Chapter 370: Blacklist System
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Tantalized.
The cooperation plan proposed by Chen Jin was indeed very tempting. Both sides stood to benefit significantly.
However…
Wasn’t it a little obvious that Xing Hai Technologies was somewhat at a disadvantage?
The price of 200,000 dollars per treatment per person was truly beyond just cheap. Nowadays, even a slightly high-end car could sell for more than 200,000. Was 50 extra years of life worth less than a car?
In addition to the cost of treatment, Xing Hai Technologies’ total R&D investment in the life-prolonging medical technique was expected to exceed 300 billion. If they were to share the cost to the millions of elderly people, each customer would have to pay an additional 300,000 dollars. 200,000 dollars would be literally selling hens on a rainy day!
In fact, under normal circ.u.mstances, the treatment cost was indeed 200,000 per person. However, Chen Jin had already prepared a handful of schemes to allow more money to be made.
The “Registration queuing system” was one of these. All elderly people over the age of 75 could apply for the treatment. Subsequently, the system would sort them according to their age. The older they were, the more priority they would be given and vice versa. People over 100 would be treated first, followed by people in their nineties and so on. The treatment would follow a very unprejudiced pattern.
And if some wealthy people were not willing to wait and wanted to enjoy the life-prolonging treatment service in advance, it would cost them five million.
With five million, one could enjoy the “express train” treatment. They could go straight into the operating theatre without having to queue.
If a person did not have that much money and their elderly relative ran into an emergency and needed to extend their lives immediately?
They could spend money to “cut the queue” at a dollar per advancement. One million dollars would mean one million advancements. If there were more than five million people in front of them in the queue, people would be better off opting for the express train. For the sake of fairness, each elderly person would have only one chance to “cut the queue”.
If a person was very unlucky, and there were too many people in the queue ahead of them and they did not have the money to spare, Xing Hai Technologies could only express their deepest regret. It was not the case that no elderly people would ever die after the life-prolonging technology was introduced. Xing Hai Hospital did not have the capacity to handle so many patients at this early stage. They could only provide services for a few hundred thousand people every year and more than 10 million elderly people of the Z nation would die annually.
Xing Hai Hospital had limited capacity. They could not take care of everybody and could only prioritize premium customers. In addition, old people mostly suffered from diabetes, rheumatism, high blood pressure and other diseases. The treatment of these diseases was not included within the 200,000 dollars. It would be necessary for them to spend extra money to cure all of those as well as prolonging life.
The information on the life-prolonging medical technology was brought over by Chen Jin from planet Haierfa. At the same time, the low-cost production technology of related drugs had long been available, further reducing costs.
Hence, as long as the number of elderly people treated exceeded ten million, as quant.i.ty increased, the average treatment cost per person would be reduced to 20,000 dollars. It would create a greater profit margin. Finally, adding that profit to the money made from foreign customers… whatever way you looked at it, Xing Hai Technologies would make a crazy amount of money.
Another thing that needed to be done was to repair relations.h.i.+ps and eliminate previous misunderstandings.
Those real estate speculators in Shang Hai, the landlords and merchants in first-tier cities, and the others would no longer hold a grudge against Xing Hai Technologies. When the 300 billion dollars that Xing Hai Technologies would save for themselves each year was brought into comparison with the millions and trillions of benefits they would generate, that tiny amount of thriftiness was small enough to be neglected.
After this card was played, the wariness and resistance of the public towards Chen Jin’s next scheme and other plans in the desert would be eliminated in an instant. People would not be focusing on his course of action for the time being.
…
Xie Linze left the discussion room to make a phone call outside.
Upon returning, he said to Chen Jin, “Mr. Chen, the leaders have agreed to your proposal, but specific details still have to be discussed.”
“Okay, no problem.”
For the next three days, both sides discussed the specific cooperation terms.
The final agreement reached was similar to the one proposed by Chen Jin. The treatment fee was set at around 200,000 dollars for locals and at least a million for foreigners. The medical insurance reimburs.e.m.e.nt system, pension deduction system, division of the net profit gained from foreign customers into fifty-fifty and many other things were agreed. They contentedly reached a deal.
But before signing the contract, Chen Jin made another suggestion:
“Mr. Xie, I think we should establish a blacklist system. Prolonging lifespan is not simply a medical technique. It shouldn’t be a service that people could acquire just by using money. It should be made a right, but not everybody has the right to prolong their lifespan. Devilish criminals, corrupt officials, people with a notorious reputation, and superst.i.tious people who oppose science… these people should be blacklisted and therefore be eliminated by nature.”
“It is not necessarily a good thing for these people to have long lifespans. They represent chaos, greed, selfishness, ignorance, and backwardness. These traits don’t need to stay around. We should separate the wheat from the chaff, eliminate bad characters and retain the good ones. It will be greatly beneficial to the orderly development of our society. Xing Hai Technologies is a responsible company and we hope for this world to become better.” Chen Jin expressed some of his thoughts.
Xie Linze fell into deep thought. After quite some time, he said, “I have to admit that what you said is somewhat reasonable. The world consists of two forces. One represents order, while the other represents disorder. Although the world as a whole is orderly, the power of disorder is currently growing stronger and stronger.”
“Wicked criminals, corrupt officials, narcissistic people who possess no morality that you’ve mentioned… these people do exist in large numbers, and that leads to some greater challenges. These people bear a lot of destructive power.”
“The life-prolonging medical technology is like an amplifier that amplifies both order and disorder. This tech must be properly utilized. I will discuss it with the leaders. If possible, I am supportive of the blacklist system. I support the establishment of a protective wall to make the world a better place.”
Xie Linze returned to Kings City along with the agreement.
…
In a weeks’ time, Xie Linze messaged his reply. The establishment of the blacklist system would be allowed. Criminals, corrupt officials, and people with bad reputations would be blacklisted. As for the morally corrupted and the superst.i.tious… Xing Hai Hospital would handle them on their own. The decision of whether to provide treatment was completely in the hands of Xing Hai Technologies.
Chen Jin became infuriated immediately. “There are tossing their responsibilities to us once again. I can’t even see the slightest of courage in them. They could be a mature approach, but Xing Hai Technologies is, after all, only a company.” There were billions of superst.i.tious people in this world, how could Xing Hai Technologies stop all of them?
Chen Jin shook his head. He couldn’t count on the others in major things, only himself!
Luckily, he had antic.i.p.ated this and knew how to solve this problem.
“Give the people question papers. Let them answer questions like `Is it science or religion that brings eternal life?’ and ‘Do you believe in G.o.d or Xing Hai Technologies?’ Those who fail shall go home.”
This was bound to offend many people, but the life-prolonging medical technology was a miraculous technology itself and Xing Hai Technologies was a G.o.d-like company. With such solid capabilities, why would they need to fear those deceiving witchcrafts?
Facing the temptation of true “everlasting life”, some things would just become weak and fragile.