I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1159: The Calm Before the Storm]

Eric posed the question, "Which city do you think is appropriate?"

"Chicago," Paul Abbott replied, clearly prepared. "Like Manchester, Chicago is also an industrial city. However, due to the gradual decline of heavy industries and the rising unemployment rate, there's a severe class divide in this city, leading to a large impoverished population."

"Then Chicago it is," Eric nodded in agreement. He added, "Also, regarding the script, I want this story to have a more intense dramatic conflict, highlighting the stark contrast between morality and reality. You need to emphasize the sharply contrasting personalities of most characters in the script, allowing the audience to feel both disdain and empathy for this group of people, maybe even find them endearing."

What Eric took away from Shameless was the notion that even if life felt like a pile of dog crap, it was still worth persevering. Yet, after that perseverance, life still remained a pile of dog crap.

Speaking of which, most of the shows on Showtime after they matured had given off a similar feeling.

Countless men and women stumbled through scenes of wild and provocative lifestyles, which appeared enviable but always teetered on the edge of collapse. There would be fleeting moments of calm and warmth, hinting that a greater disaster was just around the corner. Throughout this process, viewers experienced a torturous ride, unable to step away.

Despite scrapping the original plan for three shows on Showtime, Eric temporarily intended to have the channel focus solely on Shameless, with other time slots filled with a selected batch of movie content.

The main task for Showtime in the latter half of the year was to reorganize the channel's programming lineup and devise a new marketing plan.

After a detailed discussion with Paul Abbott, the writer of Shameless, the project was officially confirmed.

...

In the following days, the production team from Showtime, together with Paul Abbott, traveled to Chicago to start modifying the script based on on-site investigations and selecting suitable filming locations. Casting for the series also commenced simultaneously in both New York and Los Angeles.

...

On the other hand, although the negotiations with Eric ended poorly, a displeased Bill Gates still refused to give up the equity subscription agreement. Therefore, Microsoft did not immediately cut ties with Yahoo. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's president and destined successor to Gates, quickly took over the negotiations and continued contacting Yahoo.

...

Despite both parties maintaining a low profile, once July rolled around, news about Microsoft's impending acquisition of a 30% stake in Yahoo began to spread rapidly and became one of the hottest topics in the tech industry, which was already in its final frenzy phase.

The industry was unclear about the details of that distant equity subscription agreement, but general guesses were made.

Additionally, a significant number of media outlets focused their attention on whether the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission would approve this acquisition. After all, Microsoft's monopoly in desktop operating systems was glaringly apparent, while Yahoo was the largest firm in the emerging internet sector. If these two industry giants formed a powerful alliance across these two fields, it would undoubtedly create an even stronger monopoly.

...

Soon after, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice announced at a press conference that they would closely monitor any potential transactions between Microsoft and Yahoo and intervene if necessary. However, with the successful merger of AOL and Time Warner as a precedent, and even with Microsoft under a series of antitrust investigations, the industry still generally believed that the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo could very well happen.

Speculation quickly reflected in the stock prices of both giants.

...

Typically, when a corporate merger is rumored, the acquirer's stock price tends to drop, while the target company's stock price skyrockets.

However, due to the tech sector's vivacity, Microsoft's stock price did not drop; it merely slowed its rate of growth, while Yahoo's stock surged.

In the first week of July, from July 5 to July 9, Yahoo's stock rose continuously by 27% over five trading days, pushing its market value from $182.5 billion before the opening on July 5 up and over the $200 billion mark, eventually reaching $231.7 billion.

In contrast, Microsoft saw only a 3.9% rise in its stock price during the same week. Nevertheless, with a final market value of $588 billion, it still outpaced the encroaching Cisco.

...

Meanwhile, by the close of the Nasdaq index on July 9, it had reached a high of 4911 points.

Barring any setbacks, it was set to break the 5000 point barrier the following week.

In the face of the frenzy in the tech stock market, although some savvy investors resisted temptation and began selling off their stakes, it was clear that the majority of investors in the market had completely lost their grip on reality.

After all, just as with the rise in Yahoo's stock price, investing $100 million could yield a 27% increase in just one week, bringing in a hefty $27 million profit -- something that usually takes a year or even several years to achieve. Investors who had fully immersed themselves in the tech stock bubble were certainly not willing to walk away.

The phenomenon even spread beyond professional investors; driven by the allure of gigantic stock profits in the new tech arena, there had been a noticeable trend of amateur stock trading surging to unprecedented levels among ordinary Americans over the past few months, a rare occurrence in North American history.

It's worth noting that while most middle-class Americans might consider themselves investors, their cash holdings were typically limited due to differing spending habits, with their investments usually made indirectly through pensions and the like.

In general, only the wealthy elite, with excess cash in hand, engaged in direct financial investment. However, now, ordinary Americans were finding various ways to raise funds and dove headfirst into the Nasdaq stock market. Many affluent individuals had even begun using investment leverage to maximize their profits, effectively scaling up their capital base.

As trading activity skyrocketed on the Nasdaq, the Clover Fund cashed out a staggering $3.36 billion in the first week of July. Despite the exit of over $3.3 billion from the market, it initially sparked no reaction; the sales from the trading studio were swiftly absorbed by the ever more active demand in the market.

In the cacophony of the bustling world, there were still some who managed to remain quietly absorbed in their small world.

...

Washington, D.C.

On the last day of June, a non-branded Gulfstream V aircraft landed at a private airport in the suburbs of Washington.

Two seemingly ordinary Russian-looking girls, their features well-concealed by makeup, disembarked the plane and personally transferred a complete set of expensive spy equipment from the cabin to a prepared small container truck parked on the runway before quietly driving away.

