Chapter 71: Top Secret
At this time, New York was already in the early hours of the morning.
Coulson returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters with an exhausted look on his face. He touched his hairline, which was already in a precarious state.
"Agent Coulson, what is it?"
Maria Hill was also working overtime with dark circles under her eyes.
Damn Nick Fury, he just wouldn't let her get a proper rest.
Coulson said directly: "I know who that is. He is Saitama, a manga hero."
"What?"
Maria Hill was very shocked.
But seeing the manga handed over by Coulson, the two figures indeed overlapped.
"one-punch man."
She immediately did a search, and sure enough, the internet had already exploded.
After understanding a bit about it, she immediately went with Coulson to see Nick Fury.
Nick Fury naturally hadn't left either. With such a big thing happening, he simply couldn't sleep.
First, they had to figure out a way to lock up Abomination, and then there was the matter of that bald man.
Now, the truth had finally come to light.
"A manga character? Are you guys joking?"
His subconscious reaction was disbelief.
But when he picked up the manga, he had no choice but to believe it.
Furthermore, netizens in North America who knew Saitama were swearing up and down that this was indeed Saitama.
Even though one was a manga and the other was a Real person.
"Apparently, it's not."
Coulson shrugged: "Although I would very much like to think it's fake, this is indeed the only answer."
Maria Hill also said in a deep voice: "The FBI over in Los Angeles has already taken action, but the resistance is huge."
"Since when has the FBI been this fast?"
Nick Fury sneered.
But he also realized that, however unwilling he was to admit it, this was the truth.
"This matter should be handled by us."
He immediately asked: "Has it been checked out clearly?"
Maria Hill nodded: "'one-punch man' is a manga produced by the animation department of Starlight Pictures."
"Starlight Pictures is a newly risen company with very strong backing. It acquired MGM, and its current person in power is named Li Chen. Here is his information."
"Chinese?"
Nick Fury frowned; this was not going to be easy to handle.
Moreover, Li Chen's background was very clear; he was not of American nationality, but a genuine Chinese.
However, he wasn't surprised by this.
As early as the last century, before the Plaza Accord was signed, the Japanese were like that too. They seemed extremely wealthy, waving money around to buy up the entire world.
Consequently, Sony took over Columbia, and Panasonic even acquired Hollywood giant MCA for 6.5 billion dollars, which owned Universal Pictures under its umbrella.
Although Panasonic regretted it after buying Universal and quickly sold it off.
Because Americans were very xenophobic, especially in a place like Hollywood, and Japan's management style was completely different from here.
As a result, they suffered a lot of hardships at first.
To Americans, you Japanese were merely a running dog, yet you dared to come and throw your weight around in your Master's house?
Back then, Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures were targeted by almost the entirety of Hollywood.
This was also the main reason Panasonic regretted it.
On the contrary, Sony persisted and never ran away, ultimately finding every possible way to integrate into Hollywood.
Therefore, Nick Fury thought Li Chen would not be very successful.
But upon closer inspection, he discovered that Li Chen had already achieved great success.
After taking over MGM, Starlight Pictures first produced "man of steel".
Capitalizing on the hype of Tony Stark's disappearance, Superman made a huge profit on box office revenue alone.
Not to mention the merchandise and videotape markets.
Of course, the main thing was still in the manga.
"One Piece", "re:zero - starting life in another world", "one-punch man"...
Well, Nick Fury had to admit that he hadn't heard of a single one.
After all, as a king of Agents, who would go read manga when they have nothing to do?
"Aside from 'one-punch man', have any other manga characters appeared?"
Hearing Nick Fury's question, Coulson and Maria Hill were both taken aback.
Then they shook their heads and said: "No."
"Is it that there are none, or that you don't know?"
Nick Fury's voice raised by a fraction.
"We don't know."
Maria Hill had no choice but to say.
For a rich person like Li Chen, who was also a member of the Hellfire Club, certain methods could not be used.
Coulson asked at this time: "He is right here in New York... This matter is definitely related to him."
"So what? He won't admit it."
Nick Fury said coldly.
"How about... bringing him over first?"
Coulson asked: "Or restrict him from leaving New York."
Hearing this, Nick Fury shook his head, his single eye staring intently at Li Chen's identity.
The Hellfire Club, and... Chinese.
Huaxia today was extraordinary, and as everyone knew, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding all came from the Big Five.
And the hotter piece of trivia was that America almost never funded any major organization...
This money all came from Huaxia.
Therefore, this layer of identity was Li Chen's true protective talisman.
What if, by taking down Li Chen, they offended Huaxia?
Nick Fury certainly didn't believe that there was no shadow of that side behind Li Chen.
By then, if S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding broke off, the one out of luck would be him.
"We cannot use these methods."
So Nick Fury said: "Have our people approach him. What are his hobbies? Does he like men or women?"
Maria Hill immediately investigated and replied: "It should be women. Several Hollywood female stars have been close to him."
This was still quite critical. In Hollywood, or rather the art circle, there were many perverts; plenty of people didn't like the opposite sex and only liked the same sex.
No matter how pretty the opposite sex was, it wouldn't catch their attention.
This made Nick Fury nod: "That makes things easier to handle."
"But our Agents..."
Maria Hill wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Nick Fury: "Now Li Chen is the highest-level secret. Everything about him must be listed in the Level 10 files, and only we can know."
He glanced at Coulson. Coulson's clearance level wasn't that high yet.
But Coulson was very tactful and nodded to indicate he understood.
Toward this old subordinate, Nick Fury still felt very reassured.
Anyone else might betray him, but Coulson definitely wouldn't.
Maria Hill hesitated for a moment and had no choice but to nod: "I will arrange it."
"Mhm, our Agents are all very excellent. If it's necessary... I think higher-ups can also go themselves."
Nick Fury hinted to Maria Hill.
Being able to become the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill had naturally undergone training as well.
For female Agents, their bodies were their best weapon.
Maria Hill, who understood the hint, didn't show much change in expression, only nodding: "If needed, I will make a move."
She was still quite confident in her own charm; usually when walking down the street, there were many lingering gazes, and as an Agent, her senses were extremely sharp.
Chapter 72: one-punch man Explodes in Popularity, One Hundred Thousand Prestige Value
The next day, the sun rose as usual.
The events of yesterday did not frighten the people across the nationwide in the US; instead, it sparked a terrifying enthusiasm.
Especially in New York, where a world-shaking monster battle had just taken place last night, yet today the public went out again.
The DC Comics stores located in Brooklyn and Manhattanwere instantly packed to the brim.
Early in the morning before they even opened, long lines had already formed outside the storefronts.
The clerks were a bit dazed upon seeing this scene, but quickly realized what these people were here for.
"The one-punch man manga volume? What? No solo issue? Only bundled with One Piece? I'll take them all."
"I want one-punch man too."
"Right, right, right, me too. That bald guy on TV last night, they actually have a manga about him?"
"Good grief, you DC Comics guys really know how to hide things."
The moment the doors opened, the people outside flooded in frantically.
The store clerks were sweating profusely with anxiety, but the flow of people did not decrease in the slightest.
Moreover, everyone was heading strictly for a single manga.
one-punch man.
Aside from New York, it was the same everywhere else.
Chicago, a city that once belonged to the Basketball God Michael Jordan.
But the problems here remained severe. In the shadows of the skyscrapers lay dilapidated slums, where many people could see no future.
But now, this city was revitalized once again—not because of the Windy City Rose, Ross, but because of one-punch man.
Just like in New York, before dawn, many people had already occupied the spots outside the DC Comics store and formed a long queue.
When the clerks came to open the doors, they were startled.
Fearing they might get peppered by the Chicagotypewriter, they hurriedly got to work without even daring to take a sip of coffee.
If even Chicago was like this, let alone Los Angeles.
This was the stronghold of Starlight Pictures and the most developed place for entertainment in the nationwide in the US.
Furthermore, the events of yesterday happened right during prime time for Los Angeles.
Consequently, the entire city went crazy.
one-punch man had exploded in popularity across the nationwide in the US.
...
Faced with this explosive situation, Li Chen did not know how many phone calls he had answered, and he hadn't slept all night.
Fortunately, he had a Body of Steel, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to handle fighting on two fronts at all.
Fortunately, the battle results were gratifying.
Because of the Hellfire Club, no one dared to openly cause trouble, but they all called to inquire about the situation.
Faced with the chicken-and-egg question, Li Chen directly told them that he knew Saitama, which is how he got the idea for this manga.
