Apex Predator - Chap 15

After a brief introduction, Shen Dai started the report presentation.

Despite the professor letting him take it easy, he dared not be negligent in the slightest, having spent almost all the time in the lead-up preparing for this one event. Seated in the audience were financial backers with deep pockets, who would not only determine the funding for each project, but could well be investors for his own research topic in the future. He was grateful to the professor for this opportunity.

The discomfort brought about from having too many Alphas gathered in the same place, however, was overshadowed by the feeling of excitement the moment he picked up the microphone.

His gaze involuntarily found Qu Moyu seated in the front row. Sure enough, Qu Moyu was looking at him – looking only at him. Having sensed Shen Dai’s regard he returned a slight nod.

From this Shen Dai received a great burst of encouragement. Squaring his shoulders, he then drew in a deep breath, gave off a calm smile and finally started his speech.

He switched through his slides, checking the written cues in his hand from time to time. He carried himself professionally, explaining in simple and straightforward terms the results of their research over the past one year as well as their plans for the future.

Qu Moyu could not take his eyes off the elegant and tall young man up on the podium, who was full of confidence and spoke with ease. Under the glare of the spotlight, his fair complexion revealed itself as even more smooth and radiant, his eyes clear yet filled with the accumulation of rich knowledge. The tailored navy-blue suit he wore brought out the sheer perfection of a body caught between adulthood and adolescence.

The entire presentation lasted around forty minutes. Only the longer it went on, the more Shen Dai felt his chest becoming constricted. He took frequent sips of water, finishing the speech with his mind still clear. Alphas would always control their pheromones and wear pheromone-blocking patches in public places. But when it became too crowded and the ventilation was poor, it was inevitable that large quantities of pheromones would start to mix.

Except the real hurdle had only just begun – because what followed immediately were the questions from investors that needed to be answered.

One shareholder posed the same question that Qu Moyu had asked that morning, to which Shen Dai replied with a short explanation. Another asked about the improved method of extraction; when it would be viable for commercial use, when they would be able to start seeing returns, so Shen Dai patiently described their plans based on details that the Professor had given him.

The mine in South Africa sparked even more of the general interest among investors. Shen Dai had prepared for this early on, having gotten the Professor to record a video at the mining site two days earlier, with the professor introducing the current status of prospecting at the mine and their vision for the future. The appearance of the Professor made their plans look more convincing.

Qu Chengchen suddenly raised the fountain pen in his hand. He switched on the microphone in front of him. Shen Dai braced himself as he did this.

“Good morning, Engineer Shen,” said Qu Chengchen, nodding at him with a wry smile. On a piece of paper filled with writing that he had in front of him, he scrawled something with his fountain pen.

“Your presentation today was very well done. I’ll have to trouble you to answer a few questions that I’ve put together.”

“Please go ahead.”

Qu Chengchen continued solemnly, “You mentioned in your presentation that your group tested a new type of chlorination treatment in the chemical decomposition of mineral concentrates. While this type of treatment can in fact increase the efficiency of the conventional pretreatment process to a certain extent, the monetary cost of doing so is too high. As pretreatment has a relatively low technical barrier of entry, the acid, alkali, and chlorination processes employed across different countries do not differ much in terms of time, money and wastage. My understanding of rare earths is no doubt less than yours, but, in my opinion, allocating money towards improving the pretreatment process is not cost-effective. What the corporation expects out of you is greater innovation, higher efficiency and reduced waste in extraction technology, so I hope that you’ll be able to address this.”

“Your question carries a lot of merit. From the outset we had also hoped to use more cost-effective methods to achieve our ideal extraction process, however, we later encountered a number of roadblocks. When the decomposition of the mineral concentrate is not carried out adequately, it will have an adverse effect on the steps that follow. But to explain this from the point of view of an expert would be, for one – extremely time-consuming, and two – difficult for a layman to grasp. So, to use a common analogy: It’s better to spend time sharpening one’s axe now to be able to chop more wood later.”

“This explanation sounds fair enough.” Lowering his head to take a glance at his outline, Qu Chengchen went on, “Then my second question is this: At present, the most commonly-used method of separating single rare earth elements worldwide is ion-exchange extraction. But your research replaces ion-exchange extraction completely in favour of liquid-liquid extraction. While liquid-liquid extraction does have a much higher extraction efficiency than ion-exchange extraction, its disadvantages are also evident. When it comes to the high purity rare earths and heavy rare earths, ion-exchange chromatography still remains the most effective means of separation. This is the main reason for the study’s lack of progress in the field of heavy rare earths. Professor Liu has a lot of confidence in a breakthrough in this field, and is presenting us with a three-to-five-year-long…” Here he gave a smile, and with a voice containing some derision, added, “- vision. I can only use this word to describe it. Yet in actual fact, why should we disregard ion-exchange extraction and waste several billion yuan of investment funding to advance the research of the liquid-liquid extraction process in heavy rare earths? To speak from a business point of view, the cost-to-benefit ratio is very low.”

To invest in the early stages of research was to make a large gamble in hope of considerable returns, something every investor understood. Naturally, investors putting in their cold hard cash without seeing any payoffs would be frustrated and want to take it out on someone.

Only, the results of Shen Dai’s group this year had not been bad at all. One could even call it the best out of all the research groups. Qu Chengchen had not uttered a word as the two earlier groups were presenting, but when it came to Shen Dai’s turn, he suddenly became very aggressive. Even the audience were taken aback.

This kind of question was very difficult to answer. It was like someone casting stones into a well which needed a hundred to fill up completely, but after fifty had already started to lose their patience. And it was Shen Dai’s job to convince him to continue throwing in the rest.

