Surgery Godfather-Chapter 1397 - 1054: Tenacious Life Force

Before visiting Peking Union Medical College, Zhang Chunquan from the American Whitehead Laboratory had already been to Nandu Medical University. He asked to meet with Yang Ping, but Yang Ping outright rejected him. From both an emotional and a utilitarian standpoint, Yang Ping saw no need to meet with him; doing so would be a sheer waste of time.

To be honest, the purpose of cooperation is to leverage each other’s strengths toward mutual benefits—crudely put, to exploit one another for mutual needs. Currently, in the field of stem cell research, Yang Ping could be termed the world leader. He is ahead of other research teams by an entire dimension. So now, he sees no need to cooperate with other laboratories. Such so-called collaborative sharing would only serve to cheapen his work to others’ benefit.

When Yang Ping’s stem cell research was yet to take off, Zhang Chunquan’s laboratory would even refuse Chinese visitors, citing the prevention of high-end technology leaks. Now, absurdly enough, they’ve come with talk of ’science without borders’ and ’cooperating for human medical advancement,’ all while masquerading as a noble cause, when in reality, it’s all for profit.

When they held the upper hand, they stood firm on intellectual property and confidentiality; now at a disadvantage, they speak of ’science without borders’ and ’cooperation.’

Yang Ping won’t be fooled by this—cooperation, in his eyes, is nothing more than a stark exchange. Without something of equal value to trade, there’s nothing to discuss.

"Xiao Yang!"

Yang Ping had just returned from Nandu Medical University and received a call from Professor Liang.

"Professor Liang!" It had been some time since Yang Ping had last been in touch with Professor Liang.

Professor Liang had been in good spirits these past few days. Yang Ping knew this; Song Yun had told him. Professor Liang had initially given up on Zhang Chunquan, having resolved any personal resentment long ago.

Nonetheless, Zhang Chunquan’s cooperation with some laboratories during his trip back to China did lend them some support. This comforted Professor Liang, making him think he might have misunderstood Zhang Chunquan. Professor Liang had initially refused to meet with Chunquan but ended up agreeing to do so. The reunion of mentor and protégé was profoundly moving for him.

But when Zhang Chunquan requested Professor Liang’s help to broker a collaboration with Yang Ping, Professor Liang finally understood. All of Zhang Chunquan’s prior university collaborations had just been a prelude; his ultimate motive was still to work with Yang Ping. After being refused by Yang Ping, thus facing an impasse, Zhang Chunquan sought to leverage his relationship with Professor Liang to achieve a breakthrough. His supposed mentor visit was driven by the utility value of his mentor, not genuine sentiment.

After more than a decade—not even a letter to his mentor, let alone a visit—Zhang Chunquan’s sudden, ostentatious return to his mentor was a painful irony for Professor Liang.

Yang Ping was well aware of Zhang Chunquan’s return to China; Chunquan had even sent people to contact Yang Ping previously, but Yang Ping had rejected them. On his own initiatives, Chunquan had attempted to meet with Yang Ping, to no avail. Later, as Yang Ping became preoccupied with other matters, he paid little attention to Chunquan, not expecting him to approach Professor Liang.

Professor Liang fell silent over the phone for a moment, "Xiao Yang, Zhang Chunquan hasn’t tried to contact you, has he? At this time, you must stay clear-headed. Whether it’s him or anyone else, there will be many temptations thrown your way. You must stand firm."

"I understand, thank you for the reminder, Professor Liang. He has looked for me, but we’ve never met. I do not wish to meet him..." Yang Ping clearly laid out his reasons for not wanting to meet Zhang Chunquan over the phone, to spare the elder any worry.

After hearing this, Professor Liang was relieved. He no longer worried that Yang Ping would be tempted into some foolish decision. Yang Ping’s maturity and understanding in this area had surpassed Professor Liang’s expectations.

Yang Ping reported his latest research findings to Professor Liang, who was astonished. It had been some time since they last spoke, yet Yang Ping had made incredible strides. He had achieved monumental progress in treating osteosarcoma, using a completely novel approach that Professor Liang had never heard of. Factors like the K factor, virus carriers, initiating tumor cell apoptosis—each was at the pinnacle of the world’s research. This was not something Zhang Chunquan could compare with. It seems that our true top talents are still serving the country and have not been lost.

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As for Zhang Chunquan’s visit, if not for Professor Liang’s mention, Yang Ping would have neither the time nor the inclination to bother with it. Yang Ping was not concerned that Professor Liang would feel saddened by this matter, as the professor had already suffered once because of Zhang Chunquan and should now have seen through everything, immune to emotional turmoil.

These days, Yang Ping was frequently shuttling back and forth between Ruixing Company and Nandu Medical University. Professor He’s team had developed a biomedical imaging recognition engine. This engine required no feeding of big data; it operated based on the Digital Human, using the Digital Human’s normal cells for reference. It comprised many modules. The currently developed module was for electron microscopic cell image recognition. It could automatically match each image against normal cells of the same type, setting aside any image that differed to undergo further analysis. This process could ultimately meet the experimental imaging requirements.

Yang Ping let this intelligent engine examine the remaining electron microscope images he hadn’t yet reviewed. It quickly sifted through all the images in mere minutes and successfully identified three images. These three cell images showed the structure of the K virus, indicating they had successfully infected the tumor cells.

The experimental team continued to monitor Sisi’s dynamics, puncturing her metastatic tumor for live cells every few days. Finally, in the second batch of punctured living cells’ electron microscope images, they discovered a single image of a tumor cell in the process of apoptosis. Although it was only one, it represented the difference between nothing and something—the leap from 0 to 1. Now they could be certain; the K virus could not only infect Sisi’s tumor cells but also initiate their apoptosis program.novelbuddy.cσ๓