Chapitre 635: Chapter 636: He Must Be Alive in the Airplane
[Chapter 636: He Must Be Living in the Airplane]
Selina recalled a small detail from when the three of them attended Knox Networks Inc. together. She said, "Didn't you mention that you could remotely control Knox's data processing center and turn it into a supercomputer?"
Gill flashed a hint of uncertainty and replied, "Theoretically, yes, but I've never done it, and Knox's data center isn't big enough. I need the largest data processing center in the world."
Selina glanced at the phone in the control room and said, "Do your best. I'll notify John to get the word out."
Gill nodded, her gaze lingering on the Yahoo browser icon on the computer screen. Taking a deep breath, she opened a program interface.
At that moment, the genius girl, who had not overshadowed the other two throughout the film, finally revealed her fierce side. Her fingers moved like a blur over the keyboard, creating a series of programming codes that streamed onto the screen like flowing water.
To enhance the visual impact of this scene, Eric didn't follow the trend of using different cuts to separate the operator's keystrokes from the computer screen - instead, he chose a close-up shot that captured Charlize's entire operation alongside the computer screen.
Eric believed that this moment would captivate every geeky young person around the globe. After all, while one often heard tales of computer prodigies with lightning-fast fingers, very few had ever witnessed such brilliance in action.
Charlize had practiced her hand speed for six months to prepare for this brief moment of screen time. Moreover, to achieve a more shocking and perfect effect, this segment took a week to shoot.
The impact was clear.
Once this scene appeared on the screen, Eric could distinctly hear the audience in the theater gasp in awe. A young man not far from him blurted out, "That's so cool!"
As the countdown on the screen ticked away, Gill, with beads of sweat forming on her forehead, finally pressed the confirmation key, feeling immensely relieved.
The sci-fi data transfer shot flashed by, revealing a square metal structure next to a lake, prominently marked with the 'Yahoo' logo. The camera didn't linger, cutting straight into the Yahoo data center's interior, sweeping through clusters of servers blinking with blue indicator lights, ultimately pausing in the data center's control room.
A white engineer, who had been listening to music, accidentally glanced at the temperature control screen and saw the rapidly rising temperature curve nearing the red line. Panic set in as he stumbled out of the control room.
Meanwhile, the engineer in the server hall stood frozen in shock, oblivious to the headphones that fell from his hands. The wide shot revealed that due to millions of CPU cores operating at full capacity, all water-cooling and air-cooling devices in the data center automatically activated, accompanied by a terrifying roar of alarms as if the end of days had arrived.
In a distant Nevada desert base, Gill glanced at the countdown, which showed 1 minute and 22 seconds remaining, muttering, "Hurry up, faster, faster!"
Finally, in the last 30 seconds of the countdown, a string of 32-bit passwords appeared in the rapidly flowing data interface.
Without hesitation, Gill swiftly opened the virus control program and seamlessly entered the lengthy password before decisively pressing the termination key.
"Phew..."
Eric could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from the audience. A mischievous smile spread across his face as the two heroines found themselves alone - heroes saving the world couldn't possibly hear the 'cheers' of victory, could they?
Sure enough, the situation didn't end there.
Just as Selina and Gill began to relax, the cold, monotone voice of a synthesized female voice interrupted, "Warning, base self-destruction program initiated, 59, 58, 57..."
The two girls exchanged a glance, not even having time to curse before they sprinted wildly toward the corridor.
"30, 29, 28..."
Reaching the open space outside the base, the unsettling synthetic voice continued to echo around them. If the base self-destructed, thirty seconds would hardly be enough time for both of them to escape the blast's powerful shockwave.
Before despair could even show on their faces, a black Buick Enclave rushed in front of the two girls. Lucy, with a scarred face and disheveled hair, shouted, "Get in!"
"10, 9, 8, 7..."
The black Buick Enclave had barely traveled twenty meters outside the base when a horrifying explosion sounded behind them, creating a massive fireball. The shockwave enveloped the vehicle, shattering all the windows, but the three girls curled up in protection from the car's body managed to remain safe against the blast.
After the explosion, the Buick, now devoid of all its windows, sputtered a few times before starting up again. Bumpy at first, it gradually smoothed out and finally drove onto an endless stretch of desert road.
Lucy's cheeky voice chimed in again, "My dad always said, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' He's off in prison enjoying a lifelong vacation and even runs the joint! Given what we've just done, shouldn't we take a vacation too? Of course, I'm not talking about a jail in L.A."
Selina maintained her stoic demeanor but didn't ignore Lucy's chatter this time. Instead, she succinctly shot out one word: "Boring."
Gill leaned back, exhausted, and added, "Not interested. I just want to find a place to sleep soundly."
Lucy immediately protested, "Hey, after all we've been through, I thought we were friends!"
Selina turned to gaze out the window.
Gill smirked slightly, "I don't make friends with thieves who only steal Buicks."
"Don't you think the Buick 'triple shield' logo looks cool? Also, I may occasionally swipe a Chevrolet too."
This time, the other two girls opted not to respond, leading Lucy to stubbornly persist, "Let's talk about vacation! How about Hawaii?"
"..."
"The Maldives?"
"..."
"The Mediterranean?"
"..."
"You guys don't want to go to the Caribbean or something, do you?"
Their voices chimed in unison again, "Shut up!"
