Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 27 The Thoughtful "Boss"

Milton spent quite a while going through the ledgers, while Brandon and Lutz, those two starving devils, had already scraped their plates clean and entered the conference room.

Seeing Milton's strange expression, they quickly looked at the ledger.

Milton was looking at a display showing two diabetes medications that appeared to have similar effects, but with a significant price difference.

However, the two roughnecks looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure out what the problem was. They asked blankly, "Uh, two different medicines with different purchase prices... Isn't that normal? Is there a problem?"

When purchasing other medicines, it is also common to find that different brands and ingredients, but with similar effects, have different prices.

There's nothing strange about it.

Milton pointed to a page on the bill and said, “'The boss' clearly used a lot of force when he wrote these words; the imprint is even embedded in the next page… which means he also has doubts.”

"Huh?!" Brandon exclaimed in shock. "That's possible? You can even tell that?"

Of course you can't tell.

Milton muttered to himself... This explanation is too far-fetched; it's just something to fool you two strategists.

The main reason he was able to spot the clues was not the "boss's" suspicion, but the name of the drug.

Troglitazone is a drug mainly used to treat type 2 diabetes... but the biggest problem with this drug is that it was launched in 97!
In other words, it's a drug from the future, currently in the experimental stage. If Milton weren't a time traveler from the future, he probably wouldn't have realized the problem at this point!

Moreover, according to Milton's understanding, taking this drug could potentially lead to liver failure, and there were numerous deaths worldwide after taking it. Not long after, the drug was forced to be discontinued.

This is an early development version, and it's estimated that it has even greater hidden dangers and more side effects.

This is treating people directly as experimental subjects!
Unfortunately, if the "boss" were still around, at least there would be another strategist to discuss the plan with... Now Milton can only rely on himself.

Milton hesitated for a moment before asking, "Now, here's a question: why does the 'boss' have doubts? What does he feel is wrong?"

Logically speaking, the amount of information that the "boss" had was not much different from that of Brandon, so he shouldn't have been able to discover the problem with the drug.

In other words, the "boss" didn't notice anything amiss from the price and the name of the medicine... So, where did he find the suspicious points?

He probably just sensed something was wrong, but hadn't yet reached the point where he realized where the problem lay.

Brandon and Lutz nodded blankly in agreement: "Yeah, what did the 'boss' discover?"

You two are unnecessary...

Milton ignored them, tapping the table with his hand, intending to continue flipping through the pages to see if there were any clues in the boss's miscellaneous notes.

But suddenly, as if he had just thought of something, Milton looked up at Brandon and asked, "Have all the medicines on the 'boss's' purchase order been ordered? Will he list the medicines that weren't ordered?"

Brandon nodded firmly and said, "Since it's on the purchase order, no matter how much, there must have been some purchases."

After saying this, the two looked at each other for a second.

They stood up at the same time and ran towards the pharmacy on the second basement floor!

medicine!
Finding that bottle of medicine might lead to a crucial clue—given Milton's current predicament, he simply cannot investigate like the police, mobilizing official resources, detaining foundation personnel, securing evidence, testing the drug's chemical composition, confirming it as illegal drug smuggling, and ultimately convicting the perpetrator.

They must catch the perpetrators red-handed on the spot and issue a fine to the Qing Teng Foundation!
Brandon rummaged through the corresponding section of the pharmacy for a while, then said somewhat strangely, "Let me look... but I can't find it. They're all the familiar items."

Milton didn't even bother to look at it; he simply opened the panel and began scanning the pile of red contraband.

Soon, he found the target drug called "troglitazone" among a bunch of drug names.

The medicine bottle was carefully stored by the "boss" in a separate compartment; there was only one bottle. But...

Brandon leaned closer, looking at the medicine bottle in Milton's hand, and asked thoughtfully, "Is this the bottle? The pills are definitely different, but why does the bottle say glibenclamide?"

Milton shook the medicine bottle and chuckled, "Because this drug hasn't been approved for sale anywhere in the world, it can't be sold directly in pharmacies. The original packaging has to be changed."

"...Boss, I feel like you're always looking down on my knowledge?"

It's one thing to be good at fighting, but how come you know so much too?

Moreover, it seems that Milton is not proud of killing 11 assassins, but rather proud of his knowledge.
Could it be that this serial killer harbors the heart of a scholar?

Milton made no attempt to hide his disdain. He pointed to the medicine bottle and asked, "Where do you usually get this kind of medicine from?"

Brandon answered quickly this time: "Generally speaking, we get our goods directly from Van Conn. If there are any unforeseen circumstances that prevent us from getting the goods as planned, then the 'boss' will contact other channels, such as legitimate pharmacies or even hospitals."

Milton sat in his chair, slowly gathering his thoughts: "Didn't you get your supplies from other black market dealers?"

"Hmm...we're the biggest drug traffickers in this area..."

"But actually, there's not much difference. They all come from the checkpoint anyway; it's just that some have legal procedures and the rest are smuggled goods..."

"At least in this small town, I can be sure that the vast majority of the medicine comes from the checkpoint. Because medicines from other channels can't control costs and can't compete with us."

Milton gleaned a clue from Brandon's reply: "Does that mean the bottle of medicine I have was also smuggled through the checkpoint?"

Brandon was momentarily speechless: "Uh, this..."

He was also a manager at the pharmacy, with authority similar to that of the "boss," but he had never heard Inspector Maynard mention the drug "troglitazone"... This suggests that the drug may not have actually come from the checkpoint.

"Forget it, I can't count on you."

Milton was already fairly certain that the drug hadn't been smuggled from the checkpoint, but it would be best to find some more evidence to confirm it.

If you really can't find it, just assume it's true for now.

Milton shook his head and turned his attention back to the ledger—he had wanted to look at the miscellaneous notes, but hadn't had a chance.

Now we can take a closer look; maybe there's some explanation for "boss"?
To be honest, although the "boss's" purchasing ledger is very brief, it contains almost all the truly useful information.

Milton quickly found the answer he was looking for in a note.

“Maynard said he had never smuggled drugs with that name, and had never even heard of them.”

well.

That explains it... The reason why the "boss" noticed the suspicious points was because he discovered them through the import channels.

Of course, even without this note, Milton would have preferred this answer, and now this note completely confirms his guess.

“It’s confirmed, this medicine didn’t come from the checkpoint.” Milton put down the ledger and said, “Now, let’s summarize all the clues we’ve gathered.”

"First, new drugs that are not yet on the market are cheaper than old drugs; second, it is speculated that the Qing Teng Foundation is secretly testing the drug; third, the drug is not imported through the cheapest checkpoint; fourth, in order to cover their tracks, they changed the packaging."

"Based on these four clues, what conclusions can we draw, or what reliable guesses can we make?"

Brandon looked bewildered: "I don't know."

(End of this chapter)