Chapter 568: Changing Times
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
While their attention was occupied with the emergence of superpower users, Chen Chen requested another Lilith a.s.sembly.
During the Lilith a.s.sembly, Chen Chen held up a vial of blue substance for all to see.
“This is the result of your research over the past months?”
They looked at the vial of glowing blue substance with great intrigue. “How did you do it? Was it extracted from the superpower users?”
“To be precise, we extracted it from their blood.”
Chen Chen nodded, not displaying the slightest intention of allowing the other members to inspect the drug closer since the a.s.sembly was merely held using holographic projection. Even if he gave them the vial, it would just be a holographic projection and would not help any of them obtain a closer look at the substance.
“Our biology department discovered a specific component in their blood that we’ve since named as the ‘L factor’. We used this extracted L factor to create what is now known as the L compound.”
Chen Chen stated surely and confidently, “After conducting a series of experiments, we’ve concluded that there’s a ten percent chance that the injection of this substance would grant the user superpowers. Truthfully, the odds aren’t optimistic but if successful, the person will obtain powers similar to that of the Consciousness Stealer...”
With that, Chen Chen played a particular experiment footage for the a.s.sembly to see. The shown footage included the series of tests they conducted on the Delta-level subjects and a presentation of their powers.
In the shown footage, the Lilith a.s.sembly members could see these subjects exerting their superpowers by bending spoons, lifting gla.s.ses, and sometimes even moving large tables without so much as lifting a finger. Though these subjects had not displayed astounding use of their powers yet, the visual was already intriguing enough.
“What is this, some sort of telekinesis?”
02 asked.
“I call it psionic power.”
Chen Chen smiled. “Isn’t it amazing? The power they obtained using this substance is the same as those powers we saw originating from outer s.p.a.ce.”
01 took a deep breath in an attempt to contain his delirium. “Is this the extent of their abilities? If all they can achieve is lifting common household objects, I don’t see how it can be of any use to us. It makes these powers look like a mere novelty.”
“Of course not.”
Chen Chen quickly disagreed with this notion. “Based on our research over the last months, we realized that these powers can be trained.”
Although there was no way for Chen Chen to note the expression on the faces of their dark silhouettes, he could tell based on their body language that they were enticed by the idea.
“Still, it’s only a ten percent likelihood of success.”
04 suddenly raised an arguably valid concern. “Are there any side effects that these lucky individuals should expect? Also, what happens to the other ninety percent?”
“This is a good question.”
Chen Chen made a show of heaving a long, deep sigh. “There are no side effects for the lucky recipients of these psionic powers, at least there are none that we have discovered so far. However, we did notice slight changes in their genetic structure and these changes we noted may be inherited by future generations. This means that there’s a roughly ten percent chance that their children will be born with similar superpowers.
“As for the unfortunate ones, two-thirds of them shouldn’t experience any major issues other than mild discomfort after the injection. However, the other one-third of this population may experience symptoms such as intellectual disability or in worse cases, brain death.”
“The drawbacks are so severe?”
This immediately shifted the mood of the room, “This means that there’s a ninety percent chance of failure and among this bunch, one-third of them may lose their life in the process?”
“This fatality rate is unacceptable...”
“The success rate itself is discouraging as well..”
This discovery greatly influenced their opinion of this substance. Even 02 tossed his pencil on the table and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
“These odds are considered quite favorable already.”
Chen Chen noted solemnly. “This injection is equivalent to borrowing the psionic powers directly from the Consciousness Stealer and transplanting it into the average human body. All things considered, the risk and reward factor is highly optimistic.”
“Another problem is we don’t know the extent of these powers yet.”
02 shrugged and stated, “05, if these powers can be improved to the level you have displayed in the past, then we more than welcome it. However, based on what we’ve seen from the footage, it seems unlikely that they can get anywhere near your level. Even the Consciousness Stealer had to claim millions of humans to raise its power to be on par with yours.”
“Gentlemen, I’m an extreme outlier.”
Chen Chen could not help himself from chuckling as he stated this, “My power is an inheritance from ‘that person’ and you’ll never see anything like this anywhere else in the world. Even if the recipient of this psionic power cannot reach my level, this shouldn’t discourage them from further honing psionic mastery. Even I cannot gauge what the ceiling of this psionic power is just yet.
“Perhaps their current level barely matches that of a regular adult’s punch, but who knows what may happen in the future? These powers may very well be developed to an unprecedented level.”