The manga was entirely fictional; any resemblance? Purely coincidental.
On his side, the good sisters Gwen and Mary Jane were still fast asleep, embracing each other with tear tracks still at the corners of their eyes.
Completely conquered!
At this moment, what Li Chen dared to open even less was the Cultural Entertainment System.
As soon as he opened it, system prompts popped up continuously.
[one-punch man is a global hit, prestige value +500]
[one-punch man sold out in New York, prestige value...]
[Chicago...]
[Los Angeles...]
Li Chen now only hated that DC Comics lacked sufficient strength and hadn't spread across the entire world yet.
You must know that in places outside of North America, buying genuine DC Comics was very difficult, and the retail prices were extremely high.
Even DC's own comics were like this, let alone the comics belonging to Starlight Pictures.
This single wave meant missing out on a lot of money to be made.
Li Chen called the company, telling them to coordinate with DC Comics and have MGM help distribute them globally.
Then, Li Chen checked his prestige value.
[Current prestige value: 110563]
Ones, tens, hundreds... one hundred thousand!
Li Chen couldn't help grinning broadly as he looked at it.
How long has it even been?
What happened just yesterday had already yielded one hundred thousand prestige value today.
Therefore, Li Chen had no regrets at all.
What was there to regret?
Of course, this wasn't entirely the heat brought by one-punch man; in fact, there was also the heat from obsession.
Moreover, with one-punch man becoming popular, One Piece and re:zero - starting life in another world were also driven to popularity.
Because many people thought that since Saitama was real, what about Luffy? What about Nami? What about Ram and Rem?
If these were real too... then they would love it to death.
But regardless, Li Chen had grown to love this feeling.
[Current accumulated prestige value has reached one hundred thousand, upgrade the lucky draw?]
"Does upgrading require prestige value?"
Li Chen was very cautious.
[Upgrading will consume ten thousand prestige value.]
"Ten thousand, that's small change, let's upgrade."
After upgrading the lucky draw, the quality of items that could be obtained would be higher.
He just didn't know if the probability of [Maybe next time] would decrease.
Ten thousand prestige value vanished just like that, and a progress bar appeared in front of Li Chen.
[10%... 20%]
After waiting for about five minutes, the upgrade finally concluded.
[Upgrade successful, Intermediate Lucky Draw: Ten thousand prestige value can be used for a ten-pull, and the rewards obtained from the draw will be significantly enhanced.]
[Accumulating five million prestige value will allow another upgrade to the lucky draw system!]
"Damn!"
"Is this a profit or a loss? A ten-pull costs ten thousand now!"
Li Chen felt a pang of heartache inside; previously, a ten-pull only cost one thousand.
But this also hooked Li Chen's craving.
However, he didn't act on impulse. Instead, he carefully headed to the bathroom, took a thorough bath, returned to the room, and grasped 'Fortune' with both hands.
Gwen and Mary Jane both let out a soft "mm" in their sleep.
"Bring on a ten-pull!"
Li Chen shouted inwardly.
Ten thousand prestige value vanished, leaving just over ninety thousand.
[Congratulations to the host, obtained from the lucky draw: Willow of Wishes.]
[Willow of Wishes: Also known as the Wishing Willow. Ignite the core of the branch and snap it in half, and the wish will take effect immediately. But note, there is only one opportunity to make a wish in a lifetime.]
This was an item from obsession, but it came with side effects.
In the plot, after the male lead used it on the female lead, she completely lost her self-awareness, and her original consciousness could only briefly appear when she was asleep.
This was equivalent to letting the female lead be controlled by a new personality.
To Li Chen, this was somewhat tasteless like chicken ribs.
What is liking? What is love?
Even if he liked someone, it was definitely not just liking the other person's body, but because of the person themselves.
No matter how pretty the appearance was, it was only the first glance; true love was definitely because of the other person's 'inner substance'.
But unfortunately, in this world where looks are justice, your appearance had to be high enough for people to approach you and explore your inner self.
If one looked too ugly... no matter how much inner substance they had, no one would care.
Therefore, if one simply wanted to gain the other person's body, the Willow of Wishes could be used, but if one wanted the complete person, this was useless.
Li Chen tucked it away at the bottom of the box and continued looking at the lucky draw.
[Maybe next time!]
"Don't panic!"
Li Chen's heart settled greatly; getting an item on the very first pull proved that his method was effective.
Because he never believed in luck; right now, 'Fortune' was in his hands.
[Congratulations to the host, obtained from the lucky draw...]
Chapter 73: Li Chen Is Also on Fire
[ Congratulations to the host, lottery reward: Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon! ]
[ Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon: Boros's ultimate technique, a massive energy blast discharged from the mouth by accumulating all the energy within the body, powerful enough to destroy Earth. ]
Seeing what he drew, Li Chen couldn't help but be startled.
As expected of an intermediate draw, it's totally badass!
Boros is the main BOSS of the first season of one-punch man, his setting is an alien, leader of the Dark Matter Thieves, and the overlord of the universe, running rampant in the universe without a single defeat.
He believed in a prophecy that on the distant Earth, there was someone who could have a hearty battle with Boros.
So he spent twenty years coming to Earth, and finally had a decisive battle with Saitama.
The ending was naturally that he used all his energy, but was still defeated by Saitama, admitting before his death that he was no match for Saitama.
In the setting, he is a disaster above Dragon-level, considered comparable in strength to the fully monsterized Garou.
Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon is his ultimate technique.
"Being able to destroy Earth is not bad either."
Li Chen thought to himself.
Although Kryptonians themselves are even more perverted, able to push planets through the universe...
But having more skills never hurts!
And compared to other things, this is already considered good.
[ Definitely next time! ]
[... ]
After the ten consecutive draws, there were still only two things, but Li Chen felt it was a huge profit.
Sure enough, the quality of the drawn items had improved.
Of course, it could also be that his method was on point and he was lucky enough.
What a pity, no fragments...
He still wanted to summon a few more characters, of course, preferably female characters.
"Ying!"
Mary Jane couldn't take the pain anymore; he had subconsciously used strength earlier, and now she woke up.
Her eyes were still a bit dazed, until she saw Li Chen's face, and then she recalled the terror of yesterday.
So her little face turned a bit pale: "Stop, it really won't work anymore."
Originally, Mary Jane was a bit embarrassed to face Gwen, but later on, she had no choice but to join forces with Gwen, and finally survived.
At that instant, she really felt like she was going to die.
Only at this time did she know that Gwen was not joking...
Li Chen is simply not human!
"You guys get some good rest."
Li Chen smiled and had no choice but to get up.
Coming to the living room, Rem had already made breakfast.
Then, he saw Teacher Saitama with an embarrassed look on his face.
Saitama's art style at this moment was extremely dazed, rubbing his bald head and sheepishly smiling at Li Chen.
"Li Chen-san, I am very sorry."
Saitama is a good person.
So Li Chen waved his hand: "No need to apologize, if it were me, I wouldn't stand by and watch either."
And he even had to thank Saitama.
If Saitama hadn't shown up, how could his prestige value have risen so much?
However, everything has its pros and cons, just like how God created day and also created night.
Li Chen's words left Saitama looking moved, and then he hurriedly ran away.
Li Chen didn't know why, eating the knife-cut noodles Remhad just learned to make while turning on the TV.
Then... he saw his own face on the TV.
I saw the television host zestfully introducing Saitama, and also introducing his identity.
"Chen Li is the founder of Starlight Pictures. According to information provided by an unnamed reliable source, the manga one-punch man was single-handedly promoted by him..."
"Therefore, we have reason to believe that he definitely knows Saitama, and he happened to be in New York at the time of the incident..."
Li Chen's expression changed immediately; he didn't expect things to be so serious.
These hateful guys not only paid attention to Saitama, but actually traced it to him.
No wonder Saitama wanted to apologize!
"Saitama, you run slower for me!"
"Rest assured, I won't hit you!"
Li Chen dropped his chopsticks and rushed out, finally catching Saitama and torturing him a bit... on the game console.
What they were playing was Capcom's newly released street fighter 4.
The year 2009 was the 20th anniversary of street fighter's debut. Although street fighter 4 was still a 2D side-scrolling fighting game, it adopted 3D technology, presenting a brand new style tending towards a comic and ink-wash painting effect.
For fighting games of this era, it was already very innovative.
So Saitama also liked playing it very much and got addicted.
However, even though he liked playing, he was still a noob.
With one hand as Cammy White, Li Chen crushed Ryu countless times using her.
