Hollywood Road

"At 3:42 this afternoon, in front of the Hollywood Chinese Theater located on the Walk of Fame in the Hollywood area of ​​Los Angeles, an unknown gunman armed with an assault rifle fired wildly at the front of the theater, killing and injuring many people, including many Moviegoers going to the theater to watch one of the deadliest shootings ever recorded in the Los Angeles area."

"It is reported that when the gunman appeared, the famous Hollywood director Murphy Stanton's "Dark City" was about to be screened in the Chinese Grand Theater in Hollywood. The number of people at the entrance of the theater increased sharply, which provided great convenience for the gunman condition."

"The gunman was riding a motorcycle, using an old-fashioned AR-15 assault rifle, fired a total of 30 rounds of ammunition, and drove away on the motorcycle in just half a minute."

"According to the description of the witnesses at the scene, the shooter was wearing a black helmet, and his whole body was wrapped in a black cycling uniform. He was about six feet tall and had a bloated body. He should be a male..."

In the lounge of the villa, Murphy sat in front of the TV, without any expression on his face, just watching the TV report in a silly way, and then the TV station played photos and videos taken by some people who reacted faster at the scene, including There is the figure of a gunman.

It was clear that this was a planned and premeditated shooting. It was not difficult for Murphy to come to such a judgment. It only took half a minute for the gunman to leave from shooting.

However, he found out in a video broadcast by the TV station that the gunman waited for a few minutes in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood before shooting, and did not shoot after arriving. Could it be that he was waiting for something?

Before Murphy could continue to think, the news broadcast on the TV began to report on it again.

"After killing four people and injuring seven others, the gunman calmly left the crime scene on a motorcycle and disappeared into the streets of Los Angeles. The action was so fast that the police had no time to respond. At present, the police have no Clues of value, apart from the colored magic balls left on the field by the Gunners."

On the TV screen, there was a close-up of a colorful magic ball with words written all over it.

Seeing this magic ball, Murphy frowned immediately, and Gal Gadot, who was sitting next to him, unconsciously grabbed his hand!

The two are very familiar with this magic ball. It is clearly a peripheral product of "Dark City" that the crew has registered for a patent - the magic ball left by the magician every time he sends an ultimatum to create panic!

Murphy had a bad guess in his mind.

Sure enough, the TV station then released some news.

This is the shooting that happened this afternoon,

It is already night, and the TV station has enough time to get some material.

"The magic ball left by the gunman at the scene allowed the police to rule out the incident as a terrorist incident for the first time, and initially determined that it was a copycat crime. Although there is no more relevant evidence to support the news released by the Los Angeles police, according to According to police sources, the words written all over the magic ball thrown by the gunman as he left were the words - I am an agent of chaos!"

"Those who have watched the hit movie "Dark City" must be very familiar with this sentence. It is the words left by the magician every time before creating chaos! I don't know if this shooting case is related to "Dark City" "has an unknown connection...the information has cast a layer of fog over this tragedy..."

Looking at the news reports on TV, Murphy didn't say a word.

Gal Gadot couldn't bear it anymore, the shock on his face hadn't dissipated, "No way? Will someone really imitate a magician to commit crimes?"

"It seems possible." Murphy stood up in disbelief, "Have you forgotten John Hinckley? He assassinated Ronald Reagan, and he imitated "Taxi Driver"?"

"We..." Gal Gadot's first concern is his own interests, "Will our movie be affected?"

Murphy nodded, "If this is true, it will definitely be affected."

He walked slowly to the window and looked up out of the window. That was the direction of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From here, he couldn't see anything except the stars in the night sky.

If he remembers correctly, there seems to have been a similar shooting before, but it was at the premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises", it seems that a crazy clown worshiper went on a killing spree at a premiere in a certain city , caused heavy casualties, and directly caused Warner Bros. to cancel the premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" in many countries and regions. Bro expected.

It was impossible for such an incident to not have a negative impact on the film.

Was that man really imitating a magician? Murphy frowned. Even if he wasn't imitating, the magic ball thrown by the shooter and the words "I am an agent of chaos" written on the magic ball would still be hyped by the media as imitating the magician in the movie.

"Gadot." Murphy turned around and asked, "Do 20th Century Fox and CAA know about it?"

