No need for Nick to call, Eddie's call came quickly, and in no time, the video communication was connected. Besides Eddie, there were many ordinary people on the other end, which made Nick slightly frown.
"Ah, Nick, don't mind, these are my colleagues, all experts in the field. We're currently editing the third season of Stark's romantic wedding trip. We happened to see that damned video, and I called to tell you that it's very likely video effects, don't get fooled..."
A skinny man with black-rimmed glasses waved in front of the camera, looking a bit nervous. Pushing his glasses up, he said, "Hi, you might call me Pete, an animator."
"Hello Pete, I was just wondering, is this video real? Or has someone used some special video processing techniques to create it?"
"This video hasn't been tampered with." Another Asian woman leaned in, gathering her black hair and said, "I am the editor, sorry..."
Eddie quickly gave her space, and the woman smiled and nodded, saying, "You can call me Jane, I am the editor in the director's team. When Eddie sent the footage to me, I did an inspection, and there were no signs of editing."
"Then you just said it was special effects..."
"Sorry, but this isn't movie special effects either." Another Caucasian man stood behind the group, fiddling with a computer, and shouted, "I'm quite sure this isn't green screen effects, green screen can't achieve this realism, trust me!"
"So you're saying there's something wrong with this footage?"
"Right, it's neither editing techniques nor green screen effects, nor is it animation." Eddie's statement left Nick puzzled, but the reporter wasn't one to beat around the bush, and he quickly explained, "The video layer is completely fine, but maybe not the scene itself."
Having said that, the crowd blocking the camera scattered, and with a whoosh, the window was opened, the wind blew in, followed by the wind turning into dense fog that morphed into a skull that flashed past the video.
"Crap!" Nick was so startled that he almost threw his phone away, he couldn't stand these kinds of scares.
"What is that?!" Nick's eyes widened as he watched the screen and said, "Magic? Did you hire a mage? Or a Mutant?"
Seeing Nick's reaction, the group laughed heartily, and it was Eddie who coughed twice, steering the conversation back on track before Nick could explode.
"This is no magic, nor an illusion technique, but real technology." Eddie pulled out a small device from behind, about the size of the palm of a hand, weighed it in his hand, then held it up to the camera for Nick to see.
Nick couldn't make heads or tails of it, thinking the little thing looked a bit like a miniaturized projector, or a mini camera—just a box on the back with a small lens in the front.
"This is the latest version of the special effects device." Eddie said, holding the gadget, "The specific technology probably came from one of Stark Group's labs, we don't really understand it, but it's already in internal mass production. You just need to join a membership-based website to buy it, directors around the world all have membership on this site, and quite a few bloggers with a lot of followers on various short video platforms bought it for product reviews."
"It's not expensive to make, but it sells for quite a lot, about twenty thousand dollars. It's only because of Stark's sponsorship that we could afford it, just to create some effects for his proposal that won't wet the dress..."
"Get to the point!" Nick roared.
"The point is the effect, as you've just seen, isn't it cool?" Eddie laughed, obviously feeling good about being in this director's group, or maybe it was because Stark paid out a lot, considering Venom had been out of trouble for a long time, it was probably the latter.
Nick immediately understood, saying, "So you mean to say, the flame monster in that video was created by this gadget?"
"Of course, you can't fool us." The initial animator said, "We knew as soon as we saw the video, someone must be using this new technology for attention, given that it hasn't been widely disseminated yet, and the first movie using this special effects hasn't been released yet. Ordinary people don't care much about these industry innovations, so they make a big fuss."
"We know the space station is critical." The female editor said with a stern face, "No one should joke about this. Making light of such a serious accident is irresponsible towards life, we despise such people and don't want them tarnishing our industry. So, if you need us, we'll stand up and prove how despicable his actions are."
Nick seemed to have an idea, he said, "How confident are you? I mean, can you really prove it's just special effects?"
However, the animator laughed disdainfully and said, "This thing can only fool the layman; in fact, it's just like edited video, anyone with knowledge can spot it right away."
"Look here first." The Caucasian effects artist came over, pointing at the screen, and Eddie promptly pulled up the trending short video to the screen and pointed it out to Nick with the mouse.
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"Look at the curling patterns of the flames here, don't they look just like the foggy skull we just created? Because this is a template, he wasn't even willing to tweak and transform it a bit. It doesn't seem to have much technical prowess," Shiller said.
