Chapter 322: Missing Person Notice

After the director's cut was completed, Dave Scola of 20th Century Fox's production department requested a re-edit according to his vision. Reluctantly, Ridley Scott complied. Unfortunately, the result was contrary to hopes, with the film's opening weekend grossing less than $19 million—a disastrous performance given its high costs.

Sitting in his office, Dave Scola set down a copy of "The Hollywood Reporter," his expression contemplative despite the unflattering coverage.

The media blamed him for the film's failure, which infuriated him. However, having been unanimously criticized at a recent executive meeting had already brought his anger to a peak, and now he was gradually calming down.

Especially when he thought of Kara Faith's slightly mocking demeanor, Dave Scola forced himself to cool down.

The box office flop of "Kingdom of Heaven" had put him in a precarious position. Losing his temper would only worsen his situation.

After pacing around his office, Dave's brows furrowed deeply as he recalled all the interactions with Kara Faith since she joined the company. How could he, a seasoned veteran, be continually outmaneuvered by a newcomer like her?

Indeed, Kara Faith was a formidable opponent: shrewd, skilled, and supported by the company's upper echelons. But he wasn't without resources either—those were not the issue.

What then was the key? Dave stopped pacing and exhaled deeply, his thoughts returning to the premiere, to that indifferent face and the words that had clearly written off the film.

Murphy Stanton... It all came back to Murphy Stanton. He was the decisive factor in his rivalry with Kara Faith!

Could he leverage something against Murphy Stanton to cut off Kara's main support?

Dave seriously pondered this question. The loss on "Kingdom of Heaven" was irreversible. If Kara's involvement in "Gone Girl" turned out to be successful...

Shaking his head, he knew that since the formal investment in "Kingdom of Heaven," Kara had not interfered further. He would have preferred her to make a foolish move, but she was too clever for that.

Similarly, if he were to sabotage "Gone Girl" and get exposed, he wouldn't need to worry about Kara's challenge—the board would have his head first.

Sitting back down, Dave hoped that her innovative marketing would fail.

As the summer heat began to grip the Big Apple, Kyle Dunst stood waiting for a bus in Brooklyn, overhearing two people discussing "Kingdom of Heaven."

"It's terrible!" one said, "Definitely Ridley Scott's worst."

The other nodded, "It's the worst movie I've seen this year. The box office is bad too. It's been three weeks and it hasn't even made $30 million. 20th Century Fox is going to take a huge loss."

"They had it coming," the first speaker seemed somewhat pleased. "Last year's 'Deadpool' made over $300 million in North America on a shoestring budget. Their luck had to run out."

"It's not about luck," the companion disagreed, "Murphy Stanton..."

He paused, searching for the right words, "Murphy Stanton is a very talented young director. I think he'll surpass Ridley Scott one day."

As they continued chatting and glancing around, the first speaker suddenly noticed something unusual. "Hey, what's this? A missing person notice?"

The other leaned in, "Looks like a girl has gone missing."

"Wow, there's a $50,000 reward for information," he exclaimed in surprise.

This caught Kyle's interest; he turned to look and then walked over to see the poster himself.

The missing person notice was printed on a large poster, very eye-catching.

"Amy Dunne, 33-year-old female, 5'10", blonde hair, a mole on her neck, recently disappeared from her home in Missouri. If you have any information regarding her whereabouts, please contact Nick Dunne. A $50,000 reward will be provided for useful information."

"Contact: Nick Dunne. Contact number…"

On the upper right of the text, there was a black and white photo, though it appeared to be a hand-drawn copy rather than a clear image, making it quite blurry.

Kyle shook his head at the unlikely odds of recognizing someone from such an image. As he boarded the bus, he noticed the same notice posted inside. Looking around, he saw that many commuters were also curiously reading the notice, the reward evidently appealing.

He wondered who would be lucky enough to encounter this missing Amy Dunne, though identifying her from the vague image seemed nearly impossible.

Getting off the bus near a subway station, Kyle saw a crowd gathered around an area.

"$50,000, huh? She must be from a rich family," someone commented.

"Keep an eye out as you walk; maybe you'll bump into her."

"The picture is too vague. Does Nick Dunne not

 really want to find her?"

"What's their relationship? Siblings? Spouses?"

Hearing these comments, Kyle didn't need to look to know they were discussing the missing person notice.

He shook his head, moved past the bus stop, and turned a corner to the subway entrance. There, on an advertising panel that everyone had to pass, another familiar large poster was displayed—again the missing person notice.

Reaching the platform, Kyle noticed more people gathered and talking.

"Another missing person notice?"

He tiptoed for a look and sure enough…

The missing person must be more than just wealthy, perhaps even a significant figure, for the notice to be displayed so ubiquitously.

As night fell, downtown Los Angeles transformed into a den of nefarious activities, with drug dealers, robbers, and gang members occasionally flashing by, and sometimes even gunshots echoed in certain areas.

Walking the streets alone in this area was a risk if you weren't a local, and most regular work ceased with the coming of darkness.

However, today was different in Los Angeles. A group of tough-looking individuals, covered in tattoos and spewing profanities, who at any other time would not be considered respectable, took to the streets of downtown, spreading out to key locations. Most local thugs, rather than picking fights, steered clear of them.

"Hurry up with the posters!"

Near old Chinatown, a bald African American man directed several people to place large posters at prominent street corners. "Quick! And keep an eye out, make sure these stay up as long as possible."

"Boss, we're the bad guys, right?" a young Latino man with a buzz cut turned around, discontented. "Since when did we start doing good deeds? Helping with a missing person notice?"

"Just do it!" the bald man walked over and smacked the back of the Latino's head. "Quit yapping and work."

Truthfully, he was also curious when did the largest gang in downtown Los Angeles start getting involved in missing persons cases? But this job was personally ordered by Ross…

The next morning, after finishing their rounds, the bald man drove around to check the streets. Most prominent locations now sported the uniform missing person posters.

Amy Dunne… The bald man was puzzled, could she be the boss's mistress? But wasn't Robert Downey Jr. supposed to be the boss's true love?

"It's too complicated," he thought, giving up on trying to understand.

In the Santa Clara Valley of California, home to North America's and some of the world's leading computer and internet firms, it was also one of the areas with the highest internet penetration globally.

Near Stanford University, in an office building, employees browsed online during their brief lunch break. Mobeck Stanley was among them, scratching his head as he scrolled through famous bloggers' posts.

Many well-known bloggers had shared a missing person notice, suggesting some important figure had disappeared.

"Amy Dunne, I've never heard of any important person by that name," Mobeck muttered to himself.

He opened Google, typed the name into the search bar, and hit enter. A flood of web pages appeared, revealing that her disappearance had drawn considerable attention.

The missing person notice spread rapidly across North America, not just through posters and the internet, but also on television.

Fox Network interrupted many local TV shows to broadcast a message.

"We received a plea from a man claiming to be Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy Dunne recently disappeared from their home in Missouri…"

As time passed, more and more information circulated throughout North America, and many who followed social issues knew of Amy Dunne's disappearance.

Yet, no one knew who Amy Dunne really was.

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