Chapter 595: Betrayal and Revenge
“…Makes sense.” Su Lun smiled. “Since I’ve been defeated by you, I do hope that I can die in your hands. I believe that you will let me die a quick death.
“Unfortunately, I’ve already told you everything I know. I have nothing else to tell you in exchange for death.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. I believe that you really don’t know where the Vortex is hiding, but as long as you answer my question honestly, perhaps I can deduce its thought patterns and operational style to be able to predict its next step,” Meng Chao said. “I just want to know how the Vortex managed to convince you to betray humans and join the monster civilization?
“It doesn’t seem to have used any sort of hypnotism on you, and it didn’t use any physical methods to modify your brain, either. As the vice gang leader of Golden Tooth and the G.o.d of Wealth in the lair, you don’t seem to have been unable to use your talents, and after Dragon City obtained full victory during the northern offense, you had a bright future ahead of you.
“I just can’t understand why a smart person like you would betray everything and take such a risk?”
“Reason?” Su Lun raised his head a little and thought about it for a long time. “Money, authority, power, status. It’s just these things, there’s nothing special.”
A small crease appeared between Meng Chao’s eyebrows. “For these, you were willing to join another race and kill your own kind?”
“Isn’t it enough?” Su Lun asked with a smile.”At least 99% of the wars over the course of nearly ten thousand years of human civilization on Earth were waged due to these reasons. Many of the smartest, bravest, and strongest people raised their weapons against their own kind for money and power, and they slaughtered so many people that blood flowed in streams.
“The victors are heroes and kings, while the losers are murderers and demons.
“I’m just an insignificant, ordinary man. These things are temptations that plenty of heroes and demons are unable to resist, so how could I possibly resist them?”
When Su Lun saw the skeptic look on Meng Chao’s face, he moved his shackles with great difficulty so that he could shrug.
“Fine. If I had to add another reason to it, then it should be… revenge, I guess?” He chuckled rather strangely and lowered his head, using his bloodstained hair and eyebrows to hide his expression. “Hatred. Only hatred is an even better reason than money, authority, and power to do what I did,” he mumbled.
“Revenge?” Meng Chao frowned. “Who are you taking revenge upon?”
“Heaven Pharmaceuticals, one of Dragon City’s nine great mega corporations,” Su Lun said. “The nine great mega corporations are all working together to commit evil. They’re interest groups collaborating with each other. If you take revenge on one of them, it’s the same as declaring war on all of them. Tell me, aside from the monster civilization, who else would be willing to help me overturn the nine great mega corporations? They’re giants, after all.”
Meng Chao was stunned for a long time. “What sort of hatred do you have with Heaven Pharmaceuticals that you declared them as your mortal enemies and were willing to use the monster civilization’s power to take revenge?”
“They killed my father. Is that enough to make them my mortal enemies?”
Su Lun cast a deep glance at Meng Chao, as if he wanted to vent all his resentment before death, and started talking up a storm.
Honestly, it was nothing special.
It was just a story that happened every day in the business world. The strong feasted on the weak, and those at the top were all corrupted.
Su Lun said that he was born in a rather well-off family. His father was quite a famous hunter, and his mother was a specialist in life sciences. She researched how to process monster materials into gene medicine that would stimulate human potential.
It was a glorious period of time in history. The Monster War had just started, plenty of heroes appeared, and there were plenty of things that needed to be done.
The living conditions of the transmigrators were relatively bad, but hope of victory had already appeared on the fog-shrouded horizon. Runic symbol machines, gene medicine, and spirit energy martial arts appeared one after another and kept on evolving, giving countless heroes a chance to rise up the social ladder and gain power.
To the ambitious youngsters who had great skill, this was the best era.
Su Lun’s parents were lucky people.
They used their courage and wisdom to continuously ride the waves and gathered power and wealth.
When Su Lun reached an age where he began understanding the things around him, his parents had already opened a large pharmacy to create a few successful gene medicines.
Creating gene medicine was the most profitable business during that era.
It was a time when humans fought monsters in the streets the moment they woke up, so any gene medicine that might increase their fighting strength earned unimaginably high profit.
And human mortality rate was at a constant high as well. No one cared about the side effects and consequences of the new gene medicine.
Those who took the medicine might die the next day, but those who did not take it would die right away. This was a simple multiple-choice question.
Unfortunately, to pharmacists, the period of time when they could grow barbarically and shine like fireworks was just too short.
As humans continued retrieving their lost land, mortality rate swiftly fell, and everyone’s lives became worthwhile again.
Meanwhile, more than one thousand gene medicines had appeared within a short few years, just like mushrooms sprouting after a rain. It created brutal compet.i.tion.
What was even more terrifying was that the nine great mega corporations started to enter this market. They used their capital and power to start harvesting the profits like a whirlwind.
This was an unfair war, where one side just pummeled the other side.
