America: Child stars start with The Shining

Charles hid behind the bathroom wall, his body pressed against the tiles, holding his breath and remaining motionless.

boom! boom! boom!

Gunshots rang out from outside, sometimes near, sometimes far, mixed with chaotic shouts. He looked down at the shards of glass scattered at his feet and the mirror on the wall that was now full of cracks.

All Charles wanted to do right now was to unleash a torrent of curses.

Fuck, why does he always run into this kind of mess?

Last time, Judy and I ran into that madman John in the snowy mountains and almost died. And now, just a few months later, we're in a street shootout in New York.

Is America any longer a viable place to live?

Why does a child like him encounter such life-threatening situations every day?

Charles sighed, but there was no time to complain now. The most important thing was to find a safe place to hide immediately.

Who knows what's going on outside? And judging from the noise, it's highly likely that two gangs have clashed. What if they don't control themselves properly and get carried away, directly affecting this club?

This is very likely to happen.

He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, pushed open the bathroom door, and returned to the vicinity of the noisy dance floor.

Everyone was still immersed in the music, and the DJ was working hard to create an atmosphere, completely unaware of what was happening outside.

Charles struggled to move through the crowded throng, searching for Jack.

The guy was chatting animatedly with several brightly dressed girls, a smile playing on his lips.

Unfortunately, their attention wasn't on Jack at all; instead, they kept glancing at Robert standing next to him.

Clearly, Robert possessed more masculine charm and seemed more at ease in this situation, making him more popular than Jack.

Moreover, Robert is currently a rising Hollywood star, and for these girls who frequent clubs every day, he's practically a walking aura, so of course they all want to have something happen between them.

However, Charles had no time to care about any of that. He squeezed through and stood between the two middle-aged men, separating them.

When the group of girls saw a child walking over, they were first taken aback, then glanced at Jack and Robert, and immediately understood what was going on. Their faces immediately showed disgust and contempt, and they turned and left.

Jack immediately panicked and shouted:

"Hey, Ciel, can't you see I'm busy?"

"Fuck, can you stop thinking about picking up girls all the time? Listen to me, something's happened outside!"

Charles lowered his voice, leaned close to Jack's ear, and told him everything he had just heard.

After listening, Jack smiled, took a cocktail from the bar next to him, took a sip, and said:

"Calm down, Charles. This is no big deal in New York. Relax. This club has powerful backers. No fools will bother us."

He went on to explain to Charles that the club was jointly invested in by some Hollywood partners and had gang connections, so ordinary street thugs wouldn't dare to cause trouble in such a place.

Jack patted Ciel on the shoulder; he was ready to move on to his next target.

Charles felt somewhat helpless. Perhaps he was overthinking things. Ever since the shooting incident, he had been on edge.

Just then.

The club's doors were suddenly flung open, and a blood-soaked black man staggered in before collapsing to the ground.

thump!

He was still holding a gun in his hand.

After a brief silence, screams erupted instantly.

"ah!!!"

"Damn it! Run!"

"Fuck, don't fucking push me!"

The once dimly lit and decadent dance floor instantly descended into chaos, with everyone screaming and scattering in all directions.

A few of the bolder ones even tried to run away through the main gate, but as soon as they stepped out, one of them was hit by a stray bullet and lay on the ground howling in pain.

"Fuck, are those guys insane?!"

Jack finally lost his composure and, cursing, grabbed Charles's hand and hurriedly walked towards the depths of the club.

Robert's expression also darkened, and he followed closely behind.

Although he played the fearsome Godfather, that was just a movie role. In front of those bloodthirsty gang members, no one would give him a wide berth because of that.

Stray bullets don't have eyes.

Overturned glasses and unidentified liquids were scattered all over the ground, and security personnel were completely unable to control the situation.

They were about to shout to try and calm everyone down when, a second later, another burst of gunfire rang out outside, startling them so much that they shrank back.

Everyone was in complete chaos, and Jack was leading Ciel through the crowd with difficulty.

boom!

Suddenly, a bullet pierced through the floor-to-ceiling window at the front of the club, and shards of glass rained down like a storm!

A burst of piercing screams erupted from the crowd, and several people who were about to rush towards the door were instantly terrified and covered their heads, lying down.

Charles was startled and quickly hid behind the bar, using the cover to catch his breath.

"Fuck! Are these guys out of their minds?!"

He cursed under his breath, then glanced around. It was impossible to go through the gate; who knew what the situation was outside? But staying here wasn't a solution either; danger could arise at any moment.

Charles noticed that Jack had already pulled out his handgun for self-defense.

"Hey! Ciel, come over here!"

The curtain at the back of the stage was gently pulled back a corner, and MJ waved to them and shouted loudly.

The three of them immediately rushed over there without hesitation.

The backstage area was filled with various odds and ends and drinks. It was dimly lit and very secluded. Charles and the others went inside, and MJ pulled down the curtain and led them to a more secluded inner room where they would not be discovered for the time being.

It was finally quiet here; the screams and gunshots outside were blocked out by the thick walls.

Normally, this place is used by celebrities to discuss business privately and make shady deals. Unexpectedly, it has now become their temporary safe house.

The Jackson five brothers, along with the dancers who had just performed with them, including Madonna, were all huddled in this room.

They had originally planned to leave the club after changing into their performance costumes, but who would have thought that things would suddenly become so chaotic outside? Naturally, no one dared to make any rash moves.

After hiding there for more than ten minutes, the gunfire gradually subsided. A few people sneaked out to take a look and saw that the riots outside had stopped.

Charles breathed a sigh of relief, turned to thank MJ, and the latter waved his hand and said:

"Hey, it's nothing. We often encounter this kind of thing during our tours, we're used to it."

MJ's life circumstances from childhood to adulthood were far more severe than Ciel imagined, and he was naturally used to being involved in gang wars.

Jack used the backstage phone to notify his agent, and soon, Charles and the others followed the agent out from the back of the club, got into a bulletproof van, and drove away.

Charles decided to leave New York as soon as possible; he felt that something was off about what had happened today.