America: From a Fallen Child Star to the Head of the University of the West

Chapter 84 Philadelphia is always sunny

After leaving the French restaurant, Sean promptly told Kelly and the others the whole story. Kelly didn't say much after hearing it, only that it seemed going to California was indeed a good idea.

He had previously mocked Hollywood's world of fame and fortune as insignificant compared to the political arena, but now it seems he has to start with the simpler model. Since neither party has officially fielded its candidate yet, Sean needs to build a reputation in a relatively familiar territory.

In addition, stepping out of one's comfort zone is also important. And Philadelphia happens to be his comfort zone.

Sean had hinted to Musk to check the IP addresses of his Twitter followers, but even the shameless Musk refused this invasion of privacy. He simply wanted to determine how many were just casual, unsuspecting fans and how many were Pennsylvania locals.

After all, Twitter is a media outlet that reaches the entire world.

If a third of his millions of followers are Indian, he'd immediately fly into New Delhi, seize Modi's throne, and if a third are Pennsylvanians, he might as well run for governor of Pennsylvania and become the King of Pennsylvania.

Finally, through a multi-layered investigation using manpower, big data, and AI, they discovered that his fans were indeed concentrated in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, possibly because he had been primarily active in those two states during this period.

Putting aside the jokes, if he really wanted to rule all fifty states of the United States, he couldn't rely on Pennsylvania alone.

So he had to leave Pennsylvania, the place where he was born and raised.

Tomorrow's press conference will be a good opportunity to announce this to the media.

The following morning, Philadelphia City Hall Plaza. Thanks to Mayor Howard's permission, this time he didn't have to give a street speech in Love Plaza where he could have been arrested by the police at any moment.

And coincidentally, today is a sunny day, and everything seems to be going in a positive direction.

The square was already packed with people. In front of the makeshift press conference stage, a dense forest of cameras and microphones formed a metal jungle.

Reporters from all over the country crowded the front row, their recorders and cameras ready to go. CNN, Fox, NBC, ABC—almost all the mainstream media outlets sent reporter teams. And behind them were thousands of ordinary citizens who had come spontaneously.

Rachel Jones stood by the curtain backstage, holding a schedule in her hand, quickly doing a final check.

"Is the audio testing complete?"

"It's done, Miss Jones."

"Where's the live stream signal?"

"Three TV stations have confirmed their access, and it's being streamed live on YouTube and Twitch simultaneously."

"Okay." Rachel adjusted her glasses, then turned to Sean, who was straightening his tie, and said solemnly, "Mr. Pan, are you ready?"

Sean checked his appearance in the portable mirror and gave a confident smile.

"I'm ready."

The press conference officially began at 10:00 AM sharp.

When Sean stepped out from behind the curtain and onto the makeshift stage, the atmosphere instantly erupted, and a deafening roar filled the air.

Everyone is saying the same name.

"Sean! Sean! Sean!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out from somewhere: "Sean, you're our hero!"

Sean smiled and waved to the crowd, almost thinking he had walked into some kind of custom server. After composing himself, he walked to the microphone and gestured for everyone to be quiet.

"Dear media friends and citizens of Philadelphia, hello everyone."

"First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming today. In this age of information overload, your willingness to take your precious time to come here and listen to the voice of an ordinary person is itself the best interpretation of the spirit of democracy."

Applause erupted again.

"I've been in Pennsylvania for almost a month and a half since the end of last year," Sean began his statement. "During that time, to be honest, I mainly did two things."

"The first thing was to help the residents of Philadelphia's Chinatown have a more in-depth conversation with the 76ers basketball team."

He looked at the crowd below the stage.

"Many people portray me as a radical agitator, saying I'm inciting racial conflict. But the truth is quite the opposite. From the beginning, my goal has been dialogue, not confrontation. I believe that most problems can be resolved as long as both sides are willing to sit down and talk things out."

"Of course, dialogue is based on equality. When one side has billions of dollars in capital, while the other side is just a group of ordinary residents who have worked hard on this land for over a hundred years, such equality is hard to come by naturally."

So all I did was help ensure that the voices of the vulnerable were heard.

