As time passed by, it was soon the end of 2023.
This year, the Earth Federation had gone through multiple disasters. The onslaught of the Blacklight virus began back in May while the first vaccine was developed by Blacklight Biotechnology in July. This was then followed by a series of clinical trials and then mass production and the pandemic was finally under control in October.
It was also at the beginning of October when Blacklight Biotechnology announced three special anticancer medicines. These medicines were subsequently introduced to the drug inspection committees of multiple continents and thus began another round of tedious clinical trials.
Unlike the African Continent, other continents had stricter requirements toward their medications during the clinical trial. There were at least three periods of phases in those trials, which meant that Blacklight Biotechnology needed to wait at least three years before their medicines could be sold on the counter.
Regardless, these were still miracle drugs that were capable of curing cancer. They had managed to reduce the expected waiting period to three years after receiving support from multiple financial groups. If it were any other common medications, the waiting period would typically require at least ten years.
This was also the year where Blacklight Biotechnology revealed its true potential.
It began with the construction of the world-renowned Eco Science City, followed by its acquisition of the largest security company in Africa, Tara Private Security Company. Following that, the corporation played an important role during the Blacklight virus pandemic, being the first entity to discover the virus as well as the first to research an effective vaccine.
Toward the year-end, Blacklight Biotechnology had continued its victory streak by announcing three special anticancer medicines at once.
This year, Blacklight Biotechnology had brought many surprises to the world.
After much international coverage, Blacklight Biotechnology’s reputation had reached its highest point. Before the dust of the pandemic could even settle in Africa, thousands of tycoons arrived at Eco Science City in their private jets with the intention of undergoing age-reversal therapies in their institution.
The rise of Blacklight Biotechnology had reached an unstoppable pace.
After three months of research and development in the Spire Experimental Base, the second batch of T-version Black Knights had also been launched.
These Black Knights had been through several rounds of genetic tunings by Hannibal Caesar and Li Lei’s team. The Black Knight’s heights had been successfully limited to a range from 1.7 meters to 1.8 meters and their sizes were also limited to that of an average human being.
After their size compressions, the Black Knights’ strengths had been reduced from a range of 9000-10000N to 2000-2500N, which was the equivalent of carrying up to 250 kilograms on a single hand. Despite the strength reduction, it was more than enough for the Black Knight’s functions.
In terms of speed, their sprint speeds were reduced from an average of 90 kilometers per hour down to 40 kilometers per hour, whereas its endurance was increased, being able to sprint at its maximum speed for approximately 800 meters.
This implied that the newly produced T-version Black Knights had the sprinting speed of Usain Bolt as well as the endurance of a professional marathoner.
There was no longer any need to even mention their recovery ability.
It could be said that every Black Knight contained an element of Alice as well as a weakened version of Captain America. They were relentless, emotionless, and did not fear death. Their sole purpose was to accomplish all tasks that were assigned by Blacklight Biotechnology.
To accomplish their missions, they were ready to do just anything…
Not only that, there were now fifty female Black Knights in this batch – 10 African variations, 20 Caucasian variations, and 20 Asian variations.
Almost as if the T-virus had fundamentally improved their genetic compositions, the postures of these females were outstanding, which Chen Chen was mildly unhappy about.
After all, if these Black Knights were sent on an undercover mission, their attractive appearances would make it difficult for them to blend into the crowd.
The moment these Black Knights were born, Chen Chen had already retrieved a hundred STEM chips. Now that Little X had developed much more, she now possessed an impressive comprehension of the inner workings of these STEM chips. Little X was now capable of hacking one STEM chip per minute, changing all of its intelligence stats to God.
Not only that, Chen Chen went on to retrieve ten sets of GS Combat Suits and ten cloaking devices and distributed them equally to five male Asian variations and five female Asian variations. These Black Knights were then sent to Mainland China to provide additional protection to Chen Chen’s parents.
Of course, these Black Knights would stay hidden in the dark. Chen Chen’s parents would not even notice their existence.
With that, Chen Chen had solved the inconveniences that came with a fully male bodyguard team.
