Chapter 569 - 372: Welcome to Hollywood

Chapter 569: Chapter 372: Welcome to Hollywood

"I’m doomed," Alister said dejectedly.

"How exactly are you doomed?" Li Wei raised an eyebrow.

However, Alister seemed to be flying high on drugs. He just mumbled to himself, completely ignoring Li Wei’s response.

"I need to find a new daddy." He slouched bonelessly next to Li Wei and turned to look at him. "Do you want to be my daddy?"

Even though Li Wei had already mentally prepared himself for whatever nonsense Alister might spout, he was still shocked by the sheer absurdity of it.

"You’re in your forties, aren’t you?" Li Wei said. "Is it really appropriate for you to say that?"

"Not even a godfather? What about a sugar daddy?" Alister asked, looking rather disappointed.

"I don’t think it’s a matter of what type of daddy," Li Wei replied.

"I heard your net worth is up to three billion USD," Alister pointed out. "You’re not even twenty-one yet. You could totally be my father."

"What about Alexander Mellon?" Li Wei asked. "What’s going to happen to him?"

"His chances are slim to none," Alister sighed, slapping his thigh. "Slim to none."

He propped himself up into a sitting position and poured a glass of liquor.

"The *New York Times* is going to publish the story in June," he said after downing the drink.

Li Wei was rather surprised. This matched the intel he had received from Hamilton, the editor-in-chief of the *New York Times*. But Hamilton had said that no more than five people within the entire publication knew about it. How did Alister find out?

"How do you know that?" Li Wei asked.

"Because I was the one who told an editor at the *New York Times*." Alister took another sip of his drink.

"Oh," Li Wei replied. "I thought Timothy Mellon was the one who did it."

To think that Alister was actually the whistleblower—this was a bit beyond Li Wei’s expectations. But thinking it over, the system quest’s description for [arsonists] was in the plural form. It made sense that it referred to both Timothy and Alister.

Of Alexander Mellon’s three biological sons, one had fled the country to live in seclusion, and the other two had betrayed him. It was quite ironic, really.

"It wasn’t Timothy, it was me," Alister whimpered. "I... I originally thought I could control it.

"Think about it. I leak the news to the *New York Times* through a side channel. Then, when a crisis hits the family, I step forward to save the day."

"You wanted to stage the whole thing?" Li Wei found it amusing. "You wanted to play the big hero?"

"Exactly!" Alister sniffled. "Once I suppressed the scandal, how would the family look at me?

"I’d have handled something that even Beatrice couldn’t fix. How would Dad look at me? How would Timothy look at me? Hah! Alister Mellon wouldn’t just be some useless trash who only knows how to hit the clubs."

"But... but..."

As he spoke, fueled by the potent mix of alcohol and drugs, he actually started crying.

"But that editor stopped listening to me. He cut off all contact," Alister wept. "I even thought it was weird when Beatrice’s people went to pressure him. He was usually so easy to talk to, so why was he acting so stubborn all of a sudden?"

"So that’s why you suggested Beatrice hire someone to get rid of him?" Li Wei finally understood. "You were panicking at the time?"

"Yes," Alister said dejectedly. "Later, I managed to fish up a little bit of intel. They said the *New York Times* was taking a hardline stance this time, that I couldn’t stop it anymore, and the news was going to be published."

Alister took another swig of his drink and collapsed back onto the sofa, looking like a towel that had been wrung dry.

"Then did you ever stop to think *why* you couldn’t stop it anymore?" Li Wei asked.

Alister shook his head. "Fack, how would I know?" His eyes lost their focus, and his mind seemed to wander. "Someone backed him up, someone promised him something, he got a sudden burst of self-righteousness, he just doesn’t like me, someone set a trap for him... There are so many variables in life! How the hell am I supposed to know what goes on in other people’s heads?"

"I’m guessing someone was backing him up from behind the scenes," Li Wei said. "Do you think Timothy might be like you, trying to force this news out into the open?"

Alister stared at Li Wei for a few seconds before sitting up straight.

"Are you saying," he breathed, his tone making it sound as if Li Wei were his personal savior, "that I’m not the one who messed this up? That this has nothing to do with me?"

"I wouldn’t say it has *nothing* to do with you," Li Wei worded his response carefully. "But if there wasn’t someone fanning the flames behind the scenes, this intel should have been easily suppressed."

Alister mulled it over carefully, then suddenly slapped his forehead. "You’re right!" He looked at Li Wei. "How is your brain so good?"

"Let’s chat with Timothy first," Li Wei said after a moment of thought. "I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?" Alister asked submissively, without the slightest thought of refusal.

He agreed so quickly that Li Wei couldn’t help but turn his head to give him a second look.

"Ask Timothy out for a meeting," Li Wei said. "I want to have a chat with him."

"Meet him?" Alister frowned. "Are you going to lay all your cards on the table?"

"Just a chat for now," Li Wei said. "And not right now. Three days from now."

"No problem, but why three days?" Alister asked.

It was because [Adaptability (Bronze)] had already been used on Hamilton today, and the cooldown time was seventy-two hours.

"Because I have to take care of some other matters first," he replied. "Can you get him to agree to a meeting?"

"I should be able to." Alister thought about it.

"Good." Li Wei stood up and patted his pants legs. "Then it’s a deal."