"No need to go to the hospital. Drop your pants."

Inside the room, Chen Yu listened to the reason for their visit and didn’t waste any time. He looked at the medical scans while telling Owen to take off his pants.

’Who could refuse another two hundred thousand US dollars before leaving South Korea?’

During the World Cup, the fees for treating players like Zidane and Ballack were all separate payments that went straight into his own pocket. On this trip alone, he had earned at least a million US dollars.

Michael Owen froze for a moment, glanced around the room, and asked awkwardly, "Do I have to take them all the way off?"

Chen Yu chuckled. "What, you want to? I don’t have a problem with it."

Although Owen was already a superstar renowned throughout England, he was still just a 23-year-old kid. Teased by Chen Yu, his face flushed slightly. He didn’t dare say another word and quickly took off his pants.

Chen Yu gestured for him to lie flat and went over to examine him.

Owen closed his eyes, a little shyly.

A groin injury was not only difficult to treat, but the location was also awkward.

Chen Yu placed his hands on the area and asked about the level of pain.

In reality, he knew just by looking. Ninety percent of athletes suffering from groin problems had issues in this exact spot: the adductor muscle group.

And the most likely culprit within that group was the pectineus muscle.

"Dr. Chen, can it be treated?" Ken Robinson, the team manager for the Great Britain Team, stepped forward and asked nervously.

Owen had been injured on the 15th. Today was the 19th, so four days had already passed.

In fact, the day of the injury, Eriksson had wanted to find Chen Yu.

Eriksson had personally witnessed the miracle Chen Yu performed on Beckham and knew that Chen Yu had also cured Gerrard’s chronic groin injury.

But at that time, Chen Yu had just returned to his home country.

Plus, Owen himself felt it wasn’t a big deal and that he could play through it, so Eriksson let the National Team doctors handle it first.

Who knew that after two days of treatment, the problem persisted.

It didn’t hurt as much, but as soon as he started running, the pain returned.

That was the thing about a groin injury; it was a constant ache that severely affected his explosive power and speed.

Chen Yu nodded. "Of course. It’s not a major problem. By the way, I don’t need to repeat my fee structure, do I?"

Ken Robinson breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded hastily.

He knew the deal. Chen Yu would name his price, and whatever he said, went. They were in no position to bargain.

Chen Yu put down the scans and had Heskey fetch the anesthetic before telling Owen to take off his underwear as well.

In this situation, the best method was still the Small Needle Knife.

First, he’d release the muscle and fascia adhesions caused by the inflammation, then use his healing abilities to promote recovery. It was the fastest-acting treatment method.

However, for long-term health and to prevent recurrence, he would still need to rest and continuously strengthen his core through training.

"Come pick him up tomorrow afternoon." Seeing the anxious look on Robinson’s face, Chen Yu guessed what he was worried about.

Robinson nodded hurriedly, visibly relieved.

"By the way, you’re playing the Brazil Team the day after tomorrow, right?" Chen Yu asked.

Robinson nodded. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Chen Yu said, "In that case, I’ll take Owen to Japan myself tomorrow. I happen to want to watch your match anyway."

Because of the investigation, Chen Yu had to stay in South Korea for two more days.

But he couldn’t just stay cooped up in his hotel for two days. He wanted to go see a match.

And when it came to watching a match, seeing it live was always better.

Not to mention, Ronaldo had been in constant contact, asking him to come watch the Brazil Team play, but he’d never found the time.

This worked out perfectly. He could go to Japan with Owen and even snag a free plane ticket.

"Really? That would be wonderful." Robinson was overjoyed. With Chen Yu accompanying them, he could at least ensure that nothing else went wrong with Owen before the match.

Heskey returned.

Chen Yu was already very familiar with using the Small Needle Knife to treat muscle adhesions. His movements were fast, precise, and decisive, and with practiced ease, he separated the main points of adhesion.

Just as he withdrew the needle, Chen Yu paused.

He had unexpectedly received a system notification.

His Acupuncture technique had leveled up!

The last time it leveled up was at the end of last year.

It had taken Chen Yu nearly a year and countless Acupuncture treatments to go from Basic Level to Middle Level.

So, Chen Yu had always thought that advancing from Middle Level to High Level would be even harder and take much longer.

But this had only taken six months.

[Congratulations! Through persistent practice, you have gained a deeper understanding of Acupuncture. Your skill has improved, and you have obtained Advanced Acupuncture Techniques.]

[Advanced Acupuncture Techniques: Your Acupuncture will now have a 30% increase in therapeutic effect.]

Chen Yu stared at the system notification.

Unfortunately, the effect didn’t double. It was an incremental increase, adding another 15% to the previous bonus.

’If it can level up again, say, to Special Level, the effect should increase to 50%.’

’I wonder if this Acupuncture upgrade is related to me learning two new techniques, the Floating Needle and the Small Needle Knife.’

After all, he didn’t think he had treated more patients in the last six months than he did last year.

The only difference was that he had learned the Floating Needle and Small Needle Knife techniques.

Chen Yu knew that experience accumulation varied. Perhaps using the Small Needle Knife yielded more experience.

After all, the Small Needle Knife was more difficult to use. The Eye of All-Seeing alone wasn’t enough; the technique itself was also crucial. It was no exaggeration to call it a minor surgical procedure, so it made sense that it would grant more experience.

’By that logic,’ he thought, ’for massage, could I learn some new techniques to speed up experience gain?’

But when it came to massage, Chen Yu felt that acupressure massage was already a very advanced technique. How could he improve on it? He couldn’t just start using essential oils, could he?

Chen Yu figured that to gain more experience, he needed to use an innovative therapy.

’Alcohol-fire therapy!’

A thought struck him. The idea of essential oils had suddenly made him think of alcohol-fire therapy.

