Free Web NovelChapter 245: Chapter 192: Lin Qi: You’re Done For
Just as Lin Qi had guessed, the summit’s agenda was not yet fixed, and it would involve the future allocation of resources.
These small businesses naturally needed to stick together to survive. They would have to share all known information, even form a preliminary alliance and speculate on the summit’s potential agenda. Only then could they hope to get a piece of the pie while squeezed by the big corporations.
Lin Qi nodded and said, "An academic exchange? That is indeed necessary. From what I know, this summit has very high requirements for the academic abilities of the attending corporate researcher representatives."
Lin Qi had seemingly let the information slip unintentionally.
In reality, he had already used his Spiritual Vision to perceive the changes in most people’s expressions and heart rates.
Everyone was focused on him—or rather, on United Pharmaceutical.
The moment he said this, the entire venue became much quieter.
Everyone was mulling over Lin Qi’s words.
’High requirements for academic ability?’
’Is this inside information from United Pharmaceutical?’
After all, United Pharmaceutical was a company at the very center of this summit’s vortex.
In the [Medical Small Business Alliance] group chat, a flood of messages popped up.
"Xiao Gu, hurry up and keep asking!"
"United Pharmaceutical must know a lot of inside dirt!" freёweɓnovel.com
"A requirement for academic ability? We’re finished! This is a clear sign that the big corporations want to completely monopolize the market, locking it down from the very source of Extraordinary Materials allocation. They don’t want to leave us any way to survive!"
Xiao Gu checked the messages in the group chat through his Prosthetic Body’s eyes while mulling over the intelligence Lin Qi had revealed.
Soon, a bitter expression appeared on his face. "Academic ability? That’s just too unfair for small businesses like us."
Xiao Gu began to vent his grievances right in front of Lin Qi.
In the Cyber World, the most valuable things were knowledge and resources.
The big corporations monopolized knowledge. Nearly all research materials on A-Class Pharmacy were held in the hands of the major players.
Papers written by their researchers were only ever published through internal company channels.
Furthermore, the research materials held by each major corporation differed greatly. Only the top-tier companies would selectively trade some of their foundational literature.
For example, Si Pharmaceutical had sold a good deal of the literature compiled by Si Li himself, much of which Lin Qi had read.
But even so, these research materials were not something small businesses could access.
Lin Qi was deeply struck by this. "For us researchers, knowledge is just too precious."
Seeing that Lin Qi was merely lamenting, Xiao Gu quickly piggybacked on his words, "Exactly. And now the Big Business Alliance wants to equate knowledge reserves with resource allocation. They’re trying to drive us small businesses to a dead end."
"Brother Lin, do you think there’s really any path to survival left for small businesses like us?"
Xiao Gu asked with immense sincerity, making it seem as though it was simply his nature to be so earnest.
In the [Medical Small Business Alliance] group chat, messages flashed by in quick succession.
"Xiao Gu really has a way with words. His performance is so heartfelt and genuine."
"Is this the power of language? Looks like I need to shell out for a few language-application chips to study up."
"Give me a break. Those chips are useless. They just give you a vocabulary bank; you can’t really apply it. Xiao Gu’s gift of gab is all natural."
"Honestly, I don’t quite get what Brother Xiao is trying to do with these words. What kind of intel can he get from this?"
"You don’t get it, do you? Xiao Gu’s first statement was a probe to see if the intel about the Big Business Alliance unifying resource allocation for Extraordinary Materials suppliers is true. His second statement was to test the big corporations’ attitude toward us small businesses."
"I get it! So that’s how it is. No wonder Rotor Pharmaceutical’s products are such garbage, yet they still have a valuation of two hundred million."
Rotor Pharmaceutical’s Xiao Gu: "What’s that supposed to mean?"
Even while probing and negotiating with Lin Qi, Xiao Gu somehow had the energy to fire off a reply in the group chat.
But after replying, his focus was yanked back to reality by Lin Qi’s words.
Lin Qi said, "Brother Xiao, you’re overthinking it. The true nature of this summit is actually a scheme by the Si Clan, not a joint stratagem by all the big corporations. Ultimately, it’s a move born of their desire to survive the pressure they’re facing from the Big Business Alliance, Liu’s Heavy Industries, other pharmaceutical companies, and the exposure of their heir after the Greenfield City incident."
Lin Qi had bluntly thrown the Si Clan under the bus.
Although Lin Qi’s official status was just a researcher, he now had another cover: a shareholder of United Pharmaceutical!
With a status like that, it was perfectly normal for Lin Qi to know a few secrets.
Besides, given the hostile relationship between United Pharmaceutical and Liu’s Heavy Industries, it was perfectly in character for someone like Lin Qi to drag the Si Clan’s dirty deeds out from the gutter and into the light.
However, Lin Qi didn’t reveal the piece of intelligence about the Si Clan applying pressure through corporate warfare.
That information was extremely subtle and could only be obtained from a sufficiently high vantage point.
It was difficult to deduce accurately by analyzing surface-level phenomena alone.
"I see. So, does that mean this summit is just a formality for us small businesses?"
Xiao Gu’s heart was finally at ease.
They had some knowledge of the Si Pharmaceutical incident in Greenfield City.
However, they suffered from a lack of comprehensive intelligence, making it difficult to glimpse the truth of the matter, let alone know that the Si Clan had once been on the verge of collapse.
In the [Medical Small Business Alliance] chat group, the tide of conversation had turned.
"Brother Xiao is really something else. He got the key intelligence in just a few sentences."
"Amazing. Not only did he invite a director from United Pharmaceutical, but he also got the intel so smoothly. Xiao Gu is the real deal!"