Throughout this process, no one disturbed the two girls' work, thanks to previous arrangements at the airport. It wasn't until the truck left the airport that a representative from Firefly Group in Washington D.C. arrived with several assistants to tow the Gulfstream V into storage and dispatched two security teams to guard it.

After an hour or so, the truck arrived in the affluent Kalorama area, just northwest of downtown Washington, and drove into a concealed residence surrounded by trees. Kalorama was home to many wealthy politicians, and the Jackson family happened to live nearby.

After carefully checking the estate inside and out, the two girls began to set up various devices. By evening, the listening equipment had already intercepted and recorded the first phone call made by Judge Thomas Jackson from the study on the second floor.

Phone tapping typically uses techniques like built-in listening devices, SIM card cloning, and close-range intercom mode, but the most advanced method directly intercepts the target's phone signals from the communication base station, a common technique among professional espionage organizations.

Of course, this method of interception was completely out of reach for an average person due to the cost of the dozens of thousands of dollars in listening equipment. But for the well-funded Firefly Group, there were no such obstacles.

After Eric had been bugged, he promptly switched to a BlackBerry phone using dual encryption with a much harder-to-crack CDMA network. However, a rather careless middle-aged judge evidently lacked such precaution and continued using a currently popular GSM phone that was quite vulnerable to similar eavesdropping.

Therefore, the twins didn't need to resort to the more dangerous close-range methods; they easily began recording the target's phone communications.

...

Over the next three days, the twins quickly and accurately grasped the daily routines of Judge Thomas Jackson's family.

On the third night, a regular Ford SUV parked in front of another apartment in Kalorama, with two nearby streetlights 'conveniently' out of order, casting shadows over the Jackson home at the beginning of the month without a moon.

Two silent figures expertly unlocked the door and quietly released a vaporized sedative into the bedrooms before beginning their work.

The judge's wristwatch, mobile phone, and other personal items were discreetly swapped out, while hidden cameras were installed in the living room, study, and bedroom. Even the soles of a few pairs of shoes were cut open to implant listening devices.

After modifying the few cars in Jackson's garage, the two figures silently departed.

...

In the ensuing days, every word and action of the Jackson family was meticulously recorded by various electronic devices situated in another room of a residence in Kalorama.

The twins also adeptly operated different vehicles, following Judge Thomas Jackson for over twelve hours each day, quietly eavesdropping as he made impassioned speeches in court, cursed a colleague in the restroom, feigned affection for his wife at home, and flirted on the phone with a lover...

...

Amidst the flood of chaotic information, on the ninth day of eavesdropping, the twins finally caught the information Eric had predicted. The director of a lobbying firm in Washington had, for two consecutive days, probed Judge Thomas Jackson before meeting in a private underground parking lot. The twins had brilliantly captured a sixteen-minute recording of that meeting with a camera hidden in Jackson's car.

...

Concerned about the twins' whereabouts, when Eric reviewed that video, he immediately instructed them to cease their activities.

The twins methodically retrieved all equipment installed around Judge Thomas Jackson, supervised the dismantling and destruction of the vehicles they had used in recent days, before they re-boarded the Gulfstream V. The entire process unfolded as if they had never even arrived in Washington.

...

When the twins returned to Los Angeles, it was July 12, another Monday.

The Gulfstream V landed at Ventura Airport, where Eric stood near the runway, watching the twins disembark from the plane, finally allowing himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He approached them for a hug and joked, "Let's not do anything like this again. It's been two weeks since anyone cleaned the estate, and I found a layer of dust in the kitchen yesterday. It's really unsettling."

Natasha shyly pulled away from Eric's embrace, saying softly, "Master, we'll get right on it."

"Why not take a few days to rest?" Eric shook his head. "I can also work on overcoming my obsession with cleanliness."

"Okay."

After Eric spoke, he took Natasha's hand and said, "Let's go home first."

However, Natasha tugged at Eric's hand, shaking her head. "Master, we need to handle the items on the plane ourselves."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Mr. Cromwell said it can't."

"Fine," Eric replied reluctantly. "I'll be waiting for you."

And so, another busy round commenced. By the time they returned to Liberty City estate, it was already evening.

As they sat down for dinner prepared by the twins, and while the twins made no effort to inquire about what Eric intended to do with the video they had taken, he felt a strange sensation in his heart.

That night, he thoroughly checked to ensure that the girl in his arms was real and not a machine.

...

Having received the information he desired, in this critical week, Eric made no further arrangements. Instead, he waited patiently for developments to unfold.

On Monday, the Nasdaq index, which closed at 4911 points the previous week, continued to rise. For the following five days, there were no signs of a market crash in the entire Nasdaq market.

Ultimately, on July 16, at the end of the week, the Nasdaq index soared to a high of 5056 points, officially breaking through the 5000-point barrier.

After the market closed that day and real-time statistics were compiled, the market caps of all companies within the Firefly system surged to astonishing levels, leaving many in awe.

Among them, Cisco's market value reached $611.5 billion, surpassing Microsoft to become the top company in market capitalization in both the Nasdaq and the global market.

Following closely was Yahoo, with a market value reaching $257.9 billion.

Nokia, listed in multiple markets across Europe and North America, also crossed the $200 billion threshold, achieving a combined value of $221.7 billion.

Most surprisingly was Qualcomm; two years ago, it only had a market cap of few billion dollars, but at that moment, it had reached an impressive peak of $83.6 billion, astonished everyone and compelled them to admire Eric's investment foresight once again.

Apart from that, tech companies like Amazon and Sprint, in which the Firefly Group had heavily invested, also hit new all-time highs.

Influenced by the skyrocketing stock prices of this series of tech companies, Eric's personal fortune reached an unprecedented $625 billion.

*****

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