“Alright, in that case...”
01 was the first to make an offer, albeit quite hesitant still. “How much is the technology for extracting this L factor from the psionicist’s blood? We’d like to negotiate.”
“I’m sorry, it’s not for sale at the moment.”
Chen Chen immediately went on the offense. “However, I’d be interested in trading it for your most recent reactor core technology.”
“Are you kidding me!”
01 was appalled by Chen Chen’s audacity and almost roared.
“If you’re not willing to sell the technology, then at least state the price for the product.”
“Two hundred million dollars each.”
Chen Chen raised two fingers. “I can offer a lower price if purchased in bulk. 180 million U.S. dollars each if you order in a single batch of one thousand units and 150 million if you order ten thousand units in one shipment.”
“What?”
“What!”
They cried out in unison, “These prices are a highway robbery!”
“It’s not expensive if you think about it.”
Chen Chen shook his head impudently then stated in earnest, “I don’t think you all realize the tedious process of extracting this L factor component from the blood of the psionicists. The cost of producing each L compound vial reaches up to 140 million U.S. dollars, pricing them at 150 million U.S. dollars each is the best deal I can offer.”
The other members of the Lilith a.s.sembly would not let it show, but they were rolling their eyes behind their screen at this mention. They knew better than to take the offer of a businessman at face value.
“With that said, I welcome any other offer that may include trading of other resources or technology.”
Chen Chen added. “To be honest, Blackwatch doesn’t have much use for monetary funds anymore.”
“We’ll have to give it some thought.”
They eyed the room suspiciously then answered almost in unison. They would be lying if they said they were not at least still slightly intrigued.
“I’ll leave it up to you gentlemen to decide then.”
Chen Chen nodded and added. “I should also inform you that the current availability of the L compound is extremely limited. We can only produce approximately ten to fifteen vials per day, which comes to hardly five thousand a year. Therefore, the orders shall be shipped on a first come first serve basis.”
The current reception of the L compound among the Lilith a.s.sembly seemed rather controversial at this point.
“There’s one more thing that I need to inform you about.”
As if the previous news was not enough, Chen Chen added again. “We already have plans in place to upgrade our bionic combative police officers. The current bionic police officers will all be replaced with psionicists in due time so that our police forces are well equipped to deal with more psionicists emerging in society in the future.”
“You should have disclosed your plans to us earlier.”
01 sounded rather upset at this point. “Don’t forget that our official representatives are employed in the bionic combative police departments as well.”
“If you’re against this plan going forward, I can have them resign from their positions.”
Chen Chen did not raise his tone despite the aggression displayed. “How much longer do you think we have until people eventually catch on to the emergence of psionicists? Our best move now is to take the initiative and arm ourselves accordingly before it becomes a problem in the future as more people gain psionic powers and we find ourselves overpowered...
“Have you ever considered how things will turn out when these psionicists develop their abilities to a point where they no longer fear the threat of thermal weapons and the likes? How are regular police officers supposed to enforce the laws on superpower users?”
Chen Chen was not interested in waiting for their reply to these hard-hitting questions and logged off immediately after leaving the final note.
The other four members were left to their own devices, basking in the silence of the room.
“Phew!”
After Little X turned off the holographic projection, Chen Chen heaved a sigh of relief.
All this time, he had always made a point of taking a pa.s.sive stance in the Lilith a.s.sembly. This was the first time Chen Chen took a strong-arm approach.
The reason Chen Chen could afford to do so was all owing to Blacklight Biotechnology’s rapid development.
Over the last decade, Blacklight Biotechnology had displayed what could only be described as terrifying, exponential growth. The rapid expansion of the company had squeezed the medical system of many other countries out of the market. Only several state-owned pharmaceutical companies managed to hang on at this point.
The handful of these state-owned pharmaceutical companies simply could not afford to give up on the pharmaceutical sector. They were stuck in a hard place because on one hand, they were operating at a tremendous loss of nearly hundreds of billions of dollars each but on the other hand, they refused to surrender the market monopoly to Blacklight Biotechnology. Even if they were operating at a loss, they had to continue their persistent, losing efforts.
In terms of the military, the gradual improvement of Blacklight Biotechnology’s military industry system allowed them to regularly reiterate and refine the XTN series army robots. Furthermore, Blacklight Biotechnology’s deployment of the only qualified s.p.a.cecraft in the world capable of transporting to Mars had cemented their influence in the military and aeros.p.a.ce sector. The company’s impact easily trumped all the other major continents combined.