In terms of technique alone, alcohol-fire therapy wasn’t that different from acupressure massage, but the medicinal liquors used could be infinitely varied.

Concocting different medicinal liquors would also produce different effects.

’If I put some effort into the medicinal liquors I use, would it be like the Small Needle Knife—a combination with other medical skills that grants more experience?’

’It’s worth a try!’

It was a shame he didn’t have any medicinal liquor on hand, or he would have definitely tried it out on Owen first.

After the treatment, Chen Yu had Owen stay for the night.

His main goal right now was to be healthy enough to play the match against Brazil. Although it was a short timeframe, Chen Yu didn’t think it would be a problem.

This was first aid. If he wanted a complete recovery, he could slowly recuperate after the match was over and he was back home.

England was certainly a strong team, but Chen Yu still felt the Brazil Team had a better chance of winning.

Ronaldo, at the peak of his career, was simply too formidable.

Meanwhile, in an interrogation room at the Daejeon Police Station, Derek Xiao and Kevin Baker were still bombarding Zheng Mengjun with questions.

At one point, Zheng Mengjun suspected they had put Truth Serum in his water. In his dazed state, he even had the bizarre thought that he was planning to assassinate the president.

"Think it over carefully," Kevin Baker said, getting up and motioning for Derek Xiao to go out and take a break.

On their way out, Kevin Baker instructed his subordinate to guard the door and not let anyone in.

They had now completely taken over Zheng Mengjun’s case.

As soon as the two of them came out, Lee Yong-sun, accompanied by another higher-ranking police officer and several officials in suits, hurried over to them.

"Mr. Baker, could there be some kind of misunderstanding? There are a lot of reporters outside now. If this is just about match-fixing and corrupt referees, I don’t think we need to make such a big scene," the leading official said urgently.

Zheng Mengjun’s arrest had made a lot of people anxious.

It wasn’t just because he was the chairman of the Football Association, but also because he had the Hyundai Group backing him.

A representative from the intelligence agency standing nearby also asked quietly, "Mr. Baker, Chairman Zheng is a member of the National Assembly, after all. Isn’t it a bit inappropriate to arrest him so directly without a proper reason?"

To this day, the intelligence agency still hadn’t received a reasonable explanation from the CIA.

"Member of the National Assembly?" Kevin Baker sneered, clapping the man on the shoulder. "Don’t you guys have a lot of them? What’s the big deal about arresting one?"

South Korea had 300 members in its National Assembly. There were plenty to spare.

"As for whether there’s a misunderstanding, well, we’ll only know that after we’ve finished our investigation."

Kevin Baker gave a couple of grinning, evasive answers before calling Derek Xiao to go smoke on the roof.

「On the rooftop.」

The two of them huddled together. At the entrance in the distance, Lee Yong-sun’s group was still watching them eagerly.

Derek Xiao glanced down at the street below.

Outside the police station, the area was jam-packed with media vans and reporters. He said worriedly, "Kevin, are we blowing this thing out of proportion?"

His original plan was to use the interrogation and "assisting the investigation" as a way to threaten and warn Zheng Mengjun, while also using the media coverage to damage his reputation and prestige.

But the way things were developing now was completely beyond his control.

"Kevin, what the hell are you guys really trying to do?" Xiao looked at Baker.

Originally, this matter had nothing to do with the CIA, and Contiguglia certainly hadn’t approached them.

But at the last minute, the CIA had come to them, wanting to cooperate.

So, even now, Xiao wasn’t entirely sure what Baker was trying to accomplish.

Especially with his relentless focus on Chen Yu’s role as a presidential medical consultant.

Baker grinned. "We’ve known each other for years. You know me so well, and you’re such a smart guy. You really can’t guess what I’m trying to do?"

Xiao fell silent.

’It’s impossible that I have no idea,’ he thought.

What did the CIA like to do? They used all sorts of underhanded methods to achieve certain goals.

So, Xiao felt that this time, Baker wasn’t targeting Zheng Mengjun, but rather using him to target someone behind the scenes.

Zheng Mengjun bribing a presidential medical consultant—that was something they could undoubtedly prove. But why did he do it? Was he acting on someone’s orders? The room for manipulation here was enormous.

It was like they had been given a golden ticket to investigate whoever they wanted.

They had simply found the perfect opportunity.

"I remember now. You guys were also in charge of vetting security for the National Team earlier," Xiao added.

The CIA had provided assistance with the National Team’s security in South Korea and Japan. They probably noticed Chen Yu’s special status back then.

Baker chuckled, clearly admitting it was true.

Xiao didn’t press further. He had no desire to know about the shady business Baker was involved in.

"So what will happen to Zheng Mengjun?" Xiao asked after a moment of thought.

Baker shrugged nonchalantly. "Don’t know. Maybe he’ll become a scapegoat, but that will depend on his luck."

Xiao was silent. ’The guy’s got some rotten luck,’ he thought. ’He’s just an accidental casualty.’

Just as he said that, one of Baker’s subordinates ran over and handed him a file.

Baker quickly read it, chuckled, and casually tossed it to Xiao. "Here. You guys helped out, so consider this our thank you."

Xiao took it, confused, and his expression changed as he quickly scanned the contents.

It contained records of numerous financial transactions.

How they got it didn’t matter. There was no doubt the CIA had the means.

The main thing was that it detailed Zheng Mengjun’s bribes to various high-ranking officials and illegal fund transfers, including transactions with Moreno and several other officials within FIFA.

Most importantly, it also involved money laundering and tax evasion through the United States financial system.

"Looks like I’ll have to contact the IRS."

Xiao gave a wry smile. He now understood what Baker meant by "thank you." He was being given a chance to make a name for himself by investigating FIFA.