In the morning, Corinda brought back the newspapers from the paper box and placed them by the side of the table.
Lance casually flipped through them.
The front page of Golden Port Today had several headlines. One of them caught Lance’s attention—”The Cassia Family has Officially Become a Thing of the Past.”
He turned to the fourth page. The subtitles on the fourth and fifth pages were “The Demise of the Cassia Family.” There were many photos inside, all in pairs for comparison.
The first to appear was Rick. One was a candid shot someone had taken of him getting into a car.
Right next to it was a processed photo of a shattered face stitched together. Of course, it had also been blurred to a certain extent, but it was enough for people to get a general, clear look.
Below was an introduction to Rick’s life, the bad things he had done, and how he had finally died, and who had done it.
Next were the senior cadres of the Cassia family. They all had similar appearances: a photo taken when they were alive, and a picture of their appearance after death.
These people, who had once belonged to the upper echelons of power in Golden Port, now appeared before the public in such a way, which was indeed a great shock.
Although many people knew that the Cassia family had done wrong and was being besieged by other families, what they didn’t expect was that this siege would be so fierce, so ruthless.
Without giving them any time to breathe, so many people had become corpses.
This report introduced the criminal history of the Cassia family. If this content was not fabricated, then it could only be said that the people in the Bay Area had been collecting criminal evidence of the Five Families all along.
When needed, they would throw it out.
No one had ever truly ruled Golden Port, not in front of the Bay Area.
He put down the newspaper and glanced at Corinda, who was humming a song, eating, and reading a magazine. “Are you dating Arthur?”
Corinda admitted it generously. “That’s right. He has a good impression of me, and I also have some good feelings for him. We’ve decided to try dating.”
Seeing Lance’s hesitant look, she took the initiative to say, “I know his reputation isn’t very good. He’s been with many girls. I don’t mind these things. I will be his last girlfriend.”
Lance shook his head. “I don’t plan to interfere in your relationship, but I have to remind you, you have to be prepared to be heartbroken.”
Corinda laughed. “If someone really needs to be heartbroken in this love, I believe it definitely won’t be me!”
“Very good, maintain your confidence until the last moment. I look forward to always seeing it.”
Lance did not comment further. All boys and girls in love will think that they are the other’s final choice, but the reality is often very cruel.
Although Arthur did not need to make sacrifices in marriage for the family business, he was, after all, a Williams.
As one of the most prominent families in this land of Golden Port, he was destined not to be with an immigrant.
Lance looked at the others. “Does no one want to make an effort?”
“Our girl is about to be tricked away.”
The others all burst into laughter. Corinda even ran over and wrapped her arms around Lance’s neck, shaking it back and forth. “Shut up, what you’re saying is making me feel ashamed.”
It was indeed a bit shameful. For everyone, they were more like brothers and sisters.
If someone could have that kind of feeling for their own sister, then that person was definitely a pervert.
“Let her regret it. Don’t you always say that tears are also a part of growth?”
Elvin sat opposite and commented with a chuckle. He liked his current life very much. He would not be defeated by poverty, he had his own career and ideals, and everyone lived happily. And he felt that even if Corinda was abandoned, it didn’t matter. With so many of them around, the people pursuing her would still be waiting in a long line for her to choose. Lance raised his hands. “Alright, alright, let her go and cry in the corner.”
Just as he said this, the sound of a car horn came from outside. Soon, someone came to report that Arthur had arrived.
“Your little blondie is here. Go and find him.”
“Since you’ve decided, you should love fiercely. We’ll talk about the future in the future.”
Corinda tidied her hair as she walked out. “I’ll listen to you this time.”
Morris could already walk with a cane. He sat on the other side. “Should we arrange for someone to follow?”
Lance shook his head. “No one is crazy enough to make a move on Arthur. I’m very relieved with Corinda being with him.”
Whether it was the Bay Area, Likalai State, or anyone else, they would not make a move on Arthur.
First of all, Arthur was a “waste.” He did not know about or participate in any important family affairs, so he had no special political value.
Secondly, he was Councilman Williams’s beloved son. Harming him would only send Councilman Williams into a rage, so he was very safe.
Even if he went to extort Mr. Jobav, or didn’t care much about some gang members, no one dared to harm him.
Besides this big news, the rest of the news in Golden Port were all ordinary news.
For example, two nuns had a big fight with a few girls in revealing swimsuits on the beach, or the coast guard had seized another batch of smuggled goods.
People liked this kind of news, even if it actually had no value and also took up people’s time.
Life is like this. Not everything is useful. There always have to be some things to kill your limited time.
Lance then picked up the International News. It was almost all news related to the Tanfit war.
