If Jiang Changgeng had merely stolen ideas, how could he possibly have invented these earth-shattering, epoch-making medicines now?
“Friends from the media, please put the microphone in front of Chen Junbin and Mr. Fang Zhanbo. Don’t say later that our King of Medicine Group never gave them a chance to speak!”
Ye Ziwei’s voice rang out across the venue once more.
By then, some media staff had already handed a microphone to Chen Junbin.
Seeing this, a reporter at the press conference excitedly said to the camera, “Dear viewers, something earth-shattering is happening at the King of Medicine Group’s new product launch…”
Fang Zhanbo was originally known for his eloquence and sharp tongue, but at this moment, he hesitated and didn’t dare take the microphone at all.
Chen Junbin took the microphone with difficulty, feeling as if it weighed a thousand pounds. His hand trembled.
With the entire nation’s media and public watching, and the moment of judgment at hand, refusing to take it would clearly show a guilty conscience.
And the moment he took it, Ye Ziwei immediately followed up with a question: “Did you, Chen Junbin, come up with this formula? If so, please tell us the ingredients!”
Boom!
In front of computer screens, under the massive LCD displays in cities across the country, everyone erupted. A huge wave of noise swept through the crowds.
“That question is just too sharp, too fierce!”
Usually, new product launches were dull and uneventful—nothing like this rollercoaster of suspense and excitement.
All at once, the entire audience seemed to catch fire.
Online, the number of live viewers shot up rapidly: one million, three million, five million… ten million!
And under the countless giant LCD advertising screens, crowds were growing so large they were causing traffic jams.
Then, Ye Ziwei’s voice came again, like a death knell: “I’ll give you ten seconds to think. Starting now: ten, nine, eight…”
As she counted down, people under the LCD screens, in front of computers, and holding their phones all shouted along: “Ten, nine, eight…”
When she reached “six,” countless people on the streets, under the giant screens, roared, “Six, five, four…”
For a moment, it felt like all of China was boiling over. Tens of millions of people—in subways, in neighborhoods, on park paths, in supermarkets, in living rooms—were all shouting in unison.
The sound was like a waterfall crashing down from the Milky Way—perfectly synchronized, carrying a carnival atmosphere, shattering the very sky above.
Near the Golf Hotel, there were two LCD billboards that had been rented by the King of Medicine Group. Thousands of people had gathered there, also shouting in unison.
Rain was pouring down, and thousands of people were yelling together. What did that feel like?
Even the raindrops were shattered and blown away by the sound. The passing cool wind turned hoarse and weak.
Even the entire Golf Hotel seemed to tremble helplessly in the air, as if it might crumble.
Years later, when people recalled this new product launch, some would slap their thighs in amazement—
“That President Ye of the King of Medicine Group—she’s absolutely ruthless!”
And at that very moment, Chen Junbin seemed to sense his fate. He clutched the microphone, swaying as if about to fall.
Fang Zhanbo only shifted in his seat, unable to utter a single word.
Through the big screen, they could now see scenes from 70 major cities across the country—tens of thousands of people under the street-side LCD screens, shouting like an avalanche. They felt as if they had fallen into a nightmare, as if the gates of hell had swung open.
The live broadcast director—hired at great expense, someone who had once directed the Olympics—in that instant spliced together images from over 3,000 cameras onto one giant screen. So—
Wherever Fang Zhanbo and Chen Junbin looked, they saw only surging crowds, only cold-eyed spectators watching their performance, counting down in unison. All they could hear was that mad roar.
From their throats came only the sound of swallowed fear, shocked into silence by the spectacle. They couldn’t produce a single meaningful word.
They had once willfully manipulated the media and public opinion, stirring up storms. But only now did they understand just how terrifying the fury of the masses could be.
This was a force that could destroy everything.
“Three! Two!…”
Ye Ziwei was still counting down.
“Three! Two!…”
Countless people counted down with her.
“One! ROOOAR—!”
That was the cathartic roar of hundreds of thousands of people under 3,000 screens in 70 large and medium-sized cities across the country.
If any netizen who didn’t know what was happening had opened the live stream at that moment, that roar would have knocked them right onto the floor.
That final “one”—Ye Ziwei didn’t say it. Countless netizens and members of the public across the nation shouted it for her.
Then, Ye Ziwei waved her hand, and the formula for the Small Rejuvenation Pill appeared on the screen.
As if nothing had happened, she began to speak calmly, narrating the difficult journey of developing the new medicine.
In the press conference venue, everyone in the media section was deeply moved. Their breathing grew rapid.
On stage, Ye Ziwei was bathed in a beam of light. She was so beautiful it took your breath away, freezing time itself.
Her tall, slender figure stood beneath the light pouring down from above, her gaze filled with compassion as if she wanted to save all living beings—like a goddess or a celestial being.
Then, Ye Ziwei began introducing the next product.
Detailed clinical trial data, astonishing results, enormous orders—and when it came time to reveal the formula, she stopped again.
She looked at Jiang Tian, then at the camera, as if her gaze pierced through the screen and landed on Chen Junbin and Fang Zhanbo.
The press conference venue fell completely silent.
The entire city of Jinling waited in quiet anticipation.
Back in the trading room of the Golf Hotel, Chen Junbin had a bad feeling. Fang Zhanbo sat on pins and needles, warily watching the media reporters, trembling.
