Chapter 380: The Collapsed Foundation of Cooperation

As the finale angel, Alessandra Ambrosio walked back to the end of the runway while golden leaves drifted down from the ceiling of the hall. Bathed in a beam of pure white light and framed by her outfit and the stage design, she looked like an angel descending to the mortal realm, or an elf stepping into the secular world.

To be an angel, a model needed her own distinct style while still being able to pull off several others.

Fresh styles always brought fresh excitement, and that excitement was a major reason why the Victoria's Secret angels were so wildly popular.

To maintain that thrill, Victoria's Secret regularly refreshed its roster of angels. Just as in Duke's previous life, angels who could no longer spark that excitement were often dropped when their contracts expired. The brand would then hunt for new angels to bring in the next wave.

The passing of the torch from old to new was a constant theme in this world.

For instance, Victoria's Secret's finale model was usually Heidi Klum. However, due to her increasing age and various other factors, Victoria's Secret would not renew her contract after this year's fashion show. She would officially step down from the ranks of the angels.

Victoria's Secret handled these matters rather humanely, however, rarely announcing a non-renewal directly to the public. For example, former angels Miranda Kerr and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley had both been phased out by the brand. When they publicly claimed they were stepping away voluntarily, Victoria's Secret offered virtually no public pushback.

Of course, those former angels were smart. They kept their statements vague and knew exactly when to stop, never crossing Victoria's Secret's bottom line.

Alessandra Ambrosio's appearance as the finale angel signaled the end of the show. According to past traditions, Victoria's Secret's finale piece was usually sold right on the spot. As for whether a shill was involved in the bidding, only Victoria's Secret management knew the truth.

The Evenstar Nightgown was priced at a staggering $8 million. On one hand, this was meant to generate hype and create a sensational effect. On the other hand, it genuinely held immense value due to the sheer number of gemstones used in its creation.

Before attending the show, Duke had already made an arrangement with Leonardo DiCaprio. If no genuine buyer stepped up, Leo would act as Duke's shill and purchase the nightgown at the asking price.

This wouldn't just generate extra buzz; it also wouldn't raise any suspicions. Everyone in Hollywood and the media across the US and the UK knew that Xiao Li was a notorious big spender. He had blown countless millions on so-called works of art, making him the absolute favorite kind of client for auction houses, the art world, and the fashion industry.

Duke had warned him before, but Xiao Li was clearly deeply immersed in this lifestyle. Fortunately, he still had some self-restraint. Besides, it was his own money and freedom, so Duke could only offer a simple reminder.

However, Xiao Li didn't get to play the shill this time. A Brazilian ultra-billionaire outright dropped $10 million, snatching up the Evenstar on the spot.

That final splurge provided a perfect conclusion to the show. The media heavily covered the event the next day, placing a massive spotlight on Alessandra Ambrosio's finale and the astronomically priced Evenstar.

The show fully achieved its goal of dominating the headlines and generating promotional hype.

Three days after the Victoria's Secret fashion show, Warner Brothers rode the wave of hype and called a press conference. They released a new series of posters, also themed around elven angels. The posters featured the female elves in the film, portrayed by Victoria's Secret angels and led by Arwen!

Victoria's Secret angels were a cut above regular models. Standard runway models weren't necessarily required to have stunning faces, but Victoria's Secret demanded absolute beauty. Even if a few of the angels didn't perfectly align with Eastern aesthetic standards, they were unequivocally gorgeous, often serving as the very definition of beauty for the vast majority of people.

With faces that perfectly matched Western beauty standards, slender and graceful figures, and forty pairs of eye-catching long legs, the popularity of this batch of elven posters was easily imaginable.

As the Summer Season rapidly approached, the promotional blitz for The Fellowship of the Ring grew increasingly aggressive. Duke and Ambrosio spent two days in London, taking the opportunity to check on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which was about to enter post-production. They then flew back to Los Angeles to wrap up the final stages of post-production for The Fellowship of the Ring.

Before doing that, however, he cut the film's first theatrical trailer and handed it over to The Lord of the Rings Studio.

Promotions remained in full swing. Duke's personal website continuously updated with various pictures from The Fellowship of the Ring, steadily dripping out so-called insider news and behind-the-scenes blooper videos from the shoot.

The most popular of these updates was a joke poster of Aragorn and the Uruk-hai leader sharing a kiss. This unconventional poster didn't hurt the film's image in the slightest; instead, it went viral across the internet. It popped up on countless forums and portals, eventually being photoshopped into endless parodies.

"Want to share a kiss?"

The face of the Uruk-hai had been swapped with Bill Clinton, his puckered lips aiming right for his election rival, Bush Jr.

"Want to share a kiss?"

This time, the two faces belonged to Lincoln and the Statue of Liberty...

