Chapter 463: Setting the World Stage
Over the following period, with each successful operation conducted by the BHB Combative Police Force, their popularity in the international community continued to grow.
All of the violent crime operations conducted by the BHB had their footage captured with drones that were subsequently edited to create a well-produced doc.u.mentary piece.
Blacklight Biotechnology even designated expert video editors, audio technicians, and even world-cla.s.s musicians to tailor majestic background music for BHB videos.
After a round of polishing from the world’s best post-production team, these doc.u.mentaries would then be uploaded to the official YouTube account for the audience all around the world to watch for free.
Each one of these uploads would generate hundreds of millions of views immediately and climbed to the top spot in trending as soon as it was uploaded, bringing significant profit.
Advertising sponsors, worldwide fan groups, and even merchandise were established during this period. It only took a month for the three BHB officers to become global sensation superheroes.
The trio racked up increasing amounts of successful violent crime operations over time. Facing the heavily armed BHB officers complemented with an a.s.sortment of armed drones, the group of criminals that only had access to weapons the likes of an AKM were as good as a bunch of sitting ducks waiting to be arrested.
With the emergence of the BHB, violent crime rates in Namibia had plummeted by more than thirty percent over the last month.
Only several days ago, Hodge was a.s.signed to the position of a sniper and was tasked with taking out a robber who had taken a hostage. However, his shot was slightly off and failed to take out the robber, which resulted in the robber losing his cool and misfiring, which ended up killing one of the hostages instantly with a headshot.
The kind-natured Hodge was greatly distressed over this incident for several days.
Something like this was a monumental incident. However, a set of protocols had been devised to address an exact situation such as this. Only several minutes after the mistake was identified, public relations arrived at the scene to bribe all of the reporters, police, as well as the family members of the deceased hostage, effectively burying this incident under covers.
With Blacklight Biotechnology’s strong push for publicity, the phrase BHB Combative Police Force constantly ranked on top of the global search query. Phrases related to BHB were everywhere in both Northern American and European networks. The reputation of the three heroes was on par with the likes of Superman, Captain America, and various other superheroes.
Over the last few months, while the entire world focused its attention on Namibia, military experts all over the world also began to direct their greedy gaze at Blacklight Biotechnology’s military department.
After witnessing the prowess of the XTN robots, the orders for the related weapons also started pouring into Blacklight Biotechnology in an endless stream.
However, most continents did not lose their minds over the XTN robots but instead exercised restraint over them. Most continents only purchased the XTN-x.x.x model robots in double digits. It was only the heavy hitters like Northern America and the Central Continent who sh.e.l.led out enough to purchase up to three digits of these models. Most of the customers maintained that they only wanted to purchase some to conduct experiments and if the product was worth its value, they would return for more in time.
Blacklight Biotechnology did not oppose this manner of purchase. After all, there were more than thirty different models of XTN. Even if they only bought twenty to thirty units of each model, it would still total to nearly a thousand units. The total order value easily reached above 500 million U.S. dollars.
With dozens of different customers coming in, the total revenue easily went up to seven to eight billion dollars.
Despite all that, the Mark drones series and the XTN robot series were just appetizers as far as both parties were concerned. The main dish was the dozens of military technology owned by Blacklight Biotechnology that greatly surpa.s.sed the military technology of any other country.
For example, there was “Directional Aiming”, “Long-distance Environmental Detection”, “Coriolis Effect Simulation”, and so on.
Chen Chen never intended to auction them off in the form of a one-off purchase, but instead to incorporate them into various preferential policies and agreements. The purchasing parties started many rounds of intense negotiations with Blacklight Biotechnology to discuss the terms.
Meanwhile, the public relations team led by Xia Yin also went back and forth between several major continents to conduct negotiations as well.
After several months and many more lengthy negotiations, agreements were reached successively with the four top continents of the Earth Federation, Northern America, Central Continent, Europe, and North Sea Continent.
Following the terms of the agreements, Blacklight Biotechnology would soon establish branch companies in dozens of major cities spread across these continents. They would also build research centers and sanatoriums, essentially building a localized and miniaturized version of Eco Science City.
