Chapter 94 - Headhunting

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After a minute of deliberation, Dlamini chose to accept the task in the end.

As Chen Chen watched the solemn face on his screen, he said to his phone, “Mr. Dlamini, I’ll leave it to you.”

With that, he closed the program right away without waiting for any further inquiries.

“Father, the new system for the God chip has been written!”

Little X’s voice came from the phone. “Once the update starts, the God chip can immediately gain calling, camera, and recording functions.”

“There’s no need for an update now. Let’s wait until there are more members in God’s Forbidden Zone first.”

Chen Chen shook his head. After thinking about it, he suggested, “X, don’t call me Father from now on. Address me in another way.”

“Father, then how should I address you?” Little X asked in a confused manner.

“Hmm…” Chen Chen stroked his chin with a thoughtful look. “Master, Dad, Scion? None of this really fits… How about you call me ‘Sir Godfather’.”

“Oh…”

Little X agreed in a bored tone, sounding a little reluctant.

After some thought, Chen Chen looked through the profiles in his hand with a pensive expression. “When Dlamini’s group joins us, I can’t possibly fit them into the research department. So, I’ll have to set up a separate combat department.

“Cheng Cao will be able to get back soon. I can promote him to team leader first and let him manage one combat team. There’ll be five members in each team and the remaining team leaders will be selected from the outstanding members…”

The personnel Chen Chen had requested from Dlamini were already trump cards that were one-in-a-hundred. All of them had participated in local wars in Africa and a few veterans had even joined the Gulf War as members of the SEAL team.

Therefore, although there were not many of them, each of them was a trump card. No wonder Dlamini was so reluctant.

If Chen Chen forced his hand, Dlamini would give them up, of course. Nevertheless, Chen Chen’s objective was not to squeeze Dlamini dry like a single-use product. He was not that short-sighted.

Dlamini possessed enough potential and skills to rise from the depths. If Chen Chen could provide support at a critical point in time, perhaps he might reap more surprises in the future.

This was the reason Chen Chen did not wish to force people into joining God’s Forbidden Zone.

Of course, Dlamini was an exception. Back then, the sniper who tried to assassinate Chen Chen was sent by Dlamini’s company. It just so happened that Dlamini owned a thermal power plant too, which was why Chen Chen had sought him out directly.

Otherwise, there would have been no bad blood between Chen Chen and Dlamini, and he would not have to threaten Dlamini in that manner.

As for the experiment report Chen Chen showed to Dlamini, it was given to him by Samuel from the Swiss branch.

After three months of experiments, Samuel had successfully restored nine chimpanzees to their youth. In Chen Chen’s view, this technology had reached a standard that was suitable for clinical application.

In other words, it had reached the standard of clinical trials.

Chen Chen had submitted the experiment application directly to the Namibian Ministry of Health. Although it had not been accepted yet, Chen Chen had started to make preliminary preparations for the experiment.

Not only that, but with the help of Little X, Chen Chen had also found dozens of biological experts online as well as hundreds of newcomers with potential in the field of biology.

By now, those people should have received their invitations. As for whether they would travel all the way here to develop their future, that depended on luck.

…

“Blacklight Biotechnology? Africa? Namibia? A level-4 biosafety lab?”

As he stared at the black invitation letter in his computer mailbox, Bernhard took a drag from his cigarette and made a puzzled face.

As a British biochemist, Bernhard had obtained a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry in 1990 from the University of Birmingham, in the European Continent. Then, he transferred to research in yeast genetics and cell biology.

Now, Bernhard, as a research professor, presided over work on cyclin-dependent kinases in a research institute. This enzyme was abbreviated as CDK, which could repair early cancerous cells and restore them to normal cells. At the same time, it would not damage the human body.

Currently, he read this peculiar invitation letter and was about to move it to the trash can.

Of course, this was because he received similar invitations every few days. It was no longer anything new to him.

Those invitations usually came from private companies, who thought that they could earn money by developing new anti-cancer drugs just because they had set up a laboratory. Bernhard was naturally disdainful toward such emails.

This invitation letter was even more outrageous. They even claimed to have level-four biosafety labs. This sort of laboratory would require an investment worth hundreds of millions. How could they be built so easily?

