Chapter 151: A Change in Temperament
Chapter 151: A Change in Temperament
Andy carried a backpack into a financial company. Amid the financial company manager’s mocking laughter as he pulled out a stack of Marvel superhero comics from a document bag, Andy drew a handgun, and the “battle of wits” between the two officially began.
“So, you finally came. I’ve been waiting a long time for you.” Using the financial company manager’s body as a shield, Andy warmly greeted Shawn, who had stepped onto the rooftop.
“Sorry, traffic jam,” Shawn replied with a smile, his tone carrying not the slightest trace of unfamiliarity. This was the most basic quality of a negotiator approaching a criminal. No matter how much he hated the other party inside, no matter how badly he wanted to throw them into prison or send them to the electric chair, on the surface he still had to maintain the attitude of an old friend opening his heart completely. Only by getting close to the criminal could he possibly find the other party’s weakness.
“You can call me Shawn. Is there anything I can help you with? Everyone has their own goals. Some people want money, cars, airplanes, while others want to see their wives. Do you have a girlfriend?” After receiving Andy’s permission, Shawn slowly stepped forward and began trying to build rapport.
Andy did not answer. Instead, he leaned out from behind the financial company manager’s cover. Shawn wanted to shift his body aside to make it easier for the sniper in the opposite building to aim, but Andy stopped him with a warning.
“Am I pretty smart?” Andy smiled as he looked at the helpless Shawn.
“Yeah. What should I call you?”
“Look it up yourself.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“Very simple. I want to play a seventy-two-hour game with you.”
“You want to play with me? No problem. But the hostage is innocent. Let him go, and I’ll take his place.”
Bang—
A dull gunshot rang out, followed by a wave of shocked cries throughout the screening hall. No one had expected Cruise, who always portrayed highly positive characters in films, to shoot an innocent person without hesitation. More than half of the invited movie fans in the theater were Cruise fans.
The two girls sitting behind Nicole also cried out in shock.
“Ah, how could this happen? Miki, why would Tommy do something like that? He isn’t really a bad guy, is he?”
“Definitely not. Erika, look at how sleazy that manager looks. I think he definitely deserved it somehow,” the girl named Miki said, though her tone was also full of uncertainty.
“Looks like Cruise really made a huge breakthrough with this role,” George Nosen commented. Although his voice was not loud, it was enough for Nicole beside him to hear. But after glancing at the indifferent woman beside him and realizing she had no interest in the topic, he could only stop the string of analysis he had been about to launch into.
Because of the caution and cowardice of police chief Ian Spire, played by Joe Pesci, Andy successfully escaped into the building through a ventilation shaft. Amid the chaos, the financial company manager, his head covered in fake blood, crawled up from the floor.
“Help! I’m not dead!”
“Hah...” Relieved sighs rose from the audience members who had originally been tense with worry.
Soon after, Ian’s stupidity and Shawn’s frustrated reactions once again created comedic moments. When Shawn helplessly slapped the Hershey’s chocolate box disguised as a bomb in front of Ian, soft laughter once again filled the theater.
“Hershey’s chocolate,” someone in the darkness repeated Shawn’s line with interest, imitating his tone. If the executives of The Hershey Company had heard this, they definitely would have felt that the five hundred thousand dollars in advertising fees had been well spent.
After escaping the building, Andy accidentally got into Shawn’s taxi because of a moment of carelessness, and the two finally began their first direct confrontation.
“Take me to the police station, and you win.” As Andy spoke, he extended his handgun out the car window and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
A faint gunshot muffled by the silencer rang out. Sparks flew from a streetlamp pole. A child’s balloon suddenly burst. A porter’s cardboard box exploded into pieces...
A hand landed on Shawn’s shoulder as Andy’s cold voice sounded beside him.
“I’ll shoot after I count to three.”
“One... two...”
Shawn turned to look in the direction Andy’s gun was pointing. He wanted to gamble that the other party would not fire, but when he saw the pregnant woman with a protruding belly at the intersection ahead, the woman carrying a child, the student with a backpack, Shawn slammed down on the accelerator at the last moment.
He did not dare gamble anymore.
But it was already too late.
“...Three!”
“Hey!” Shawn cried out in terror, nervously looking toward the pedestrians ahead.
Everyone was completely unharmed.
When he turned around, the rear car door was open, and Andy had already vanished without a trace.
“Hey, hey, hey, Miki, did you see that? Tommy actually fired the last shot upward,” the excited girl’s voice rang out once more.
“Yeah, this character is actually a good person,” the girl named Miki agreed.
“He’s more like both righteous and evil at the same time. I’m starting to fall in love with this character. Eric Williams is seriously amazing. I’ve never seen a character like this in any other movie before.”
Miki laughed. “The key point is that he’s still so young. I heard he’s not even nineteen yet, younger than both of us.”
“Hah... just a little brat. In that case, I still like Tommy a bit more.”
“Hehe.” Hearing her companion’s lovestruck tone, the other girl laughed.
Even Nicole, who had remained expressionless in the front rows, could not help revealing a faint smile. After spending more than a month together, the fairly perceptive woman had already gained a deep understanding of Eric. She secretly thought that, with his methods, if he targeted these two girls, they would probably become completely dizzy from being charmed before long and throw someone like Tom Cruise completely out of their minds. But soon afterward, the woman thought about her own experience and became somewhat downcast.
Did he really... look down on her, just as Drew had said?
As if to mirror Nicole’s lonely mood in the darkness, the theater speakers began playing the ethereal and sorrowful melody of Endless Love.
On the bus, Andy encountered a police checkpoint inspection. Calm and composed, he stood up and sat beside a young woman near the front right side.
The appearance of Brooke Shields was still stunning. However, under Eric’s suggestion and after careful refinement by the makeup artist, the woman’s originally somewhat thick eyebrows had been trimmed thinner. She wore no lip gloss at all, her long hair was smooth and flowing, and her face carried only light makeup.
This change caused a tremendous transformation in the woman’s temperament.
Previously, whenever many people saw Brooke Shields in magazines, words like “goddess” naturally came to mind.
But now, the woman’s appearance made her entire temperament much softer. The untouchable goddess aura that made people keep their distance had faded away, turning her instead into a woman who easily inspired feelings of closeness and protectiveness.
In the front rows of the theater, as Brooke Shields watched herself appear onscreen, she immediately became nervous. She was still somewhat worried about this transformation in her image. The woman secretly turned around to look behind her. Thanks to the light from the screen, she could clearly make out the facial expressions of the audience in the back rows. Everywhere within her field of vision, many male viewers were staring fixedly at the big screen without blinking. Quite a few even wore fascinated expressions, mouths slightly open, clearly captivated by her appearance.
Seeing this, Brooke Shields finally relaxed slightly and let out a relieved breath before turning back around.
As long as the audience’s reaction was good, that was enough.
As for film critics, after experiencing several Golden Raspberry Awards, she had already completely given up hope of being recognized for her acting skills. As long as she remained popular with audiences, that was enough. After all, Hollywood had plenty of major stars with huge popularity but terrible acting.
Onscreen, the yoyo played by Brooke Shields curiously glanced at the strange man who had suddenly appeared beside her. Unexpectedly, she noticed the handle of a gun beneath his open collar, and a faint yet restrained fear appeared on her face.
“As long as you stay quiet, nothing will happen,” Andy whispered softly into her ear. He removed his sunglasses and placed them on the woman’s face, hiding the fear flickering uncontrollably in her eyes. Then he removed one of her earphones and put it into his own ear before domineeringly wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her against himself.