Chapter 426: Cards on the Table
FDA is the abbreviation for the “Food and Drug Administration” in Northern America. Any drugs that wanted to be officially approved in the Northern American market had to go through this application process. Most continents also had similar inst.i.tutions such as Europe’s EDQM or China’s NMPA.
Blacklight Biotechnology had canceled the FDA application of three targeted drugs in Northern America, which meant that these three types of drugs were not about to enter the Northern American market.
If these were ordinary drugs, no one would care about such an announcement. After all, if one drug was gone, there were always other drugs to subst.i.tute it and the FDA would not simply approve any Tom, d.i.c.k or Harry. The review process could take several years and the standards were extremely strict.
Nevertheless, Blacklight Biotechnology was different. The drugs it had applied for were unique in the market. They were highly effective with a cancer cure rate of over 90%. Once these era-defining drugs were withdrawn from the Northern American market, the one who lost out would be Northern America.
Therefore, after learning that the three targeted drugs would not hit the market in Northern America, the Northern American Department of State promptly protested, claiming that this was a monopoly, a sanction, and denied any intention of sanctioning Blacklight Biotechnology. The Northern American Continent, which had always been powerful, began to play the part of the victim and voiced a firm protest against Blacklight Biotechnology.
[Blackwatch Corporation Refuses to Launch Their Highly Effective Drugs in Northern America. Following This Man Incident, the Northern American Authorities Suffer Another Heavy Blow!] — Wall Street Journal.
[Imposing Sanctions on the World’s Foremost Economy With Just the Power of a Corporation, Domineering Side Exposed!] — Tencent News.
[Blackwatch Corporation’s Latest Announcement Claims That It Can Solve 136 Types of Cancers Known to All Humanity. Truth or Hogwash?] — BBC Express.
[After the Official Website of Blacklight Biotechnology Issued Two Announcements, the Entire Earth Federation Was Shocked!] — UC Subscription.
Furthermore, netizens all over the world were having a field day because of this incident. Whether it was on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or the major forums, one could see discussions about this matter everywhere.
[Has Blackwatch Corporation eliminated cancer? I don’t believe it. If they say they have solved several of these cancers, I can still kinda believe it. Solved them all? It’s too exaggerated.]
[OP, didn’t you see the announcement? They directly deciphered the cancer heredity chain at the genetic level. Got it? They cracked cancer at the source, it doesn’t matter what kind of cancer it is.]
[Person from China here. I’ve finally realized what monopoly and dictatorship mean. Surely they’re being too harsh!]
[Hehe, no matter how powerful this company is, it doesn’t even have the fundamental principle that the whole world should work as one and openly discriminates against Northern Americans. This kind of company deserves to be sanctioned. It’s best if they go bankrupt as soon as possible and then share the technology with all humankind. Chinese cyber-troopers, don’t even bother wielding your pitchforks.]
[I’ve already blacklisted the idiot above me. They are using Chinese, yet even the sh*t they spew comes out the wrong way. Thanks for enriching my blacklist.]
[Blacklight Biotechnology has recently been making headlines in the world many times. From a private company that n.o.body cares about to a pharmaceutical giant today, what has this company gone through?]
[Rather than quarrel, why don’t we just disperse. What does a battle between G.o.ds have to do with us peasants, let’s just eat our popcorn and watch this unprecedented showdown.]
As the two announcements continued to go viral, there were supporters and critics and the group of people suffering from cancer paid more attention to the first announcement. They urgently needed to know whether this news was true or false or a half-truth that Blackwatch Corporation deliberately exaggerated.
Due to this, as the outcry became stronger, in the afternoon of the same day, the official website of Blacklight Biotechnology had issued a new announcement. This genetically modified cancer treatment technology would be reviewed and clinically tested in various countries within a week. Blacklight Biotechnology would not charge any fees, but would instead provide free medical treatments for partic.i.p.ants in the clinical trials, striving to bring this new type of treatment to the market as efficiently as possible.
As soon as this news came out, the officials of the Earth Federation Headquarters, who had been a little displeased with Blacklight Biotechnology’s monopolistic decision, had nothing left to say.
At this time, the uproar was not just happening internationally. Things were in chaos on Chen Chen’s side as well. Calls were blowing up his phone. The callers were all from the helms of major financial groups and chairman-level personnel of giant international corporations.
“Sir G.o.dfather, the Blanc Financial Group has also called. Will you take the call?”
“No.”
“Sir G.o.dfather, the Edwards family and the Alexander family are calling at the same time. Take the call?”
“No.”
“Sir G.o.dfather, the President of the Earth Federation Representative a.s.sociation...”
“No.”