Upon their completion, these sanatoriums would soon be able to take advantage of their location to quickly seize the local healthcare market.
It was public knowledge at this point that certain local medical inst.i.tutions had been secretly using technology patented by Blacklight Biotechnology all this time to treat their patients and bypa.s.sing the patent fees. Now that Blacklight Biotechnology had a local branch in these places, they could proceed to cement their ownership over these procedures.
Meanwhile, the branch companies and research centers could continue to focus their attention on subsequent biotechnology development. Now that they had local drug certification permits, the process became streamlined.
The reason Chen Chen strived to spread his reach across the globe was to gain a monopoly over the global market.
The rise of branch companies all over the world meant gaining access to all these local markets. After its completion, all personnel and resources would be easily transferable across different continents, reducing the need for splurging a vast amount of expenses.
To gain greater leverage on the market and put himself ahead in the future, Chen Chen did not mind losing out on insignificant, short-term profits.
Time glided past quickly as the international political landscape continued to develop day by day. Around the end of May, when talks of conditions of establishing local branches were being conducted between Blacklight Biotechnology and the continents, Little X suddenly reminded Chen Chen.
“Am I hearing this right? You’re saying that Osmond Biotech acquired a small workshop and inside this small pharmaceutical workshop, there’s an employee named Rowling Keith?”
Chen Chen lifted an eyebrow, faintly surprised by this piece of news as a faint shadow of a smile appeared on his lips.
Osmond Biotech was none other than the name of the company in which the protagonist of a certain movie worked in. That movie was the first movie that Chen Chen had produced just three years ago — Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme.
Since the name of the company was a rather conventional name, it was no surprise that a company like that did exist in reality. Due to suspicions of the odd characteristics of the interaction between the movie and the USB drive, Chen Chen made sure to keep a close eye on this company in real life. While this company was structuring another round of financing, Chen Chen saw the opportunity and immediately stepped in to acquire fifty percent of the company’s shares.
With that, Blacklight Biotechnology became the shareholder with the highest shares of Osmond Biotech. Even the founder of the company, John Parker, only held fifteen percent of its shares.
However, since Blacklight Biotechnology was a third-party in this transaction, they had specifically agreed to the terms that they would not interfere in the company’s internal affairs when signing the contract. Therefore, Blacklight Biotechnology did not have a say in any of the company’s internal operations.
As the date drew closer to the timeline depicted in the movie, the company seemed to have flicked on an invisible switch. They regularly made a number of breakthroughs concerning Alzheimer’s disease when even international pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson could not achieve anything of the like.
Although they had some way to go before achieving something like coming up with a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, they were already garnering a significant amount of interest and discussions around themselves.
Now, Osmond Biotech had stealthily acquired a small workshop and employed someone named Rowling Keith?
Chen Chen could not be any more familiar with this name since it was the name of the protagonist of Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme. This man would soon go on to lead a team and invent AD-001.
“As it is, Rowling Keith has been recruited by the founder of Osmond to partic.i.p.ate in a special a.s.signment team to conduct research in a secret laboratory. This laboratory they are working in isn’t connected to the external network and all researchers are instructed to put away their electronic devices outside the laboratory whenever they enter.”
Little X explained, “Which is why so far, I still haven’t been able to collect any information regarding what’s going on inside the laboratory.”
Chen Chen nodded contemplatively and noted. “Back then, when I first watched Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme, I already had slight suspicions that the movie is more or less connected with reality. Now, I have a hundred percent certainty that the events depicted in the movie will also occur in reality...”
Little X reflected on this observation as well. “I had my doubts initially, but there’s the chain of events starting with the GS Combat Suit, followed by the Alzheimer’s disease targeted drugs and us purchasing shares in their company. Finally with the appearance of the protagonist, Rowling Keith...
“All these coincidences strung together implies that these are no longer mere coincidences, but inevitable. Sir G.o.dfather...”
Little X suddenly asked suggestively, “Do you think that we might alter the events that may follow if we were to interject and capture this protagonist?”
