Chapter 478: The Chance to Prove You're Not a Jinx

[Chapter 478: The Chance to Prove You're Not a Jinx]

At the Coastal Building, in the central control room of the mainframe center.

Hawke sat in the observation area, intently watching Harland personally operate the system. With each command issued, the code on the big screen kept changing, eventually displaying a normal interface.

All the network information related to Robby Mook was extracted. This included his Twitter account, email, personal blog, and forum accounts.

Harland then used the existing model to filter and analyze this information, producing a result. He told Hawke, "Based on the analysis, Robby Mook appears to be a manager under Hillary, responsible for new media promotions and public affairs."

In front of Hawke was an LCD monitor showing the analysis results. Data analysis couldn't be used directly for decision-making, but could assist and provide reference.

Hawke noticed one detail: "This guy likes playing online games?"

"Yes," Harland elaborated after a deeper search. "He registered forum accounts with his Twitter handle on multiple game forums and sometimes posted game guides and articles."

Hawke pulled up one recently found post which was from the World of Warcraft game forum. The guy was recently complaining about the inhumane design of Undercity, mentioning he had died falling down an elevator shaft again.

Hawke said, "Extract Robby Mook's information separately and hand it over to me."

Harland quickly imported the relevant content onto a storage drive and added, "Last week, we made some progress on the AI project. The supervisor Salas named it cloud computing."

Hawke had already received a detailed report, not too surprising. Though much of the Manhattan AI Project's funding had been drained, some of the budget was spent on actual work, which made some progress. This was a major improvement in Twitter's core algorithm.

This technology could process tens of thousands of data points rapidly to achieve powerful network services. Just this alone put Twitter far ahead in the industry.

Hawke had held a meeting about this, mentioning that Twitter would be able to provide more personalized services to users in the future.

Taking the storage drive from harland, Hawke left the mainframe center.

...

 On his way back to his office, Hawke told Edward, "Give this info to Campos. Have him find some women who are good at online gaming -- preferably attractive with simple backgrounds -- to create accounts and interact with Robby Mook in the gaming world."

Edward, being tech-savvy, understood Hawke's intention, "You want them to develop online romances?"

Hawke recalled Robby Mook's profile and said, "He's single, spends almost all his time online outside of work, and has no official girlfriend. How could a good guy who spends his time either working or surfing the internet not have a romantic interest?"

Edward suddenly suggested, "It doesn't necessarily have to be women."

Hawke immediately thought of some notorious online cases where men pretended to be women and fooled many.

"Do you have candidates in mind?" Hawke asked.

"The Ugly Trio," Edward said straightforwardly. "They just returned from San Francisco, bored, and spend all day arguing online."

Hawke guessed, "They're trolls?"

Edward, recalling Hawke mentioning these types before replied, "Exactly. The three of them have nothing to do and switch identities to troll. To gain the upper hand, they sometimes pretend to be trans or female. This job should fit them perfectly."

Hawke had worked with the Ugly Trio when he first came to Los Angeles and knew them well. They were flexible and not as problematic as some others.

"Let them try." Hawke agreed.

Edward asked, "What's the specific goal?"

"Have them get familiar with Robby Mook first." Hawke didn't yet know what insights might be gained, but this was a preparatory step. "Ideally, they would develop into online romantic interests."

Three bumbling guys pretending to be women dealing with a young, inexperienced online introvert -- what kind of sparks might fly?

Edward had ideas: "They could separate and pose as different female characters, each contacting Robby Mook in the game."

Hawke nodded, "Sure, failure isn't a problem."

World of Warcraft had strong interactivity, especially with its guild and raid systems that encouraged teamwork, so getting familiar quickly was feasible.

...

Edward hurriedly left the Coastal Building to the Compton Foundation to meet the Ugly Trio.

DaShawn was interested immediately after hearing the description: "So we're just catfishing a guy? I'm great at that!"

"Exactly, we got this." The three found the task fun and challenging, saying, "Don't worry, it won't take long before we're regarded as internet goddesses."

Carter thought ahead: "Once we're familiar online, he might call or DM on Twitter. We need three women to answer calls and each needs to create a female Twitter identity."

Edward agreed and said, "Leave that to me."

