Chapter 419: Caution from an Old Friend

As the video started swarming the world’s highest traffic websites, it triggered a violent tsunami of public opinion which caused the public’s trust in the Northern American governmental body to plummet.

However, the major media outlets in Northern America and Europe collectively held their silence at this moment. It was as if they did not hear nor see what was happening as they continued to allow the masses online to circulate their countless discussions without chiming in.

Many of the websites that featured this video had put an announcement stating they were undergoing maintenance within a few hours as their servers were then shut down one after another.

However, none of this served to temper the spread of this video. Millions of people even went to the official website of Blacklight Technology to post this video and warn Chen Chen not to attend the Nobel Prize Ceremony.

Among these posts, the one with the highest number of likes was one titled [Warning, don’t go to Sweden! Don’t go to Sweden! Don’t go to Sweden!]. The structure of the post revolved around an analysis of the potential reasons Northern America would want to arrest the chairman of Blacklight Biotechnology. The post also detailed a general outline of Northern America’s future tactics that may be employed to subdue Blacklight Biotechnology. The post was highly favored by many netizens.

Of course, some suspected whether the video was sent by Blacklight Technology themselves. After all, the timing of the video was so well-aligned that it could not have been a mere coincidence. There were discussions about how Blacklight Biotechnology should not have released a video like this to sabotage Northern America’s reputation.

Meanwhile, some remained in a neutral position in the entire ordeal and stated that it was better to wait patiently and see how things turned out before taking sides. What if Blacklight Biotechnology was truly in the wrong?

As the discussions continued to ferment online, the demographic keen on debating whether the video was authentic or not began to surface. They started posting strings of data and columns of graphics that made little sense of ordinary people who were not tech-savvy, claiming that the video was forged using AI deep fake technology.

This soon drove the narrative in another direction.

[I knew it, I never believed that the Northern American government would stoop to such lows. It is fake after all. It’s plain as daylight now who is the real culprit here. Blacklight Biotechnology is getting too ahead of itself trying to punch above their weight class at the world’s most powerful continent!]

Naturally, there were opposing forces as well that were unwilling to yield and began arguing with counterpoints.

[How gullible can you be. You believe that it’s fake just because some people came out and said it is? How do you explain the countless proof out there showing that the video was not altered?]

[As far as people like the original commenter are concerned, America is flawless and can never do any wrong. You can just tell by the way they speak.]

[You talk too much.]

Almost every forum and website online had been dominated by debates on this matter. No matter which corner of the Internet someone went, they could always find the passionate debates and arguments between both sides, each grasping on to their views aggressively.

By now, Chen Chen had returned to his office. He sat in front of the French window and silently beheld the sight of this city he reigned over.

Chen Chen had received the news that the Namibian government was conducting an emergency meeting at this very moment. They were discussing which stance they should take if the events as depicted in the video were to be executed by the Northern American Continent.

It was true, the high-definition footage circulated online like wildfire was forged.

Every pixel of the video was digitally generated using Little X’s supercomputing capabilities. It was no difficult task for Little X to create a nearly flawless digitally generated fake video. There would be no trace of anything resembling “digital alteration”.

“Which means that the ones who swarm the Internet carrying ‘proof’ of this video being forged are none other than the employed bots of the Northern American Continent.”

Little X sat on the couch in the office, fiddling with the glassware on the coffee table while stating, “They want to stir up the situation because they know that with some minor excuses sprinkled here and there, there will inevitably be people taking their side.”

“It’s true, they don’t care whether the video is authentic or not. Or better yet phrased as they would rather lie to themselves and convince themselves that the video is fake. There are many such ‘geniuses’ in this world...”

Chen Chen agreed and continued. “Still, even though this incident would have a significant impact on the Northern American government, there’s still a lack of substantial actual impact. They have had similar moments before so this wouldn’t bother them too much. On the contrary, this only makes their growing hatred for us continue to fester. They’ll only want to remove this thorn on their side sooner than later.”

“This also makes our supreme hacking force an open secret at this point.”

Little X added.

“The Earth Federation will find out about this eventually anyway.”

Chen Chen commented, hardly bothered by this, “Has anyone said anything so far apart from the Central Continent?”