For Li Chen, who had played street fighter 6, this kind of game was simply without difficulty.
Until Saitama was tortured to the point of 'doubting life', Li Chen felt satisfied.
But he also had to consider practical problems, which was that he became famous following Saitama.
So what needs to be done now is to hurry back to the base camp in Los Angeles.
"After all, New York is not my turf, it's not advisable to stay long."
Originally, he was planning to play here for a while, but plans cannot keep up with changes.
Sure enough, Li Chen's cell phone kept ringing incessantly, all from New York tycoons wanting to invite him to parties...
Li Chen definitely didn't want to go to such parties; they were definitely coming for him.
"I need to find an assistant."
Li Chen thought in his heart: "At least someone needs to help me handle phone calls, otherwise all sorts of nobodies will call my place."
"It's a pity Gwen still has to go to school."
He had wanted Gwen to be his assistant from the very beginning, but unfortunately Gwen hadn't reached graduation time yet.
Li Chen was a decisive person; thinking of it, he did it and went straight back to his room.
When he walked to the door, he heard the two women inside conversing.
At this moment, Gwen and Mary Jane shared a common hatred: "Li is too hateful, he must be taught a lesson."
"Rest assured, I'm going to give him the cold shoulder for two days and definitely not talk to him."
Gwen said angrily.
Of course she was angry. Although she wanted to be best friends with Mary Jane for a lifetime, not in *this* kind of
'lifetime'
(bed-time pun).
As a result, the raw rice was already cooked into cooked rice by Li Chen, how could she not be angry.
It was just that Li Chen went wild last night, otherwise she definitely wouldn't be this unconvinced now.
Hearing these words, Li Chen wasn't panicked at all; he pushed open the door and walked right in.
The moment he pushed open the door, the room instantly fell silent.
Gwen lay face down feigning sleep, while Mary Janelooked at Li Chen amusedly.
With a smile on the corners of his mouth, Li Chen asked: "Gwen hasn't gotten up yet?"
"She is exhausted."
Mary Jane said while holding back a smile.
"Then wait for her to get up and tell her that I have something to attend to and am heading back to Los Angeles first."
Li Chen knew that Gwen had thin skin, but she had her own methods.
Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, Gwencould no longer keep up her act.
"What?"
Gwen abruptly got up: "Didn't we agree to play for a while longer?"
"Things happened suddenly, Gwen."
Li Chen came over and hugged them both; fortunately, they were also reasonable.
When seeing the situation on the news, they also realized that Li Chen could not stay long.
Everyone in America shouts about freedom and privacy, but they don't respect other people's privacy at all.
Gwen got very angry seeing the news and angrily cursed Fox Television.
But there was no help for it; Fox Television had nothing to do with Li Chen, so naturally they wouldn't think on Li Chen's behalf.
Back in 2008, it was the glory days of Fox Television. Its ratings in America surpassed CBS, officially becoming the number one news platform in the nationwide in the US, and their news was often famous for being bold and fast.
Of course they were bold, because they even dared to wiretap the Prime Minister of Downing Street, simply audacious.
At this time, Fox Television was in its heyday, and they also had direct competition with Starlight Pictures. 20th Century Fox was also a giant.
Therefore, being able to suppress Li Chen a bit was simply a delightful matter.
This also made Li Chen realize why these tycoons liked running TV stations like this; it was equivalent to their 'mouthpiece'. Without a media group behind one, it was easy to be smeared.
Although what's on the news right now are all facts... but if Li Chen had a news group, he wouldn't be so passive, at least he could whitewash himself a bit.
But unfortunately, entering the market now was already too late; traditional media companies had long been carved up by those old money, and newcomers wanting to enter only had one channel.
The Internet!
Li Chen thought about a lot in his heart. Before leaving New York, he played another round with Gwen and Mary Jane.
After all, who knew when the next time they would meet would be, and it was even actively invited by them.
One can only say that Ghost Spider was indeed completely conquered.
Chapter 74: The Continuing Impact Brought by Saitama
Los Angeles.
The private plane of the Hellfire Club had just landed, and Li Chen saw a dark-skinned flight attendant coming over with a mobile phone.
"It is from the White Queen."
She looked at Li Chen with a respectful expression.
Li Chen nodded and took the phone. The flight attendant naturally crouched down to help Li Chen tidy up and put on his shoes.
Li Chen had long since grown used to this kind of service.
At first, he still felt a bit nervous and awkward.
But after getting used to it, he found out... it is so good to be rich.
To put it bluntly, who doesn't like the feeling of others going through all sorts of trouble to please oneself?
Therefore, Li Chen had also figured it out. Becoming famous wasn't a bad thing, as long as his own safety was guaranteed.
"Have we arrived in Los Angeles?"
The voice of the White Queen, Emma Frost, came over: "We need to meet."
Li Chen was her ally, so he said: "No problem, but it will have to wait until I finish handling my affairs."
"There's no rush for this moment."
Emma smiled and said: "The connections both high and low have already been smoothed over. You just need to follow along and go through it once, and no one will make things difficult for you."
Nowadays, the demands of the wealthy and political figures in the Hellfire Club were increasing more and more, and even the Mutants were somewhat running out of ways to handle it.
Fortunately, Emma Frost had Telepathy, and these political figures were unconsciously influenced by her.
However, she didn't dare to mess around too recklessly either; otherwise, once these people woke up to it, it would spell a disaster for the Hellfire Club.
"Thank you, Emma."
Li Chen expressed his gratitude.
Through this incident, he also realized the inadequacy of his own scale.
No wonder Hollywood companies were all eager to be acquired by media giants; having backing behind oneself was simply too important.
You might not use it, but you cannot afford to not have it.
Fortunately, the weight of the Hellfire Club was sufficient.
Afterwards, Li Chen and his entourage low-profiled their way out of the airport and got into two cars.
"Rem, you guys go back first."
Li Chen said to them, while he himself headed towards the company.
He got into a bulletproof SUV, where Jubilee, whom he hadn't seen for two days, was waiting.
"Boss, such a big matter and you didn't call me?"
Jubilee became a bit excited the moment she saw Li Chen.
What happened in New York shocked the world, and even within the Mutant community, it had a huge impact.
Although Mutants possessed Mutant abilities, most people were not very strong, just a bit more powerful than ordinary people.
Therefore, the monster in New York shocked them, and they considered themselves incapable of dealing with a big guy like the Abomination.
At this time, Saitama appeared, taking down the Abomination with just a single punch. The way the Abomination was beaten to the point of 'questioning its life' was still making headlines now.
Compared to other Mutants, Jubilee knew even more of the 'inside story' behind it.
Her own boss was simply too formidable!
Jubilee, who already somewhat worshipped Li Chen, harbored even more inexplicable feelings towards him.
Seeing her gaze that seemed ready to string together, Li Chen sighed with emotion at the benefits of fame.
Human beings all worshipped the strong, and women especially so.
"Alright, hurry up and drive."
Li Chen interrupted her 'fantasies', and only then did Jubilee snap back to reality.
She quickly started the vehicle, first taking Li Chen back to Starlight Pictures.
Starlight Pictures was temporarily still using MGM's office location, which was situated near Beverly Hills.
Li Chen originally thought he would see the employees looking distracted.
But upon entering, he found that everyone was extremely excited.
How could they not be excited? The things they produced were turning into reality, and the shock brought by this was unimaginable.
Just like if Sun Wukong truly existed, it would cause a frenzy across the ocean as well.
"Boss!"
"The boss is back!"
Upon seeing Li Chen, voices rose one after another all of a sudden.
There was also a chubby employee who mustered up the courage to ask: "Boss, Teacher Saitama truly exists. Then is his training method really effective?"
Once again, someone asked about this matter.
Li Chen smiled and said: "Only he can do it."
"Oh!"
A wave of regretful sounds rang out.
Who wouldn't want to become a superhero?
"I made that up. In reality, doing that puts a huge burden on the body."
Li Chen certainly didn't want to see his employees skipping work every day just to go work out...
Amidst a round of greetings, Li Chen came to his own office and immediately called for Harry Sloan.
Harry Sloan also wore an expression of awe.
It wasn't that he didn't respect Li Chen before, but there were still some other feelings mixed in.
But now, it had turned into utmost respect.
People, after all, always bullied the soft and feared the hard.
Li Chen didn't care either, and simply arranged: "I need a personal assistant. Find one for me in the name of Starlight Pictures."
"Yes, Boss. What are the requirements?"
Harry Sloan asked immediately.
"Female, young, pretty, sensible..."
