Chapter 534: A Billion-Dollar Threat

Chapter 534: A Billion-Dollar Threat (Update 2)

After listening to Yao Zhengqi’s account, Xiao Yu fell into deep thought.

It really didn’t add up.

There’s no communication, no internet, and certainly no channel for passing messages in the Laboratory.

So how did the unfinished formula for the anti-cancer drug leak?

Just as Yao Zhengqi had suspected.

He himself wouldn’t leak the formula, so the only suspects were the nine researchers.

“That day, he summoned all nine of them together.”

Yao Zhengqi’s face twisted in anger. “I grilled them on who leaked the anti-cancer drug formula and exactly how it was done.”

“And of course, there was one crucial detail that baffled me.”

“I had them split the formula into ten parts — only when combined do they form the complete formula.”

“The person who called to threaten me somehow knew about all nine parts?”

“And it just so happens that those nine parts were the only pieces the nine of them knew.”

“This was completely impossible, yet it happened.”

“In the end, I could only guess that they colluded to leak the formula as a means of blackmail — to extort a billion in cash from me. They actually tried to blackmail me… for a billion in cash!”

513 A billion… Xiao Yu chuckled.

Not to mention how few people have ever seen a billion.

Do you even know how much space a billion in cash takes up? How heavy it is?

If you calculate with hundred-dollar bills,

stacked up it would cover more than a cubic meter and weigh around seven to eight hundred kilograms!

Of course, compared to the value of an anti-cancer drug formula,

a billion is nothing.

Do you know the annual sales of the world’s largest anti-cancer drug manufacturer?

It starts at tens of billions!

Xiao Yu then pondered an amusing question.

Is an unfinished anti-cancer drug formula really worth a billion?

After all, before perfecting it,

no one knew if it could actually be developed into a final anti-cancer drug.

And even if it were successfully developed,

does Yao Zhengqi really have a billion?

Xiao Yu was very curious.

Given these circumstances, how would Yao Zhengqi handle it?

“Do they think I’m a fool, an idiot, believing I’m easy to bully?”

Yao Zhengqi’s furious expression deepened. “I can get them to help me research; they must have a backup plan. Mine is… a pistol!”

(chdj) I see… Xiao Yu’s face gradually turned cold and severe.

No matter how strict gun control becomes in the country, there will always be guns in civilian hands.

Where there’s profit to be made, someone will take the risk.

For instance, the police dismantle numerous gun-making dens every year.

Yet it keeps happening!

On the black market, even a makeshift gun can fetch over ten thousand yuan.

As for the cost… it’s negligible!

“I interrogated them about who leaked the formula,”

Yao Zhengqi continued through gritted teeth, “but none of them admitted it. I even searched each of their rooms and went through all their personal belongings… and I still couldn’t find any means of communication with the outside world.”

“They were all begging me, insisting that they had been researching together these past few days, inseparable, without any communication devices. How on earth could they have transmitted the anti-cancer drug formula?”

“To be honest, my suspicions were really shaken at that moment.”

“I mean, there wasn’t any communication equipment at all, nor any recording devices. And the anti-cancer drug formula isn’t just a few words—it spans over thirty pages… Even if they all saw it, how many people could actually memorize such a formula?”

“Then, the group started bickering and suspecting each other, even coming to blows.”

“Seeing that, my doubts only grew deeper. I realized that it was nearly impossible for the nine of them to combine their nine pieces of the formula and leak it out together.”

“So how did the person threatening me get to know about these nine parts?”

Yao Zhengqi’s expression was one of utter bewilderment and confusion. “It makes no sense at all—but that person just knew!”

It wasn’t just Yao Zhengqi who was stumped.

Xiao Yu’s mind was also reeling.

According to Yao Zhengqi’s account,

if the nine researchers weren’t acting or colluding to steal the formula,

then how could the person threatening Yao Zhengqi possibly know the formula?

Is this some kind of paranormal, supernatural, fantasy twist?

“Back then, I racked my brains but couldn’t come up with an explanation,”

Yao Zhengqi winced in pain. “But the person threatening me called again and gave me a deadline. If I couldn’t produce a billion within ten days, he’d sell the formula to another pharmaceutical company!”

“All for an unfinished formula.”

Xiao Yu asked coldly, “So even if the person threatening you knew the formula, what good would it do?”

This is common sense.

Even if one obtains the formula, it doesn’t guarantee that an anti-cancer drug can be produced.

Fail to produce the drug, and the formula is worthless.

Then is it really worth a billion?

“You just don’t understand!”

Yao Zhengqi’s expression grew even more pained. “That formula—it is, it is…”

“I get it,”

Xiao Yu sneered, “It’s the formula for the finished anti-cancer drug, isn’t it?”

Yao Zhengqi’s body trembled violently, his face once again filled with shock as he foolishly stared at Xiao Yu.

Gazing into Xiao Yu’s eyes was like looking upon a deity!

“So your aim is simple deception?”

Xiao Yu laughed scornfully. “The goal is to have these nine researchers, through the guise of a research process, falsely convince everyone that you invented the anti-cancer drug. After all, every new innovation requires a process.”

“It’s like if someone suddenly invented a UFO, everyone would be astonished. But without a process, how would you explain its creation?”

“People would become suspicious, start investigating you—and that’s exactly what you feared. So, you hired those nine researchers to stage this process, right?”

“In truth, you already had the formula for the anti-cancer drug—a finished formula. So…”

“This formula isn’t yours, and you don’t have the capability to develop it. It… you must have gotten it from someone else, right?”

“And you dare to flaunt it openly, hoping to develop the anti-cancer drug.”

“I’m guessing that the person who originally developed this anti-cancer drug is already dead, right?”

“That’s why you claim that you’re the only one in the world who knows the complete formula, and no one else does.”

Xiao Yu sneered, his gaze mocking Yao Zhengqi’s ever-changing, frightened expression.

“Am I right?”