Zhang Heng received a call from Li Yiru three days later. He then took the newly developed T-1 Biopharmaceutical to the Li Pharmaceutical Group's headquarters in Haizhou.
The lobby at the headquarters was filled with people when Zhang Heng showed up, some shareholders of the company who had caught wind of the news, some of his classmates who wanted to see how the bet was going to go, and yet others were researchers there specifically to look into the new drug better. The one standing at the front of the crowd was none other than the president of the company—Li Jianguo, Li Yiru's father. Li Yiru and Liang Chao were both standing behind the president.
"Zhang Heng, over here!" Li Yiru waved and Zhang Heng walked up to her with a casual expression on his face. Li Jianguo simply in place and gauged the young man standing in front of him, finding Zhang Heng to be an average-looking youth, showing no hint of being anything special. Despite that, Zhang Heng didn't shirk under the pressure of the crowd's gaze, looking as if he had everything under control.
Li Jianguo stood still, but, deep down, he had a growing respect for Zhang Heng, finding the young man to at least have guts and a spine. Li Yiru went on to make introductions. "Zhang Heng, this is my father, Li Jianguo. Father, this is my classmate, Zhang Heng."
Zhang Heng's first shock came early, as Li Jianguo actually extended his hand and said, in a friendly manner, "Well, well, they say heroes emerge among the young. Being able to achieve so much at such a young age, you'd definitely be able to achieve greater things in the future. It's just a matter of time."
"I wouldn't say so just yet. I'd say that I'm just an amateur showing off before a master, when compared to you, President Li." Zhang Heng shook his head. Having been an extreme introvert all his life, he was rather unused to finding himself in such social situations. But Zhang Heng was nonetheless impressed that a president of such a massive corporation was able to lower himself before someone so much younger.
"I'd feel rather uncomfortable if you keep calling me president. You're Yiru's classmate. Just call me Uncle Li," Li Jianguo continued.
"Well then, Uncle Li, please call me Little Zhang," Zhang Heng said, going with the flow.
Li Jianguo invited everyone to the reception room after exchanging pleasantries and they got down to business. "Little Zhang, I hear that you've developed a new drug for tackling cancer. I wonder if you have it with you today."
"This is it." Zhang Heng fished a test tube from his bag and handed it to the other man.
Li Jianguo looked at the tube of sky-blue-colored liquid with a serious expression, before handing it to a researcher behind him and said, "I heard that you have yet to perform clinical tests with this new drug of yours. We have several patients here with us at the moment. I wonder if you'd mind letting me try it on them."
Zhang Heng felt rather exasperated at Li Jianguo's well-guarded way of putting things, and labeled him a cunning old man right there and then. But, all the same, he didn't drop his façade, just replied with a smile, "Please do so."
Li Jianguo gave the researchers behind him a look after getting Zhang Heng's permission. The researchers poured out the contents of the drug right away.
Zhang Heng wasn't afraid of having his drug stolen from him. The T-Virus would only multiply and fuse with its host after entering the body of a biological creature. Once the fusion was a success, there wouldn't be any signs of the T-Virus found in the body of the host. That was why the heroine of the movie was shown to have the T-Virus in her, yet she remained incapable of infecting others.
The only reason that the zombies were able to infect humans was that the virus had failed to fuse with its host.
Zhang Heng had modified the T-1 Biopharmaceutical's requirement for propagation with Yurianne's research support. The new drug required a specific culture media to multiply, and only someone with the formula of said culture media would be able to mass-produce the T-1 Biopharmaceutical.
"Wait, i-is this a virus?" One of the researchers observing the T-1 under an electron microscope all of a sudden yelled from fright. Everyone turned their attention to Zhang Heng right away.
"It is indeed a virus." Zhang Heng nodded. "I did say that my drug is a gene-based medicine. Its purpose is to strengthen the immune system of the human body at the genetic level, enabling the human immune system to kill cancer cells on their own."
"This is getting absurd." Liang Chao, who was standing somewhere nearby, saw the perfect chance to diss on Zhang Heng. "Enabling the human immune system to kill cancer cells on their own? Wouldn't that make this thing a panacea of sorts? Are you telling me that you could treat leukemia and even AIDS?"
