"What?!"
Anton was furious. "You're saying Eddie was taken by the Life Foundation?"
Phil could feel Anton's rage through the screen.
But after what they'd just been through, he understood the importance of courage. He said seriously, "Before Eddie was taken, he left behind the video footage from the Homeless Shelter."
"Video footage?"
Anton frowned, then said bluntly, "Tell me exactly what happened."
After listening to Phil's explanation, he quickly calmed down.
"Send the video footage back."
Anton instructed, "As for you, Phil, stay in San Francisco for the time being. Keep a close eye on the Life Foundation and continue to report any developments to me."
"Understood."
Phil nodded.
A few minutes later, Anton received the video Phil had sent back and quickly reviewed it.
His expression was grim.
The most realistic images gave him the most direct impact.
He could even imagine what Eddie looked like mixed among the homeless people.
"Homeless Shelter... Carlton Drake, I thought I already thought highly of you, but I didn't expect you to be even more unscrupulous than I imagined!"
"Eddie, great job! Now, it's my turn!"
Anton thought to himself.
Then, he immediately booked a flight back to New York for the early morning.
Before he left, he found the assistant in the crew and summoned a dozen assistant directors and actors, including other staff members.
He held an all-hands meeting.
At the meeting, Anton clearly stated that he had something to take care of and would be leaving the crew.
Since filming was nearing its final stages, even without him, these people could independently complete the remaining work.
It's worth mentioning that it had been over half a month since Eddie was first out of contact.
Over those two weeks, the film's progress had advanced significantly.
The remaining shooting schedule was mostly supplementary material.
Even scenes involving the male lead, Batman Bruce Wayne, had very little left to film.
Anton was fully justified in taking a hands-off approach.
When he left the set, the assistant directors respectfully saw him off, all beaming.
In contrast, they assured Anton that they would complete all filming within 20 days.
At the same time, work on the film's special effects was also steadily progressing.
With the design drafts Anton helped the special effects artist create, he didn't need to pay too much attention to the special effects content anymore. He just needed to wait for the finished film and then add them in.
In summary, after giving his instructions, he immediately flew to New York.
The next morning, Jim found out that Anton had returned to New York and become a hands-off boss.
He was so angry that he puffed out his beard and glared.
But he still couldn't do anything about Anton, the investor and director.
The only thing he could do was keep an eye on the crew for Anton, to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation.
He arrived in New York at dawn.
Betty had been waiting outside the airport for a long time.
She spotted Anton in the distance, her delicate face as cold as ice, not giving her boss a pleasant expression.
Anyone would be unhappy to be woken up in the middle of the night to pick someone up from the airport.
Especially when that person was your boss.
"Betty, I'm still your boss, can't I even get a smile?"
Sitting in the passenger seat of the BMW, Anton turned his head to look at Betty and couldn't help but say, "Don't forget who gives you a salary that surpasses ninety percent of your peers."
Betty snorted, "Strictly speaking, the Daily Bugle belongs to Jonah Jameson, not Anton Jameson."
"We're both Jamesons, so give or take, the newspaper is mine, isn't that a given?"
After a moment, as the car was about to arrive at the Daily Bugle's office building, Anton smiled and said, "There should be many people who sympathize with you right now."
"What do you mean?"
Betty looked puzzled.
After parking the car and following Anton into the newspaper office, she suddenly understood what Anton meant.
The Daily Bugle's office area was brightly lit at this moment.
Lights shone everywhere, as if it were daytime.
All the employees were sitting at their workstations, not even the interns were missing.
Most of them looked impatient and very annoyed.
"Anton, what are you doing?"
Betty felt a strange premonition, as if something big was about to happen.
She had never experienced anything like this before.
It wasn't just Betty; the other employees of the Daily Bugle were also very puzzled.
Of course, seeing all the staff called back to work by Anton in the early hours of the morning, they suddenly had the same feeling as Betty.
Something big was probably going to happen.
"I've called you all here today because I have something to announce."
Anton's tone was calm, without any emotion.
"Tomorrow's front page is scrapped."
Next, he spoke with an undeniable tone.
He then turned on the public projector and displayed the video material he carried on the wall.
Everyone was shocked.
Someone immediately cursed, "Shit! Anton, do you know what you're saying?"
Realizing that the video Anton was showing would be the front page of the Daily Bugle tomorrow, they didn't have time to vent their anger. Everyone, including him, stared at the images flashing by, not blinking.
"As you can see, this will be tomorrow's front page!"
Anton finished speaking and looked around, his gaze sharp.
No one dared to meet his eyes.
After a moment, the expressions of these people shifted, their brows furrowed.
Someone opened their mouth, unsure of what to say.
"Where is this?"
After a moment, Betty asked.
Suddenly, she seemed to understand something, and said with realization, "This is Eddie's field assignment!"
"Eddie, did Eddie take this?"
"That's right, Editor Eddie just started, and he's already out on a field assignment. Besides him, who else could it be? Could it be those clueless interns?"
The reactions of everyone were surprisingly consistent.
Eddie went on assignment shortly after joining the Daily Bugle and hadn't been back for almost a month. No one knew what was going on.
If the newspaper hadn't put out a notice, people might have thought Eddie had offended the boss and run off, or had somehow displeased Anton, the young owner, and been fired.
Of course, what they found even more incomprehensible was that Eddie was the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle.
Normally, the editor-in-chief sits in the office drinking tea and giving orders. How could he possibly be on the front lines?
But considering Eddie's background, everyone understood.
When it came to field work and professional skills, perhaps no one present could compare to Eddie.
After so many years as a reporter, he was directly promoted to editor-in-chief by the notoriously picky Jonah Jameson, which showed how excellent Eddie was.
If he hadn't offended Carlton Drake in San Francisco and been forced to leave, Eddie's abilities would have allowed him to succeed anywhere, to live a good life.
"The footage speaks for itself. No further explanation is needed," Anton said.
"This is a scandal involving the Life Foundation. The one in San Francisco, the same one Eddie has a problem with. They're secretly signing volunteers for unethical human experiments, preying on the homeless. Eddie lost his job and was blacklisted in the industry because he tried to expose Drake."
"However, Eddie infiltrated the Homeless Shelter to record this video and has now been taken by the Life Foundation. To ensure his safety, we must release this material immediately, ignite public outrage, and make them too busy to harm any more volunteers."
"So, listen to me, and drop tomorrow's front page."
He spoke slowly, emphasizing each word: "From this moment on, the Daily Bugle… is at war with the Life Foundation!"