This war tugged at the heartstrings of every working person in the world who paid attention to the international situation. Those who didn’t earn much a month not only loved to worry about domestic affairs, but also didn’t let go of international affairs.
Now, if you went to a street corner or a park to chat with others, if you couldn’t bring up a few sentences about the international situation, they would be too lazy to talk to you. The report said that more and more refugees were pouring into various parts of the world, including Golden Port.
This was confirmed by some news in Golden Port Today. Golden Port had added tens of thousands of new refugees this month, and the number would continue to increase, which was worrying.
Because winter was coming.
In a position further back, Lance also found another piece of news about the Empire.
The foolish Emperor of the Empire was under siege by the righteous men of the resistance army, and his regime was already in jeopardy…
If he didn’t know that the rebel army was almost completely finished, he would have almost believed this article.
The article mentioned the guy Lance was funding. He had now become the main force against the royal family. He believed this point. After all, the other rebel armies were gradually declining in the absence of supplies and reinforcements.
Only they, and possibly some other rebel armies, could still get supplies.
A seed, under the irradiation of the scorching sun and the nourishment of moisture, was beginning to sprout.
He hoped it would bring him enough return.
There was nothing to do at the company in the morning. Lance called the director and Gerard to the company, as well as Barbara.
Barbara was currently unemployed. Her last job had hurt her too much, and the period before had been relatively chaotic. Her family was afraid she would have an accident if she went out, so she hadn’t gone out to work.
The city had stabilized, so the problem of work was naturally put on the agenda.
When Gerard and the others came in, Barbara was pouring coffee for Lance. Looking at the two of them looking very familiar, Gerard looked at her with some curiosity. “Are you Lance’s girlfriend?”
Lance shook his head. “This is Patricia’s older sister, and she will also be a contracted actress for the company.”
Only then did the director dare to formally look at this girl. Very beautiful, mainly because she had a very in-line-with-the-current-aesthetic, modern Federation-girl image that was just screaming her name.
If you were to say that a non-blonde woman wearing a cowboy hat, a sweaty shirt and overalls, big rubber boots, with a hearty smile on her face represented the “Federation gal”…
Then those blonde girls who lived a refined life, full of sunshine and charm, were the ultimate in people’s aesthetic for girls, the “Federation chick.”
With such an outstanding appearance, there was no worry that no one would watch her movies.
On the contrary, the two screenwriters who came with them were a little afraid to look at Barbara.
Barbara was not embarrassed because she was being looked at favorably. Having worked at the front desk of a financial company, she had seen many different kinds of men and had long passed the stage of being afraid of others’ gazes.
She generously went over and greeted the two of them, even shaking their hands, and then sat back down next to Lance.
Lance didn’t mind her small actions and then started to talk about some of his own ideas. “I have a story in my head. I want to turn it into a movie, so I need you guys to come and give some reference.”
No one had any objections. They all knew that Lance was the company’s major shareholder. The two screenwriters even directly took out their pens and notebooks. “My idea is this.”
“There’s a young man named Jason. He has an unfortunate family, and he made a mistake.”
“He was cursed and can never return to a normal life.”
Gerard interrupted, “Is it that Angel Lake outside?”
Lance nodded and said, “Yes, it’s the Angel Lake here. It is the source of my inspiration.”
“Although he atoned for his sins through death, death could not break the curse. Instead, it plunged him into eternal pain.”
“He became the demon in Angel Lake and will float up from the bottom of the water to kill people at a certain specific time.”
“My God!” Barbara grabbed Lance’s arm. Lance looked at her.
She seemed not to have noticed and said, “It sounds too scary. Is this a true story?”
At this moment, Lance believed that she would definitely have a place in acting. At least her acting skills in this aspect were relatively mature.
He shook his head. “This is a story.”
“Then our protagonist team, a group of high school students, on their graduation trip, came to the shores of Angel Lake.”
“Someone told them the legends about Angel Lake, there were beautiful legends, and also terrifying legends, and some very curious folk legends.”
“So they decided to camp by Angel Lake and explore the secrets in the lake.”
A screenwriter interjected, “The mystery of the rising water!”
Lance pointed at him. “You’re right. You can collect some similar rumors, process them a bit, and make it so that people can’t tell if it’s real or fake.”
“I am very serious about this script. It is not just a movie; it will also become an interesting phenomenon.”
The thought that if the movie could be a hit, many people would come to Angel Lake to explore made Lance want to laugh.
Because there really was a Jason down there. “I’ll continue with the plot.”
“These young people didn’t take these rumors to heart, and when they were having a picnic by the lake, they violated the taboos here.”
“They used the blood of an animal to activate the demon Jason in the lake. Jason began to complete his hunt.”
“He wants to kill everyone.”
“Of course, in the end, the male protagonist ran out.”
