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The arrival of the year 2000 wasn't all bad news.
At the very least, Henry received one piece of good news: the dementia medication had been met with an excellent response in India and had begun attracting attention from Europe and North America.
The drug wasn't just effective for dementia patients. It also produced varying degrees of improvement in people suffering from other neurological disorders.
Moreover, it worked after a single dose, unlike most medications for chronic illnesses that required long-term use.
Major pharmaceutical companies all had contacts or manufacturing facilities in India, so it was only natural that they became interested in this new drug.
Unfortunately for them, the publicly available registration documents in India provided no means of reproducing a medication with identical—or even partially comparable—effects.
This wasn't particularly unusual in the pharmaceutical industry.
Different companies could manufacture what was ostensibly the same medication yet achieve noticeably different levels of effectiveness. The difference usually wasn't in the listed ingredients but in proprietary production processes that weren't publicly disclosed.
For example, two heart medications with identical active ingredients—one made by the original manufacturer, one by a secondary producer, and another by a generic company—could feel noticeably different to patients.
The reasons ranged from the purity of intermediate compounds to variations in manufacturing procedures.
Other pharmaceutical companies also made little progress analyzing the commercially available dementia medication.
As a result, they naturally shifted their focus toward the employees of the Indian company.
Some even hoped to identify the lead researcher behind the drug.
Fortunately, the pharmaceutical company Jin Ge had selected as a partner was considered a mid-sized enterprise in India.
Unlike many small companies with porous security measures, it possessed a reasonable degree of confidentiality.
For the time being, the major pharmaceutical corporations couldn't find a breakthrough point.
So they turned to another highly effective business strategy:
Acquisition.
At the same time, the name Henry Brown began circulating within the upper levels of several major pharmaceutical companies.
As the primary—or rather, sole—developer of the dementia medication, Henry carefully reviewed the customer medical examination reports provided by the Indian manufacturer.
A considerable number of users had willingly participated in follow-up examinations after taking the drug.
The sample included people from various age groups, and some weren't even dementia patients, instead suffering from other neurological conditions.
After confirming that this medication, derived from Kree Empire technology, genuinely produced the expected therapeutic effects in humans and showed no significant short-term side effects, Henry began synthesizing the drug himself rather than using the version produced by the Indian pharmaceutical company.
Then a new problem emerged:
How was he supposed to get Katharine Hepburn to take it?
Crush it and secretly mix it into her food?
Swap it with one of her regular medications?
Or...
Simply tell her the truth?
Since he personally disliked being deceived, perhaps he should avoid deceiving others whenever possible.
Besides, this wasn't one of his daily meals where he could cook whatever he wanted without explanation.
Patients should have the right to decide whether they wished to receive treatment.
So one evening, Katharine Hepburn was enjoying the surround-sound experience of the Kryptonian Home Theater System, listening to Wagner's opera Lohengrin.
The tabby cat Katie lay quietly at her feet, completing the peaceful scene.
Henry approached the elderly woman and placed a homemade tablet inside a small plastic pill container on the table.
Seeing it, Katharine Hepburn asked,
"Did I forget to take one of my medications again?"
As she spoke, she reached for it.
Henry quickly stopped her.
"Kate, that's not one of your usual medications."
"Hmm. As far as I remember, euthanasia drugs don't come in tablet form."
The quick-witted old lady left Henry momentarily speechless.
"You really don't avoid that subject, do you? But no, this isn't a euthanasia drug either. Do you remember that news report from a few days ago about a new medication from India?"
Katharine Hepburn shook her head blankly.
The response prompted Henry to reflect on his own question.
For this elderly woman, forgetting unimportant things shortly after hearing them was simply a symptom of her declining memory.
Only matters of great importance—or things constantly placed before her—managed to stick.
For example, the tabby cat Katie was always wandering around in front of her, which was why she remembered that there was now a pet in the house.
So asking such a question wasn't her mistake.
It was the fault of the person asking.
Henry could only explain:
"A new drug for dementia was recently released in India. It's supposedly quite remarkable. Most news outlets have remained cautious about the claims and are treating it as little more than an interesting curiosity from abroad.
"The truth is, I developed that medication. Through a friend, I partnered with a pharmaceutical company in India, and the feedback from efficacy testing has been very positive. Here are reports showing improvements in brain pathology and cognitive function among users."
Henry was just about to show her the documents and continue his explanation.
Instead, before he could react, the old lady swiftly grabbed the pill container from the table, popped the tablet into her mouth, took a drink of water, swallowed twice, and sent it on its way.
Henry watched the entire process in stunned silence.
Then he gave a helpless smile.
"Kate, aren't you worried I might poison you?"
"My child, being killed by a man I love would be quite romantic."
She smiled.
"I've lived a very long life. There aren't many experiences left that I haven't had. How do you know that isn't the ending I want?"
Of course, her use of love wasn't romantic.
Westerners often used the same word for familial affection.
Henry had heard her speak with exactly the same warmth and affection toward her grandnieces and grandnephews more than once.
"Unfortunately, you'll have to move that item further down your wish list. This is just a treatment for dementia. It doesn't do anything else."
Katharine Hepburn didn't ask how Henry had become involved in pharmaceutical research.
Instead, she simply asked,
"Will I feel anything after taking it? I feel a bit warm."
"That's your imagination. This medication doesn't produce any noticeable physical sensations. The tablet will slowly dissolve in your stomach. Essentially, after a night's sleep, you'll wake up tomorrow feeling as though your mind has regained the flexibility and sharpness of your youth."
"So quickly? I won't need another dose tomorrow?"
Her surprise was understandable.
For most elderly people, medications for chronic conditions were practically daily meals—something they couldn't skip even for a single day.
Henry shook his head.
"This is a one-time treatment. Unlike those chronic medications, it doesn't merely control symptoms. One dose is enough. Only if your condition deteriorates again would you need a second treatment."
The Kryptonian privately thought:
If her brain ever declines again due to aging, it'll probably be about a hundred years from now.
At least, that was the timeline suggested by the experiences of the Kree Empire's Supreme Intelligence.
Then Katharine Hepburn suddenly thought of something and frowned.
"But that could be inconvenient."
"Inconvenient how?"
"If I remember everything clearly, it becomes much harder to pretend not to."
Henry stared at her with dead-fish eyes.
"You just admitted you'd be pretending. I'm sure your acting skills are up to the task. After all, you do have four Academy Awards for Best Actress. And..."
"And what?"
"Compared to pretending, isn't it far worse to genuinely forget everything that should be remembered? To have your most precious memories become blank spaces?"
"But if I remember everything, I'll also remember the unpleasant things."
"Life is supposed to contain both sweetness and bitterness. That's what makes the sweet moments precious."
He smiled.
"If you forgot every unpleasant memory, wouldn't all those wonderful memories become ordinary by comparison?"
Katharine Hepburn sighed.
"Fine. I can't argue with you, child."
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