The distancing Buick suddenly jolted, as if expressing dissatisfaction with a certain chatterbox.
Music softly played, and the scene froze on the open desert road.
As the credits slowly began to rise, whispers rapidly filled the theater. However, since it was a special premiere, many stayed seated. Still, some sharp-eyed audience members continued to watch the screen in silence.
Sure enough, when the final credits rolled, and before the screen switched, Lucy's comical banter broke through.
"I wanted a vacation, a real vacation! Hawaii's sun, beaches, cute guys, and oh, the coconuts! I love coconut juice! But what is this bizarre place? Hey, don't you think we should have a more generous boss? At least one who would let us see his true colors..."
The screen lit up, revealing three white figures bundled in fluffy mountaineering gear on a snowy mountain. They finally reached the cliff's edge, instantly captivated by the sight of a military-like base across the gorge, flames shooting up, accompanied by the sound of rapid gunfire.
Lucy halted her complaints and paused for a moment, saying, "Looks lively. Too bad we can't go over there to say hi."
Just then, on the opposite runway of the base, a propeller plane surged off the cliff, plummeting to the valley below, while a black figure on a motorcycle followed suit.
Selina unexpectedly remarked, "They're in the same boat."
Lucy leaned down to peek, unable to get too close to the snow-laden edge, and she barely noticed the propeller plane and the falling figure, "Poor guy. But my dad used to say if someone falls over a cliff and survives, they'll definitely find treasure at the bottom. Should we go check if he's dead? If he's not, Selina can take him out, and we can claim the treasure that should rightfully belong to him."
Gill, standing on the far left, squinted her inherent laziness at the sight across, seemingly calculating something. After Lucy finished her chatter, she said, "I bet he's probably dead inside that propeller plane."
No sooner had she said that than a loud buzzing sound drew near. Amidst the swirling snow, the tumbling propeller plane miraculously soared back up, shooting toward the sky.
Lucy widened her eyes, and along with the other two girls, they tilted their heads back to watch, "I'd bet he's alive in that propeller plane."
The screen went black, and the film came to an end as the theater lights turned on.
...
Many audience members remained lost in thought over Lucy's last cliffhanger, with applause slowly breaking out after a few moments. The applause quickly erupted into a continuous wave of approval.
"An excellent movie," said Buffett, sitting next to Eric, smiling as he spoke. "But there were so many parts I didn't quite understand. Guess I'm getting old."
"I'm more than happy to clarify any doubts you may have," Eric replied with a grin. "However, let's discuss the theme of today's meeting."
Buffett nodded, clearly intrigued by what Eric was about to reveal, something he found more engaging than the film's plot.
Without participating in the final creative curtain call, Eric silently departed the cinema with Buffett, Chris, Katzenberg, Michael Lynn, and the female assistant. They gathered at an upscale cafe where Eric no longer concealed his intentions and straightforwardly laid them out.
After listening, Buffett frowned, "You want to take Marvel Entertainment from Ronald Perelman?"
Eric nodded, "I know Marvel is a mess right now, but if Firefly approached for a buyout, Ronald would demand a fortune, and it could also spark interest from other studios."
Tom Murphy then asked, "Eric, is it for the comic characters' copyrights?"
Eric nodded again, "Yes, Ronald's actions have given me a great lead. But if Firefly acts alone, it'll be too obvious and will arouse Marvel's suspicions. Since everyone here runs their respective companies, I'm hoping for your help to collectively acquire Marvel Entertainment."
Though Buffett believed Marvel, which had been losing money for years and burdened with debt, was practically worthless, he asked patiently, "Eric, let's first hear about your plan."
"Absolutely," Eric agreed, explaining his meticulously considered strategy to the group.
At the time, Marvel's total valuation sat below $500 million. But after Eric outlined his plan and noted the box office potential of some Marvel characters comparable to Warner Bros.' Batman, everyone expressed a willingness to support Eric in his subsequent endeavors.
...
"A refreshing popcorn film, the three leading actresses completely shed the typical decorative roles assigned to women in Hollywood, delivering a visual feast that combines charm and strength."
The next day, a famous critic from the Los Angeles Times gave Charlie's Angels this high praise, awarding the film a rare five stars. The critic, known for seldom granting perfect scores, justified that Charlie's Angels marked Hollywood's first extremely successful all-female action film.
Around the same time, the plot, twists, and Easter eggs from Charlie's Angels became hot topics among the media.
Questions arose about why Selina appeared in an underground fighting ring, the significance of the conversation between Selina and John at the film's onset, Lucy's frequent mentions of her father, and her penchant for stealing Buicks, all of which fueled a variety of speculations, with media eager to see these details disclosed in the sequel.
Of course, amidst the accolades and discussions were also doubts.
On the day Charlie's Angels premiered, Oracle's CEO, the eccentric Larry Ellison, publicly criticized what he deemed glaring "errors" in Eric's film. Ellison claimed the world's largest data processing center should belong to Oracle's Washington state facility. As soon as he made this statement, Microsoft, Oracle's longtime rival, quickly countered, asserting that its data center stood as the biggest. Following that, IBM, Sun, and others joined the fray, resulting in quite the spectacle.
While several major tech companies argued over whose data center was the largest, in the following days, a well-known article titled The True Identity of Charlie stirred up yet another wave of discussion in Hollywood Reporter.
*****
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
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