The rest of the Black Knights were enlisted into a Black Knights Force, where they would be considered as official resources of Tara Strategic Resource Ltd. and tasked to patrol around Eco Science City and Blacklight Industrial Park. If a country in the African Continent was willing to pay, the Black Knights would also be deployed to bring peace to that nation.
The strong combat abilities of the Black Knights Force had brought many positive reviews from many countries for Tara Strategic Resource Ltd.
Following more and more advancements that came with the insights from Elysium, Chen Chen’s hidden strength was also expanding massively. A nano grade carbon fiber manufacturing plant had recently discovered a 100 nanometers grade fiber technique, which allowed Chen Chen to finally break the bottleneck of the GS Combat Suit…
Chen Chen was now sitting in his office as he observed several patrol Black Knights escorting the staff who were in charge of the nano grade carbon fiber manufacturing plant into the premises. When they arrived, the staff then presented a piece of pitch-black tight suit in front of Chen Chen.
Chen Chen was mildly disturbed when the suit was displayed before him.
This combat suit seemed to bear no difference at all compared to the GS Combat Suit. Having the same shade of matt color, it also bore the same full-body cover design.
The person-in-charge noticed Chen Chen’s reaction and immediately became nervous. He hastily asked, “Mr. Chen, are you unhappy about this nanocarbon fiber combat suit?”
“No, I’m not.”
Chen Chen looked at the person and said, “Please tell me how the suit works.”
“Sure, sure!”
The person-in-charge wiped off the cold sweats that were pooling on his forehead as he smiled awkwardly. “Sorry, it’s pretty hot today… Coughs, this combat suit was designed after the GS Combat Suit that you’ve provided. After six full days of research from our material experts, we’ve managed to come up with a simplified version of it.
“Why do we call it a simplified version? It’s because there’s some technology involved that we just can’t crack using existing techniques.”
The person continued. “This combat suit is similar to the GS Combat Suit. There are five layers of structures. The outermost layer is made out of the nanocarbon fiber that we replicate using a unique process. It can be said to be the strongest existing fiber in this world as of now. It has excellent impact resistance and can withstand a temperature of up to 1300 degrees celsius. It also has high heat insulation properties, which means that the wearer of this armor will suffer no damage at all even if he’s sprayed directly with fire in a short amount of time.
“The second layer is made out of ultrhigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber. Then comes the middle layer. Regrettably, we’re unable to replicate the liquid armor that’s within, so we used shear thickening fluid as a substitute instead.”
The person-in-charge laughed bitterly. “In terms of defensive ability, the shear thickening fluid isn’t inferior against liquid armor. After absorbing large amounts of kinetic energy, it’s capable of distributing it across the layer and turning into a fixed dense state. However, it still couldn’t alter its state via the electric charges that are naturally emitted from the human body.”
Chen Chen nodded and asked, “In other words, does this mean that this combat suit only has the bulletproof ability for now?”
“Yes.”
The person-in-charge nodded. “Without liquid armor, this combat suit cannot enhance the human body like the GS Combat Suit. It’s just a bulletproof vest for now.”
Chen Chen felt mildly disappointed but still proceeded to say, “It must’ve been tough work. You can leave this sample here. Let the experts know that they can continue researching on this subject and that all of you soon will receive your fair share of rewards.”
“Sure! Thank you, Mr. Chen!”
The person-in-charge nodded hastily in gratitude and proceeded to exit Chen Chen’s office.
It was only after the person left that Chen Chen’s face turned visibly solemn.
He clapped his hand lightly and a Black Knight immediately entered the room.
“Put that on.”
Chen Chen pointed toward the black combat suit and said.
Without any hint of hesitation, the Black Knight proceeded to remove his clothing and put on the black combat suit that covered his entire body.
It was only when the suit was on the Black Knight that Chen Chen finally noticed the differences.
The GS Combat Suit had many button-like structures on it. These were precautionary structures that were built onto the suit. When the suit suffered from heavy damage, the button would be released to release liquid armor, saving the wearer from an incredibly deadly situation.
For this new combat suit, as its defensive ability could not rival against the GS Combat Suit, there was no button built on it.