Chen Chen lay back serenely in his chair, unwilling to answer any calls.
He opened the secret network of G.o.d’s Forbidden Zone and saw that on the forum of G.o.d’s Forbidden Zone, several families were already cursing:
sigma08Philip: [What is wrong with you? I’m still going to such lengths to lobby the White House over here. How nice of you guys to drop an announcement like that! Yeah, just undo all the f*cking effort we’ve put in!]
sigma03John: [Why didn’t you notify us in advance? My stocks, f*ck!]
sigma01SimonPeter: [Chen Chen, why don’t you answer the phone? F*ck you!]
[System notification: User sigma01 has been banned by the system for 10 minutes due to using strong language. Please pay attention to your words and behavior.]
Seeing this, Chen Chen stood up languidly. He thought for a while and said, “Little X, inform all the members of the Disciple Council that we’ll have a holographic conference. I’ll give them an hour to prepare.”
“Very well.”
Little X nodded. A huge conference table instantly rose from under the floor. This was a ma.s.sive table, about ten meters long and three meters wide, and there were rows of seats on both sides. Chen Chen went directly to the end of the conference table and sat down.
In less than five minutes, as a beam of light flickered by, a middle-aged man with gray hair appeared out of thin air on Chen Chen’s right side. The man angrily plopped down into a chair and at the same time, he asked, “Chen Chen, what the h*ll are you doing? Do you know how much the Northern American stock market has fallen after all this?!!!”
Chen Chen spread his hands and said innocently, “Sorry. If I give a similar order next time, I’ll notify the Northern American financial groups in advance.”
“There’s a next time?”
The middle-aged man was practically blowing his top. If it had not been a holographic image in front of him, he would even rush forward to beat up Chen Chen.
“This isn’t the time to talk, Mr. Edwards.”
Chen Chen smiled. “When everyone arrives, I’ll give you all an explanation.”
On hearing these words, the middle-aged man in front of Chen Chen cooled down slightly. He said crossly, “Very well, then I’ll wait for the explanation from Your Excellency Chen Chen!”
Over time, men with different faces appeared at the conference table. These men looked at each other and began to share some less important information.
In the end, after one hour was up, eleven of the original twelve Disciples had shown up. In addition, several families did not have the qualifications to become Disciples, but who still had some significant influence as plutocrats.
With a group of busy important people like these, such a high attendance rate was a rarity.
“The Muhammad family of the Sand Continent sent a message saying that they wouldn’t partic.i.p.ate in this meeting.”
Little X notified from the side.
“Forget it then. This matter has nothing to do with them anyway.”
Chen Chen nodded and then looked at everyone present with great interest. “This is the first holographic conference we’re having after we developed the holographic projection technology, right? What do you think of it?”
“It’s brilliant.”
A chubby middle-aged man said with a smile, “It’s just that the price is a bit steep at one million USD for a set. And if I want to cover a larger room, I’d need a more powerful environmental holographic simulator.”
“Let’s cut to the chase.”
The gray-haired middle-aged man interrupted the chit chat between the two. He said gloomily, “Chen Chen, it’s time for you to give us an explanation.”
“Give ‘us’?”
Chen Chen pretended to be mystified. “Who does this ‘us’ include?”
“Me!”
A st.u.r.dy man said, “We, the Alexander family, need an explanation.”
“And our Rodriguez family, too.”
Another middle-aged man chimed in.
“Me as well.”
The helm of the Edwards family added. “We three Disciples in Northern America plus the Felix family and the Blanc family who are also in attendance — are we not worthy of getting an explanation?”
“Of course, you are.”
Chen Chen nodded and his expression gradually turned grave. “But what I want to know is why none of you contacted me when the Northern American Continent wanted to arrest me illegally? Don’t tell me you didn’t know anything about it!”
“We didn’t know...”
Paul from the Blanc family quickly replied as he waved his hand, “That was an ultimate secret meeting and it was no longer under the consortia’s influence. Although the political parties in Northern America have the support of financial groups, surely we can’t possibly intervene in politics directly?”
“Yes, Paul is right.”
The helm of the Edwards family nodded. “It’s easy enough for us to lobby the senior officials. This is what we’re good at. But whether they listen or not, it’s not like our word is the law.”
“What’s more, no one can prove that the video is true.”
The helm of the Alexander family said at the same time, “Didn’t the authorities dispel the rumors, saying that the video was forged?”
Chen Chen rolled his eyes upon hearing this. “What if I say that video is real?”
“Impossible!”
Alexander immediately replied, “Chen Chen, you’re too rash. You shouldn’t break ties with Northern America. And because you did so without letting us know, you made us suffer a huge loss.”