"Not for the moment." Zhang Heng said coldly, "But our team is working on those functions."
Everyone in the venue laughed as soon as they heard Zhang Heng said what he said.
This is ridiculous.
Li Jianguo looked rather uneasy by this point. He had looked into Zhang Heng's background before and, judging from all that information at the very least, Zhang Heng was considered an average guy with no criminal record and no motive for conning people. As such, he had come to actually have a sliver of hope, hoping that the drug could truly cure his father's cancer. However, when he heard what Zhang Heng was claiming, he felt like a monkey who had been played for a fool instead.
Virus? Gene-based medicine? Enhancing the human immune system?
Could you be even more ridiculous than you are already?
Despite the technological advancement of the present day, gene-based medicine was at conceptual, experimental stages that were only found in laboratories. It was a theoretical concept that was only being explored at the early stages.
Li Jianguo would have only believed news of such a new drug to be a half-truth, even if it was coming from some renowned expert in the field of medicine in the US, let alone some average young man in his early twenties.
Li Jianguo was involved in biomedical research himself and, as such, knew a thing or two about biopharmaceuticals. Judging from the current level of advancement in modern medicine, it would have taken decades before anyone could actually develop a biopharmaceutical that could actually enhance the human immune system at a genetic level.
Li Jianguo wasn't the only one who felt doubtful as, except for Li Yiru, everyone was looking at Zhang Heng with the kind of looks reserved for the likes of conmen. Some senior researchers actually put the drug down and walked right out, not wanting to have anything more to do with what they saw to be a prank.
Zhang Heng, however, remained seated like nothing had happened. The smile on his face remained as it was. "Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"
"Not just ridiculous. You're talking about something out of a fairy tale," some in the crowd jeered.
"Let's just test it out then."
Zhang Heng turned to the three shriveled, sickly and pale patients before him. One could easily tell that all three of them were at very late stages of cancer and had undergone too many sessions of chemotherapy. He asked with a rather mesmerizing tone, "Well then, why not try it out?"
"Who're you kidding?" One of the middle-aged men turned around and walked out of the reception room, cursing as he walked, "I'm here today because the Li Group told me to come for clinical testing for a new drug, not here to kill myself! I'm gonna sue you people!"
The second person was a middle-aged woman. Despite not yelling and making a scene, she nonetheless frowned and walked out, feeling disappointed. She shook her head while she walked through the door and said, "I'm not here to be some lab rat, you know."
Two of the three headed out, but there was still one man who stayed where he was.
The man looked to be in his thirties and his features looked so shriveled and pointed, that he looked like some kind of hideous goblin. But Zhang Heng could tell from the look of the man's eyes, that he was probably still in his twenties.
That man wore a bitter grin and said, "Okay, let's try it out then… it's not like I have long to live after all. Better to give it a shot instead of clinging to life and wasting my folks' money." He then went to lie down on the bed that was prepared beforehand.
"You'll be grateful for the choice you've made." Zhang Heng let out a sigh of relief while wiping the cold sweat from his brow inconspicuously. He would have been done for if no one was willing to go on with clinical testing after all.
While the saying 'good wine needs no bush' held true for the most part, if the wine wasn't even given a chance to prove itself, said wine would remain an unwanted product all the same.
"Hold on. I think it's best to halt clinical testing." A balding man who one looked to be of the upper echelon of the massive corporation said, trying to stop the test, "What happens if your drug fails to work? It's not something that we of the Li Group could shoulder."
"Relax. I've tested the drug on myself. Even if it turns out to be useless, it wouldn't do the human body any harm." Zhang Heng said and took up an injection needle right away, loading 20 milliliters of the T-1 Biopharmaceutical into it and jabbed it into his own body, while everyone present watched.
Everyone in the room gasped.
"Zhang Heng, you…" Li Yiru wanted to stop him, but he was done injecting the virus into his body before she was able to say anything.
"Now, can we proceed with the clinical tests?" Zhang Heng looked at Li Jianguo with a deadpan face as he pulled out the needle, and spoke in a cold, unfeeling manner.
Li Jianguo looked deeply troubled at the moment, but, seeing how Zhang Heng was still alive and kicking, he paused for quite a bit before nodding and greenlighting the procedure.