Film Complete

After Eddie parted ways with Dora.

He looked toward downtown San Francisco, a contemplative expression appearing on his face, then turned and headed toward the outskirts.

Then his expression suddenly changed, and his body twisted against his will.

"Hungry!"

"I want to eat!!"

A deep voice exploded in his mind.

"What?"

Eddie froze. That voice again.

This time, he was certain it was not an auditory hallucination. Someone really was living inside his body.

"Eat what?"

Eddie could not smile. He spread his hands helplessly. "Looking like this, you still want to eat?"

He suddenly recalled how, when he had forced his way out of the experimental base, he had swallowed someone's head in one bite.

His face turned even worse, and his stomach spasmed faintly.

"Don't tell me you want to eat people..."

Before he could finish.

Whoosh!

His body started running of its own accord, erupting with extraordinary speed.

"Shit!!"

New York.

Daily Bugle.

Anton received an email. After reading the information inside, he immediately contacted Phil and had him go to a location in San Francisco to pick up a woman.

The woman was Dora Skirth.

Then, Dora told Anton and Phil everything she knew without holding anything back.

At Anton's instruction, Phil wrote a news article several thousand words long.

The article was vivid and compelling, laying out the full course of events and Carlton Drake's ambitions with absolute clarity.

However, it omitted the part about the aliens—the symbiotes.

They were instead referred to as a "mysterious experiment."

Of course, based on Dora's account and his own imagination, Phil portrayed how Drake had harmed lives, treated homeless people as less than human, threatened researchers with their families, and acted with ruthless cruelty, creating the image of a supervillain.

Once the article was finalized, it was posted on the Daily Bugle's official website at the fastest possible speed.

Then, amid an already boiling public discourse, the article was reposted endlessly, and its views quickly surpassed one hundred million.

No one questioned the authenticity of the report.

Thanks to this exposé, the Daily Bugle became a fighter for justice and was hailed as "the last conscience of the press."

Already highly credible in the eyes of New York residents, the Daily Bugle used this incident to become number one in the hearts of New Yorkers, and even Americans across the country.

Osborn Tower.

"Well done, Anton. I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

Noticing the direction of public opinion online, Norman Osborn was overjoyed. It was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, extinguishing Life Foundation's last chance at a comeback. He could not help but praise him. "Jameson, you found a perfect successor."

With public opinion boiling over and its internal schemes exposed, even the politicians close to Drake could not protect Life Foundation. They could only let the situation continue to develop.

It was easy to imagine that the only one capable of cleaning up the mess would be Osborn Company.

After thinking it over, Norman summoned his secretary and submitted the acquisition of Life Foundation as a formal proposal to the board.

He intended to consolidate his authority within Osborn Company as quickly as possible.

Then he would take over Life Foundation.

"Aliens... symbiotes..."

A rare smile appeared on Norman's harsh face.

He had also been among the audience at Drake's press conference.

But what pleased him most was not Drake's passionate speech, but the sudden accident at the end of the conference.

The moment Eddie kicked the iron gate flying.

"Symbiotes..."

Fire blazed in his eyes. "I must have them."

Having made up his mind.

He pressed a button on his desk.

The bodyguard outside his office came before him and said respectfully, "Boss, what are your orders?"

"Take some men to San Francisco. You must find that man before Drake does."

Norman ordered, "If you fail, don't bother coming back! Osborn Company does not keep useless people."

"Understood."

The bodyguard nodded solemnly.

"It's already dark!"

Anton looked at the stars outside the window and sighed.

The past few days had exhausted him.

He had used more brainpower than he had in the previous twenty years combined.

He ate and slept at the Daily Bugle and had barely left his office, looking every bit like a workaholic.

Even Betty was astonished, thinking Anton had changed completely.

"I should finally be able to get some real rest today."

Anton left the Daily Bugle and drove home, only to find that Jonah Jameson still was not there. The corner of his mouth twitched.

The retirement life of the rich was truly enviable.

Thinking that he too would be able to live like this in a few decades, Anton felt delighted.

Time passed quickly.

Over the next few days, the Daily Bugle stopped relentlessly hounding Life Foundation. It only released occasional articles following up on developments involving the foundation.

As a trending topic, those articles all drew considerable views.

The Daily Bugle's newspapers also sold better than before, earning them a handsome profit.

Life Foundation seemed to have accepted reality and honestly admitted defeat, showing no reaction whatsoever.

But Anton knew Life Foundation was not unresponsive. It simply could not be bothered with such idle chatter.

They were hunting Eddie.

There was nothing Anton could do to help with that.

With Eddie's current abilities, dealing with Life Foundation's armed pursuit should not be much of a problem.

Anton could only make it up to Eddie financially.

He transferred Eddie a huge sum to cover his living expenses. That was all Anton could do at the moment.

He could not exactly be expected to personally go help Eddie fight, could he?

He had not even mastered the Batman armor yet. If he stubbornly rushed to San Francisco, who knew who would end up helping whom fight!

It was worth mentioning that, under Life Foundation's full-scale investigation, Eddie's identity could not be hidden at all.

Dora's identity was exposed along with his.

Within Life Foundation, they uncovered every detail of how Eddie and Dora had escaped.

Drake was furious about this, yet he made no public statement.

Instead, with a wave of his hand, he released the families of the senior researchers, as if to demonstrate his sincerity in that regard.

The message was that he would lie flat and endure the mockery.

During this period, Anton finally received some good news.

The movie was finished!

After nearly three months, Batman Begins had finally entered post-production.

In his previous life, Nolan had taken 129 days to make this movie from the start of filming to completion. Standing on the shoulders of giants, Anton had spent about ninety days, so the gap was not actually that great.

Post-production was another matter.

Put simply, it involved editing, dubbing, adding subtitles, and special effects.

Of those, the most time-consuming part—special effects—had been prepared alongside filming from the very beginning. Now they only needed to add the effects shots according to the footage, making it the easiest part instead.

After having the editor bring the footage to New York, Anton buried himself in the editing room.

He discussed the film with the editor for an entire day and settled on an editing approach. Then, in a smooth rush, they cut a 140-minute blockbuster in only three days.

Anton did not need to participate in the dubbing or subtitle work.

Seeing the finished film, he let out a sigh of relief, filled with a sense of accomplishment.

When Jim arrived in New York and saw the finished film, he too wore a look of surprise.

Jim had never expected that a movie rushed through production would show no signs of shoddy workmanship. On the contrary, many shots seemed deliberately planned from the start, drawing viewers in.

That was something that only happened when a director's ideas were exceptionally clear and inspiration was overflowing.

"Anton, you're a genius."

The instant Jim finished watching the film, all his complaints toward Anton vanished.

"Thanks for the compliment. What matters now is finding a distributor and stepping up the promotion."

Anton said.

"The Batman novel is already highly famous in New York. You made a smart move," Jim said. "I recommend holding the premiere in New York. If you can invite Tony Stark, things will be much easier for us."

"Of course."

Anton smiled mysteriously. "This is a movie Tony invested in. He'll definitely come."