"How can I not be anxious? Initially, I didn’t go to Beijing University High School. Instead, I chose Sacred Heart Middle School because its basketball team is really strong. Over the years, several students who participated in the international youth basketball training camps were spotted by scouts from Duke University. Dad, I’ve always wanted to study in the United States. Universities in China are both hard and tiring; I don’t want to study there at all." Wang Ke put down her chopsticks. She had average grades and decent looks. If it weren’t for basketball, she could have been like her friends, dating boys, learning makeup, without the need to finish the day drenched in sweat.
Duke University is different. Its basketball team is top-notch. If you get in there, you could very likely become the first Chinese woman to join the WNBA. When that happens, fame and fortune will pour in.
"Dad, what you’re talking about isn’t stimulants, is it? I don’t touch those things. I want to be a legitimate athlete. Besides, legitimate competitions have drug tests," Wang Ke was somewhat tempted, but the thought that her basketball career could be ruined by this left her hesitant and indecisive.
"How could it be? This information was inquired by your uncle in the United States. The producer of that drug is not only associated with some famous university but also a well-known company in America. The researchers there have all passed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety monitoring. That company is a top international corporation. Only one private hospital in China has the distribution rights for those injections. They say it has absolutely no side effects and costs ten thousand yuan per shot." Mentioning this astronomical figure, Wang Guohua felt the pain; he was in charge of the school’s logistics contracting and, although there was some profit, it was limited. Ten thousand yuan was no small sum.
"Really? Dad, you’re not lying to me? I’ll take it, and as soon as possible," when Wang Ke heard this, her spirits were lifted. "But no, I don’t know the effect of that injection. I should try it during a critical moment; maybe during the friendly match with Shunde Middle School, and if I wait until next year’s middle school league to take it... Humph, by then, I’ll see what Bai Xue and those two newcomers can do."
"Alright, as you wish. After all, you are my only daughter. I’ll go inquire about the specific effects of the injection and the actual situation," after having dinner, Wang Guohua, following the address given by his brother, went straight to a cosmetic surgery hospital located in the East District.
Initially, Wang Guohua also had his doubts about the news, but after he saw the clinic’s business license and the stack of qualification certificates from the medical staff, plus the decadent decor and the elite-looking customers, he was thoroughly convinced.
Not long after Wang Guohua went in, he came out having already paid a three thousand yuan deposit.
Speaking of this drug, we must mention another tale from across the ocean.
A week before Wang Guohua made his reservation, in the Cornell University Biopharmaceutical Institute laboratory on the East Coast of the United States, Aisha and her male colleague were calculating the experimental data of the milky liquid in the test tubes they were holding.
"Aisha, are you sure that mixing the blood of an African lion with the bone marrow of a Jaguar can stimulate the human body’s potential?" The spotlessly clean laboratory hardly evoked an image of blood-soaked animal butchery.
"Of course, why else would I go to all the trouble of getting a wild lion from Africa? Just the cost of transporting it here cost me more than ten thousand US dollars," Aisha took out an empty syringe, drew the milky solution into it, and placed it into a sealed rubber-capped medicine bottle.
"Why not try it on animals first? Directly using it on humans could be risky, given how strict the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is about the use of drugs in humans." Aisha’s colleague Pete was somewhat worried. At the start of their cooperation, he was thrilled to work with an associate like Aisha, who was both beautiful and intelligent.
But after two years, Aisha’s various behaviors were both frightening and shocking.
As a Cornell Biopharmaceutical Institute member, Aisha had always been pushing the boundaries of federal law—smuggling rare and endangered animals, applying unidentified extracts directly onto living organisms. This time, she planned to apply the drug directly to humans.
Even if her family had a strong background, it could not guarantee bearing such a substantial risk.
"Stop nagging. Do I look that stupid to you? Clean up the equipment. Ang is coming over to test the new plant growth agent, and he can’t stand a messy lab," Aisha glanced sideways at her male colleague who both adored and feared her. She had seen plenty of this type of men.