I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  "Maybe they were God's gifts to some primitive people!"

  Everyone started debating again.

  "I say, old man, no wonder you've looked unwell recently, and your body has gotten thinner than before. Is it because of these three sculptures?" Clifford chuckled and stopped the bickering.

  "Yes, for some reason, lately my head has been aching frequently."

  Gross spread out his hands helplessly. "Still, my personal physician has examined it and said that it's just a nervous breakdown, nothing else."

  At this point, a gray-haired old man with a pair of very thick glasses came forward. "Gross, if possible, I'd like to inspect these three sculptures up close. After all, if your miners didn't lie, these three sculptures may be the biggest discovery of this century."

  "Of course, Professor Griffin."

  This gray-haired old man seemed to enjoy such a high status that even Gross was acting deferential.

  After Gross was done showing off, the dinner party continued, and everyone gradually turned their attention away from the three sculptures. After all, most people did not have any favorable impressions of these three weird-looking sculptures. In comparison to those, they were more concerned about taking advantage of this banquet to discuss a few transactions or take the opportunity to find an attractive bed partner.

  "My apologies for making you wait."

  Just as Anthony and Jennifer were on their fourth glass of champagne, Clifford finally came over. He raised his glass to them and grinned. "It's noisy here. Why don't we go out to talk?"

  "Sure."

  Anthony glanced behind him before leading the way to the garden outside.

  The garden was only illuminated by a few rows of dim lights. It was quite dark but only because their eyes had not gotten used to this level of darkness.

  In the gloom, they could make out a few figures on the chairs conversing in low voices. Anthony did not mind them. He went to a corner before turning around.

  "Mr. Clifford, Jennifer and I are here this time on behalf of Blacklight Biotechnology. We hope to talk about the shares of Osmond Biotech Ltd. that you own."

  Anthony lowered his voice. "Of course, you can make a few requests. If we can't grant them, we could still consult with our superiors."

  "So, that's it…"

  Clifford pondered for a while. "I don't know much about this company. It's just because this company was first founded by a down-and-out friend. After he went bankrupt, he had wanted to make a comeback. So I funded him three million dollars, which isn't much anyway. I thought that would be the final time I'm helping him.

  "However, now it seems like his company has become very much sought-after."

  Clifford displayed a crafty look. "So before I give you an answer, I'd like to ask you two to tell me — why do you want the shares in my hands?"

  "This…"

  Anthony and Jennifer shifted their expressions when they heard these words. Their behavior had fully aroused this man's curiosity. It would not be easy to get Clifford to transfer the shares.

  "This is a decision issued by our company. We're only the operatives and we aren't quite clear about the reasons."

  Anthony spoke and noticed Clifford's disbelieving look, so he could only add. "Well, in our opinion, it should be because Osmond is researching a drug that can completely cure Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, they must have made good progress in this research, so everyone else is starting to become restless."

  "You're very honest and didn't deceive me with some lies."

  Clifford nodded and said, pleased, "Nonetheless, in this case, I can't transfer my shares to you. After all, I believe you also understand that, if there's really a drug that can completely cure Alzheimer's disease, the value of the shares I own might increase by more than a hundred or thousand times in less than ten years."

  "Even so, that's merely one possibility."

  Jennifer hurriedly said, "What if this drug can't be developed? After all, you know as well how many pharmaceutical companies in the world have suffered grievous losses in this area. The difficulty of treating Alzheimer's disease is no lesser than that of treating cancer. It might even be harder. After all, cancer can be cured while Alzheimer's disease has never been cured until a year ago!"

  Hearing this, Clifford nodded and smiled. "Ms. Jennifer, what you said makes sense."

  "It's not just that."

  Anthony chimed in. "Even if the drug is developed, what are the chances it could pass Phase III clinical trials and go on the market?

  "Let me give you an example. From 1998 to 2022, in terms of drug development for Alzheimer's disease, a total of 165 drugs have been developed around the world, but only 6 drugs have passed clinical trials. The rest have failed. The passing rate is only 3.36%. Surely you understand what kind of figure this is…

  "In addition, a clinical trial period of more than ten years has to be taken into account. Even if this new drug gets on the market, it'll probably be ten years later."

  Clifford smiled again when he heard all this and said carelessly, "Mr. Anthony, what you said is very reasonable too, but I think your company must be so anxious to acquire shares in Osmond surely because of some unique aspect about this new drug?

  "Not just that." Clifford continued with a smile. "It's only three million dollars, after all. I don't really care about this amount of money, but after listening to your persuasion, I now plan to continue investing in the upcoming Series C financing round. For that, I have to thank you both."

  "…"

  Anthony and Jennifer were completely dumbfounded.

  Chapter 245: Reply |

  In the operating room, Chen Chen took out a loud, buzzing bone saw and slowly sliced ​​open the chest of a pale-skinned giant lying on the operating table in front of him.

  Blood gushed out like a fountain, splashing across Chen Chen's mask in a brilliant, startling red.