Furthermore, he had never even heard of Blacklight Biotechnology Company and it was in Africa, of all places. Who would build a laboratory in a desolate place like that?

With all this in mind, Bernhard immediately deleted the email.

After deleting the email, his thoughts returned to reality and he sighed silently.

These days, his research team had not made progress for a long time. Their financier was about to lose patience and would probably withdraw the funds in three months.

If that happened, it would be difficult for Bernhard to look for another investor. In that case, two years of research would be cut short after coming so far.

Just as Bernhard was feeling agitated, his phone started to ring.

He took out his phone and his mouth twitched involuntarily when he saw who the caller was. “Here we go again…”

With that, he reluctantly accepted the call.

“Bernhard, your team might as well get ready to pack up and clear out,” an icy voice said on the other end, “the investor has announced that they’re pulling out.”

“What!” Bernhard was gripped by shock and he stood up at once. “Why so soon? Don’t we still have three months?”

“Too bad, the investor has given up ahead of time and has taken a liking to another investment project similar to yours,” the voice said, “but this has nothing to do with you. If anything, you simply couldn’t have done anything about it.”

Bernhard instantly fell silent.

“Bernhard, let the rest know about this defeat.” The voice reminded.

“Okay, I got it.” Bernhard smiled bitterly and hung up.

What was bound to happen had happened…

After hanging up, Bernhard shut his eyes in anguish. He knew that he had found the right approach, he just needed one year at most… No! Just half a year and he would likely produce some initial results.

At that point, although he would not become famous by any means, at least the investor would still continue investing, right?

Unfortunately…

Just as Bernhard was sunken in distress, his phone rang again.

He picked up the phone irritably and shouted unceremoniously, “I said I got it, why are you calling again?”

“May I ask if you’re Mr. Bernhard?” However, it was an unfamiliar male voice that came through the phone.

“That’s me. I apologize…”

Good manners made Bernhard quickly change his tone. “May I know what you’re calling for?”

“I’m from Blacklight Biotechnology Company,” the voice replied, “I suppose you must’ve seen our company’s invitation. I was wondering if Mr. Bernhard has any interest in developing in our company.”

“Blacklight? What a familiar name…”

Bernhard frowned, then had a flash of realization. “Are you the one who sent me the invitation letter just now? Sorry, I don’t have any recent plans to go abroad.”

“Please don’t decline so quickly, Mr. Bernhard.”

The voice laughed softly. “I’ve just received the news from your good friend, Okoume. It seems that your recent research has hit a bottleneck and your investor has plans to divest?”

Bernhard immediately furrowed his brow. “I didn’t expect you to know all this?”

“If you don’t mind, our company is willing to continue supporting you and your team in the research of cyclin-dependent kinases. What do you think?”

“Do you know that the biological laboratory needs to be of a very high standard for this research?”

Bernhard asked, “Besides, the money and materials that this research takes up each month is an astronomical figure. If you can’t fulfill these two requirements, I won’t possibly agree.”

“Please be rest assured. Blacklight Company has a complete biological research institute with the highest, internationally recognized, level-4 biosafety laboratories.”

The voice on the phone said languidly, “At the same time, we’re willing to allocate two hundred million USD of experimental funding for your research. If that’s not enough, we can increase it later.”

“…” An uncertain light glimmered in Bernhard’s eyes and he lapsed into a long silence.

“Mr. Bernhard, if these conditions aren’t enough to help you decide, what about this information?”

Just then, there was a notification from the computer. A new email had been sent.

“What’s this?” Bernhard instinctively clicked open the email.

However, when he got a good look at its contents, his pupils shrank instantly as an expression of disbelief crossed his face. “How, how is this possible…”

“Mr. Bernhard, this isn’t impossible.”

The voice finally said, “This is the greatest indication of our sincerity. If you agree, our company will send an invitation letter from Namibia at once. If you still decline, then I apologize, but we will not allow a stranger to leak this information…”

“What do you mean?” Bernhard asked distractedly.

“Please look out your door.” The voice suddenly prompted him.

Bernhard was still feeling befuddled when there was a sudden, soft knock on the door of his apartment…

“Knock, knock, knock…”