His eyes darted towards that piece of paper. He could not see it clearly from a distance, but it appeared to be crammed full of questions. As soon as he finished answering this question there would be trickier ones waiting for him. And now he felt his chest getting tighter and tighter and his body more hot and dry. He took in another deep breath and calmed himself down before replying in a neutral tone: “President Qu, while ion-exchange extraction is indeed the most prevalent method of separation at present, the professor has already seen the limits of its potential. We are very optimistic about the future of liquid-liquid extraction, which also forms the most vital part of our group’s research interests. If successful, it would lead to massive improvements in efficiency in both light or heavy rare earths, and in turn outstanding returns.”

“But according to past performance of the last three years, your group has made little progress in the field of heavy metal earths. The only thing that is truly ‘outstanding’ are the numbers from the financial report. Rather than waste time on trivial problems with insignificant benefits, why not play it safe, for example, by only delving into the liquid-liquid extraction process for light rare earths?”

Qu Moyu’s face darkened. He was seated just a few places away from Qu Chengchen and gave him a sideways glance. Too bad that Qu Chengchen wasn’t able to see it.

Shen Dai brushed away the sweat that had gathered on his forehead and said, “We…”

“Chengchen.” At some point of time Qu Moyu had also switched on his microphone. His low-pitched voice was slightly distorted and mixed with a crackle of static – yet none of that could hide his displeasure.

“Rare earth extraction has very little to do with your department of Chemical industry. You weren’t even that curious about the first group’s research about nonferrous metals.”

Qu Chengchen laughed, “It was because there was nothing wrong with the first group’s presentation, so I didn’t have anything to ask. Anyway, it’s not because I’m curious, more like I have a responsibility to the shareholders.”

“My understanding in the area of Rare earths is much better than yours. Whether it’s judgements on the pretreatment process or investing in liquid-liquid extraction, Professor Liu’s decisions are always backed by solid theory and data. Their plan has already gone through expert assessment, with every line of expenditure in the financial report holding up to auditing.”

There was a flicker in Qu Moyu’s eyes that was both intense and dark.

“Since you lack the technical expertise, there are bound to be many aspects that you won’t fully understand, but you should at least have some confidence in the risk management capabilities of the corporation.”

“The point of risk management is to mitigate risks, which means that these risks do exist. It’s true, I don’t understand anything about Rare earths. I’ve made a complete fool of myself. But I believe the questions I’ve raised are valid. After all, as an initial investor, every dollar they spend is a dollar I’ve put in.” Qu Chengchen sneered, “Besides, isn’t the point of the shareholder conference to ask questions and clear up doubts?“

““These questions of yours have been asked countless times during the budget presentation just now by people with far greater expertise than you.””

The two brothers stared each other down, separated only by a few people between them. Under this kind of hostility, aggressive pheromones started to simmer within them.

A deep silence fell upon the auditorium. That these two brothers had been at each other’s throats since childhood was nothing new, but an open confrontation in public was unusual. When everyone sensed the both of them releasing pheromones, they started to be on their guard.

As the two top-tier Alphas started to challenge each other with their pheromones, all the other Alphas around them were obliged to release pheromones to shield themselves.

Yan Mingxiu, who happened to be seated between the both of them immediately started to emit pheromones, forming a barrier around himself against their influence.

The shareholders and executives – a majority of whom were Alphas – were also obliged to release pheromones, for fear of being caught in the crossfire between the three top-tier Alphas’ pheromones.

Yan Mingxiu, glum-faced, stood up and promptly headed out of the auditorium.

By this time the density of the Alpha pheromones in the auditorium had gone up exponentially. Shen Dai felt as if an invisible hand were strangling his throat. An electric shock passed through him, causing infinitesimal pin pricks to appear all over his body. His face was drained of blood. He supported himself by grasping onto the edge of lectern as his body started to tremble.

The first to notice this strange demeanour was Qu Moyu who promptly stopped releasing pheromones.

Qu Chengchen also followed suit. Making a great show of remorse, he said, “I’m so sorry to have affected Engineer Shen.”

“Engineer Shen is actually an Omega?” One of the shareholders exclaimed, “You really can’t tell.”

“There are still Omegas at the Research Institute?”

A murmur ran through the audience.

Shen Dai struggled to take a bow, he said, “I’m sorry. You’ll have to excuse my absence.” His legs were weak as he made his way down from the stage. Running out from the side entrance, he made a beeline for the washroom.

I’m screwed, something’s not right, the way my body is reacting…

A tall man with the stature of a bodyguard stood at the door of the washroom, barring his way, “I’m sorry, please wait for a moment.”

“I can’t wait any longer!” cried Shen Dai, his face a ghastly white.

Seeing that Shen Dai could collapse at any moment, he hesitated, “Do you want me to help you call….”

Shen Dai forced himself past the bodyguard and rushed into the washroom, and immediately bumped into a tall figure who was at that moment on the way out. The figure grabbed a hold of his arm.

He looked up to see that it was Yan Mingxiu.

His legs were so weak he could barely support himself, and in the next second he collapsed to the floor.

”Aren’t you about to go into heat?”, said Yang Mingxiu with a frown.

“Will you please ….help me.” Shen Dai felt like punching a wall, why was it that he kept running into these kinds of difficult situations? Three years ago at the laboratory, and now at the office building. The medicine he had taken should have been able to stall his heat for a few days, but his body had just been subjected to a bombardment of Alpha pheromones and was now in complete disarray. His heat had returned with a vengeance.

”I’m not going to help you, I have a wife.” Yan Mingxiu was at a loss, “My bodyguard will hold the door. I will call the security division to take care of things.”

“It won’t be in time,” said Shen Dai, his voice trembling. “Help me call Qu Moyu, I’m begging you.”

Only Qu Moyu could save him – he was convinced of this in his very bones