Fatal Strike: Mercenary Road of Gunfire Ranger-Chapter 662 - 614: The Giants’ Strange Actions

Mountain Eagle doesn't quite understand the intricacies of those medical companies, but he has witnessed many sordid affairs of these huge corporations, so he is always eager to suspect their actions with the greatest malice.

Especially these pharmaceutical companies from Europe and America!

Their scandals are unimaginably numerous...

In order to make money, to stuff as much money into their own pockets as possible, these pharmaceutical companies from Europe and America keep colluding or battling with insurance companies, creating numerous shocking scandals.

Africa and India have become the testing grounds for their drugs!

The sudden outbreak of Ebola, a virulent infectious disease, in Africa in July, and within just under four months, it swept through Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. Combined with the progress of these people's vaccine development, how could Mountain Eagle not overthink?

The infectious disease broke out in July, and by November you have the vaccine ready?

These big companies, of course, can argue that they've always been conducting research in this area, and judging by their not particularly anxious demeanor, there are probably some other inside stories.

Deliberately poisoning and then monopolizing the market with vaccines is something Mountain Eagle has only seen in United States movies...

He doesn't quite believe that giants like Merck Company and GlaxoSmithKline would dare do such things, but he is convinced that things are definitely not as simple as Glasman said.

Because these big pharmaceutical enterprises in Europe and America have too many past offences, in the past twenty years they've 'invented' too many diseases...

However, these diseases are mostly concentrated on mental illnesses, and many small illnesses that do not affect life have been artificially magnified.

Who knew about depression twenty years ago?

But today, twenty years later, depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and other mental issues have become big problems that people talk about and need treatment, which naturally leads to over-medication, causing those psychotropic drugs to sell well.

This situation is most serious in the United States, as they consume 49% of the world's prescription psychotropic drugs.

In the United States, 17% of adults have been prescribed at least one psychotropic drug, 12% have used antidepressants, and 8.3% have been prescribed sedatives, hypnotics, and anti-anxiety medication.

This is a super big business, and under the promotion of some so-called public intellectuals and experts, a variety of psychotropic drugs have begun to spread across the world.

No one can deny that those symptoms do exist and indeed endanger people's health, but vague standards of judgment and over-medication driven by profit have artificially created a huge medical blue ocean.

This is the highest-end creation of demand!

To achieve their goals, American pharmaceutical companies have the largest lobbying groups.

Compared to the familiar military-industrial complex, the influence of pharmaceutical companies is actually much stronger.

In 2014, the United States' GDP totaled 17.6 trillion US Dollars, with total military spending accounting for 3.4% of GDP, plus 1.5% from military-industrial companies, totaling just over 860 billion US Dollars a year.

And the pharmaceutical industry?

Just in pharmaceuticals alone, American pharmaceutical companies can contribute 1.3 trillion US Dollars a year, not to mention other projects in the medical industry.

The entire healthcare industry accounts for 18~20% of GDP, which is about 3.5 trillion US Dollars...

That same year in the East, the annual GDP totaled 63 trillion RMB, of which their healthcare accounted for 5.6%, or about 3.5 trillion RMB.

Indeed, the United States still has major advantages in high-end medical fields, and they have maintained a leading edge in drug research and development...

But the reality is that the capital monster is inhumane, and this is true in every country around the world.

Except, under such a system in the United States, pharmaceutical companies become especially crazy!

Especially after Mountain Eagle experienced the Dimension Card Company's laboratory incident, he has developed a deep prejudice against these so-called pharmaceutical companies or laboratories in the United States.

The inhumane and appalling scenes in the laboratory gave Mountain Eagle, who grew up listening to the atrocity stories of Unit 731 as a man from the East, a deep-seated stress response...

So he mercilessly destroyed the laboratory and even chased them to Arizona, wiping out all the adult males in the governor's family!

Had it not been for the mention of Ebola virus, this virulent infectious disease...

Had it not been for the fear that his wife and children would face the risk of Ebola after coming...

Mountain Eagle might not even have wanted to ask a single question, he would directly let the people of these big companies leave.

Mountain Eagle did not share all his thoughts with Michael but invited him to stay for dinner.

Old Qiao, who had been in contact with Quida, only spoke after Mountain Eagle was done, "Without Quida, it would be impossible for the National Guard to pass through the complex wetland waterways by water."

"Boss, are you sure you want to bring Quida back?"

Mountain Eagle listened, nodded slightly, and said, "Bring him back first. Before any accurate news, the people in Brown Bear Camp should not get involved with those people and things."

Mountain Eagle thought for a moment and said, "The situation shouldn't be too serious, but with my understanding of these big companies, their current attitude and approach are very likely to lead to trouble."

Old Qiao, a bit puzzled, asked, "What do you mean?"

Mountain Eagle, touching his chin, said, "If it were you and your laboratory lost something as potentially disastrous as methamphetamine and vaccines, what would you do?"

Old Qiao, as a matter of course, said, "Of course, try every possible way to retrieve it!"

Mountain Eagle nodded and said, "You're right, but look at their approach...

