Chapter 546 - 354: Another One!

Chapter 546: Chapter 354: Another One!

"You’re saying," Alister said, "that Timothy instructed the New York Times to do this?"

"Except for him, who I couldn’t dig anything up on," Beatrice said, "I’ve investigated every other possible suspect."

"Everyone."

"I don’t think this restaurant is big enough to produce an echo, Alister," Beatrice said impatiently.

"No," Alister said, snapping out of his daze. "I mean, uh... what are you going to do? When will the New York Times publish the news?"

"It’ll probably take two to three months," Beatrice said, taking a deep breath. "First of all, even if someone tipped them off with accurate information, the New York Times still needs time to verify it. For this step, I can have Silvia file a dispute against their investigative journalists, forcing them to reconsider for errors and stalling for time.

"Secondly, I also know a few editors at the New York Times. I’ll lobby them to create some internal tug-of-war and delay things a bit longer."

"Oh!" Alister clapped his hands. "Isn’t that a win-win? The most capable sister handles the hardest task."

"This doesn’t just concern me!" Beatrice glared at him. "You have shares too. So do you, Liz. Both of you need to figure something out."

"Me..." Alister shrank back. "I have to think of something too?"

"Exactly. Use those shady friends of yours," Beatrice nodded. "Throw a huge party at your place. Hand out plenty of drugs, make it chaotic, and use the mess to fish for information."

"All right!" After a moment’s thought, Alister agreed readily.

His enthusiasm actually caught Beatrice off guard for a moment, but she didn’t dwell on it and turned to Elizabeth.

"Liz, I want you to contact Silvia and prepare a contingency plan," she said, "especially regarding how to explain this to Ronan."

Elizabeth frowned deeply. "Why me? Are you leaving the hardest part to me? You want me to explain this to Lord Ronan?"

"You’re of the younger generation, and you’re the second-largest shareholder. No one here is more deeply tied to Free Port than you," Beatrice said. "You take the most money and dividends, so you have to do something, right? You’re far better than Charles Mellon, that useless drug addict."

This made sense. Elizabeth gritted her teeth and nodded.

"As for Li Wei," Beatrice continued, "I hope you can help contact John Mara."

"No wonder you asked me to sit in," Li Wei laughed, pointing at the appetizers that had just been served. "This is a really expensive meal."

"The Maras and the Sulzberger family, who own the New York Times, are old acquaintances," Beatrice said. "I don’t need Mara to apply pressure, but I want to know exactly what the New York Times knows.

"Although we know the Sulzbergers too, we can’t approach them from the Mellons’ perspective. That might just excite the New York Times internally, which would be like adding fuel to the fire.

"Please. For Liz’s sake. If Ronan really finds out, we’re completely finished."

After a moment of thought, Li Wei glanced at the worried Elizabeth.

"I’ll make a call and try," he said.

...

"Well?" Elizabeth asked. "Do you think Timothy did it?"

After a simple, casual meal, the group dispersed, and Li Wei drove Elizabeth home. Looking out at the New York Manhattan streetscape, she turned to him.

"I don’t know," Li Wei said thoughtfully while driving. "I’ll have to find time to meet Timothy before I can be sure."

"PFFT." Elizabeth burst out laughing. "What? Is he just going to tell you if you meet him?"

"You never know," Li Wei said casually. "Beatrice told you to prepare a contingency plan and contact Ronan. Do you have any ideas?"

"None," Elizabeth shook her head decisively. "Even though he’s my great-uncle by blood, I’ve never actually met him. Only my grandfather sees him occasionally."

Li Wei nodded. From their dynamic and relationship, it was clear that any family affection was purely superficial. Aside from sharing a last name, they had absolutely nothing in common.

"I’ll contact John Mara tonight first," Li Wei said. "Let’s see if he can get any information from the Sulzberger family."

"You don’t have to go this far. Don’t listen to what Aunt Beatrice said." Elizabeth rested a hand on his arm. "This matter doesn’t really concern you."

"How does it not?" Li Wei smiled. "It concerns you, which means it concerns me a great deal.

"Besides, don’t I have a physical entity in Free Port? How could that have nothing to do with me?"

A hint of a smile flashed in Elizabeth’s eyes at his words. She stretched, brazenly showing off the curves of her figure and making Li Wei turn his head repeatedly.

"What a pity," she said. "If you hadn’t added that last sentence, I was going to invite you up for coffee again."

"Didn’t we finish it last time?" Li Wei asked.

"It’s not pour-over this time," Elizabeth said with a half-smile. "This time it’s a latte."

"All right," Li Wei said. "I take back what I just said."

"Too late." Elizabeth leaned over and kissed his cheek. "We’ll drink it next time."

With that, she pushed the car door open, greeted the doorman, and stepped into the elevator.

Li Wei stayed in the car, watching her back until the elevator doors slid shut. Suddenly, he smiled and shook his head. Restarting the car, he pulled out his phone and called John Mara.

He hadn’t used [Adaptability (Bronze)] in a few days. If he had John Mara set up a meeting with the editor-in-chief of the New York Times, he might be able to coax out some useful information.

The call connected quickly, and Li Wei explained his intentions.

