Chapter 844

"What brings you gentlemen here?"

Gabriel had clearly taken this board meeting seriously. The three groups she had invited were no small players. The other attendees might all be secondary figures within their respective families, but they were hardly strangers to power. Even so, the sight of these three organizations arriving together had left them visibly stunned.

In the end, it was Elizabeth who gathered enough courage to ask.

The gray-haired old man wearing a green insignia smiled.

He was the leader of the Tullzcha cult.

"Nothing particularly dramatic," he said. "We’re here to provide some consultation." He glanced toward the representative from Spain with a faint smile. "And perhaps offer a little guidance where appropriate."

"Quite," said the leader of the Bloody Tongue from London.

His position made it obvious that he deliberately kept some distance from the other two groups, as though even standing beside them would diminish him. His English carried a pronounced British accent.

"I’m primarily here to conduct business. We’re certainly interested in making an investment."

"I... see."

Elizabeth forced a smile and slowly returned to her seat.

"I did say you shouldn’t judge things based on assumptions," the gray-haired man continued. "It’s better to examine the company’s projects before making a decision."

"Of course."

"We were a little hasty."

"But really, if this is your recommendation, how could we possibly doubt it?"

Elizabeth’s eyes widened.

Another person had been waiting in the room from the beginning—a middle-aged woman with an androgynous appearance, curly blond hair, and a long side-swept fringe falling across her face.

She said something to the three representatives.

All three immediately nodded in agreement.

That was enough to make Elizabeth and the others exchange glances.

Their opinion of Evangelion Corporation had just risen several levels.

And beneath their surprise was something else.

Excitement.

These were major figures. Even the fathers and senior members who actually controlled their respective families sometimes had to listen carefully when these people spoke.

Yet all three had personally attended Evangelion Corporation’s first board meeting.

And they were openly expressing their support.

More importantly, the middle-aged woman who had spoken to them appeared to be one of the company’s senior members. One sentence from her had been enough to make those powerful figures respond so respectfully.

Just how deep did this company’s connections go?

Elizabeth’s heart began beating faster.

If today’s deal went through, her position within the Morgan family could rise dramatically.

Perhaps she could even go from being a secondary family member to a serious contender for the succession.

"Now then. It looks like everyone is here."

The Eredar twins rose from their seats and walked to the head of the long conference table.

"Everyone here is busy, so I doubt any of you want to waste valuable time on pleasantries. Let’s get straight to business."

Evenson couldn’t attend because of Pepper’s unexpected arrival.

The twins had already told him there was no reason to worry.

"This meeting was always supposed to be hosted by us," Saloras had said. "Whether you’re here or not doesn’t really matter."

"Convincing people is our specialty. We’ve sold entire worlds to people without them realizing what they were giving away."

Evenson had rolled his eyes.

Unfortunately, they weren’t wrong.

The two demons had talked countless people into surrendering things far more valuable than money. Their record was impressive.

His own record, meanwhile, remained a rather embarrassing zero.

"Then why put my name on the meeting roster in the first place?"

"For the same reason that’s there."

Saloras had pointed toward a large flower vase in the corridor.

"You serve exactly the same purpose."

Evenson had stared at her.

"What?"

"You don’t have any practical function, but if you’re missing, somehow the room feels incomplete."

"That is deeply insulting."

He’d lowered his head and glanced at the vase.

Apparently, he was a decorative object now.

And not even an expensive one.

"Fine. I’ll go watch the security feeds. Good luck."

Back in the conference room, Olesia stepped forward.

"First, allow me to introduce our company’s chief researcher, Moira."

She gestured toward the woman in the black suit.

Moira stepped forward and gave the assembled guests a polite nod.

"She has several interesting developments to present."

In truth, the board meeting wasn’t all that different from a product showcase.

You couldn’t ask people to invest millions by standing at the front of the room and saying, We’re Evangelion Corporation. Give us money.

You needed something worth buying.

The Eredar twins had prepared accordingly.

"Moira?"

Pepper’s voice suddenly cut through the room.

"Moira Hansen?"

She stared at the woman in disbelief.

"You’re alive... No. Wait. What are you doing here?"

Moira’s expression shifted for the briefest instant.

Then it disappeared.

Meanwhile, in the security room, Evenson smacked a hand against his forehead.

Damn it.

How had he forgotten?

Moira Hansen—now Moira—already knew Pepper.

Pepper, however, was far more shaken than he was.

She still remembered the Extremis incident and the role Maya Hansen had played in it. The woman had eventually realized the consequences of what she was doing and turned against Killian, but afterward she had vanished without a trace.

Officially, no one knew whether she was alive or dead.

And yet here she was.

Her appearance had changed. She was thinner now, her hair had been cut short, and her clothing had become distinctly more androgynous.

But Pepper recognized her immediately.

Why was she here?

What was Evangelion Corporation involved in?

Could it be that Killian—the man who had orchestrated the Mandarin operation—had only been a puppet?

Was this company the real power behind everything?

"Maya Hansen?"

Moira’s expression softened for a moment at the sight of an old acquaintance.

Then she composed herself.

"Whoever that is, she sounds terribly boring."

She smiled faintly.

"I’m Moira. That’s all. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else."

"Pepper."

Elizabeth gently touched her arm.

"Let’s hear what they have to say first."

Elizabeth had already realized the two women had history, and probably not pleasant history.

But she was far more interested in the meeting.

"All right."

Pepper slowly nodded.

She wanted answers too.

"First, I’d like to introduce several pharmaceuticals developed by our company."

As Moira spoke, a display screen materialized in front of every attendee around the table.