Li Chen listed several traits in a row: "You just need to put out the notice, and I'll interview them myself when the time comes."
After all, since it was going to be a personal assistant, the most important thing was reliability.
Of course, Li Chen wouldn't hand truly important matters over to outsiders either.
After understanding, Harry Sloan went downstairs.
"Let's go."
Afterwards, Li Chen went to meet the legal team hired by the Hellfire Club.
After all, having to visit many departments, having lawyers around was the only way to avoid mistakes.
Lawyers in America possessed the ability to 'turn black into white'.
Take the infamous Simpson murder case, for example, which caused a far-reaching impact across the nationwide in the US at the time.
To give an example, it's like over here in Huaxia, a judge saying: "If you didn't hit him, why would you help him up?"
Ever since then, human morality regressed by several hundred years.
A society that should have been full of mutual help and love instantly transformed into something else entirely.
And the impact of the Simpson murder case was countless times worse than this. Ever since then, the American public no longer trusted the judiciary, believing it to be 'justice for the rich' that would never protect ordinary people.
This social impact has continued all the way to this day.
And the one capable of achieving this was precisely the prowess of the defense lawyers back then.
Therefore, American lawyers were a group of devils; as long as there were sufficient profits, they could do anything.
Furthermore, that kind of thing called law was so convoluted and winding that ordinary people simply couldn't figure it out.
This was an artificial, deliberate raising of the threshold, precisely to make it impossible for ordinary people to understand. Otherwise, how would lawyers make money?
In the time that followed, Li Chen ran to various departments every day.
Accompanied by his lawyers, he didn't say a single word, because any words spoken could potentially be distorted and used as facts to attack him.
At this moment, the role of the lawyers was reflected; as long as they took the money, they would help Li Chen sort out all matters.
In the end, Los Angeles really had no other way out. As the hype faded, the impact on Li Chen also gradually disappeared.
Because in Hollywood, there was never a shortage of news.
Especially those big stars, who were particularly useful to the higher-ups. Just like little Leonardo, every time there was a socially hot topic event that had a bad impact on certain people, his scandal gossip would spread all over the world, attracting everyone's attention.
This method of using the influence of stars to shift the public's vision was simply tried and true.
All that could be said was, those who understand, understand.
More than half a month later, Li Chen no longer needed to go, returning to his normal days.
After all, they didn't dare to push Li Chen too hard either. What if Saitama decided to flip the table?
Chapter 75: Black Widow Comes Knocking
Time entered mid-March.
Li Chen's plans from last year were gradually becoming a reality.
He had been forcibly holding back from drawing, which was even more painful than making him not touch beauties.
His Reputation Points were still rising rapidly, already reaching over two hundred thousand, enough for over twenty ten-pulls.
Li Chen also gradually figured out how Reputation Points were acquired.
Logically speaking, Saitama's popularity had clearly swept the world, but the Reputation Points were not as many as imagined.
The main reason was that to provide Reputation Points to Li Chen, one first had to read the work and then become a "fan" in order to truly provide Reputation Points.
Otherwise, just knowing Saitama would be enough to provide him with Reputation Points, which would be way too simple.
Because for Hollywood's publicity and distribution machine, making you know about something only required throwing money at it.
Overwhelming propaganda would always make you see it.
But wanting to truly convert it into Reputation Points was not that easy.
Just like how no matter how good a movie's promotion was, many people would see it, but to truly get them to walk into the cinema and contribute to the box office, the movie needed to be genuinely high quality rather than shoddily made.
Of course, Saitama's popularity failed to convert into Reputation Points also because DC Comics only had channels in North America, and it was too difficult for people in other parts of the world to buy genuine DC Comics.
"Boss, the person here for the interview has arrived."
"Let her in."
Li Chen straightened his suit.
During this time, he had taken time out to interview quite a few people, but most of them only had empty appearances and conflicted inner thoughts.
Those who were relatively naive just wanted to use him to climb up, wanting to "sleep-subdue" him.
The worse ones had all sorts of ideas.
There were also those who stripped right as they walked in, threatening Li Chen that if he didn't hire her, she would sue him for assault...
It wasn't until Li Chen pointed at the camera that the woman reluctantly left.
One could only say that in a vast world, anything is possible.
They felt making money was too difficult, so they wanted to take shortcuts.
Of course, there were no lack of Li Chen's fans who learned about Starlight Pictures' situation through the news and came over.
Unfortunately, she had body odor, so Li Chen rejected her.
By now, this was already the fifteenth one.
Even more were filtered out right at the first step.
After all, Li Chen's most basic requirement was youth and beauty.
Facts proved that without beauty, no matter how much inner substance someone had, Li Chen wouldn't see it.
Before long, the office door was pushed open.
A figure wearing women's office attire and stepping in black silk high heels walked in.
She was about 1.7 meters tall, with long legs, possessing the same beautiful red hair as Mary Jane, but with skin even fairer than Mary Jane's. Walking like a runway model, her pair of long legs were very attractive.
Just looking at her appearance, Li Chen liked her a lot.
No way around it, he was just that superficial.
"Introduce yourself."
Li Chen leaned back tactically, crossing his hands.
"Hello, Boss."
The woman's voice was very sexy, as if tugging at one's heartstrings: "I am Natalie Rushman, graduated from Empire State University, and interned at Oscorp..."
Hearing her name, Li Chen felt it somehow looked familiar.
But he immediately realized—wasn't this the alias used by Black Widow in Iron Man 2"?
However, why didn't Black Widow go to Stark Industries, running over to his place instead?
Then there was only one explanation... S.H.I.E.L.D. thought he was more valuable than Tony Stark.
Li Chen didn't show it, instead looking at the woman in front of him with great interest.
This was the real Black Widow?
Mm, she was much taller than her portrayer, Scarlett Johansson.
Scarlett Johansson was beautiful and kind-hearted, with a broad mind, and her only flaw was that she wasn't that tall.
But the Black Widow before him was different; her appearance was also different from Scarlett's, yet equally beautiful, and she stood 1.7 meters tall with great body proportions.
No wonder she was the Red Room and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most outstanding Agent. Just this appearance alone instantly killed other Agents.
Men always liked pretty ones; she had too much of an advantage.
"If you were my personal secretary, would you know what to do?"
Li Chen interrupted her and then asked.
"I will keep in touch with you at all times and stay inseparable from you..."
Black Widow reacted very quickly and answered immediately.
"Even when I'm sleeping?"
"..."
Black Widow was an Agent, displaying good psychological qualities: "Yes."
This was no different from the boss asking her directly if she could warm the bed.
But this was an outstanding Agent; her body was her weapon.
Li Chen found it somewhat interesting. Although he knew she was sent by S.H.I.E.L.D., he still wanted to keep her.
Nothing else, just confidence—high skill breeds bold courage.
Black Widow was an ordinary person when all was said and done; Li Chen wasn't worried about her harming him.
Moreover, S.H.I.E.L.D. sending her was just to scout for information, otherwise, it wouldn't have been so mild.
As the saying goes, toward capitalism's sugar-coated bullets, naturally one should accept the sugar coating and return the bullets.
Black Widow was the sugar coating delivered right to his doorstep; he was going to eat her up for sure.
At this moment, Black Widow didn't know that she had already been completely exposed, and was still waiting for Li Chen's reply.
She had prepared for this for a long time; Nick Fury had assigned the task to her long ago, but she had come only after learning a lot about Li Chen's genius.
For an Agent, this was necessary preparation.
And for a woman, she had to understand the man she wanted to win over well enough to cater to his preferences.
However, according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, they didn't know Li Chen very well either, only knowing that he had the weakness that all men had...
What Black Widow was grateful for was that at least Li Chen still liked women.
If he liked men, she wouldn't have had a single way out.
Li Chen's identity wasn't simple, and his files were even less simple, which aroused her curiosity, preparing to complete the mission brilliantly.
At this time, Li Chen nodded with satisfaction: "Very well, then it's you. From now on, you will be my personal assistant."
He deliberately emphasized the two words "personal", which let Black Widow understand something.
Afterwards, Black Widow lifted her head and puffed out her chest, making herself appear even more upright.
The place where she was very similar to Scarlett Johansson was that they were truly huge.
Needless to say about Scarlett herself, later in order not to affect her life and filming, she voluntarily went to the hospital for surgery to reduce them.
But now with Li Chen around, he would definitely not allow Scarlett to waste such natural gifts.
Black Widow Natalie's were about the same; because she was taller than Scarlett, they appeared even bigger.
