The World Health Organization headquarters building.
In the meeting room, representatives from national health departments, top medical schools, and pharmaceutical giants were conversing in low voices. The atmosphere was subtle and tense.
Tang Shun sat by the window, looking at the agenda booklet labeled "International System Medicine Transformation Alliance Preparatory Meeting". The booklet was thick, with a cover featuring the signature blue and white coloring of the WHO, and pages densely filled with the schedule for the two-day event.
To his right was Professor Manstein. Over thirty people were seated around the oval table, representing the world's landscape of medical power and knowledge: the National Institutes of Health, USA, the European Medicines Agency, the African Disease Prevention and Control Center, multiple leading medical research centers in Asia, and the chief scientists of pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, Novartis, and Roche.
