America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

The van door opened, and White was the first to return, "I've heard about something that hasn't been reported by the media, Martin Davis was involved in a gunfight in the community."

"A gunfight?" Alec showed interest.

Without stopping, White continued, "Some African American dealers broke into the Carter family's residence at night, but Martin drove them off with a gun. The leader even got his ass shot by Martin and is now serving time in a state prison. He won't get out for more than a decade."

Alec lost interest, as this wasn't the news he was looking for.

White added, "Then there's Martin's father who eloped with his ex-girlfriend's mother. The guy is a complete scumbag; we might be able to use that."

"Do you know where he is?" Alec asked.

White, clearly frustrated, replied, "He's rumored to have fled to either Australia or New Zealand."

Someone knocked on the van's window from outside; Albert had also returned.

He shared the information he had gathered from several people, which was pretty much the same as White's.

Alec listened and frowned, unable to help but say, "Martin Davis is like someone who crawled out of a quagmire, a real-life version of the American dream."

What the neighbors said wasn't much different from what had already been reported in the newspapers.

The only things not detailed in the reports were the gunfight with the dealers and that bastard father.

But if these were published, Martin Davis's resume would seem even more legendary, and he would shine even more.

"Could we start with Martin's father?" White suggested.

"You're going to Australia or New Zealand to find him?" Alec retorted.

White fell silent.

At that point, Albert spoke up, "Boss, if we really can't do anything else, should we just publish this news?"

"Publish this useless stuff?" Alec shook his head, raising his voice, "Do you have any professional aspirations? We're reporters, obligated to uncover the facts hidden behind the scenes. That's the power granted to us by the public!"

After finishing the lofty-spiritual talk, he spoke of practical matters, "You all know very well, with news like this, the newspaper will give us a huge reward if we break it!"

They dismissed what White and Albert had said earlier.

But the latter made their hearts race; the newspaper was notoriously generous with news rewards, not concerned or, in fact, tacitly encouraging staff to obtain news by whatever means necessary.

Alec added, "Martin Davis's ex-girlfriend's family is key. Find them." He glanced at the date on the newspaper, "If we haven't found anything new in two days, we'll go back to Washington and use our special tricks."

White was good at this, "All the awardees are staying at the DC Hilton Hotel, we've done several ops there, and we have plenty of news informants."

Since 9/11, they had been invincible, Alec whispered, "There's no news that World News Report can't get."

...

In Washington, D.C., at the national airport.

Martin and Bruce exited the arrival gate and met the personnel who had come to pick them up, climbing into the sedan they had brought.

The car crossed the Potomac River and soon turned onto Pennsylvania Avenue.

Through the car window, Martin saw the obelisk shape of the Washington Monument and the domed Capitol Hill Building.

A Secret Service agent tasked with the reception said, "Mr. Davis, your itinerary is arranged as follows, at the hotel, there will be a media interview, then you have free time. On the morning of Independence Day at nine o'clock, I will come to take you to the White House for the Independence Day celebration; the award ceremony is a part of the festivities."

"Thank you," Martin nodded slightly, "May I have your name and contact information?"

The agent handed over a card, "Jonathan."

Martin, being polite, offered his own business card, "Give me a call if you're ever in Los Angeles."

Jonathan accepted, "Thank you."

At the Hilton Hotel, the car passed through a driveway, and Bruce pointed to a place, "That's where Reagan was shot."

Martin whispered, "Fans can be terrifying when they go crazy."

What was the name of that member of The Beatles? He couldn't quite remember, was it the one who was killed by his own fan?

Once inside the hotel, Kate from the official Washington News Report was already waiting in the lobby lounge.

The interview wasn't anything special; Kate asked all the formulaic questions, and Martin was responsible for the business flattery, praising the LAPD and Los Angeles before moving on to authorities and the like.

Jonathan stood by until the interview ended.

As Kate prepared to leave, she said, "Can we exchange contact information?"

"No problem." Martin was happy to have more contacts in the media, an additional channel to voice his opinions.

They exchanged contact information, and Kate made a point to call Martin's phone.

The hotel had already prepared a suite, and Martin and Bruce headed upstairs together.

Bruce gave the room a quick check and commented, "Not bad at all."

Martin asked, "Have Duke and Murphy arrived?"

Checking his phone, Bruce said, "They're here, waiting to see which room we get before checking in."

He had scoped out the place upon entry, sending out the room number and a few suitable rooms for those two, "This is Washington, normally the Russians wouldn't try anything."

Martin joked casually, "Unless they've been drinking."

Soon, Duke and Murphy went upstairs and checked into a room not far across diagonally.