  The peculiar thing was that the giant who was being dissected had a face that was ninety percent similar to Chen Chen's. If one added eyebrows and hair, it would almost be an enlarged version of Chen Chen.

  This giant was the tyrant that resulted from Chen Chen cloning his own fertilized egg, which was injected with T-virus and hatched in the life incubator.

  The firm skin and muscles that were as tough as rubber tires could not be cut with a scalpel at all, so Chen used an electric bone saw to forcefully cut open the tyrant's chest.

  Following that, an assisting Black Knight stepped forward and swiftly cut out a piece of sample tissue from the tyrant.

  Skin, liver, intestines, kidneys, stomach, heart, and lungs…

  A sample was cut from every internal organ. These samples were then put on a plate and sent to the workbench on the side.

  The bone marrow puncture needle was useless in extracting the brain tissue. Chen Chen had to use the bone saw again to cut the tyrant's skull bit by bit and extract a part of the brain tissue inside.

  As Chen Chen needed infallible experimental data, he had cloned himself with a complete brain, only without forming any consciousness.

  Even with a piece of the brain cut off, the life force of this tyrant was still extremely robust. Not only was he a long way from dying, but his wounds were also constantly healing.

  Thus, Chen Chen had to inject a syringe filled with cyanide into the tyrant to end the life of this unconscious monster.

  Next, Chen Chen took out another clone that had not been injected with T-virus. This clone looked only about ten years old because it had not been injected with T-virus. It was exactly what Chen Chen had looked like when he was a child. Still, it would serve its purpose as a comparison.

  At the moment, Chen Chen had four sample clones that had been injected with T-virus and four sample clones that had not been injected with T-virus.

  Just when Chen Chen was about to use the samples of internal organs from both sides for comparative analysis, Little X's voice suddenly came out of the speaker.

  "Sir Godfather, Qian
Wenhuan sent a message that the negotiation team we sent has reported failure."

  "How did they fail?"

  Chen Chen did not look surprised at all. He just walked to the cutting table and asked calmly while slicing off sections from the viscera samples.

  "When our people arrived, Osmond had completed the Series B round of financing and the founder of the company acted in a hostile manner toward us."

  "Hostile?"

  Chen Chen's hands froze. "Are they developing drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease?"

  "To think that you got it immediately."

  Little X replied, "According to the report by Anthony, who was in charge of this matter, this was brought up indeed in the discussion with the other party."

  Hearing this, Chen Chen squinted and showed a thoughtful expression. "If we really want to prevent them from developing the drug, there are hundreds of ways with the means we have at our disposal. Nevertheless, compared to that, I'm more interested in knowing how reality would play out the plot in the movie.

  "Besides, in retrospect now, the ending of the movie seems very interesting."

  Chen Chen continued. "The protagonist finally arrived at the Los Angeles headquarters from New York, but when he handed over the newly developed drug to the high-level board of directors, he found that the board was also wearing the same clothing as the villains… So, we actually have two options now."

  "I know."

  Little X smiled. "The first one is to follow the plot of the movie and forcefully converge the company's shares through coercion, assassination, and chip implantation. On the other hand, we could directly eliminate the company at its root or destroy all of their information, so that the plot in the movie would not take place."

  "Yes. To go 'with' or 'against' the flow — those are our two choices."

  Chen Chen passed the work he was doing to the Black Knight beside him. His face suddenly became increasingly solemn. "Sure enough, there's no such thing as a free lunch. As I get more and more involved with the USB flash drive, the price of using it also becomes more apparent. Although it seems that these costs are incredibly covert, I feel that once I make a wrong move, it would trigger a ripple of changes, like dominoes…"

  Little X was silent for a moment. Although it could be described as the strongest artificial intelligence in reality, when faced with this kind of problem, the logical thinking ability of the computer was still inferior to the human brain.

  "Let's play safe for the first encounter."

  After thinking about it, Chen Chen asked, "Who holds the most shares of Osmond now?"

  "That would be Munster Capital. They've invested 1 billion USD and now occupy 50% of Osmond's shares. They've also signed a gambling contract," Little X replied. "Behind this venture capital company is the Munster family, a newly emerging, small financial group with great potential."

  Chen Chen snapped his fingers upon hearing this. "Notify Brando and ask him to send a few members of the B.S.S. force, equipped with memory erasers and cloaking devices, to bring me the one at the helm of this financial group. Little X, you're in charge of manipulating the data of international flights in North America. I want to see him in three days."

  Since Brando and the rest had formally joined God's Forbidden Zone, Chen Chen had handed over the command of the B.S.S unit to him. They were responsible for the security of the Eco Science City.

  "You're not using Black Knights?" Little X asked.

  "The Black Knights are still not as adaptable to situations, so I'm not too confident in them."

  Chen Chen said, "The Black Knights are still suitable for some simple tasks such as assassinations, regular combat, and so on. However, this time, it's a kidnapping target. They would have to go through the international airport and many levels of inspections. A Black Knight would be too easily exposed."

  "Got it."

  Little X answered.

  Chen Chen did not say anything else, but walked aside and continued to observe the Black Knight slicing ​​the internal organs.