He thought a bit more and decided these female accounts should look genuine too. For each, backdate tweets and post photos showing side profiles or limbs, with some comments under them.

As for calls, there were women at the Compton Foundation to handle that.

Edward immediately contacted Caroline about this.

---

Under the night sky of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom entered a business clubhouse in the South Bay area.

Gittens was waiting in the lobby. "Hector Cooper is here, waiting in Room 1."

Gavin walked toward the room, asking, "He came alone?"

"Only with an assistant," Gittens replied, knocking on the door.

When the door opened, Gavin greeted eagerly, extending his right hand from a distance, "Hector, long time no see."

Cooper shook his hand. "There were some issues in Hawaii. I stayed there for a while. Didn't expect things in California to become uncontrollable."

Gavin understood the implied meaning. Pacific Electric had invested heavily with him and Jerry Brown, but the result was disappointing. Any investor would be unhappy.

He said bluntly, "We made many mistakes this time. Our mindset was rigid and outdated, unable to keep up with the Los Angeles group changes, which put us in a passive and losing position. I apologize deeply."

After summarizing the past, he looked to the future, promising once more, "We have started preparing for four years later. Our failure came from two rare incidents: the previous Los Angeles fires. The film, The Los Angeles Fires, sold great but seriously hurt our reputation in California; and the Philip case, which triggered the LGBTQ movement's surge..."

Cooper nodded slowly. When economic power was balanced, social movements could determine election outcomes.

"However victorious they are now, they'll face severe backlash next time."

Gavin explained the possible extreme developments of the LGBTQ movement.

Cooper knew more: "Before BlackRock was acquired, they started a marginalized groups program, but it was suppressed by some shortsighted people among our party in coalition with the opposition, leading to a failure at the Hudson River outlet, then the Republican party launched their own marginalized program."

Gavin sighed, "One step behind means falling behind at every step."

Cooper asked, "Is the election irreversible this time?"

"Though I don't want to admit it, I must face reality," Gavin said with a polished exterior but real emotion beneath. "Recent polls show Brian Ferguson's support near 65%."

Cooper didn't respond; with such a gap, how could one compete?

Gavin tried to motivate, "Jerry and I will honor our commitments to you, but it has to wait until next term."

Because California was about to turn solidly blue, Pacific Electric had been a staunch donkey party supporter there without hedging bets. But the situation had infuriated Cooper.

First Schwarzenegger used the Venice Beach Club fire to get Grey Davis to withdraw from the recall election. Then the Ackerman family and Los Angeles fires events caused donkey party losses in the state legislature, losing control.

The new governor election hadn't happened yet, but their side was already defeated.

Cooper looked grim; supporting the Newsom family and Jerry Brown was his decision, but the board and shareholders pressured him.

California was America's strongest economy state.

He said straightforwardly, "Losing the election affects many of Pacific Electric's plans in California, including expected government subsidies."

Gavin forced a smile, "In the long run, California is still ours."

Cooper asked, "Which big groups support Brian Ferguson?"

"Pacific Investment Company, the Ferguson family's enterprise," Gavin listed, "including companies and foundations led by Hawke Osment like Twitter, and many tech companies in Silicon Valley led by eBay."

Cooper shook his head, "Looks like we're going to lose some business."

He added, "These traditional big corporations had already siphoned government funds long ago, not just Twitter. I had hoped to use this election victory for Pacific Electric's high-tech transformation in Silicon Valley, but that plan must be delayed."

Since Silicon Valley was in San Francisco, Gavin said, "If you need help, just ask."

Cooper nodded but asked, "Your ties with the military? Can you get a Pentagon general with real influence?"

Gavin frowned, "The Pentagon? I can try. But you need to tell me specific details."

Cooper thought and said, "Residents on Maui Island, Hawaii, complain about Pacific Electric's aging lines and pipes, some involving military fuel storage tanks, making communication difficult. Residents are always causing trouble, claiming that if the lines catch fire, it'd be like the Los Angeles fires..."

He was angry, "Those bastards just want us to waste money updating equipment."

Gavin agreed, "Fires like Los Angeles's don't happen easily, and idiots like Antonio aren't in every state."

Cooper snorted, "Even if a fire happened, that's a natural disaster, not our problem."

Gavin smiled, "I'll try to contact someone."

Cooper had connections too, but the more pressure applied, the better.

