclusive evidence that this was not a simple assault; it was an act of terrorism launched by spies from a certain country against democratic freedom," Bradt read steadily from the script he knew by heart, "intended to create chaos and take the opportunity to disrupt America's elections..."
The hundreds of journalists attending the press conference buzzed with surprise. Was this also involving espionage?
No wonder the LAPD and FBI had no clue about the attack; it turns out it was all instigated by that bear...
Many of the older journalists remembered, not without a shudder, something similar from over twenty years ago.
Representing the FBI, Nevies took over and said into the microphone, "In addition to the nine individuals involved in the pier attack, there were six others providing peripheral support. The FBI, in conjunction with the LAPD, has apprehended them all."
He emphasized, "Here, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Mr. Martin Davis, who thwarted a serious attack on Los Angeles by international spies and terrorists, defending the democracy and freedom of America."
Speaking of Martin, even the reporters who didn't care for him had to admit a level of respect. Surviving such a crazed and sudden attack and ultimately joining forces with his manager to wipe out the attackers was beyond admirable.
Nevies made it official, "Martin Davis showed extraordinary intelligence, extraordinary courage, and extraordinary combat capabilities. Martin is a hero!"
Bradt added, "Martin rightly deserves the honor of being a distinguished citizen of Los Angeles!"
After extolling Martin, the LAPD and FBI proceeded to sing their own praises, such as how brutally trained the attackers were, how cunning, and how difficult it was to capture those peripheral players, among other things.
In short, the LAPD and FBI were not at fault in this matter; the blame lay with an enemy too cunning.
In the hospital room of the medical center, Martin, watching the live broadcast on TV, paced around the spacious suite a dozen or so times and said, "With the LAPD and FBI press conference over, we've been officially recognized. It's time to announce the situation."
Bruce pointed at the hospital door, "Every day, hordes of your supporters come to deliver flowers; they light candles to pray for you at night."
Elizabeth entered the room with lunch in hand and said, "A dozen beautiful girls in wedding dresses came to the door to deliver flowers for you."
Bruce remarked, "Them again!"
Curious, Elizabeth asked, "Them?"
Martin explained, "A bunch of crazy fans, rummaging through our trash, I think they might be looking for things like condoms..."
Listening to Martin's words, Elizabeth was a bit stunned, thinking that she absolutely must not allow Martin's things to be leaked in the future, or it would cause trouble.
Bruce glanced at the TV and reminded him, "The press conference is over; you should go lie down. It's time for the photo shoot."
Martin's arm was no longer a major issue, having regained mobility that morning, but for the sake of the photo's effect, it was once again slung around his neck. He sat propped up in the hospital bed, with bandages on his thigh visible.
With his acting skills, portraying the aftermath of an injury was all too easy.
Bruce took photos with a camera, then connected to the computer to send them to Thomas.
Within minutes, all the major media outlets and newspapers received the photos of Martin in his hospital bed.
"The latest news from this station: Martin Davis's condition is stable, and while his injuries are serious, they are not life-threatening. He will need to stay in the hospital for treatment for a while..."
At the same time, updates on Martin's latest status were posted on both his personal blog and the official website of the Cola Cult.
Beyond the photos, there was also a short interview video with his agent Thomas.
"Thank you for the public's support and concern; Martin's condition has stabilized, and he will need to stay in the hospital for some time."
On the official website of the Cola Cult, comments immediately surged past ten thousand.
"Martins's safe, thank goodness!"
"I was eating lunch, saw the news about Martin, and suddenly burst into tears, God bless!"
"Martin, for us supporters, you must take good care of yourself!"
"The day you get discharged, we'll come to the hospital to welcome you!"
That afternoon, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for "John Wick."
Find adventures at empire
The trailer, lasting just over forty seconds, was made up almost entirely of realistic-style action and gunfight scenes featuring Martin.
Given the current situation, the kind of response such a trailer could elicit was obvious.
On the day it was released on YouTube, the trailer set a record for the most views on the platform in a single day, hitting nearly 4 million views, skyrocketing the hype!
The film's director, Chad, was interviewed by Warner Television Network.
"I'm not at all surprised by Martin's formidable fighting prowess in the face of armed terrorists!" he spoke frankly: "Because before shooting 'John Wick,' Martin underwent months of intensive training in gunfighting and close combat."
That statement skyrocketed fan expectations to the max.
Along with the trailer, a personal poster of Martin's character was released, with Jonathan wearing a suit, bloodied, and carrying a handgun—reminiscent of Martin himself going on a killing spree on Santa Monica Pier.
The concept of a suited enforcer quickly spread by word of mouth.
In just a few days, "John Wick" had surpassed "Transformers 2," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Ice Age 3," and other films to claim the top spot on the 2009 list of most-anticipated movies!