“None, it’s just the Central and North Sea Continent openly speaking against the Northern American Continent at this point. The Central Continent embassy also got in touch with us and told us that we can seek refuge at their embassy if something were to go wrong.”

Little X shook her head and stated, “The other continents including Namibia are still pretending to be oblivious to the situation.”

“Just as I expected.”

Chen Chen could not help but find the humor in the situation. “But judging by the current situation, I doubt the Earth Federation would be openly supporting Northern America anytime soon so this is the most optimal outcome for us. Right now, our primary priority isn’t to deal with the Central Continent but with the local authority at Namibia instead.”

Little X became enlightened upon hearing this. “You have the right idea. As long as we have the Namibian government absorbing the brunt force, we’ll only suffer economic sanctions at most and won’t have to worry about the military assault.”

“That’s not all.”

Chen Chen explained, “It won’t be easy for them to impose economic sanctions on us either. If they plan to commit to this approach, they’ll have to be prepared to vacate the market of any cancer-targeted drug. What clinical trial stages are our three cancer-targeted drugs in right now?”

Little X shut her eyes and searched online. “After more than a year of clinical trials, we’re currently in the third phase in the Central Continent, Europe, Australia, Northern America, and North Sea Continent. So far, no toxic side effects have been detected and most of them are eligible for clinical relief. The local drug regulatory certification should be certified within the next two years at most.”

“Excellent. Put up an announcement on our official site stating that we’ll be terminating the clinical trial experiments being conducted in Northern America. While you’re at it, I want you to announce to the world that we’ll be announcing the targeted drug for the remaining 133 variants of cancer, effectively ridding the world of this disease!”

Chen Chen took a deep breath as if to steel himself for this bold declaration.

More than a year ago, he had obtained prescriptions for all human cancer-targeted drugs from Elysium. Although these drugs were costly to produce due to the current state of technology, costing upward of a hundred Renminbi for each pill, it was proportionately low considering they were the cure for a nagging disease like cancer.

For the scope of technology from the Elysium dimension, it would only take a week at most for the treatment effects of the drugs to run their course. Even if the treatment cost was pricey, it could not have reached any astronomical price since it was only a weeklong procedure.

The irony was that despite all the efforts to reduce the cost and treatment expense for these targeted drugs, they were essentially swept under the rug as insignificant inventions following the birth of the heralded Medpod 3000. Just like that, these drugs had vanished from the course of history...

On the other hand, these drugs were a fantastic deal for Chen Chen. More than a year ago, he announced the development of three classes of cancer-targeted drugs against the most widespread forms of cancer and applied for the relevant clinical trials in all continents around the world. He also developed another three variants of these drugs and granted access to them for the members of God’s Forbidden Zone. Only the privileged members of the organization had access to these drugs he specifically left out for public use.

Now, Chen Chen was making the preparations to publicize all cancer-targeted drugs to the masses!

“Isn’t this a little too grand?”

Little X asked puzzlingly, “I remember you mentioned just last year that you plan to address the lingering plague of cancer in the Earth Federation over the next thirty years. It has only been a year since...”

“Circumstances change.”

Chen Chen took a deep breath and reflected. “If we want to turn the situation around in Northern America, we’ll need to prepare a new trump card. I’m sure that after seeing us flashing this card of ours, the Earth Federation will gear itself and work with Northern America to take us down. But now they have to reconsider their approach since opposing us would be as good as surrendering humanity to the plague that’s cancer.”

“Then how will you handle the reception from God’s Forbidden Zone?”

Little X asked, “They won’t be pleased knowing that we’re publicizing the targeted drugs before letting them have privileged access ahead of time.”

“It’s simple, we can easily appease their annoyance or anger by telling them about the Medpod 3000.”

Chen Chen responded, “Musk has already tried the Medpod 3000 for himself. We’ve kept it under covers for so long so it’s about time we announce its existence in God’s Forbidden Zone. We can tell them that we’ve recently invented a device that can restore the conditions of the human body and rid us of a majority of disease... We can’t claim that it solves ‘all disease’ since it may be difficult to believe, just tell them ‘diseases including cancer’ works.”

“Understood!”

Little X was enthused with this suggestion.

“Naturally, we’re going to need to disguise the appearance of Medpod 3000.”

