America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Scandal

"When I was in Atlanta, I loved to surf the internet," said Martin, actually referring to his past life. But thinking about certain types of news he saw on the internet, he realized that some things are universal: "I've noticed something interesting. When male netizens get together to chat, the conversation often revolves around two topics."

Aga asked curiously, "Which two?"

Martin raised one finger, "Women, discussing beautiful women." He raised a second finger, "Politics, or more specifically, discussing social events."

Craven, older and with relatively less experience with the internet, often met with a bunch of men: "That's right, a group of guys together, and the talk is either about women or the latest hot issues."

Aga agreed completely: "When I was young, I often discussed online how to get rid of the scumbag in the Élysée Palace."

Craven understood what Martin meant: "Compared to normal hot topics in society, the public is actually more interested in the dark secrets of Washington D.C. Hollywood loves conspiracies involving Washington D.C. Why? Not because we are hostile to Washington D.C., but because the audience loves to watch these. Washington D.C.

is full of secrets that can't stand the light, and all dark secrets come from there."

Martin said, "Release this stuff, and those keyboard warriors, the netizens who love discussing social events, will definitely pay attention, discuss, and even initiate discussions with others about the top-secret dark materials of Washington D.C. and The Pentagon. If I were a keyboard warrior, just thinking about it would get me excited."

Both Craven and Aga laughed.

The former, with rich experience in movie promotion, said, "I've discussed with people from Warner Bros. We'll cycle through three phases over a period of fifteen days to avoid backlash from viral marketing. At the start of the second phase, we'll connect it to the movie."

"You all are experienced professionals," Martin, who was just responsible for providing ideas, said, "I'm just a keyboard warrior who talks."

Aga commented, "I hope this will attract more keyboard warriors to our movie."

Martin glanced at the time, "Noon, Smoky House, I'll treat you. The steaks and the pianist there are good."

Craven asked, "You've taken a fancy to that pianist?"

"Don't joke about that, the pianist is a man," Martin pointed to his chest, "I am male, attracted to women."

The three left Warner Bros. Studios and headed to the restaurant across the street for lunch.

The publicity plan for "The Hills Have Eyes" proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Apart from the regular promotions, the viral marketing campaign officially kicked off before Christmas.

......

At the end of September this year, the Iraq Survey Group, led by the CIA and consisting of 1,400 international experts, published a report that came up empty, becoming a focal point of contention between the Democrats and Republicans in the election, and its repercussions continued to this day.

Although Americans don't really care much about matters outside of North America, when it involves the election, it still causes quite a stir.

Online, there are no shortage of netizens searching and following news about weapons of mass destruction.

Ted, who works in Manhattan, visits the Yahoo portal every day to browse related news.

Before the Christmas holidays arrived, Ted suddenly noticed a prominent new headline about weapons of mass destruction on the Yahoo homepage.

"Secrets of America's Weapons of Mass Destruction Unveiled!"

Ted clicked on the webpage, and the bold print below the title instantly caught his eye: It is uncertain whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, but America is certainly the country with the most weapons of mass destruction in the world.

The article detailed the three major nuclear test sites in America.

Then, it disclosed a series of secret documents.

On the photos of many documents, there was a "Top Secret" stamp.

Its contents were all related to the Nevada test site, including the military's top-secret material about closing the Nevada test site, like how nuclear testing led to the disappearance of a Native American tribe, thousands of residents getting cancer, suffering mutations themselves and in offspring, and so on.

A link to a website followed, stating that those who wanted to see the details could log onto this declassified website.

Conspiracy theories always have a market. Even those who don't believe in them would be curious enough to take a look when they see such content.

Ted immediately clicked the link, and a site called "Nevada Test Site Declassification" appeared on his computer screen.

On the homepage image, some veterans who once served at the test site were holding SOS placards, protesting in Washington D.C., demanding compensation.

There were their names and a video of a veteran named Dave Critter being interviewed by the media.

Dave accused the military of hiding the true nature of the nuclear radiation from their tests, causing them terrible health problems, such as a severe lipoma. He even took off his clothes on the spot to show it in front of the camera.

Ted nearly threw up, the lipomas on the veteran's back were almost as big as grapefruits!

"This is horrifying!" Ted muttered to himself and continued scrolling down.

There were also interviews with residents who used to live near the Nevada testing area, whose health was in dire straits due to prolonged exposure to radiation, forcing them to move away from their hometowns.

Below were their medical reports and photos of some who were severely affected.

Many of them looked frightening due to the deformation from their tumors.

Unable to help himself, Ted logged onto MSN and forwarded the website to an interest group he'd joined.

The group was full of young people who focused on social issues, or as Martin would say, keyboard warriors who, like male keyboard warriors around the world, loved to discuss social issues and hand down judgements.