These two were adept at observing and spotting trackers.

Martin was quite satisfied with them; it was they who had discovered Pratt following behind in Atlanta.

As Duke took out the room card to open the door, Murphy, who lagged behind, lifted his cell phone and snapped photos of the portraits of the hotel staff responsible for this floor displayed on the public notice board.

In a hotel like this, each floor is attended to by a dedicated staff.

Inside the room, Martin had just finished packing his luggage and stepped out onto the balcony of the main bedroom.

From here, one could gaze upon the White House.

Bruce came over and said, "They're all set over there."

......

Atlanta, Northville.

Lily, who had just transferred schools, walked out of the private middle school alone and proceeded along the sidewalk, her Joker keychain swinging back and forth with every step of her long legs.

The weather was a bit hot, so she entered a cold drink shop and ordered a fat-free ice cream.

Lily sat down at an empty table with her ice cream.

Before she could start eating, a stylish man in his twenties, with a kindly face, sat down opposite her.

Albert tentatively said, "Hello, I'm a friend of Martin's."

Lily took a bite of her ice cream and replied habitually, "That idiot and bastard has a friend like you?"

Hearing this young girl curse Martin the moment she opened her mouth, Albert felt he had found the right person—this little girl's attitude towards Martin was extremely poor.

He continued, "Martin is a star, and I work in the media industry."

Lily understood that he was a journalist and her mind began to turn, though her face grew even more innocent and cute.

Albert then said, "I came here mainly to understand some basic information about Martin for a comprehensive news report. Martin will soon be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

Lily thought of the videos she had seen, of Martin foolishly rushing to rescue irrelevant people and said, "That idiot, what else can he do other than stupid things?"

Albert asked, "You don't get along with him? Did he do something excessive to you?"

Lily didn't answer but blinked her innocent eyes and asked, "Which newspaper are you a journalist for? You're not a bad person, right?"

Albert, looking at the harmless, pretty middle school girl, took out his work ID to show her: "World News Report."

Lily had never seen this newspaper but its name sounded very impressive: "A global newspaper?"

"Yes! It's distributed in many places around the world!" Albert didn't mention his connection with the Sun newspaper and asked leadingly, "Did Martin bully you?"

Lily subconsciously touched the top of her head; she seemed to have received quite a few punches after Martin hurt his leg.

But she could tell something was off with the journalist's questions and said, "Not bullying exactly. It's just that he mooched off my family, we used to be quite poor, food wasn't always enough, and we had to fight for our meals."

Albert was quite disappointed and continued to lead the conversation: "Nothing else? He stayed at your house for a long time, and your house is small. With many private matters for a girl, weren't there many embarrassing incidents?"

Lily thought to herself there were many times, but I won't tell you.

She was sure now that this was not a good person: "Embarrassing incidents? There was this one time..."

"What?" asked Albert.

Lily wasn't Martin; she needed time to fabricate a story: "There are some troublemakers near the community who always liked to bully girls. One time they were bullying me, and Martin saw it and beat them up, making them call me 'big sister.' Afterward, every time they saw me, they would obediently stop and call me 'big sister,' which I found quite embarrassing."

Albert looked the same, but inside he was once again disappointed. He continued to pry Lily for information but didn't get anything useful.

During the more than two months Martin spent here filming, he patched up a lot of things.

All he needed was for people to speak the truth; there was no need to fabricate nice things for him. The normal messes of the slums from his past would only make his character seem fuller.

Those who really understood what he had done, like Elena and Bruce, would not speak to the media either.

A few minutes later, Albert was thoroughly disappointed. The stupid acts Lily spoke of would, if reported, only turn into proof of Martin Davis's struggle to break free from the mire.

The same went for the Clayton Community, as did Lily Carter...

Albert felt that White at the House of Beast would not glean any useful results either.

"Thank you," said Albert, departing amicably.

He crossed the street and got into a car parked diagonally across. He shook his head at Alec: "It's no use."

"White hasn't gotten anything either," Alec reported.

Albert suggested, "Boss, should we switch targets?"

Alec vetoed the idea, "Don't you think this is a bit abnormal? Look at stars who came up from the bottom like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Which one doesn't have a bunch of bad press? Why is it that these past few years, all of Martin Davis's actions are positive moves to shake off poverty? Does that make sense?"

Once he was set on something, he wouldn't easily change his mind, just as with certain politicians, 9/11 victims' families, and injured veterans from the war in Afghanistan.

No ill will, just for the news.

Alec didn't hesitate further: "Call White and tell him to come back to the hotel immediately. We're going to Washington."

On the other side, Lily waited a while, then immediately took out her phone and dialed Martin's number.