Chapter 566 - 369: Doubts? Selling Goods! LW Wins Effortlessly

Chapter 566: Chapter 369: Doubts? Selling Goods! LW Wins Effortlessly

"How did you do it?" Anya pressed.

"Oh, you mean that," Li Wei said casually. "I already told you, he has a good attitude toward me. He likes me a lot."

As he spoke, he began to mimic Robert Flynn’s tone. "Ah, it’s Li Wei. Isn’t it just about procuring the LW drinks? It’s a small matter. You speak so well, and you’re so handsome." He glanced at Anya again. "And your girlfriend is so beautiful and virtuous. I’ll take care of this trivial matter for you right away."

Anya pouted, but the laughter in her eyes betrayed her true emotions.

"Alright," Li Wei said, continuing to drive down the road. "Actually, I did him a favor."

"What favor?" Anya blurted out. "Does it have something to do with their son who just came out?"

"Yeah," Li Wei said casually. "I recently learned a technique. Do you know about Inner Strength? I just learned it, and I used it to alleviate his drug addiction."

Anya looked entirely unconvinced. "You’re saying you cured his drug addiction with Inner Strength?" She scoffed. "I don’t believe it."

"You don’t believe it?" Li Wei glanced at her. "Do you want to try?"

"Try?" Anya asked. "Try how?"

"You’ll know tonight." Li Wei steered the car onto Bel Air Boulevard.

That night, after Anya had screamed for forty minutes, the midnight bell tolled. The hands of the watch ticked a few minutes past twelve, and Anya’s voice rang out again.

"What... what is this? It’s so hot. No, no, don’t..."

...

The next day at noon.

Jin Heon, Mark, and Arthur arrived in Los Angeles from New York with their team. The signing ceremony was arranged in a conference room on the sixth floor of the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters building. There was no media, no reporters, and no public ceremony.

Flynn sat on one side of the table in a formal suit, flanked by the head of the Los Angeles Police Department logistics team and the director of the legal department.

Jin Heon could hardly conceal the excitement in her heart as she looked at Li Wei, who was sitting next to Flynn. She wondered how the boss had managed to do it. After receiving the news last night, she had pondered it all night but still couldn’t figure it out. Government system orders had always been a lucrative piece of meat for any enterprise, and Gatorade was no exception. Yet Gatorade had tried for several years and failed to reach into the police system.

How long had it been since Li Wei mentioned the Los Angeles Police Department to her? Had it even been two weeks? How did he settle the matter so suddenly? Jin Heon couldn’t wrap her head around it, but she developed a massive sense of curiosity about Li Wei. She wondered if there was anything her boss couldn’t do.

During the meeting, Anya watched Jin Heon stare unblinkingly at Li Wei, her own eyes and expression remaining completely unchanged.

The contents of the contract were extremely simple: The Los Angeles Police Department would procure LW sports drinks in a pilot format for a period of one year, with a total amount of 3 million USD, covering the training and on-duty supplies of all twenty-one divisions in the department. Upon the contract’s expiration, both parties would decide whether to renew and whether to expand the procurement scale based on actual effects and feedback.

After reviewing the contract page by page, Arthur nodded at Jin Heon. Jin Heon signed her name on the very last page.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s procurement contract went through a simplified pilot process and did not require public announcement in itself. However, Los Angeles was a city without secrets. By that afternoon, the news was already circulating within the local law enforcement system.

The first to notice was a veteran reporter for the *Los Angeles Times*. He maintained good relationships with multiple police officers within the Los Angeles Police Department system and frequently dug up excellent intelligence from them. When he learned from an informant in the logistics team that the Los Angeles Police Department had spent 3 million USD procuring Li Wei’s LW sports drinks, his first reaction was that someone was taking kickbacks again. After all, everyone knew that government procurement and corruption were practically synonymous. He reported this lead to the editorial department that very night.