Updating Maui's electric facilities would cost over a billion dollars, and Pacific Electric wasn't crazy. With a US military base there, involving the Pentagon could spread the burden since the base's leaking fuel tanks also annoyed residents.

Cooper said, "If possible, I'll visit Los Angeles to meet Brian Ferguson and Hawke Osment to see what kind of people they are."

"Not easy to deal with," Gavin understood. He pulled out an invitation, "I'm getting married, wedding set before Christmas, you're welcome to come."

Cooper smiled, "Congratulations, I'll definitely be there."

Marriage was a must for politicians at a certain level. Since Brian Ferguson was unmarried, the donkey party had to promote Jerry Brown early to avoid questions about Gavin's marriage.

---

Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive.

On the second floor of a boutique, Jennifer Huey glanced at Monique Lhuillier and handed over three wedding dress designs, asking Erica's opinion, "Which dress do you think looks good?"

"I think they're about the same," Erica smiled at Monique, "I'm not very sensitive to fashion elements."

Monique quickly said, "That's okay."

She stood to leave, "You guys discuss first. I'll come back later."

Monique and the others left the room.

...

Jennifer said, "Honey, I asked you for help and advice."

Erica shrugged, "If you asked me to help pick a gun, I'd have an opinion. But this one is up to you; it's your wedding, pick what you like."

She didn't say more, knowing that aside from the bride, others often aren't that interested in the dress.

Erica really wasn't good at this. Though in the game with Hawke, she had worn wedding dresses.

"Jen, you should invite Brian to join."

Jennifer said, "He and Hawke will come upstairs soon."

Erica leaned back on the chair backrest, "Take your time, choose slow."

Jennifer carefully examined the dress ornament designs and asked, "What plans do you and Hawke have for the future?"

Erica replied plainly, "We both think things are good as they are, no plans to change for now."

Jennifer only asked and said no more; she wouldn't interfere.

...

After chatting a while, Hawke and Brian came upstairs.

Monique rushed out enthusiastically, especially treating Hawke and Erica as potential clients.

Hawke quickly sent her away, then said to Brian, "Your work starts now. Go pick."

Brian smiled, "I like the middle one."

Jennifer looked at him, "Can you be more serious?"

Brian stopped smiling and sat next to them to look at the design sheets.

...

Hawke distanced himself by the window and asked Erica, "Have you thought about where to travel?"

Erica said, "To your hometown? I remember you mentioned you bought land near the ranch, which became a large farm with a hunting ground."

Since his girlfriend wanted to go, Hawke agreed, "Perfect, I've stored many guns there."

As Hawke's wealth increased, the Wyoming ranch had changed dramatically.

Since moving to the Coastal Building, Hawke had Roger Keene, chairman of the foundation, buy surrounding land in Wyoming multiple times, expanding the ranch more than tenfold.

The area was vast and sparsely populated; land was cheap and taxes not a problem to him.

The ranch was managed by staff, raising some cattle and sheep. According to Hawke, many areas were turned into wild grasslands. Along with natural hills and forests, it had the look of a hunting range.

...

After nearly an hour, the wedding dress plan was settled.

Jennifer invited Hawke and Erica to the restaurant for lunch.

During the meal, Brian suddenly asked Erica, "I heard from aunt Mary you plan to take vacation. Where are you going?"

Hearing this, Hawke immediately lost his appetite and warned, "Don't say more, don't think more, don't ask more."

Jennifer laughed, "Hawke's more nervous than facing shooters."

Hawke said, "I can fight back with a gun against a few shooters; the bullets will kill them. But when Brian talks, I think -- who knows how many shooters might come?"

He counted, "The earliest times it was two or three, then five or six, and during last year's Africa trip, there were nearly a hundred. It's terrifying."

Erica completely agreed and reminded, "There were also two armored Humvees equipped with M2 heavy machine guns."

Brian spread his hands, "I wasn't thinking, saying, or asking anything."

Hawke didn't fully trust him and asked Jennifer, "Will you take time off then?"

Jennifer checked the dates and thought aloud, "I should be able to take a break."

Hawke was less polite to Brian, saying bluntly, "Then it's easy. Here's your chance to prove you're not the leader of some jinx cult. We'll go to Wyoming together then."

*****

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