John Mara agreed right away. The patriarch of the Sulzberger family was a member of the same club as him, and they had an excellent personal relationship.

Soon, John Mara relayed the message back to him.

"Of course, no problem at all. I’m a loyal fan of the Giants, and it would be an honor to dine with a Super Bowl MVP and the greatest Quarterback in history," the editor-in-chief said over the phone. "However, I’m away on a business trip in Europe this week. Could we grab a meal together next week instead?"

"No problem," Li Wei said. It didn’t matter anyway; he needed to head back to Los Angeles first to shoot his dungeon scenes.

...

Hollywood Burbank, Warner Bros. Stage 9.

The dungeon set in Zone B was fully completed. The art department had seemingly transported an entire dungeon straight out of the Middle Ages, complete with skeleton models hanging on the walls, iron chains, and rusty torture devices.

"This set looks fantastic," Li Wei sniffed the air. "It even smells a little damp."

"How is it? I had someone custom-build it," Director Del Toro poked his head out from behind the monitors and said proudly. "It’s all to help the actors get into character faster.

"Including this crypt. I had them specifically reference the catacombs in Prague and recreate them on a 1:1 scale."

Beside him, Magos Weber, the executive producer in charge of the budget, looked somewhat displeased. He clearly disagreed with Del Toro’s extravagant measures on this matter, but he didn’t voice his complaints.

"All right," Del Toro clapped his hands. "All departments, get ready. Scene B-1, Take 1. Action!"

[Action!]

[Lovi (Li Wei) is imprisoned in the dungeon.]

[Guards stand watch at the door, leaning against the wall, dozing off out of sheer boredom.]

[Lovi (Li Wei) says, "Why does no one believe me?"]

[No one answers him, because he isn’t asking the guards here; he is asking the King.]

[In the silence, the iron chains emit a faint clinking sound.]

[Suddenly, a soft scraping noise comes from the ground.]

["Who goes there?" one of the guards asks. But there is no reply.]

["Keep watch here," he tells his companion. "I’ll go take a look."]

[The two guards separate, with one walking toward the door to investigate.]

An actor suspended on wires descended from the ceiling.

[A dark silhouette drops silently from the ceiling, taking out one guard the instant he lands.]

[The guard at the door hears the commotion, draws his short sword, and rushes over, only to be swiftly neutralized by the dark figure.]

[Lovi (Li Wei) looks at the intruder.]

[It is a man with a ragged cloth wrapped around his head to obscure his face, revealing only a pair of gleaming eyes. He wears leather armor, with six or seven daggers and an assortment of tools strapped to his waist.]

["I hear you’re the fool who keeps shouting about seeing a dragon?" He crouches down in front of Lovi.]

["Who are you?" Lovi (Li Wei) asks.]

["The man who’s saving your life." The intruder pulls out a piece of wire and wiggles it in front of Lovi. "Let’s make a deal."]

["You take me to where the dragon was last seen," he says, "and I’ll get you out of here."]

["You believe me?" Lovi (Li Wei) asks.]

["Of course, because I’ve seen it too," the man chuckles, revealing a gold tooth. "So, where is it?"]

["What are you going to do?" Lovi asks. "Kill it?"]

["Obviously. Legend has it that dragons love to hoard treasure," the man says. "As you can see, I’m a thief."]

["All right," Lovi says. "Untie me, and I’ll take you there."]

["You can call me Tucker." Tucker takes the wire and picks the lock. "Pleasure doing business with you."]

[After being freed, Lovi rubs his wrists and is pulled up from the floor by Thief Tucker.]

[The two of them run to the main gate of the dungeon and pull it open.]

[An entire squad of soldiers holding torches stands at the door, waiting for them.]

["Y-You... you’re not going anywhere," the Guard Captain leading them says coldly, holding a torch.]

["Tucker," Lovi says. "Do you thieves have a way to handle this kind of situation?"]

["I’m a thief, not a fucking Mage," Tucker whispers, already raising his hands in surrender. "I surrender! I confess! Lovi put me up to it! I’m actually just a poor dirt farmer!"]

"Cut!" Del Toro yelled. "Hey! Guard Captain! Get over here!"

The Guard Captain gulped and walked over.

Li Wei also received a reward notification from the system:

[You have collected (1/3) companions]

[Heart of the Dragon (3) Quest Updated: (1/3)]

[Free attribute points +0.1]

"I have 3.7 attribute points!" Li Wei thought happily. "Once I hit 4, I’ll allocate them!"

This time, he planned to max out one stat to 10 points first. Based on the previous changes, doing so should grant him a new ability or upgrade an existing one. He wondered what kind of skill would appear once he pushed Power or agility to 10 points.

"Guard Captain, why did you stutter just now?" Del Toro asked, looking visibly displeased.

"I..." The Guard Captain opened his mouth. "I’m sorry, Director Del Toro."

"Take two!" Del Toro shouted loudly.

"I expect you to take this next one seriously," he said, staring down the young actor playing the Guard Captain. "Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to recast you.

"Five-minute break! Then we go again!"

He sat back down in front of his monitors.

Li Wei couldn’t help but glance at the Guard Captain, who looked so nervous he was about to pee his pants. He walked over and patted the man on the shoulder.

"Are you about to pee yourself?" he asked.