America: Starting from collecting corpses, leveling up to godhood

"Third, you have to pay me a sum of money, including the operation costs and payment... One million US dollars, with a prepayment of one hundred thousand. That shouldn't be too much for you, right?"

"no problem."

The old man opened a drawer, filled out a check for 100,000 yuan and a phone number, and handed it to Chen Ming.

"You'd better act in the next few days. Although it's not summer yet, the smell of a corpse spreads very quickly. I'll contact you again."

Chen Ming picked up his things and pulled Michelle away.

The two got back into the car.

After getting away from the racetrack, Michel breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you're really planning to steal a body from the security company headquarters? You'll get riddled with bullets."

"If we don't agree to his request, we won't be able to leave easily either." Chen Ming started the car.

"So what do you think I should do?"

Michelle was speechless for a moment.

In the past, if she had encountered a deranged millionaire who kept a corpse as a collectible, she would have done everything in her power to uncover his key evidence and then written an article to expose him...

But the situation is different now.

Once Victor is angered, the information about Chen Ming's transformation will be made public, and then medical institutions and laboratories all over the United States will be watching him.

"Perhaps... you could go to another country to hide, like going back to China?" Michelle offered a suggestion that Chen Ming was very familiar with.

"I'd like to, but Chinese citizenship is too difficult to obtain," Chen Ming shook his head.

"I'm going to kill him."

Michelle was stunned.

"The security at home in this kind of house is no worse than that of a defense company... He has more than a dozen bodyguards, as you just saw."

"Only the dead can keep secrets the safest." Chen Ming turned the steering wheel with one hand as he rounded the bend.

"He dared to threaten me with my physical data, so he should be prepared to go to hell. The reason I didn't make a move just now was because I wasn't prepared enough, but it doesn't mean I'm prepared to let this old bastard go."

Michelle took a deep breath—her intuition as a top journalist told her that following Chen Ming might yield the most explosive news material in Los Angeles this year.

"How can I help? This is the second time you've saved me today," she said, offering her assistance.

"I have an idea... Could you contact that security company for me and tell them you're planning to investigate that old guy named Victor, and see what kind of person their boss is, and whether we can cooperate?" Chen Ming winked at Michelle.

"You're planning to cooperate with the other side instead?" Michelle was taken aback by his question.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Besides, even if we can't cooperate, you can take this opportunity to help me scout out the situation there... In any case, this wax figure of a corpse is a card that Victor should be wary of."

"Got it." Michelle nodded readily, took out a voice recorder from her pocket, and pressed it twice.

"That security company is called Black Shield, right...? I'll go through the process and make an appointment tomorrow, but what if the boss is even crazier than Victor?"

"Then I'll take him out too." Chen Ming turned on his turn signal.

"Haha, that's really something." Michelle laughed.

"By the way, do you need me to contact a trust lawyer for you, just in case you don't live to spend this 100,000 yuan..."

"I'd rather you use your lawyer's fees to buy me a late-night snack, even just two hamburgers will do."

……

The next morning, at the apartment.

Chen Ming slammed the $100,000 check onto the dining table.

Sofia, who was holding a toothbrush in her mouth, leaned over to take a look, and the toothbrush fell directly into the milk bowl.

"Good heavens...did that female reporter give it to me again?"

"An advance payment from another troublesome client." Chen Ming poured himself a glass of water.

"Find a way to get it into my account without leaving a trace, and do it as quickly as possible."

"Chen, this is a check for 100,000 US dollars, this is going to be difficult!" Sophia scratched her head.

"If you deposit money into your bank account, it will immediately trigger an excess transaction alert from the IRS... Those bloodsuckers will be knocking on your door tomorrow with their men to audit your taxes, so why can't you just take cash?"

"He didn't give it to me, so I had no choice," Chen Ming shrugged.

"I believe you have the professional skills to handle it. I'll give you a 5% rebate on whatever amount I receive in the end."

"I can do it, but I'd have to buy a shell company account in Delaware to transfer the money... The transaction fees alone would take at least 20 percent." Sofia gritted her teeth, heartbroken.

"Whatever, I'm going out for a bit."

Ignoring Sophia's screams behind him, Chen Ming changed his clothes and headed straight for Beverly Hills.

An hour later, at Sean's clinic.

Chen Ming sat in the luxurious consultation room, watching Sean, beaming, escort a Hollywood actress who had just had Botox injections out the door.

"Looks like your clients are all very enthusiastic," Chen Ming joked, looking at the lipstick mark on Sean's neck.

"There's no way around it, some female clients are like that. They firmly believe that their charm will make doctors serve them more attentively. If you refuse them, they might even stop coming to you altogether... But I actually treat everyone the same."

When Sean saw Chen Ming arrive, he knew something was wrong, so he immediately locked the door and poured himself a glass of water.

"So what happened that made you rush here to find me instead of waiting for me to get off work or calling me?"

"Nothing much, I'm just planning to kill Victor."

Sean spilled the water he had just picked up onto the floor.

"Chen, are you crazy?" Sean whispered.

"He has informants in the upper echelons of the LAPD, keeps six Caucasian Shepherds at his ranch, and his bodyguards are all mercenaries retired from Eastern Europe... What happened?"

"He's got his eye on me, but I have no interest in being his toy."

Chen Ming fiddled with the medical tweezers on the table, and then briefly explained what had happened.

"I won't drag you into this, but you often deliver goods to him, so you should be familiar with the layout of the manor, right?"

"...To be honest, I've only been to the underground exhibition hall and a few of the guest rooms upstairs." Sean pushed up his glasses, his expression serious.

"But I noticed something very interesting—his villa's security system was provided by Black Shield."

"ha?"

Chen Ming was quite surprised to hear this.

"He used his arch-rival's security system?"

"They weren't like that before... Foreigners doing shady business in California can't do without the support of local private military contractors, and the strained relationship came later," Sean explained to Chen Ming.

"Besides, bosses rarely concern themselves with the details of the equipment; that's all left to their subordinates... I have a client who complained to me that his employee was claiming thousands of dollars in fuel costs every month for driving his Tesla—he didn't even know it was an electric car."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Ming's phone vibrated.

"Chen, I just came out of Black Shield headquarters." Michelle's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Pretty efficient... Did you see the boss?"

"I met him. His name is Carter, a former Navy SEAL officer. I mentioned to him that I was investigating Victor's collection, and his reaction was quite interesting."

"He seemed to have known all along that there were many illegal collectibles on Victor's estate, but he just didn't realize that the statues he had collected were among them."

"Then what?"

"That's the most interesting part," Michelle chuckled.

"He invited me to his private party in Malibu tonight, saying he had some inside information about Victor and the Mexican gang to tell me."

Chen Ming frowned slightly.

"Don't you find it strange that a veteran who owns a security company would voluntarily leak inside information about gangs to a reporter?"

"It is strange, but it is also an opportunity for us to learn more about him and cooperate, and I can also get more news material," Michelle said confidently.

"Chen, you have to come with me."

Does this count as overtime?

"I'll give you three thousand and one dollars an hour."