They brought five people, who all seem to be executives, and there's even someone claiming to be a consultant from the Department of Homeland Security.

If it really is a luxurious team, why did they need the National Guard?

The combined market value of Merck Company and GlaxoSmithKline exceeds $300 billion. Something this significant happened, and yet they enlisted the most unprofessional Alaska National Guard to handle it, even getting the CDC involved.

In this scenario, would these two giant companies not even fund the operation?

$5 million would be enough to hire helicopters to drop hundreds of people into the area. Would they really lack that kind of money?

Stealing the Ebola virus and vaccine is fundamentally illogical!

If you really wanted the virus, you could just buy a ticket to Africa and get in contact with it.

Vaccines may sound impressive, but when Ebola hasn't spread on a large scale, they're fundamentally a losing business, because in Africa they simply can't afford them."

Old Qiao listened, nodded seriously with a stern expression, and said, "You're right. If I were their boss and lost something so important, I certainly wouldn't be stingy about spending millions to hire some real professionals to tear the thief to pieces."

Old Qiao looked at the calm Mountain Eagle, curiously asking, "Boss, have you figured something out?"

Mountain Eagle shook his head and said, "No, I haven't figured out anything. I just feel like they don't seem to be putting in their full effort."

Looking at Michael, whose expression was uncertain, Mountain Eagle smiled and said, "If I were you, I would take a recorder and chat with Glasman, see if you can get something out of him.

As a small officer, it's best to have some leverage, so that when the big waves come after it's over, you might not be swept away."

After speaking, Mountain Eagle ignored Michael, had Old Qiao take people to pick up Quida by boat, and himself went back to stand by the stove, staring at the heat-emitting barrel, as if there were some world mysteries there…

The bald Glasman watched from a distance of more than 20 meters from the terrace for a while, feeling very disappointed by Mountain Eagle's attitude, and finally could only turn back to the dock…

Those people are all wealthy; they wouldn't possibly set up tents at Brown Bear Camp in sub-zero temperatures.

Michael, who was supposed to host them, unfortunately missed the dinner personally prepared by Mountain Eagle and took a boat to send them downstream to Marshall Town.

After confirming that those people had left, Mountain Eagle let out a slight sigh of relief…

Their attitude indicated that they were not really targeting Brown Bear Camp or him.

By the time the potato beef stew was ready, it was completely dark.

Mountain Eagle entrusted the task of serving the meal to the drooling Jesse, and after filling himself with a big box of rice and potato beef, he quietly went to the edge of the camp and released several newly created crows…

A single crow's coverage is limited, and their signal transmission weakens when they fly far, but a dozen crows can fully monitor a range within a 200-kilometer radius and form a communication signal network.

No matter who those 'thieves' are, once it's dark, they'd need to make a fire to keep warm, or else enduring Alaska's night would be tough.

And as soon as they start a fire, they'll be as conspicuous as bright lights to the crows with thermal detection ability.

After releasing the crows and assigning them patrol areas, Mountain Eagle returned to the terrace…

He chatted and laughed with the natives, asking about what to watch out for during winter here, and if there were any interesting winter activities.

Mountain Eagle felt a bit disappointed with the answer…

The locals have no entertainment in winter; perhaps the only thing that could be considered entertainment is some traditional family games.

In winter, instead of hibernating as Mountain Eagle imagined after storing enough food, they continually engage in various forms of hunting and fishing to obtain valuable pelts and satisfy their families' need for fresh meat.

Just one potato beef dish from Mountain Eagle was enough to leave them speechless; their usual diet is easy to imagine.

Having a taste of something fresh in the winter is indeed a treat!

Mountain Eagle didn't get anything useful from asking for so long…

He only received a bunch of so-called 'secret hunting spots'…

The native brothers, who had eaten his food, beat their chests and promised that if he needed, they'd take him to catch any animal he wanted in winter or fish out the most delicious fish.

Mountain Eagle used to think these natives were all introverted, but after eating some good food and drinking a bit of beer, they also started boasting…

Like getting drunk and sleeping in the black bear's hibernation spot.

Or like when a child wanted to eat fish in the middle of the night, he went to the ice and stayed for 8 hours, bringing back hundreds of lake trouts.

Mountain Eagle listened and gave a thumbs-up, shouting 'Awesome,' then quietly crossed their 'secret hunting spots' off his list, reminding himself to warn his kid in the future not to play with such fools.

While Mountain Eagle was laughing and joking with the natives, Mori, who had promised to get back to him soon, finally called after nearly 4 hours…

The moment the call connected, Mountain Eagle heard Mori say, "Mountain, whatever you do, don't get involved…

This is an operation led by the Department of Homeland Security!"

Hearing this, Mountain Eagle furrowed his brow and said, "What do you mean?

The crashed plane is a decoy?

What role exactly does the Department of Homeland Security play in this?

Would their operation affect the safety of Brown Bear Camp?"

On the other end of the call, Mori was silent for a moment before saying, "Mountain, things are complicated. I only managed to find out a little bit…"