"Want to share a kiss?" — Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman.

"Want to share a kiss?" — Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

"Want to share a kiss?" — James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who were rumored to be teaming up for Terminator 3.

Some even went so far as to paste Duke and Tom Cruise's faces onto it. In the eyes of many fans, the two of them were currently the ultimate bros.

While it didn't reach the meteoric heights of the viral memes of the future, "Want to share a kiss?" still took only a little over a month to become the defining internet catchphrase of the era.

This completely surpassed Duke and Warner Brothers' expectations.

It was a good thing, though. Soon after, the website released the full video of Aragorn and the Uruk-hai leader's kissing prank, but it was a female makeup artist who ultimately stole the spotlight.

After the Uruk-hai was playfully rejected by Viggo Mortensen, a deeply sympathetic female makeup artist stepped up and gave the monstrous actor a comforting peck on the cheek.

"How could she kiss that?"

"That beauty has some hardcore tastes..."

Countless netizens left comments beneath the video. Even though the link to Duke's personal website had vanished from Yahoo's homepage after he sold his Yahoo stock, the site's hit rate remained incredibly high and was still growing.

"If I were Aragorn, I'd rather throw away my title as the King of Men than kiss that Orc!"

"Why not kiss? If he did, maybe the King of Men and the Uruk-hai would live happily ever after, and Elendil would have a very peculiar bloodline..."

Seeing this, Ivanka Trump nearly choked and spat out her mouthful of water. She then refreshed the page, only to find that she could no longer access Duke's personal website.

After a moment's thought, she picked up her mobile phone and dialed a number in Los Angeles.

"This is Tina Fey..."

Unsurprisingly, the person who answered the phone wasn't Duke. Ivanka exchanged a few brief words and waited for a moment.

Duke's voice soon came through the phone. "What's up, Evie?"

"Are you still busy?" she asked with concern.

"The test screening is next month," his voice came through tinged with exhaustion. "I need to hurry up and cut the rough edit."

Ivanka was incredibly sharp. Having worked as Duke's personal assistant, she knew exactly how to handle his time.

She hurriedly said, "Your personal website seems to be having issues..."

As she spoke, she refreshed the page two more times, but the website still wouldn't load.

Ivanka peppered her words with a bit of industry jargon, "The website just dropped the viral video of Aragorn and the Uruk-hai..."

She was clearly worried that this outage would hurt the film's promotional momentum.

"I'll have someone check on it."

After a few minutes of waiting, the sound of his breathing returned to the line, and Ivanka quickly asked, "What caused it?"

The voice coming through the receiver sounded rather helpless. "Too many people flooded in to watch the video at once, crashing the server. Looks like I'll need to upgrade the website's servers."

"You definitely should!" Ivanka agreed.

She had previously handled tasks related to the site. Following The Matrix, the website's traffic had skyrocketed. Even without the Yahoo homepage link, the hype surrounding The Fellowship of the Ring had driven its popularity higher than ever. It had become the largest online gathering place for Duke's fans.

"Oh, right, Duke," she said, recalling another matter. "Our website has its own servers now, too. And I've got some good news—our current registered user count has surpassed 5,000, and our influence is rapidly spreading to other universities across Pennsylvania State."

"Keep up the good work, Evie."

Hearing that tone, Ivanka knew exactly what to do. "Then I won't hold you up any longer. When I have some time, I'll head out to Los Angeles to see you."

Hanging up the phone, Ivanka refreshed the webpage one more time. It still wouldn't load, prompting a sigh. The site's servers actually weren't that bad to begin with. Just how many people had flooded in at once to cause a total crash?

'Just how many people are following The Lord of the Rings trilogy?'

She was by no means a film buff, but she was now genuinely curious. After all, she had personally participated in this film, and she desperately wanted to see how it would turn out—whether it would be a massive success, or if it would...

Ivanka quickly shook her head. How could Duke possibly fail?

Thinking of Duke, her mind gradually shifted back to their joint venture. If the website developed smoothly enough to be incorporated as a company, then by the time she graduated, she could definitely set up its headquarters in the Greater Los Angeles area, putting it much closer to Silicon Valley.

The tech industry was highly concentrated there, recruiting top talent would be far more convenient, and it was the second-largest city in the United States...

In a mere instant, Ivanka had come up with countless justifications for this idea. However, the most compelling reason of all was simply that she would be closer to the website's largest shareholder.

Shaking off these chaotic thoughts, she pulled up her Instant Sharing website. Ivanka stared at the page as if she were gazing at her own future. This was her career, and this was her future!

It was almost time for class. Ivanka shut down her computer and walked out of her apartment building. The sunlight outside was growing increasingly intense; the May Summer Season was quietly approaching.

'I'll be on vacation by then. Maybe I should take a trip to Los Angeles and attend the premiere?'