"The second thing is to encourage ordinary people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to fight for their rightful rights."

His tone became increasingly firm.

"During this process, I went through two lawsuits. One accused me of fraud, and the other accused me of inciting riots. Both charges were ultimately dismissed by the court. But what I want to say is that even if I were convicted, I would not regret it. Because everything I did was within the scope of the rights granted to every citizen by the Constitution."

"Aside from these two things, I'm just an ordinary person."

Sean spread his hands, his tone becoming more relaxed.

"I'm not a savior, nor a superhero. I'm just an ordinary citizen who saw injustice and chose to speak out. Anyone, if they have the courage, can do what I did."

"At this point, I must clarify one thing."

His expression turned serious.

"Recently, many media outlets have reported that I exposed the ghost employee scandal at the North Philadelphia Community Center. But that's not true. The real discoveries were made by the ordinary staff working at the community center and by observant community residents. I simply helped them spread the word."

"The credit belongs to the people, not me."

A round of applause erupted from the audience, and someone shouted, "Don't be modest!"

Sean smiled, satisfied with his vanity, and continued, "This reminds me of something that happened in this very city more than two hundred years ago. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin said when he signed the Declaration of Independence: 'We must stand together, or we will all be hanged separately.'"

"My God! That statement still applies today!" he exclaimed.

"Our enemy is not a particular political party, an ethnic group, or a class. Our enemy is the forces that try to divide us. They want blacks and whites to hate each other, the poor and the rich to be at odds, and natives and immigrants to be hostile to each other. They can only profit from our division."

"Therefore, I want to emphasize again: unity."

Sean raised his fist.

"No matter your skin color, your religion, or your political party, if you believe this country belongs to all the people, not just a few privileged individuals, then you are my friend, my comrade-in-arms, and the true hero!"

"Let us unite and fight for a more just and equal America!"

Cheers erupted once again across the square.

Backstage, Matthew, Sarah, and other team members were watching this scene through monitors.

"He's really good with words," Emily murmured. "No wonder he's an actor."

“This isn’t acting,” George Kelly said, standing to the side. “It’s sincerity. Audiences can tell whether someone is acting or telling the truth. What’s amazing about Sean is that he believes every single thing he says.”

-

"Is that really true?" Matthew murmured.

Kelly glanced at him but didn't answer.

On stage, Sean's speech moved into the next phase.

"Alright, I know what you're all hoping for. I'm going to announce some information."

He took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the podium.

"We all know that the Avalon Foundation fraud involved hundreds of millions of dollars, with victims all over the United States. Many people lost their life savings, and some even committed suicide as a result."

"As you all know, I have this list. It lists some people who may be connected to this scam. I've exposed some people before, and now I'm going to expose some more."

The reporters in the audience immediately became excited, and the sound of camera shutters clicking filled the air.

"I want to emphasize that I'm not labeling anyone," Sean said cautiously. "The names on this list only indicate that these individuals have had some form of contact with the Avalon Foundation. Whether they were informed or involved requires further investigation to determine."

-

"Perhaps some of them are innocent, just like I was once accused. If so, I encourage them to come forward and clear their names."

He glanced down at the piece of paper.

"Today, I'm going to announce a few new names."

"The first one is William Hutchins, a hedge fund manager in New York. According to internal communications I obtained, he had numerous financial dealings with senior executives of the Avalon Foundation."

"The second is Margaret Warren, a real estate developer in California. Her company received a large investment from the Avalon Foundation, which likely came from the victims' hard-earned money."

"The third is Robert Chen, a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. His name appeared in an internal email from the Avalon Foundation."

With each name announced, the commotion in the audience grew even greater. Reporters frantically took notes, and some had already begun searching for background information about these individuals on their phones.

"I reiterate that whether these people are guilty is a matter for the judicial authorities to determine, not me." Sean closed the paper. "But as a citizen, I have the right and the obligation to make the information I have public. Only when everything is exposed to the public can justice be served."

"I encourage anyone with relevant information to bravely stand up. Whether you are a victim, someone with inside information, or a whistleblower, your voice matters. Let's work together to completely illuminate this dark corner."

At that moment, Sean Penn was greeted with thunderous applause.