Boss Zhang's words hadn't even fully sunk in yet when he dropped a sudden, heavy "but," making everyone in the stadium instinctively perk up their ears. The low hum of the medical equipment seemed to fade as the crowd waited for his next breath.
But what? What kind of caveat could there possibly be now? The team from Yunzhou had followed the rules exactly as they were written, and their result was mathematically superior.
No one dared to say it out loud. The people from the Yunzhou Medicinal Herb Association just forced polite smiles and nodded, their faces tight with hidden tension. "Please, go ahead. Whatever it's, as long as it's still within the rules, we have got no objections."
After all, the chief judge himself was giving them an official platform, and they couldn't exactly turn their noses up at his scrutiny.
Victory was already within their grasp. As long as the numerical result stood on the big data screen, whatever clinical commentary came next didn't really matter to their final score.
The other associations, though, didn't look so pleased. They had all heard the result loud and clear. If the winner was decided purely by the inhibition rate, then that 99.9% figure meant the contest was effectively over. Even if the chief judge came up with more specific conditions, no one else could possibly turn things around with their weaker formulas.
Could it be that even the chief judge was going to play favorites in front of the cameras? Everyone knew that the Yunzhou drug was built out of raw money and political connections. It wasn't practical for the common citizen at all. Forget the neurological side effects that were practically a death sentence; just the amount of crimson energy it required was rarer than Bodhi itself.
Everyone turned to look at the chief judge, their gazes heavy with expectation.
Boss Zhang continued, his voice echoing against the high concrete ceiling of the stadium. "However, since the result is already out, we will acknowledge it and record your data on the final competition results. As for the rest of your trial, let's end it here. Like Lao Zhao said, this drug isn't fit for mass production, and the formula isn't worth continuing further trials. There's no point wasting more national manpower and resources on a dead end."
The faces of the Yunzhou association's people changed several times over, shifting from smugness to a pale, suppressed anger. Sure, their data was officially recognized, and sure, that technically made them the champions of the round, but what kind of champion couldn't even mass-produce their own miracle formula? They would be laughed at the moment they returned to their province.
Boss Zhang coughed a few times into a handkerchief, waved his hand dismissively, and started walking away toward the center of the floor. "Don't worry," he said as he went, his back to them. "The results stand. If your inhibition rate is still the highest at the end of the day, the championship is yours." His tone left no room for further argument, showing everyone just how absolute his authority was in this stadium.
"Alright then! We will take our leave first and begin the documentation," the Yunzhou representative called out, trying to regain his dignity.
"Wait." Boss Zhang stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. "That child is your responsibility now. If you can't cure her completely, you will be held responsible for her entire future care. I will send official people from the department to check in on her regularly."
The Yunzhou representative lowered his head, his teeth grit, then looked up again with a wide, almost gleeful smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Of course, we will take full responsibility for our subject."
They quickly cleared out their station, packing up their expensive equipment and leaving only one junior member behind to report the required updates. The competition went on. This was just a minor incident in the eyes of the officials, and even though that 99.9% number loomed over everyone like a shadow, the other associations didn't give up. Getting second or third place was still worth a significant amount of resources. Those lower rankings meant better resource quotas and energy allocations for their home cities next year.
But before one wave of drama could settle, another came crashing in.
The teams had just started the next testing phase, and the needles hadn't even gone into the patients' veins yet when the crowd suddenly grew noisy again. The sight of dozens of unconscious, anesthetized children neatly laid out on the floor was already unsettling enough, but the sudden shouting made the atmosphere feel electric.
"100%!"
"It's 100%!"
The shouting grew louder and more frantic by the second, spreading from the lab technicians at the far end toward the main floor.
"What is 100%? What the hell is going on over there?"
"Who knows? Let's go check it out! Don't tell me someone hit a 100% inhibition rate?"
"Are you nuts? The national R&D Department has been studying this for months and barely broke past 90%. That 99.9% one earlier was already crazy, and it had side effects so bad it fried the patient's brain.
How the hell could there be a perfect 100%? That's what people said as they hurried across the concrete, but as the noise grew, more and more of them crowded over to the Wu City booth anyway. Of course, a few pharmacists still stayed behind to focus on their own trials, their hands shaking as they worked."
Everyone knew it; people who chased every bit of gossip never achieved anything big in their own research.
"Cough, cough, everyone hold up a second! Let's pause the competition!" Minister Zhao shouted through a loudspeaker, his voice booming over the chaos. He didn't expect Boss Zhang to suddenly reach over and snatch the device right out of his hand.
"What are we even competing for now? The competition is over! I repeat, it's over!" Boss Zhang's voice boomed with a raw, undeniable power. "Everyone, whether you haven't started your IVs, are midway through your testing, or are just about to begin your administration, stop everything immediately. I'm announcing that the competition is officially over."
The crowd blinked in disbelief, the sudden silence ringing in their ears. "What the hell? It's over? Already? We barely even started our second round of infusions!"
Some people had gone off to watch the 99.9% drama earlier, and by the time they came back to their stations, the chief judge was declaring the whole thing finished before they had even warmed up their samples.
"We haven't even started our primary tests yet! What is going on?"
"Why did you call it off so suddenly?"
Boss Zhang raised the loudspeaker again, his face flushed and his eyes bright with a manic kind of excitement. "What is the primary purpose of this whole event? It's to find a formula that can fully cure the parasite infection! And now we have found it! Just now, we discovered a drug with zero side effects, a 100% suppression and kill rate, and it's perfectly fit for mass production! This parasitic plague is finally coming to an end!"
"Are you serious?"
"Look at the screen! It's Wu City! The big data chart just updated!"
"Wu City? The one with all the Bodhi reserves? How did they pull that off?"
"It's true! Damn, it's really true. Who would have thought..."
The official lab results were displayed in giant, glowing numbers. The two kids who had been tested were still weak and needed further treatment to recover, their internal organs having taken some damage from the initial infection, but the parasites inside them were completely gone. Not a single wriggling larva or mature bug remained in their blood or tissue.
"Hurry, this drug needs at least five hundred more clinical trials to map the recovery, but for now, treat those children in the ward first. Everyone else, stop what you are doing and leave the field immediately," Minister Zhao said urgently. He moved through the rows like a proctor rushing students to drop their pens after the final bell rang.
There was no denying the reality now. Wu City had actually created a 100% effective, side-effect-free drug—and it didn't even cost a fortune in crimson energy to make.
What kind of competition was this? From start to finish, hadn't everyone else just been the background cast for Wu City's performance?
"Fine, so the champion is settled, and the runner-up is as well. But what about third and fourth place? We still deserve our provincial rankings, don't we?"
"Yeah, we worked through the trials only for the whole thing to be canceled. How are we supposed to explain that when we get back home? What about our resource quotas for the winter?"
Boss Zhang waved his hand dismissively, his tone firm. "All data except the officially recorded ones from the first two rounds is null. Scores will be based on your first and second-round results." It was already a generous compromise considering the circumstances.
So, in the end, this final round was a big fat zero for every other association in the stadium. It was frustrating, sure, but at least there would still be a third-place slot for some of them to claim.
People left the stadium one after another, muttering under their breaths as they packed up their crates. Meanwhile, the Wu City Medicinal Herb Association's members got busy preparing the next doses. Truthfully, even they looked a little dazed, like they couldn't quite believe what they had just done.