Chen Chen laughed icily when he heard this. He stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “Stop talking nonsense. If this video hadn’t been released, I’d have been secretly arrested by your officials a long time ago. By then, you’d suffer an even greater loss.”
“Hey, at this point, I have to mention something.”
At this moment, Norman, the head of the Foster family in Europe, who had just watched all this indifferently, suddenly frowned. “Why were you in such a rush to release the cure for all cancers? So what’s the point of us joining G.o.d’s Forbidden Zone? Just to become your mobsters for free?”
“At first I didn’t want to release them.”
Chen Chen immediately explained, “But if I don’t do so, how can we withstand Northern America’s sanctions? If you want to blame someone, blame these consortia in Northern America.”
“Bullsh*t!”
Several people promptly responded.
“What’s more, I don’t give preferential treatment.”
Chen Chen ignored the retorts from the crowd and continued. “Didn’t we also develop a machine that can repair most injuries and the aging of the human body? This machine is called the ‘Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform’. You just need to lie in it and it’ll heal all your diseases and scars, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
“Not only that, but this medical platform can also repair damaged cells, return your body to its peak state, and give you a life span of more than two hundred years. Plus, it’s hundreds of times gentler than the age-reversal treatment program, without any risk of failure...”
“Sounds a bit like Medpod 3000 in Elysium.”
Edwards suddenly said mockingly.
“Well, it’s not that powerful, but we’re still improving it. We hope to achieve the same effect as Medpod 3000 in a few decades.”
Chen Chen waved his hand and replied.
Hearing these words, most of the people suddenly looked rather tempted. Norman asked, “Is it reliable?”
“You may do the same as before and send your collateral relatives to give it a go.”
Chen Chen answered.
“Very good!”
Seeing that Chen Chen was so confident, everyone immediately beamed. After all, since they had witnessed the magic of Blacklight Biotechnology, a seed had long been planted in their hearts, a seed that said “A Blacklight product is a quality product”. It was a confidence that came from them using Blacklight Biotechnology products countless times without any side effects.
Even Edwards and the other Northern American families that had been dealt a blow looked more pacified. If everything that this magical darling said was true, it meant that the age-reversal treatment program had become a backward medical technology. These people had regained a new round of lifespan privilege.
Speaking of this, Chen Chen’s expression suddenly became solemn. “If possible, I don’t want to fall out with Northern America. This is an act that will hurt me almost as much as it hurts them, so I hope to be able to sign an agreement with the Northern American authorities to stop the mutual sanctions.”
“Asking the world’s largest political body to sign an agreement with a private company — only you can think up something like that.”
Everyone could not help rolling their eyes. After all, no matter how powerful Blacklight Biotechnology was, even if it was far stronger than their financial groups, no one would imagine that Blacklight Biotechnology had the same status as a continent.
“I know this is a bit unrealistic, but...”
Chen Chen thought for a while and suddenly dropped a bombsh.e.l.l. “What if I say I can solve the recent ruckus caused by ‘This Man’ incident?”
“What!”
“What?!”
“Wha-at?!!”
Everyone was flabbergasted. Many people stood up as if frightened and Edwards shuddered all over. “So, did you cause This Man incident?”
“Your Excellency Edwards, you can eat cr*p, but you shouldn’t talk cr*p.”
Chen Chen wore an innocent look, spreading his hands in an unfazed manner. “Why must the person who can solve This Man incident also be the culprit? That’s too far-fetched. We merely a.n.a.lyzed the picture of This Man and worked out a kind of pa.s.sword that would cure the effects of This Man.”
Everyone looked skeptical. At this moment, they suddenly recalled that This Man incident occurred just after Blacklight Biotechnology fell out with Northern America. This was a bit too coincidental and they were reminded of the high-tech stuff that Blacklight Biotechnology kept pumping out. Maybe there was something that could affect the brain waves, causing people to keep dreaming about This Man?
The reason they had not considered this before was that This Man incident was so peculiar. At present, more than 10 million people had claimed to have dreamed of This Man. Chaos had broken out in several cities. This group of people spread the picture of This Man everywhere, using methods that cost nothing. If this trend continued, within a few months, the entire Northern American Continent would collapse completely...
Now, having made the connection between This Man and Blacklight Biotechnology, many of them were suddenly aware of the cause and effect. The only question now was how Chen Chen managed to pull this off...
Still, in any case, they were secretly startled. This was because, with a weapon like This Man, the destruction that Blacklight Biotechnology could wreak was something that no country or continent could bear. No wonder Chen Chen dared to challenge Northern America, for Blacklight Biotechnology did have the power to compete with the country’s political system.
Blacklight Biotechnology was ready to become more than a mere company and start using more forceful methods...