I was acting crazy in North America, and all the crazy people there took it seriously.

Chapter 8: Note that a new player has joined the game...

The next day, Chicagoans opened their newspapers and found the entire media industry had become a battlefield shrouded in smoke.

Several major media outlets reacted very quickly and with a fairly consistent attitude.

The Chicago Tribune's editorial was forceful and righteous, denouncing The Sun as "a modern-day Barnum circus! A disgrace to Chicago journalism for weaving a vulgar sensual deception using the public's goodwill!"

The Chicago Catholic Daily was like a sword tempered in the fire of morality, piercing the heart of The Sun: "...thinking that changing its name can cover up its utterly shameless nature, exploiting public sympathy and vulgar desires to trample the dignity of journalism into the mire!"

From this perspective, it seems that The Sun is caught in an overwhelming wave of criticism.
Don't rush—

Inside the Chicago Tribune, the editors grandly proclaimed "Rational Investigation: Unveiling the Mystery of the 'Missing Rich Girlfriend'" and claimed they would "objectively restore the whole story."

Upon closer inspection, however, the so-called "tracking" was nothing more than blurring the photos of the woman from The Sun, adding several tracking arrows and huge question marks next to them, and supplementing them with vague analyses from several so-called "sociologists," such as "this reflects the loosening of moral values ​​in this era," and so on.

It's blatantly riding on the coattails of The Sun!

This kind of operation is quite common!

Most newspapers, in Logan's words, "are all smart people," seriously discussed the inside story of the wealthy man's breakup with the female college student, digging deep into the wealthy man's true identity, accompanied by images of well-known wealthy men, and appealing to insiders to provide more information about the "missing girlfriend."

—Yes, Logan already told Anne to be careful not to show her face these days.

As for the remaining third-rate tabloids, their front pages featured enlarged versions of Page 3 girls from The Sun, and their so-called "search for the truth" involved racking their brains to fill The Sun's "tycoon's self-narration" stories with a large number of blush-inducing details.

Surprisingly, it also taught Chicagoans a lot of strange and unusual knowledge.

"The entire Shanxi-Northwest region...the Chicago media scene is in complete chaos."

Logan commented, adding with a touch of感慨 (gan3kai3, a Chinese expression of deep emotion), "This shows that there are still many smart people."

Every newspaper, regardless of its opposing stance, whether its wording is angry criticism or embellishment, becomes fuel for frantically adding fuel to the fire at the bottom of this pot.

In the struggle between "truth" and "traffic," The Sun is the one that benefits the most.

Richard didn't even care how many copies the first issue would sell; his voice hadn't even recovered yet, and he was already urging Logan to strike while the iron was hot and release the next issue of The Sun.

Just as the two were discussing the content of the second issue, Donald arrived at the newspaper office looking completely bewildered.

He asked the two of them out of the blue, "Is running a newspaper very profitable now?"

Logan and Richard exchanged a confused look, and Richard answered his question.

"Well, actually selling newspapers doesn't make any money at all, but selling advertising should make a lot of money."

This is real.

Don't be fooled by how well The Sun is selling now; even if it sells a million copies, it still won't make as much as Donald makes selling a single night's worth of alcohol.

However, once they gain fame and scale, they can command higher prices for advertising.

This is the real issue.

"Hmm." Donald nodded unconsciously, still looking bewildered. "Then it still can't compare to selling a bar."

“There aren’t many businesses that make more money than selling alcohol these days,” Richard retorted irritably. “What, my Choice One, you want to get into the newspaper business too?”

This sarcasm didn't faze Donald. He said, as if in a dream, "Someone wants to get into the newspaper business, but it's not me."

"It was some Italian guy from the south who bought a newspaper and brought in half of Chicago's prostitutes, saying he was going to create a newspaper that was a hundred times better than The Sun."

"..."

"..."

The news was so absurd that Logan and Richard were completely dumbfounded.

Logan quickly realized what he had said and burst into laughter, remembering the casual ramblings he had made the night before.

Richard and Donald looked at Logan, who was laughing so hard he was doubled over, completely bewildered. Seeing that he couldn't stop laughing, Richard could only turn to Donald and ask, "Weren't the Italians supposed to be negotiating with you? How did it turn into them wanting to enter the newspaper industry?"

"That's the problem."

Donald was also confused, and even a little angry, "They stopped talking and went straight to meet up with prostitutes!"

Damn it, he's not even as important as a bunch of prostitutes in the eyes of those Italians?
A bunch of gangsters running a newspaper? Who would believe that?!

It doesn't make money, and it causes a lot of trouble, so what's the point?

"Are they trying to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao?" Richard learned a lot of interesting Chinese from Logan's father.

Donald couldn't understand.

"Simply put, they're trying to force you to make concessions on our territory by threatening us at The Sun," Richard explained. "And it's not hard to find out about our newspaper's background."

"What kind of nonsense is this? Besides, do you think those Italians who only know how to fight and kill can run a newspaper and threaten you?" Donald thought it was absurd.

"Not necessarily."

Logan finally stopped laughing and replied with an "I'm looking forward to it" expression, "I think it's best to wait a little longer for the second issue of The Sun."

"Why? Are you scared already?" Richard was very annoyed.

"My intuition tells me that if I wait a little longer, there might be a pleasant surprise."

It really was a premonition.

Well, he might just be acting crazy on a whim, but there are always some crazy people who take it seriously and give him some "surprises".

……

Al Capone has once again proven that you can doubt the integrity of a gang, but you cannot doubt their ability to act.

While Chicago media circles were still speculating about the mystery surrounding The Sun's "missing person" notice, a new player announced its heavy entry into the game!

The three, who had received the newspaper early, gathered again at the newspaper office.

Richard fell silent upon seeing the application for the Windy City Wanderer's Report.

Donald fell silent when he saw the bold black headline on the cover, "Chicago Beauty Pageant: Vote for Your Favorite Prostitute."

When Logan saw the large photos behind him, showing prostitutes wearing only transparent veils, standing, lying, or squatting in various provocative poses, the content was truly shocking.

Wow, really wow!
It's absolutely explosive!
There's no comparison, absolutely no comparison!
For a moment, none of the three knew what to say.

After all, putting everything else aside, the Italians' aesthetic sense is definitely on point.

The three of them either turned to the side or crossed their legs, trying their best to ignore the normal reactions of others.

Finally, Logan broke the silence with an awkward laugh, "Am I the only one who thinks that the theme of this Chicago beauty pageant would be pretty good if people wore bras or bikinis?"

Richard and Donald stared at each other in silence.

then……

What is a "fierce mask"?

"What is a bikini?"

Logan fell silent again.

Holy crap, I think I've discovered something amazing.

……

　New players, please add this to your favorites and keep reading!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)