"Professor, Yang Yunhe has sent over the data!" Professor Parkinson's assistant delivered the latest intelligence.
"Is there any difference compared to the data we obtained ourselves?" Professor Parkinson asked.
"No, apart from those requiring manual recording by technicians or data that needs other equipment for assistance, all technical data automatically generated by the equipment is correct and there are no issues!" the secretary replied.
"Then what about the results?"
"It's the same as we predicted. Traces of the God Particle's existence were indeed detected in the specimen's body. These traces represent data that would never appear under normal circumstances and can only be attributed to the God Particle. Therefore, it can be basically confirmed that the God Particle had briefly existed within the specimen, only to automatically decay and disappear later." the secretary explained.
"Then this specimen is something we must obtain! It's our shortcut to finding the God Particle in advance! Proceed according to the original plan!" Professor Parkinson nodded, and the Goldman Sachs Group quickly began a series of operations.
They first leveraged their connections in Europe to try and secure the specimen exclusively, a move the European high-energy physics community naturally opposed. However, this was within Goldman Sachs Group's expectations. They quickly turned to politicians, orchestrating a way for the United States to directly demand the specimen.
Compared to the firm refusal of the European academic community, the official stance of the European Union and the Swedish government was much less resolute. They were unwilling to offend the United States.
Furthermore, in their view, a corpse was of limited value. Even if it could lead to the discovery of the God Particle, with Sweden's scientific research capabilities, could they realistically develop any practical products from it?
And even if they did, could Sweden protect it?
Therefore, the Swedish politicians readily conceded without much thought, straightforwardly agreeing to the US government's demands. Of course, according to the agreement, the US and Sweden would conduct joint research, with the US taking the specimen for research first and returning it to Europe after a number of years – a highly scientific and reasonable arrangement with no issues.
However, this decision quickly sparked widespread dissatisfaction within the entire European academic community, with various prominent academics launching fierce criticism, causing a major uproar across Europe.
Moreover, this was a matter that Sweden had agreed to unilaterally. The governments of other European countries had not yet agreed, leading to intense arguments between countries, scholars, and between countries and scholars.
This, in turn, fueled the frenzy of the news media. All of Europe's media outlets began reporting extensively on the incident, using eye-catching headlines like "The Shame of Europe." Consequently, the general public in Europe also began to argue, and the news's popularity even surpassed that of the US invasion of Afghanistan in previous years. If Professor Zhao had known that his death would cause such a stir, he would likely have felt that his death was for a worthy cause.
The Swedish government now found itself in a difficult position, caught between a rock and a hard place. Ultimately, they decided to adopt a passive approach and cease all intervention in the matter.
The Swedish government then informed the Americans that taking the specimen was not an issue, but they should not expect the Swedish government to risk being condemned by the entire European populace to help them seize it from the hospital.
If they wanted the specimen, they should retrieve it themselves. If Europeans wanted it, they should also retrieve it themselves. The Swedish government would no longer interfere, choosing to remain detached, letting nature take its course.
Initially, the Americans were unconcerned. With their influence in Europe, as long as the Swedish government remained uninvolved, it would be simple to dispatch over a dozen heavily armed personnel to storm the hospital and directly seize the body. At worst, they would resort to force, something Americans were accustomed to.
However, as the Americans were making preparations, they received some unwelcome intelligence. It turned out that Jiangnan Group had an extremely strong desire to protect the remains of its employee, so much so that they had hired a security team of over a hundred people to guard the Wester Hospital.
This security team was not comprised of elderly guards armed with riot batons. Instead, they were all young, strong, battle-hardened individuals with practical combat experience and a history of having taken lives – legitimate mercenaries.
Of course, they were now referred to as an armed security company.
These hundred-odd security personnel completely surrounded the hospital, holding a dominant position. Forget a dozen heavily armed personnel; even a hundred would be useless.
As long as they lacked official Swedish identification, the security personnel could open fire on the grounds of posing a security threat. Each security member was legally licensed to carry a firearm and had undergone legal security training, fully mastering the techniques of self-defense to ensure they could shoot an intruder dead without any legal repercussions.
Incidentally, Sweden no longer had the death penalty, and if one showed sincere remorse, the sentence could be significantly reduced. Therefore, even if they accidentally exceeded the bounds of self-defense, they could be released in a few years and, moreover, receive millions of dollars in compensation, making it incredibly lucrative.
