Philip, who had been feeling quite proud of himself, suddenly changed his expression. The Whitby Pharmaceutical Group and the Clark Pharmaceutical Group had been competing for business for ages.

Not long ago, Philip took the lead in becoming a D-grade pharmacist, which was an accomplishment that he had been quite proud of for a long time. But, he never expected that Douglas would become a D-grade pharmacist so soon.

The expressions of the people present also changed. As Philip was originally the only D-grade pharmacist there, now that Douglas had broken through to become a D-grade pharmacist, this might really ruffle some feathers!

Compared to the two of them, there was a huge gap between them and the others. But now, between the two of them, this meant that it would be more difficult to compete for first place.

"Well, you can't steal first place from me, even if you've stepped up to become a D-grade pharmacist," Philip said confidently.

"We are at the same level now. So, it's not certain who'll win or lose," Douglas said calmly.

Neither of them would give in, especially in the face of such a bountiful first prize.

"Steve, are you going to sign up, too?" Christina suddenly asked Steve.

"Well, as the reward is so generous, I naturally want to participate," Steve laughed and said.

"Haha..." Hardy suddenly sneered. "With your F-grade pharmacist certification, you'd be lucky to get a consolation prize!"

The others could not help but laugh when they heard what Hardy had just said. Hardy had been embarrassed by Steve once before, so took this chance to finally get back at him.

All of the young and talented pharmacists present were ranked higher than Steve, as Steve was only an F-grade pharmacist, which was a world away from them. Compared with Douglas and Philip, it was practically a cosmic gap!

"Haha, I'm looking forward to competing with Mr. Steve," Franklin laughed and said.

"Steve.. A mere F-grade pharmacist... Unless a miracle occurs, it would be impossible for you to win first place!" Philip mocked.

"Yes, my goal is to be number one." Steve laughed. "The competition hasn't started yet, so it's not clear who will win the championship."

"Haha, your courage is commendable. However, you're being naive. There is a huge gap between every grade of pharmacists. Whether it is the understanding of pharmacy or the use of pharmaceuticals, there will be an unimaginable gap among the grades. The grades clearly show.. You are out of your league!" Douglas laughed and said.

"Do you think you're Mr. Clown, and that you can create a groundbreaking serum?" Hardy sneered.

"If Mr. Clown was here, he would able to win first place, even if he were just an F-grade pharmacist." Douglas sighed.

Many young geniuses nodded and were full of admiration, as they worshipped the clown pharmacist. Only Philip's face was still full of disdain. In his opinion, the clown pharmacist was overrated.

"Hmph! I wish he would join in so that I could defeat him fairly! Even if he's a legend, it's impossible to bridge the gap between different graded pharmacists," Philip said coldly.

Soon, the young geniuses present changed the topic to the clown pharmacist, and no one took Steve seriously. Although Steve was a little mysterious, having a lot of cash and a vast amount of knowledge about pharmaceutics, they still mostly regarded Steve as an ordinary F-grade pharmacist who would not even qualify as their opponent!

In fact, if it hadn't have been for the fact that they had been embarrassed by and slapped in the face with Steve's cash, they would've probably just ignored him altogether! Christina didn't take Steve's participation into account either, and she soon jumped into the conversation, which had now veered toward the conference, with the others.

Today's exchange conference was a rare opportunity for Christina. As long as she could do a great job, it would bring great benefits to the Masa Group.

Philip, Hardy, Franklin, and the others were also very happy to have the opportunity to approach Christina in hopes of getting information from her about the clown pharmacist. In the process, many of them expressed their love for Christina. Unfortunately, they were all politely rejected by her.

"Why do you refuse them? Each of them is from a big group or is an heir to a great empire. If you could be with any of them, the Masa Group would be able to flourish and have an abundance of material and financial resources under their control." Steve smiled at her as he spoke.

Christina walked over to Steve, her face full of weariness as she sat down beside him. She then shook her head and said, "I know what they're thinking. They don't care about me. They only care about Mr. Clown. For them, I'm just a means to get in touch with Mr. Clown. If I were to put them in contact with Mr. Clown, they would not hesitate to abandon me and the Masa Group."

Perhaps it was because she felt that Steve was different from the others and didn't want to use her, but for some reason, Christina opened up to Steve and told him the truth.

"You're a smart woman. Unfortunately, they don't appreciate your true beauty," Steve said.

Christina smiled and said, "Well, I don't think I'm any worse than them, but some people are born at higher starting points, and as such, they have more advantages than others in life. If I am honest.. Although they want to make use of me, am I not also making use of them too?"

"Actually, you have more advantages than others as well, especially more than ordinary people like me." Steve put down his glass and smiled at Christina.

"You're not ordinary! You're the most unusual civilian I've ever met!" Christina held her chin in her hands as she looked at Steve adoringly.

She then said, "I'm curious. You're just a civilian, so how can you have such a shocking family background?"

Since the military base had Steve's family background records, Christina knew that Steve was really born into an ordinary family. Hence, he did not have an impressive and influential lineage like Douglas, Philip, and the others had suspected.

His records also showed that his situations from his childhood to adulthood were very unstable. Specifically, he was was an ordinary civilian that had lived in the slums and had even suffered the death of both of his parents at a very young age. At that point, he had assumed the responsibility of taking care of his sister.

As such, despite his story being a bit sad, there was nothing extraordinary about him. But.. He did have such a shocking amount of funds!

"I've already said that I'm the clown pharmacist, and that's the money that I earned from selling the serums!" Steve laughed and said.

"Stop joking! This joke is old now and not funny at all!" Christina shook her head and said, "If you don't want to tell me, I won't force you."

After all, everyone had secrets that they didn't want to tell. Christina thought that Steve must've gone through some extraordinary experiences to have such amazing wealth.

Steve laughed. He was secretly tickled to see that sometimes the truth was even more unbelievable! This was because reality sometimes goes beyond one's imagination!

As for this beautiful misunderstanding, he decided that he would simply let it continue. After all, it sure made his life easier!

"The competition is about to start, so you should come in too." When Christina heard the competition music, she looked at Steve and said, "I'm looking forward to your performance."