Chen Chen reminded. “We also can’t call it the Medpod 3000 anymore. Let’s go with... ‘Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform’. Also tell them that God’s Forbidden Zone had deciphered the genetic chain of cancer and from this day onward, cancer shall cease to be a prevalent issue!”

“Yes!”

Little X nodded fervently and expressed joyously, “This way, they’ll have to stick by our side if they plan to live longer!”

Chen Chen nodded. “If they can impose sanctions on us via manufacturing networks to chips and other electronic products, we can also do the same to them. I’d like to see how they plan to explain to their civilians when they see the entire world having access to our latest targeted drugs and they’re the only ones restricted from accessing them.”

Chen Chen exhaled silently after describing all of this.

He was aware that he absolutely must not allow the situation to descend into an all-out war with the opposing armies. In terms of individual strength, his Black Knights may be the superior force, where even a small established team could suffice to overpower an armored force. However, it had to be noted that warfare in the current era was no longer fought the way it had always been in the past.

Excluding any other factors, dozens of missiles alone could sabotage his efforts in Namibia over the last few years.

Once the violent confrontation began, he would be forced to engage in the crimes of arms smuggling, illegal amassing of armed forces, and war declaration, all these crimes that tried to convict him of currently. By that point, the Earth Federation would naturally begin to take action. Even the Central Continent could not do much to save him by then.

If the situation descended to that point, Blacklight Biotechnology would officially be on the opposing side of the Earth Federation.

Although he had lethal weapons such as the T-virus and black goo, they were weapons that were characteristically known for being double-edged swords that could hurt him just as much as they did his opponents. The usage of these weapons would inevitably destroy human society. What good was defeating the Earth Federation if it resulted in death and destruction?

There was no use lording over the destroyed remnants of civilization.

The conclusion was the same as it had always been. Blacklight Technology still needed time to develop. Chen Chen needed to wisely showcase the fruits yielded from his latest development and brandish his strength while doing so, until a point where the Earth Federation no longer saw going to war as a worthwhile option for them.

That would be the point when Blacklight Biotechnology could rightfully dominate the stage. By that point, both options of either cooperating with the Earth Federation or directly overtaking it and reigning over them would become viable to Chen Chen...

...

Meanwhile, the Namibian official’s meeting concerning Blacklight Biotechnology ended in a rush.

The Minister of Energy, Zurama, who had recently gone through the age-reversal treatment and returned to his middle-age, stormed off the venue. After feeling the cold breeze outside, he sighed silently.

He was angered by the president’s timidity and weakness while feeling helpless over the weakness of his country.

He still returned to his car moments after that and informed the driver, “Let’s head back, don’t stop anywhere along the way.”

The driver stole a glance through the rearview mirror and when he caught the sternness in Zurama’s eyes, he quickly nodded and proceeded to start the car.

The silver limousine rode down the highway, off into the distance.

Inside the car, Zurama pondered endlessly before giving in and taking out his phone and dialing a number he had not contacted for ages now.

“Beep, beep, beep...”

The call was occupied and was quickly hung up with an abrupt “click”.

When the high-ranking official Zurama saw that his call was disconnected, he did not find himself consumed with anger but instead sighed with distant relief.

However, before he had time to gather himself, he noticed that he had received a call from the same number...

Should he pick up or not?

Zurama ruminated over this. He became extremely conflicted. Before he could make up his mind, the call was picked up on its own.

“Hm?”

Zurama was taken aback by this. This was the first time something like this had ever occurred to him.

“Minister Zurama, what makes you contact me out of nowhere?”

A youthful and slightly hoarse voice came from the other end of the phone. The person spoke with an extremely composed tone full of powerful gravity. His voice was immediately reminiscence of the voice of villains heard in movies.

This was no time to occupy his mind with these inconsequential thoughts. Zurama took a deep breath before stating, “Chen Chen, you sound pretty relaxed now, are you not worried about the sanctions coming your way from the Northern American government?”

“Of course I’m worried, but what good is worrying?”

A low, rumbling chuckle. “Besides, there’s still your esteemed Namibian government protecting me. I take it that you guys won’t sit by idly and watch as your financial pillar gets stripped away by Northern America?”

Zurama became unbearably silent when he heard this remark...