America: Starting from collecting corpses, leveling up to godhood

There was silence on the other end of the phone for more than ten seconds.

"...Damn it."

Sean's dry voice came through.

"What do we do now? She might be quiet for the next 48 hours, but once the deadline is over and she finds out I didn't bring any evidence, she'll definitely work twice as hard to dig up Evans's secrets..." Chen Ming sighed.

"To be honest, I don't know what to do when dealing with a tough opponent like this who has connections. If I had to say..."

Sean's tone suddenly became unusually serious.

"As it stands, the best way is for you to use your advantages to pursue her and completely 'sleep' with her."

"...Are you out of your mind?"

"I'm serious," Sean analyzed earnestly.

"Based on my years of experience dealing with Hollywood actresses, no matter how shrewd a woman is, her intelligence level will drop significantly once she falls in love."

"Furthermore, your current persona is that of a vulnerable, helpless, and unlucky student, which will greatly stimulate her protective instincts. If you handle it properly, she will definitely give up on this report for fear of implicating you..."

Before Chen Ming could refute, Sean added another sentence.

"Even if she remains stubborn, you can take advantage of her youthful energy and keep her busy in bed every night. Then she won't have the energy to investigate the case."

"..."

Chen Ming's face darkened upon hearing this.

Press the hang-up button to silence Sean's remaining words.

A USC medical student and underground "corpse collector" with nearly a dozen lives on his hands, and he actually tries to seduce a female reporter?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

……

Two hours later, after a period of driving fast to relax, he finally decided to go back to his apartment and ask for other people's opinions.

For example, Sofia.

Chen Ming didn't want things to turn out this way either, but after checking his network of relationships, he found that besides Evans and Sean, Sophia was the only person he could talk to.

Others were either not close enough to me or couldn't help at all.

As Evans's informant, Sophia is also deeply involved in the gray market for corpses. If things go wrong at the medical school, she'll be going in wearing an orange prison uniform too…

After making up his mind, Chen Ming immediately turned off the TV with the remote control and pulled up a chair to sit opposite her.

"Hey, what are you doing? I'm looking at Kardashian."

Sofia, who was eating potato chips on the sofa, was stunned.

But Chen Ming ignored her protests and quickly recounted the current predicament, including the cause and effect of the matter, the fake photos, Michelle's family background, and the current situation with only forty-eight hours left...

After hearing this, Sofia was stunned for a full ten seconds before decisively dumping all the potato chips into her mouth.

"Understood."

She suddenly stood up.

"I'll go pack my luggage now."

"Pack your luggage?"

"Nonsense, of course we're running away!" Sophia rolled her eyes matter-of-factly.

"You already said the other side's uncle is in the Senate, what's the point of us even playing this game? I know a smuggler, I'm going to Santiago tomorrow, cross the border into Central America and hide for a few years, as for you..."

She looked Chen Ming up and down and gave him her advice earnestly.

"Why don't you just buy a plane ticket back to China? It's across the Pacific Ocean, they can't just cross the border to arrest you."

"Stop, stop, stop..."

Chen Ming interrupted her grand escape plan with a dark expression.

"I was born in the United States and don't even have a Chinese passport. How am I supposed to go back and lay low? Swim there?"

"Besides running away, there must be some other way, right?"

Chen Ming grabbed Sophia's shoulders and forcefully pressed her back onto the sofa.

"You need to be rational, Sofia. If we just give up everything we've built up in Los Angeles and run away, we'll lose all our bank accounts and be stuck hiding in the mud of Central America... Is it too much of a price to pay for a news story that hasn't even made the papers yet?"

Sofia crossed her arms and pondered for a while, finally sighing.

"You make a good point. Running away is definitely the worst option." She spread her hands.

"But what can we do now? We're facing a senator's family; a head-on confrontation wouldn't leave us with even ashes, unless..."

Sofia narrowed her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Chen Ming, her expression gradually becoming meaningful.

"Unless you're willing to sacrifice your looks." Sophia snapped her fingers, offering a suggestion that Chen Ming was very familiar with.

"Go and sleep with her, let her fight with her own people."

Chen Ming's lips twitched suddenly.

"This terrible idea has already been suggested by someone else."

"You see, smart people can always reach a consensus."

Sofia didn't seem to care at all, and instead raised her eyebrows and asked back confidently.

"So why don't you give it a try? It's a zero-cost, high-return optimal solution. What, is this female reporter some kind of 300-pound menopausal auntie with a fleshy face, making it too much for you to handle?"

Chen Ming recalled Michelle's aggressive gaze and textbook-perfect hot body in the coffee shop and subconsciously shook his head.

"Not really..."

"That settles it then!" Sophia said with a look of utter disappointment.

"You're a man, you think you can just take a loss?"

She grabbed a cushion, placed it under her chin, leaned closer, and began to analyze the situation vividly.

"Listen, Chen, you don't actually need to have anything happen between you, understand? Your main task is to distract her... Once a woman starts agonizing over trivial questions like 'Does he love me?' or 'Why didn't he reply to my messages today,' she doesn't have any extra brainpower to care about any underground lab."

Chen Ming frowned slightly, but did not immediately refute.

Sofia continued to strike while the iron was hot.

"And you have to understand the species of journalists. They are always chasing the freshest gore... As long as you drag it out long enough, if a celebrity scandal breaks out in Hollywood or some political storm occurs in Washington, she will immediately switch to a new target and forget about Professor Evans."

Admittedly, these words hit the nail on the head.

Chen Ming fell silent.

Violent methods are out of the question, conventional public relations are ineffective, and a head-on confrontation would be tantamount to suicide...

The only way to resolve this crisis without bloodshed is to muddy the waters and then use emotional appeals to buy time.

Is it really necessary to sacrifice a little... one's looks?

Seeing that Chen Ming's thoughts were beginning to loosen, Sophia's eyes lit up.

She suddenly moved closer to Chen Ming, deliberately drawing out her voice.

"Chen, you're even so resistant to pretending..."

"You haven't been in a relationship yet, have you? Are you even a virgin?"

Chen Ming's body trembled upon hearing this.

The next second, the blood vessels behind his ear began to dilate uncontrollably...