Data began scrolling across them.

"Our first products are trauma treatments and anti-disease medications. Both have already entered the market, and we’ve collected substantial clinical data. The results have confirmed that their effectiveness meets our original projections."

The investors had brought their own experts.

They weren’t going to trust a company’s claims blindly when millions of dollars were involved.

The specialists immediately began scrutinizing the data, checking the methodology and verifying its authenticity.

Yet before long, everyone’s attention shifted toward the Valdemar representative.

His opinion mattered more than the experts they had brought with them.

The Valdemar family was relatively young compared with the other two organizations, with barely two centuries of history.

They rarely appeared in the public eye.

But the people sitting around this table were not ordinary businessmen.

They knew exactly what the Valdemars had contributed to modern biology.

The earliest cholera vaccines had connections to their work. So did the development of antibiotics, blood transfusion techniques, organ transplantation, and foundational research in genetics.

The family had effectively operated behind the scenes of modern biological science for generations.

Their authority was unquestionable.

That was only what the public knew.

Behind closed doors, the Valdemars were the leading family of necromancers and a cult devoted to the Starborn.

Their greatest treasure had once been the legendary Necronomicon.

Until Gabriel—then still known as the Ancient One—had personally paid them a very friendly visit and persuaded them to surrender the book to Kamar-Taj for safekeeping.

"Don’t look at me like that."

The Valdemar representative shrugged.

"I obviously believe the drugs work. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come."

That single statement visibly relaxed the other investors.

With an endorsement from someone like him, even if the drugs had been nothing more than bottled water, someone would probably have found a way to sell them at a premium.

"But these are only the civilian versions," Moira continued.

The room quieted again.

"Our red trauma treatment also has a military-grade variant. The U.S. military has expressed considerable interest, and we’ve already secured a contract."

The military version wasn’t dramatically more effective than the civilian product.

Its real advantage was versatility.

It could be swallowed or injected. It could even be poured directly onto the skin and absorbed through the capillaries.

In other words, if a soldier suffered a wound to the thigh, he could pour the medication onto his hand and still receive its effects.

The military had given it a rather memorable nickname.

Hand sanitizer.

"Very promising."

Mordo DuPont, the young, slick-haired representative of the DuPont family, sounded genuinely impressed.

Military contracts were notoriously lucrative. The clinical data looked excellent, and bringing the drug into insurance coverage appeared to be only a matter of time.

Combined with its effectiveness, the profit potential was enormous.

A safe bet.

"I’m pleased to see our appetizer has met with everyone’s approval," Moira said with a smile. "But I would advise you not to spend too much time on it."

She tapped the table.

"Because now I’d like to introduce Evangelion Corporation’s flagship product."

The screens changed.

"I call it a miracle drug."

"A miracle drug?"

Mordo DuPont leaned forward.

"What sort of miracle drug?"

"There are quite a few."

Moira smiled.

"After years of research, we’ve developed treatments for several diseases previously considered incurable. I won’t waste everyone’s time listing them all. Instead, I’ll present one example."

A new name appeared on the displays.

"An Ebola treatment."

The room went still.

"According to our trials, its cure rate is approximately eighty percent. That falls short of our ultimate goal of complete treatment, but I think it’s fair to call the current version a passing grade."

"An extraordinary achievement."

The Valdemar representative spoke loudly enough to draw everyone’s attention.

"A remarkable contribution to the history of biology. I’ll make sure your achievement is remembered."

That was enough.

The investors stopped wondering whether the treatment worked and began thinking about how much money it could make.

Ebola was concentrated largely in Africa, particularly in poor countries with inadequate sanitation and medical infrastructure.

Most of those populations were desperately poor.

At first glance, there wasn’t much profit to be made.

But humanitarian organizations existed for precisely this kind of crisis.

They would pay for a treatment like this.

As long as Evangelion Corporation didn’t make the price absurd, demand could be enormous.

And Moira had already said this was only one example.

If they had an effective treatment for Ebola, what about every other disease?

"A remarkable contribution to modern medicine," Pepper said.

Her voice cut across the room.

"But I’ve heard some rather troubling things about how your company obtained these results."

The others looked toward her.

Pepper had heard rumors before coming here.

After meeting Moira, she believed them far more strongly.

"According to my sources, many of Evangelion Corporation’s breakthroughs were developed through human experimentation."

Moira’s expression didn’t change.

"Medicine is a science, and science requires experimentation. That’s hardly controversial."

"Even unauthorized human experimentation?"

Pepper narrowed her eyes.

"I’ve heard your company recruited a group of homeless people and subjected them to potentially lethal experiments."

"Testing any pharmaceutical requires volunteers."

Moira’s answer came without hesitation.

"But were they really volunteers?"

Pepper pressed.

"Were they actually informed of what they were agreeing to? Or were they buried beneath a mountain of technical terminology before being handed legal documents they couldn’t possibly understand?"

"Pepper."

Elizabeth gently touched her arm.

"There are rumors everywhere these days. Why get hung up on this?"

She had no interest in whether Pepper’s accusations were true.

Neither did the other investors.

Why would they?

A group of homeless people they’d never met had very little value compared with the polished, respectable-looking company executives sitting around this table.

Pepper forced a smile.

"I’m not trying to derail the meeting. I’m simply suggesting that your company should be more careful about its reputation. Things like this can cause serious problems."

"What problems?"

Moira tilted her head, genuinely—or convincingly—confused.

"We’re not running a restaurant. We don’t need five-star reviews."

Her smile sharpened.

"We sell medicine that saves lives."