American Gossip King

Chapter 45 Special Correspondent

In the pristine white corridor of the hospital, Phili Leso held a scalpel to Lena's neck.

The middle-aged man, his eyes wide and bloodshot, shouted, "Elake! Elijah!!! Come out and see me! Or I'll kill her! Kill her!"

Gasker shouted anxiously, "Let go of my wife!"

He tried to rush over, but the doctors and nurses around him pulled him back, saying, "Don't go over there, sir, it's dangerous."

"That's my wife!" Gaskell shouted.

He looked at Lena with anguish and cried out, "You can take me hostage, sir. But don't hurt my wife!"

Lena turned pale with fright.

Leso just yelled, "I don't care! I want to see Electro! Get Electro out here to see me!"

Ian rushed in just as he witnessed this scene.

He asked urgently, "Gassier, what happened?"

Gaskell was taken aback: "Ian?"

There was no time for reminiscing. He hurriedly said, "That guy's gone mad. He's taken my wife hostage."

Leso yelled, "No, I'm not crazy. I need to see Elijah, and he's not hiding from me!"

Ian gently opened the camera lens hanging around his neck and said, "Buddy, calm down. You're holding my friend hostage. To ensure her safety, I can help you find that bastard named Elek, but before that, can you tell me why you're doing this?"

Leso stared blankly without answering.

Ian looked at the nurse beside him and asked, "What exactly happened?"

A doctor shook his head: "This is none of your business."

Ian immediately pulled out his gun and fired a shot at the doctor's feet.

The bullet shrapnel startled the doctor. Ian had already pointed his gun at him: "Tell me what happened right now, or I'll kill you before my friend dies!"

The doctor was terrified and shouted, "He has AIDS, we can't cure him, he'll go crazy!"

AIDS?

Ian turned around in surprise to look at Leso.

Leso roared, "I spent $100,000! A full $100,000! That's not what you said when you were treating me!"

Ah!

understood.

Yes, just as journalists will relentlessly interview the families of victims and rub salt into their wounds; bankers will withdraw funds when you need them most; lawyers will tell you that you have a high chance of winning any case and urge you to pay up; doctors also have their own dark side.

No matter what kind of terminal illness you have, they will urge you to seek treatment.

As long as you're willing to pay, they can use all sorts of methods on you, although sometimes the treatment is less effective than no treatment at all.

The middle-aged man in front of me had clearly been ripped off.

He spent all his savings, only to be told that he had limited time left to live and that there was nothing they could do.

He was dying, so he wasn't afraid of dying anymore; all he wanted was revenge.

At this moment, Leso cried, "My wife and daughter have left me, all my friends have left me! I wanted to leave them some money, but now I have nothing left."

A nurse exclaimed, "Why didn't you say that when you were paying for treatment?"

"Shut up!" Ian punched the nurse in the face.

At this moment, if you accuse others of their mistakes, do you want the hostages to die?

Ian handed the gun to Gaskell and then walked toward Leso.

"Don't come any closer!" Leso shouted.

"What's your name?" Ian asked.

Leso paused for a moment: "Philip Leso."

"My name is Ian Carl." Ian straightened his collar and said, "Mr. Leso, what did the doctor tell you? How much longer do you have?"

"At most two years," Leso said despairingly.

"So you have two years left to live, but you're planning to end it all early?" Ian asked.

Leso yelled, "I'm going to die anyway, I want to see Elijah and get back the money he swindled from me!"

"For your child?" Ian asked.

Lesotho paused for a moment, then finally nodded: "Yes."

Gaskell quickly replied, "I can give you the money!"

Leso cried out in grief and indignation, "I don't want your money, I want my own! I'm not a robber! I got AIDS not because of promiscuity, but because of a blood infection!"

Ian shook his head slightly: "That's not important, buddy. Not that many people care about your character! What's important is the ten thousand dollars!"

The latest novel is first published here!

He laughed and said, "Ten thousand yuan is too little. Your life is worth at least five hundred thousand, or even a million."

"What did you say?" Leso asked, taken aback.

Ian turned around and said, "All of you, get out of the way. I want to have a word with Mr. Leso, but he won't let me near. So I can only ask you to go far away, far away from where you can't hear us."

As he spoke, he looked at Gasker.

Gasker took a deep breath.

At this point, he had no choice but to trust Ian. He brandished his pistol and shouted, "Get out of here, all of you!"

Watching them walk away, Ian turned to Leso again and said, "I can give you five hundred thousand, at least five hundred thousand!"

Leso shouted, "I've said it before, I want my own money! Legal money. Do you think I don't understand? The money you're giving me now, I would never give to my children!"

Ian scoffed, "You think it's legal for Elijah to give you the money under these circumstances?"

Leso was speechless.

Ian said, "What I'm giving you is legal. I mean... I won't give it to you all at once; I'll have you work for me."

Leso shook his head repeatedly: "No one would hire someone like me, and I couldn't possibly earn that much in two years."

"On the contrary, you are very valuable, you just don't know it yourself," Ian smiled.

As he spoke, he took out a cigarette case, lit one for himself, and said, "My name is Ian Carr, the owner of the Los Angeles Herald, and also a reporter."

Leso was taken aback: "So it was you. I've seen your news."

Ian smiled: "Being a journalist is dangerous, and more importantly, it's very likely to offend people. Sometimes, in order to get important news, we have to do some things that aren't entirely legal, such as infiltrating, spying, wiretapping, etc., and the key is that we can't get caught."

He chuckled as he spoke, "You know gangsters, right? They're all expert criminals. The easiest way for them to get away with crimes is to pay enough money to have their underlings take the blame. Sometimes, they'll even hire people with terminal illnesses to commit murder."

Leso and Lena were both taken aback.

Leso stammered, "You want me to kill someone for you?"

Why are you afraid?

Do you think what you did before didn't count as murder?

Ian chuckled and shook his head. "Of course not. But like I said, there are always things we need a scapegoat for. If there's a terminally ill patient, then he's the natural scapegoat. Your life is destined to be finite, Leso. But your finite life can shine with infinite brilliance. You will be my best journalist in your final moments... You will expose the darkness of this world, you will become the most dazzling shooting star in the media world, and your name will forever be etched in the ranks of the uncrowned kings!"

He smiled as he spoke, "I've been looking for someone like that... maybe more than one, and your appearance is a godsend."

He spread his hands: "Would you like to be my freelance reporter? You'll not only get enough money, but also enough fame."

He looked at Filileso meaningfully: "I can make you the most dazzling shooting star in the world, so that the whole world will look up to you, admire you, and worship you!"

(End of this chapter)