"And look at this part, while the initial moves look very realistic, these ones at the back obviously haven't been adjusted, there's even some clipping here, it's just been masked by the changing colors of the flames. Plus, with the video not being very high-definition, I could easily point out dozens of such errors."
"This person might have some professional background, but it's all very basic, nowhere near industry-leading. But they're not the same," Eddie said, gesturing behind him. "The guys I have here were all brought in by Stark for a hefty price. You know how much he cared about that wedding documentary. Each one of them is top-notch."
Nick's thoughts became more concrete, and he couldn't help but smile as he said, "Good, Eddie, we're friends, right?"
"Of course, Nick, otherwise we wouldn't have immediately sought you out. We were just afraid that you might have made a misjudgment about the space station incident. Overall, we think you're doing a good job as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director; keep it up."
The other people echoed Eddie, and the female editor said, "We rarely come into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but from what we hear, it's these agents who are at the forefront of the Solar System development plan. I must say, it really changes my impression of agents, I think you must be a good person too."
Nick instantly felt his mind clear.
It had been a long time since he felt this warm from people's praise. Perhaps it was because most of the praise he received throughout his life was insincere, and these ordinary folks had no vested interest in him, yet they were still willing to acknowledge his achievements. This further firmed up Nick's stance.
"Listen, Eddie, the following words are spoken to you as a friend, you understand?" Nick said.
Eddie nodded, and everyone in the office, highly interested, leaned in closer. Nick cleared his throat, almost ready to give a speech with the ambition he had when he first started out.
"About the space station, here's the thing, we just received a message from the agents we sent up there..."
Nick started to share the information and speculation he received from Natasha with them. In short, the troublemakers at the space station were actually a group aiming to play the saviors.
Unsurprisingly, their method was to create a behind-the-scenes manipulator for the disaster unfolding on the space station. To be precise, they were the ones who orchestrated the station accident, but they intended to frame it as a monster attack.
The logic was clear now because only with a Demon King could there be warriors; the stronger the Demon King, the more formidable the warriors appear. The more fame and hero-status, those who defeat the Demon King would garner.
A simple electrical fault caused by an electrician couldn't satisfy this narrative, but if a monster were to appear from the start, then S.H.I.E.L.D. would raise their alarm to the max, leaving no chance for the culprits to act.
Only by leading the official law enforcement to believe it was a minor malfunction, thereby not taking swift action, would there be room for the culprits to maneuver.
That's why they initially disguised everything as a minor electrician's accident and then planned to unravel the truth gradually, especially revealing it to the public.
When the public realizes they've been deceived, they will only blame the enforcement agencies even more for covering up the truth, thereby highlighting the bravery and valiance of those who come to the rescue later. It's a simple strategy, elevate one by condemning another; contrast amplifies the impact.
But this was completely contrary to Nick's view because, fundamentally, these individuals still yearned for personal heroism, aiming to be the next generation of superheroes.
In truth, Earth wasn't lacking in superheroes; it might even be said there was an oversupply. Even Spider-Man, a hexagonal warrior, was just one more pretty feature on the New York City skyline. Speaking of Spider-Man's capabilities, he hasn't contributed much to humanity's space endeavors, and even Iron Man, the show-off, hasn't been seen publicly in his new battlesuit for a long time now.
Frankly, now is not the time to promote individual heroism. These street-level heroes can't lift humanity into space. What humanity needs now is a surge in production, a technological breakthrough—achievements that rely on the general society. With Mutants as the vanguard of space exploration, we have more than enough; additional superheroes are just icing on the cake.
Moreover, it's yet to be seen how much weight this behind-the-scenes manipulator carries—anyone truly powerful wouldn't need to resort to tricks with special effects, right?
And even giving the guy some leeway, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. After all, when Shiller pulled his stunts, he didn't rely much on superpowers, and the mess he made was still more substantial than this flawed plan of crashing the space station.
Nick knew that defeating him with superhero powers would be too high a praise; even besting him in another domain would be flattering. The real heart-piercing blow was to beat him at his own game.
With that in mind, Nick didn't hesitate. He gave Eddie an address, asking him to send that special effects gear over. On the other side, he picked up the phone and spoke to the person on the line.
"Chief Zheng, I know you've been busy lately, but I suggest you take a look at this, especially having your technical staff take a look at this..."
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