Hollywood Immortal

[Chapter 355: The Truth Behind the Case?]

Anthony Lock reviewed all the information he had gathered, and the general outline of the case was beginning to take shape in his mind.

Last August, eleven powerful and wealthy women had inexplicably pooled their resources to establish a highly secretive X Laboratory to conduct human experiments that were strictly forbidden by federal law.

For the experiments, the lab had employed horrific methods -- luring and abducting an alarming number of homeless people, even illegally purchasing corpses of deceased patients from hospitals for research purposes.

It seemed that the lab had made significant breakthroughs in its research, which is why these influential women had come together to inspect the progress in person and increase their investments.

However, the secret got leaked. Another organization learned about their research and results. They orchestrated the explosion to both steal the lab's findings and completely eliminate any evidence.

But something didn't add up. Normally, just stealing the research would have been enough. Why resort to such extreme measures as destroying the lab and bodies, thereby inviting an investigation by the FBI and local police?

Could it be that the research was so critical or its results so dangerous that they resorted to violent measures to keep it all to themselves?

Still, the question remained: who exactly was behind this organization, capable of erasing all traces at the scene and flawlessly orchestrating the death of the security chief Campos who sacrificed himself?

Apart from the FBI, there were very few organizations in the entire country with that kind of power.

There was also another possibility: the lab might have been so morally corrupt and engaged in so many heinous acts that Campos' conscience finally caught up to him, leading him to sacrifice his life by planning the explosion.

But if that were the case, one detail didn't make sense: why were Cornell and Sandra Field silenced at their homes that very night?

The only current lead was to track down the killers of Cornell and Sandra Field. Finding them would finally unravel the whole mystery.

---

While the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department searched relentlessly across the city, Linton relaxed comfortably in his office, playing Tomb Raider.

Just as he was getting deeply into the game, his assistant walked in holding a phone.

"Boss, the White House First Lady's on the line."

"Hello, this is Linton."

"Hi, Linton."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"About the explosion in Los Angeles two days ago -- were you affected?" Hillary asked cautiously. She knew this explosion was definitely connected to Linton but fully intended to keep that knowledge to herself.

In truth, she was a bit worried that Linton hadn't covered his tracks well enough. Another reason she was calling was to see if he needed any help.

"I'm fine. If that's all, I've got to go. Things are pretty busy here."

"I'm just checking in on you. I also wanted to see if you needed support of any kind."

"Thanks, but no. I'll hang up now."

"Wait -- I also wanted to ask when you'll be in Los Angeles this month for a date."

"Probably at the end. Now's not a good time."

"But I miss you. Isn't now okay?"

"With all that's going on here in L.A., with the whole country tuned in, do you really think it's a smart move?"

"Alright, I'll get back to you at the end of the month."

Actually, Hillary's concern for Linton was completely unnecessary. Given the arrangements Linton had put in place, there was no way the FBI or police would ever link the explosion back to him.

Still, the call reminded Linton that Hillary had no sense of confidentiality. Even if the conversation was subtle, if it were intercepted, it could cause huge trouble.

Not to mention, she'd slipped in phrases like "miss you" and "date." If leaked, it would lead to a major scandal.

Next time they met, he'd have to remind her about the importance of discretion.

Although the U.S. government hadn't yet implemented a program like Prism, who knew if there weren't some reckless political enemies acting out of desperation?

Especially for someone in her position, a high-profile figure, the awareness of secrecy had to be constant.

He remembered how in a past life, Hillary's failure to maintain secrecy resulted in the infamous email scandal. She was mercilessly attacked by rivals and ultimately lost the election, missing her chance at becoming president.

Such mistakes could never happen again.

---

On February 15th, the 29th Super Bowl was held at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida.

Michael Bay and Industrial Light & Magic finally finished producing the 30-second promo trailer for Independence Day.

Bay knew his audience well. In just 30 seconds, the trailer showcased the White House exploding, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the Golden Gate Bridge -- all going up in flames.

Sweeping alien spacecraft darkened the sky as U.S. military jets and extraterrestrial UFOs engaged in epic aerial battles over Area 51. The trailer ended with the aliens' mothership exploding.

At the very end, the words appeared: "July 4th -- Independence Day invites you to fight the alien invasion."

The promo was a constant blitz of jaw-dropping visuals and sound, leaving the 75,000 fans in the stadium stunned and the 80 million viewers at home equally awe-struck.

After the trailer aired, the crowd roared with excitement. Television audiences were buzzing as well.

A movie this intense, this wild, starring superstar Linton and gorgeous leading ladies Cristiana and Nicole Kidman -- it was love at first sight. No one planned to miss the theaters on July 4th.

Following the massive success of Speed's Super Bowl ads last year, Hollywood had made the halftime show a key market for film promotions this year, even dedicating a special block for movie ads.

Yet among all the films advertised that night, Independence Day completely overshadowed the competition.

The overwhelming performance of the Independence Day promo at the Super Bowl sparked extensive media coverage and drew even more attention from the public, laying a solid foundation for the film's release campaign.

---

Meanwhile, FBI Deputy Director Anthony Lock was growing increasingly frustrated.

The only lead -- the assassin who killed Cornell and Sandra -- remained elusive.

No matter how the FBI and LAPD investigated, even bringing in the nation's top crime scene experts and the most advanced technology, they found not a shred of evidence, as if the victims had somehow been rigged with a detonator in their heads.

But with current human technology, that was simply impossible.

Wait -- the X Laboratory was doing human experiments. Could they have developed such a self-destruct device implanted in their subjects' brains, set to activate under certain conditions?

Maybe it was because the laboratory had been completely destroyed in the explosion, even though the two women were lucky enough to escape the on-site explosion, they were killed by the self-destruct device in their heads because they had no way to extend the time of the self-destruct device.

Days passed -- one day, two days, three days.

A week, two weeks...

Everyone knew that the longer it went on, the slimmer the chances of catching the killers.

A month later, Anthony Lock finally gave up and returned to the FBI headquarters in Washington with his team.

After reporting to Director Lawrence, the FBI officially closed the case on the Los Angeles explosion. ---

The confidential internal files stated:

Federal Senator Jennifer Cassito, California House Speaker Chelsea Cory, California Attorney General Nancy Brown, Macy from the Dupont family, Betty from the Rothschild family... eleven powerful women in total had jointly invested in the X Laboratory.

The lab conducted horrifying human experiments by abducting people alive. The specific research topics and results remained unknown.

Because the experiments were so brutal, the lab's security chief developed a guilty conscience and planned to destroy the lab.

When the lab achieved a significant breakthrough, he orchestrated a drastic explosion, wiping out all investors, researchers, and research materials -- sacrificing himself in the process.

The research results were suspected to involve neural control over humans, as both Cornell and Sandra Field died from their own experiment results, but this couldn't be confirmed or denied.

Of course, this classified document was only visible to high-level personnel and representatives of the eleven powerful women's backers who perished in the blast.

The official public conclusion was that the lab's security chief, harboring grudges against the lab's leaders, retaliated by purchasing large amounts of explosives on the black market, blowing up the lab along with all researchers.

After this conclusion was released, the public erupted, and the media flared up with criticism questioning the FBI's account.

But the FBI ignored it completely.

Even more strangely, the uproar came mainly from tabloid newspapers. The mainstream media remained completely silent, all collectively keeping quiet.

Similarly, the powerful backers behind those eleven women who were reduced to ashes in the explosion also maintained their silence.

*****

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