Chapter 769: Cellphone Hits the Market, and Joseph’s Call

Luke shrugged. “It’s just an old business trick. Once the wireless network and telecommunications company start operating, a lot of people will be lining up for the phones even without this sort of promotional strategy.”

There were actually only eight Titanium stores in New York and Los Angeles, which meant that there were only about a thousand people in line, while there were more than ten million residents in Los Angeles and New York.

In the future, most phone stores would be replaced with online pre-sales.

So, this really was just a small trick.

Luke simply told Jenny about some of Apple’s marketing tactics, and she was in charge of implementing them.

When it came to business, he couldn’t compare with Jenny’s talent.

Suddenly, one of the paparazzi down below noticed something, and pressed the shutter in Luke and Selina’s direction.

Luke got up helplessly. “Let’s go. These paparazzi are too sharp-eyed. Isn’t he afraid of getting arthritis in his neck?”

Selina got up with a smile, and they disappeared into the darkness.

Down below, the hands of the reporter who had captured a shot of Luke and Selina were trembling. He hid on the side and flipped through the digital photos he had just taken.

When he saw two blurry figures whose silhouettes were nevertheless still quite distinct, he exclaimed, “Got them! New superheroes!”

The intern reporter, Eddie, had just graduated from college, and had been sent to do the “business flattery” of the Titanium phones.

Only newbies like them would work overtime and wait here all night for the sake of an official job position.

Eddie was also a superhero fan.

He had heard so much about Batman and dreamed of interviewing him one day.

But this opportunity was too rare, which was why he had been asking around about other superheroes.

He felt that after Batman and Iron Man appeared, other superheroes might appear.

Relying on his quick mind and his own hard work, he had gathered plenty of more plausible information from some low-level hoodlums about up and coming superheroes.

For example, Knee Breaker, who liked to beat up rapists, or a pair of mysterious superheroes who had appeared recently.

Eddie had even heard of the Ghost Butcher.

Of course, he didn’t consider the Ghost Butcher a superhero; that was too much like a ghost story.

The superhero he liked couldn’t be a ghost.

His young body was full of vigor and he had excellent eyesight and keen observation skills. He suddenly noticed two shadows on a six-story building not far away and acted swiftly to take a photo of them.

Now, it turned out that he had done the right thing.

“Superhero couple!” he mumbled. “This is going to be big news.”

But this photo wasn’t enough. He needed more information.

…

The next day, the sun rose as usual in Los Angeles. Luke and Selina went to work as usual.

In the hall of the Major Crimes Division, Luke greeted Sonia, who was walking by. “Hey, did you buy the new phone?”

Sonia said bitterly, “I was working overtime last night. I didn’t have time to buy it.”

Luke found that odd. “Won’t you still be able to buy it today? It won’t sell out, right?”

Sonia looked at him like he was an idiot. “They’re all buying the second gen version at first gen prices. Why should I buy the second gen version at the original price? I’m just waiting for the next campaign to buy, alright?”

Looking at her expression, Luke suddenly asked, “You didn’t save enough money, did you?”

Sonia turned around and left. “Go, go, go. I’m busy.”

Luke smiled. He had hit the nail on the head.

That might have been one reason why she hadn’t bought the Titanium phone, but a bigger reason was that she had no money.

A police household didn’t have that much surplus!

Of course, unless Sonia asked, Luke couldn’t take the initiative to offer to lend her the money.

When it came to money, most people had very clear views.

They wouldn’t casually lend money to their friends, nor would they casually borrow money from them.

It would already be very kind of them to help a friend find a reliable financial company to take out a loan.

If Luke borrowed money to Sonia to buy a new phone, she would suspect that he had other motives.

Sonia was a great beauty. Her breasts were magnificent, her lower body was sturdy, and she had beautiful muscles.

Many people in the police department liked her, but she wasn’t Luke’s type.

It would be a pain in the ass if she got any ideas.

Could he say, “You’re mistaken, I actually just admire your beauty”?

He would never do something so stupid.

After greeting their colleagues in the hall, Luke and Selina went to Elsa’s office.

After she closed the door and sat down, she said, “There’s news from the boss. Several departments have started to investigate them; the Elsworths are in big trouble. We should be fine now.”

Luke chuckled. “Then why do you look like that?”

Elsa glanced at Selina and saw that she was as calm as ever. She asked, “You… didn’t do anything in private, did you?”

Luke shrugged. “When Selina and I were investigating a case, the state police came looking for trouble with us. We ran away without exposing ourselves, and stopped investigating. Two days after we returned, Jennifer was attacked. Even if I wanted to do something, I had no chance to do so.”

After a brief silence, Elsa nodded. “That’s good. It’s fine. You can go now.”

Luke and Selina left.

After they left the police department, Selina asked casually, “Are you not going to take care of those three wild cats?”

Luke said, “Let them calm down for a while so that they don’t get too excited once we meet.”

He could imagine how the three girls would condemn him for appearing in front of them as a “wizard” and putting a “curse” on them — especially Stacy, whose head was full of lumps.

At noon, Luke suddenly received a call.

Hearing the ringtone, he immediately picked up. “Joseph, what’s up?”

On the other side, Joseph said in a very soft voice, “Luke, hurry and think of a way to stop Grandpa. He’s really, really angry right now.”

Stopping the car on the side of the road, Luke asked, “Who pissed him off at the ranch? Or is it off the ranch?”

“No. Grandpa specially brought me to Dallas to watch a motorcycle stunt show. You know Johnny, right? The man who can fly over a football field?” Joseph said quickly.

Luke said, “I watched his performance when I was a kid. Back then, he was just driving through rings of fire.”

“Yes, yes, that’s him. We went to see him fly over six Black Hawk helicopters today,” Joseph quickly said. “After lunch, Grandpa said that he would visit an old friend before taking me back to Shackelford. In the end, when he got back, he kept making calls and saying something about shooting dead the guy who dared to touch his old friend.”

Luke frowned. “Is he just talking in the heat of the moment?”

“I think Grandpa might really want to shoot someone,” Joseph said in a low voice. “Ferreira is also here with us for work; Grandpa called him just now and told him to take me back.”