This kind of group is also the easiest to believe in various conspiracy theories.

After sending the link, Ted made a point to add a message: "Guys, take a look at this website; it reveals a lot of military nuclear test data."

Then he posted the link again.

The group instantly became lively.

Many went to check out the site.

It was like the goofy netizens in Martin's previous life's group sending a QR code; it was hard not to look out of curiosity.

Ted's other group chat lit up with message notifications, and upon checking, he found that someone had posted the same web link.

This person also attached some pictures and data photos that Ted had not yet seen.

"In the '90s, some staff from the Atomic Energy Evaluation Agency disappeared inside the Nevada test site," the person typed rapidly. "The records show that when their bodies were found, they were already highly decomposed and had been killed with sharp objects. In the cameras they left behind, there were some photographs."

Ted clicked to examine the photos carefully, and although the images were blurry, he could clearly see some deformed people.

"They look terrifying!"

"Are these real?"

The group chat was a mix of opinions, but they shared one thing in common: all these guys were rushing to those websites to check the information.

Such scandalous websites sparked everyone's interest.

They would come back to discuss after viewing the content.

Ted also returned to continue scanning the documents, which had a "Top Secret" stamp. A significant portion mentioned that people still resided in the nuclear test zone and that, over the past six years, two groups of front-line collection personnel from The United States Atomic Energy Evaluation Agency had disappeared, with the latter group's bodies not even found.

Of course, some people linked this to something else, "Isn't this related to some movie release?"

Viral marketing is nothing new.

But on several North American major websites, large forums, and well-known blogs, similar news and links appeared everywhere.

Decrypting websites spread like a virus from person to person.

......

Near Warner Bros. Studios, there was an outsourcing company specializing in film and television promotion.

In an office that could accommodate nearly twenty people, a promotion team was busy at their computers.

They had taken on the promotion outsourcing for "The Hills Have Eyes" since the beginning of the month, specifically responsible for online marketing.

The team members mainly promoted the Nevada test site's secret-revealing website on portals, forums, blogs, and in related group chats on chat software like MSN, driving online opinion and attracting as many people as possible to the site.

Daniel from Warner Bros. came to check on their progress.

The team leader reported the real-time data to him, "The site went live the day before yesterday, and as of today, we've already exceeded 300,000 visits."

Daniel asked, "And the expectations?"

After thinking, the team leader said, "These kinds of sites that reveal so-called dark secrets of Washington D.C. are very gripping. Judging by today's situation, it won't be a problem to get ten million views before the premiere."

Daniel reminded, "Keep the pace right, monitor relevant online trends closely, and after the New Year's holiday, move to the second phase."

Every day, the Nevada test site's revealing website updated with some brand new content.

For example, in 1982, a large number of natives living near the test site sued the Washington authorities and military, facing ruthless suppression.

The related legal documents and evidence material were all leaked.

Warner Bros.' promotion was professional and well-prepared, outsourcing what they couldn't do themselves.

In the face of profit, you can always trust the power of capital.

For Christmas, Annie went back to New York, Louise had to spend the holiday with her parents, so Martin could only pull along Old Cloth and Mene to attend Antonio's Christmas Eve party.

You needed a ticket to join the party, and each of them brought a bottle of wine.

Antonio sat in front of the top floor's Christmas tree, chuckling happily like a super-sized Santa Claus.

Martin and his two friends joined his table, where Mene brought over four glasses of wine.

The four chatted while drinking.

Suddenly, Antonio said with a mischievous air, "Have you heard? The Pentagon's radiation leak from the Nevada test site caused thousands to get cancer, and there are even rumors of mutants!"

Mene picked up the conversation, "Yeah, I've heard. I even checked out that decryption website. Washington D.C and The Pentagon are so dark, they don't consider ordinary people human!"

Bruce glanced at Martin and chimed in, "In the eyes of the upper class, ordinary people are disposable commodities. If we run out, we can make more, and if we can't, there's a large pool of immigrants."

Antonio asked, "Old Cloth, you were in the army. Does The Pentagon really operate like that?"

"I don't know," Bruce answered, pointing to his head. "If I knew, I'd have been shot in the head long ago."

Martin was very curious, "Who did you guys hear this from?"

Antonio was the first to reply, "I heard it from three tenants on the first floor; they've been discussing it nonstop these past few days."

Mene, who had recently been working at the Warner Bros. Studios soundstage, said, "I heard about it in the studio's cafeteria, and I went online to have a look."

A tenant from the first floor overheard and joined in, "I joined a music class, and lately, all the male students there have been talking about it."

A passerby joined in, "In several of my MSN groups, there are lots of people sharing this."

Martin thought to himself, dark secrets about Washington D.C. and the military indeed have a way of drawing people in.