Chen Chen shook his head cautiously. “Let’s refrain from doing that for now and just wait. Leaving the topic of whether we can alter the events of the movie aside, there’s no way of telling if our attempts at altering it may lead to some form of violent chain reaction.
“Perhaps our attempt will not result in anything substantial, but there’s also the chance that the magnitude of the consequences of doing so will be immeasurable...”
“Alright.”
Little X answered dejectedly and lowered her head.
“Still, I think we can take some action if it comes to things not described in the plot of the movie.”
Chen Chen suddenly switched his tone. “For example, we can install spying devices inside that laboratory to allow us to monitor their movements. This way, there’s a lesser chance of us being caught off guard by sudden developments.”
“Understood, I’ll dispatch several Black Knights to Osmond Biotech.”
Little X answered.
“Send more Black Knights. When the AD-001 is successfully developed, we can start hunting them down following the plot in the movie. There’s no need to hold back since if we kill him in the middle of the pursuit, then that would mean the plot in the movie can be effortlessly altered without causing much rippling effect. On the other end, if the Black Knights could not kill him no matter how hard they tried...”
Chen Chen paused momentarily and contemplated. “That means there has to be some sort of law in place that we’re unable to breach.”
“How about the ending of the movie?’
Little X asked, “According to the ending of the movie, the protagonist finally overcame mult.i.tudes of danger and delivered the drug to the president of his corporation. It was then when he realized that the president was dressed in the same black tights like the ones who were after him all this time. Should we make similar arrangements to fit the ending of the movie as well?”
“That’s right.”
Chen Chen said, “I’ll be waiting for him in the end. I’d like to see what happens after he delivers the AD-001 to me.”
After making these arrangements, Chen Chen returned to the Spire Experimental Base.
During this period, with the help of James Watson, the father of DNA along with the three most outstanding scientific research members under Chen Chen’s wing — Hannibal, Li Lei, and Neumann, the secret of G-virus and the black goo was gradually unraveled and gave way to the discovery of sophisticated characteristics of these subjects.
Chen Chen sat on the second floor of a level-five biosafety lab and observed them conducting various sets of experiments below.
The subject of the experiment this time was not the common research subjects of the Spire laboratory, but a far more valuable subject — Black Knights.
Chen Chen watched as Watson instructed Hannibal to take out a syringe that was securely wrapped in a bag. The tip of the syringe was far sharper and longer than their usual variant. Its material was an all-black special metal instead of regular metal.
Inside the intricate syringe, a puddle of red liquid could be spotted. The redness of the liquid was far more vibrant than the usual color of blood while also appearing extremely translucent.
Chen Chen continued inspecting the sequence with great interest. He saw Hannibal aiming the needle at the naked Black Knight’s heart and proceeding to slowly insert it into the veins of the heart.
After the needle had sunk into the Black Knight’s body, the tube was held down and began injecting its liquid into the Black Knight with a swift zip.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
In just three seconds after the injection, the Black Knight’s body started to tremble.
It started with a faint tremble. Within moments, the Black Knight was shaking all over. It had only been seven seconds since the injection — what followed after was something that Chen Chen would never forget!
With his very own eyes, Chen Chen saw the Black Knight suddenly puffing up like a balloon. It was as if the innermost vessel of the Black Knight burst open and grew hundreds of new stems of muscles. The muscles of the Black Knight continued to bulge until it ripped through the skin and revealed layers upon layers of muscles dyed in red blood.
This was merely the beginning. Within seconds, the ripped skin began to regenerate at breakneck speed. What stood out was that the recovered skin took on a dark brown color as opposed to regular skin color. Meanwhile, a vast amount of stratum corneum began to grow all over the regenerated skin. They covered the entire outermost layer of the Black Knight within seconds.
After that, there was a sound of something bulging inside the Black Knight. It seemed as if the bones were starting to mutate as well. Within fifteen seconds, under the observant eyes of every member present at the scene, the Black Knight had mutated into a monstrosity standing more than three meters tall and weighing more than five hundred kilograms!