Furthermore, she wasn't shy at all, instead hoping that Li Chen would fall under her pomegranate skirt.
Wouldn't the mission be simple that way?
"Start working, your workstation is just outside."
Li Chen spoke out.
There was originally a secretary's position outside the office, only Li Chen hadn't hired one before.
And Natasha needed to do was very simple: pour tea and water for Li Chen, and be responsible for announcing people who wanted to see him.
"Okay, Boss, what do you like to drink?"
"Tea."
Li Chen said decisively.
He wasn't a beast of burden, and he really wasn't used to drinking coffee, which instead made him form the habit of drinking tea.
"Okay."
As expected of Black Widow, she knew how to do everything. Before long, a steaming cup of tea was brought up.
Chapter 76: Bayonetta and 2B
Time flew by; Black Widow Natasha had been at the company for a few days.
However, Li Chen hadn't had much to do these past few days. Every day, he would just come to the office and sit around, with nothing important going on...
But Black Widow Natasha wasn't in a hurry; she simply gave Nick Fury a casual report.
Li Chen's life also seemed very simple—other than being at the company, he just went straight home.
Unlike other Hollywood figures who led lavish and wild lifestyles.
From this perspective, Black Widow actually felt that Li Chen was a 'good man'.
Of course, she also took this opportunity to understand the company's projects.
It looked like a normal Hollywood company, consisting entirely of movie and animation projects.
There weren't any violations whatsoever.
If Saitama didn't actually exist, she wouldn't even know what value this company had...
Right now, she was at her workstation reading one-punch man.
But at that moment, the front desk called over to say that a Japanese person was coming to see Li Chen.
"A Japanese person?"
Black Widow immediately informed Li Chen. After getting his reply, she took a moment to look up Hideki Kamiya.
Well, turns out he made games...
However, he was also a bald guy.
Hideki Kamiya hadn't seen Li Chen in a long time, but this time he brought good news.
"Li-san, I've brought all the games."
Hideki Kamiya was very excited.
Li Chen was the same. Seeing Hideki Kamiya again, he found that the man had lost weight and had heavy dark circles under his eyes.
Li Chen asked, "What would you like to drink?"
"Just tea is fine."
Hideki Kamiya was very reserved, and even his expression was full of awe.
In the island nation, game developers had it pretty rough, though their salaries were still high.
Even though he was in the island nation, he had heard about what happened in New York, showing how widespread the news was.
It was a pity that he couldn't even buy a genuine copy of a Starlight Pictures comic...
Let alone the complete collection of one-punch man.
Though up until now, the first season of one-punch manhadn't even finished airing yet.
"Thank you."
Soon, Natasha brought over two cups of tea.
Li Chen asked her for help, "Can you assemble a game console?"
"I can."
There really wasn't anything Black Widow couldn't do.
But she was also speechless; why did she have to do everything here?
Of course, it was also quite relaxed.
Afterward, the three of them assembled the console and inserted the cartridge that Hideki Kamiya had specially brought.
Black Widow was still quite curious. She had a hunch that since Li Chen was paying so much attention to this matter, it must be very important.
After all, having been here for so many days, she had never seen Li Chen so 'interested' in anything.
The game loaded very quickly.
Black Widow glanced at it; the game was titled Bayonetta.
"Bayonetta? Sounds like a person's name?"
She wasn't interested in playing games; she was just secretly observing Li Chen.
She noticed that after Li Chen opened the game, the expression on his face became increasingly excited.
"As expected, men are just children who never grow up. Even with his status, he still likes playing games."
Black Widow simply felt that reality was surreal.
For a Hollywood bigwig like Li Chen to be so interested in playing games could be considered a 'freak occurrence' in Hollywood.
After all, for many people, weren't women more fun than games?
The moment Li Chen saw Bayonetta, he knew that what Hideki Kamiya had inserted was none other than Bayonetta.
Of course, Bayonetta was the Chinese name, while the English name was Bayonetta's name, bayonetta.
Having experienced all sorts of AAA masterpieces later on, Li Chen actually didn't hold out much hope for the game graphics of this era.
But once he got into it, he found that the visuals were actually quite decent.
Not a bit worse than what he had played before.
He could only say that as expected of the Marvel World, black technology was simply heaven-defying.
After entering the game screen, a long-legged royal sister appeared in the frame.
Li Chen perked up—this was the exact feeling.
Naturally, this was Bayonetta.
Games of this era all started with a cutscene upon entering, but the visuals were just like watching an animation—extremely smooth.
The plot was very simple: Bayonetta was extremely powerful, but she had amnesia and didn't know who she was.
The subsequent plot was equally simple: Bayonettarecalled her past while incidentally slaughtering all the Angels in the world.
Mixed with some minor stories between Bayonetta and her close friend Jeanne, that made up the complete game.
It was nothing more than clearing mobs and fighting bosses; it was all the same routine.
But what made action games different was that her movements were cool and fluid, players found them easy to play, and there were various combo skills.
Li Chen played for a bit and still found it quite engaging.
Natasha found it very boring; she felt that Li Chen simply liked this female character...
"Too bad you can't control Jeanne."
Li Chen played casually for a bit and was quite satisfied.
Jeanne was also known as the'Silver Witch' because, unlike Bayonetta, she had a head of silver-white hair, which really suited Li Chen's taste.
To put it bluntly, both heroines of this game fit public aesthetic standards very well.
Especially Bayonetta, who had an extremely exaggerated eleven-head-to-body ratio, making her the 'ceiling of long legs' in the gaming world.
What concept was an eleven-head-to-body ratio? It meant her height was about eleven times the length of her head, far exceeding the normal human proportion of about a seven-head ratio, making her visually extremely slender.
Therefore, Bayonetta was a genuine 'leg sprite'.
As for her clothing, Bayonetta's outfit looked like black leather clothes and pants, but in reality, they were all transformed from her hair.
This design gave her some fanservice during battles, which was also a point that attracted players.
Players were just like that—wanting to get lewd in serious games, and looking for plot in lewd games.
bayonetta completely met their demands.
It was hard for this game not to become popular!
"Not bad, not bad."
Li Chen nodded in satisfaction. While others could only play bayonetta, he could actually 'play' with bayonetta.
Black Widow muttered inwardly, wondering what on earth was so good about it.
But she was a layman; she had some understanding of games, but didn't like playing them.
Seeing the investor satisfied, Hideki Kamiya also breathed a sigh of relief.
"There's also this one."
Li Chen changed the game, and the next one he played was nier: automata.
This went without saying. When 2B's plump body appeared on the screen, Li Chen couldn't wait any longer.
nier's combat system wasn't as brilliant as Bayonetta's, but the music was indeed fantastic.
Accompanied by this BGM, it gave players an immersive feeling.
Of course, for Li Chen, having Miss 2B was enough.
Although she was a robot, according to the lore, she was like a human in many ways.
Just like Eve from stellar blade, she basically wasn't much different from a human.
Anyway, it definitely wouldn't affect Li Chen from getting physical with her.
"stellar blade is still in production, and we've been pulling all-nighters with overtime."
Hideki Kamiya said somewhat sheepishly.
stellar blade was starting from scratch, after all, and they still had to find body models and such.
After all, according to Li Chen's design, Eve's figure was extremely 'exaggerated'.
You could even say it was explosive.
Li Chen nodded. The Japanese were staying up late and working overtime; either way, the ones whose bodies were being damaged were themselves.
Li Chen had put up the money; as long as he saw the investment results, that was all that mattered.
Now that they had played the game, the things that came next were what truly mattered.
Chapter 77: Black Widow: He Just Played a Game
"Li-san, the game is still in negotiations regarding its publishing."
Hideki Kamiya looked at Li Chen nervously.
As the largest investor, Li Chen naturally had this authority.
Li Chen nodded, signaling him to continue.
Hideki Kamiya said: "There are only those three companies in the gaming industry: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft."
"Each of the three has its own strengths. I wonder which one Li-san favors?"
Li Chen glanced at Black Widow.
Natasha immediately whispered an explanation to him.
In fact, Li Chen was not unfamiliar with these three; he was just testing Natasha.
Nintendo focuses on first-party exclusive games. Games like "Super Mario", "The Legend of Zelda", and "Pokémon" are all produced by Nintendo.
Back in that era, Nintendo directly broke into the North America market because of these excellent games.
In fact, America's games were extremely popular in the last century.
Before 1983, America's most popular gaming company was called Atari.
How fierce was Atari back then? There were thirty million families in the nationwide in the US who owned an Atari console.