The mega corporations had great capital, and they could fearlessly swallow up the small pharmacies.
They could also endure the super long research periods that required large investments before they brought profit. With such actions, they created stronger and much more stable gene medicine.
They also had the strength to promote their goods like they were performing carpet-bombing so that their sparkling brands would enter deep into people’s hearts.
The medium-sized and small pharmacies that were developed in home-based workshops and by people that did not have a lot of skills could not hope to fight against the mega corporations.
A number of owners of the medium and small pharmacies chose to accept the olive branch given by the mega corporations and became one of them.
But a handful of pharmacists were stubborn. They were reluctant to give up on their brands and their research results. Some of them also disliked the way the mega corporations did things, which was why they refused to be absorbed into them. They continued competing against the mega corporations in the market.
Su Lun’s parents belonged to the latter.
His mother had her own unique thought processes in the field of life sciences and wanted to keep her independence. She refused to join Heaven Pharmaceuticals multiple times, and this mega corporation, which was already a gene medicine giant, multiple times.
However, as Heaven Pharmaceuticals continued expanding, the citizens became more accustomed to choosing the gene medicine produced by a major brand, and the situation of medium and small pharmacies became worse.
As the medium and small pharmacies were either absorbed or went bankrupt, the Su family’s pharmacy also ran into operational troubles.
If they wanted to break the monopoly of Heaven Pharmaceuticals, they had to produce a hit product that was even better than their compet.i.tors’.
Su Lun’s parents placed their hopes on a brand new gene medicine.
Not only did they invest all the capital they gathered over more than ten years into it and even risked their lives for it, they also got themselves into major debt, p.a.w.ned off everything, and even went to the illegal finance companies in the lair to gather a large amount of funds for research.
For three whole years, Su Lun’s parents acted like torches drenched in petrol. They drained their lives and practically did not sleep because of their work until, finally, they saw hope.
A brand new super gene medicine that could stimulate the mitochondria and increase the efficiency of energy transformation as well as release by 30% compared to similar products was about to be born.
Even now, Su Lun still remembered how during those years his parents were like ghosts. He seldom met them.
When he occasionally ran into them, they looked pale and haggard, as if they had just crawled out of a coffin and were about to walk straight back in.
They only looked alive on the day the gene medicine experiment came to an end. Color returned to their cheeks, and they looked really excited.
However, just when Su Lun’s parents were about to bring all their test results and the new gene medicine to register at the Supernatural Tower, they received shocking news from the market.
Heaven Pharmaceuticals created a super gene medicine known as Heaven 9!
This Heaven 9 had practically the same particle structure and monster material ratio compared to the new gene medicine his parents created. The effects on the human body were about the same as well. Even the spirit energy magnetic fields that were stimulated produced the same fluctuations.
However, compared to the gene medicine his parents created, the product from Heaven Pharmaceuticals was more mature and stable. Not only did they largely reduce the side effects and sequelae, they also added a series of expensive materials that added to the quality of the gene medicine. In one go, they produced more than ten versions of Heaven 9, including a youth version and flagship version.
Due to a grand conference and an insane amount of advertising, Heaven 9 soon occupied most of the market and became Heaven Pharmaceuticals’ hit product.
They continued updating it, and up to this date, it continued selling like hotcakes. It was the cash cow that continued bringing Heaven Pharmaceuticals money.
“That’s…” When Meng Chao heard this part of the story, he could not help but ask, “Are you going to tell me that Heaven Pharmaceuticals’ Heaven 9 was stolen from your parents’ pharmacy?”
Heaven 9 was a rather famous and popular gene medicine.
It was the most suitable medicine for one- to three-star superhumans.
It could stimulate their cells regardless of whether they were cultivating or fighting. It would expand their spirit meridians, increase spirit energy pressure, and largely increase their fighting strength.
Even Meng Chao himself had often drank Heaven 9 like c.o.ke when he had nothing else to do.
He did not expect that there would be such a story behind Heaven 9.
“That’s right, Heaven 9 was stolen from my family!” Su Lun hissed as his eyes turned bloodshot. “Before Heaven 9 appeared, Heaven Pharmaceuticals’ drug creation style was completely different from my family’s. This is an important reason behind why my mother never wanted to be absorbed into the company.
“But for some miraculous reason, Heaven 9’s creation principles and spirit energy increase was identical to that of my mother. Anyone in the field could tell that it was my family’s style the moment they saw it!
“Besides, after this happened, my parents investigated this matter, and they found that their apparatuses and database in the lab had been tampered with.
“Before they could investigate it in depth, a mysterious fire started in the lab.
“Right after, two of the pharmacists who were in important positions and whom my parents regarded as their right-hand men chose to resign. They both disappeared at such an important time. Half a year later, when the matter was settled, they reappeared as employees of Heaven Pharmaceuticals!”