Although the GS Combat Suit was still superior to this combat suit, Chen Chen felt relieved that it was still in a different league than a military bulletproof vest. In one of the experiments, a plastic dummy equipping the suit only suffered minor damage despite taking on 1000J’s impact of AK bullets.
Chen Chen’s disturbed reaction had nothing to do with the quality of the combat suit. It had to do with the design of the combat suit, which matched exactly with an image in Chen Chen’s memories.
Now that the Black Knight had put on the suit, Chen Chen blurred his own vision and felt a sense of panic.
As the Black Knight put on another layer of clothing outside the combat suit, it now appeared to be a calm man dressed in a black-collared jacket, a pair of black gloves, and a pair of black combat boots.
Such fashion was the exact one the antagonist in one of Chen Chen’s movies had used…
Chen Chen recalled that the movie was Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme. It was rated by Hollywood’s critics as the worst movie of the year. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating had only reached thirty-two percent while its global box office was a mere total of 3.4 million USD.
From the antagonist’s soulless facial expression to his black tight suit, the resemblance of the character with this Black Knight was uncanny.
“Does this not suggest that my hypothesis is becoming closer and closer to reality…”
Chen Chen thought silently.
He could still remember that the movie’s timeline was on 30 May 2025, which was approximately a year and a half from now. It suggested that a year and a half later, whatever happened in the movie may very well take place in real life.
If Chen Chen previously only had fifty percent confidence in his own hypothesis, he now had eighty percent confidence.
The only unsolved puzzle was only how the movie’s plot was going to play out. After all, the characters in the movie may also exist in real life.
Then, Chen Chen suddenly recalled something and spoke toward the webcam, “X, did anything strange happen in Osmond Biotech Ltd. recently?”
Osmond Biotech Ltd. was the name of a company that invented the AD-001 medication in the movie. It was also the company which the main character worked in. In reality, there was also a real company bearing the same name.
“Not at all. However, the company has recently begun its Series B financing and has obtained fundings from several companies, aggregating a total of 50 million US dollars,” Little X answered.
“Funding, is it?”
Chen Chen felt an idea sparked in his head and said, “Get Old Qian in here right now.”
“Yes, sir!”
Little X answered. A wave of silence then resumed in the room.
After approximately twenty minutes had passed, a knock came on Chen Chen’s office door.
“Please come in.”
Chen Chen looked up and saw a mildly exhausted Qian Wenhuan entering his room. He laughed lightheartedly and said, “Old Qian, what’re you running so fast for?”
“Well, you asked for me, so I thought there must be some urgent issues that need my attention.”
Qian Wenhuan smiled and wiped his golden-laced glasses. “Boss, what is it that you ask me for?”
“Make some arrangements with the Human Resource Department and prepare to send a few employees out to the North American Continent.”
Chen Chen said sternly, “…and purchase the share of a company called Osmond Biotech Ltd. and purchase as much as you can.”
“Okay.”
Qian Wenhuan was initially shocked. However, he hastily nodded his head and said, “Osmond Biotech Ltd. right? I’ll remember that name. Is there anything else you’d like to instruct me to?”
“That’s all for now.”
Chen Chen shook his head and felt a pinch of admiration for Qian Wenhuan’s decisive attitude. Then, he thought of another thing and elaborated on his previous instruction. “Oh, right. It’s okay if you’re unable to purchase any shares directly. The company is currently undergoing B Series financing. You may take a look at the venture capital companies that are purchasing these shares. If you can’t get your hands on any of the shares, then purchase these venture capital companies.”
“….” Qian Wenhuan nodded and said, “Alright. What’s the price range that you’re looking to invest in?”
Chen Chen gave it some thought and said, “Around three billion US dollars. If spending is too high, then the cost would outweigh the benefit. If these venture capital companies are mostly small-medium enterprises, then purchase as many as you can. However, if it’s a megconglomerate, then forget about it. After all, we can’t afford to spend on big companies like these.”
“Understood. I’ll bring back good news.”
Qian Wenhuan received his instruction and turned to leave.
After seeing Qian Wenhuan out, Chen Chen then went into a contemplating gesture as he murmured to himself.
“Osmond Biotech Ltd….”
“Well, I’d loved to see what kind of surprises await from you.”