Chapter 900 - The Miracle of Medicine

Just as Xia Shiyu expected, the economic crisis arrived on schedule and swept the world from the Mediterranean at lightning speed. Even if OPEC member states all announced production increases, the upward oil price momentum remained unstoppable.

It should be noted that capacity was only one of the factors that determined the price, and not the only factor. The Turkish Civil War cut off the southern corridor that supplied European’s energy needs. The Ukrainian issue and the sanctions against Russia completely blocked the gas pipeline from the east to Europe.

The extreme forces such as IS spread like wildfire and have also caused the Middle East’s oil production capacity to hit a low.

The attack on the Pilsen Synagogue was just a fuse.

The turmoil in the stock prices of the thirteen financial groups directly detonated the long-overdue crisis.

The global economy once again hailed a disaster no inferior than the 2008 financial crisis. The New York Stock Exchange’s Dow Jones failed to stop the freefall, and Wall Street’s “dealer” rang the bell to begin the shuffle.

It was India that fell first. Due to geological conditions, India was an oil importing country and has very little natural gas reserves. As an emerging economy that was on the road to industrialization, the price of oil directly constrained the lifeline of this country.

With the rise in oil prices, bills for imports of crude oil in India also continued to rise, and the crisis further exacerbated. The rapid increase in production and transportation costs, the drop in exports, and the withdrawal of investors, followed by a sharp rise in the Indian government’s fiscal deficit, eventually triggered a crisis.

There were countless companies that went bankrupt. The unemployment rate in all countries grew by more than a percentage, and the consumer index fell to a historic low. Affected by the impact of the aftermath, Future Group’s group operation also suffered. These losses were reflected on the November financial report.

However, compared to other companies, Future Group’s focus on the frontier industries, was minimally impacted.

With the continued expansion of the planting area of petroleum crops, the factories of Future Group at least did not need to worry about high oil prices. As for other commodities driven by crude oil prices, Future Group relied on the three raw material suppliers, MLL Island, Country F, and Madagascar to ease some of the pressure.

The global economic situation was in a downturn. Jiang Chen also gradually shifted the focus of investment to the industries beyond Earth. The real enemy was actually just light years away. While the Freemasonry posed a big problem, in contrast, he must plan out more important things in advance.

The space elevator was basically complete. Some plans that previously must be put on hold, could now gradually start.

Before that, Jiang Chen had one more thing to do.

…

Coro Island Central Hospital, a hospital funded by Future Group, brought together cutting-edge technologies for Future Biology. Many incurable diseases that could not be solved by modern medicine was treated to a certain extent here, and some were even completely eradicated.

The entrance of the hospital was completely jammed by reporters and TV vans. People looked at the hospital entrance with full of hope. At this moment, they were devoted believers, they were waiting for a miracle.

A culture chamber that was tangled with tubes stood inside the special medical room in the hospital. On the surface of the culture chamber, a palm-sized screen was embedded and the center of the screen pulsated with numbers similar to a countdown.

When the number returned to zero, the medical staff in the room gathered around the chamber and emptied the culture fluid, opened the chamber, lifted the respirator and the tubes with different functions on the patient, and finally lifted the patient to the moving bed and sent him to the rehabilitation room.

There was an uproar downstairs, and if it weren’t for security guards, the eager reporters would have rushed upstairs

Who had this honor?

Yes, it was the famous physicist and the patient with ALS, Hawking.

Before he was sent to the rehabilitation room, he opened his eyes and saw Jiang Chen at the entrance. He used his vocal cord to intermittently say the first words he said in decades.

“Where is my wheelchair?”

Jiang Chen smiled and did not answer. He watched him be taken into the rehabilitation room.

For the well-developed medical technology of the 22nd century, ALS was not a problem. The reason why he stayed in the chamber for so long was mainly to repair the muscle cells and neurons in his body that were necrosis due to paralysis.

In the rehabilitation room, accompanied by medical personnel, Hawking with two crutches regained the ability to walk again. Like a toddler learning how to walk, he was emotional, and every one step he took, a coherent word was squeezed out from his shaking lips.

The nurse helping him could only distinguish two words.

“Unbelievable,” and “God.”

More than an hour later, Hawking, who was already able to walk on crutches, was escorted from the rehabilitation room by two medical staff members. It was not easy to learn to walk again, especially for an elderly person who had been in a wheelchair for several decades.

Looking at the old man with emotion and gratitude on his face, Jiang Chen smiled.

“How does it feel?”

“Kick me. I need to make sure I’m not dreaming.” Hawking replied English, although the pronunciation seemed off.

“Haha, you should tell your son and daughter to do that. It’s amazing, I originally intended to prepare you a keyboard and a loudspeaker, but did not think that in less than two hours, you ‘learned’ how to speak,” Jiang Chen said.

“Where are they? I want to meet them now!”

“They are downstairs,” Jiang Chen pointed to the stairs. “But before you go downstairs, you better be prepared because it is already surrounded by reporters.”

Hearing the latter half of the sentence, Hawking, who was eager to walk down stairs, suddenly stopped and turned to Jiang Chen with an unpleasant expression.

“Can you get rid of them?”

Jiang Chen shook his head.

“We made a promise. If I cured you, the first thing you need to do for me is to be interviewed by reporters.”

“I’m a patient, I need to rest!” Hawking said, unwilling to accept the fact.

“But people are eager to know the truth, and I have no right to stop them.” Jiang Chen shrugged and said in innocence, “Let’s think about it. We cured a late-stage ALS patient. It is a miracle that will go down in history. Doctors who have worked diligently for your health certainly are hoping you can speak to the media. Shouldn’t you do something for them?”

Perhaps the last sentence touched the stubborn old man. After going downstairs, Hawking accepted an interview with the media.

“Thank you Jiang Chen, thank you Future Biology. I’m very grateful to the care staff at the Coro Island Central Hospital. I feel great right now. I want to do a lot of things right now. I want to embrace my wife, my son, my daughter…I have owed them this hug for a very long time. In addition, I still want to see my wheelchair, and I will send it to the Queen of England. I’m sorry I’m separated with Britain, but the Pannu archipelago has historically been part of the Commonwealth. I am very fortunate that I did not have to betray my vows…”

Hawking said slowly, but no reporter showed impatience. Everyone felt the deepest emotion in his tone and the excitement of defeating the disease. His wife and children pushed through the crowd and embraced the old man.

The Times reporter wiped the corner of his eyes and captured this warm picture. It became the cover of the Times the following day.

At the same time, the fame of Future Biology and Future Medicine also spread to the world with the news of Hawking’s recovery. The Beta-4 drone, which was originally unmarketable due to the economic crisis, was also digested by the North American market at an incredible pace.

The original rumor that Future Group could not cure Hawking faded overnight.