The topic and interest were entirely ignited by Martin and the pier incident.
The entire internet was abuzz discussing the film.
"After watching other trailers, I'd just feel like it was a movie, but after watching the 'John Wick' trailer, I knew Martin could do all that in real life!"
"Martin has already given a life-threatening preview at Santa Monica Pier, do you have a reason not to buy a ticket?"
"Next year I could skip every other film, but 'John Wick' is a must-watch!"
"Other movie stars can only show off in movies, but Martin is impressive both on screen and in real life!"
In the last month of 2008, there was no other star hotter than Martin.
With the help of developed information networks, videos related to him spread from North America to the whole world, attracting a huge wave of new fans for Martin.
Martin's popularity was so high that Guanhai actively sought him out.
During Guanhai's Los Angeles visit, through Ali's brother and the head of the Guanhai think tank, Ram Emanuel, they contacted Martin to visit him in the hospital as he was a fighter and hero for freedom and democracy.
Martin was very cooperative, even with his 'severely injured body,' taking a commemorative photo with the Guanhai Team.
He also secured Ram Emanuel's personal contact information through Ali's introduction.
As long as Guanhai wins the election, Ram would surely be the White House Chief of Staff.
Martin spent Christmas and New Year's in the hospital, in a luxurious ward fully funded by Cartier, which he found quite comfortable.
On December 30, the Oscar nomination ballots were mailed out.
On the first day of 2009, Coca-Cola held a press conference to officially announce that Martin would become the lifelong spokesperson for Coca-Cola and cooperate with Martin's team to launch a Martin commemorative Coca-Cola packaging.
A true Sect Hierarch of the Cola Cult!
A few days later, Cartier released a special edition advertisement with edits of Martin's fight scenes from the Pier incident, set to a brand new background music that got blood pumping.
In most of the ad scenes, you could see Martin wearing a Cartier men's watch.
Therefore, at the end of the commercial, the only caption appeared — Cartier men's watches, the choice of a real man!
The ads from these two companies, which didn't invest much money, had more impact than those that poured in tens of millions of dollars.
Especially Coca-Cola's newly released Martin edition commemorative packaging, which was so hot that supermarkets and convenience stores were selling out.
There were even scalpers reselling this special edition Coca-Cola.
Cadillac was dissatisfied and specifically sought out Thomas to express their concerns.
"Why didn't Martin use a Cadillac in the Pier incident?" the representative asked with frustration, noting they also paid for his endorsement, "Why didn't Martin drive a Cadillac to fight the bad guys?"
What could Thomas say? Under those circumstances, it wasn't possible to pause the action, wait for Martin to find a Cadillac, and then start again, was it?
He explained, "The situation was too urgent, Martin might have lost his life at any moment, it was all instinctive reaction."
Fortunately, Cadillac just expressed some dissatisfaction and insisted that Martin must ride in a Cadillac when he leaves the hospital.
After sending off the Cadillac representatives, Thomas immediately rushed to the next business meeting.
After providing the photo of the Nokia phone, the representatives from Nokia realized the potential for business and dramatically changed their attitude.
They not only agreed to Martin's endorsement fee of 12 million US dollars per year but also suggested signing on a yearly basis.
However, the phone that stopped the bullet had to be given to Nokia, and they needed to cooperate in the promotion.
Sure enough, once the phone was shown online with Martin's personal testimony, Nokia immediately caused a sensation.
The Oscar PR campaign was also proceeding in parallel, Martha and Rita had never had an Oscar campaign as easy as this one.
For the promotion, Martin brought his own buzz and traffic, and the judges remembered him more than fondly.
On lobbying, those Academy members living in Los Angeles acknowledged his contributions to the city; giving him a vote was trivially easy.
"It's not fair!"
Inside an office, Josh Brolin was quite irritated, "Who the hell can even compete for Best Supporting Actor now."
His agent attempted to console him, "Given the situation, even if we throw a few million dollars out there, we can't snatch Best Supporting Actor. I think securing a nomination is enough, anything else would just be wasting money."
Josh Brolin was close to tears, "Martin Davis is cheating! We're spending money honestly, doing promotions, lobbying judges, following the Academy's agenda. And him? He's got himself a national hero's hat to wear. How can anyone compete with that?"
He fumed, "It's so shameless!"
The agent responded, "Nothing can be done, he was on the Pier."
Josh Brolin fell silent for a while before saying, "Thank God I wasn't there."
The agent patted his shoulder, trying to console him, "It's a clear advantage others earned with their lives, it's normal we can't compete."
"Forget it, forget it," Josh Brolin, feeling drained, conceded to this cheat-like competition, "Just make sure I get a nomination, and we'll talk about contending for the award later."
The agent nodded, "There's plenty of opportunity in the future."