Interstellar president (16): The experiment was successful!

“Qinghao, my experiment has made great progress. Once it’s successful, you’ll be able to recover,” Gu Juntian happily shared the good news with Zhou Qinghao.

“You’re amazing!” Zhou Qinghao smiled and gave Gu Juntian a kiss.

Feeling even more motivated to do research, Gu Juntian returned to the lab after dinner and began preparing the genetic drug.

He focused all his attention and, after three hours, managed to produce the first batch of the genetic drug. However, how to test the drug remained a major issue.

Since the beginning of the interstellar era, not only had humans developed gene collapse syndrome, but animals brought from Earth had also been afflicted.

Other labs typically used mice with gene collapse syndrome for testing.

But his genetic drug was different from the usual anti-gene-collapse drugs.

Those anti-collapse drugs were effective for any organism—human or animal—undergoing genetic breakdown.

His genetic drug, however, was specifically developed for human genes and only worked on humans.

Injecting a drug meant to unlock human gene locks into a mouse would only result in the mouse’s death.

To determine whether the drug worked, it had to be tested on a human subject.

When in trouble, turn to the state.

Gu Juntian went to Director Zhang and explained the problem he encountered.

Director Zhang found it hard to believe: “You’ve developed a genetic drug? Are you sure?”

How long had Gu Juntian been working on this? How could he have come up with a drug so quickly?

Gu Juntian replied, “I had a sudden burst of inspiration today and managed to create it. I don’t know if it works, but I do know that animal testing will definitely fail.”

Director Zhang understood this too. After thinking for a long time, he finally said, “I’ll help you submit an application and see if any volunteers are willing to test the drug.”

Some people suffering from gene collapse syndrome would volunteer to participate in clinical trials.

Some wanted to contribute to humanity, some hoped to be cured, and others wanted to earn some money to help their families.

Shortly after submitting the application, Director Zhang received a call.

The person on the phone asked about the drug’s effectiveness.

Director Zhang said, “This is something a young man developed. He’s very talented, but the time has been short. What he produced most likely won’t be very useful…”

The person on the other end sighed and said, “Even if it doesn’t work, let’s give it a try.”

Director Zhang realized something: “Who is it?”

The caller replied, “It’s a senior official. He developed gene collapse syndrome a few years ago, and now his condition is extremely bad. He has only about half a month left to live. Ever since he got sick, he’s been saying he wants to be a volunteer to help test medicine. We’ve been putting it off, but now we can’t anymore… Let’s just fulfill his last wish.”

After being diagnosed, the official had wanted to move into a lab and dedicate himself to science.

They had always stopped him, saying the lab didn’t need more people, but now that he was at the end of his life, they couldn’t keep refusing him.

Fulfilling his final wish wasn’t a bad thing.

Director Zhang knew the official and felt emotional after hearing this.

He didn’t want the official to die in Gu Juntian’s lab—that could harm Gu Juntian emotionally and also make others critical of him.

Director Zhang said, “That drug was made by my student. Send the senior official to my lab. I’ll administer the treatment myself.”

“Alright,” the person on the phone agreed.

Director Zhang then told Gu Juntian that a volunteer was willing to try the drug.

However, since the volunteer’s condition was poor, he couldn’t go to Gu Juntian’s lab. Director Zhang asked if Gu Juntian could give him the drug to administer himself.

Gu Juntian agreed without hesitation.

It was already after work hours, and he just wanted to spend time with Zhou Qinghao, not work overtime.

He also wasn’t worried that Director Zhang would steal his research—there had been several moments of sudden inspiration during the drug’s preparation…

This drug could likely only be made by him.

Gu Juntian instructed Clement and Qin Zhao to take the genetic drug he had prepared to Director Zhang’s national lab. As for him, he was off duty and going to spend time with Zhou Qinghao.

During dinner, Gu Juntian said again, “Qinghao, this afternoon the experiment made more progress. Even Director Zhang praised me…”

Gu Juntian shared quite a bit.

Seeing him so energized and lively lifted Zhou Qinghao’s spirits.

He knew that Gu Juntian was saying these things to comfort him, to give him hope.

He was willing to listen and accept Gu Juntian’s kindness.

At the same time, he wanted to cherish every day he had with Gu Juntian.

After dinner, the two of them ended up back in bed again.

At the same time, Director Zhang was administering the drug developed by Gu Juntian to the terminally ill senior official.

This official’s surname was Qian.

The universe was dangerous. After entering the interstellar era, humanity had experienced many wars.

Commander Qian had once led the Human Alliance army to numerous victories.

His reputation in the Human Alliance was no less than that of Director Zhang.

“Old Zhang, I’ve long wanted to come to the lab to help test medicine, but they wouldn’t let me! What’s the point of waiting around to die every day? I might as well try the drug and make some contribution to the country…” Commander Qian rambled on, then sighed, “Old Zhang, my body’s in really bad shape now. Will this drug still work well? Sigh, I should’ve come here two years earlier…”

“Stop talking so much and save your strength,” Director Zhang said. “After using this drug, there will be some pain, and your body will need a lot of energy… Go lie down in the medical pod.”

Commander Qian replied, “You’re making me go back to the medical pod again! Are you messing with me? This isn’t even a real drug, is it? Old Zhang, that’s not very honest of you… Ow!”

Commander Qian suddenly grimaced in pain and cried out.

Director Zhang said, “I told you it would hurt a bit…”

Even though he said that, seeing Commander Qian screaming in pain with a distorted expression made Director Zhang feel uneasy.

Gu Juntian had told him there would be some pain with the drug, but he hadn’t expected it to hurt this much!