Thirty million families—how exaggerated is that?
You must know that America's total population was only three hundred million.
At that time, no company could compare with Atari, but Atari dug its own grave.
First, its strategy went wrong. They believed that the quantity of games was far more important than quality, wanting to win with quantity by frantically producing low-end, shoddy games.
Thus, accompanied by the disastrous failure of the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial alien game that they rushed to make in just a few weeks, it became the final force that knocked over the dominoes.
In 1983, the historically remembered 'Atari Crash' erupted.
At that time, gamers throughout North America believed that video games were dead.
This brought an avalanche-like disaster, killing ninety-seven percent of the North America gaming market in just one year.
This also gave outsiders like Nintendo an 'opportunity to exploit'.
It was they who used excellent games to quickly seize the North America market.
Therefore, until later on, games in North America and Europe had always been terrible...
As the saying goes: Why is EA the most garbage gaming company in the nationwide in the US? Because Ubisoft is European.
Compared to Nintendo, Sony excels in high-performance consoles and a massive number of third-party masterpieces.
However, Li Chen had witnessed later PlayStations; playing a street fighter would cause overheating and frame drops, which professional players bitterly criticized.
Coupled with Sony...
"Directly tell them to get lost."
Li Chen made no secret of his deep abhorrence for Sony.
After all, the accounts between them had not been settled yet.
That only left Nintendo and Microsoft.
Compared to Nintendo and Sony, Microsoft's Xbox focuses on hardware performance and things like that. As for the games... they were unremarkable.
But precisely because of this, it was suitable as a third-party platform.
"I lean toward Microsoft, because most importantly, we want to launch not only on gaming consoles, but even more so on the PC side."
Li Chen said indifferently: "I have a dream to let people all over the world play the games I invest in, so on the PC side, we'll cooperate with Valve."
Valve has the largest gaming platform, STEAM.
With the development of computers, STEAM would enter the globe, and even in Huaxia, many people would know it.
Possessing a player count that other manufacturers could not compare with, this was what Li Chen needed.
Hearing this, Hideki Kamiya was also excited, not expecting Li Chen to still have a dream!
Natasha was also somewhat surprised. She looked at Li Chen and felt as if he was glowing.
This truly was a saint.
Perhaps he really just wanted to seek benefits for the public.
Hideki Kamiya stated: "Alright, Li-san, we will go talk to Microsoft."
Getting onto the PC side was easiest for Microsoft to agree to.
On the contrary, both Nintendo and Sony loved exclusives.
Because the benefit of exclusivity was that if players wanted their games, they had to buy their game consoles.
This type of tied selling made PC gamers utterly detest them.
And the reason why players could play games like "Final Fantasy" and "Call of Duty" on computers was because they were distributed by Microsoft.
Microsoft itself also researches computer accessories, so naturally it wouldn't mind games coming to the PC side.
Both parties benefit mutually!
"If everything goes smoothly, the game can be launched very soon."
"Good, good, good, as soon as possible."
It was rare for Li Chen to be so 'gracious and pleasant' to a Japanese person.
Who said these two games weren't awesome?
"Right, there's also Final Fantasy."
Li Chen saw Hideki Kamiya off and immediately sat in front of the computer to look it up.
What a pity, "Final Fantasy" in this world had already existed.
Although Marvel World had a small portion of things different, most of the development was the same.
"Final Fantasy" came into being as early as 1987, and moreover, it was very difficult to meddle in such a profitable company.
They had long been targeted by Sony and Nintendo.
Sony had already cooperated with them in the nineties of the last century, and Nintendo now advocated them even more vigorously.
"What a pity, my Tifa."
Li Chen felt somewhat regretful. Miss Tifa was also one of the pillars of our 3D section!
If you asked what special features Tifa had, one really couldn't say.
Because she was simply pretty.
In Li Chen's view, Tifa's modeling had a bit of an internet celebrity feel to it. Many internet celebrities were like this—looking very pretty, yet lacking any memorable points.
The feeling Tifa gave people was also like this.
She wasn't like Bayonetta with her memorable eleven-head proportions, not like 2B with her white hair and blindfold, and not like Chun-Li with her eye-catching pear-shaped figure.
But Tifa was just pretty. Being pretty alone was enough for her to occupy a place in the 3D section.
...
Outside the office, Black Widow Natasha received a call from an anxious Maria Hill.
"Natalie, are there any discoveries?"
On the phone, Maria Hill was still very cautious, addressing her by her alias.
Black Widow Natasha glanced at the tightly closed office, not knowing what Li Chen was doing inside.
She whispered: "Today there indeed is. He met a Japanese person."
"Hoo!"
Maria Hill let out a sigh of relief. If there still wasn't anything, she would have to step into the field herself.
Because Nick Fury cared very much about this point, Maria Hill was also very anxious.
After all, Black Widow was an excellent Agent, she couldn't just be a secretary here at Li Chen's every day.
That was equivalent to a waste.
"And then?"
"Then... he played a game. This is what he invested in."
Natasha said truthfully.
Li Chen really didn't have anything else to do. Even if he did, he wouldn't bring her, a newly joined secretary.
"Pfft!"
Maria Hill was speechless.
"We can't be too anxious."
Natasha also didn't understand why this mission was so urgent.
"Alright, it was me who was too impatient."
Maria Hill also realized her mistake.
Like this kind of undercover work, it generally took a long time to gain trust.
It was just that the one sent this time was Black Widow, she was the most excellent Agent, which was why Maria Hill grew anxious.
Chapter 78: Dress Up Nicely
Although she was a personal secretary, much to Natasha's surprise, Li Chen wasn't overly eager.
However, whenever he had business to attend to, he would still take her along.
This also allowed her to meet Li Chen's exclusive driver, Jubilee.
S.H.I.E.L.D. naturally had investigations into Mutants, and she knew that Jubilee was a graduate of the X-Men Academy.
But she didn't expect that she would willingly serve as Li Chen's driver.
Afterwards, she followed Li Chen to a music studio where she met another Mutant, Dazzler.
Just this piece of news alone was enough for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s long-term observation.
For instance, why were Mutants all willing to work for Li Chen?
They only knew now that Li Chen was a member of the Hellfire Club, but they didn't know how high his status was.
Because in front of other members, Li Chen always wore a Batman mask.
It really worked. Just as many people didn't know that Batman was Bruce Wayne, they also didn't know that White Rook was Li Chen.
"Boss! You're so handsome!"
At this moment, Taylor Swift lunged towards Li Chen.
Standing at one meter eighty, with her sturdy build, an average person really couldn't handle it.
After coming to Los Angeles, she underwent a makeover, no longer looking like that country girl and becoming much more refined.
Facts proved that temperament could be cultivated, provided one was wealthy enough.
When luxury goods were worn on her body and money flowed like water, would a person still lack confidence?
As the saying goes, money gives a hero courage. As long as one had money in their pocket, the whole person would be different and become full of confidence.
Li Chen gave her a hug and looked Taylor up and down.
Previously, she looked like the Golden-Haired Lion King; not only was her hair messy, but her hairstyle was also bad.
But now, she looked much more refined, just like a standard American'sweetheart'.
It's just that this sweetheart was a bit large, with one-meter-eighty long legs.
"Not bad, you've become even prettier."
Li Chen nodded and said.
"Thank you, Boss."
Taylor flashed a smile, casting seductive glances at Li Chen.
Some time ago, the television was full of news about Li Chen. At that time, she was thinking, if she could date Li Chen, wouldn't she immediately become famous all over America?
Suffice to say, Hollywood had no pure souls; everyone had their own agenda.
However, Li Chen had no interest in becoming a character in her songs...
Playing around was fine, but dating was out of the question.
After all, he'd get dissed after breaking up.
Besides, for a Hollywood bigshot to date a female singer, that would be a bit tacky.
Everyone was just playing around and wouldn't take it to heart; after all, their statuses didn't match.
"How are the singles coming along?"
"They're done. Want to listen?"
"Sure."
Li Chen nodded. Black Widow Natasha followed along the side and took a look; it was just an ordinary music studio with everything one could possibly need.
Yet there was still nothing special about it, and she was almost starting to doubt whether Li Chen was a 'normal person'.
As the two main artists of Starlight Music, their singles and albums were about to be released soon.
The influence of music was sometimes even greater than that of movies, and singers earned more than movie stars.
Therefore, Li Chen placed great importance on this.
Li Chen first listened to Dazzler's song. It was an original song by Dazzler, recounting a campus romance.