  It was not that Chen Chen had not considered using violent means to kidnap the head of the Munster Financial Group, implant a chip in them, then force them to transfer the shares to his own name, before finally destroying the body.

  Even so, this was way too aggressive. A major move like the transfer of shares would attract everyone's attention. At that point, a simple investigation would show that it was the doing of Blacklight Biotechnology.

  Although capitalists were all lawless fanatics, there were still rules in this industry. If Chen Chen dared to break such rules in the open, of course, these financial groups would not sit idly by.

  After all, if Chen Chen could take someone's property by force today, he could easily seize someone else's property tomorrow. No one would tolerate a ticking bomb by their side.

  Therefore, even if Chen Chen intended to kidnap his opponent in the first step, he would not kill the guy, let alone implant the God chip. After all, the malpractice of the chip was too significant and easily exposed.

  Once exposed, Chen Chen who used such an evil device would immediately be labeled as a public enemy, and he would never rise to the top.

  Chapter 246: Arrest |

  At this time, at Los Angeles International Airport, Anthony and Jennifer sat down in the VIP terminal. They remained silent for a long time.

  Qian Wenhuan had already issued an order for the two of them and the negotiating team to return directly, without having to stay on in Los Angeles.

  Even so, they were returning after having failed in their mission. At the very least, they were naturally ashamed. As for the worst-case scenario, the company's senior management might question both of their capabilities, which could even affect their careers.

  Nonetheless, there was no use thinking about these things. What was done was done. No one wanted to sell their shares to Blacklight Biotechnology.

  "Are you both Mr. Anthony and Ms. Jennifer?"

  Just when the two of them were feeling downcast, four or five men wearing black clothes and sunglasses suddenly surrounded them, looking at them condescendingly as they subtly blocked off all escape routes.

  "I am. And may I ask who you are…"

  Anthony looked up blankly and asked.

  "We're with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There's an investigation that we need your cooperation with."

  The man in black at their head flashed his ID and the other four immediately stepped forward. They seized Anthony and Jennifer by the arms and marched them out of the terminal.

  "This is…"

  Panic fluttered across Anthony's face. "Wait, what happened? We didn't violate federal law!"

  "You'll understand when you reach our destination."

  The FBI agent did not even explain anything to the two of them and hauled them away at once. The rest of the negotiating team was stunned.

  "Did any of you attend the ball at Gross Manor?"

  "No, we didn't."

  Everyone quickly shook their heads.

  "Please come with us first. We won't take too much of your time."

  The man in black continued while gesturing for them to walk ahead.

  They could only follow obediently.

  Anthony and Jennifer were carted to the FBI office building. They were instantly astounded when they got out of the vehicle.

  What they saw was that the entire hall of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was filled with various sculptures, ranging from bronze sculptures to stone sculptures. The large ones were more than ten meters high and the small ones were only ten centimeters tall.

  Countless sculptures filled the hall and there was also a large number of trucks that were bringing in more sculptures.

  "What's going on?"

  Anthony mumbled to himself.

  After they passed through the hall of sculptures, the two were taken into a makeshift interrogation room. This interrogation room was modified out of an office. The FBI, for some reason, could not even provi
de a formal interrogation room.

  There were people dressed in black coming in and out as well as a large number of people in uniforms. Currently, a man rushed into the interrogation room while drinking water and said hello to the men in black who were detaining the two. Those men immediately withdrew.

  All at once, only Anthony and Jennifer remained in the interrogation room, along with the man drinking water.

  After drinking the water in the cup in loud gulps, the man exhaled and turned to look at the two of them. "Do you want some?"

  "No, it's fine. Thank you."

  Anthony still looked dazed. "Excuse me, what has happened and why are we arrested? Surely we didn't violate the laws of North America, let alone the laws of the Earth Federation."

  "I apologize."

  The man nodded. "First, let me introduce myself. You can call me Investigator Geraldson. Yes, neither of you violated any laws, but everything happened so suddenly. We could only do this to make sure you cooperate."

  After that, the man grew stern. "From now onward, please answer each of my questions seriously. Any falsehoods, once discovered, will likely lead you to be arrested for crimes against humanity."

  "Crimes against humanity?"

  Jennifer exclaimed, "Why is that?"

  "This is what the Earth Federation has stipulated. We in North America are merely following orders."

  Geraldson spread his hands. "Okay, can the both of you tell me where you were last night?"

  Upon hearing these questions, Anthony and Jennifer exchanged a glance and finally, Anthony smiled bitterly. "Do you need to ask that? You seem to have arrested us because we joined the dinner party last night, right?"

  "Very well. So you did join the dinner party last night."

  Geraldson took out a pen recorder and recorded what Anthony said. Then he asked again, "So at the party, did you see… Uh, three sculptures?"

  "Yes, there were three oddly shaped sculptures."

  Anthony was no longer thinking of anything else — he might as well tell the truth. "One of them had prominent ears and the others had prominent eyes and mouth respectively. The three sculptures seemed to be very…"