At noon the day after Jin Heon and Flynn signed the contract, the local news section of the *Los Angeles News* published a report.

*Los Angeles Police Department Spends 3 Million USD Procuring a Super Drink—Scientific Breakthrough or Taxpayer Burden?*

The tone of the report leaned toward skepticism. Why should a sports drink that had only recently hit the market and was still considered an influencer brand secure a procurement contract with the Los Angeles Police Department? Was there a transfer of benefits behind the scenes?

Criticizing the Los Angeles Police Department was practically a daily occurrence in Los Angeles, so it normally wouldn’t have sparked much debate. However, Li Wei’s traffic was simply massive, and the LW drink was currently riding a huge wave of popularity.

Once the *Los Angeles Times* released the news, many other media outlets followed up the next day, beginning to dig deeper into the LW sports drink. Among them was a media review agency that originally wanted to gather some scientific backing to corroborate their suspicions. What if this thing was just sugar water in different packaging?

As a result, they went straight to the supermarket, bought the mass-market version of the LW sports drink, and sent it to UCLA’s sports science lab alongside Red Bull, Gatorade, and Monster for comparative testing. When the results came out, everyone was shocked.

Fack, it really wasn’t just sugar water!

The testing protocol at UCLA’s sports science lab was incredibly rigorous. They gathered over a hundred subjects, randomly divided them into five groups, and had them respectively drink LW, Red Bull, Gatorade, Monster, and a placebo. They then tested their peak explosive power, endurance, and recovery speed during standardized exercise tests.

The results showed that LW’s data completely crushed the other competing products. Its explosive power and endurance were almost fifteen percent higher than the other three brands, and in terms of recovery, it was nearly thirty percent higher! Furthermore, after ingredient testing, LW’s ingredients and composition table showed absolutely no banned substances, fully complying with all FDA regulations for functional beverages.

"Does this count as giving us free publicity?" Li Wei asked with a smile, looking at the latest report while speaking to Don Quixote beside him. "This is a total effortless win. Los Angeles is going to be out of stock for another few days."

"AH!"

Makeup artist Erin hadn’t expected Li Wei to suddenly turn his head and had narrowly missed ruining the makeup she had already applied.

"Sorry," Li Wei said apologetically. "You can continue."

"Right," Don Quixote said, leaning against the doorway of the makeup room with a cup of coffee in hand. "There still hasn’t been any progress recently on that Mage candidate you keep asking about."

"Ah!" Li Wei turned his head again, startling Erin once more. "Tell them to hurry up!"

"Mr. Li Wei!" she scolded in exasperation.

"Just shoot the later scenes first," Don Quixote said in confusion. "Once we cast someone, we can just come back and do reshoots for this part. Wouldn’t that work?"

Li Wei didn’t know how to explain it to Don Quixote. He was practically crying from anxiety on the inside. Sure, the later parts could be filmed, but his quest was stuck right here! If they pushed the Mage’s scenes to the very end, wouldn’t that mean he could no longer harvest attribute points? He was currently stubbornly blocking the filming of the dragon scenes, insisting on waiting until the actor for the Mage was in place before proceeding.

"Push the casting director again," Li Wei complained. "There are so many actors in Hollywood, can’t we find a single suitable one?"

"That’s not something that can be resolved in a short amount of time, especially since our production crew is still in the middle of a storm," Don Quixote comforted him. "Just be patient."

"Sigh." Li Wei sighed, not knowing what to say.

He had originally wanted to have Director Del Toro just violently jack up the budget. If they spent more money, would they really have to worry about not finding someone? However, this idea had once again been discouraged by Don Quixote. If the salary of a male supporting character with very few scenes exceeded the average level by too much, the other actors would inevitably be dissatisfied. If the other actors were dissatisfied, they would also demand a pay raise. Even if they raised everyone’s pay, the Screen Actors Guild wouldn’t agree, and it would be even more troublesome to deal with when the time came.