"I should have received the news." Gal Gadot was looking at his phone and replied, "I just received a message that Kara Firth and Bill Rossis are rushing over, and they should be there in ten minutes."

Murphy turned and walked towards the door, "Let's wait for them in the living room."

After arriving in the living room, after waiting for ten minutes, Carla Firth and Bill Rosses arrived one after another. The two came to see Murphy so late because of the shooting incident at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood that happened in the afternoon.

"It can be predicted that the media will hype it up tomorrow. The magic ball and that line of writing belong to the news that the police have already announced."

Kara Firth picked up the cup in front of him, took a big sip of water, and then felt refreshed, and said, "According to my experience, some media will press this matter to "Dark City" and "Dark City" anyway. On the magician's body..."

She looked at Murphy, "Even you will be dragged down."

Kara Firth used to be a professional in journalism, so she has enough understanding of the mentality and style of doing things of her peers.

Murphy shook his head, "This little pressure is nothing to me."

Gal Gadot knew that Murphy wasn't afraid of this at all, so he couldn't help asking, "What about "Dark City"?"

The global box office of this film has exceeded the two billion US dollars mark, and it is approaching "Titanic". It even hopes to hit the highest global box office record of "Avatar". What will happen to the trend.

"It's inevitable that it will be affected." Kara Firth also frowned, "The box office may drop sharply. I have already called the company's publicity department and public relations department before I came. I will go over to hold a meeting with them at ten o'clock. , start crisis public relations as soon as possible to reduce our losses."

The people at 20th Century Fox were more professional in this regard, and Murphy didn't say much.

"You have to be prepared." Bill Rosses reminded Murphy, "Tomorrow morning, a large number of reporters will start to surround you."

Murphy nodded, "I won't speak for now."

"Let's not go out for now." Gal Gadot always felt a little uneasy, "Hiding in the manor, those reporters can't do anything about us."

"Yes." Murphy agreed, "Yes. We will not face the media until the situation is unclear."

"There is one thing that can be done." Kara Firth continued, "You can issue a statement to condemn the murderer."

"That's right." Bill Rosses laughed. "There's nothing wrong with blaming the killer and sympathizing with the victim."

Since the incident involved the magician and "Dark City", Murphy knew that he could not be completely unaffected, "When the time is right, I will issue a related public statement."

Since there is not enough information at present, several people can't come up with specific coping strategies, so they can only discuss the relevant precautions in general.

It was getting late, Kara Firth still had a meeting to attend, so he left soon.

Bill Rosses continued to remind Murphy of some precautions, "If this kind of thing is not handled properly, the consequences may be very serious."

"Don't worry." Murphy took a sip from the water glass and said unhurriedly, "I know what to say and what not to say."

He would never be so stupid as to jump out and say that people who were killed by the gunmen deserved to die, and that they deserved to be the experimental products of the chaos theory of magicians in the real world.

"No news from the police?" Murphy asked. Robert had been in contact with the police.

"I've already greeted Robert." Bill Ross shook his head. "Not yet. If there is any relevant news, he will notify me as soon as possible."

As soon as he said this, Bill Ross's cell phone rang. He took a look at it and went to the side to answer it. After he said a few words, Murphy saw that his face became very serious.

In just a few minutes, Bill Rosses put away the phone and walked back.

"This is definitely a well-planned and premeditated action, and it may really come from a magician's admirer." Bill Rossis looked unusually serious, "It may even be your movie fan."

"Huh?" Gal Gadot seemed unbelievable, "What?"

Murphy remained calm and asked, "Any news from the police?"

"Well! Robert just got some." Bill Rosies said without nonsense, "The police retrieved many surveillance videos near the incident and found that the gunman had been tracking a murdered man wearing a red baseball cap. person, and aimed at where he was when he fired," he said.

He calmed down his breathing a bit, and continued, "The police have found information about this red baseball cap. He has been spreading and attacking you on the Internet for insulting Catholicism..."

Hearing this, Murphy raised his head, "It's him?"

Bill Rosses nodded, and said, "The police believe that there is a possibility that it is he who attacked you crazily on the Internet and caused dissatisfaction among your fanatical fans..."

Gal Gadot couldn't believe it, "How is this possible?"

Murphy also felt a sense of absurdity, and asked calmly, "Do the police have any other evidence?"

Bill Rosses shook his head, "Probably not."