"One of the Li Group's specialties is the development of cancer meds, and you're telling the daughter of the clan behind such a company that you've developed a drug for treating cancer? Are you trying to brag here, or are you just being insulting?" Some in the crowd jeered.
"Yiru, please, don't pay any attention to this daydreaming idiot." Liang Chao extended his hand and shook her arm a bit as he laughed away. "I'd say something is wrong with this dude's head. Your grandfather will gradually get better."
Li Yiru bit her lip and looked like she was trying to make a decision or some sort. She pushed Liang Chao away and asked, "Zhang Heng, are you really sure about what you said?"
"I dare not say that it'll work 100 percent, I'd say that the drug has a 50 percent chance of treating your grandfather's cancer." Zhang Heng didn't want to make his drug sound like a miraculous cure. Despite knowing that the T-1 had an absolute 100 percent chance of treating cancer, his current position was such that insisting on the truth would result in him being branded a liar for sure.
"Li Yiru! Are you telling me that you're gonna believe this conman?" Liang Chao became even more furious after she pushed him away, but there was no way he could be angry at her, so he simply glowered at Zhang Heng. "Alright, Zhang Heng! You claim that the stupid drug you developed could treat cancer. One question then. What happens if the drug doesn't work? It hasn't been approved by the authorities, no? What would you do if her grandfather took your drug, and something bad happened, eh? Could you afford to pay for her losses then?"
"A bet then." Zhang Heng's expression became completely cold. He scanned the crowd, smirking as he looked at those so-called classmates of his, before having his gaze fixed on Li Yiru. "Class Rep, I take it that the resources that your family's company has access to would allow you to hire some trusted agencies to verify the drug, if you don't want to put your grandfather at risk, no?"
"No problem in that regard." Li Yiru looked at Zhang Heng with serious eyes, taking all of that seriously.
"Alright then!" Zhang Heng snapped his fingers and said to his classmates who were present, "Me, a nobody, shall propose a bet to our Mr. Liang over here on this very day. Are you up for it, Mr. Liang?"
"Why the hell not?" Liang Chao became heated and pointed at Zhang Heng without any reservations and said, "I'd take your bet, Zhang Heng. If your drug proves useless and even causes harm to the human body, I'd want you to crawl between my legs and call me your master!"
"Very well." Zhang Heng smirked and asked in return, "What if my drug works then?"
"I'd do the same if your drug really works. There, satisfied?" Liang Chao snorted and he actually gave it some thought, thinking that it didn't matter even if he lost. As someone from a family of politicians, Zhang Heng wouldn't dare do anything to him after all.
Zhang Heng chuckled deep down. However, after thinking just how slow the likes of the FDA could work with approving such drugs, he said again. "Well, how about this then? We skip the trusted agencies altogether. The old man is severely ill and is running out of time. How about we just get to clinical tests right away? I believe, with the influence you command, it wouldn't be difficult to find patients for clinical testing now, would it? If something were to happen to said patients, I, Zhang Heng, would be the one to take the fall for everything!"
Zhang Heng felt a surge of magnanimity welling up deep within him. That amount of confidence was something he dared not even think about having once upon a time, but things were different now. As someone with the Dimensional Star system at his disposal, it would only be a matter of time before he became somebody, so long as he was able to stay alive. With his new, elevated viewpoint on things, he wouldn't have been fazed by being booed at by everyone in the world, and jeers from his classmates were little more than a minor nuisance to him in comparison.
Li Yiru looked at Zhang Heng with a dumbstruck expression. She wasn't the only one doing so. Many who knew Zhang Heng as a person felt that he changed. The guy they had known had kept a very low profile before. Despite being stubborn about certain things, they saw him to still be little different from the common man.
However, Zhang Heng now looked like he was oozing confidence and recklessness from every pore. 'Reckless' was truly the right word given the situation and he was more than just reckless in a conventional manner. Such recklessness wasn't something backed by a desire to brag, or having the backing of some powerful person, or sheer overconfidence, but utter confidence in one's own abilities—a confidence potent enough to bend the rules.
The gathering ended on a rather sour note soon afterward, but everyone gained quite a topic for conversation. The first thing that Li Yiru did when she got home was to tell what happened in the gathering to her father, Li Jianguo, the man calling the shots for the company.
"What? One of your classmates developed some new drug that could treat cancer?" Li Jianguo stood up right away. "You're sure about this? Has he done any clinical testing? Are there side effects?"
Li Yiru shook her head and felt herself balking. "His drug has yet to be approved by the authorities. I know nothing about the clinical testing or side effect part, but he claims that the drug has a 50 percent chance of curing cancer."
"That's absurd!" Li Jiaguo felt disappointed right away. "No clinical testing or approval from the authorities? And you're telling me to use something like that on your grandpa? And what, 50 percent chance of curing cancer? You actually believe all of that nonsense?"
"B-But…" Li Yiru tried to argue, "Zhang Heng said that we could find volunteers for clinical testing, and, furthermore, I know this classmate of mine, and he definitely isn't the kind to brag."
"So you're saying that the words of someone who has little inclination to brag must be the truth?" Li Jianguo continued with a stern tone. "Do all those conmen out there look like braggarts? Are they telling the truth then?"
"Look, I know what that classmate of mine is like, alright!" Li Yiru felt rather vexed. While she had no idea why she felt so angry hearing her father doubt what she said, but she tried her best to argue nonetheless. "What's the harm of trying anyway? You know just how bad grandpa's situation is now. Why not take a shot and hope for the best instead of seeing grandpa continue to suffer from chemotherapy? If that drug actually works, grandpa would be saved!"
Li Jianguo was stunned at the image of his sickly father lying on the hospital bed and suffering. He sighed and said, "Alright then, if you vouch for the kid that much, we'd just try it out then."
"Sure!" Li Yiru nodded very hard and went back to her room looking very pleased about herself. However, when she came to her senses, she mumbled to herself, feeling somewhat puzzled, "Is Zhang Heng really trying to dupe me? Why did I have so much faith in him in the first place?"
Li Jianguo sat in the living room feeling his head ache somewhat. As a stern, no-nonsense father, Li Yiru learned to somewhat fear him in her youth, yet that daughter of his actually talked back to him for the sake of one of her classmates, and she deemed that something fishy was going on. He recalled how his daughter reacted and picked up the phone, making a call right away. It took only moments for an elder a friendly-looking man in his fifties, to slowly shuffle into the room.
"You called, sir?"
"Uncle Wu, find us several cancer patients suffering from stage four cancer. Whatever the conditions, get them to sign contracts with us. We'd be doing a clinical test session in private. And look into a guy by the name of Zhang Heng for me. He's Yiru's classmate, and I want to know everything there is to know about this guy."
"I'd attend to it at once, master." The elder known as Uncle Wu excused himself immediately afterward.
"You'd better not be some conman out there." Li Jianguo's eyes looked pointed and stern. As the boss of a multinational corporation, Li Jianguo definitely wasn't someone to be trifled with. The resources he had access to could even sway politicians in his favor. Due to having sat in such high positions for years, his presence was every bit equal to that of mayors and leaders of equivalent positions. He would be like a lion awakened from its slumber if he was sufficiently angered, so much so that even Haizhou City would tremble from the force of his figurative roar.