“You guys fill in the details. It needs to be connected with some local legends, and Jason is immortal.”
“After each hunt, he will return to the lake, waiting for the next appearance.”
After listening, the director couldn’t help but exclaim, “An outstanding story, and it sounds a bit thrilling. What genre is it?”
“A horror film!”
“A horror film?” The director’s expression was a little strange. “The horror films now are all shot on execution grounds. At least I’ve never heard of this kind of horror film.”
They would film the execution process and then play it for people who had never seen it.
Many people would have some reactions after watching it: fear, fright, or excitement. People believed that horror films were cult classics, so the audience was very small.
Those horror films couldn’t actually be called horror films; they should be called curiosity films, and they should be restricted.
From the director’s point of view, this was actually a thriller story, but since Lance said it was a horror film, then it was a horror film. “Is this our next filming plan?” Gerard whistled. “It sounds very interesting. I think people will like it.”
The screenwriters also marveled at Lance’s amazing story concept and all felt that this story would definitely be a big hit.
Lance also talked about some of his new ideas. “After this movie is filmed, we’ll watch it first. If it’s really good enough, I plan to share the profits with the cinema chains.”
The director frowned slightly when he heard this, because this model was not mainstream at all now.
Although the industry would also count the box office, and the statistics were basically inaccurate, the box office here did not mean that the producer of this movie could profit according to the box office.
The mainstream sales model was still to sell the broadcasting rights outright. A good movie would be a few thousand, ten or twenty thousand, or two or thirty thousand.
A bad movie would be a few hundred for a copy.
The value of counting the box office was here. When a director’s previous movie had a high enough box office, his movie would have many cinema owners inquiring and having an intention to buy.
“Mr. Lance, your idea is very good, but it’s very difficult for us to do this…”
“Copying a film is not something that has a particularly high technical threshold. Some cinemas will copy it themselves and then sell it. We simply don’t know how many cinemas are playing our movie, so we can’t share the profits with them from the box office.”
From last year to today, several of the most popular sound films had already had a box office of over a million. The booming industry had made many people notice the potential here.
But still, no one wanted to use the method of sharing the box office to sell. There were too many troubles here.
Lance shook his head. “This is not something you should worry about. You’ve forgotten what I do. I have a lot of men, and they can handle these things.”
Thinking of Lance’s real “work,” the director closed his mouth and said nothing.
If a gang member took a copy to watch over the screening, then there should be no problem.
The director also heard from Lance’s words that he had great ambitions. This was also a good thing for him himself.
After all, the greater Lance’s ambitions, the more places he would be needed. “In addition, we can’t just wait for a good script, a good director, and a good actor to start filming. Continue to discover new talents, including directors.”
“We can make some attempts, invest in some new directors, five thousand, or ten thousand, twenty thousand.”
“Even if what they shoot is a pile of dog shit, there will always be someone who will use it to make money.”
At this time, the print media about movies had not really developed, let alone any other channels.
Promoting a movie relied entirely on the posters at the cinema entrance and word of mouth. Many moviegoers didn’t know whether a movie was good or bad, but they would definitely be interested in a new movie.
There were not many film critics, and no particularly authoritative media, so there would definitely be a continuous stream of audiences being tricked into the cinema.
This was an era of carnival for low-budget films. It was basically very difficult to lose money, and the competition was not so fierce.
There was no so-called academy school, and no professional film critics. Everything seemed exceptionally wild. Finally, Lance glanced at Barbara. “Take her to the company too. See if there are any movies suitable for her. Not the kind that will damage her image. Let her give it a try.”
This director naturally had no objection. Being able to find an actress with an outstanding appearance could also add a lot of color to the film.
After some miscellaneous matters were resolved, Lance had them leave first. Gerard stayed behind.
They all lived in the city now, so they could go back anytime, anywhere. He hadn’t been over for a while and had also heard that Ethan was now a boxer. He was very interested in these things.
“Although there are many friends over there, Lance, that place doesn’t feel like my home. This is.”
He sat on the other side of Lance, chatting about things in the company.
It was hard to imagine that the seventeen-year-old Gerard was actually the company’s “top male actor,” and he had also made three movies in these few months.
One was the company’s own, and the other two were invitations from other companies. He was already a little famous.
His outstanding appearance made him not only handsome on the screen, but also beautiful.
Both men and women liked him very much. Lance had also heard that many people wanted to ask him out privately, both men and women.
“You can come over anytime you want. Didn’t the company assign you a car?”
Lance asked.
“They did, but everyone is watching me. It’s not good for me to run around everywhere.”
He changed to a more relaxed topic as he spoke. “When is Ethan’s next match?”
Lance glanced at the calendar on his watch. “Next Tuesday.”
(End of chapter)