All four major continents had to submit to the imposing might of Blacklight Biotechnology!
“This is merely the beginning. After we establish a permanent colony on Mars, we can officially say that we’ve overpowered the Earth Federation...”
Chen Chen got up and pondered. “With that, I’ll gain further authority in the Blacklight Foundation due to the number of a.s.sets I have. Whenever any crisis occurs in the future, I’ll be able to thoroughly coordinate all the available resources of mankind.”
All this time, Chen Chen’s persistent efforts of suppressing the Earth Federation was not merely to gain power, but to a.s.sume control of the Blacklight Foundation again. At this point, mere influence could not satisfy his palette anymore, especially considering that Blacklight Biotechnology was the most powerful faction on Earth by a mile.
In terms of influence over the world, Chen Chen’s Blacklight Biotechnology had reached a limit. The only way to further his agenda was to monopolize the global economy and suppress the Earth Federation!
Blacklight Biotechnology was fated to become the t.i.tan with a firm grasp on the global economy...
Chen Chen’s eyes glowed with bright determination as he proceeded to get up and head outside.
Little X got up and followed him as well.
“X.”
Chen Chen looked at the young girl approaching him and asked, “Any progress on the L compound dilution process?”
“We’ve established the dilution patterns.”
Little X answered in a sweet and gentle tone, “The color of the diluted L compound takes on a lighter texture from dark blue to light blue. The effectiveness of the altered solution is just as projected, its success rate drops from fifty percent to ten percent. With this formula, a single vial of concentrated L compound can be diluted into ten deconcentrated vials.
“This method allows for greater distribution since a single concentrated vial may be less cost-effective but diluting it into multiple vials allows for greater variance in generating psionicists.”
“Certainly.”
Chen Chen agreed with a firm nod. “Alright, we can sell these diluted L compound solutions to the members of the G.o.d’s Forbidden Zone members and the buyer in the other continents. Save the concentrated L compound formula for the B.S.S. department, don’t disclose its existence under any circ.u.mstances.”
“Should we continue performing selective injection into the general population?”
“Of course.”
Chen Chen remarked with a sly smile. “Continue using the concentrated formula to inflate the number of psionicists in the general population. When the Earth Federation discovers the growing population of psionicists, they’ll eventually justify the purchase of our diluted L compound.”
Chen Chen suddenly thought of something upon stating this as he noted with mild disappointment, “There’s nothing we can do about the thirty-percent fatality rate of the diluted L compound formula. For what it’s worth, it may further dissuade the higher-ups from injecting themselves with it.
“A thirty percent fatality rate is a risky enough gamble that they would never justify using it on themselves.”
Little X remarked with a fox smile, “They would never suspect the existence of a concentrated L compound formula with a fifty percent chance of success and only ten percent fatality rate.”
The two conspired together as they left the Spire Experimental Base.
...
In just five hours, Chen Chen received the first order for the L compound solution. It was the Northern American Continent submitting a bulk order for ten thousand vials of L compound solution.
Chen Chen did not provide an order confirmation immediately and instead stated that it would take some time to produce an order of ma.s.s quant.i.ty.
After another hour, both the European and North Sea Continent submitted similar order requests.
Meanwhile, Chen Chen’s uncles also tried to get in touch with him as well. Since they were unable to contact him directly, they went to his father instead in hopes of securing a backdoor connection from his father and obtaining the L compound solution at a cheaper price to supply the Central Continent...
It did not take long before word got out to other buyers. News of Blacklight Biotechnology extracting the L factor from the existing psionicists to create artificial psionic power injections quickly spread across connected circles in the Earth Federation. Within days, Chen Chen had countless countries jumping on the bandwagon and coming to him with offers.
To accommodate for the sheer volume of these orders, Chen Chen decided to send someone to the Earth Federation and stated point-blank that they could only produce four hundred vials per month. Any interested buyers had to buy the entire months’ stock in bulk and those buyers would be limited to only a single bulk purchase each year.
Naturally, this came off as a great disappointment to the interested buyers. In response to this, they immediately dispatched their best negotiation experts to Eco Science City, all of them wanted to acquire the highly sought-after psionic power injections ahead of any other competing nations.
On the very day that Blacklight Biotechnology disclosed the existence of the wondrous L compound, the Earth Federation had a collective notion that something almost magical but irrefutable was occurring...
The times were changing.