Here it comes again.
The cameras were pointed at them again.
Sure enough, Ye Ziwei called out once more:
“Chen Junbin, is this formula yours? Go ahead and tell us! Let’s all count down together! Ten! Nine! Eight!…”
“Hahaha, this is way too much fun!”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen such an entertaining product launch!”
Countless people were laughing wildly, joining in.
“This is just relentless—punch after punch right to the face!”
On camera, Fang Zhanbo and Chen Junbin’s faces turned pale, then flushed. They covered their faces with their hands.
After enduring another round of nationwide, tens-of-thousands-strong carnival-style countdown, Ye Ziwei continued with the next product.
“The next product is custom-made for the military and not sold to the public. It’s called ‘Ascending Dragon Yi Jin Dan.’ Did you invent this one too, Chen Junbin?…”
One astonishing product after another was launched, like rockets blasting into the sky, each one stirring up massive waves.
Halfway through the King of Medicine Group’s press conference, the media and the public were fully alerted, watching with rapt attention.
The total views and online viewership of the live stream climbed steadily: 40 million, 45 million… 60 million, 70 million!
Many scholars, financial commentators, and observers of the traditional Chinese medicine industry were left utterly dumbfounded.
“It’s fair to say that any one of these products released by the King of Medicine Group could dominate the entire world,” someone remarked with deep emotion.
“A comeback from the brink! This isn’t just the King of Medicine Group’s counterattack—it’s a counterattack for the entire Chinese traditional medicine industry! It will completely reshape the global pharmaceutical landscape,” an industry insider marveled.
“The final new product: Black Jade Bruise Salve, specifically for treating external injuries…”
Ye Ziwei dropped another bombshell.
“Is this yours?”
“Did Chen Junbin invent this?”
“Go ahead and tell us the formula!”
…
Faced with Ye Ziwei’s repeated questioning, from start to finish, Fang Zhanbo and Chen Junbin held the microphone but didn’t utter a single word.
Silence.
A dead, hollow silence.
Such astonishing products, such massive orders, such a wide and varied range of offerings—all from a single company, the King of Medicine Group.
Each of these world-shaking products was like a nuclear bomb, mercilessly blasting China’s pharmaceutical market, hammering the public’s excited nerves, making the very earth tremble.
They also hammered Fang Zhanbo and Chen Junbin’s most fragile nerves, drenching them in cold sweat, turning their faces as pale as paper.
Would a company as brilliantly dominant as the King of Medicine Group ever need to steal your formulas, Chen Junbin?
If you had any real ability, Chen, you could show even one patent or product that could compete with theirs, land an order worth ten billion—hell, forget ten billion, even one billion—and that would already count as genuine skill.
Let alone this barrage of product launches and these massive orders falling like snowflakes.
Even if you added up every traditional Chinese medicine company in China, they wouldn’t even come close. They wouldn’t last a single round against the King of Medicine Group.
Everyone watching through their screens saw the pale faces of Fang Zhanbo and Chen Junbin, their trembling bodies. They felt that these two men must be chilled to the bone.
“Now, let me share some good news that just came in from Sweden!”
Ye Ziwei’s phoenix-like eyes were sharp and fierce. Finally, she pressed the nuclear button:
“Huang Zhihui, director of the King of Medicine Group’s Qingtian Laboratory, has won this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine.”
It was like a legendary swordsman delivering a blow as graceful as a goat’s horn hooking a branch.
A single strike to the throat.
The announcement was met with dead silence throughout the venue.
It also marked the end of the King of Medicine Group’s new product launch.
Some things had ended. But other things were just beginning.
And they would sweep across the world with unstoppable momentum.
By then, the clock had reached 9:30 AM.
The market opened.
The stock price of the King of Medicine Group hit the daily limit-up and stayed there.
Inside the White Knight trading room, the reporters looked at the people present with sympathy, like they were looking at dead men.
Then, they filed out.
“It’s over. We lost.”
Nie Changhai’s head spun. He swayed, unable to stand steady.
“How did that kid build the King of Medicine Group into such a monster?”
Nie Mingyuan’s face was deathly pale, as if struck by lightning. He stood frozen, unable to move.
“Who exactly are we up against? Two consecutive days of limit-up locks!”
Xia Miao’s face was ashen. Lost and dazed, she muttered to herself, “No… it’ll probably keep hitting the limit-up for the next ten days. This is god-tier maneuvering.”
In three days, their stock borrowing contracts would come due, and they would have to return the shares to various financial institutions and securities firms.
But clearly, the King of Medicine Group’s stock price would continue to soar far beyond their short-selling cost.
A rough estimate showed that just from manipulating the King of Medicine Group’s stock, they would suffer a net loss of a staggering ten billion yuan.
The key problem was that the King of Medicine Group kept hitting the daily limit-up every single time. They couldn’t buy any shares to cover their borrowings, which meant they faced the risk of forced liquidation. Their deposits and pledged equity would be seized by financial institutions at discounted prices.
Even worse, the equity they had pledged—including three stocks from Changhai Properties—had also been heavily shorted by someone starting yesterday, causing their prices to crash repeatedly.
Margin call.
Even if they handed over all their equity in the three listed companies, it probably wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of their short positions.
That meant that, legally speaking, the three families wouldn’t just be left with nothing—they would be buried under enormous debt.
A debt they could never repay in a lifetime.