Her voice was ethereal, causing Li Chen to involuntarily sway along with the rhythm.
Music was simply something that could touch the soul.
As for what Taylor Swift prepared, it was an album.
Compared to Dazzler, who was completely a newcomer, Taylor was already somewhat famous.
Although her first album "Taylor Swift" was a slow burner and only sold 40,000 copies in its first week, because it was catchy, its performance got better and better afterwards.
Therefore, Starlight Pictures spent money to acquire Big Machine Records, and Taylor Swift was actually the most important 'asset'.
Last year, she had already won the award for Best New Female Artist at the Country Music Festival.
So she was already famous, which naturally made her different from Dazzler.
After finishing up at the music studio, Li Chen planned to take Taylor out to dinner, and then 'eat' her.
Black Widow Natasha didn't have any thoughts on the matter; she only felt that this fit her'stereotype' of Hollywood, where stars should do nothing besides work and fornicate.
She even asked Li Chen, "Do you want me to book a room for you?"
This was what a personal assistant should do.
Instead, this made Li Chen a bit unaccustomed to it.
But right at this moment, Li Chen's cell phone rang.
Nowadays, work-related calls were all transferred by Black Widow Natasha, but the call coming in now was a private call.
It was a call from the White Queen. When Li Chen saw it, his expression changed.
He immediately walked aside, answered it, and heard Emma Frost's resentful voice.
"Li, did you forget something."
"Not at all."
Li Chen stated, "Emma, I've been too busy recently. I was just about to call you; aren't I planning to invite you out to hang out?"
"Is that so?"
Emma Frost obviously didn't believe it.
Li Chen declared solemnly, "Really, dress up a bit prettier, and I'll come pick you up shortly."
Sorry, Taylor was going to be swapped out.
He hung up the phone and told Taylor about this matter, leaving Taylor very aggrieved.
"Definitely next time."
Li Chen patted her.
The feel was pretty good.
The benefit of a large frame was that there was really plenty of flesh.
"Alright, then you can't stand me up next time."
Taylor made up her mind that she had to win over Li Chen.
This actually made Black Widow very curious, and she immediately followed Li Chen.
Who would have thought that Li Chen would say to her, "You're off work today."
"I am your personal secretary."
Natasha still wanted to fight for it.
Li Chen looked at her. "Come and be personal tomorrow."
Li Chen looked at her. Could it be that when there's business, the secretary does the work, and when there's no business...
It seemed that Agents coming out of the Red Roomshouldn't care about this sort of thing.
Thinking of this, Li Chen decided not to let go of the meat delivered to his mouth.
Black Widow Natasha had no choice but to watch Li Chenleave by car.
She hesitated for a moment and chose not to follow.
There was plenty of time in the future.
Jubilee glanced at the rearview mirror and said, "Boss, this woman is extraordinary."
"I know."
Li Chen was somewhat surprised; by following him, Jubilee's perspective had indeed improved quite a bit.
Hearing this, Jubilee didn't remind him any further.
This was enough. She was Li Chen's driver and bodyguard, simply Li Chen's shadow.
Of course, if Li Chen needed it, she could also be a tool.
But unfortunately, Li Chen ignored her hints every time.
The vehicle soon arrived at the Hellfire Club.
But the White Queen had not appeared yet.
At this moment, Emma Frost was still caught up in hesitation.
Looking at her wardrobe full of clothes, she didn't know what to wear.
Li Chen had told her to dress up pretty, so she felt that she had to stun the whole audience.
After much difficulty, she chose a white backless gown, applied Li Chen's favorite blue lipstick, and then learned that he had already arrived.
"Impatient."
Emma Frost chuckled softly, wondering what arrangements Li Chen had in store.
She was also very curious; after all, she hadn't left the Hellfire Club for a long time.
Going out to play like a couple was also quite interesting.
Chapter 79 MAN
Emma, you are so beautiful."
Li Chen was truly stunned.
Although the White Queen always liked white dresses, this lace hollow-out dress still gave her an aura of absolute dominance.
Moreover, it exposed what should be exposed and covered up tightly what shouldn't.
Li Chen got a real feast for his eyes.
"Thank you."
Emma Frost turned the back of her hand toward Li Chen, and Li Chen sensibly gave it a kiss before leading her into the car.
"Where are we going to play?"
She was very curious.
Li Chen patted her hand and said, "You'll know when we get there."
This was what he had originally planned to take Taylor to, and he didn't know if the White Queen would like it.
But whether she liked it or not didn't matter; as long as Li Chen himself liked it, that was enough.
Anyway, since they were out to have fun, she had to listen to him.
The White Queen nodded, glanced at Jubilee in the front, and pulled down the car partition, cutting off Jubilee's line of sight and hearing.
The things they were going to talk about could not be known by outsiders.
"Erik has a plan."
Said the White Queen, Emma Frost.
"What plan?"
Li Chen also said solemnly.
"I don't know, so I want you to go ask Raven."
"I will find her."
Li Chen nodded.
Come to think of it, Mystique Raven hadn't reported to him for a long time.
This made him feel a bit ominous.
Women were all fickle; at that time she might have wanted to help Li Chen, but what about now?
The White Queen was also worried about this point and spoke up, "If something goes wrong..."
"Won't."
Li Chen said calmly.
The White Queen chose to believe him.
"You are going to be a king, after all."
She simply said that.
At this time, the car had arrived at one of the places with the highest pedestrian traffic.
Staples Center.
Emma Frost looked at the arena ahead and couldn't help saying with a strange expression, "You wouldn't happen to be treating me to a basketball game, would you?"
"That's right, isn't the Los Angeles Lakers game exciting?"
"But I am from Boston."
Emma Frost said speechlessly.
As everyone knew, the Los Angeles Lakers and the BostonCeltics were mortal enemies.
Starting from the Magic-Bird rivalry in the eighties, the grievances between the two teams escalated, not to mention the classic 'BEAT LA'.
This was a slogan chanted by Celtics fans toward their opponents in the face of defeat against Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980 Eastern Conference Finals.
They wanted the Philadelphia 76ers to inherit their will and defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals.
The feud between the two teams had not been resolved to this day, which was why the Green and Gold battle received so much attention.
Emma Frost was also affected by this and didn't like the Los Angeles Lakers very much.
Even though they had Kobe Bryant.
So one could imagine how terrible the impact would be if a Los Angeles Lakers player knelt on the Celtics' home court.
Those Los Angeles Lakers superstars would be ticked off to death seeing this scene.
But regardless, Emma Frost still followed Li Chen into Staples Center.
This was indeed a novel experience, especially since the tickets Li Chen bought were courtside seats.
Wherever the two of them walked, they attracted attention, and some people even recognized him.
Many people shouted 'Saitama' at him.
This left Li Chen speechless.
"How is it, do you feel like you are the center of attention?"
Li Chen asked in a low voice, "Although you can't be a star, you can still experience the spotlight."
"Thank you for letting me know that being in the spotlight is not necessarily a good thing."
Emma Frost gave him an eye-roll.
Arriving courtside, the Los Angeles Lakers were just warming up, and Kobe's eyes lit up when he saw him.
"MAN!"
Kobe simply dropped the ball and walked over to say hello.
"Hello, Kobe."
Li Chen almost replied with a sentence starting with 'what'.
"Mr. Li, my daughter really likes your comics."
Kobe smiled; this was the advantage of playing in Los Angeles, always being able to meet these celebrities.
Li Chen had been very popular recently, and no one didn't know him.
That was why Kobe came over to chat when he saw him.
"Thank you for her support."
The two chatted casually for a bit, and Kobe went back to warm up.
Li Chen also felt a bit emotional, not expecting to still be able to see a living Kobe.
However, their acquaintance was too shallow for deep words, and it wasn't good for him to bring up the helicopter incident.
After all, Los Angeles's traffic conditions were very 'worrisome', and taking a helicopter out was actually a very correct choice because it could avoid traffic jams.
Moreover, any means of transportation was dangerous, and even eating had the risk of choking to death.
It just happened.
After Li Chen and the White Queen sat down courtside, the game started soon.
The White Queen, Emma Frost, was not interested at first; after all, this was the Los Angeles Lakers, and it was just a regular season game.
However, it was also nearing the end of the regular season, and the game on the court was still quite intense.
The Los Angeles Lakers were very strong this year, after all, they were aiming for the championship, so Li Chen and the others also got to see the performance of peak Kobe.
