In an Orange County middle-class community theatre:
Mario squeezed the fat on his arm and nudged Paul, asking curiously, "What does Robert want from us this time?"
"I don't know," Paul replied as they walked forward. "It should be something good. Maybe we can earn some extra money again."
Thinking of the substantial extra money from last time, Mario wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Haha, I get to drink ice-cold Coke every day."
Feeling helpless at Mario's excitement, Paul said, "You'll drink yourself to death! Be careful not to collapse the stage!"
The two arrived at an office door, knocked, and, upon hearing a response, pushed the door open and entered. They saw a familiar face: Robert, the middle-aged man.
The theatre manager nodded to Paul and Mario and then said to Robert, "You guys go ahead and talk; I'll step out for a bit."
Having had a pleasant cooperation before, Robert got straight to the point and handed them a simple plan. "I want you two to help me with a little acting again. It's much simpler than last time, and the pay is even better, but you'll need to stay in a hotel in Los Angeles for a while."
Paul quickly skimmed through the plan, suddenly understanding. "The online missing person notice…"
Robert coughed loudly, cutting Paul off. "Some things are best left unsaid. So, are you in or not?"
Mario, having read the plan, exclaimed, "Of course! Why not!"
Seeing the generous pay, Paul nodded eagerly. "Mr. Robert, you can count on us."
Robert didn't waste time. "Pack up, and let's head to Los Angeles."
They would practice for a few days, then find someone to film the interview videos and distribute them to the media.
With the experience from last time, this was no challenge for Robert.
In a Blockbuster video rental store on Long Island, New York:
The manager tore down the old poster at the store entrance and called out to his employee, "Arthur, put up the new poster!"
Arthur, tall and burly, quickly put up the new poster. Stepping back to check if it was straight, he then secured it.
Looking at the poster's image and text, Arthur asked, "Manager, we're a video rental store, isn't it strange to put up a missing person poster here? It's kind of weird and people might laugh at us."
The manager tilted his head, looking at the Blair Witch and the three missing students' names on the poster. "It's a directive from the head office. Someone is willing to pay for the ad space, so why worry?"
A young man renting a video stopped to read the poster carefully and asked, "Have they found those three missing people yet?"
Arthur shook his head. "No, didn't you see? They even put up missing person posters in our store."
The manager pointed at the poster. "Why? Are they famous?"
"You don't know?" the young man said. "Everyone is talking about the Blair Witch and those three missing students. Their families were on TV recently. It's so sad; they can't even find the bodies."
Arthur lowered his voice. "I have a friend in Maryland who said the state and county police phones have been flooded with calls. Many people accuse the Maryland police of incompetence."
"Three years without any useful information. Isn't that incompetence?" the young man said. "I'll look up the Maryland police phone number and give them a call, too!"
The young man left the store with his video rental.
The manager asked, "Arthur, is this story widespread?"
"Boss, you need to stay updated on current events," Arthur said, feeling emboldened by their excellent relationship. "You're falling behind, you know?"
He explained, "This story is all over the internet. There are countless related posts, and even TV stations aired footage the three filmed before they disappeared. Volunteers have set up a website for them. It's a hot topic, and everyone is discussing it. Even Fox TV is airing a special on North American witches this weekend. You should watch it."
Arthur looked across the street at a supermarket entrance. "Look, they put up a missing person poster over there too."
A young man wearing a T-shirt with the words "Blair Witch" and the faces of the three missing students walked in and handed Arthur a flyer. "If you see these people, please call the number on the poster. Their families are offering a big reward."
Arthur scratched his head, not knowing what to say. The boy's T-shirt clearly had the words "Blair Witch" and the faces of the three students printed on it.
As the boy left, Arthur followed him out and saw many people wearing similar T-shirts in the commercial area.
"Could one of the missing people be a rich kid?" he muttered as he returned to the store. "How much does this cost?"
The manager shook his head slightly. "Something's off about this. It's strange."
Although he was just a video rental store manager, his years of experience in the movie business gave him a sense that something was wrong, though he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
In Silicon Valley, South Bay Area, San Francisco:
After a busy half-day, many programmers gathered to chat after dinner.
"Who checked the latest news on the website?" a young man with black hair asked. "Have they found those three? Was it really the witch?"
A bespectacled blonde man replied, "The website released a restored audio clip. You can hear screams, but no related video."
A woman asked, "Do you think the Blair Witch ate them?"
"The witch eats people?"
"I watched a Fox TV program that said some witches in legends eat people."
The young man with black hair shook his head. "Too bad Uncle Nine isn't here. If he were, he'd solve this problem in no time."
"Who's Uncle Nine? Can he defeat witches?"
The conversation veered off, eventually returning as the website updated with another video.
They watched the video and continued discussing it, quickly attracting more curious people to join.
From early May to early June, through the internet, television, newspapers, magazines, posters, and street flyers, the story spread to countless people.
The curiosity and desire to explore triggered by this event made those who encountered it become sources of the viral spread, causing the Blair Witch and the missing students' story to spread like a virus.
In early July, various media outlets simultaneously announced that the recovered footage from the missing students' DV camera would be shown in theatres across North America starting July 16.
The news spread like wildfire across North America.
Countless people discussed the fate of the three missing students, speculated about the appearance of the Blair Witch, and wondered what the footage contained.
"Blair Witch is the hottest topic online right now," David Villier said, accompanying Michael out of the parking lot towards the theatre hosting the preview screening. "Preliminary statistics show over 500 websites discussing it, with more than 1.7 million reposts."
For the first time, David showed excitement in front of Michael. "Our movie website has over 22.5 million visits!"
Michael nodded in satisfaction. "Good job."
Looking at the theatre ahead, he wondered what decision the film screening experts would make.
David smiled. "Your planning was excellent, very targeted. The substantial funding was also crucial."
Michael smiled, too, knowing the latter was indeed crucial. Whether hiring people to post online or organizing various offline activities, it all required money. In just two months, they spent $6 million on marketing alone.
The buzz was essentially bought with money.
However, Seashore Entertainment remained behind the scenes, never publicly disclosing its name in any of the information.
Entering the theatre, the screening had ended. Garcia and Robert were negotiating with the theatre representatives. Michael headed to the lounge to wait patiently.
For the opening weekend, they aimed to secure as many theatres as possible.