As Xia Shiyu expected, the economic crisis arrived as scheduled and swept the world from the Mediterranean Sea with lightning speed. Even if OPEC members announced production increases, they were still helpless against the overall upward oil prices.
Production capacity was only one factor that restricted prices, not the only factor. The Turkish Civil War cut off the southern corridor of European energy. The Ukrainian issue and sanctions against Russia completely blocked the gas pipeline from the east to Europe.
Extreme forces such as IS, which grew like weeds, also caused the oil production capacity in the Middle East to fall to the bottom.
The attack on the Pilsen Synagogue was just a fuse.
The volatility of the stock prices of the thirteen consortia directly detonated the crisis that had been accumulating power for a long time.
The global economy once again ushered in a disaster not inferior to the one in 2008. The New York Stock Exchange lost control of the Dow Jones Index, and the "dealer" on Wall Street rang the bell of shuffle.
The first to fall was India. Due to geological conditions, India was a serious oil-poor country with very few natural gas reserves. As an emerging economy that was embarking on the road of heavy industry, the level of oil prices directly restricted the lifeline of this country.
With the rise of oil prices, India's crude oil import bill continued to rise, and the crisis was further exacerbated. Production and transportation costs rose sharply, exports declined, and investors withdrew. What followed was a sharp rise in the Indian government's fiscal deficit, which eventually led to a foreign payment crisis.
There were countless companies that went bankrupt, and the unemployment rate in all countries increased by more than a little bit. The consumer index fell to a historic low. Affected by the aftermath, Future Group's global business also suffered significant losses, and these losses were directly reflected in the November financial report.
However, compared with other companies, Future Group, which focused on cutting-edge fields, was still relatively less affected.
Because the planting area of oil crops continued to expand, Future Group's factories at least didn't have to worry about high oil prices. As for other commodities driven by crude oil, Future Group could also rely on MLL Island, Country F, and Madagascar to alleviate some of the pressure.
The global economic situation was in a downturn, and Jiang Chen gradually shifted the focus of investment to space outside the earth. The real enemy was more than ten light years away. The Freemasonry was indeed a big problem, but in contrast, he had more important things to plan in advance.
The space elevator was basically completed, and some plans that could not be carried out before could be gradually launched.
But before that, Jiang Chen had one more thing to do.
…
Coro Island Central Hospital. The hospital was built by Future Group with the most cutting-edge technology from Future Biology. Many difficult and complicated diseases that modern medicine could not solve for the time being could be treated to a certain extent here, or even completely eradicated.
The entrance of the hospital was blocked by reporters and broadcast vans. People looked at the door with expectant eyes, like devout believers, as if they were waiting for a miracle to happen.
At this moment, in the special treatment room of the hospital, there was a cultivation cabin entangled with tubes. A screen about the size of a palm was embedded on the surface of the cultivation chamber. In the center of the screen, there was a number that looked like a countdown.
When the number returned to zero, the medical staff in the room swarmed forward and emptied the culture fluid in the cultivation chamber. They opened the cultivation chamber and removed the respirator and the tubes with different functions from the patient's body. Finally, they lifted him onto a moving bed and sent him to the rehabilitation room.
There was a commotion downstairs. If it weren't for the security guards, the impatient reporters would have rushed upstairs.
Who would receive such an honor?
That's right, the person lying on the bed at the moment was the famous physicist and ALS patient – Hawking.
Before he was sent to the rehabilitation room, he had already opened his eyes and saw Jiang Chen at the door of the rehabilitation room. He used his own vocal cords and intermittently said the first words in decades.
"Where is my wheelchair?"
Jiang Chen smiled and did not answer him. He watched him being carried into the rehabilitation room.
In the 22nd century, where medical technology was highly developed, ALS was not an unsolvable problem. The reason why he lay in the cultivation chamber for so long was mainly to repair the muscle cells and neurons that were necrotic due to paralysis.
In the rehabilitation room, accompanied by medical staff, Hawking held two handrails and regained the feeling of walking like a baby learning to walk. He looked quite excited. Every time he took a step forward, his trembling lips squeezed out incoherent words.
The nurse who was responsible for supporting him could only distinguish two words.
"Unbelievable" and "God."
More than an hour later, Hawking, who was able to walk with crutches, walked out of the rehabilitation room accompanied by two medical staff. It was not easy to learn to walk again, especially for an old man who had been in a wheelchair for decades.
Looking at the old man with excitement and gratitude on his face, Jiang Chen smiled.
"How do you feel?"
"Kick me, I need to make sure I'm not dreaming," Hawking replied reluctantly in non-standard English.
"Haha, this kind of thing should be left to your son and daughter. It's really amazing. I originally planned to prepare a keyboard and a loudspeaker for you, but I didn't expect you to 'learn' how to speak in less than two hours, "Jiang Chen joked.
"Where are they? I want to see them now! "
"They're downstairs," Jiang Chen pointed in the direction of the stairs. Jiang Chen pointed in the direction of the stairs. "But before you go downstairs, you'd better be prepared because it's surrounded by reporters."
Hearing the second half of the sentence, Hawking, who was eager to go downstairs, suddenly stopped and turned to look at Jiang Chen with a troubled expression.
"Can you get rid of them all?"
Jiang Chen shook his head.
"We agreed that if I cure you, the first thing you need to do for me is to be interviewed by reporters."
"I'm a patient now, I need to rest!" Hawking said stubbornly.
"But people are eager to know the truth, and I have no right to stop them." Jiang Chen spread his hands and said innocently, "Think about it. We cured a patient with advanced ALS. This is a miracle worthy of being recorded in the history of medicine. The doctors who are busy with your health must be looking forward to your appearance in front of the media. Are you not going to do something for them? "
Perhaps it was the last sentence that touched the stubborn old man. After going downstairs, Hawking accepted an interview with the media.
"Thank you Jiang Chen, thank you Future Biology, thank you to the nurses of Coro Central Hospital. I feel very good now. There are many things I want to do now, the most important of which is to hug my wife, my son, my daughter … I owe them this hug for too long. In addition, I also want to see my wheelchair. I will soon give it to the Queen of England. I'm sorry I left my British citizenship, but Pannu Islands was part of the Commonwealth in history. Fortunately, I don't have to betray my oath … "
Hawking spoke slowly, but none of the reporters showed impatience. Everyone could feel the true feelings in his words, as well as the excitement of defeating the disease. His wife and children squeezed through the crowd and hugged the old man.
The Times reporter wiped the corner of his eyes and left this warm scene on the photo and on the cover of the Times the next day.
At the same time, the reputation of Future Biology and Future Medicine also spread to the world with the news of Hawking's recovery. The Beta-4 drone, which was originally unsold due to the economic crisis, was also digested by the North American market at an incredible speed.
The original rumor that Future Group could not cure Hawking also collapsed on its own.
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