However, none of the above was the most critical factor. The most critical factor was that the security company contracted for defense was not a Swedish company, but an American one named Blackwater.
Some might find it strange that an American security company would not cooperate with American requests.
While it is true that if a matter involved significant national security and the White House intervened, Blackwater would indeed cooperate fully, the issue here was about seizing a corpse – an embarrassing act that would reflect poorly if made public. Would the White House dare to step in?
Did the esteemed President Guan Hai still have any dignity?
This year was an election year; did he still want to serve another four years?
Without White House coordination, Blackwater would politely decline. Blackwater's patron was also the United States, and their clients paid them in cold, hard cash. Furthermore, Jiangnan Group and Blackwater Company had a long-standing cooperative relationship; ever since Boss Huang's first trip to the United States, he had consistently hired Blackwater Company for protection. Their annual contracts amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. To ask them to abandon a multi-billion dollar long-term contract with a single word, one would have to be brainless.
What if you claimed to have Goldman Sachs backing?
Well, I have the Rockefellers backing me. We are all on the same level, so stop posturing in front of me!
All of the above factors ultimately led the Americans to abandon the idea of a direct seizure. The difficulty and potential repercussions were too high, and the gain did not outweigh the loss.
However, Goldman Sachs Group had not given up, as they still had a super pawn they could use.
Moreover, since operating within Sweden was proving difficult, they decided not to act there. Once the specimen boarded the plane and entered international waters, they would realize whose domain it truly was.
Thus, Jiangnan Group, which had been diligently trying to arrange the legal cremation procedures, suddenly learned from their interactions with Swedish officials that cremation in the presence of family members was impossible. However, they were told that the body could be transported back to their home country for cremation.
This unexpected news stunned the representatives of Jiangnan Group. Not only was cremation disallowed, but they were actually allowed to transport the body back home?
Although the outcome was difficult to believe, after repeated confirmations by Jiangnan Group, the Swedish officials indeed placed no obstacles.
They stated that according to relevant laws, foreigners who died due to special public welfare causes could indeed be transported back to their country for burial.
However, the prerequisite was that they could not travel on commercial flights; a charter flight was mandatory.
This requirement might be insurmountable for most people who passed away abroad, as chartering a plane for a round trip between Europe and China could cost over $300,000, a sum beyond the reach of ordinary individuals.
However, for Jiangnan Group, this was a mere trifle.
Jiangnan Group immediately proposed that their own aircraft undertake the transportation of the remains. However, this was rejected by Sweden. They stated that the aircraft must be chartered by a professional airline and that thorough disinfection procedures must be carried out to prevent the risk of a public health crisis.
Fine, whatever the Swedes said, they said. Entrusting it to a professional airline did not seem like a bad thing. The most important thing was for Professor Zhao, who had been delayed for two to three months, to finally return home.
Thus, this months-long farcical drama was finally coming to an end with a charter flight arranged by the Swedish government.
In July 2012, Professor Zhao was scheduled to fly home, returning to the homeland he longed for.
However, Jiangnan Group was unaware that the airline responsible for the transportation had already reached a cooperation agreement with the Americans.
In fact, the specific airline responsible for transporting the remains was a highly classified matter. After all, Boss Huang had never underestimated the shamelessness of the Americans. Theoretically, only on the day of departure would they know which airline would be operating the flight.
But the problem was that Goldman Sachs had the pawn Yang Yunhe. And the decision of which airline would be responsible for the transportation was personally finalized by Yang Yunhe, the overall commander. Goldman Sachs likely knew about it even earlier than the Jiangnan Group headquarters.
Under pressure from the Americans, no airline dared to defy their wishes. Therefore, the senior management of this airline was quickly forced to agree. Once they received the body, they would not fly to China but would directly divert to the United States.
Once the plane took off, all flight routes would be firmly controlled by the airline crew, and the people of Jiangnan Group would be unable to make any changes, unless they wished to perish with the plane.
And as long as the remains reached American soil, even the gods would be unable to reclaim them.
In any case, all plans were proceeding smoothly and perfectly until the day Professor Zhao was about to leave Sweden. A massive aircraft descended from the sky, and the man who alighted from it shocked all of Europe.
After nearly seven years, Mr. Huang He, the new world's richest man, had left his stronghold of China and arrived on European soil!