Chapter 244: Turned Down Again

“Mr. Gross, I really can’t tell which era these sculptures are from.”

After a while, everyone still had not reached a unified consensus, so one of them choked back his impatience and glanced at Gross on the steps. “Mr. Gross, please clarify.”

“I don’t know their year of production either.”

Only then did Gross stopped beaming smugly as he proclaimed, “But what I want to tell everyone is that I’ve unearthed these three sculptures in a gold mine in the South American Continent.”

“A gold mine?” Everyone was instantly bewildered.

“Yes, they were dug up from a gold mine.”

Gross laughed and said, “I know it’s hard to believe. Even when I received these three sculptures, I didn’t believe it at all until I rushed to the gold mine and found the location of the excavation, where I saw the cavity where these sculptures had been. Then, I believed everything.

“I think everyone should know what this means.”

Gross slowly became serious. “No traces of artificial excavation were found near these sculptures, which means that they were probably buried in gold mines due to geological changes. However, the last geological change that can be traced back to hundreds of thousands of years ago. This means that these sculptures probably have a history going back hundreds of thousands of years or even millions of years!”

“That, that’s impossible...”

“The Stone Age can be traced back to three million years ago, but how could the ancient apes at that time have the technology to make such complex stone sculptures? It’s impossible...”

“Still, they do look like the totems of some civilization...”

“Maybe they were God’s gifts to some primitive people!”

Everyone started debating again.

“I say, old man, no wonder you’ve looked unwell recently, and your body has gotten thinner than before. Is it because of these three sculptures?” Clifford chuckled and stopped the bickering.

“Yes, for some reason, lately my head has been aching frequently.”

Gross spread out his hands helplessly. “Still, my personal physician has examined it and said that it’s just a nervous breakdown, nothing else.”

At this point, a gray-haired old man with a pair of very thick glasses came forward. “Gross, if possible, I’d like to inspect these three sculptures up close. After all, if your miners didn’t lie, these three sculptures may be the biggest discovery of this century.”

“Of course, Professor Griffin.”

This gray-haired old man seemed to enjoy such a high status that even Gross was acting deferential.

After Gross was done showing off, the dinner party continued, and everyone gradually turned their attention away from the three sculptures. After all, most people did not have any favorable impressions of these three weird-looking sculptures. In comparison to those, they were more concerned about taking advantage of this banquet to discuss a few transactions or take the opportunity to find an attractive bed partner.

“My apologies for making you wait.”

Just as Anthony and Jennifer were on their fourth glass of champagne, Clifford finally came over. He raised his glass to them and grinned. “It’s noisy here. Why don’t we go out to talk?”

“Sure.”

Anthony glanced behind him before leading the way to the garden outside.

The garden was only illuminated by a few rows of dim lights. It was quite dark but only because their eyes had not gotten used to this level of darkness.

In the gloom, they could make out a few figures on the chairs conversing in low voices. Anthony did not mind them. He went to a corner before turning around.

“Mr. Clifford, Jennifer and I are here this time on behalf of Blacklight Biotechnology. We hope to talk about the shares of Osmond Biotech Ltd. that you own.”

Anthony lowered his voice. “Of course, you can make a few requests. If we can’t grant them, we could still consult with our superiors.”

“So, that’s it...”

Clifford pondered for a while. “I don’t know much about this company. It’s just because this company was first founded by a down-and-out friend. After he went bankrupt, he had wanted to make a comeback. So I funded him three million dollars, which isn’t much anyway. I thought that would be the final time I’m helping him.

“However, now it seems like his company has become very much sought-after.”

Clifford displayed a crafty look. “So before I give you an answer, I’d like to ask you two to tell me — why do you want the shares in my hands?”

“This...”

Anthony and Jennifer shifted their expressions when they heard these words. Their behavior had fully aroused this man’s curiosity. It would not be easy to get Clifford to transfer the shares.

“This is a decision issued by our company. We’re only the operatives and we aren’t quite clear about the reasons.”

Anthony spoke and noticed Clifford’s disbelieving look, so he could only add. “Well, in our opinion, it should be because Osmond is researching a drug that can completely cure Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, they must have made good progress in this research, so everyone else is starting to become restless.”

“You’re very honest and didn’t deceive me with some lies.”

Clifford nodded and said, pleased, “Nonetheless, in this case, I can’t transfer my shares to you. After all, I believe you also understand that, if there’s really a drug that can completely cure Alzheimer’s disease, the value of the shares I own might increase by more than a hundred or thousand times in less than ten years.”

“Even so, that’s merely one possibility.”

Jennifer hurriedly said, “What if this drug can’t be developed? After all, you know as well how many pharmaceutical companies in the world have suffered grievous losses in this area. The difficulty of treating Alzheimer’s disease is no lesser than that of treating cancer. It might even be harder. After all, cancer can be cured while Alzheimer’s disease has never been cured until a year ago!”

Hearing this, Clifford nodded and smiled. “Ms. Jennifer, what you said makes sense.”

“It’s not just that.”

Anthony chimed in. “Even if the drug is developed, what are the chances it could pass Phase III clinical trials and go on the market?

“Let me give you an example. From 1998 to 2022, in terms of drug development for Alzheimer’s disease, a total of 165 drugs have been developed around the world, but only 6 drugs have passed clinical trials. The rest have failed. The passing rate is only 3.36%. Surely you understand what kind of figure this is...

“In addition, a clinical trial period of more than ten years has to be taken into account. Even if this new drug gets on the market, it’ll probably be ten years later.”

Clifford smiled again when he heard all this and said carelessly, “Mr. Anthony, what you said is very reasonable too, but I think your company must be so anxious to acquire shares in Osmond surely because of some unique aspect about this new drug?

“Not just that.” Clifford continued with a smile. “It’s only three million dollars, after all. I don’t really care about this amount of money, but after listening to your persuasion, I now plan to continue investing in the upcoming Series C financing round. For that, I have to thank you both.”

“...”

Anthony and Jennifer were completely dumbfounded.

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