Commander Qian was a tough, iron-willed man. He had suffered serious injuries before without making a sound. Now he couldn’t bear it—how painful must it be?

No wonder Gu Juntian had told him to prepare painkillers and to anesthetize the patient before administering the drug.

Not giving Commander Qian anesthesia first had definitely been a mistake.

To endure such pain right before death—Commander Qian had it tough.

At that moment, even Commander Qian himself thought so: “Testing drugs hurts this much? No wonder those little brats kept trying to stop me!”

As he spoke, several people worked together to get Commander Qian into the medical pod.

The pod’s various tubes automatically connected to his body, delivering painkillers and nutrients.

Commander Qian finally felt a little better, but he kept talking nonstop: “Old Zhang, drug testing needs me to describe how it feels, right? Take notes! Right now, it feels like my insides are on fire—like all my organs are being burned up! This drug is definitely not meant for humans…”

While Commander Qian kept shouting in pain, the people around him silently wiped away tears.

They had already used a large amount of painkillers, and he was still in such agony… His body likely couldn’t handle it. He might not live much longer.

It was heartbreaking.

They should have stopped him, so he wouldn’t have to suffer like this before dying.

Everyone felt terrible—especially when they saw that Commander Qian’s skin was peeling off, and he no longer looked human. It was even worse.

Gradually, Commander Qian fell silent.

Director Zhang became alarmed and checked the medical pod’s readings.

Wait, Commander Qian’s heart rate and breathing were normal. The medical pod showed that he had fallen asleep?

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Finally, someone asked, “Should we wake Commander Qian up?”

Of course they should! Director Zhang and the others opened the pod.

Immediately, a foul smell filled the air, and what they admired most was that despite the awful odor, Commander Qian was still able to sleep peacefully.

They woke him up, and Commander Qian was clearly displeased: “I finally managed to fall asleep—what do you want? Wait, what’s that smell?”

Commander Qian nearly fainted from the stench, then suddenly realized something: “This smell is coming from me? Do you have a place where I can take a shower?”

He didn’t have a cleanliness obsession, but right now, he really smelled too terrible!

Of course, there was no place to shower in the lab.

But there was an area for cleaning experimental equipment.

Director Zhang ordered someone to carry Commander Qian there for a wash.

Hearing this, the people around Commander Qian went to lift him up.

“No need to carry me, I can walk on my own.” Commander Qian didn’t want to be carried. He gave his guard a light push, but the guard was sent flying quite a distance.

Commander Qian was speechless. “I just gave you a light push—why did you stumble back so far?”

“Commander, you had incredible strength just now!” the guard said, a bit aggrieved.

“I’m a patient—how could I have any strength? I can barely take off my clothes right now,” Commander Qian said as he tugged at his clothes, only for them to tear apart in his hands.

Realizing something wasn’t right, he climbed out of the medical pod and gave a small jump, only to nearly hit the ceiling.

He drew in a sharp breath and looked at Director Zhang. “Old Zhang, you’ve really outdone yourself! What kind of drug did you make? What on earth is happening to me?”

He could feel that something was seriously off with his body!

Wearing his torn clothes and reeking of the stench, Commander Qian grabbed a metal chair and forcefully bent one of its legs.

“This isn’t even a human body anymore! Old Zhang, what did you do to me?”

Director Zhang was on the verge of going crazy. He stared at Commander Qian for a long moment, then suddenly rushed over and hugged him tightly. “It worked! Hahaha, it worked! Hurry up and clean yourself—I need to run tests on your genes!”

Saying that, Director Zhang dragged Commander Qian toward the cleaning area for experimental tools and grabbed a sprayer to hose him down. “Hurry up and wash! Don’t waste my time!”

Commander Qian: “…” Was there no respect for him anymore?

But at that point, Commander Qian himself was also excited. He didn’t say much and obediently began cleaning up.

Once Commander Qian finished washing, Director Zhang immediately started examining his genes.

Compared to before, Commander Qian’s genes had clearly changed—restructured and evolved.

Most importantly, his gene collapse syndrome was completely gone!

Tears streamed down Director Zhang’s face. “Old Qian, you’re cured! You’re really cured! You lucky guy—you’re the first human in history to use a genetic drug!”

Commander Qian couldn’t believe it either.

He had come thinking he was going to sacrifice himself for science, but he didn’t die—and he was cured!

Was this karma rewarding a good man?

The people around him were even more emotional as they looked at Director Zhang. “Director Zhang, thank you, thank you so much…”

“Don’t thank me. This has nothing to do with me. The drug was developed by someone else,” Director Zhang said.

Meanwhile, outside Director Zhang’s lab, Qin Zhao and Clement were both feeling anxious.

Director Zhang had taken the drug inside a long time ago and still hadn’t come out. Did the experiment fail?

Honestly, they also thought Gu Juntian was a bit too impulsive.

Even if he was a genius, producing a finished product after only a month of research was bound to be risky.

They were still thinking this when Director Zhang suddenly rushed out of the lab shouting, “Qin Zhao! Clement! I can’t reach Gu Juntian. Hurry, help me contact him! The experiment was a success—he needs to come here right away!”

The experiment had succeeded—this was an earth-shattering event. Gu Juntian needed to be informed immediately so he could celebrate with them!

Qin Zhao and Clement replied, “Director Zhang, it’s late at night. I can’t reach my teacher.”

“Director Zhang, he told us he turns on Do Not Disturb mode at night and doesn’t take any calls.”

Director Zhang was baffled. “What’s with him? Who doesn’t take calls at night?”

Qin Zhao said, “Teacher said he needs private time in the evening and mustn’t be disturbed.”

Director Zhang was furious and disappointed. “This lovestruck fool!”