Just as Li Wei was thinking, a sudden commotion broke out outside the door. Don Quixote popped his head out to look for a moment, then set down his coffee and walked out. Not long after, he surprisingly brought back the casting director and an actor.

"Ryan Reed?" Li Wei asked in surprise. "What are you doing out there?"

He had a bit of an impression of Ryan Reed. The man seemed to have previously played the dungeon’s Guard Captain, and then he had wanted to get another job with the crew, so Don Quixote had arranged for him to be a faceless royal guard. Logically speaking, his scenes should have already concluded.

"Mr... Mr. Li Wei," Ryan Reed stammered, his face flushed red. "I... I heard—"

"He heard that the Elf Mage role opened up, so he wants to fight for the part for a third time," the casting director shouted angrily, not waiting for Ryan Reed to finish speaking. "How can you be like this? You’ve already been given a chance, and you’re still signing up?"

These words made Ryan Reed’s face flush even redder, but he still gritted his teeth and stood his ground, refusing to leave.

"Mr. Li Wei, Director, I think I can do it," he pleaded. "Give me a chance. I just need one chance."

Don Quixote also shook his head. "Ryan Reed, it won’t work. This is against the rules."

"I’m just an extra, getting paid a daily rate," Ryan Reed persisted, refusing to give up. "I haven’t signed a contract with the crew. According to the rules, I’m allowed to participate."

He kept his face buried low, but he was already risking everything. He was thirty years old and couldn’t afford to wait any longer. There weren’t that many good opportunities in the world, and for the sake of Claire (Chapter 356), he had to give it his all.

Li Wei looked at Ryan Reed, then at the casting director.

Before he could speak, his quest panel popped up again:

[You have encountered a quest: The Last Straw]

[A peasant from the countryside has come to the Royal City in search of opportunities. He has achieved nothing in the alleys for several years. Now, just as he is about to give up, he encounters the honor guard of the Knight Order.]

[Will you give him a chance to join the Knight Order and become a Knight’s apprentice?]

[If he can pass the test and become a Knight’s Squire, you can obtain 0.1 free attribute points. If he grows into a true Knight in the future, you can obtain an additional 0.3 free attribute points.]

[Yes]

[No]

Li Wei was momentarily stunned. To think there were even nurturing quests!

He thought for a moment, then said to the casting director, "Give him a chance to audition." He looked at Ryan Reed, whose face was full of disbelief. "Since he is so sincere."

Just as the casting director was about to say something, Li Wei cut in, "I will speak to Director Del Toro about this matter."

"...There’s no need for that," the casting director said with a sigh and a nod. "After all, you are the biggest investor and the lead actor. What you say goes."

"Don’t worry," Li Wei smiled, pressing his palms together. "There won’t be a next time."

The casting director nodded and gestured to Ryan Reed. "Come with me."

"Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Li Wei!" Ryan Reed’s eyes turned red. "I... I..."

"Do your best," Li Wei said. "Remember to ask me if you have any questions about acting."

Ryan Reed wiped his eyes. "I understand. I won’t let you down!"

After sending off Ryan Reed, Li Wei’s phone rang again.

"Mayor Holmes?!" Li Wei said upon answering. "Good morning. Do you... need something from me?"

"Well played, Li Wei," Mayor of New York Holmes struck first. "Why did you sign with the Los Angeles Police Department first regarding the LW drinks?"

"Uh, there just happened to be an opportunity, so we collaborated," Li Wei said, rubbing his nose. "Are you calling to..."

"New York is your home. How could you forget the New York City Police Department?" Holmes burst into laughter. "I saw the news. Are the LW drinks really that effective?"

Li Wei’s Spirit lifted. "Guaranteed authentic," he said. "We definitely didn’t pay for those press releases."

He already guessed what Holmes was trying to do.

"Then take a trip back to New York," Holmes laughed. "We’ll carefully discuss how we can collaborate."

It was exactly as he had expected.