144: The veteran's last wish!

This shows just how popular...

...the volunteer recruitment announcement released by the Xia Academy of Sciences is!

In a hospital in the Capital.

Inside the VIP ward of the Oncology Department.

An elderly man lay in bed, wearing an oxygen mask, his breathing extremely weak.

The old man was 98 years old, a veteran of the War of Resistance.

His son, Chen Weiguo, was attending to him.

At this moment, Chen Weiguo's eyes were red.

In his hand, he held the tenth critical illness notice issued by the hospital.

"Dad, the doctor said... we should go home, it's more comfortable there!"

Chen Weiguo's voice was choked with sobs.

In fact, the doctor had told him that Old Master Chen had at most ten days left to live.

The time might even be shorter.

Terminal cancer, coupled with his advanced age of 98.

There was nothing more that could be done!

Hearing this, Old Master Chen slowly opened his eyes, a trace of unwillingness flashing in his cloudy gaze.

Back then on the battlefield, he had fought the Japanese devils and fought the Eagle Nation.

He had survived countless near-death situations.

Yet now he was going to fall to a mere cancer.

But he didn't want to keep struggling either, and he spoke weakly:

"Then... let's go back!"

"Before we go back... take me to see the flag-raising ceremony one last time..."

"Okay..."

Just then.

A nurse rushed in, holding her phone: "Old Master Chen, Uncle Chen! Good news! The Xia Academy of Sciences is recruiting clinical trial volunteers for terminal cancer patients!"

"What?" Chen Weiguo abruptly looked up and grabbed the phone.

When he saw the announcement details, he was instantly overjoyed.

He turned, knelt down, and excitedly held Old Master Chen's hand, saying, "Dad! You have hope now!"

Old Master Chen's eyes instantly lit up.

But they quickly dimmed again.

"Alas! I'm already so old, I won't compete with other younger patients for this spot!"

"Let's just go home!"

"Dad, don't worry about the rest, I'll sign you up."

Chen Weiguo didn't listen at all.

Having finally seen hope, how could he give up?

He immediately took out his phone and started the process.

After filling in all the information, he submitted it without the slightest hesitation.

Old Master Chen watched his son's actions, filled with helplessness.

"Alas! What am I to do with you."

"I'm already satisfied that I've lived this long."

"It's about time I went to meet my old comrades-in-arms."

"I want to tell them that our country is strong now, and no one dares to bully us anymore."

Hearing this, the nurse beside him immediately had tears well up in her eyes.

Zhang Weiguo became even more determined to keep his father alive.

He prayed silently in his heart.

"Please let him be accepted!"

...At the same time.

On the international internet.

The announcement released by the Xia Academy of Sciences also sparked intense discussion.

"Oh my god! Did the Great Xia Country already conquer cancer?"

"Impossible! The Great Xia Country's pharmaceutical industry is far behind ours abroad; this must be fake!"

"I hope it's true! This would be a magnificent feat benefiting all mankind!"

"I feel like it's real! After all, the Great Xia Country's technology has advanced by leaps and bounds recently. Maybe they really did conquer it?"

"..."

Most rational foreign netizens were hoping that the Great Xia Country had indeed conquered cancer.

After all, the number of people who die from cancer every year exceeds ten million.

They almost always die after losing everything and being tortured beyond recognition.

This shows that cancer is currently the greatest threat to humanity.

If the Great Xia Country could really conquer cancer.

People all over the world would be delighted.

Especially cancer patients, who felt as if they had seen the dawn of survival once more.

"Great Xia Country, you absolutely must succeed!"

"God bless the Great Xia Country! Let them successfully conquer cancer this time."

"I hope that once the Great Xia Country conquers it, they can popularize it globally."

Many cancer patients were praying.

They just wanted to live well.

The medical standards in developed foreign countries are high.

Many countries even boast about free healthcare.

But in reality, they end up spending much more.

Moreover, if they want to see a doctor, the waiting time can be extremely long.

For minor illnesses, there's no need to go to the hospital; for major illnesses, there's no need either.

Even if they could be saved, the waiting line could drag them from being mildly ill patients to critically ill ones.

This is the greatest criticism of free healthcare.

Fortunately, the free healthcare policy currently implemented in the Great Xia Country differs from those abroad.

Anyone registering will be reviewed by an Intelligent System and queued according to priority.

Furthermore, the system will continue to be optimized.

Especially after Lin Chen's cure for cancer is launched.

The Great Xia Country's free healthcare will become very simple.

However.

Those international pharmaceutical companies.

They all started to feel anxious about the announcement from the Xia Academy of Sciences.

Eagle Nation, Merck & Co. Pharmaceutical Company headquarters.

An emergency meeting was currently being held.

Chairman Davis, expressionless, asked in a deep voice: "You've all seen the announcement released by the Xia Academy of Sciences in the Great Xia Country, right? Tell me your opinions!"

In the conference room, everyone exchanged glances.

It seemed no one wanted to speak first.

If this were in the past, and the Great Xia Country claimed to have conquered cancer.

They definitely would have laughed and paid no attention.

But now things were different.

The speed of technological development in the Great Xia Country was terrifying.

It made them dare not look down on the Great Xia Country anymore.

Even regarding the Great Xia Country's previously lagging medical industry.

They had become cautious.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Davis frowned slightly and pointed to a cancer pharmaceutical expert: "Kenneth, what do you think?"

Pharmaceutical expert Kenneth, seeing that he had been called out, had no choice but to speak up:

"Everyone! I believe the Great Xia Country must have achieved some breakthrough in cancer treatment."

"Otherwise! They certainly wouldn't dare publicly recruit clinical volunteers."

"I suggest that we prepare in advance for the shock."

Kenneth was very clear in his heart.

If the Great Xia Country truly conquered cancer.

It would definitely be a devastating blow to their company.

Because of past lessons.

Any technology that the Great Xia Country broke through.

Their foreign companies would suffer terrible defeats.

The mobile phone industry and the automobile industry are examples of this.

Once the Great Xia Country breaks through and surpasses them.

That means their doom!

Before, they could still use sales bans as leverage.

But now that the Great Xia Country is so powerful, who would dare harbor that thought?

After hearing this, Davis's expression turned ugly.

"Can't it just be a smoke screen they put out?"

"Or, maybe they've only broken through in certain areas?"

"And it won't affect our business?"

He still didn't quite believe that the Great Xia Country could truly have any major breakthrough.

If cancer were really that easy to conquer.

Then they would have conquered it entirely long ago.

Seeing Davis's reaction, the other pharmaceutical experts began to persuade him.

"Chairman! It is better for us to be cautious."

"Exactly. We cannot afford to be swept away like other industries."

"That's right, Chairman! We still need to prepare in advance, just in case!"

"..."

Seeing this, Davis also began to take the matter seriously.

Next, they began discussing countermeasures.

The first step was to lower prices and sell massive quantities of their cancer drugs before the Great Xia Country's drugs hit the market.

At the same time, they would increase R&D investment.

Striving to develop drugs with better therapeutic effects.

It wasn't just Merck & Co. Pharmaceutical Company.

The top 10 pharmaceutical companies across the entire Blue Star all began to take notice.

It was as if they were experiencing a "wolf is coming" moment!