If the Black Mamba of a few years ago was Kobe's physical peak, then Kobe now was like a peerless master; his physical fitness might have declined somewhat, but he had polished his moves to perfection.
Just like Jordan in his second three-peat, there was a feeling of supreme skill hiding under a clumsy appearance.
However, Michael Jordan's games couldn't be watched too much, otherwise watching too much would give one the feeling of, why does he play basketball so easily.
Throughout the first half, Kobe only exerted himself occasionally, and the Lakers fell behind the Dallas Mavericks a little bit.
This was the Lakers' aristocratic disease; they usually played very relaxedly in the first half and exerted themselves in the second half.
However, sometimes the hole was too big to fill.
Sure enough, the second half began to exert force, Kobebegan to take over the ball possession, and the Lakers quickly achieved a comeback.
This made the Dallas people sweat profusely and they could only call a timeout.
Right during the intermission, an interesting thing happened.
In foreign sports events, to pass the time during intermissions, photographers would aim their cameras at celebrities.
What if there were no celebrities? Then aim at couples.
I don't know since when, couples facing the camera would embrace and kiss.
However, sometimes jokes would also happen, for example, someone brought someone else's wife to watch the game, and then was caught by the photographer on the big screen...
Li Chen was considered a celebrity throughout the nationwide in the US now; the photographer recognized him, aimed the camera at him and the White Queen, and also gave their names next to the lens.
The camera aimed over, and immediately people cheered.
The people of Los Angeles were still very tolerant of Li Chen, because they thought Saitama went out from Los Angeles.
However, the people of New York did not agree, and they firmly believed that Saitama was the hero of New York.
For this reason, the East and West Coasts even cursed each other on the internet.
Li Chen noticed the camera, turned his head and looked at Emma Frost.
Emma Frost also knew the rules, and didn't want to make Li Chen lose face in front of everyone.
After all, the camera was aimed right at them; if the woman still refused, how embarrassing would that be?
So Li Chen embraced her and kissed down without hesitation.
"Mmm."
Emma Frost began to respond.
If they weren't in the arena, they might have started a round right there.
Chapter 80 Mystique's Anomaly
As Kobe exerted his strength, the game quickly entered garbage time.
With Gasol's addition, this Los Angeles Lakers team was very strong, and even Popovich angrily denounced it as 'robbery'.
You must know, even when the Heat formed the Big Three, he didn't say anything...
And in fact, Gasol wasn't really a big name. Before coming to the Los Angeles Lakers, although he had made the playoffs a few times with the Grizzlies, awkwardly, he hadn't won a single game in the playoffs.
If he hadn't come to Los Angeles, he would have been soft his whole life.
But even so, to Popovich, such a quasi-all-star player was already a huge reinforcement for Los Angeles.
Because he knew very well what Kobe could do.
In this world, the ones who truly understand you are always your opponents.
To avoid traffic jams, Li Chen and White Queen left the stadium early.
In his past life, he had never come to watch a game live, and now he was finally satisfied.
There had been opportunities in New York before, but the New York Knicks were just too terrible these days, and he had no interest in watching weaklings peck at each other.
"Do you like cats?"
Li Chen brought Emma Frost out and asked.
"I like them."
White Queen didn't know what he meant, but she replied anyway.
So Li Chen held her soft, cold little hand: "I know a place where cats can do backflips."
This made White Queen smile and tease: "You're not talking about a hotel, are you?"
"Ahem, going to my house is fine too."
Li Chen looked at her with burning eyes.
Both of them were a bit carried away by that kiss just now.
White Queen's heart fluttered from his gaze, but she quickly calmed down: "You should go find Raven, we need to know their plan."
"Can't even wait a day?"
Although Li Chen knew she was right, he still asked.
"Time is money."
White Queen was very firm, and then she said: "Besides, I'm a bit cold and need to go back to the club to get some clothes."
After all, it was still spring.
"Then I'll send you back first."
Li Chen nodded; it was indeed time to teach Mystique Raven a lesson.
The two got in the car and let Jubilee drive back to the Hellfire Club first.
Before White Queen got out of the car, Li Chen pulled her in for another kiss before letting her leave.
White Queen Emma gave him a sideways glance and swayed her waist into the club.
"Go to Bright Bar."
Li Chen sensed and found that Mystique happened to be in Los Angeles.
No wonder Emma Frost came looking for him today; it turned out to be just a coincidence.
But Jubilee didn't drive immediately; instead, she looked in the rearview mirror.
"What's wrong?"
Li Chen asked with a frown.
"Boss, your lips have turned blue."
Jubilee said faintly.
Li Chen wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and sure enough, the back of his hand was covered in blue lipstick.
No wonder Emma Frost's lips had somewhat changed color when she left; it turned out the lipstick had been eaten away...
"Thanks."
Only then did Jubilee start driving, to save Li Chen from losing face later.
Aside from parties, Los Angeles had the most bars.
However, compared to parties, bars were crowded with all sorts of people and were somewhat chaotic.
But Bright Bar looked unusual; the security was relatively strict, they dressed rather 'cheaply', and they wouldn't let people in.
Naturally, Li Chen wasn't blocked and walked in smoothly.
There was no difference from other bars; there was a scantily clad DJ scratching records up there, and the DJ's arms were covered in tattoos—proper rune warriors.
Of course, Li Chen didn't hate tattoos; he just hated those ugly ones.
In the dance floor, many people were twisting their bodies to the DJ's beat.
Li Chen had great eyesight and saw someone taking advantage of the dim environment right on the spot.
"As expected of America."
Li Chen used Super Vision to take a look and finally found Mystique Raven.
He saw that Mystique Raven had turned into a beautiful blonde stunner at this moment. Li Chen had seen this face somewhere before, seemingly on some magazine.
Without a doubt, this was a cover model.
But underneath it all was Mystique.
Mystique was drinking with a middle-aged woman.
This middle-aged woman was clearly a lesbian, because she boldly placed her hand on Mystique's leg.
"Candice, I heard that in the backstage of your runway shows, when changing clothes, everyone wears nothing?"
The middle-aged woman asked very passionately.
Hearing the name, Li Chen recognized who Mystique had turned into.
Candice Swanepoel, Victoria's Secret supermodel ah.
Candice was called the waist fairy by the fashion industry because her body measurements were extremely exaggerated.
It's no wonder she could attract this old woman.
Li Chen walked over, stood not far away, and looked at Mystique Raven with his eyes.
Mystique Raven was about to say something when she suddenly felt a gaze, turned her head to look, and saw Li Chen's face.
She was a bit startled, but quickly calmed down.
She said nonchalantly: "Ms. Syreet, I'm going to the restroom."
After saying that, she didn't look at Li Chen and walked straight toward the restroom.
Li Chen followed immediately.
They originally thought the restroom would be quiet, but who would have thought that before even getting close, Li Chen heard muffled sounds...
However, Raven's ears weren't as acute as Li Chen's; she didn't hear the sound until after going inside.
But by then it was too late.
Li Chen hugged her from behind: "Raven, why didn't you look for me?"
"You didn't look for me."
Raven said coldly: "And please let me go, sir."
Her cold expression made it seem as if the two of them didn't know each other, completely different from the Mystique who used to draw circles in his arms.
After speaking, she also pushed Li Chen hard.
But she obviously couldn't push him away.
Seeing her cold expression not seeming fake, Li Chen was also a bit puzzled.
Women really are fickle.
Especially an old woman like Mystique; she wasn't someone who could be easily conquered.
Therefore, only two words popped up in the bottom of his heart: Mystique Raven owes...
So he kissed her without hesitation, and his hands weren't honest either, exploring inwards.
"Mmm!"
Who would have known that Mystique Raven would dodge crazily, refusing to let him succeed, and even wanting to slap him.
This also stirred up Li Chen's desire for conquest.
He simply picked up Mystique Raven and prepared to take her away.
"Let me go, I still have business to attend to."
"That's Erik's business, not mine. You are my person."
Li Chen carried her out and shoved her into the back seat.
"Go to a nearby hotel."
He said to Jubilee.
Jubilee didn't say anything and started the car directly.
Mystique Raven was directly controlled by Li Chen and couldn't struggle. After arriving at the place, she was also directly carried upstairs by Li Chen.
"Shit, let me go."
She struggled vigorously, but it was of no use.
In the face of absolute strength, everything was futile.
Li Chen didn't know what was wrong with her; he only knew that he had to be a bit tougher.
Opening the door, he threw Mystique inside.
Moonlight shone on his body, and at this moment Li Chen seemed to have turned into a werewolf.